Re-organising 'Urban Systems'

Transcription

1 Re-organising 'Urban Systems' Katleen De Flander Metropolis Globe New York by Werner Kunz, distributed under a Creative Commons licence from

2 Problem 1: the City has Ruptured the biosphere s natural cycles

3 Problem 2: Resources the City is a Parasite Waste Pollution externalities of urban consumption are carried by regional and global hinterlands, often ignored in sust, urban strategies

4 Answers: We need to restore the ruptures in the biosphere s natural cycles We need to reduce the geographies of extraction and environmental damage caused by urban consumption (Sassen)

5 Are these global ecological conditions the results of urban agglomeration and density or are they the results of the specific types of urban systems that we have developed to handle transport, waste disposal, building, heating and cooling, food provision, and the industrial processes by which we extract, grow, make, package, distribute, and dispose of the foods, services and materials that we use?" Saskia Sassen

6 Current strategy: Efficiency improvements +! Green Technology will save us

7 Efficiency has in itself no value, per se. We first have to question if what we are doing is right, before we make it more efficient. McDonough & Braungart

8 We are still trying to solve the problems within the same consumption-based system that has created them e.g. car >> electric car, biofuels,.. try to sell more, not less Green car of the year(2008) = Hybrid car that weighs 7000 kg

9 Before

10 After

11 Current strategy:! Model approach

12 Gated communities of the 21st century Ready-made eco-cities short-cut the process phase and deny the complexity of the living city. Lilypad Floating Eco-City Design: Vincent Callebaut. Masdar City Baraona Pohl, Ethel. "Masdar Sustainable City / LAVA" 31 Aug ArchDaily. Accessed 16 Jun <

13 The City is Not a Tree (Alexander) Open semi-lattice = naturally grown cities The City Becomes a Tree (Christiaanse) Closed tree structure = artificial 'designed' cities

14 Adjacent neighbourhood Waterloo Road neighbourhood Adjacent neighbourhood shows how the redevelopment plan pretends they stick together Post Office Waterloo Road Neighbourhood boundary Youth club School Adult club shows how these pieces stick together in fact

15 Ready-made eco-cities are trees! Dongtan Eco-city < > Existing Marzahn (Berlin) fail to capture the complexity of a living city 'designed cities' ignore the way real cities develop, they are too naive ignore transformative nature of cities / missing dimension of time Example: strip packaging at borders is not changing the systems

16 Models Process

17 Current strategy: Impact offsetting = business-as-usual + externalities

18 Current strategy: Single-resource approach Save some energy, but what about materials? New materials

19 re-organise our urban systems Not just the way we MAKE things (C2C) but also the way we DO things from: 'less bad to: urban systems transition

20 real innovation from: Consumption-centered to: Resource-centered cities Putting resource management at the center of policy making will shape how individuals consume, how companies do business, how food is produced and water is used, how the balance of rural and urban is reworked.. Nair

21 Zero waste Europe Focus: 100 % separate collection BUT: this is still recycling = end-of-pipe. we need to tackle the source

22 Change priorities

23 Re-organisation = change! people don't like change resistance from those who have advantages of staying with the old system usually omitted in env. strategies

24 How? 5-10% max by convincing + too slow (Law, Money or Fun. Rovers)! Survey Copenhagen: people cycle because it is healthier, faster, cheaper, only 1% for environmental reasons

25 and Necessity = mother of invention Solar Water Bulb - Alfredo Moser

26 History > disruption reveals cities' real potential (London WWII, Cuban cities 1990 disruption food supply)! necessity + environment that facilitated change > food producing cities! <> urban farming European cities

27 Benefitting from Shock? "Small forest fires periodically cleanse the system of the most flammable material, so this does not have the opportunity to accumulate. However, systematically preventing forest fires from taking place to be safe makes the big one much worse. (Taleb, 2012) Thus small shocks prevent the accumulation of vulnerabilities and avoid big shocks

28 How to innovate? First, try to get in trouble. I mean serious, but not terminal trouble Nassim Taleb

29 Short-cuts for a resource-centered transition? realise why we are not getting to a new system learn from Shock

30 Where? What points in space have the best potential to start a shift? Intuition > methodology e.g. Urban Acupuncture Curitiba expand cycle activate new cycles magnitude pressure points ripple effect

31 When? What points in time have the best potential to start a transition? Be prepared! (others will be as well) > opportunity time frame

32 Innovation lies in: Think in Functions not Products! I need a car > I need to be mobile > I need access printer! > efficient printer (green approach) > service of printing > avoid printing (make function obsolete) > explore new function e.g. office space! How can we get the maximum potential out of our cities without disrupting the basic functions?!!

33 Strategies: Services to replace products Make things more simple, not more complex Reduce, not add technology Via Negativa Very quiet. 3% parking places Public space = key What can we learn from

34 Thank you Katleen De Flander