 creation of innovative and long-lasting housing types to increase the urban density of existing cities. This alternative approach is grounded in concepts of both environmental and social responsibility. Since timber is a material that has the capacity to store carbon it offers the opportunity for carbon engineering, to turn buildings into ‘carbon sinks’. The negative environmental legacy of conventional ‘hard’ development and construction could be minimized by using CLT construction on brownfield sites. Inner-city housing using highly engineered timber construction also offers the opportunity to re-establish more meaningful concepts of material culture and enduring value, thus underpinning a more profound notion of society itself.
There are in any type of restructuring some short-term costs, but there is an impressive array of benefits that can accrue from the transition to low carbon timber construction systems, such as healthier living and working conditions. Long-term benefits associated with a transition to a low carbon economy are now becoming clear . It’s time to grab the considerable opportunities that are opening up in front of us. Supported by the rapid developments in CNC-technology, prefabricated engineered solid wood panel systems are now a cost competitive technology for 3 to 10 storeys residential structures, replacing concrete and steel construction, reducing ecological footprint, and delivering healthy indoor environments of future buildings.
One conclusion that can already be drawn from the cases is that issues around the adoption of CLT in residential construction are worthwhile of further detailed study. The interrelated mix of technological and social considerations required will provide a mature perspective on the complexities of influencing behaviour change in this domain.
The expected research findings are likely to also provide insight in the question of how far the consumer factors are relevant to moving towards increased use of CLT for buildings, or if the barriers are really about values towards the environment at all; or are they rather to some extent down to unfamiliarity and inertia? Equally, it is important to consider behaviour change as something required of the building industry, local planners, and so on, as well as from householders.
Finally, using solid wood panel systems on an urban scale will mean faster, lighter, better performing and more flexible buildings in the city. It looks like timber, the traditional construction material of the past, will become the construction material for the future.
This paper draws on the work of the author at the Zero Waste Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour (sd+b Centre), at the University of South Australia, and the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Urban Development for Asia and the Pacific. The author is grateful to colleagues who provided comments on earlier drafts and to reviewers for their constructive suggestions that have improved this paper.
Conflict of Interest
The author declares no conflict of interest.
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