Visioning

"M2032" is a report from the year 2032 illustrating how our world changed and the steps Victorians took to build resilient systems and secure a sustainable future.

Author: Professor Chris Ryan, University of Melbourne, December 2006.

"Sometimes we need to be reminded just how profoundly different Melbourne is in 2032, in its structure, in its economic base and in the nature of daily life, from the City it was at the turn of the century. In retrospect many of the changes to Melbourne can be understood when we consider the impacts of various critical events, and the changing nature of community concerns, which shaped the way that social, political and technological developments unfolded during and after the decade 2000- 2010. The period of intense innovation for sustainability, that came to identify the years 2007-2015, seems to have been an inevitable outcome of those events and concerns. Five years after the turn of the century, the scale of the change in patterns of resource use that was necessary for a sustainable existence was finally starting to catch public attention. Government priorities and policy were framed against some significant long term commitments for reductions in per-capita consumption (particularly for water and carbon-based energy)1. It was already becoming clear that the future could not be, in any meaningful sense, a continuation of the past."

Attachments:

M2032

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206 Kb

This paper was presented in a low carbon manner, via teleconferencing at the IASDR Conference in Hong Kong in November 2007. The paper investigates the notion of designing for the innovative reuse of existing components within highly agile manufacturing systems, or what has been called ‘redesign’, outlining the basis of a sustainable design methodology which utilises devices such as information and communication technology (ICT), rapid manufacturing and component reuse to encourage ‘dematerialisation’, or a net reduction in material consumption, in society.

Author: Mark Richardson, MONASH UNIVERSITY, Nov. 2007

Attachments:

ReDesign - Design for Reassembly

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467 Kb

Combined Water Power is a decentralised water cleansing and renewable energy solution. Small-scale gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) systems deliver electricity to the grid and clean local supplies of waste water through distillation. Discussions are underway with industry and government partners for the development of a pilot project.

Author: Professor Chris Ryan, Melbourne University, March 2007.

Attachments:

Combine Water Power draft paper

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111 Kb

A background briefing paper of the development of VEIL and its innovation process.

Author: Chris Ryan. 2002. (Reprinted from the MIT Journal of Industrial Ecology)

"The collapse of the “ecoefficiency pathway to sustainability” is occurring at the same time as an apparent shift in the nature of the market and business activity, a shift that values foresight, visible engagement with the future, and conceptual capital."

Attachments:

EcoLab - a jump towards sustainability (part 1 and 2)

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198 Kb