ility as part of sustainability|
|Share knowledge about feasibility, affordability||Developer confidence in gaining approvals—no-one wants to pioneer CLT|
|Improve durability in terms of weather, fungal and termite resistance|
|Need to train industry (up-skilling). Concern about number and size of projects|
6. Consumers and Residents: Mobilizing Behaviour Change to Build Liveable and Sustainable Cities
Users’ expectations and needs frequently focus on useability, affordability, comfort, cultural values and aspirational status goals, while the technical solution or construction system itself is less important to residents. Hence, the shift to infill buildings constructed in CLT requires behaviour change, to ensure these buildings will be acceptable to occupants as an alternative approach based on ideas of environmental construction (such as, for instance, new ‘passive house’ standards being slowly embraced by consumers).
We must understand that people do not necessarily make decisions in a logical way. Instead, behaviour is frequently governed by instinct, emotion, status, past events, current socio-cultural beliefs and values, and one’s peer or social group. Changing the behaviour of housing consumers will require significant insight or inspiration, a threat or an event that makes them think and re-evaluate actions or beliefs, thus initiating the process of change.
That buyers of apartments are really prepared to pay more for apartments in environmentally friendly buildings has been disputed for a long time. Architect Michael Green, for instance, notes: ‘95 per cent of the public tell us they would pay more because the building is green; but only 5 per cent really do’ .
Houses made of wood are, of course, nothing new to Australians. The ‘Queenslander’ house is a prefabricated timber house that can be dismantled and reassembled on other sites; and older style houses in Perth, for instance, are made of wood and are frequently plagued by termites and fire; they are less durable than brick structures and tend to have a lower resale value, all else being equal. So understandingly there is some scepticism about wooden apartment buildings.
But the successful introduction of CLT construction systems in Europe provides powerful evidence of the efforts needed where industry is entrenched in ‘old ways’ of doing business and resists a new mindset: the introduction of a more sustainable procurement pathway that includes a sustainable source of raw material (re-growing timber) and sustainable manufacturing principles.
While CLT timber multi-apartment buildings do not currently conform to fire norms or to established notions of lifestyle, they challenge our stereotypes of ‘living in a timber box’ and it is likely that fire testing will soon remove regulatory barriers. Many forms of new architecture were initially challenging and ground-breaking, questioning cultural values and traditional understandings; but have subsequently been accepted and embraced by users [69,70]. It is therefore essential to encourage new ideas about lifestyle that break with conventions (for instance, questioning the out-dated ‘Australian dream’ of living in a suburban one-storey house), that test preconceptions and, potentially, reframe our notions of urban lifestyle and post-industrial conditions . Then we can shift values and attitudes towards inner-city living in apartments.
Customer readiness for change and the perceived ease of use and usefulness of the new building material represent important steps towards the much needed social acceptance of CLT as an ideal building material to increase the density of Australian cities. Behavioural change requires a positive attitude towards CLT. Rewards for embracing CLT will support the uptake of this new building material, while showcasing CLT’s capabilities in demonstration buildings will further enhance the uptake. For instance, signage outside the pilot projects could show how many resources were saved and the CO2 emissions and tonnage of waste avoided by each building .
7. Swapping Backyards for Balconies: A Met