Costs and Benefits of a Green Village: Demonstrating Lochiel Park's Value

摘要: This paper presents the results of a study of costs and benefits of sustainability initiatives currently being implemented in the Lochiel Park green village development project in South Australia (SA). An alternative assessment methodology to that offered by a conventional cost-benefit analysis was developed that considers costs and benefits with reference to a framework of sustainability indicators, both quantitative and qualitative, with a particular focus on the operational phase of urban development. Principles reflected in the approach include considering costs and benefits across the life-cycle of sustainability initiatives, taking into account multiple stakeholder perspectives on costs and accommodating both monetised and non-monetised indicators of cost and benefit. An important finding of the study is that analysis of costs and benefits informed by these principles offers a valuable approach by which to consider investment in sustainable building. Applying the framework to Lochiel Park, the costs and benefits of various water and energy sustainability initiatives were assessed and compared, with results indicating that Lochiel Park initiatives are making an important contribution to sustainable urban development. A number of lessons can be derived from the study to inform future investment in green development.