it's not going to be easy

Dongtan is not the only planned sustainable urban area planned for China. Another one is the village of Huangbaiyu, but this one is puzzling. The rendering of the original scheme shows an interesting concept, but this photo of built houses makes it look more like a standard subdivision. Some aspects of the design may indeed reduce ecological impact, but it's no model development.

The real question though, is why existing villagers are being asked to abandon their existing houses to move into new "sustainable" ones. The linked article points out that the existing villagers live scattered among their agricultural fields. Conventional wisdom may suggest that such low densities are bad as an urban model, but I would have thought that there is some wisdom in living where you work. Improving efficiencies by corralling the villagers and knocking down functional houses will only alienate them from the land. If this approach is more efficient, it is only because the fields will be consolidated and farmed by a bigger enterprise, and the villagers will have to start travelling to jobs elsewhere.

Maybe the mistakes with this village are just a bad pixel on a widescreen TV - though the villagers may have a different view - as the general approach sounds positive.

Update on 30 July 2007: I've just discovered another plan for a zero-carbon, zero-waste city, this one in Abu Dhabi. There's a curious rendering of a "solar tree" something like the fake trees that double as relay stations for cellular networks in South Africa, but this one has solar panels.

plan approvals process may tighten in California

Facing lawsuits challenging Environmental Impact Reports that don't assess the effects on global warming of particular projects, California is under pressure to consider climate change in decisions on land use, transportation, energy production and other projects requiring approval from public planning agencies. New land use policy may soon require, for example, that additional carbon emissions resulting from an energy-inefficient housing project or a car-based commercial development be quantified and considered in the approval process.

I wrote in November 2004 about Western Australia's updated neighbourhoood planning policy that encouraged lot design to allow for climate-responsive dwellings as part of a strategy to reduce energy consumption. The Californian and Western Australian examples are coming at the issue from different angles, and it would be interesting to see whether the two approaches could form components of one strategy.

Bostonians do it bigger

On the topic of Boston, the city seems to be working hard at reclaiming lost space. The Big Dig is moving an elevated highway underground, releasing prime downtown land for the Rose Kennedy Greenway and restoring the connection of the city with the waterfront. The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority provides images, plans and descriptions of how the greenway transformation will be done - while removing the highway frees up 30 acres, the total project will create more than 300 acres of landscaped and restored open space, including over 45 parks and major public plazas. The old Central Artery isn't cleared away yet, but the last car drove the highway last weekend.

Whether the Big Dig was worth its $15 billion price tag is another story, but two spinoff projects provide some compensation. One is the Big Dig House that I mentioned in April. Here's another description of how the house reused material from the Central Artery in a way that could be replicated in other building projects. Small in scale, big in ideas.

The other project is reclamation of a 105-acre waste dump on Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor by covering it with 6 million tons of material from the Big Dig tunnelling, creating a new park complete with solar-powered visitor centre with exhibits and information on the island's history. And can the planners be faulted for installing a composting toilet atop an "80-foot-high mound of trash"? [via Metaboston]

urban jungle

While there are a number of good reasons to increase urban densities, this BBC News article serves as a reminder that even reduced sprawl carries risks. Underused spaces in the urban fabric are often the first to be used for infill programmes to increase density because they are the easiest to develop. But even if they are not the most attractive parts of a city, they may still offer benefits similar to better-protected green lungs, which are important for social and recreational activity, biodiversity, storing carbon, reducing urban heat build-up, and for managing stormwater.

Just another example showing that as urban challenges intensify, our planning responses need to be more sophisticated and able to weigh up the tradeoffs inherent in decisions about how we shape our cities. If we don't bring together the parks managers, the road designers, the urban planners and a host of other decision-makers, we'll never get this right.

the image of green

Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn (USA): an interesting case study of the need for an integrated approach to transport and land use planning. Locating this large development close to a major transit hub, earning it the title "transit-oriented development", does not make it sustainable. Some aspects of this proposed development sound good, but plans for a significant number of parking bays throw into question its green credentials. Other concerns that have been raised suggest that the developer may be cherry-picking the easiest green features and ignoring the bigger picture. Image is everything.

urban climate

It's been known for some time that urban areas create a heat island as the hard surfaces store more solar radiation than the vegetation they replace. Adding to the effect is the heat generated from within buildings, and changes in air circulation. Studies have suggested that the result is significant enough to change the growth cycles of plants in some cities by altering the growing season.

Now scientists studying climate in areas of rapid urbanisation in China are finding changes in rainfall linked to urban sprawl. They speculate that an observed decrease in rainfall may be related to loss of vegetation, and the fast rate at which water runs off city streets, reducing the transfer of water to the atmosphere.

A lot can be done to mitigate urban energy waste, heat buildup and water runoff: from the layout of urban areas and the incorporation of vegetation, to the design of buildings and their heating and cooling systems. Strategies should include not only consideration of the way buildings are designed, built and operated, but also new approaches in disciplines like transport planning, traffic engineering, urban design and wastewater management. Some short-lived guidelines started to address these issues during the oil crisis of the 1970s, but only in recent years have planning guidelines started to incorporate energy considerations again. There are examples in Australia and the US.

I have no doubt that Dongtan Eco-city and its offspring will establish new standards for the planning of low-carbon cities, but until these initiatives become common practice, we'll have to rely on the examples set by individual buildings and small districts within cities. Here's a list (with pictures) of ten tall buildings that incorporate strategies to reduce carbon emissions and other environmental impacts.

house of the future

The house of the future will have elements from the past to reduce ecological footprints: rainwater collection, home gardens, underground cellars to keep fruit and vegetables cool, local delivery services, improved opportunities for walking and cycling, and shared community facilities.

interstitial living

Two ideas on infilling using Toronto's neglected spaces.

One: Using alleyways for creative architecture is surely a positive thing, but it seems unfortunate that developers have to resort to the OMB to make it happen. When will city Works Committee kiss and make up with the planning department?

Two: The elevated Gardiner Expressway cuts a swath between the CBD and the Harbourfront, creating a wasteland beneath and an eyesore above. Many people would like to see it torn down, but the approach so far has been to try and reclaim the shadowlands for other uses - a bit like the Cape Town International Convention Centre has done with part of the foreshore freeway.

buildings in context

The original LEED program (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rates single buildings for sustainability, but pretty much ignores a building's context. Now LEED for Neighborhood Development, or LEED-ND, "will place the emphasis on the elements that bring the buildings together into a neighborhood, and relate the neighborhood to its larger region and landscape."

[Grist on 12 October 2006: 'Hood Intentions]

combating urban sprawl with brownfield development

Development of vacant or abandoned properties in urban areas is one of those strategies that planners try to encourage because it often has strong possibilities for smart growth. Brownfields are often close to public transit, within walking distance of employment areas, have reduced parking requirements, and use available capacity of roads, sewers and water supplies. With these benefits to municipalities, why is there such resistance and continued development of prime agricultural land throughout North America?