 Panel Discussion SUSTAINABLE CITIES – WHERE THE ENVIRONMENT MEETS THE INDIVIDUAL SATURDAY 13 OCTOBER 2007
“We have to get back to urban ecologies that are based on frugality, not excess,” declared Chris Luebkeman of the design and business consulting firm, Ove Arup, as he outlined the pressing need for sustainable cities worldwide. Sometimes, he said, you could gain insights from the past that are equally relevant to the future. He used an advertisement for a Studebaker motorcar from 1905 to illustrate his point. The commercial highlighted the car’s dual engine: one electrical, for efficient and non-polluting use in the cities, and the second petrol-powered for long-distance driving. The challenges facing us are enormous, Luebkeman said, citing China as a prime example of the breakneck speed of urbanisation. There, 600 million people are expected to move to urban areas in the years ahead – equivalent to the entire population of North America combined with a chunk of Europe’s. The challenges this poses are immense, he said, and although China actually has good environmental laws, these laws are not always well enforced at local level. His company is currently developing an “eco-city” on an island near Shanghai, as a model of how he believes new cities could and should work. He said society cannot afford to replicate what he called “the Los Angeles model.” The city, Dongtan, is designed according to factors that include its ecological footprint rather than old formal models of urban planning. Energy use and waste management systems will help cut the estimated ecological impact of Dongtan by more than half, when compared with the average per-person impact in a standard European city. The company’s best “brain trust” had been put to work on the project, but in spite of that, the per-person impact was still some 20% higher than it should be were the city to be genuinely sustainable, Luebkeman acknowledged. Architect and author of a book on sustainable construction Livia Tirone praised the European model of cities as having a desirable density of population – one that was sufficiently compact to allow for what she called “multifunctionality.” For example, infrastructure projects were efficient, and citizens could go to many places on foot. This had a corollary benefit of avoiding the “aggressive feelings” associated with some other modes of transport. She highlighted that sustainability didn’t mean that people had to be stripped of their right to feel excited by, and comfortable in, the places in which they lived. However, she called on policy makers to be much clearer with their messages about change, using energy-saving directives for example. “We have to reduce the demand for energy,” she said, pointing out that 40% of the world’s energy use is devoted to the construction and maintenance of buildings. “The wrong messages are coming down politically, with low VAT on water and gas, and high VAT on things like insulation and solar power.” Moderator Françoise Crouigneau asked Noni Allwood, a senior director with Cisco Systems, for insights into how technology could assist in developing sustainability in urban environments. Allwood, who also works with a team set up by the Clinton Global Initiative to look for innovative solutions to global warming, said that technology is frequently seen as a culprit of environmental problems. The cheap cost of printers, for example, creates “incredible waste,” she said and deplored the piles of computers we accumulate that need to be recycled or dumped. But “IT can do far better than that,” she affirmed. Cities like San Francisco, Amsterdam and Seoul had all used technology to help improve the quality of life and the environment in cities. She outlined the experience of San Francisco, which had sought to develop its public transport system to encourage people not to use private cars. Transport information systems on buses can assist commuters – enabling them, for example, to see on screen if there is congestion ahead. These systems can also recommend intelligent courses of action – is it quickest for the commuter to get off and walk, or perhaps take a train? Technology, she pointed out, also provides flexibility in how people work, enabling them to work from home, so they need to travel less. In response to audience questions, the panel debated the sustainability of cities in the US, and the future of the car in urban areas. Another subject raised was the need to share best practices widely. Allwood and Luebkeman pointed to the use of websites as a tool for this. Tirone was keen to mention that in her experience, Mediterranean cultures could learn from Northern European models of team work. “There is no such thing as an expert on sustainability,” she said, “only teams of experts.” ____________________________ |