Critical Connections: The Role of the Built Environment Sector in Delivering Green Cities and a Green Economy

Peter Newton and Peter Newman
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Peter Newton: Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne 3122, Australia
Peter Newman: The CUSP Institute, Curtin University, Perth 6102, Australia

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 7, 1-27

Abstract: The green agenda for cities and the economy in general is a major focus of global institutions and is increasingly a major national and urban priority. Core issues and best practice for built environment businesses were collated from published studies and used in a survey of Australian firms to see how committed they were to the green economy. The results show high awareness of the challenges and opportunities with 85% of firms having sustainability as an established agenda with senior management and over 20% of built environment firms deriving more than 50% of their sales from green products and services. This is much higher in design firms and is globally high. Whilst recognizing the scope for more engagement by industry in transitioning to a low carbon green economy, there is doubt within the built environment sector about how to create a business case for innovative green ventures and a lack of certainty or encouragement from government about how to proceed.

Keywords: green economy; built environment sector; eco-cities; sustainable urban development; green innovation; low carbon economy; socio-technical transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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