Our Vision
“The Centre for Subtropical Design leads design resaearch for communities and places that perform better, cost less, are responsive and positively contribute to cultural and climatic contexts. The Centre is internationally renowned for its design research specialists committed to sustainable habitation in warm climates”.
Need for Collaborative Research and Innovation
The need for the Centre for Subtropical Design’s research agenda is stronger now than ever before due to the significant factors relating to the changing global climate outlined in the recent IPCC Report 5.
Responsive design provides the key to harmonising the complex relationships between private and public spaces, natural and engineered landscapes and infrastructure, manmade and natural systems.
The need for research, development and innovation in design and technologies to respond to market conditions, population growth, and climate change impacts in warm climates includes:
- An increasing frequency and ferocity of extreme weather events
- Urgent need to lessen the impacts of these events through a holistic approach to design of communities and infrastructure for people and places
- Key role of the design of private, public and open space in mitigation and adaptation to extreme weather events
- Urgent need to accommodate changing global demographics with an aging population and a rising middle class
- Diverse opportunities to develop innovative residential and commercial building typologies =
- Continued unabated urban growth leads to increased pressure on the valuable natural systems which are dependant for ecological sustainability.
