Dr Sophie Taysom

The construction industry has a proof problem. Not a performance problem. The capacity to build regeneratively, to design for ecological and social return alongside financial return, exists. The problem is that the evidence, the metrics, and the narratives needed to move capital toward it are still catching up with the ambition. That gap is where

New research, published today in PERE. Bank card transaction data from Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide has something to say about retail valuation models. On days above 35°C, consumer spending falls 6.8% overall. In the peak trading window, the drop hits 13%. Spending partially rebounds the following days, by about 5%. But, and this is important

Most conversations about climate resilience in cities start in the wrong place. They begin with planning — land use, zoning, infrastructure design, flood modelling. These things matter. But treating resilience as primarily a planning problem misses where the real pressure is building. The pressure is financial. When insurers reprice flood risk in a postcode, that’s