Professor Paul Jowitt

1
Sustainable solutions to global challenges

• Professor Paul Jowitt
• Senior Vice President
• The Institution of Civil Engineers
• 14th September 2009

2
Sustainable solutions to global challenges

• Professor Paul Jowitt
• Executive Director
• The Scottish Institute of Sustainable Technology
  (SISTech)
• Heriot Watt University
• Edinburgh
• Scotland, UK

3
Healthy Infrastructure for Sustainable Cities

• Civilisation - a functioning society, the
  environment and business - depends on
  increasingly complex physical, financial, social
  and technological systems and networks.
• We need to future proof our city infrastructures
  to make them more healthy, fulfilling and
  sustainable in the face of climate change and
  urbanisation.

4
Population and Urbanisation

• World population becoming urbanised - 60 by
  2025
• Greatest effect in Lesser Developed Countries
• In 2000, world population was 6 bn
• 3.2 bn rural 2.8 bn urban
• By 2025, 8 bn
• 3.4 bn rural 4.6 bn urban
• Urban growth a combination of endogenous growth
  and rural migration
• Need to create new urban infrastructure for 1 bn
  prople within next 15 years as well
  adapt/safeguard/upgrade existing urban
  infrastructure

5
UN Millennium Development Goals

• ltlt Extreme Poverty
• gtgt Primary Education
• gtgt Gender Equality
• ltlt Child Mortality
• gtgt Maternal Health
• ltlt HIV/AIDS
• gtgt Environmental Sustainability
• gtgt Develop Global Partnership

6
UN Millennium Development Goals
6 of the 8 MDGs directly concerned with the human
condition health, economic and social
well-being and the capacity to play a full and
useful role in the world Cities for future
fulfilment ? All this depends critically on the
delivery of the underpinning infrastructure
networks upon which civilisation depends.
7
Criticality of Infrastructure Networks
Water Supply Networks Sewerage Networks Solid
Waste and Recycling Networks Railways/Tramways/Bus
ways Roadways Airways Waterways Footpathways Cyc
leways Greenways Supply and Logistics Networks
Communications Networks - telecons/IT/internet S
ocial Networks family/friends, health,
education, leisure
8
Healthy Infrastructure
Public Skylines - Edinburgh
9
Healthy Infrastructure
Public Space - Sienna
10
Green Space
Healthy Infrastructure
11
Blue Space Canal Networks
Healthy Infrastructure
Grand Union Canal - Birmingham Grand
Canal - Venice
12
Water Supply Network - Melbourne, Australia
Healthy Infrastructure
Networks Underground
13
Sewerage Network - Hong Kong Island South
Healthy Infrastructure
Networks Underground
14
Subways - London Underground
Healthy Infrastructure
Networks Underground
15
Sustainable Transport Networks?
Healthy Infrastructure
Victoria, Australia Tongji, Shanghai
Assen, Netherlands
16
Healthy Infrastructure
Sustainable Transport Networks?
Atlanta, USA Bangalore, India
London, UK
17
Electricity Distribution Networks
Healthy Infrastructure
San Francisco Elements of the Grid Lima
18
Power Generation and Distribution Networks
Healthy Infrastructure
Hydropower Fuel Wood LPG San Xia - 3
Gorges Dam Kibera, Nairobi Delhi
19
Social Networks?
Healthy Infrastructure
Zhanzuo Covent Garden, Beihai Park
Facebook London Beijing
20
Infrastructure Networks
Healthy Infrastructure
Civilisation - a functioning society, the
environment and business - depends on
increasingly complex physical, financial, social
and technological systems and networks.
21
Infrastructure Networks
Healthy Infrastructure
The risks of systems-wide failures and the
scale of their consequences - are increasing from
a range of random and non-random sources,
including climate change dependence on high
technology infrastructure, market volatility,
increasing urbanisation (in both the developing
and developing worlds) etc.
22
Infrastructure Networks
Healthy Infrastructure
These Complex Systems are increasingly vulnerable
to catastrophic failure from a variety of
internal and external sources, with potential for
consequential social, economic and environmental
breakdown
Cyclone Hurricane Earthquake
Earthquake Burma New Orleans Kashmir
Sichuan
23
Infrastructure Networks
Healthy Infrastructure
The risks of systems-wide failures and the
scale of their consequences - are increasing from
a range of random and non-random sources,
including climate change dependence on high
technology infrastructure, market volatility,
increasing urbanisation (in both the developing
and developing worlds) etc.
Floods Tsunami Terrorism UK
Banda Aceh New York
City
24
Infrastructure Networks
Healthy Infrastructure

• Need to future proof city infrastructures to make
  them more
• Healthy
• Fulfilling
• Sustainable

25
Healthy Infrastructure for Sustainable Cities

• Cities for future fulfilment

26
Healthy Infrastructure for Sustainable Cities

• Cities for future fulfilment
• Learning from the future