About

I first became aware of the issues of sustainability in the early 1970s while studying towards a Bachelor of Science degree. Although I graduated with an A+ major in physics and a Senior Scholarship in Science, my interest and concerns about the issues of sustainability motivated me to become a research architect instead of undertaking postgraduate studies to become a physicist. I enrolled in the Auckland Architectural School in 1975 and, in 1978, I completed a final year Architectural degree sub-thesis, “In Search of Steady State”, which examined the context of Low Energy Settlement Patterns in New Zealand. A summary of this sub-thesis “Ekistics and Energetics: A Sustainable Future Planning Approach’ was published in the International Journal, ‘Urban Ecology’, in 1979.

After completing my BArch degree with Honours in 1978, I then practiced architecture as a graduate in the Ministry of Works gaining registration as an Architect in 1981. In 1985 I joined the private sector working at a number of major architectural firms in Auckland. During this period, I was one of the first CAD Managers in New Zealand.  

In 1980 I purchased my first computer, a Sharp calculator with 1.5 K of RAM, which I used to develop a reverberation time calculator. I graduated soon after to a Sinclair ZX81, learned BBC Basic on a BBC B computer in 1984, and Borland's Basic and Pascal on a DOS computer in 1989. These computer programming skills came in good stead when I enrolled in a PhD in 1990.

At the Auckland Architectural School my PhD thesis topic was titled ‘The Energy and Mass Flows of Building Stock in New Zealand”. My supervisors were Professor Richard Aynsely of the Department of Architecture and Associate Professor Basil Sharp of the Department of Economics. My original PhD topic narrowed down from a study of the energy and mass flows of building stock in general to that of housing stock in particular due to a lack of data. After a year of focusing on energy analysis, I realised that in order to model the energy and mass flows of a housing stock, I first needed to model the dynamics of that housing stock. My PhD, ‘The Mortality of New Zealand Housing Stock’ finished up as an empirical study of the dynamics of New Zealand housing stock from 1857 to 1980. In subsequent journal and conference publications, I returned to my earlier thesis topic on the energy and mass flows of New Zealand housing stock. These publications also address maintenance and refurbishment. Citations of my international refereed journal publications on the energy and mass flows of housing stock can be be viewed on Google Scholar and the impact of my research on housing stock dynamics since October 2015 can be viewed on ResearchGate.

Upon completing my PhD in 1993, I then worked as a Senior Lecturer for 11 years in the Department of Property, The University of Auckland, teaching Building Economics, Property Economics, and Construction. In my Construction and Building Economics courses I taught the basic principles of sustainable design and the husbandry of buildings.

In 2000 I extended my computer programming activities to develop an interactive tutorial on construction for first year property students using Macromedia Authorware. I left academia in 2005 to become a Building Research Consultant in the private sector and, in 2009, I developed an interactive tutorial on CD, The Principles of Discounting & Life Cycle Costing using Macromedia Authorware. This freeware tutorial can be downloaded  from here.

Now that I am semi-retired, I am able to return to broader issues of sustainability that I initially investigated in my 1978 sub-thesis. Since October 2015 I have been updating myself on current issues of sustainability and progress made over the past 40 years. This process has involved collecting and reading relevant journal publications and books, and viewing videos, documentaries, and lecture series which address the multi-faceted and interwoven issues of sustainability. While doing so, I developed this website to provide resources and links to resources on issues of sustainability for those who are undertaking their own studies. In January 2019 I upgraded my website to be mobile friendly. This upgrade includes a search engine which I find to be a useful feature for my own research. My current line of thinking can be followed on my personal blog. A DOCX file listing of all my blogs in chronological order, including links to resources, can be downloaded here.

In May 2021, I developed a new website Issues of Sustainability which is a work-in-progress update of my 1978 sub-thesis In Search of Steady State. It is likely that I will never complete this project because of a shift in my focus. In 2016, I joined Seniors Climate Action Network (SCAN) which is based in Dunedin, New Zealand. In February 2022, I developed a website for SCAN which is targeted at the general public. That is where my focus is now.

Ivan M. Johnstone
28 August 2022
I first became aware of the issues of sustainability in the early 1970s while studying towards a Bachelor of Science degree. Although I graduated with an A+ major in physics and a Senior Scholarship in Science, my interest and concerns about the issues of sustainability motivated me to become a research architect instead of undertaking postgraduate studies to become a physicist. I enrolled in the Auckland Architectural School in 1975 and, in 1978, I completed a final year Architectural degree sub-thesis, “In Search of Steady State”, which examined the context of Low Energy Settlement Patterns in New Zealand. A summary of this sub-thesis “Ekistics and Energetics: A Sustainable Future Planning Approach’ was published in the International Journal, ‘Urban Ecology’, in 1979.

After completing my BArch degree with Honours in 1978 I then practiced architecture as a graduate in the Ministry of Works gaining registration as an Architect in 1981. In 1985 I joined the private sector working at a number of major architectural firms in Auckland. During this period I was one of the first CAD Managers in New Zealand.  

In 1980 I purchased my first computer, a Sharp calculator with 1.5 K of RAM, which I used to develop a reverberation time calculator. I graduated soon after to a Sinclair ZX81, learned BBC Basic on a BBC B computer in 1984, and Borland's Basic and Pascal on a DOS computer in 1989. These computer programming skills came in good stead when I enrolled in a PhD in 1990.

At the Auckland Architectural School my PhD thesis topic was titled ‘The Energy and Mass Flows of Building Stock in New Zealand”. My supervisors were Professor Richard Aynsely of the Department of Architecture and Associate Professor Basil Sharp of the Department of Economics. My original PhD topic narrowed down from a study of the energy and mass flows of building stock in general to that of housing stock in particular due to a lack of data. After a year of focusing on energy analysis, I realised that in order to model the energy and mass flows of a housing stock, I first needed to model the dynamics of that housing stock. My PhD, ‘The Mortality of New Zealand Housing Stock’ finished up as an empirical study of the dynamics of New Zealand housing stock from 1857 to 1980. In subsequent journal and conference publications I returned to my earlier thesis topic on the energy and mass flows of New Zealand housing stock. These publications also address maintenance and refurbishment.

Upon completing my PhD in 1993 I then worked as a Senior Lecturer for 11 years in the Department of Property, The University of Auckland, teaching Building Economics, Property Economics, and Construction. In my Construction and Building Economics courses I taught the principles of sustainable design and husbandry of buildings. Citations of my international refereed journal publications on the energy and mass flows of housing stock can be be viewed on Google Scholar and the impact of my research on housing stock dynamics can be viewed on ResearchGate.

In 2000 I extended my computer programming activities to develop an interactive tutorial on construction for first year property students using Macromedia Authorware. I left academia in 2005 to become a Building Research Consultant in the private sector and in 2009 I developed my first commercial interactive tutorial on CD, The Principles of Discounting & Life Cycle Costing using Macromedia Authorware.

Now that I am semi-retired, I am able to return to broader issues of sustainability that I initially investigated in my 1978 sub-thesis. Since October 2015 I have been updating myself on current issues of sustainability and progress made over the past 40 years. This process has involved collecting and reading relevant journal publications and books, and viewing videos, documentaries, and lecture series that address the multi-faceted and interwoven issues of sustainability.
I first became aware of the issues of sustainability in the early 1970s while studying towards a Bachelor of Science degree. Although I graduated with an A+ major in physics and a Senior Scholarship in Science, my interest and concerns about the issues of sustainability motivated me to become a research architect instead of undertaking postgraduate studies to become a physicist. I enrolled in the Auckland Architectural School in 1975 and, in 1978, I completed a final year Architectural degree sub-thesis, “In Search of Steady State”, which examined the context of Low Energy Settlement Patterns in New Zealand. A summary of this sub-thesis “Ekistics and Energetics: A Sustainable Future Planning Approach’ was published in the International Journal, ‘Urban Ecology’, in 1979.

After completing my BArch degree with Honours in 1978 I then practiced architecture as a graduate in the Ministry of Works gaining registration as an Architect in 1981. In 1985 I joined the private sector working at a number of major architectural firms in Auckland. During this period I was one of the first CAD Managers in New Zealand.  

In 1980 I purchased my first computer, a Sharp calculator with 1.5 K of RAM, which I used to develop a reverberation time calculator. I graduated soon after to a Sinclair ZX81, learned BBC Basic on a BBC B computer in 1984, and Borland's Basic and Pascal on a DOS computer in 1989. These computer programming skills came in good stead when I enrolled in a PhD in 1990.

At the Auckland Architectural School my PhD thesis topic was titled ‘The Energy and Mass Flows of Building Stock in New Zealand”. My supervisors were Professor Richard Aynsely of the Department of Architecture and Associate Professor Basil Sharp of the Department of Economics. My original PhD topic narrowed down from a study of the energy and mass flows of building stock in general to that of housing stock in particular due to a lack of data. After a year of focusing on energy analysis, I realised that in order to model the energy and mass flows of a housing stock, I first needed to model the dynamics of that housing stock. My PhD, ‘The Mortality of New Zealand Housing Stock’ finished up as an empirical study of the dynamics of New Zealand housing stock from 1857 to 1980. In subsequent journal and conference publications I returned to my earlier thesis topic on the energy and mass flows of New Zealand housing stock. These publications also address maintenance and refurbishment.

Upon completing my PhD in 1993 I then worked as a Senior Lecturer for 11 years in the Department of Property, The University of Auckland, teaching Building Economics, Property Economics, and Construction. In my Construction and Building Economics courses I taught the principles of sustainable design and husbandry of buildings. Citations of my international refereed journal publications on the energy and mass flows of housing stock can be be viewed on Google Scholar and the impact of my research on housing stock dynamics can be viewed on ResearchGate.

In 2000 I extended my computer programming activities to develop an interactive tutorial on construction for first year property students using Macromedia Authorware. I left academia in 2005 to become a Building Research Consultant in the private sector and in 2009 I developed my first commercial interactive tutorial on CD, The Principles of Discounting & Life Cycle Costing using Macromedia Authorware.

Now that I am semi-retired, I am able to return to broader issues of sustainability that I initially investigated in my 1978 sub-thesis. Since October 2015 I have been updating myself on current issues of sustainability and progress made over the past 40 years. This process has involved collecting and reading relevant journal publications and books, and viewing videos, documentaries, and lecture series that address the multi-faceted and interwoven issues of sustainability.
IN SEARCH OF STEADY STATE