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Present concerns for sustainable development have led to a revival of traditional building practices using natural or recycled resources. There is a perception that buildings constructed from such materials are environmentally benign. This perception is questionable, as often no evaluation is undertaken to assess the associated environmental impacts. Rammed earth is one such construction technology that has seen renewed interest in recent years. The energy required to manufacture materials (i.e. embodied energy) is a significant component of the life cycle energy associated with buildings. This paper assesses the embodied energy of rammed earth construction relative to brick veneer and cavity brick construction. Rammed earth was found to have significantly less embodied energy than cavity brick construction (to which it is closer in thermal performance), but was approximately equivalent to brick veneer construction. Topics of further research identified include thermal performance and strategies for reducing the embodied energy of cement used for earth stabilisation.

Informal settlements have become dominant forms and processes of urban development in many cities, yet the task of helping students engage with design issues in such contexts is fraught with difficulties of access, safety and complexity. Drawing on detailed fieldwork, this paper explores ways in which informal settlement formation can be taught in design studio through the use of games that simulate incremental practices of room-by-room accretion and prospects for transformation. The pedagogical goals are to effect a blurring of authorship and authority, to undermine top-down thinking and to nourish forms of design imagination that unite process and form. Informal settlements are largely defined as operating outside the formal control of the state. Although it is impossible to separate them from issues of poverty and lack of tenure, it is important to define informality separately from slums and squatting. While a squatter settlement implies a blanket lack of tenure, most informal settlements involve a range of rental, squatting and informal entitlements. The UN defines a slum household as a dwelling with more than three people per room or without access to clean water, sanitation, security, and durable shelter; yet many dwellings in informal settlements have most or all of these. 5 Many such settlements have developed over time into well-serviced neighborhoods-no longer 'slums' and with varying levels of tenure and formality. Further, while informal settlements are unauthorized and unregulated, it is misleading to see them as unplannedstrategies, processes and construction are different from formal urbanism, but are nonetheless complex and at times sophisticated. Most of the literature on informal settlements says little about built form, which is treated as a somewhat neutral background to issues of process, economics, tenure, employment, infrastructure and politics. Yet the micro-spatial forms and processes of informal urbanism offer rich ground for architectural investigation and urban design thinking. Without wholesale demolition, the transformation from 'slums' to decent housing is complex and problematic. Most current research suggests transformations must be developed that do not simply replace the informal with a formalized system. The adaptive spatial practices of informal settlements are fundamental to their success in housing the urban poor, and this existing housing,

There is growing recognition of the importance of the design of the built environment in supporting mental health. In this context, trauma-informed design has emerged as a new field of practice targeting the design of the built environment to support wellbeing and ameliorate the physical, psychological and emotional impacts of trauma and related pathologies such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). With high levels of prevalence of PTSD among people escaping homelessness and domestic violence, a priority area is the identification and application of evidence-based design solutions for trauma-informed supported housing. This study sought to examine the scope of existing evidence on the relationship between trauma, housing and design and the correlation of this evidence with trauma-informed design principles, and to identify gaps and opportunities for future research. In response to the commonly articulated limitations of the evidence-base in built environment design research, we combined a scoping review of literature on trauma, housing and design with insights from neuroscience to focus and extend understanding of the opportunities of trauma-informed design. We found that while limited in scope, there is strong alignment between existing evidence and the principles of trauma-informed design. We also identify three areas of future research related to the key domains of safety and security; control; and enriched environments.

Ecotourism is a burgeoning sector of the tourism industry offering a relatively guilt-free environment in which to satisfy the desire for travel and adventure. The discourse is firmly entrenched within the dominant conception of sustainability where nature is seen as a privileged ‘other’, untouched by humans. This ideology is also prevalent in the design of ecotourism facilities, which are generally predicated on a model of minimal intervention. This low-impact approach is not problematic in itself, but it misses the opportunity to engage in a more productive and ‘regenerative’ relationship with place. Conversely, Philip Cox Richardson Taylor's design for the resort town of Yulara in central Australia sought a more constructive relationship with place and questioned the conventional notion of ‘resort’. Although this resort, constructed in 1984, predates the current ecotourism industry and certification programs, it remains an early exemplar of innovations in this area and offers the benefits of hindsight. Through an exploration of the ideals and realities of the design and subsequent occupation of Yulara, this paper questions the potential challenges and opportunities of the design of ecotourism facilities to engage in a more ‘regenerative’ agenda. In particular, it identifies the social context and consideration of spatial practice as a key area of opportunity for the built environment to contribute to the ecotourism goal of interpretation and education through a more reflexive form of environmental awareness.

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