Sustainability essay: Sustainable Sydney 2030
BACKGROUND
This unit will provide students with background on the environmental context of the Australian continent, as well as concepts such as ‘sustainability’, ‘conservation’, ‘climate change’, and ‘environmental justice’ and will introduce a range of environmental issues and tools. Building on this, this assessment task presents students with the opportunity to carry out independent research and review an environmental management case study in which they take personal interest. In particular, students have the chance to critically use their understanding of the environmental management contexts and issues in order to analyse the success, or potential for success, of a specific sustainability initiative in Australia.
ESSAY QUESTION
Choose an Australian-based sustainability initiative as a case study, and discuss the decision-making processes involved in its design and implementation. This will include identification of various stakeholders and an analysis of their relationships. In your conclusion, based on your understanding of the concept of ‘sustainability’, please address the level of success to date, or potential for success, of the project. Also, it is a requirement of ENV605 students to state three key recommendations that will improve the sustainability initiative to address the critiques you offer. CHOOSING AN INITIATIVE At present there are various ‘sustainability’ projects across Australia. Students are encouraged to look at a number of examples before choosing a specific case for their essay. Note: a number of these projects are very large in scope, making it difficult to cover all aspects in a 2000 word assignment. For example, the sustainability program at Macquarie University (Sustainability@MQ) includes: fair trade, biodiversity, energy and emissions, transport, waste, and water. Similarly, Sustainable Sydney 2030 has a number of ‘directions’. Students are asked to choose one particular dimension of the plan (i.e. biodiversity for the program at Macquarie, or transport for the Sustainable Sydney 2030 project) so that focused assessment and analysis can take place in the essay.
1. Sustainable Sydney 2030: http://www.sydney2030.com.au
UNDERTAKING RESEARCH
To be able to formulate an argument you need to conduct research. This will involve gathering data from secondary sources (things that other people have written) and should at the minimum include: • General literature on decision-making processes and stakeholders; • Specific literature on your case study. Please take advantage of the references given in the unit guide and during lectures, but you will be expected to develop your research skills by finding your own journal articles, book chapters, books and other references.
EVALUATION
Marking criteria for the essay will be provided in the first few weeks of the semester. In your essay you need to formulate an argument in relation to the case study you have undertaken. Based on the evidence from your research, and your understanding of ‘sustainability’, do you think that the project has demonstrated a high level of success? Shows potential for success? Has not been very successful at all? What does success mean in the context of sustainability and different stakeholder perspectives? Whatever your argument is, you must also explain why. For example, do you consider the project unsuccessful because it has failed to consider the various stakeholders who may be affected by its implementation? The argument needs to be stated within the introduction, and it needs to be backed up with evidence in the body of the essay. Further, the argument needs to be revisited in the conclusion of your essay. As part of your answer you will be analysing the power relationships that exist in and around your case study and environmental management. This will involve thinking about what the decision-making processes are, who the stakeholders are, how they do (or don’t) participate in the process and the relationship between scientific knowledge and other forms of knowledge.
Remember:
• Before you start writing, read the notes on doing research provided
• 8 literature Review minimum
• Be critical of material provided on the web in terms of its reliability and its potential bias;
• Your conclusion should restate your key points / arguments and should not introduce new material.
• Presentation should be formal academic writing, double spaced, 12pt font.
• Fully referenced in Harvard style, with an alphabetised Reference list included at the end. • Reference list not included in the 2000 word count.
• Maps, figures and diagrams are acceptable, but must be relevant, referred to in text (for example: 'Figure 1 shows that...'), captioned with source, source in reference list.
SUGGESTED READING
There are various academic sources that might be of use and interest. Below is a list to help get things started; however, students will be required to investigate additional references that will support the main argument (s) of their essay. Students should make a particular effort to research their specific case study. Aplin, G. (2002) Australians and their Environment: an introduction to environmental studies, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Melbourne (especially Chapter 4). Archer, M. and Beale, M. (2004) ‘The big smoke’ in Going native: living in the Australian environment, Hodder, Sydney, pp.306-338. Barton, H. and Kleiner, D. (2000) ‘Innovative Eco-neighbourhood projects,’ in Barton, H. (Ed.), Sustainable communities: the potential for eco-neighbourhoods, Earthscan, London, pp. 66-85. Buhrs, T. and G. Aplin (1999) Pathways towards sustainability: the Australian Approach, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 42(3): 315-340. Cook, Don (2003) ‘Human interactions are crucial for sustainable development,’ Guest Editorial in Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol.111, Iss.16, pp. 864-865. Dovers, Stephen R. (1997) ‘Sustainability: demands on policy,’ Journal of Public Policy, Vol.16, No.3, pp. 303-318. Dovers, S. (2001) Institutions for Sustainability, Tela (7). Australian Conservation Foundation. Available online http://een.anu.edu.au/download_files/een0101.pdf Gurran, N., & Ruming, K. (2016). Less planning, more development? Housing and urban reform discourses in Australia. Journal of Economic Policy Reform, 19(3), 262-280. Howe, J., K. Bohn, et al. (2005). Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes: Designing Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Cities. Oxford Architectural Press. Holbrook, N. J., & Johnson, J. E. (2014). Climate change impacts and adaptation of commercial marine fisheries in Australia: a review of the science. Climatic change, 124(4), 703-715. Howitt, R. (2001). Rethinking Resource Management: Justice, Sustainability and Indigenous peoples. New York:, Routledge. Ikeme, J. (2003) Equity, environmental justice and sustainability: incomplete approaches in climate change politics. Global Environmental Change 13: 195-206. Liu, W. H., & Ou, C. H. (2007). A comparative analysis of sustainable fishery development indicator systems in Australia and Canada. Sustainable Development, 15(1), 28-40. Lehtonen, M. (2004) The environmental–social interface of sustainable development: capabilities, social capital, institutions. Ecological Economics 49: 199-214. Margerum, Richard D. (2007) ‘Overcoming locally based collaboration constraints,’ Society and natural resources, Vol.20, Iss.2, pp. 135-152. Mayer-Pinto, M., Johnston, E.L., Hutchings, P.A., Marzinelli, E.M., Ahyong, S.T., Birch, G., Booth, D.J., Creese, R.G., Doblin, M.A., Figueira, W. and Gribben, P.E. (2015). Sydney Harbour: a review of anthropogenic impacts on the biodiversity and ecosystem function of one of the world's largest natural harbours. Marine and Freshwater Research, 66(12), pp.1088-1105. McManus, P. (2005). Vortex Cities to Sustainable Cities: Australia's Urban Challenge. Sydney, UNSW Press. Morrison, T. H., G. T. McDonald and M. B. Lane (2004) Integrating Natural Resource Management for Better Environmental Outcomes. Australian Geographer 35(3): 243-258. Pearson, D., Friel, S., & Lawrence, M. (2014). Building environmentally sustainable food systems on informed citizen choices: evidence from Australia. Biological agriculture & horticulture, 30(3), 183-197. Porter, L., & Barry, J. (2016). Planning for Coexistence?: Recognizing Indigenous Rights Through Land-use Planning in Canada and Australia. Routledge. Rudlin, D and Falk, N. (1999) Building the 21st Century home: the sustainable urban Neighbourhood, Architectural Press, Oxford. Stockwell, B. R., Bradley, E., Davis, D., & Smith, J. (2016). Peri-urban food futures: Opportunities and challenges to reconfiguring sustainable local agri-food value chains on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. J. Agriculture, Food Syst. Commun. Dev, 4(1), 123-140. Taplin, R. (1999) ‘Sydney: sustainable city?’ in Walker, K. and Crowley, K. (Eds.), Australian environmental policy 2: studies in decline and devolution, Sydney, UNSW Press, pp.166-185. Walmsley, J. J. (2002) Framework for Measuring Sustainable Development in Catchment Systems. Environmental Management 29(2): 195-206. Wheeler, S. M. (2016). Sustainability Planning as Paradigm Change. Urban Planning, 1(3), 55-58. White, S., Noble, K. and Chong, J. (2008) Reform, Risk and Reality: Challenges and Opportunities for Australian Urban Water Management. The Australian Economic Review, 41(4): 428–34. Williams, P. J., Williams, P. J., Williams, A. M., & Williams, A. M. (2016). Sustainability and planning law in Australia: achievements and challenges. International Journal of Law in the Built Environment, 8(3), 226-242.