PLAN 4003: Urban Form & Design

Week 14: Urban Sustainability & Resilience

Anuradha Mukherji

Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning

DEFINING SUSTAINABILITY

“development that meets the needs of the present

without compromising the ability of future

generations to meet their own needs”

-Brundtland Report

UN World Commission on Environment and

Development ‘Our Common Future’(New York: Norton, 1987)

CRITIQUES

• Accepts conventional notions of economic growth as path to human

welfare

• No analysis of global power relations

• Highly anthropocentric definition of sustainable development

• Dependent on difficult-to-define concept of ‘needs’

DEFINING RESILIENCE

“ability of a system to absorb changes and to

persist”

(Holling 1973)

-Context of ecological systems

Compact City Forms – Urban limits, high density, infill development

Low Carbon Transport/Mobility – Public transit, walking, biking

Urban Greening – Creating ecological corridors

Local Renewable Energy Sources – Solar panels, wind farms

STRATEGY FOR BUILDING SUSTAINABLE

CITIES(Lessons from European Cities)

Not through skyscrapers and excessive high-rise

Building patterns of pre-dominantly low-rise structures at human scale

History of limited land base and and compact cities

Policies aimed at strengthening urban core:

Industrial reuse, urban redevelopment

Growth along transit corridors

Limits on building outside designated development areas

Strong role of municipal governments in developing new areas

Investment in transport and infrastructure to support compactness

COMPACTNESS & DENSITY

BUILDING PATTERN IN AMSTERDAM

This image is attributed to Mi Chiel @ 2013 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

EASTERN DOCKLANDS, AMSTERDAM

This image is attributed to Marc Rauw @ 2010 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

EASTERN DOCKLANDS, AMSTERDAM

This image is attributed to Marc Rauw @ 2010 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Priority to transit on streets – protected & dedicated bus & tram lanes

Reduce interference of autos with transit movement

Single ticket good for all transit modes (bus, tram, underground metro)

High frequency of service

Integration of transit modes through coordination of routes

Cross-national travel by high speed rail

Investments in new routes along with new developments

All part of the city no more than 600 meters from a tram station

Car sharing companies and strategies

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT/MOBILITY

TRAMS IN ZURICH

This image is attributed to Andreas Praefcke @ 2007 (CC BY 3.0)

TRAM STATION IN ZURICH

This image is attributed to Ronald Zh @ 2011 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

ZURICH HIGH SPEED RAIL TRANSIT HUB

This image is attributed to Roger Price @ 2008 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

CAR2GO (CAR SHARING, ELECTRIC CAR CHARGING), AMSTERDAM

This image is attributed to Mariordo @ 2011 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

BIKE SHARING, PARIS

This image is attributed to Coyau @ 2012 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Commitment through modest investment, planning and design

Bike lanes along all major streets

Separated bike lanes with separate signaling & priority at intersections

Extensive bicycling parking facilities (trains, public buildings)

Minimum bicycle parking and storage standards at new developments

BIKE ORIENTED

SOLAR POWERED BICYCLE PAY STATION, BOULDER, COLORADO

AUTOMATED BIKE SHARING PAY STATION, PARIS

This image is attributed to Tyree303 @ 2013 (CC BY-SA 3.0) and Mariordo @ 2012 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

PEDESTRIAN ORIENTED DESIGN

Creating walkable cities through compact, dense and mixed-use

Mixed use provides shops, services, cafes at walking distances

Outdoor space – people socialize & interact, children play, democracy plays out

Continued attention to the issue – expansion of pedestrian areas

Gradual conversion to pedestrian uses, politically difficult to do at once

Copenhagen: 2-3% of downtown parking converted each year

Good public transit and alternate modes of travel a critical factor

PEDESTRIAN ZONE, COPENHAGEN

This image is attributed to Furya @ 2010 (CC BY 2.0)

Urban greening strategies – green roofs, preserving forests, ecological

corridors

Closed loop cities – input and output of energy cycles

CHP Systems – Combined heat and power (using heat from electric

generation), incentives and benefits to companies

Solar energy integration in design of homes, schools, other buildings

Financial & technical support for renewable energy at multiple levels

URBAN GREENING & RENEWABLE ENERGY

EUROPEAN GREEN BELT

This image is attributed to Smaack @ 2011 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Old forest area along eastern European borders

Multinational movement to conserve & protect

Connects national parks, nature parks, biosphere reserves

Economic & planning frameworks facilitate urban sustainability in EU

Energy prices very high in Europe relative to US, carbon tax in Denmark

Parliamentary government structure gives voice to small green parties

Government role as market stimulators, innovation promoter expected

Land not tied to sense of personal use (individual right) and freedom

Strong desire to live within city centers, history of urban culture

Importance given to the public realm & the value of public spaces

KEY DIFFERENCES WITH UNITED STATES

Climate change and resource degradation threatening cities

Cities consume 75% of world energy, emit 80% of GHG

Energy sources needed for growth, global oil supplies dwindling

Need to look at alternatives – next generation of innovations needed

Cities that quickly adapt to the changing dynamics of fossil based resources

will prosper

Reducing oil use – political necessity, environmental & health impacts, greater

equity & economic gain, reducing dependence on foreign fuel

Diversity of land use systems & transport, multiple sources of renewable power

Reducing ecological footprint and improving quality of life

RESILIENT CITIES

CLIMATE SCIENCE

1. Linked to Green House Gas (GHGs)

2. Four principle GHGs: Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxides,

Fluorinated gases

3. Increased emissions since the industrial revolution

4. Agreement:

Human activities changing composition of atmosphere

More GHGs will change global climate

5. Disagreement:

How much will it change

At what rate it will change

What and where the exact impacts will be

GLOBAL POPULATION INCREASE

This image is attributed to El T (Public Domain)

CITIES WITH ONE MILLION INHABITANTS

This image is attributed to Anwar Saadat @ 2007 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

THIRD REVOLUTION – HUGE URBANIZATION

- 1900 – 10% of world population in cities

- 1950 – 30% of world population in cities

- 2010 – 51% of world population in cities

- 2050 – 67% of world population in cities

(projected)

URBANIZATION TRENDS

- Urbanization and industrialization go hand in

hand

- Concentration in cities create market efficiency

– labor, specialized firms, access

- Cities generate land use change, impacts on

the environment – air, land, water

- Costs – congestion, pollution, migration and

unemployment

INDUSTRIALIZATION – YANGZHOU, CHINA

This image is attributed to Vmenkov @ 2012 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

TRAFFIC CONGESTION – HO CHI MINH, VIETNAM

This image is attributed to Ngo Trung @ 2010 (CC BY 3.0)

URBAN POPULATION CONCENTRATION – KATHMANDU, NEPAL

This image is attributed to Pavel Novak @ 2005 (CC BY-SA 2.5)

MEGACITIES

Urban Agglomerations

More Than 10 million Inhabitants

Largest City – TOKYO – 34 million population

Massive Environmental Footprint

MEGACITY – TOKYO, JAPAN

This image is attributed to Lux Tonnerre @ 2008 (CC BY 2.0)

MEGACITY – GUANGZHOU, CHINA

This image is attributed to chensiyuan @ 2011 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

MEGACITY – SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

This image is attributed to Patriotmissile @ 2007 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

MEGACITY – NEW YORK, UNITED STATES

This image is attributed to Francisco Diez @ 2009 (CC BY 2.0)

MEGACITY – SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

This image is attributed to Ana Paula Hirama @ 2011 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

MEGACITY – SHANGHAI, CHINA

This image is attributed to Peter Morgan @ 2005 (CC BY 2.0)

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Urban Growth, According to UN Annual Growth Rate in Asia-Pacific is 2.3%

This image is attributed to United Nations Photo @ 2010 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

MEGACITY – MANILA, PHILLIPINES

This image is attributed to Alex Robinson @ 2013 (CC ?)

MEGAPOLITAN

Clustered networks of giant metropolitan regions

11 Regions Identified in US

Largest Megalopolis – Washington DC to Boston

– 14% of nation’s population

MEGALOPOLIS – WASHINGTON, DC to BOSTON

This image is attributed to NASA (PD-USGov)

GLOBAL CARBON

FOOTPRINT

The biggest footprints – US & China