Professor David Ness

Adjunct Professor UniSA STEM

City West Campus (Y3-32)
tel +61 8 830 21821

email david.ness@unisa.edu.au

Available for media comment
Research Degree Supervisor

About me

Sufficiency
Equity
Built environment

UniSA STEM

Harnessing connections across science, technology, engineering and mathematics, UniSA STEM creates innovative solutions and groundbreaking developments across teaching, learning and research.

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About me

Dr David Ness is Adjunct Professor, UniSA STEM, University of South Australia, with a background in architecture, urban and infrastructure planning, and strategic asset management. David co-founded the World Sufficiency Lab, Paris, in Feb 2024, and conducts research on fair, sufficient, and circular resource use. He was awarded grants from Australian-French Research & Innovation Association (AFRAN) for 1st International Sufficiency Summit 2023, and for Australian-French Collaboration on Sufficiency and Adaptive Reuse (2024). Earlier he won the Arup 2017 Global Research Challenge to adapt the circular economy to the built environment. David has also developed conceptual models on ‘doing more with less', delivering more services with less resource consumption and less cost, involving integrated infrastructure systems and new business models. He heads ‘Ecological Development Union International’, a not for profit association that seeks to integrate environmental improvements with socio-economic development in emerging economies of Asia/SE Asia. Within the context of the SDGs, David examines ways in which wealthier societies may dramatically ‘shrink’ their absolute resource consumption and GHG emissions, while redistributing resources to enable the disadvantaged to improve services, shelter, and infrastructure. He has advised UN ESCAP and UN Habitat on ‘green growth’ and sustainable, integrated, and inclusive infrastructure, led a training course at the International Urban Training Centre, and evaluated a major UN clean environment program involving 60 cities across the Asia Pacific. David was lead researcher on the project 'Learning from Regional Climate Analogues' for National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), and has been a Chief Investigator (CI) on ARC research projects. He has authored over 120 publications, including 'The Impact of Overbuilding on People and the Planet' (2019), 'Transforming Rural Communities in China and Beyond’ (2015), and co-edited 'The Green Economy and its Implementation in China' (2011).

Please also refer to ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Ness3 and Google Scholar citations http://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=IYX-EHUAAAAJ and hl=en

About me

In the media

Date	Title
01/10/2024	Enough, already: why humanity must get on board with the concept of 'sufficiency', https://theconversation.com/enough-already-why-humanity-must-get-on-board-with-the-concept-of-sufficiency-235013
28/10/2019	"Architecture's love affair with extravagant new build must end" (The Architects' Journal, London), https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/opinion/architectures-love-affair-with-extravagant-new-build-must-end/10044930.article#.Xbe8TLxNETk.email
25/09/2019	Can we build big and still be carbon neutral and sustainable?, https://architectureau.com/articles/can-we-build-big-and-still-be-carbon-neutral-and-sustainable/?fbclid=IwAR3JDcmOxU1E0qX1LS2XI_6YuR-5XcdBEw-1uZraC7XEWQPOsTmnR0qgHLw
03/06/2019	Article entitled: "An Olympian ideal: can we meet our needs with less new buildings?", https://www.adelaidereview.com.au/form/book-extract-the-impact-of-overbuilding-on-people-and-the-planet/
13/05/2019	"It's not easy building green" (The Advertiser, Adelaide), https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/we-should-be-recycling-our-building-parts-into-newer-ones-for-the-future-and-avoid-overbuilding-says-unisa-professor/news-story/734a4d04dce550d33561240818c5c4a8
06/06/2017	Awarded ARUP Global Research Grant , http://www.unisa.edu.au/Media-Centre/Releases/2017-Media-Releases/Adaptable-changeable-building-parts-and-products-delivered-on-a-cloud---new-UniSA-research-wins-support-from-global-firm-ARUP/#.WXMHgTgUm71

Research

Highlights

'Sufficiency: Cutting Carbon by Building Less', talk to International SASBE Seminar on 'Sufficiency, Circularity & Systems', 25 May, 2022

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6937063401089040384/

Cradle to Cradle Building Components via the Cloud (2017- present): ARUP Global Research Challenge 2017.

https://research.arup.io/story/circular-buildings

Resource efficiency and productivity, Factor 4 (doubling prosperity, halving resource use), Circular Economy, Resource efficient and sustainable built environment and infrastructure, Sustainable product service systems, Integrated sustainability assessment.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Ness3

Research

Outputs

Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. Some long-standing staff members may have older outputs included. To see earlier years visit ORCID or Scopus

Open access indicates that an output is open access.

Highlights

Year	Output
2022	Ness, D 2022, 'Beyond Circularity: do we need to shrink and share?', in Viktor Pal (ed.), Social and Cultural Aspects of the Circular Economy: Toward Solidarity and Inclusivity, Routledge, UK, ch. 12, pp. 194-208. Open access
2021	Ness, D 2021, 'The shift from new build to regeneration: can the New Bauhaus transform architecture and design to meet global challenges?', Agathon, no. 9, pp. 22-31. Open access
2020	Ness, DA & Xing, K 2020, 'Consumption-based and embodied carbon in the built environment: implications for APEC's low-carbon model town project', Journal of Green Building, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 67-82. Open access 11 8
2020	Xing, K, Kim, KP & Ness, D 2020, 'Cloud‐BIM enabled cyber‐physical data and service platforms for building component reuse', Sustainability, vol. 12, no. 24, article no. 10329 , pp. 1-22. Open access 31 25
2017	Ness, DA & Xing, K 2017, 'Toward a Resource-Efficient Built Environment: A Literature Review and Conceptual Model', Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 572-592. Open access 170 118 2

Books

Year	Output
2015	Zhu, Y, Lan, H, Ness, DA, Xing, K, Schneider, K, Lee, S & Ge, J 2015, Transforming rural communities in China and beyond: community entrepreneurship and enterprises, infrastructure development and investment modes, Springer, US. 5 1
2011	Liu, MM, Ness, DA & Haifeng, H 2011, The Green Economy and Its Implementation in China, Singapore.

Chapters

Year	Output
2022	Ness, D 2022, 'Beyond Circularity: do we need to shrink and share?', in Viktor Pal (ed.), Social and Cultural Aspects of the Circular Economy: Toward Solidarity and Inclusivity, Routledge, UK, ch. 12, pp. 194-208. Open access
2022	Nikolova, AS & Ness, D 2022, 'The impossible dream: Can the circular economy alone solve waste management complexities of the Global South?', in H Lehmann et al. (eds.), The impossibilities of the circular economy: separating aspirations from reality, Routledge, US, ch. 3, pp. 23-36. Open access
2015	Ness, D & Xing, K 2015, 'Hewlett Packard Australia: towards sustainable product service systems', in J Wang, M Kosaka & K Xing (eds), Manufacturing Servitization in the Asia Pacific, Springer, Singapore, pp. 93-108. Open access
2015	Ness, DA 2015, 'Social responsibility towards more balanced urban-rural development in China', in R Schmidpeter et al. (eds), Sustainable development and CSR in China : a multi-perspective approach, Springer, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 43-54. 2
2015	Xing, K, Ness, D & Min, G 2015, 'Soniclean: product-oriented servitization', in J Wang, M Kosaka & K Xing (eds), Manufacturing Servitization in the Asia Pacific, Springer, Singapore, ch. 8, pp. 155-173.
2013	Ness, D & Vogiatzis, N 2013, 'A clean 'energy-plus' rural economy in China', in MM Liu, M Henry & H Haifeng (eds), Renewable energy in China : towards a green economy, volume 1, Enrich Professional Publishing, US, 2.6 pp. 190-207.
2011	Ness, D 2011, 'Ascending Jin Shan together: standing higher, looking far, we can achieve a green economy and more', in H Haifeng, D Ness & MM Liu (eds), The green economy and its implementation in China, Enrich Professional Publishing, Singapore, ch. 28, pp. 359-378.
2009	Ness, D 2009, 'Sustainable product service systems: potential to deliver business and social benefits with less resource use', in HF Wang (ed.), Web-Based Green Products Life Cycle Management Systems: Reverse Supply Chain Utilization, Information Science Reference, US, ch. 10, pp. 232-249. 2

Journal Articles

Year	Output
2024	Ness, D 2024, 'Will decarbonising buildings be enough? Constrain and redistribute growth in floor area', Agathon, vol. 15, pp. 84-97. Open access 1
2023	Ness, D 2023, 'Technological efficiency limitations to climate mitigation: why sufficiency is necessary', Buildings and Cities, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 139-157. Open access 7 3
2022	Huang, B, Xing, K, Ness, D, Liao, L, Huang, K, Xie, P & Huang, J 2022, 'Rethinking carbon-neutral built environment: urban dynamics and scenario analysis', Energy and Buildings, vol. 255, article no. 111672, pp. 1-12. 25 23 1
2022	Ness, D & Scalisi, F 2022, 'Symbiosis of greenery and built form: a holistic, systems, multi-level approach', Agathon, no. 11, pp. 26-39. Open access
2022	Ness, D 2022, 'Towards sufficiency and solidarity: COP27 implications for construction and property', Buildings and Cities, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 912-919. Open access 13 9
2021	Ness, D 2021, 'The shift from new build to regeneration: can the New Bauhaus transform architecture and design to meet global challenges?', Agathon, no. 9, pp. 22-31. Open access
2020	Ness, DA & Xing, K 2020, 'Consumption-based and embodied carbon in the built environment: implications for APEC's low-carbon model town project', Journal of Green Building, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 67-82. Open access 11 8
2020	Xing, K, Kim, KP & Ness, D 2020, 'Cloud‐BIM enabled cyber‐physical data and service platforms for building component reuse', Sustainability, vol. 12, no. 24, article no. 10329 , pp. 1-22. Open access 31 25
2017	Ness, DA & Xing, K 2017, 'Toward a Resource-Efficient Built Environment: A Literature Review and Conceptual Model', Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 572-592. Open access 170 118 2
2016	Yang, L, Xing, K & Ness, D 2016, 'A TRIZ-based multi-route model for product-service system design innovation', Journal of Design Research, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 326-367. Open access 3
2015	Kellett, J, Hamilton, C, Ness, D & Pullen, S 2015, 'Testing the limits of regional climate analogue studies: An Australian example', Land Use Policy, vol. 44, pp. 54-61. 12 11
2015	Ness, D, Swift, J, Ranasinghe, D, Xing, K & Soebarto, V 2015, 'Smart steel: new paradigms for the reuse of steel enabled by digital tracking and modelling', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 98, pp. 292-302. 82 70 8
2014	Lan, H, Zhu, Y, Ness, D, Xing, K & Schneider, K 2014, 'The role and characteristics of social entrepreneurs in contemporary rural cooperative development in China: case studies of rural social entrepreneurship', Asia Pacific Business Review, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 379-400. 11 45
2013	Xing, K, Ness, D & Lin, F-r 2013, 'A service innovation model for synergistic community transformation: integrated application of systems theory and product-service systems', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 43, pp. 93-102. 48 45
2008	Ness, DA 2008, 'Sustainable urban infrastructure in China: towards a Factor 10 improvement in resource productivity through integrated infrastructure systems', International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 288-301. 153 119
2008	Ness, DA, Zhu, Y, Zhao, J & Shao, G 2008, 'Coping with an urbanising world: interdisciplinary research towards sustainability', International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 284-287. 11 9

Conferences

Year	Output
2019	Ness, D, Kim, K, Swift, J, Jenkins, A, Xing, K & Roach, N 2019, 'Cradle to cradle building components via the cloud: a case study', 6th CIB International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Built Environments - SASBE2018, Emerald Publishing Group, pp. 478-487. Open access
2019	Ness, D, Xing, K, Kim, K & Jenkins, A 2019, 'An ICT-enabled product service system for reuse of building components', 9th IFAC/IFIP/IFORS/IISE/INFORMS Conference on Manufacturing Modelling, Management and Control (IFAC MIM), Elsevier, vol. 52, no. 13, pp. 761-766. Open access 10 7
2017	Swift, J, Ness, D, Kim, K, Gelder, J, Jenkins, A & Xing, K 2017, 'Towards adaptable and reusable building elements: harnessing the versatility of the construction database through RFID and BIM', UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress, The International Union of Architects, article no. 0-0556, pp. 1-7. Open access
2016	Xing, K & Ness, D 2016, 'Transition to product-service systems: principles and business model', Product-Service Systems across Life Cycle, 2016, Elsevier, vol. 47, pp. 525-530. Open access 20 12
2015	Ness, D & Xing, K 2015, 'Resource Efficient Urban Systems', in Crocker, Robert (editor), Unmaking Waste 2015, University Of South Australia, pp. 499-522. Open access
2015	Swift, J, Ness, D, Chileshe, N, Xing, K & Gelder, J 2015, 'Enabling the reuse of building components: a dialogue between the virtual and physical worlds', Unmaking Waste 2015, University Of South Australia, pp. 252-260. Open access
2014	Xing, K & Ness, D 2014, 'ICT-based rural service innovation: a case study on rural financial services in Lishui, China', 11th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (ICSSSM), IEEE, pp. 1-6.
2011	Kellett, J, Ness, DA, Hamilton, CM, Pullen, SF & Leditschke, AM 2011, 'Learning from regional analogues', World Planning Schools Congress 2011, University of Western Australia, pp. 1-18.
2010	Ness, DA & Soebarto, V 2010, 'Rethinking the adoption of Green building rating systems in developing countries', in SENVAR, 11th International Conference on Sustainable Environmental Architecture (SENVAR), SENVAR, pp. 1-13.
2010	Ness, DA & Xing, K 2010, 'A theoretical Construct of a Product-Service Systems Model for Low Social-Economic Status Communities', in INORMS, 2010 INFORMS Service Science Conference, National Taiwan University of Science & Technology, pp. 26-34.
2009	Ness, DA, Xing, K, Benn, S & Qian, W 2009, 'Guidelines for sustainable product service systems: with particular reference to ICT industries', in Claudine Soosay, Peter O'Neill & Daniel Prajogo, 7th ANZAM Operations, Supply chain and Services Management Symposium, UniSA, pp. 468-478.
2008	Davidson, K, Tisato, P, Pullen, SF, Kellett, J, Karuppannan, S, Ness, DA, Sivam, A & Wilson, LJ 2008, 'Integrated Sustainability Assessment of Urban Development and Infrastructure: Complementarities and Contradictions', in Foliente G & Paevere P, Australian Science Network, pp. 936-943.

Reports

Year	Output
2015	Ness, D, Xing, K, Huang, S & Dumrak, J 2015, Thinking, linking, leveraging and maximising: RDA/PIRSA Project 2014/15 final report, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. Open access
2012	Kellett, J, Ness, D, Hamilton, CM, Pullen, S & Leditschke, A 2012, Learning from regional climate analogues : Final report October 2011, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Australia. Open access
2011	Kellett, J, Ness, DA, Hamilton, CM, Pullen, SF & Leditschke, AM 2011, Learning from regional climate analogues, NCCARF- National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Australia. Open access
2010	Kellett, J, Davidson, K, Wilson, L, Pullen, S, Karuppannan, S, Ness, D & Sivam, A 2010, Urban sustainability assessment tools: review and recommendations, UniSA, Adelaide, South Australia.
2009	Ness, DA 2009, 'Review of conceptual frameworks and available methodologies for the development of eco-efficient and sustainable urban infrastructure', Eco-efficient and Sustainable Infrastructure Urban Infrastructure in Asia and Latin America, pp. 1-68.

Other outputs

Ness, D. 2020. Growth in floor area: the blind spot in cutting carbon, Emerald Open Research, Jan. https://emeraldopenresearch.com/articles/2-2/v3

Ness, D. and Xing, K. 2017. Toward a Resource Efficient Built Environment: a Literature Review and Conceptual Model, Jnl of Industrial Ecology (Yale), 21 April. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.12586/full

Ness, D., Swift, J., Ranasinghe, D., Xing, K. and Soebarto, V. 2015. Smart Steel: New Paradigms for the Reuse of Steel Enabled by Digital Tracking and Modelling, Jnl of Cleaner Production, 98, 292-303. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652614008786

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Highlights

Co-Founded World Sufficiency Lab, Paris, Feb 2024. https://www.thesufficiencylab.org

Co-Hosted with Dr Yamina Saheb of IPCC the 1st International Sufficiency Summit 4 May 2023 with UniSA and Sciences Po Paris

https://sufficiency-summit.webflow.io https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/NZvYCANpP9SQjAPZfGAxwS?domain=vimeo.com

Won Grant (2022) from Australian-French Research & Innovation Association (AFRAN) for 1st International Summit on Sufficiency.

Won Grant (2024) from AFRAN for Australian-French Collboration on Sufficiency and Adaptive Reuse

Interview about Communicating Sustainability to China Educators & Students (2022) https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/7HLiZci0Ep9OC8irbnBFrQ

Collaboration with Prof Walter R. Stahel (Geneva), founder of Circular Economy.

Adjunct Engagement / Industry Partnership Award (UniSA, 29 June 2017).

Appointed Editorial Board of Agathon: International Journal of Architecture, Art and Design, June 2022.

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Organisation	Country
ARUP Pty Ltd	AUSTRALIA
Beijing Institute of Technology	CHINA
Changsha University of Science and Technology	CHINA
Chinese Academy of Sciences	CHINA
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific UNESCAP	THAILAND
Euro-Mediterranean Documentation and Research Center	ITALY
Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation	CHINA
Nemopartners China Consulting Group	KOREA, REPUBLIC OF (SOUTH)
Prismatic Architectural Research	AUSTRALIA
Purdue University	UNITED STATES
Renmin University of China	CHINA
Transport SA	AUSTRALIA
Tsinghua University	CHINA
University of Adelaide	AUSTRALIA
University of South Australia	AUSTRALIA
University of Technology Sydney	AUSTRALIA
University of Vienna	AUSTRIA

Teaching & student supervision

Teaching strengths

Online Tutoring

Highlights

Strategic asset management, Resource efficiency, Circular Economy, Performance management, Sustainable development (integrating various dimensions of sustainability)

Teaching & student supervision

Research degree supervision

Supervisions from 2010 shown

Thesis title	Student status
Success factors of the community-driven approach to executing international development projects: An investigation of the Gemidiriya model in Sri Lanka	Completed

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Professor David Ness

About me

About me

UniSA STEM

About me

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In the media

Experience

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Work history

Research

Highlights

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Outputs

Highlights

Books

Chapters

Journal Articles

Conferences

Reports

Other outputs

Current research & highlights

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

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Collaborations

External engagement & recognition

Other

Teaching & student supervision

Teaching strengths

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Courses and programs

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