Net Zero Precincts is a new ARC Linkage project that aims to help cities and urban regions reach net zero emissions. It will take the precinct level as an optimal scale to trial innovative approaches to urban sustainability transition.

Net Zero Precincts is a new ARC Linkage project that aims to help cities and urban regions reach net zero emissions. It will take the precinct level as an optimal scale to trial innovative approaches to urban sustainability transition. Net Zero Precincts is bringing together a new approach to transition management by using design anthropology to engage with the precinct community and consider their lived experiences. This will be tested over the next four years in an action-oriented case study in the Monash Technology Precinct through three Living Lab experiments across energy, mobility and buildings.

The ARC Linkage project is being led by MSDI’s Professor Rob Raven and Dr. Darren Sharp, in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team from Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash Art, Design and Architecture, Faculty of Information Technology and Faculty of Arts. We will also be partnering with leaders from industry, academia and the community for the innovative project - including ENGIE, the City of Monash, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, and the CSIRO.

Net Zero Precincts will enable our industry partners to create integrated urban solutions and deliver a framework for urban transition management that aligns with the everyday experiences and visions of precinct community members, providing guidance for local government and state-level policy actors with commitments to net zero. The outcomes will benefit citizens and the broader community by making urban transitions socially and economically beneficial to future users of net zero precincts.

This Linkage project provides an exciting opportunity to train 5 PhD students who will work together as an interdisciplinary cohort under the supervision of the Chief Investigators and Research Fellows. Fieldwork will take place at the Monash Clayton Campus and Monash Technology Precinct through action research across a range of socio-technical innovations in governance, policy and community participation to investigate how to accelerate net zero transition at precinct scale. Net Zero Precincts PhD candidates will benefit from ongoing professional development opportunities, research seminars and intensive student placements with industry and government partners to drive translation and research impact.

Dr Darren Sharp, Research Coordinator, said the Linkage project would enable the team to trial innovation solutions to decarbonisation through close engagement with industry, government and community participants. “Using the Clayton Campus and Technology Precinct as a Living Lab for sustainability creates a unique opportunity to work with staff, students, businesses and residents to experiment with emerging net zero technology, policy and governance innovations in a real-world setting. The interdisciplinary nature of the project opens up new avenues to explore net zero transition at precinct scale that brings together systems change and design-led approaches to community participation. The development of a framework on urban transition management will benefit industry and government partners and provide an important case study for other cities in Australia and around the world with similar net zero ambitions.”

Find out more about the PhD opportunities available.