the Edge is hosting a series of thought-leadership discussions on the future city of 2030-2040 in partnership with Taylor Wessing and UCEM

4. The Impact of Clean Air

It has changed our cities in the past – can it do so again?

The final event in our series asks: Is Clean Air the goal, or are we missing the broader benefits it triggers for society? 

Historically, cleaning the air in our cities has triggered radical change in the quality, patterns and capacity of urban life. Will current efforts to achieve clean air in cities today unlock a similar potential for a whole-systems change?

Where are we now?

We have polices intended to respond to the issues of:

·       Improving air quality

·       Transport modal switch and electrification

·       Trees and greenspace

·       Biodiversity

·       Sustainable urban drainage (SUDs)

·       Social and environmental equity

·       Energy use, particularly in larger buildings

In themselves these policies often struggle to deliver and many fall short.  So what could we achieve if these policy silos could be brought together to deliver something greater than the sum of the parts, such that each contribution becomes an essential part of delivering the whole?   

How do we achieve change for the 2040 city?

Radical change requires a whole-systems change. Current silo-based policies need to be developed as part of the whole. Does the scale of each policy area contribution need to be quantified and locked in to allow other policy topics to also deliver their contributions? Does demonstrating the wider benefits of the greater whole help incentivise the contributions and delivery of the individual parts?

This session will explore and discuss issues surrounding ‘clean air’ to seek ways of joining up our thinking and working to deliver the outcomes we need.

Chair:                  Erin Walsh, Director of Built Environment, Connected Places Catapult

Speakers:         Nick Grayson, Green City Manager, Birmingham City Council

Dr. Emma Ferranti, Environmental Change Research Fellow, University of Birmingham

Sophie Sheil, Deputy Coordinator, GrowGreen, Manchester City Council

Helen Grimshaw, Senior Consultant – Sustainability, Urbed

David Sim, Partner and Creative Director, Gehl

Online:                 Zoom

Timing:                Tuesday 8th December 2020, 16.00 – 17.30

Downloads:

• Event flyer

Presentations:

• Nick Grayson

• Emma Ferranti

• Sophie Sheil

the Edge is hosting a series of thought-leadership discussions on the future city of 2030-2040 in partnership with Taylor Wessing and UCEM

3. Clustering and Proximity

Is the ideal of the dense, social, mixed-use and walkable city still fit for the future?

Ideas of city clustering and walkable neighbourhoods, achieved through high densities and close physical proximity, have been prominent in urban planning discussions for many decades and have been widely applied. The downsides, especially to the poor and dispossessed, have long been considered manageable and a price worth paying for the benefits created.

How will this dominant urban planning approach develop in the face of environmental, social, economic and policy challenges in the next two decades?

Context

Cities have been rediscovered in recent years as desirable and creative places to live, work and party. Heritage and former industrial areas have been reinvented and new parts of cities created along similar lines, but with added high-rises and high-density housing. Associated impacts of overshadowing, overheating and overlooking have been accepted as worthwhile trade-offs for physical proximity to workplace, retail and leisure amenities.

Cities across the world have embraced the density mantra, especially as a means of coping with population pressures and the unremitting demand for growth.

The COVID-19 crisis has challenged this model, as:

• space and distance have suddenly regained their value;

• footfall in city centres and retail areas are projected to be far lower in both the immediate and the medium-term future as working from home continues;

• local suburban neighbourhoods are proving more resilient than metropolitan centres;

• long-term trends and changes towards social polarisation have been accelerated by the crisis;

• housing space standards and outdoor amenity have come under renewed scrutiny with the rising awareness that living in close proximity carries public health consequences; and

• the number of people moving around cities has reduced, with many local authorities taking the opportunity to introduce low traffic neighbourhoods and reclaim street space for pedestrians and cyclists.

Looking Ahead to 2040

• Can the principles of density and clustering be reinvented for the post-Covid world?

• Will the social and creative city thrive or be diminished; and

• is the dense city still the answer to the net zero carbon question?

Chair: Patricia Brown, Central

Speakers:

• Charles Landry, Comedia, Author - The Creative City

• Jamie Ratcliff, Network Homes

• Selina Mason, Director of Masterplanning, Lendlease

• Ronald Nyakairu, Senior Manager, Local Data Company

Online: Zoom

Timing:        Tuesday 1st December 2020, 16.00 – 17.30

Book tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/city-2040-series-clustering-and-proximity-tickets-128063913613

Downloads

Edge Debate 110 - Clustering & Proximity - Flyer

the Edge is hosting a series of four thought-leadership discussions on the future city of 2030-2040 in partnership with Taylor Wessing and UCEM

2. As privatisation of public land increases, how can civic urban spaces evolve to ensure their survival?

Public open spaces offer the ‘freedom of the city’ where all have a right to roam, to gather or protest, to sit and eat a sandwich or even beg from fellow citizens if all other support has gone. 

Today

Over time urban parks, commons, Metropolitan Open Land and green spaces have suffered from a lack of investment, diminishing quality and a reduced sense of safety.   Local councils have been under pressure to make savings and privately-owned public space (POPS) is increasingly relied upon to deliver urban open space - restricting access and removing it entirely if the land is later sold for redevelopment.

There is a large body of research that confirms the importance of access to green space and nature for our mental and physical health – and the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the urgency for cities to revisit the value of urban open space.

& looking ahead to 2040:

• How do planners ensure that access to public open space can be secured for the long term?

• Should we resist the increasing privatisation of urban space in recognition of its true value as a place for all citizens?

• What are the implications for governance and how could community involvement be better supported?

Chair:              Stephen Edwards, Living Streets

Speakers:     Peter Neal, Peter Neal Consulting

Helen Griffiths, Fields in Trust

Claudia Carter, Birmingham City University

Thomas Perroud, Université Paris II, Panthéon-Assas

Finn Williams, Public Practice

Online:             Zoom

Timing:            Tuesday 24th November 2020, 16.00 – 17.30

To attend please register at: 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/city-2040-series-public-and-private-land-access-and-use-tickets-128063181423

Dowloads:

Debate 109 Flyer

Presentations:

• Peter Neal

• Helen Griffiths

• Claudia Carter

• Finn Williams

the Edge is hosting a series of four thought-leadership discussions on the future city of 2030-2040 in partnership with Taylor Wessing and UCEM

1.  Equity & Exchange:

How will sharing and commerce evolve in the post-industrial and post-high street city?

In cities, dense agglomerations of people brought together by commerce and characterised by physical proximity and good infrastructure, the notion of ‘equity’ is relatively recent. Only at the turn of the 20th century, in the wake of Victorian industrialisation, rapid urbanisation and commercial growth did the idea of ‘fairness’ gain political attention.

Today

High streets and town centres are under increasing pressure. Physical places of exchange are being replaced by a digital public realm and, as opportunities for human interaction diminish, loneliness and isolation are on the rise.

Cities are increasingly becoming places for living and socialising, rather than centres for trade.

The COVID-19 crisis has only amplified these and other trends.

• Are growth-led policies based on free market principles sustainable, or should more be done to support social enterprise?

• Could innovative ‘meanwhile use’ of buildings become more mainstream and generate greater value for local economies?

• What are the implications for the way we create and use the infrastructure of the city?

& looking ahead to 2040:

• What set of rules will cities operate by in the years ahead?

• How can the planning system respond to ensure that emerging versions of the city will be successful for all?

• ·Will all stakeholders be able to freely participate and benefit?

Chair:               Professor Peter Bishop, UCL

Speakers:       Dr Jim Coleman, WSP

Leo Boscherini, We Built This City

Tina Paillet, Chair RICS Europe

Max Dewhurst, Activist and cylce courier

Emma Cariaga - Joint Head of Canada Water, British Land

Online:             Zoom

Timing:             Tuesday 17th November 2020, 16.00 – 17.30

To attend please register at:  https://edgedebate108city2040equityandexchange.eventbrite.co.uk

The CITY 2040 project seeks to better understand how the future city of 2030-2040 will change, through an evidence-based study of the big issues that are changing our cities including; climate vulnerability, growth, health, resource efficiency, technology, governance and rights to land. The project will

address the new and changing infrastructure of cities, how they are brought about and their impact on the housing, lifestyle and wellbeing of citizens.

the Edge City 2040 series will start with a series of four linked discussions:

1. Equity and Exchange - 16.00-17.30 17th November

2. Public and Private Land: Use and Access - 16.00-17.30 24th November

3. Clustering and Proximity - 16.00-17.30 1st December

4. The Impact of Clean Air - 16.00-17.30 8th December

The event series will be hosted online and produced by the Edge in partnership with University College of Estate Management and Taylor Wessing.

Downloads:

ED108 Equity and Exchange-event flyer

Presentations

• Tina Paillet

• Max Dewhurst

• Emma Cariaga
  
  

In response to the publication of the Planning White Paper (PWP) the Edge held an internal debate on August 18th.  While recognizing the need to rethink English Planning and that Climate Change was discussed in the PWP, it was felt that the Climate Emergency was not an over-riding concern of the PWP, despite over two thirds of Local Authorities having declared it to be so.  As a result the Edge held a roundtable with the MHCLG team on the 30th Septemebr to discuss this aspect of the PWP and the related need for a digitized Land Use Framework for England

The Edge recognizes the difficult post-Covid-19 economic situation and the limited resources within planning, but rather than discuss funding and skills we would like to focus on:

• A digitized Land Use Framework for both the built and natural environment to ensure that new and expanded settlements are located with minimum stress due to water, biodiversity, energy and transportation.

• A local coding process, building on the proposed National Design Code, which could lead to the speedier approval for sustainable communities. The performance of any permitted development in any Growth Area would need to be rigorously verified so as to reduce the burden on future generations.

Speakers:

Joanna Averley and Andy Von Bradsky - Welcome

Robin Nicholson - Introduction

Lynne Sullivan and Chris Twinn - The climate emergency, performance and verification

Julie Godefroy - response

Colin Haylock and Richard Simmons - Setting the PWP scene

Peter Studdert - response

Sue James, Oliver Smith and Amy Burbidge - Land Use Framework for England

 Matthew Carmona and Teresa Borsuk - Coding

Phil Jones and Meredith Bowles - response

David Birkbeck - response

Simon Foxell - Summary of recommendations

Joanna Averley and Andy Von Bradsky - Closing remarks

Downloads

Planning for the Future - Summary Document (the Edge)

Planning for the Future - Presentations

Article in Town & Country Planning by Richard Simmons (Jan-Feb 2021), expanding on his presentation at the Roundtable

How can professionals meet the challenge of urban densification in a time of climate change?

An event hosted jointly with The Urban Design Group and the first in a series of debates entitled Cities, Climate and *Critical Urban Infrastructure.

The overall series explores the consequences of current practices in building, urban design, planning, regulation and policy on critical urban infrastructure. We will discuss how we can harness the often overlooked interactions of built form (the dimensions of buildings and their placement in relation to each other), urban climate and energy both in its natural expression (temperature/wind/sunshine) and those of building needs (cooling/heating loads), whilst addressing our collective responsibilities in this time of climate emergency to create net-zero carbon, healthy and resilient cities.

The intent of this series is to integrate existing knowledge across disciplines, identify gaps in current knowledge and practices, and explore solution pathways for policy and better practice.

This first event explores the ‘Critical Urban Infrastructure’ framework and asks whether it can support an interdisciplinary collaborative approach that promotes comfortable healthy environments and more sustainable urban practice’.

Convenor: Richard Lorch, Editor, Buildings & Cities
Host: Robert Huxford, Director, Urban Design Group
Chair: Rohinton Emmanuel, Professor, Glasgow Caledonian University

Speakers:
Gerald Mills, University College Dublin - Overview, Climate Responsive Urbanism
Asaf Din, Perkins&Will - Resilience in the Design process
Marialena Nikolopoulou, University of Kent - Urban Climate Change: Adaptation and Mitigation
Rachel Toms, Public Health England - Health & Wellbeing
Nicola Bacon, Founding Director Social-Life - Environmental & Social Justice

Venue: The Gallery, 70 Cowcross St, Farringdon, London EC1M 6EJ
Timing: Thursday 9th January 2020
Arrivals 13.30
Debate 14.00 – 17.10 pm
Networking -17.50
The Pub - The Hope, Smithfield

Please come and contribute to the discussion. To attend please register by each attendee’s name here.

*The Critical Urban Infrastructure Framework offers an overarching approach towards climate responsive urbanism that recognises that the components of urban systems are both highly integrated and interdependent. Whereas the traditional approach to the design, use, and environmental management of our cities focuses on green, blue and grey infrastructure, often in isolation, the critical approach accounts for the interdependencies between built form and function (e.g. the dimensions of individual buildings, their occupation patterns and urban layout), outdoor and indoor climates, energy demands and waste generation, etc. Critical infrastructure also includes the urban commons and the use, preservation and access to our collective shared resources (e.g. daylight, ventilation, air quality, etc.), to create comfortable healthy environments and encourage more sustainable urban practices.

Downloads:

Edge Debate 96 Climate Responsive Urbanism flyer

Edge Debate- Climate Responsive Urbanism series