Safe and sustainable rebuilding is increasingly in the news as it becomes a priority in the minds of ordinary Australians. The following selection of good news stories are about sustainability, resilience and rebuilding green.
In Christchurch, 'resilience' is a phrase used extensively by the media and government to try to contain the traumatised city's afterlife. Yet as Lara Strongman identifies, perhaps this usage is a sleight of hand that conceals more than it reveals.
With all but 14 of over 400 buildings destroyed in Marysville on Black Saturday, nearly three years later some homes have been rebuilt. Two of those are sustainable rebuilds by building designer First Angle, including a new home and gallery for Bruno Torfs, owner of a popular Marysville art and sculpture garden.
Left with just one shed standing after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires destroyed their home, a year later Scottish couple Janet and Scott McLean installed a 2.1kW solar power system on its roof and called the shed home while their new improved dwelling was being built.
Andreas Sederof details his experience of the updated Australian Standards for bushfire resilient design in Victoria with a recent rural new build.
Rebuilding after the devastating Victorian 2009 bushfires, Chris Clarke created a smaller, greener home - an extraordinary home born from its impassioned history
Architect Mark Thomson's first experience after the Queensland floods was as part of the 'mud brigade'. Now he's trying to set a smarter, hands- on approach to rebuilding in flood-affected areas, writes Jacinta Cleary
A natural disaster occurs. People and communities are affected, often in the worst imaginable ways. But what happens next and how are citizens of disaster-affected areas engaged in decision-making regarding rebuilding their communities and recovering their lives?
Almost three years since being destroyed in the Victorian bush fires, the new timber Narbethong Community Hall was opened on Saturday, 26 November, by the Governor of Victoria, Alex Chernov.
The introduction of new controls in the Victorian Planning Provisions to increase the protection of Victorians from bushfires came into effect on 18th November 2011.
The first signs of greenery on the scorched Victorian landscape shone like a beacon of hope for the thousands who lost their loved ones, livelihoods and homes in the Black Saturday fires of 2009.
The Build It Back Green team get a tour of Flowerdale and the rebuilding progress that has been made since Black Saturday, February 9th 2009.
Billy talks about things that are important in Flowerdale.
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