Re-organising 'Urban Systems' Katleen De Flander 04.03.2014 Metropolis Globe New York by Werner Kunz, distributed under a Creative Commons licence from http://www.flickr.com/photos/werkunz/3545012600/
Problem 1: the City has Ruptured the biosphere s natural cycles
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
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)
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
Current strategy: Efficiency improvements +! Green Technology will save us
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
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
Before
After
Current strategy:! Model approach
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. http://www.beautifullife.info/urban-design/lilypad/ Masdar City Baraona Pohl, Ethel. "Masdar Sustainable City / LAVA" 31 Aug 2009. ArchDaily. Accessed 16 Jun 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/33587>
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
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
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
Models Process
Current strategy: Impact offsetting = business-as-usual + externalities
Current strategy: Single-resource approach Save some energy, but what about materials? New materials
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
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
Zero waste Europe Focus: 100 % separate collection BUT: this is still recycling = end-of-pipe. we need to tackle the source
Change priorities
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
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
and Necessity = mother of invention Solar Water Bulb - Alfredo Moser
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
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
How to innovate? First, try to get in trouble. I mean serious, but not terminal trouble Nassim Taleb
Short-cuts for a resource-centered transition? realise why we are not getting to a new system learn from Shock
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
When? What points in time have the best potential to start a transition? Be prepared! (others will be as well) > opportunity time frame
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?!!
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
Thank you Katleen De Flander 04.03.2014