Walk this way

Green Building Council Australia
By Romilly Madew, Chief Executive, Green Building Council of Australia
Monday, 03 November, 2014


Sprawling, congested and polluted. These are three hallmarks of the city built for cars.

The fact that road transport generates toxic fumes and smog, and accounts for 13.2% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions profile, is just the beginning.

As Australians have become more car-dependent, our rates of obesity, asthma and heart disease have soared. Cars have encouraged an ‘obesogenic environment’ in which two-thirds of Australian adults and a quarter of Australian children may be overweight or obese.

Our car-loving cities are also damaging our national economy. The time we spend stuck in traffic continues to grow, with Sustainable Australia (2013) finding that the average weekly travel time of workers had increased from three hours and 33 minutes in 2002 to four hours and eight minutes in 2011. The price we pay is more than just lost time. Congestion is predicted to cost the economy $20.4 billion a year by 2020.

It’s time to make changes before the costs to our health, our economy and our environment become too great to bear. As the former Mayor of Bogota, Enrique Peñalosa, once observed: “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars - it’s where the rich ride public transportation.”

The ‘Transport’ category in the new Green Star - Design & As Built rating tool has just one credit: ‘Sustainable Transport’. This new credit rewards up to 10 Green Star points when project teams implement design and operational measures that reduce the carbon emissions arising from occupant travel to and from the building.

Projects gain Green Star points for reducing the number of car parks provided, and for providing dedicated space for fuel-efficient, hybrid or electric vehicles. Car share programs are also rewarded when special space is provided in the building. Active transport facilities - such as bike racks and end-of-trip facilities - are also rewarded.

One of the most innovative initiatives in the new Green Star credit is the use of a Google Maps-powered calculator, Walk Score. This online program measures the distance to amenities such as restaurants, shops and public transport, and rates the ‘walkability’ of your location. Project teams can assess the walkability of their project - and achieve Green Star points when a project’s ‘walk score’ is 70 or more.

People are more likely to embrace walking, cycling or public transport if they live in safe, compact, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods with well-connected streets and good access to amenities such as shops and parks - all things within the power of our industry to deliver. This next evolution of Green Star will help us create communities and cities that get people up and moving.

To find out more about Green Star - Design & As Built, visit: www.gbca.org.au/green-star/green-star-design-as-built/.

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