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Eco-Cities: Sharing European and Asian best practices and experiences
Posted on: 23 September 2014
By: mackene
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Judith Ryser, urbanist and journalist, a member of International Eco-Cities Forum Managers at University of Westminster, argues that perhaps we shouldn’t place too many hopes on the possibility of standardising the eco-city. Instead, its very lack of definition may be advantageous, since this is generative of experimentation. The essay forms part of an edited volume published by EU-Asia Dialogue.
3rd Green Building Masterplan for Singapore
Posted on: 19 September 2014
By: mackene
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To accelerate Singapore’s drive to become a global leader in green buildings, particularly with regards special expertise in the tropics and sub-tropics, the country’s Building and Construction Authority has unveiled its 3rd Green Building Masterplan. This maps out a holistic strategy for the next five to 10 years to accelerate the ‘greening’ of existing buildings to help achieve a target of 80 per cent green buildings by 2030. Beyond focusing on the building infrastructure, the BCA wants to get building owners, facility managers, tenants and occupants to play a bigger role in the green building movement.
Notes from Sejong City
Posted on: 18 September 2014
By: mackene
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The brand new city of Sejong in South Korea has so far received little academic attention internationally. This is surprising, given the scale of the undertaking; when complete, it will accommodate up to half a million residents, with the national government footing the bill. In a new thought piece published on our website, Rob Cowley, one of the doctoral researchers at the University of Westminster, reflects on a recent fieldwork trip to Sejong. He discusses the nature of the lessons that might be learnt from new-build eco-cities of this type, given that their emergence depends on very context-specific favourable conditions, and suggests that it may be unhelpful when plans to build whole new cities are dismissed as problematically utopian.
A natural offset for the Rio 2016 Olympic Park
Posted on: 17 September 2014
By: mackene
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The Rio 2016 Olympic Park, on the city’s waterfront, is converting its degraded landfill into an ecological restoration project. This is not an isolated initiative but is part of a larger ecological and landscape strategy for lagoon borders and ecological corridors for the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Gehl Architects in China: Shaghai
Posted on: 5 September 2014
By: mackene
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Gehl Architects are currently working with Energy Foundation and ‘China Sustainable Cities’ Program on a livability and green mobility plan for the Huangpu district, in the heart of Shanghai. The background and key findings from a recent analysis is now available.
Brazilian National Association of Transport Operators national seminar
Posted on: 3 September 2014
By: mackene
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Conducted by the Brazilian National Association of Transport Operators (NTU), this year’s Seminar on Urban Public Transportation responded to a growing demand among Brazilian citizens for improved public transport. On August 27 and 28, 2014, city planners, experts, transport operators, and civil society, met to review and discuss all aspects of this topic that is becoming increasingly relevant to Brazilian cities. The goal of the seminar was to analyze and propose solutions to transform public transport across Brazil.
Metropolitan governance of transport and land use in Chicago
Posted on: 3 September 2014
By: mackene
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This study aims to assess the degree of institutional fragmentation of transport and land use planning in Chicago and to assess the main challenges related to this institutional fragmentation. It provides an overview of local governments in metropolitan Chicago and mechanisms for metropolitan coordination, including organisations at the metropolitan scale, dealing with planning, land use and transport. Five main challenges related to institutional fragmentation in transport and land use planning are identified: a lack of (1) interconnectivity, (2) coherence across transit modes, (3) regional freight planning, (4) accountability and (5) implementation power of regional planning and transport objectives. These challenges are analysed. The concluding section suggests some avenues for reform that could be explored in order to overcome the challenges of metropolitan fragmentation in transport and land use in Chicago.
Unleashing sub-Saharan African property markets
Posted on: 29 August 2014
By: mackene
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RICS commissioned this research to help understand the potential role we could play in Sub-Saharan Africa and in the land and resources sector by assessing the potential future demand for services of the built environment profession, by skills, discipline and by size of market. Potential gaps in the industry were identified in terms of the capacity of the industry and the skills offered by the industry. The research found there is significant potential for building professional skills capacity through collaborative working across Sub-Saharan Africa. This research helped RICS to develop its strategy for its future presence in key African markets as well as developing the profession.
Why haven’t China’s cities learned from America’s mistakes?
Posted on: 28 August 2014
By: mackene
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This article from the Guardian newspaper reports on how China’s leaders have imported town planning ideas from the United States, and how replicating the American residential idyll has come with “unexpected headaches”.
How can we transcend slum urbanism in Africa?
Posted on: 27 August 2014
By: mackene
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In this lecture, Edgar Pieterse from the University of Cape Town argues that data about economic incorporation into the labour market and living conditions demonstrate that the majority of African urban dwellers live in conditions of vulnerability, and that economic insecurity reinforces slum living and makes it difficult for states to access sufficient tax revenues to address a variety of urban pressures. Pieterse poses the question: “if we acknowledge this tough reality, how can we formulate policy agendas that can break this cycle of exclusion and injustice?” The lecture provides a macro framework to develop alternative modalities of urban management and governance rooted in ethical values and practical experiences.
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