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Eco-cities: A Budding Revolution


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Eco-cities: A Budding Revolution

Cities featured in the Perspective, green issue of April 2008

======================================

 

April 2008 issue of Perspective has an interesting article:

 

Eco-cities: A Budding Revolution

'Eco-cities', or 'green cities' are much talked about, but with most still yet to be completed, Perspective looks at what actually constitutes an eco-city, and some of the developments under way

 

((NOTES)):

 

"A green city is an ecologically healthy city. No such city presently exists"

 

+ Last year, for the first time, there were more people living in cities than in the countryside

+ Experiments everywhere- many firms planning eco-cities

+ many good individual projects underway, but tackling the scale of a city is a big challenge

 

Issues:

- Energy to recycling

- Eco-systems with inter-related parts

- Space planning, transport

- The mixed needs of those who live in the cities

&: When space is gone for new projects, how do we "green" existing cities ??

 

THE FIRST ECO-CITY PROJECTS will be underway as soon as next year.

Examples:

 

masdar2qb9.jpg

== Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, UAE: 67,000 people === (designed by Foster + partners)

: Open in Late 2009 :

A 6 sq.km. Walled city: zero carbon, zero waste target //Masdar means "source" in arabic.

Connected to the centre of Abu Dhabi & its airport by road, and by public transport

 

+ Shaded streets to ease heat, and encourage walking

+ Car-free and pedestrian friendly

+ To be surrounded by wind and photelectric farms

+ aims to attract: researchers, students, professionals willing to promote a green lifestyle

+ Home of the new Masdar Inst. of Science & Technology, in partnership w/ MIT

 

610x.jpg

== Dongtan, Chongming Island, China: 80,000 people (2020) === (designed by Arup)

: Open in XX:

Three villages that will meet in the centre, to form a city centre, total size: 30 sq.km.

 

+ Canals, lakes and marinas for recreation and transport

+ Sustainability for: environment, plus: economic, social, and cultural goals

+ Housing easily accessible by foot, or by public transport

+ Farms within the city to grow food

+ Energy provided by wind farms and solar cells; biogas and waste treatment

+ 90% of waste generatedby the city to be reused

+ Private vehicles to be left outside the city

 

200772018325979344nx8.jpg

== Public Administration Town, Sejong, S.Korea: xx people === (by Balmori, % Korean partners)

: Open in xx :

Themes: Flat, link, and zero, for the 2.7 sq.km. PAT, with low rises linking parkland & forest

 

+ Aim is to create a zero-waste city

+ Masterplan includes a canal, a reservoir, and river running thru the city

+ Green roofs with functions from food growing to gardens

+ Aim to reduce toxins thru titanium dioxide-treated surfaces (?)

...

 

== Songdu Int'l Business District, Incheon, S.Korea: 65,000 people === (by Gale Int'l and POSCO, etc.)

: Open in August 2009 :

To cover 1,500 acres off Incheon

 

Aiming for certification by LEED, Leadership in Design

 

+ 40% green space. Songdu will be a "pedetrianiased city"

+ Natural lighting, high performance glazing, green roofs

+ watewater recycling, with bioconverters and biorefineries

+ Network of canals, with water movements powered by wind

+ ecocity & technocity : Sustainable Int'l business institute

 

= = = = =

LINKS:

7th Ecocity World Summit, SanFran : http://www.ecocityworldsummit.org/index2.htm

Perspective magazine website....... : http://www.perspective.com.hk/front.cfm

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"GREEN is the new Red, White, and Blue"

 

It is nice to hear architect say this at a TED seminar, even if I dont quite believe it.

 

Norman Foster: Building on the green agenda

 

"You cannot separate the buildings out from the infrastructure of transport."

 

70% is influenced by the way the buildings and infrastructure are arranged.

He compares Detroit with Munich. Munich is twice as dense as Detroit,

and conumes only 1/10th as much energy !!

 

My Answers are simple:

+ Cars are last

+ Mixed use

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  • 3 weeks later...

... in the UK too...

 

stdavids01eg5.jpg

 

St David's, in Pembrokeshire, is on course to transform itself into the world's first carbon-neutral city. It has had an advantage in chasing this lofty ambition: with a population of only 1,800, it is the UK's smallest city. But through force of will, locals believe they can show the rest of the UK how to achieve an eco-conscious way of life.

 

Mapz.png

 

Andy Middleton, a leader of the green movement in St David's, declares: “I've just about completed building our family eco-home. The electricity needed to run our home and the conference centre next door is biomass and solar-generated. With 50 per cent more insulation than required by building regulations and features like triple glazing, the home can be run for a cost of about 12p a day - less if I get planning consent for a wind turbine.”

 

In and around St David's, green features have been incorporated into public and private buildings. Rainwater is harvested to service the public toilets and the new Landscape Art Gallery, funded by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, has ground-source heat pumps.

 

/see: http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life...icle3805829.ece

 

"Rural Bliss"? :: http://www.rochmill.co.uk/3.html

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  • 2 weeks later...
... Still looks like a small scale drop in the ocean......

 

YES. but it is a start.

Bedzed was another similar experiment I suppose

 

c_study_bedzed5.jpg

 

The Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is a highly innovative scheme which comprises housing, in a variety of tenures, together with workspace units and community facilities. Its key objective is to be ‘carbon neutral’ by implementing a wide range of sustainable features. At 59 dwellings per hectare, the scheme provides a model of high density urban development which makes efficient use of land and reduces transport costs.

 

/see: http://www.ecoconstruction.org/c_study_bed.html

 

I wonder what the transport links into Bedzed are like.

Somehow, I reckon it falls down on transport

 

== == ==

 

LATER: I found something - and it's more promising than I expected...

 

"Green transport plan

Transport energy accounts for a large proportion of the energy consumption of any development.

 

A green transport plan promotes walking, cycling and use of public transport. A car pool for residents has been established, and all these initiatives have helped to provide a strategic and integrated approach to transport issues.

 

The BedZED project shows that it is possible to reduce reliance on cars and introduced the first legally binding Green Transport Plan as a condition of planning permission.

 

BedZED's target is a 50% reduction in fossil-fuel consumption by private car use over the next ten years compared with a conventional development.

 

BedZED has been designed to encourage alternatives to car use.

 

BedZED has good public transport links, including two railway stations, two bus routes and a tramlink.

 

An onsite Car Club called 'ZEDcars'. BedZED was the first low car development in the UK to incorporate a car club.

 

A 'pedestrian first' policy with good lighting, drop kerbs for prams and wheelchairs and a road layout that keeps vehicles to walking speed.

 

BedZED is designed along 'homezone' principles that have benefited communities in continental Europe for many years

 

On-site charging points for electric cars and a free public electric vehicle charging point is already available in Sutton town centre. BedZED's 10-year target is to produce enough electricity from photovoltaic panels (which convert sunlight into energy) to power 40 electric vehicles. It is hoped that a mixture of private cars and vehicles available through the car club will minimise fossil fuel use as the community settles. For owners of electric vehicles energy and parking will be free of charge."

 

/see: http://www.peabody.org.uk/pages/GetPage.aspx?id=179

 

"A 'pedestrian first' policy"

Hmmm. That's great... aprroaching "Cars are last" sensibility

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  • 3 weeks later...

Unfortunately the U.K still misses the point.

 

19 May 2008

 

Fourteen leading experts will today challenge developers to improve their visions for eco-towns and deliver world class proposals for the first new towns in the UK for 45 years.

 

The panel of leading figures from the worlds of design, the environment, transport and sustainability, was selected by Housing Minister Caroline Flint to provide expert advice and support to bidders and inject new thinking on how eco-towns could be best delivered in each of the 15 short listed locations.

 

The Eco-Town Challenge Panel will throw down its challenge to bidders at its first meeting with them today.

 

Housing Minister Caroline Flint said:

 

"Only the best bids with the highest environmental standards stand a chance of being selected as an eco town. The Panel will have a vital role in encouraging and inspiring developers to aim as high as possible in each potential location. There are no done deals and I expect bidders to raise their game by taking on board the expert advice available to them, to make the most of this unique opportunity to deliver the affordable, greener homes our first time buyers and young families desperately need."

 

http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/810823

 

The brownfield site at Manby near Louth has been put forward by East Lindsey District Council.

 

The chairman of the Campaign to Protect Rural England in Lincolnshire, John Rose, said he has some reservations about the transport links in the area around Manby.

 

"All the plus factors on eco-towns will be counter-balanced by the need to get out of town to get to your place of work," he said.

 

This article also provides the key problem facing a lot of the proposals......"Opponents have insisted the settlements of up to 15,000 homes will spoil important countryside and overwhelm local infrastructure".

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicest...ire/7327991.stm

 

Something planners pick up on. "The first test of an eco town should be the sustainability of it as a location. There was also a feeling that 5,000 dwellings might be at or below the very lowest limit for a sustainable community".

 

Rather interesting article suggests they are a bit miffed they are not being listened too more :lol:

 

http://www.bardcampaign.com/politics/third...n_ecotowns.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Eco-cities: A Budding Revolution

Cities featured in the Perspective, green issue of April 2008

======================================

 

April 2008 issue of Perspective

Persp_apr08.jpg . eco-cities.jpg

 

...has an interesting article:

 

Eco-cities: A Budding Revolution

'Eco-cities', or 'green cities' are much talked about, but with most still yet to be completed, Perspective looks at what actually constitutes an eco-city, and some of the developments under way

 

((NOTES)):

 

"A green city is an ecologically healthy city. No such city presently exists"

 

+ Last year, for the first time, there were more people living in cities than in the countryside

+ Experiments everywhere- many firms planning eco-cities

+ many good individual projects underway, but tackling the scale of a city is a big challenge

 

Issues:

- Energy to recycling

- Eco-systems with inter-related parts

- Space planning, transport

- The mixed needs of those who live in the cities

&: When space is gone for new projects, how do we "green" existing cities ??

 

Meanwhile back in the U.K, how to decide an eco-town!

 

http://www.arun.gov.uk/cgi-bin/buildpage.pl?mysql=4517

 

"The eco-town process is entirely new and outside of the national, statutory planning system. The decision will be made in private and at no stage are the Minister’s actions subject to any form of public scrutiny or debate.

 

We could be talking about the biggest development in Arun’s history being forced upon us even if the evidence suggests this is not the best place to build in and that the local community is against it.

 

We know that there are many local organisations just as opposed to this idea as we are, and we look forward to joining forces with them to campaign against the eco-town process.”

 

Cllr. R. Bower - Cabinet Member for Planning

 

Arun D.C's website's final comment says it all on the whole process.

 

"Given that the first 5 sites are expected to be underway by 2010 this does not give sufficient time for all the details of the eco-towns to be designed, funded and have the necessary planning and other consents in place. Hence, we believe, the alternative route (set out in the timeline) that planning applications will start to be submitted from any time now onwards. This timetable does not allow either for any major infrastructure works needed to support an eco-town to gain planning approval and commence construction".

 

 

So another well thought out initiative, involving all........hmmm good government?

 

 

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Looking at the time frames for these, I have a sneaking suspicion they won't happen.

 

First, I am not convinced that we need more towns and that the apparent shortage of housing is a side effect of the extended property boom. In any event, if there is a shortage of housing, it is not a shortage of housing in Louth, or wherever.

 

Second, Caroline Flint will be unemployed when these schemes are due to be starting.

 

Third, in the new economic climate, where is the money going to come from? Which builder is going to be prepared to speculate on building unconventional houses in new towns for sale to chronically cautious buyers. There are reasons why Barratts build the crap they do - people like to buy it, whatever they say.

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Looking at the time frames for these, I have a sneaking suspicion they won't happen.

 

First, I am not convinced that we need more towns and that the apparent shortage of housing is a side effect of the extended property boom. In any event, if there is a shortage of housing, it is not a shortage of housing in Louth, or wherever.

 

Second, Caroline Flint will be unemployed when these schemes are due to be starting.

 

Third, in the new economic climate, where is the money going to come from? Which builder is going to be prepared to speculate on building unconventional houses in new towns for sale to chronically cautious buyers. There are reasons why Barratts build the crap they do - people like to buy it, whatever they say.

 

Caroline Flint :lol: yes doubt many would bet against at the moment.

 

Barratt's master boring builders, but for how much longer ;)

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