RP3021: Media and Communication Strategies to Achieve Carbon Reduction

Peer Reviewed Research Publications

RP3021: Journal Article: Co-design in the context of collaborative research centre projects: homeowner DIY renovation design fictions

Collaborative Research Centres (CRC) in Australia focus on themes of national interest, such as low-carbon living (LCL). Such projects engage interdisciplinary teams of academics, industry, and government and occasionally design disciplines. A key aim of such collaborations is to explore industry and government relevant research with a view to commercialization. In the interdisciplinary CRC LCL project described in this article, the role of media, intermediaries, and other social networks, as well as the relational notion of trust, proved to be central tropes. Through the co-design outcomes of the project involving a range of stakeholders and students, the author made such concepts tangible and reflected on the critical arguments for and against media as vector for sustainable renovation.

In this article, the author argues for the multiple impacts of non-commercial design outputs for design research, the role of prototypes as arguments, and integration of student engagement for situated learning.

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RP3021: Journal Article: Diverse media practices and economies of Australian home renovators: budgeting, self-education and documentation

This paper seeks to uncover a diversity of economic practices and engagement by home renovators, predominantly homeowners. In particular, the authors explore how different forms of media consumption and production intertwine to shape home renovation projects. While the Australian renovation market is a multi-billion-dollar industry, it is cut through with small-scale, informal modes of knowledge production and economic exchange. How people use media to learn, share and document their renovations reflects the diversity of this economic landscape. From how-to videos on YouTube and the curated homewear pages of Pinterest to the mainstream impact of The Block, media platforms occupy a significant place in the ways in which people renovate. Yet, few studies actually examine the specificity of media use.

In response, this paper traces the renovators’ media practices involved in the everyday labour of home renovation; projects which require substantial social and emotional resources, diverse literacies and enterprise. This paper's conceptual framework draws from the logic of ‘double articulation’, an enduring insight offered by Silverstone, Livingstone, Hirsch and others to examine the pivotal discursive and instrumental role played by media in home renovation.

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doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2017.1281882

CRCLCL Project Reports

RP3021: Report: ‘Designing in’ – media and communications for low carbon home renovation

This is the third report of a project which aims to explore the role and capacity of media to influence home renovation practices in established homes to produce more energy efficient outcomes and contribute to reducing Australia’s carbon emissions.

rp3021 media and home renovations report 3 (993972 PDF)

Student Poster 2017: RP3021 - MEDIA AND HOME RENOVATION: SHAPING CARBON FUTURES

Shae Hunter: Student Poster 2017 - RP3021 (588439 PDF)

Student Poster 2017: RP3021 - THE AUSTRALIAN HOME RENOVATION: MEDIA & DESIGN CHOICES

Aggeliki Aggeli: Student Poster 2017 - RP3021 (484404 PDF)

RP3021: Project Report 2: Hashtag Sustainability? Home Renovators’ Media World

The second report from this project tells the story of the Home Renovators’ Media World. It provides a more detailed and nuanced understanding of the roles of media in home renovation processes, from the perspective of renovators. Such an understanding is essential in developing more effective communication and community engagement to achieve home renovations which are more energy efficient and which contribute to lower carbon dioxide emissions "Hashtag Sustainability? Home Renovators’ Media World" builds on work begun in the first report from this project, called ‘I’d just Google it’: media and home renovation practices in Australia. Report 1 outlined renovators’ motivations, influences and the ways in which they sought information and expertise. It began to investigate the role of different types of media at various stages of the renovation process: ideas, design, development and building work.

RP30221 Report : Hashtag Sustainability? Home Renovators’ Media World (1372365 PDF)

Student poster 2016: RP3021 Media and the ideal home: Shaping carbon futures

Student poster - Participants Annual Forum 2016 - Shae Hunter Media and the ideal home: Shaping carbon futures

Shae Hunter Student Poster 2016 RP3021 (204176 PDF)

RP3021 Report 1: 'I’d just Google it’: media and home renovation practices in Australia

This is the first report of a project examining ways of making energy efficient home renovations mainstream rather than a niche activity as is currently the case. Homes are a major contributor to carbon dioxide emissions in Australia; most emanating from the 98 per cent of established homes rather than the less than 2 per cent of new homes built each year. We know from government and industry research that the Australian home renovation sector is very fragmented with many small-scale participants. This is the first Australian study to explore in detail ways in which media is used to influence and communicate home renovation practices involving a large number of small-scale home renovators and design and building practitioners.

RP3021 Project Report 2016 (610787 PDF)

Student Poster 2015: RP3021 Media and Communication Strategies to Achieve Carbon Reduction Through Renovation of Australia’s Existing Housing

Student Poster – Participants Annual Forum 2015 – Aggeliki Aggeli

Low carbon home renovation in Australia: towards a participatory prototype to support stakeholders choices

Aggeliki Aggeli Student Poster 2015 RP3021 (1885434 PDF)