Conceptualising climate change in rural Australia : community perceptions, attitudes and (in) actions

Public engagement and support is essential for ensuring adaptation to climate change. The first step in achieving engagement is documenting how the general public currently perceive and understand climate change issues, specifically the importance they place on this global problem and identifying any unique challenges for individual communities. For rural communities, which rely heavily on local agriculture industries, climate change brings both potential impacts and opportunities. Yet, to date, our knowledge about how rural residents conceptualise climate change is limited. Thus, this research explores how the broader rural community – not only farmers – conceptualise climate change and responsive activities, focussing on documenting the understandings and risk perceptions of local residents from two small Australian rural communities. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted in communities in the Eden/Gippsland region on the border of New South Wales and Victoria, and the North-East of Tasmania. There are conflicting views on how climate change is conceptualised, the degree of concern and need for action, the role of local industry, who will 'win' and 'lose', and the willingness of rural communities to adapt. In particular, residents who believed in anthropogenic or human-induced factors described the changing climate as evidence of 'climate change', whereas those who were more sceptical termed it 'weather variability', suggesting that there is a divide in rural Australia that, unless urgently addressed, will hinder local and national policy responses to this global issue. Engaging these communities in the 21st century climate change debate will require a significant change in terminology and communication strategies.

Retrofitting commercial office buildings for sustainability : tenants’ expectations and experiences

Introduction Buildings, which account for approximately half of all annual energy and greenhouse gas emissions, are an important target area for any strategy addressing climate change. Whilst new commercial buildings increasingly address sustainability considerations, incorporating green technology in the refurbishment process of older buildings is technically, financially and socially challenging. This research explores the expectations and experiences of commercial office building tenants, whose building was under-going green refurbishment. Methodology Semi-structured in-depth interviews with seven residents and neighbours of a large case-study building under-going green refurbishment in Melbourne, Australia. Built in 1979, the 7,008m² ‘B’ grade building consists of 11 upper levels of office accommodation, ground floor retail, and a basement area leased as a licensed restaurant. After refurbishment, which included the installation of chilled water pumps, solar water heating, waterless urinals, insulation, disabled toilets, and automatic dimming lights, it was expected that the environmental performance of the building would move from a non-existent zero ABGR (Australian Building Greenhouse Rating) star rating to 3.5 stars, with a 40% reduction in water consumption and 20% reduction in energy consumption. Interviews were transcribed, with responses analysed using a thematic approach, identifying categories, themes and patterns. Results Commercial property tenants are on a journey to sustainability - they are interested and willing to engage in discussions about sustainability initiatives, but the process, costs and benefits need to be clear. Critically, whilst sustainability was an essential and non-negotiable criterion in building selection for government and larger corporate tenants, sustainability was not yet a core business value for smaller organisations – whilst they could see it as an emerging issue, they wanted detailed cost-benefit analyses, pay-back calculations of proposed technologies and, ideally, wished they could trial the technology first-hand in some way. Although extremely interested in learning more, most participants reported relatively minimal knowledge of specific sustainability features, designs or products. In discussions about different sustainable technologies (e.g., waterless urinals, green-rated carpets), participants frequently commented that they knew little about the technology, had not heard of it or were not sure exactly how it worked. Whilst participants viewed sustainable commercial buildings as the future, they had varied expectations about the fate of existing older buildings – most felt that they would have to be retrofitted at some point to meet market expectations and predicted the emergence of a ‘non-sustainability discount’ for residing in a building without sustainable features. Discussion This research offers a beginning point for understanding the difficulty of integrating green technology in older commercial buildings. Tenants currently have limited understandings of technology and potential building performance outcomes, which ultimately could impede the implementation of sustainable initiatives in older buildings. Whilst the commercial property market is interested in learning about sustainability in the built environment, the findings highlight the importance of developing a strong business case, communication and transition plan for implementing sustainability retrofits in existing commercial buildings.

Residential satisfaction in inner urban higher-density Brisbane, Australia : role of dwelling, neighbours and neighbourhood

Increasing the population density of urban areas is a key policy strategy to sustainably manage growth, but many residents often view higher density living as an undesirable long-term housing option. Thus, this research explores the predictors of residential satisfaction in inner urban higher-density (IUHD) environments, surveying 636 IUHD residents in Brisbane, Australia about the importance of dwelling, neighbours and neighbourhood. Relationships with immediate neighbours did not predict residential satisfaction, but features of the neighbourhood and dwelling were critical, specifically satisfaction with dwelling position, design and facilities, and social contacts (family and friends) in the neighbourhood. Identifying the factors that influence residential satisfaction in IUHD will assist with both planning and design, helping ensure a lower resident turnover rate and greater uptake of high density living.

Urban food futures : ICTs and opportunities

Food is a vital foundation of all human life. It is essential to a myriad of political, socio-cultural, economic and environmental practices throughout history. However, those practices of food production, consumption, and distribution have the potential to now go through immensely transformative shifts as network technologies become increasingly embedded in every domain of contemporary life. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are one of the key foundations of global functionality and sustenance today and undoubtedly will continue to present new challenges and opportunities for the future. As such, this Symposium will bring together leading scholars across disciplines to address challenges and opportunities at the intersection of food and ICTs in everyday urban environment. In particular, the discussion will revolve around the question: What are the key roles that network technologies play in re-shaping the food systems at micro- to macroscopic level? The symposium will contribute a unique perspective on urban food futures through the lens of network society paradigm where ICTs enable innovations in production, organisation, and communication within society. Some of the topics addressed will include encouraging transparency in food commodity chains; value of cultural understanding and communication in global food sustainability; and technologies to social inclusion; all of which evoke and examine the question surrounding networked individuals as changes catalysts for urban food futures. The event will provide an avenue for new discussions and speculations on key issues surrounding urban food futures in the network era, with a particular focus on bottom-up micro actions that challenge the existing food systems towards a broader sociocultural, political, technological, and environmental transformations. One central area of concern is that current systems of food production, distribution, and consumption do not ensure food security for the future, but rather seriously threaten it. With the recent unprecedented scale of urban growth and rise of middle-class, the problem continues to intensify. This situation requires extensive distribution networks to feed urban residents, and therefore poses significant infrastructural challenges to both the public and private sectors. The symposium will also address the transferability of citizen empowerment that network technologies enable as demonstrated in various significant global political transformations from the bottom-up, such as the recent Egyptian Youth Revolution. Another key theme of the discussion will be the role of ICTs (and the practices that they mediate) in fostering transparency in commodity chains. The symposium will ask what differences these technologies can make on the practices of food consumption and production. After discussions, we will initiate an international network of food-thinkers and actors that will function as a platform for knowledge sharing and collaborations. The participants will be invited to engage in planning for the on-going future development of the network.

Sub-tropical high-density, low rise residential buildings: case study 3

The case study 3 team viewed the mitigation of noise and air pollution generated in the transport corridor that borders the study site to be a paramount driver of the urban design solution. These key urban planning strategies were adopted: * Spatial separation from transport corridor pollution source. A linear green zone and environmental buffer was proposed adjacent to the transport corridor to mitigate the environmental noise and air quality impacts of the corridor, and to offer residents opportunities for recreation * Open space forming the key structural principle for neighbourhood design. A significant open space system underpins the planning and manages surface water flows. * Urban blocks running on east-west axis. The open space rationale emphasises an east-west pattern for local streets. Street alignment allows for predominantly north-south facing terrace type buildings which both face the street and overlook the green courtyard formed by the perimeter buildings. The results of the ESD assessment of the typologies conclude that the design will achieve good outcomes through: * Lower than average construction costs compared with other similar projects * Thermal comfort; A good balance between daylight access and solar gains is achieved * The energy rating achieved for the units is 8.5 stars.

Estimation on the mortality and disease burden attributed to selected risk factors in Shandong province [山东省主要危险因素的归因死亡和疾病负担分析]

Objective: To determine the major health related risk factors and provide evidence for policy-making,using health burden analysis on selected factors among general population from Shandong province. Methods: Based on data derived from the Third Death of Cause Sampling Survey in Shandong. Years of life lcrat(YLLs),yearS Iived with disability(YLDs)and disability-adjusted life years(DALYs) were calculated according to the GBD ethodology.Deaths and DALYs attributed to the selected risk factors were than estimated together with the PAF data from GBD 2001 study.The indirect method was employed to estimate the YLDs. Results: 51.09%of the total dearlls and 31.83%of the total DALYs from the Shandong population were resulted from the 19 selected risk factors.High blood pre.ure,smoking,low fruit and vegetable intake,aleohol consumption,indoor smoke from solid fuels,high cholesterol,urban air pollution, physical inactivity,overweight and obesity and unsafe injections in health care settings were identified as the top 10 risk faetors for mortality which together caused 50.21%of the total deaths.Alcohol use,smoking,high blood pressure,Low fruit and vegetable intake, indoor smoke from solid fuels, overweight and obesity,high cholesterol, physical inactivity,urban air pollution and iron-deficiency anemia were proved as the top 10 risk factors related to disease burden and were responsible for 29.04%of the total DALYs. Conclusion: Alcohol use.smoking and high blood pressure were determined as the major risk factors which influencing the health of residents in Shandong. The mortality and burden of disease could be reduced significantly if these major factors were effectively under control.

Engaging new digital locals with interactive urban screens to collaboratively improve the city

Local governments struggle to engage time poor and seemingly apathetic citizens, as well as the city’s young digital natives, the digital locals. This project aims at providing a lightweight, technological contribution towards removing the hierarchy between those who build the city and those who use it. We aim to narrow this gap by enhancing people’s experience of physical spaces with digital, civic technologies that are directly accessible within that space. This paper presents the findings of a design trial allowing users to interact with a public screen via their mobile phones. The screen facilitated a feedback platform about a concrete urban planning project by promoting specific questions and encouraging direct, in-situ, real-time responses via SMS and twitter. This new mechanism offers additional benefits for civic participation as it gives voice to residents who otherwise would not be heard. It also promotes a positive attitude towards local governments and gathers information different from more traditional public engagement tools.

The effect of housing characteristics and occupant activities on the respiratory health of women and children in Lao PDR

The paper presents the results of a study conducted into the relationship between dwelling characteristics and occupant activities with the respiratory health of resident women and children in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR). Lao is one of the least developed countries in south-east Asia with poor life expectancies and mortality rates. The study, commissioned by the World Health Organisation, included questionnaires delivered to residents of 356 dwellings in nine districts in Lao PDR over a five month period (December 2005-April 2006), with the aim of identifying the association between respiratory health and indoor air pollution, in particular exposures related to indoor biomass burning. Adjusted odds ratios were calculated for each health outcome separately using binary logistic regression. After adjusting for age, a wide range of symptoms of respiratory illness in women and children aged 1-4 years were positively associated with a range of indoor exposures related to indoor cooking, including exposure to a fire and location of the cooking place. Among women, “dust always inside the house” and smoking were also identified as strong risk factors for respiratory illness. Other strong risk factors for children, after adjusting for age and gender, included dust and drying clothes inside. This analysis confirms the role of indoor air pollution in the burden of disease among women and children in Lao PDR.

The association between objectively measured neighborhood features and walking in middle-aged adults

Purpose: To explore the role of the neighborhood environment in supporting walking Design: Cross sectional study of 10,286 residents of 200 neighborhoods. Participants were selected using a stratified two-stage cluster design. Data were collected by mail survey (68.5% response rate). Setting: The Brisbane City Local Government Area, Australia, 2007. Subjects: Brisbane residents aged 40 to 65 years. Measures Environmental: street connectivity, residential density, hilliness, tree coverage, bikeways, and street lights within a one kilometer circular buffer from each resident’s home; and network distance to nearest river or coast, public transport, shop, and park. Walking: minutes in the previous week categorized as < 30 minutes, ≥ 30 < 90 minutes, ≥ 90 < 150 minutes, ≥ 150 < 300 minutes, and ≥ 300 minutes. Analysis: The association between each neighborhood characteristic and walking was examined using multilevel multinomial logistic regression and the model parameters were estimated using Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. Results: After adjustment for individual factors, the likelihood of walking for more than 300 minutes (relative to <30 minutes) was highest in areas with the most connectivity (OR=1.93, 99% CI 1.32-2.80), the greatest residential density (OR=1.47, 99% CI 1.02-2.12), the least tree coverage (OR=1.69, 99% CI 1.13-2.51), the most bikeways (OR=1.60, 99% CI 1.16-2.21), and the most street lights (OR=1.50, 99% CI 1.07-2.11). The likelihood of walking for more than 300 minutes was also higher among those who lived closest to a river or the coast (OR=2.06, 99% CI 1.41-3.02). Conclusion: The likelihood of meeting (and exceeding) physical activity recommendations on the basis of walking was higher in neighborhoods with greater street connectivity and residential density, more street lights and bikeways, closer proximity to waterways, and less tree coverage. Interventions targeting these neighborhood characteristics may lead to improved environmental quality as well as lower rates of overweight and obesity and associated chromic disease.

Mapping of shallow coastal groundwaters, their hydrology and environmental geochemistry : Pumicestone catchment, Southeast Queensland

Blooms of the toxic cyanobacterium majuscula Lyngbya in the coastal waters of southeast Queensland have caused adverse impacts on both environmental health and human health, and on local economies such as fishing and tourism. A number of studies have confirmed that the main limiting nutrients (“nutrients of concern”) that contribute to these blooms area Fe, DOC, N, P and also pH. This study is conducted to establish the distribution of these parameters in a typical southeast Queensland coastal setting. The study maps the geochemistry of shallow groundwater in the mainland Pumicestone catchment with an emphasis on the nutrients of concern to understand how these nutrients relate to aquifer materials, landuse and anthropogenic activities. The results of the study form a GIS information layer which will be incorporated into a larger GIS model being produced by Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) to support landuse management to avoid/minimize blooms of Lyngbya in Moreton Bay, southeast Queensland, and other similar settings. A total of 38 boreholes were established in the mainland Pumicestone region and four sampling rounds of groundwater carried out in both dry and wet conditions. These groundwater samples were measured in the field for physico-chemical parameters, and in the laboratory analyses for the nutrients of concern, and other major and minor ions. Aquifer materials were confirmed using the Geological Survey of Queensland digital geology map, and geomaterials were assigned to seven categories which are A (sands), B (silts, sandy silts), C (estuarine mud, silts), D (humid soils), E (alluvium), F (sandstone) and G (other bedrock). The results of the water chemistry were examined by use of the software package AquaChem/AqQA, and divided into six groundwater groups, based on groundwater chemical types and location of boreholes. The type of aquifer material and location, and proximity to waterways was found to be important because they affected physico-chemical properties and concentrations of nutrients of concern and dissolved ions. The analytical results showed that iron concentrations of shallow groundwaters were high due to acid sulfate soils, and also mud and silt, but were lower in sand materials. DOC concentrations of these shallow groundwaters in the sand material were high probably due to rapid infiltration. In addition, DOC concentrations in some boreholes were high because they were installed in organic rich wetlands. The pH values of boreholes were from acidic to near neutral; some boreholes with pH values were low (< 4), showing acid sulfate soils in these boreholes. Concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus of groundwaters were generally low, and the main causes of elevated concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus are largely due to animal and human wastes and tend to be found in localized source areas. Comparison of the relative percentage of nitrogen species (NH3/NH4< Org-N, NO3-N and NO2-N) demonstrated that they could be related to sources such as animal waste, residential and agricultural fertilizers, forest and vegetation, mixed residents and farms, and variable setting and vegetation covers. Total concentrations of dissolved ions in sampling round 3 (dry period) were higher than those in sampling round 2 (wet period) due to both evaporation of groundwater in the dry period and the dilution of rainfall in the wet period. This showed that the highest concentrations of nutrients of concern were due to acid sulfate soils, aquifer materials, landuse and anthropogenic activities and were typically in aquifer materials of E (alluvium) and C (estuarine muds) and locations of Burpengary, Caboolture, and Glass Mountain catchments.

Deliberation and empowerment in Rio de Janeiro's favelas

In modern day Brazil, new media initiatives centred in local communities are attempting to change the face of mainstream ideas about favelas and their inhabitants. One of these initiatives is Viva Favela which is ideologically and physically supported by the NGO Viva Rio that is based in Rio de Janeiro. This non-government organisation runs projects that provide favela residents with skills to take, edit and print their own(photo)journalism contents that enable a community-based framing and documentation of favela life, personalities and issues. The NGO furthermore has developed a range of public venues for displaying these works of (photo)journalism, thus minimising the invisibility that favela dwellers feel in Brazilian political life. This paper takes a discursive and ethnographic approach to investigating how community media might contribute with the aims of empowering people and supporting deliberation within Rio de Janeiro’s favelas.

Enabling sustainable property practices by ensuring security of tenure

Sustainable property practices will be essential for Australia’s future. The various levels of government offer incentives aimed at encouraging residents to participate in sustainable practices. Many of these programmes however are only accessible by owner occupiers, or landlords and tenants with long term tenancies. Improving security of tenure for tenants, to enable longer term tenancies, would positively impact upon property practices. This article explains what security of tenure is and identifies how a lack of security of tenure adversely impacts property practices. By comparison with Genevan property practices, it concludes by making suggestions as to how security of tenure can be reinforced.

Using mobile social media and GIS in health and place research

This paper presents new research methods that combine the use of location-based, social media on mobile phones with geographic information systems (GIS) to explore connections between people, place and health. It discusses the feasibility, limitations, and benefits of using these methods, which enable real-time, location-based, quantitative data to be collected on the recreation, consumption, and physical activity patterns of urban residents in Brisbane, Queensland. The study employs mechanisms already inherent in popular mobile social media applications (Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare) to collect this data. The research methods presented in this paper are innovative and potentially applicable to an increasing number of academic research areas, as well as to a growing range of service providers that benefit from monitoring consumer behaviour, and responding to emerging changes in these patterns and trends. The ability to both collect and map objective, real-time data about the consumption, leisure, recreation, and physical activity patterns amongst urban communities has direct implications for a range of research disciplines including media studies, advertising, health promotion, social marketing, public health inequalities, and urban design.

Risk factors for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection among children in Greenland

Objective To examine the risk factors for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (MTI) among Greenlandic children for the purpose of identifying those at highest risk of infection. Methods Between 2005 and 2007, 1797 Greenlandic schoolchildren in five different areas were tested for MTI with an interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) and a tuberculin skin test (TST). Parents or guardians were surveyed using a standardized self-administered questionnaire to obtain data on crowding in the household, parents’ educational level and the child’s health status. Demographic data for each child – i.e. parents’ place of birth, number of siblings, distance between siblings (next younger and next older), birth order and mother’s age when the child was born – were also extracted from a public registry. Logistic regression was used to check for associations between these variables and MTI, and all results were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Children were considered to have MTI if they tested positive on both the IGRA assay and the TST. Findings The overall prevalence of MTI was 8.5% (152/1797). MTI was diagnosed in 26.7% of the children with a known TB contact, as opposed to 6.4% of the children without such contact. Overall, the MTI rate was higher among Inuit children (OR: 4.22; 95% CI: 1.55–11.5) and among children born less than one year after the birth of the next older sibling (OR: 2.48; 95% CI: 1.33–4.63). Self-reported TB contact modified the profile to include household crowding and low mother’s education. Children who had an older MTI-positive sibling were much more likely to test positive for MTI themselves (OR: 14.2; 95% CI: 5.75–35.0) than children without an infected older sibling. Conclusion Ethnicity, sibling relations, number of household residents and maternal level of education are factors associated with the risk of TB infection among children in Greenland. The strong household clustering of MTI suggests that family sources of exposure are important.

Characterisation and source identification of selected pollutants in house dust

House dust is a heterogeneous matrix, which contains a number of biological materials and particulate matter gathered from several sources. It is the accumulation of a number of semi-volatile and non-volatile contaminants. The contaminants are trapped and preserved. Therefore, house dust can be viewed as an archive of both the indoor and outdoor air pollution. There is evidence to show that on average, people tend to stay indoors most of the time and this increases exposure to house dust. The aims of this investigation were to: " assess the levels of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), elements and pesticides in the indoor environment of the Brisbane area; " identify and characterise the possible sources of elemental constituents (inorganic elements), PAHs and pesticides by means of Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF); and " establish the correlations between the levels of indoor air pollutants (PAHs, elements and pesticides) with the external and internal characteristics or attributes of the buildings and indoor activities by means of multivariate data analysis techniques. The dust samples were collected during the period of 2005-2007 from homes located in different suburbs of Brisbane, Ipswich and Toowoomba, in South East Queensland, Australia. A vacuum cleaner fitted with a paper bag was used as a sampler for collecting the house dust. A survey questionnaire was filled by the house residents which contained information about the indoor and outdoor characteristics of their residences. House dust samples were analysed for three different pollutants: Pesticides, Elements and PAHs. The analyses were carried-out for samples of particle size less than 250 µm. The chemical analyses for both pesticides and PAHs were performed using a Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), while elemental analysis was carried-out by using Inductively-Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS). The data was subjected to multivariate data analysis techniques such as multi-criteria decision-making procedures, Preference Ranking Organisation Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE), coupled with Geometrical Analysis for Interactive Aid (GAIA) in order to rank the samples and to examine data display. This study showed that compared to the results from previous works, which were carried-out in Australia and overseas, the concentrations of pollutants in house dusts in Brisbane and the surrounding areas were relatively very high. The results of this work also showed significant correlations between some of the physical parameters (types of building material, floor level, distance from industrial areas and major road, and smoking) and the concentrations of pollutants. Types of building materials and the age of houses were found to be two of the primary factors that affect the concentrations of pesticides and elements in house dust. The concentrations of these two types of pollutant appear to be higher in old houses (timber houses) than in the brick ones. In contrast, the concentrations of PAHs were noticed to be higher in brick houses than in the timber ones. Other factors such as floor level, and distance from the main street and industrial area, also affected the concentrations of pollutants in the house dust samples. To apportion the sources and to understand mechanisms of pollutants, Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF) receptor model was applied. The results showed that there were significant correlations between the degree of concentration of contaminants in house dust and the physical characteristics of houses, such as the age and the type of the house, the distance from the main road and industrial areas, and smoking. Sources of pollutants were identified. For PAHs, the sources were cooking activities, vehicle emissions, smoking, oil fumes, natural gas combustion and traces of diesel exhaust emissions; for pesticides the sources were application of pesticides for controlling termites in buildings and fences, treating indoor furniture and in gardens for controlling pests attacking horticultural and ornamental plants; for elements the sources were soil, cooking, smoking, paints, pesticides, combustion of motor fuels, residual fuel oil, motor vehicle emissions, wearing down of brake linings and industrial activities.