William (Bill) is a Fellow of Engineers Australia with over 30 years of experience in infrastructure and development in Australia and internationally. He is an independent sustainability adviser, researcher and consultant, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia’s Urban Design Research Centre, where he teaches Sustainability and Cities to postgraduate Urban Design and Architecture students.
Bill works at the interface of economics and sustainability, advising state and local government agencies on policy. He has extensive multi-disciplinary multi-faceted experience in providing strategic advice on sustainability aspects of urban planning, including integrated urban water cycle management, sustainable energy, materials and waste management and green building design.
Bill was previously Deputy Chairman of the Western Australian Sustainability Roundtable, which was charged with providing advice to Premier Gallup on implementation of the State Sustainability Strategy. He has also served on the Western Australian Planning Committee’s Statutory Planning Committee. He was a member of the Gillard government’s Expert Working Group for Sustainable Regional Planning, developing methodologies for strategic planning of regional growth centres.
Bill has researched and presented in Australia and internationally on sustainability and resilience with a particular focus on the role of complex system dynamics. Bill uses systems theory and modelling to investigate sustainability related socio-technical-economic issues such as the green energy transition, urban dynamics, inequality and resource dependency. All the work seeks to better understand the dynamics that give rise to enduring human wellbeing. The overarching theory is outlined in this explanation https://kumu.io/bill-grace/sustainability.
Bill is presently leading two climate change related research projects funded by WA government agencies including the Department of Planning. The first is developing a life-cycle GHG emissions model of urban neighbourhoods in Perth to facilitate planning and design, and statutory assessment. The second is a major 3 year study to develop climate change adaptation strategies for housing and public spaces in urban precincts across Western Australia. He is also advising UWA on the development of a carbon neutral strategy, the first stage of which is to transition to a 100% renewable electricity supply by 2025.