Peter Newman (environmental scientist)

Peter William Geoffrey Newman is an Environmental scientist, activist and educator based in
Perth, Western Australia.

Reputation

Peter Newman is perhaps best known internationally for coining the term ‘automobile dependence’ in the second half of the eighties to explain how the kind of cities we are building based on sprawling suburbs was inevitably leading to the growth in automobile use. Led to an international research survey with colleague Jeff Kenworthy of transport practices and structures (original data collected on 33 global cities).

This global research effort took the form of a book, ‘Cities and Automobile Dependence: An International Sourcebook’, which introduced the concept of car dependence - now a feature of planning literature and policy. The two researchers later collaborated on a book ‘Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence’ which was launched in the White House in 1999, as the President’s Council on Sustainable Development was moving toward a more urban focus.

Newman has also served as a local government councilor, and continues to be personally engaged as a sustainability and transport activist. He was closely associated with the redevelopment of Perth's rail system from 1979 to the present, and this system is now seen as a model for how car dependent cities can change towards sustainable transport. Newman has been a government advisor through three secondments to the Western Australian State Government. In the last secondment (2001-2003), he was the Director of Sustainability Policy in the Department of Premier and Cabinet where he managed and wrote the State Sustainability Strategy: the first in the world at the state/province level. In 2004-2005 he was the New South Wales Sustainability Commissioner and in 2006-2007 he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

In 2007 Newman said that Australia could make itself “carbon neutral” within three years for only 46c per person per day by planting trees. [http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/05/prweb527805.htm 46c a Day to Make Australia Carbon Neutral, Says Murdoch University Sustainability Expert Peter Newman] ] In 2007 also, Peter left Murdoch University to join Curtin University. [http://campusnews.curtin.edu.au/media_centre/archives.cfm?release=2823 Sustainability experts join Curtin]

Qualifications

PhD degree in Chemistry (1972, University of Western Australia). Post doctoral studies in Environmental Science, Delft University, Dip EST, Environmental Science, 1972.

Current activities/affiliations:

*Director, Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy, Murdoch University, 1989-2007, Murdoch, Western Australia, 6150

Memberships

Global
*Member of Advisory Board, Global Research Network on Human Settlements, UN-Habitat.
*Member of Scientific Advisory Committee of the UNESCO "SCOPE Ecopolis Project".

The SCOPE-Ecopolis-Project is organized on the base of regional groups. [http://www.icsu-scope.org.cn/english_version/Ecopolis/main.htm]

Australian
*New South Wales Sustainability Commissioner, 2004-2005

West Australian
*Chair, Western Australian Sustainability Roundtable, 2004-2006
*Premier’s Science Council (Member)
*Sustainability Practitioners Association (Founding Committee).
*Environmental Trustee Fairbridge.
*Habitat for Humanity (Inaugural WA Chair).

Honors, recognition

*Murdoch University 25th Anniversary Special Service Medallion. (2000)
*Centenary Medal by the Australian Government in 2001 for Planning and Sustainability
*Fulbright Scholar (2006)

Latest book

"Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices" is the latest book by Peter Newman and Isabella Jennings which shows how city residents can begin to reintegrate into their bioregional environment, and how cities themselves can be planned with ecological sustainability in mind. Drawing on examples from many parts of the world, the authors show how urban redevelopment in some cities has involved harvesting rainwater, greening roofs, and producing renewable energy. Other cities have biodiversity parks for endangered species, community gardens that support a connection to their foodshed, and pedestrian-friendly spaces that encourage walking and cycling. [http://www.sustainability.murdoch.edu.au/ Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices] ]

Other publications

*"Cities and Automobile Dependence: An International Sourcebook", Newman P and Kenworthy J, Gower, Aldershot, 1989.
*"Winning Back the Cities", Pluto Press, Sydney, 1992, Newman P and Kenworthy J,
*"Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence", Island Press, Washington DC, 1999. Newman P and Kenworthy J, ISBN 1-55963-660-2.
*"An International Sourcebook of Automobile Dependence in Cities, 1960-1990", Kenworthy J, Laube F and Newman P , University of Colorado Press, Boulder, 1999.
*"Back on Track: Rethinking Australia and New Zealand Transport Policy", Laird P, Newman P, Kenworthy J and Bachels M, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2001.
*"Hope for the Future: The Western Australian State Sustainability Strategy", Department of the Premier and Cabinet, WA Government, Perth, 2003.

Television appearances

*Catalyst (TV program), episode: "Real Oil Crisis"cite web
url=http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1515141.htm
title=Catalyst: Real Oil Crisis - ABC TV Science
publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation
accessdate=2008-05-09
last=Newby
first=Jonica]

ee also

* Marchetti's Constant
* Sustainability
* Transit-oriented development

References