The Zero Waste SA Research Centre
in Sustainable Design and Behaviour (SD+B)
at the University of South Australia, Adelaide

Welcome to the Zero Waste SA Research Centre in Sustainable Design and Behaviour (SD+B) at the University of South Australia (UniSA).

Our mission is to foster sustainable futures through integrated research and learning about the linkages among materials, waste, consumer behaviour and natural systems, to support decision making for local to global scales.

SD+B is an issue-driven interdisciplinary research centre with interest and expertise in a wide range of environment and sustainability issues. We are developing international research expertise for intelligent solutions and improved decision making.

The Zero Waste SA Research Centre in Sustainable Design and Behaviour (SD+B) at the University of South Australia is an internationally recognized research centre and focal point for systems thinking in sustainability, design and waste-related research.

The research centre is building long-term collaborative partnerships with industry, business, government and the community to promote environmental sustainability in Australia and the Asia-Pacific, and develop regional solutions for South Australia.

It is focusing on reducing waste, avoiding wasteful consumption and optimizing material flows. Established in 2010 as partnership between the government's Zero Waste SA agency and the University of South Australia (UniSA), the centre builds long term capacity in research and conducts scholarly research in the following priority research areas:

• Material flows, urban metabolism and value chains for resource efficiency
• Waste avoidance, waste management and recycling, towards a truly sustainable society
• Sustainable design and human behaviour that addresses issues of modified consumption patterns
• The psychology of consumption, understanding and changing consumer behaviour, and mobilizing this change
• Sociological and technological innovations in sustainable practices and design
• Sustainable resilient cities, energy and material-efficient architecture and urbanism
• Social sustainability and its relation to urban ecology, technology and design issues
• Materials and resources, energy use and waste creation for a low carbon future
• Prefabricated, lightweight construction systems for disassembly, material efficiency and durability
• Measuring embodied energy, life cycle, consumption and ecological footprint, and
• Improved decision making: Helping companies with improvements to their waste, water, energy and manufacturing processes, as an adjunct to the Business Sustainability Alliance.

In addition, the Zero Waste SA Research Centre in Sustainable Design and Behaviour (SD+B) has the mission to:

• Share knowledge, support capacity building for sustainable urban futures and advice governments on complex projects
• Involve developing countries in the Asia-Pacific Region, working towards a global agenda
• Supporting and mentoring higher degree researchers and young academics from the Asia-Pacific Region.

New holistic design concepts are emerging that understand waste as a valuable resource and part of a closed-cycle urban ecology. SB+D aims at narrowing the performance gap between what is technologically and behaviourally feasible in sustainable urban development and design and what actually happens on the ground.

The Zero Waste SA Research Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour (SD+B) works in close collaboration with a large variety of stakeholders, including local enterprises and decision-makers to governmental bodies, NGOs and international businesses to produce high quality research in areas of topical societal interest.

The SD+B Research Centre develops collaborative research across Australia and internationally, taking a collaborative approach to research. It draws on a wide range of expertise, collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of researchers across the university and key government, industry and community stakeholders.

We collaborate with non-academic organizations such as local governments and business, making significant contributions to affect more sustainable design and behavioural change at individual and corporate levels, with a view to minimize waste and achieve better usage of resources.

'We hope to act as a magnet for researchers from throughout Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region, to explore broader application in the community and to be pragmatically engaged in zero waste/zero emission research in Australia, China, India and beyond, in a way that can reflect back into academic debates and produce new knowledge,' director Prof. Steffen Lehmann says.

The academic and research structure of the University of South Australia comprises divisions, research institutes, and centres and groups, guided by an international best-practice framework to enhance the teaching-research nexus. Key participants in a long-term strategic alliance with the Zero Waste SA Research Centre in Sustainable Design and Behaviour (SD+B) are:

• the Government of South Australia through its Zero Waste SA agency
• local government, key industry and community representatives
• an international collaborative research network
• researchers from the University of South Australia’s academic divisions and schools, including:
• the Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies (HRISS), in the Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences,
• the Institute for Sustainable Systems and Technologies (ISST), in the Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment
• the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science, and other internationally recognized research institutes.

Professor Steffen Lehmann is the Director of the research centre. He was Professor and Chair of the Architecture School at the University of Newcastle (NSW), since 2002. He has held the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Urban Development for the Asia-Pacific Region, since 2008.

Dr. Lehmann received his doctorate from the Technical University of Berlin (2003), the AA Dipl. degree from the Architectural Association London (1990), and a Master degree from the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz (1988). He has been practicing as registered architect and urban designer in Germany since 1992 and established his own practice, the Space Laboratory for Architectural Research and Design (s_Lab) in 1993, to combine practice with research in pursuit of a more sustainable design ethic.

Steffen Lehmann has won a number of prizes in architecture, participated in and organized numerous international exhibitions in art and architecture, and published ten books on architecture. He is the General-Editor of the US-based Journal of Green Building and convener of an international conference on Sustainable Architecture and Urban Development in 2010. Over the last 15 years, he has presented his research and designs at over 300 conferences in 25 countries.

Steffen has participated in and lead a number of interdisciplinary research and educational projects related to environmental sustainability and design issues. Some of these projects have been closely linked to his own research interests, in other projects, his role has been more that of a facilitator.

Steffen's research includes sustainable design for high performance city districts and buildings, design strategies for green urbanism and healthy cities. He is acknowledged as a leader in the emerging field of green urbanism and regularly consults with companies and governments worldwide on issues of design, technology and the built environment. He has taught at various leading architecture schools in Europe, USA, Australia and Asia, and is a Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore and the Technical University of Munich (DAAD-Professor).

His recent books include:

• 2009 ‘Back to the City’, Hatje Cantz Publisher, Stuttgart
• 2010 ‘The Principles of Green Urbanism’, Earthscan Publisher, London

• Zero Waste SA is a South Australian state government organisation.
  
• Delfin Lend Lease is Australia’s leading developer of urban communities.
  
• and other important partners.

Zero Waste SA Research Centre for Sustainable Design & Behaviour (SD+B)
Director, Professor Steffen Lehmann, PhD
Professor of Sustainable Design and Behaviour
School of Art, Architecture and Design
The University of South Australia
Kaurna Building, City West Campus
North Terrace
GPO Box 2471
Adelaide, South Australia SA5001
www.unisa.edu.au
Telephone: +61 - (0)8 - 8302 0564
Email: steffen.lehmann@unisa.edu.au
www.slab.com.au