Is New Governance the Silver Bullet? Insights from the Australian Buildings Sector

Abstract

New governance is gaining momentum in the addressing of environmental risks. It is often expected that new governance arrangements will achieve higher levels of effectiveness than traditional forms of environmental policy. The current research questions this assumption based on a series of 53 interviews with experts in 15 new governance arrangements in the Australian buildings sector. It finds that these arrangements have, so far, achieved limited success in terms of increased numbers of buildings with high levels of environmental performance. Some lessons are drawn to increase the effectiveness of (future) new governance arrangements.

在应对环境问题的过程中，新式治理积攒了力量。人们常常期待新式治理 安排比传统环境政策具有更高水平的有效性。I 本文基于对澳大利亚建筑行业15 个新治理安排中53 位专家的系列访谈，对这一观点提出了质疑。研究结果表明，在新治理安排下，高度环保建筑的数量并没有显著提高。我们应从中总结经验，提高未来新治理安排的有效性。

Keywords::

• New governance
• collaborative governance
• environmental governance
• public private partnership
• governance evaluation

Acknowledgements

This research was supported through a VENI-grant by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (grant number 451-11-015). I am grateful to all participants in this research for their voluntary participation. I wish to stress that my assessment here is a critique to the oft normative arguing in the literature about new governance and not to the individual arrangements discussed. I wish to thank my colleagues at RegNet for constructive discussions of an earlier draft of this article, and the reviewers of this journal for valuable comments to an earlier draft. Finally, Peter: e2 e3.

Notes

^1.Note: A project may consist of more than one building—even up to 300 homes in one of the EnviroDevelopment projects.

^2. Data from administrators in Sydney, 15 February 2012 #39; Brisbane, 2 February 2012 #30; Sydney, 15 February 2012 #41; Sydney, 16 February 2012 #42; and Melbourne, 17 January 2012 #26.

^3. Data from: www.hia.com.au, www.pulse.buildingcommission.com.au and www.propertyoz.com.au.

^4. Information from interviews and www.gbca.org.au.

^5. Information from interviews and www.sydneyports.com.au.

^6. Information from interviews and www.brisbane.qld.gov.au.

^7. Information from interviews and www.brisbane.qld.gov.au.

^8. Information from interviews and www.resourcesmart.vic.gov.au.

^9. Information from interviews and www.sa.gov.au.

^10. Information from interviews and www.EnviroDevelopment.com.au.

^11. Information from interviews and www.climatesmart.qld.gov.au.

^12. Information from interviews and www.1200buildings.com.au.

^13. Information from interviews and www.cityswitch.net.au.

^14. Information from interviews and http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/council/.

^15. Information from interviews and www.dlgp.qld.gov.au/development-applications/green-door.html.

^16. Information from interviews and www.sydneybetterbuildings.com.au.

^17. Information from interviews and http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au.

^18. Information from interviews and http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/initiatives/lieep.aspx.