Resources for Smarter Urbanism
On this page you can explore different resources supporting smarter urbanisation. You can click on each of the thematic headers below to jump to that section.
The Need for Smarter Urbanisation
The impact of urbanisation: Infrastructure variables
This paper deals with the impact that future urbanisation could have on medium-sized cities, drawing on work by the OECD and others. It has been prepared to help members of SCAD (Social Change and Development Group) to think about their long-term future, and uses Tirunelveli, a medium sized city in Tamil Nadu, as a case study.
A case study of Tirunelveli by ConnectedCities
Brian Love of ConnectedCities applies the organisations methodoloy to the city of Tirunelveli in Southern India. The case study investigates whether ConnectedCity principles can be applied to shift sustainable growth to the more rural areas in which provincial cities are located.
University of Cambridge analysis of the URBED Trust Eco House
Students from the Engineering for Sustainable Development MPhil at the University of Cambridge have performed an analysis of the URBED Trust eco-house as part of their Client Consultancy Project, and have produced an excellent appraisal on the themes of water, energy, and training + ownership.
India’s Urban Future
A presentation by Dr Nicholas Falk exploring India’s urban future, the need for smarter and not faster growth, and the global importance of such thinking. This presentation explores India in contrast to the current and former Western models of urban development, and highlights the current problems and potential solutions within India’s current development trajectory.
UN Habitat – Five Fundamental Pillars of Smart Urbanisation
Read the 5 fundamental pillars for smarter urbanisation as concluded in the recent UN Habitat III conference that took place in Quito, Ecuador 2016.
Connections
Why the physical legacy of Apartheid is still a challenge for South Africa’s cities
Transport is still responsible for roughly one-third of all carbon emissions – so if cities are to play their role in mitigating climate change, the existing heavy dependance on car usage must be tackled. In this article, Camilla Ween describes how the socio-political realms that exist in cities such as ‘post-Apartheid’ South Africa can have an effect on the the permeability of a city, and in the process, increase travel times as well as the proportion of car usage.
Taken for a ride: Are bike schemes worth the investment?
How can a large-scale urban construction project benefit the larger cause of city renewal or improvement? And what benefits can they bring to the urban environment in terms of liveability, rather than purely focusing on the technical challenges it intends to mitigate? Etty Padmodipoetro and Camilla Ween delve into this question comparing 3 contrasting case-studies from around the world.
Uber for bikes: how ‘dockless’ cycles flooded China – and are heading overseas
New cycle-share firms in China allow you to simply drop your bike wherever you want. They have caused colourful chaos – and world cities could be next. Could this be a feasible system globally?
‘Peak Car Use’: Understanding the Demise of Automobile Dependence
The first signs of declining car use in cities are being observed. The data on this are summarized before six interdependent factors are examined that could help to explain this unexpected phenomenon.
Sustainable water solutions
Piramal Sarvajal – Sustainable and Affordable water solutions
“Piramal Sarvajal, seeded by the Piramal Foundation in 2008, is a mission driven social enterprise which designs and deploys innovative solutions for creating affordable access to safe drinking water in underserved areas.” Read about how Piramal Sarvajal have been achieving this, and the methods they use.
WaterAid – Overflowing cities: The State of the World’s Toilets 2016
This document by WaterAid analyses the current explosion of urbanisation in the Global South – and reviews the problems this is causing for sanitation and clean drinking water, as well as the solutions.
SCAD – The Importance of Planting Trees
This short article on the SCAD website discusses the importance of planting trees – as they hold water in the ground, increase groundwater storage, and prevent water run off and flash floods.
SCAD – Sustainable and effective water solutions: Ooranies
Read about how SCAD has been restoring local ooranies rather than the inefficient transport of water for rural areas. Such a strategy has increased stability of water supply, freed women for other work, and also allowed for the dual use of fresh-water fish cultivation.
Incremental housing
Incremental Housing: a new way to view social housing
This recent video by Guardian Culture explores the work of Alejandro Aravena of the architectural practice Elemental and his use of incremental design solutions. This is a design strategy that focuses on providing the bare essentials of a house (sometimes coined ‘half-a-house’), however the design allows for simple expansion and investment by the occupants into the future.
Robert Neuwirth: The “shadow cities” of the future
Robert Neuwirth, the author of Shadow Cities, explores the worlds squatter sites – where a billion people now make their homes, and shows them to be thriving centers of ingenuity and innovation.
Incremental Housing Strategy by Filipe Balestra and Sara Göransson
This article by Dezeen design journal reviews the work architects Filipe Balestra and Sara Göransson have done under the flag of Incremental Housing strategies. Read about their plan to develop informal slums into permanent urban districts through a process of gradual impovement to existing dwellings instead of demolition and rebuilding.
Weston Williamson proposes incremental building to combat Palestinian housing shortage
British studio Weston Williamson has revealed a housing concept that aims to resolve the lack of affordable housing in Palestine by allowing residents to expand as their finances grow.
Incremental Housing in Monterrey, Mexico, by Elemental
Called Elemental Monterrey, the project will provide 70 homes by building the basic house including bathrooms kitchens and stairs but leaving voids that allow residents to adapt and expand each property themselves.
Designing in context
Uncommon Sense: The Life + Architecture of Laurie Baker
This short video explores the principles of the Laurie Baker – a British born Indian architect who continuously defied the norms of design.Baker was renowned for his initiatives in cost-effective energy-efficient architecture and designs that maximised space, ventilation and light, and maintained an uncluttered yet striking aesthetic sensibility. Influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and his own experiences in the remote Himalayas, he promoted the revival of regional building practices and use of local materials; and combined this with a design philosophy that emphasized a responsible and prudent use of resources and energy.
Urban Design Group Journal – INDIA edition
This edition of the Urban Design journal focuses on design in India, looking at the countries rapid urban growth and the design problems, as well as potential solutions that come along with it. An article by the renowned Noha Nasser can be found on page 33 where she looks into Prototypes for sustainable neighborhoods.
Zone of influence
Infrastructure projects should not end at the station exit. Camilla Ween explains how London’s Crossrail development will set the standard for improving the environment around its stations, going well beyond it’s responsibilities.
India’s young architects must be taught to appreciate their design heritage, says Balkrishna Doshi
India is at risk of losing its architectural identity, because the country’s design schools aren’t teaching students to respect local heritage and traditions, according to architect Balkrishna Doshi. The Indian architect, who turns 90 this year, said that many of the country’s architects are too concerned with mimicking the aesthetics and practices of other countries, rather than learning from the legacy of their predecessors.
Sustainable and recycled materials
The Earth Circle: making environmentalism pay its way
This latest video in the Economist Global Compass series brings a lens to the concept of the Circular Economy. This is an alternative to a linear economy (make-use-dispose), and seeks to use and reuse resources as efficiently as possible, striving for a fully circular, and sustainable economy.
Adaptavate – Breathabord
Adaptavate is an award winning company rethinking and redesigning the way building materials are produced, used and disposed of. Breathaboard is their latest future biocomposite alternative to plasterboard.
Improving earthquake resistance of earthen buildings guidlines – Bureau of Indian Standards
The Bureau of Indian Standards, the Statutory Organization which formulates standards on different subjects of construction, design and planning too, has a section on earthquake engineering earthen buildings. Read up on the building standards for earthen buildings – a sustainable and locally avaialble and high quality resource in the Tirunelveli region, Tamil Nadu.
Arkitrek – ‘Cococrete’ mixing instructions
Arkitrek are experts in sustainable design – in particular tropical passive design and the integration of architecture with social infrastructure and the natural environment. Read about their guide on producing Cococrete, a low-carbon lime-based composite concrete composed of coconut coir, river sand, dry hydrated lime, portland cement & water.
With reference to Kerala state in India, this paper studies the relevance and significance of green houses and green house ratings, their relevance and implications on the environment and society, and such other aspects. Based on the study findings the paper gives suggestions for promotion of green housing for betterment society and environment.
Tav Group builds rural artist’s house in Israel with “cannabis walls”
Walls made of hemp and lime, and local stone make up this sand-coloured house on a hill in northern Israel, which Haifa-based studio Tav Group designed for environmentally conscious artists.
African Rammed Earth Standards
Since the 1950’s as African nations have gained independence, a lot of institutional change has occured – however building codes and practices did not, ignoring the wide-spread and effective use of rammed earth in construction. In 2016, the African Regional Standards Organisation approved the creation of an African Regional Standard for Rammed Earth – making it’s use in construction codified, safe, and more effective.
Swedes recycle nearly 100 per cent of their household waste. They even have to import waste to have something to burn, to turn waste into energy. What’s the trick?
Sustainable energy solutions
India cancels plans for huge coal power stations as solar energy prices hit record low
India has cancelled plans to build nearly 14 gigawatts of coal-fired power stations – about the same as the total amount in the UK – with the price for solar electricity “free falling” to levels once considered impossible. Analyst Tim Buckley said the shift away from the dirtiest fossil fuel and towards solar in India would have “profound” implications on global energy markets.
Solar light for all: a defining challenge for humanity
More than a billion of the world’s poorest people, having no electricity, are forced to waste $27 billion a year on kerosene and other unsustainable forms of lighting. If every one of their households could buy a single solar light, they would save at least $78 billion over three years, and spend it on basic necessities, not least food in a time of famine.
Locally Sourced Food
Open Food Network (OFN)
Open Food Network (OFN) is a global open-source not-for-profit project providing online tools to enable food producers to build food distribution systems from the bottom up.
Edible cities are the future
Biophilia is a term coined by Harvard biologist and conservationist E. O Wilson to describe how humans are hard-wired to need connection with nature. The concept of a biophilic city is one that has abundant nature and biodiversity. In this extract, Camilla Ween writes about how some cities are combining this concept with the need for a solution to find alternative food sources – simply, by growing food within the cities themsleves.
The urban farmers battling Bangalore’s concrete jungle – BBC
How do you farm surrounded by concrete and millions of people? What does urban sprawl mean for food safety and supply? Students from the University of British Columbia Graduate School of Journalism report from Bangalore in southern India.
Collaboration
Massive Small Change – Andrew Lamb TEDX
Andrew Lamb has been a leader in the engineering and international development movement for more than a decade. He is passionate about changing engineering, technology and education to empower everyone to rise to determine their own development — and to help others along the way.
Here & Now – Rebuilding New Orleans
In 2005 hurricane Katrina caused utter devastation to the city of New Orleans and destroyed the livelihoods and homes of the majority if its residents – Camilla Ween looks at the ingenious role Tulane University played in the rebuilding of this city.
Seven lessons from a successful slum upgrading project
Pune, India — Over the past five years, the Yerwada slum area on the outskirts of Pune has gone through a remarkable transformation. Shruti Shiva writes about the 7 lessons learnt from the Yerwada Project that coordinated this transformation.
Case studies
Postcard from Tamil Nadu
Postcard from Kochi – Southern India
Postcard from Spain
Postcard from Havana Cuba
Postcard from Athens (and Byzantine towns): living with debts
The URBED Trust is a not for profit company with charitable aims set up to promote research into the future of urban areas, and to disseminate best practice. Registered England & Wales, company number 01826806.
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