GGAA 2014 - Skills for sustainability - RMIT University - Highly commended

The Matter of Landscape: Sustainable Design Strategies for RMIT City Campus

The matter of landscape links university operations, research, teaching and learning with community and industry engagement delivering stage two of the roof garden pilot project. Student-led environmental monitoring, development of techniques to evaluate biodiversity and productive landscape benefits as well as undertaking Post Occupancy Evaluations, has provided the university with a space for ongoing and interdisciplinary collaborative research and testing, networking opportunities and initial development of shared courseware.

Top 3 learnings:

• The project presented varying skills sets and capabilities amongst the students and was one of the drivers to result in shared coursework amongst various disciplines.
• OH&S for roof top spaces plays an on-going and important role within the project.
• The project has greatly benefited from interdisciplinary collaboration within the university, as less technology is available to small-scale pilot projects.