Richard Simmons

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Scale and sustainability

• Richard Simmons
• Chief executive
• 26 January 2008

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The Commission for Architecture and the Built
Environment

• The UK Governments statutory adviser on
  architecture, urban design and public space in
  England -
• Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their
  own advisors
• Our statutory duties
• to improve education in, and understanding of,
  architecture
• to improve the quality of the design, management
  and maintenance of the built environment
• Our mission
• to work on behalf of the public to help them to
  improve their quality of life by improving the
  buildings and places they use

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CABEs criteria for good architecture, landscape
architecture and urban design

• By good design we mean design that is fit for
  purpose, sustainable, efficient, coherent,
  flexible, responsive to context, good looking and
  a clear expression of the requirements of the
  brief

CABE (2006) Design review How CABE evaluates
quality in architecture and urban design
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Global v local, rich v poor, consumer v producer,
north v south, strong v weak...
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Why is it so difficult to tackle environmental
problems?

• The tragedy of the commons its difficult to
  agree restraint in using a shared resource, or
  how it should be shared
• Natural systems are complex and unpredictable
  predicting the impact of human activity is even
  harder
• Human systems are complex and globally
  interdependent where do you start?
• We think we should be able to find a technical
  fix, or the market will fix it (a special kind
  of technical fix)
• Societies that ended up collapsing under
  environmental pressure were among the most
  creative and successful of their times, rather
  than stupid or primitive Jared Diamond,
  Collapse, 2005
• Fight or flight? In the face of an invisible and
  complex problem, many choose flight or denial (a
  special kind of flight)

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People are looking for leadership

• From government
• From local government
• From business
• Ipsos/MORI
• Turning Point or Tipping Point, 2007

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The house builders promise...
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The reality for some
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And some more...
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And yet more...
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What people want v what they get
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The Code 6 home the Barratt Green House at BRE
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The neighbourhood - BedZed passive v. active
on-site v. on and off-site
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The community - Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm
Twice as good as the norm
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Whats already there
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The density debate

• High density public transport networks serving
  high density places reduce carbon emissions, so
  we should build more densely
• High density places are needed to pay for public
  transport improvements, provide markets for local
  services and demand for locally generated heat
  and power, so the financing of sustainable
  infrastructure decides the shape of places

Developers set their sights lower with new
Victoria scheme Evening Standard 23/9/08
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CABEs Sustainable cities programme

• A learning programme in partnership with
  Englands Core Cities
• To be launched soon...

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Key elements of programme

• A web resource focused on cities placemaking
  and urban design response to a changing climate
• Establishing a community of climate change
  leaders within and across the cities to exchange
  knowledge at both strategic and delivery levels
• A learning programme in the core cities with the
  experts contributing to sustainable cities

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Promoting placemaking

• The programme demonstrates and prioritises how
  strategic urban design and management can make
  the city (region) better able to deliver
  adaptation and mitigation measures.
• It is as relevant for those in services with an
  indirect impact on the built environment as it is
  for those with direct responsibility for shaping
  it.

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Cross-disciplinary ethos

• The programme provides a framework and
  cross-cutting solutions to common problems.
• Vitally it is seeking to move people out of
  their professional silos, uniting different
  disciplines.
• It is a common platform to encourage an
  integrated approach to adaptation and mitigation
  across a city.

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Touchstone 1

• Understand the physical assets of a place and its
  inherent resources
• Nurture genius loci there is no one size fits
  all, for physical solutions or processes
• Use the UKCIP climate projections and local
  climate impact profiles (LCLIPs) and ensure that
  local characteristics are deployed to contribute
  to the citys response

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Touchstone 2

• Use the spatial planning system to achieve
  solutions at the appropriate scale
• Ensure the spatial distribution of activities
  within cities coheres communities and reduces
  demands on key areas such as transport and
  energy
• Promote and represent the ethos of the city
  through cultural and political leadership and
  active engagement of citizens

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Touchstone 3

• Civic leadership and collective action to create
  a new city infrastructure
• Flexible infrastructure of networks, not
  hierarchies, long life, low energy, low emission
  and loose fit
• Integrate the urban landscape and natural
  ecological systems to operate as a key part of
  civic infrastructure

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Touchstone 4

• Reduce the ecological footprint of the city
  across energy, water and waste
• Ensure that city-wide consumption follows the
  hierarchy of reduce reuse recycle and recover
• Establish benchmarks and gather evidence to
  measure performance

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Resource flowsand points of intervention
CIC
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Hammarby Sjöstad The eco-cycle model
Resource flowsand points of intervention
CIC
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Getting the right intervention

• National
• Regional
• Sub-regional
• Citywide
• Neighbourhood
• Site specific
• Buildings
• Materials

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Priorities
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2009 learning programme

• Creating a vision for a sustainable city
• Use of land and assets
• Making the case whole life costing
• Energy and thermal masterplanning
• Harnessing green infrastructure
• Addressing the urban heat island
• Public realm adaptation
• Refurbishing existing building stock

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A tentative hierarchy of sensible things to do

• Masterplan at sufficient scale - get rid of the
  red line
• Functional green infrastructure
• Deal with travel
• Orientation make best use of sunlight
• Natural ventilation
• Thermal comfort
• Materials (thermal mass and carbon content)
• On-site renewable energy (heat and power)
• Off-site renewable energy (heat and power)
  shared networks
• Food, water and other consumables
• Post occupancy evaluation measurements as well
  as opinions
• Go beyond CO2 biodiversity, waste, toxic
  materials etc.

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The Zero Carbon Hub consulting now
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Thank you

• www.cabe.org.uk