EXCELLENCE IN SCIENCE PUBLISHING

Urban Consumption

Edited by Peter W. Newton
Paperback
April 2012
9780643096875
More details
  • Publisher
    CSIRO Publishing
  • Published
    20th April 2012
  • ISBN 9780643096875
  • Language English
  • Pages 304 pp.
  • Size 6" x 9.5"
  • Images illus
$125.00

* Explores the prospect for winding back current levels of household consumption
* Covers such critical areas as energy, water, food, housing and travel
* Represents the results of original research directed towards understanding the determinants of consumption

Growth in human consumption is the transcending problem of our times. In the short span of 50 years, high income societies have shifted from an era when a "simple life" was the norm to one where material consumption is pervasive. Consumption has become the engine for post-industrial societies. The liveability of cities in these societies is directly attributable to the consumption of resources – indirectly via their built environments and directly by their residents. This pattern of development is not sustainable. Nor is it equitable.

Urban Consumption explores the prospect for winding back current levels of household consumption in high income societies, covering such critical areas as energy, water, food, housing and travel.

1) Consumption and environmental sustainability—Peter Newton
Consumption in context
2) Inside looking out: the global politics of Australia’s population debates—David Ritter
3) The Ecological Footprint of consumption: spatial and sectoral context—Thomas Wiedmann, Richard Wood, John Barrett and Manfred Lenzen
4) Consumption and the environment: impacts from a system perspective—Graham M Turner
5) The elementary forms of the consumerist life: a sociological perspective—Peter Corrigan
6) Consumer sentiment and consumption—Chew Lian Chua and Edda Claus
7) The psychology of consumption—Michael Kyrios
8) Consuming online in Australia—Scott Ewing
Household consumption in an urban context
9) Australian household consumption and the slow burn of the environment—Terry Burke and Liss Ralston
10) Food consumption in Australia—Leonie J Pearson and Liss Ralston
11) Wasteful consumption—Richard Denniss and David Baker
12) Sustainable travel: mobility, lifestyle and practice—Stewart Barr and Jan Prillwitz
13) Consuming the urban environment: a study of the factors that influence resource use in an Australian city—Peter Newton and Denny Meyer
14) Understanding household attitudes and behaviours towards waste, water and energy conservation—Kelly S Fielding, Winnifred R Louis, Clive Warren and Alice Thompson
15) Factors in energy and water consumption—Bill Randolph and Patrick Troy
16) Practices involving energy and water consumption in migrant households—Cecily Maller
17) Spatial and socioeconomic drivers of direct and indirect household energy consumption in Australia—Dominik Wiedenhofer, Manfred Lenzen and Julia K Steinberger
18) Who cares? An exploration of attitudes and behaviour towards the conservation of resources—Peter Newton and Denny Meyer
Index

Peter W. Newton

Peter W. Newton is a Research Professor at Swinburne University of Technology in the Institute for Social Research and the Centre for Regional Development. Prior to joining Swinburne in December 2006, Dr Newton held senior research and management positions in CSIRO as a Chief Research Scientist, where he directed the program of research related to sustainable built environments. Between 2001 and 2007 he also directed the sustainability research of the CRC for Construction Innovation. Dr Newton's key publications have included the 2006, 2001 and 1996 Australian State of Environment Reports on Human Settlements as well as several books related to urban development including: Re-Shaping Cities for a More Sustainable Future; East-West Perspectives on 21st Century Urban Development; Cities in Competition; Cities of the 21st Century; The Future of Urban Form; Population Shift: Population and Mobility in Australia.