About Me
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
http://www.sustainablecities.org.uk/
Going low carbon can deliver progress on other crucial fronts such as energy security, affordable homes, new jobs and regeneration.
So CABE has launched a major new initiative, Sustainable Cities, for the people responsible for planning, designing and managing towns and cities.
Sustainable Cities is the result of a two year research programme, working with the English Core Cities and a team of 30 experts.
Making towns and cities low carbon is not impossibly complicated – but it does mean seeing the bigger picture to make the right decision. Biomass boilers or combined heat and power? How do you balance high density living with more green, natural space? How do you work out energy demand and supply over the next 20 years?
Sustainable Cities aims to help towns and cities avoid the risk of unintended consequences. Going low carbon is not just about the quality of our homes – it is about how we live our lives. The household fuel bill savings from well insulated homes could, after all, be spent on more plasma screens and flights.
As our towns and cities tackle climate change they need to become better places to live and work. It is possible to undermine the quality of a place at the same time as cutting emissions, and make it less sustainable. Investing in electric vehicles will cut carbon emissions, for instance, but contribute nothing to better traffic management, more walking and cycling, and more beautiful streets and open spaces.
Greening our cities
Greening our cities would help tackle recession
23 March 2009
A major shift of public money towards the greening of towns and cities is needed, to tackle both climate change and the recession and create places we all want to live in.
Green roof on Chicago City Hall by William McDonough and Partners
Photo by Morris K. Udall Foundation
With the next budget fast approaching, CABE and Natural England are calling on the government to prioritise funding for green assets such as parks, trees and open spaces. The two government advisors on urban design and the natural environment have just brought together international experts for a conference, ParkCity (March 2009), to help share understanding about how to create more liveable places.
CABE and Natural England argue that since we are faced with two urgent and fundamental challenges – climate change and the recession – investment in grey and green infrastructure needs to be rebalanced.
The spend on grey schemes, like building and expanding roads, is out of kilter with spend on assets like street trees and parks and green spaces.
Richard Simmons, CABE chief executive, spoke at the conference of the need to redesign our towns and cities in response to the imperative of climate change. Design is the signal of intent - and the intention of urban design should be to reduce, absorb and capture more carbon dioxide. “Greening towns and cities needs to be part of the green new deal, as much as technology” he said.
The creation and maintenance of green infrastructure will generate new and sustainable jobs in the private sector as well creating desirable areas to live and work.
Investment in green roofs, for instance, would not only protect cities from flooding by absorbing heavy rain, cool the air in summer, improve air quality and support biodiversity, but it would also create many new jobs.
Just 10 per cent of the nation’s £10 billion budget to widen and build roads could pay for 40 new parks, half a million new street trees, one and a half million square metres of green roof, and 1,000 miles of safe greenways for cyclists and pedestrians.
The ParkCity conference brought together world experts with leaders from the public, private and third sectors to debate how green infrastructure can deliver energy and transport solutions, economic regeneration, improved public health and climate change adaptation.
Read our interviews with:
Edward T McMahon – the founding father of the concept of green infrastructure is a leading conservationist, environmental lawyer and an inspirational public speaker
Wade Crowfoot – San Francisco’s director of climate protection initiatives is at the front line of the Californian city’s not-so-quiet climate revolution
Klaus Bondam – Copenhagen’s mayor of environmental administration is leading that city’s drive to become provide the world’s best urban environment by 2015.
23 March 2009
A major shift of public money towards the greening of towns and cities is needed, to tackle both climate change and the recession and create places we all want to live in.
Green roof on Chicago City Hall by William McDonough and Partners
Photo by Morris K. Udall Foundation
With the next budget fast approaching, CABE and Natural England are calling on the government to prioritise funding for green assets such as parks, trees and open spaces. The two government advisors on urban design and the natural environment have just brought together international experts for a conference, ParkCity (March 2009), to help share understanding about how to create more liveable places.CABE and Natural England argue that since we are faced with two urgent and fundamental challenges – climate change and the recession – investment in grey and green infrastructure needs to be rebalanced.
The spend on grey schemes, like building and expanding roads, is out of kilter with spend on assets like street trees and parks and green spaces.
Richard Simmons, CABE chief executive, spoke at the conference of the need to redesign our towns and cities in response to the imperative of climate change. Design is the signal of intent - and the intention of urban design should be to reduce, absorb and capture more carbon dioxide. “Greening towns and cities needs to be part of the green new deal, as much as technology” he said.
The creation and maintenance of green infrastructure will generate new and sustainable jobs in the private sector as well creating desirable areas to live and work.
Investment in green roofs, for instance, would not only protect cities from flooding by absorbing heavy rain, cool the air in summer, improve air quality and support biodiversity, but it would also create many new jobs.
Just 10 per cent of the nation’s £10 billion budget to widen and build roads could pay for 40 new parks, half a million new street trees, one and a half million square metres of green roof, and 1,000 miles of safe greenways for cyclists and pedestrians.
The ParkCity conference brought together world experts with leaders from the public, private and third sectors to debate how green infrastructure can deliver energy and transport solutions, economic regeneration, improved public health and climate change adaptation.
Read our interviews with:
Edward T McMahon – the founding father of the concept of green infrastructure is a leading conservationist, environmental lawyer and an inspirational public speaker
Wade Crowfoot – San Francisco’s director of climate protection initiatives is at the front line of the Californian city’s not-so-quiet climate revolution
Klaus Bondam – Copenhagen’s mayor of environmental administration is leading that city’s drive to become provide the world’s best urban environment by 2015.
Zira Island
The Seven Peaks of Azerbaijan is a master plan for a Zero Energy culture and entertainment city on Zira Island situated within the Caspian Sea. Located within the crescent shaped bay of Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, Zira Island is designed to be a sustainable model for urban development, and an iconographic skyline recognizable from the city’s coastline. As a young post-soviet democracy, Azerbaijan is rediscovering its national identity, The Seven Peaks of Azerbaijan proposes an architectural landscape derived from its natural landscape. The mountains are conceived not only as metaphors, but engineered as entire eco-systems, a model for future sustainable urban development.
Zira Island from Andreas Klok Pedersen on Vimeo.
Zira Island from Andreas Klok Pedersen on Vimeo.
8-HOUSE
8-House is located in Ørestad on the edge of Copenhagen. 8-House offers homes for people in all of life’s stages: the young and the old, singles, families that grow and families that become smaller. Instead of dividing the different functions of the building - for both habitation and retail - into separate blocks, the various functions have been spread out horizontally. The apartments are placed at the top while the commercial program unfolds at the base of the building. As a result, the different horizontal layers have achieved a quality of their own: the apartments benefit from the view, sunlight and fresh air, while the commercial merges with life on the street.
8H - The 8-House from BIG on Vimeo.
8H - The 8-House from BIG on Vimeo.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)