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Resilient urban systems:
a socio-technical study of community scale climate change adaptation initiatives
Phase 1 –
Potential case-studies in Victoria were identified using an online survey and two case studies
were selected for further analysis. A review of resilience literature was conducted to frame the case study
analysis.
Phase 2 –
Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 households across both sites.
These were conducted over summer with the intention of eliciting residents’ experiences adapting to high
temperatures and water stress. Householders were initially contacted anonymously
1
via a letter describing
the research and inviting interested participants to contact the researchers directly. Households were offered
a $30 voucher for Coles/Myer in exchange for their participation if selected.
Due to the large number of responses from residents, a follow-on selection process was conducted to
ensure we obtained a representative range of participants in terms of gender, age, education, cultural
heritage, family status, years in the Australia, years in the community, owner/renter, type of work and work
status.
Householder interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using NVivo qualitative analysis software.
All interviewees are de-identified and non-identifying codes are used for the purposes of analysis and
reporting on project findings. Where excerpts from the householder interviews are used in this report,
householders are identified as A1 to A13 for the 13 interviewed at Aurora, and W1 to W7 for the 7
interviewed at WestWyck.
Phase 3 –
Multiple site visits to both developments. Ninteen semi-structured interviews were conducted
with institutional stakeholders. Interviewees were identified from the following organisations: water utilities,
local councils, body corporates, developers, state government departments, community and other
organisations.
Stakeholder interviews were transcribed and documented for analysis. All interviewees are de-identified and
non-identifying codes (S1 – S19) are used for analysis and reporting.
Phase 4 -
Research findings from Phases 2 and 3 were collated and analysed for the development of
preliminary assessment criteria to evaluate resilient urban energy and water supply systems. Presentation
of outcomes and recommendations to relevant public, private and community stakeholders following the
completion of this report is also part of this phase.
Approval for all qualitative data collection was granted by the RMIT Human Research Ethics Committee in
June 2010.
Researchers from the Centre for Design and the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL) worked closely and
collaboratively to integrate the outcomes of project components. They also liaised with key stakeholders
and members of the reference group to ensure project outputs were relevant in content and appropriate in
format to their policy needs.
1 Three members of the WestWyck Owners’ Corporation controlled the initial research process. These individuals were
contacted directly and interviewed prior to the letter being approved for distribution to all households.