Making All Communities Sustainable No Other Choice Green Alliance - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Making All Communities Sustainable – No Other Choice Green Alliance / Eden Project seminar: Sustainable Construction – are we closing the loop? Monday 30 th January 2006, Eden Project Professor Anne Power, London School of Economics

Finite planet • Total human dependence on nature’s goods & services • British Isles – crowded, overdeveloped, old, rich, urban, unequal, atomised • Satellite images of places are shocking • Damage, deficits are dire

Buildings • Homes, public facilities, enterprise, commerce – 50% carbon • Construction, use, transport, infrastructure • Development impact – 80% land • Buildings suck in resources, pollute, dump • Space, land use, wider impacts • Third most populated in world

Can’t just carry on • Reaching limits of congestion • Homes waste energy • Exhausting key assets – land, water • Damaging cohesion - unequal migration • Destroys democracy - resource battles

Conundrum • How to claw back damage? • Work on existing buildings • How to improve what we’ve got? • Renew existing communities • How to persuade people to love cities? • Recycle, reuse, reshape, re-link

Density is key • Too crowded � too thin � anorexic • Density offers critical resource measures: 1900: 200 homes per hectare � 23 � 35: 2005 1900: 1200 people per hectare � 55 � 80: 2005 • Need 50 homes per hectare to support reliable, regular bus etc • Reuse settlements support community • Shared space = shared resources • Families versus isolated elderly

Earliest known city → Manchester

Coronation Street – the answer? • Community nostalgia or density? • Happiness or space? • Social animals - ‘ant cities’ • Environmental gains? • Sustainable communities?

Essential targets • Recycle 90% buildings; 50% infrastructure • Infill 90% new build • Renovate all homes • Halve water & waste through care, recycling, reuse • Ban all toxic materials – substitutes work • 50 homes per hectare as minimum

How does Code measure up? • Small, but significant step • Identifies problem • Too little, NOT too late • Builders expect tough shifts • Playing for time • Gadgets are not buildings • Gadgets need market incentives • Ignores (so far) existing communities

Sustainable Communities • 99% already exist • Capacity in London • Small sites within city • Protect green belts, floodplains, biodiversity • Cohesion is critical • Lower cost homes � model Θ energy prices

Affordable housing problem • Land is finite/sea is ‘given’ • Smaller units • More shared facilities • Denser cities • Better designed homes • More mixed communities • More organic growth • Special needs need special help

Successful community magnets • Family & elderly friendly • Stability, known faces, community anchors • Open, green, play spaces • Supervision & maintenance & security • Social events, community facilities • ‘Comfortable & not alone’ i.e. home

Renewing urban communities • Impact of renovation – 1/10 energy; 1/4 price – Bicycles; Schools • Impact of: – Homes Zones – Sure Start • ‘Heritage dividend’ • Trees, small gardens, pocket parks • Windmills and micro-generators • Upgrading is global lesson • Low cost areas guarantee survival • Fascinated by dynamism of cities

Is this a mad dream? • Copenhagen • Barcelona • Roma • Marseilles • Portland • Bogota • Curitiba • Planned or evolved? • Big shifts start small