S1E4 - What if a precinct became its own experiment to collaborate for net zero futures?
Regenerative Streets Podcast
Net Zero Precincts: Insights from the Monash Living Lab
Shownotes
Aired: 12 January 2026
Guest: Darren Sharp
S1E4 - Net Zero Precincts: Insights from the Monash Living Lab, Regenerative Streets Podcast © 2026 by Wayfinder Labs is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
In this episode of the Regenerative Streets Podcast, Laura Aston speaks with Dr Darren Sharp, Senior Research Fellow at Monash Business School and Research Lead of the Net Zero Precincts project. Darren shares how Monash University’s Clayton campus is treated as a “mini city” and living lab for net zero, where staff, students, neighbours, government and industry test ways of cutting carbon while making the precinct feel better to live, work and study in.
You’ll hear how the project moves through three stages—understanding drivers and barriers, co-creating visions and pathways, then running living lab experiments across energy, mobility, buildings, data and governance. Darren’s message is that we won’t reach fair, effective net zero transitions through top‑down technology rollouts alone; we need shared experiments that centre everyday experience, relationships and place.
🌱 What You Can Do
Notice how you move through your own campus or neighbourhood and start conversations about what feels welcoming, safe and connected (and what doesn’t).
If you work or study at a university or precinct, ask how you can get involved in sustainability, net zero or living lab initiatives (e.g. walking tours, pilots, student projects).
Join or support local groups experimenting with better ways of moving, greening and sharing space in your area.
If you’re a practitioner or decision‑maker, explore how your campus or precinct could act as a living lab, with community members as partners in designing and testing change.
These actions help turn institutions and precincts from distant decision-makers into places where people co-create futures that are low‑carbon, liveable and grounded in everyday life.
🌐 Explore More
The Net Zero Precincts Stage 2: Agenda-setting report goes deeper into how people, politics and place intersect in transitions, while highlighting nature‑positive design, water-sensitive urbanism, and questions of equity and governance. If you want to read more about how community visions are translated into net zero strategies for the precinct explore the full stage two report here: Net Zero Precincts Stage 2 report – Agenda-setting: visions and pathways
Visit the project website for more including links to stage 1 and 3 reports and to get in touch with Darren, or send him an email at Darren.Sharp@monash.edu
💬 Join the conversation
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S1E4 – Net Zero Precincts: Insights from the Monash Living Lab, Regenerative Streets Podcast © 2025 by Laura Aston. Licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution‑ShareAlike 4.0 International.
Music: Carefree, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0.