Project leaders: Professor Kath Hulse and Dr Aneta Podkalicka
Research team: Associate Professor Esther Milne, Dr Gavin Melles and Ms Tomi Winfree
Home renovation provides a major opportunity to reduce the very significant carbon dioxide emissions from Australia’s almost 8 million existing occupied dwellings whilst achieving owners’ other objectives. Current ‘top down’ education approaches aimed at changing behaviours have, however, been relatively ineffective.
This is an innovative project designed to provide an alternative approach that focuses on changing home renovation practices in Australia – it is exploring how media is used for advice and information, engaging practitioners, for social communication and popular education in the renovation process. The project integrates methodologies and expertise from across media and communication studies, sociology and design, and works with a range of industry partners.
Its key aim is to explore the role of media across the full spectrum of mainstream and social media and its potential to contribute to making low carbon home renovation practices the norm.
The project includes an important contribution from design/co-design methodologies to develop and assess innovative media and communication strategies to support mainstream adoption of low carbon products and practices as an integral part of renovation projects, enabling decarbonisation of the existing residential building stock.
