CLIMATE CHANGE AND URBAN DESIGN 
The Third Annual Congress of the Council for European Urbanism 
 
 
 
 
Oslo, Norway, 14‐16 September, 2008 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CONFERENCE READER 
Background Papers and Excerpts* Selected Conference Papers 
 

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Acknowledgements 
 
 
This reader, and the conference for which it was produced, was made possible in part by 
grants from the European Union’s Leonardo da Vinci Programme in vocational education 
and training, and  the EU’s Lifelong Learning Programme, whose purpose is to build a 
skilled workforce across Europe.  They are sponsors of two pilot projects in innovative 
education and development to meet the most urgent challenges of European urbanism,  the 
European School of Urbanism and Architecture (ESUA), and the European Dissemination 
of Urbanism, Architecture and Crafts (EDUAC). 
 
For more information please see www.esua.org 
 
 
 
  

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CLIMATE CHANGE AND URBAN DESIGN 
The Third Annual Congress  of  the Council for European Urbanism 
 
Oslo, Norway, 14‐16 September, 2008 
 
 
CONTENTS 
 
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………….   9 
 
About the Council for European Urbanism……………………………………………………… 11 
 
About the European School of Urbanism and Architecture……………………………………..13 
 
TOPIC 1: Urban Morphology: Measuring It, Re‐shaping It 
 
Policy, Urban Form and Tools for Measuring and Managing 
Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The North American Problem 
Nicole Miller, Duncan Cavens, Patrick Condon  
Ronald Kellett and Armando Carbonell………………………………………………………….. 15 
 
Environment and urban form ‐ The real scale of its morphological anatomy 
Teresa Marquito Marat‐Mendes 
Lisbon University Institute – ISCTE……………………………………………………………...   28 
 
Low‐carbon, Attractive, Resilient Communities:  
New Imperatives for Sustainable Retrofitting of Existing Neighbourhoods 
Dr. Stephen R.J. Sheppard, Ellen Pond, and Cam Campbell 
Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (CALP) 
University of British Columbia……………………………………………………………………  42 
 
Abstract: 
Urban Form, Energy and the Environment:  
A Review of Issues, Evidence and Policy 
William P. Anderson 
Urban Studies, Volume 33, Issue 1 February 1996 , pages 7 – 36………………………………. 60 
 
Abstract:  
Urban Structure and Energy—A Review 
Peter Rickwood;  Garry Glazebrook; Glen Searle 
Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building,  
University of Technology, Australia 
Urban Policy and Research,  
Volume 26, Issue 1 March 2008 , pages 57 – 81……………………………………………………60 
 
Excerpt from: 
Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America 
Marilyn A. Brown, Frank Southworth, Andrea Sarzynski 
Brookings Institution, May 2008…………………………………………………………………….61 

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TOPIC 2:  Historic Fabric and Embodied Energy 
 
Building Reuse:  
Finding a Place on American Climate Policy Agendas 
Patrice Frey 
Director of Sustainability Research  
National Trust for Historic Preservation………………………………………………………….65 
 
TOPIC 3:  Adaptation and Mitigation 
 
Socio‐spatial Vulnerability Analysis of Coastal Regions during Disaster:  
Experience of a Pilot Research Project in Bangladesh 
Bishawjit Mallick, PhD Student; Tamer Soylu, PhD Student;  
Prof. Dr. Joachim Vogt, Institute for Regional Science/Planning,  
University of Karlsruhe (TH)……………………………………………………………………….88 
 
The influence of urban features on air temperature distribution 
Martina Petralli, University of Florence 
Luciano Massetti, Institute of Biometerology, IBIMET – CNR  
Simone Orlandini, University of Florence………………………………………………………..110 
 
Febrile cities: the influence of construction materials  
in the production of heat islands in low‐income districts  
of urban areas with tropical climate in Brazil . 
João Lima Sant’Anna Neto 
Margarete Cristiane de Costa Trindade Amorim 
Department of Geography, Sao Paulo State University, UNESP………………………………119 
 
A new thermal comfort index for urban design:  
The case of São Paulo, Brazil. 
Leonardo Marques Monteiro (corresponding author)  
Marcia Peinado Alucci 
Department of Technology 
Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism 
University of São Paulo…………………………………………………………………………….134 
 
Earth monitoring and Global Earth Observing System of Systems  
(GEOSS) for Climate Change Mitigation 
Nina Milkova Ilieva 
Architect and Independent Scholar,  Sofia, Bulgaria……………………………………………143 
 
Disappearances and apparitions:  
Urban ecosystem research and education relating to the  
Chao Phraya River delta and the city of Bangkok, Thailand. 
Brian McGrath     
Department of Architecture, Parson the New School for Design 
Danai Thaitakoo  
Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Architecture,  
Chulalongkorn University, Phyathai Rd., Bangkok 10330, Thailand…………………………154 

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Urban micro‐climate in the City of Mosul, Iraq 
Turki Hassan Ali 
Department of Architecture  
College of Engineering, Mosul University 
Bahjat Rashad Shaheen 
Department of Architecture  
College of Engineering, Baghdad University……………………………………………………170 
 
Urban Heat Island:  Urban analysis, assessment and  
measuring mitigation in cities of extreme dry weather 
Jorge Villanueva Solis* 
Francisco Raúl Venegas Cardoso** 
Onofre Rafael García Cueto *** 
Universidad Autonomica de Baja California………………………………………………….…180  
 
Micro Climatic House Design:  
A Way to Adapt to Climate Change through Urban Design? 
Kh Md Nahiduzzaman 
Tigran Haas, PhD 
Department of Urban Planning and Environment 
KTH, Stockholm…………………………………………………………………………………….191 
 
Urban geometry parameters as indicators for urbanization effects: 
A case study in Paranhos, Portugal 
Licinia Balkeståhl*1, Ana Monteiro*1, Joaquim Góis*2,3 , Roger Taesler*4 
1Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Departamento de Geografia, Portugal 
2Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Portugal 
3Centro de Investigação em Geoambiente e Recursos, CIGAR, Porto, Portugal 
4 Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Norrköping, Sweden…………………………………214 
 
TOPIC 4:  Local and Regional Policy Issues 
 
ABSTRACT: 
Climate Change and the Future of Havana:  
A Heritage of Beauty Under Threat  
Julio César Pérez Hernández 
Chair, Cuban Chapter, CEU……………………………………………………………………....224 
 
A Regional Government’s Effort to Manage Growth in California’s Central Valley 
Cynthia van Empel 
City of Modesto…………………………………………………………………………………….225 
 
Climate Change: How Local Authorities in the Lake Victoria Basin  
can rise to the challenge 
Cecilia Kinuthia‐Njenga 
Human Settlements Office 
UN‐Habitat 
Nairobi, Kenya………………………………………………………………………………………235 
 
“Cities and Climate Change: What is to be Gained or Lost from Reframing  

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an Urban Sustainability Agenda in Terms of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions?”  
Shiri Bass Specktor, Yodan Rofè, Alon Tal 
Department of Man in the Desert 
J. Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research 
Ben Gurion University, Israel……………………………………………………………………...246 
 
Walking the Talk?  Climate Change and UK Spatial Design Policy 
Dellé Odeleye & Michael Maguire 
London Borough of Brent, UK  
Anglia Ruskin University, UK……………………………………………………………………..259 
 
Twenty Percent By 2020: A Local Carbon Reduction Strategy for the US 
Ken Hughes 
Energy Conservation and Management Division  
State of New Mexico, US…………………………………………………………………………...287 
 
TOPIC 5:  Codes, Certification and Legal Reforms 
 
Sustainable Nrighbourhood Rating Systems:  
An International Comparison 
Faith Cable 
Fukbright Scholar 
Berlin Technische Universität..........................................................................................................302 
 
Plan Implementation for Smart Growth: 
The U.S. Standard Climate Change Enabling Act 
Lora A. Lucero, AICP, Esq. 
Editor, Planning & Environmental Law 
American Planning Association......................................................................................................337 
 
TOPIC 6:  New Curricula 
 
Proposals on China’s City Planning Education and Climate Change 
Jian Guo   
College of Architecture of Wuhan University of Technology, China…………………………353 
 
Designing for Change: A Studio Model 
Associate Professor Penny Allan 
Victoria University of Wellington, NZ…………………………………………………………...358 
 
TOPIC 7:  Best Practice Case Studies 
 
Resilient Urban Design Models 
Brian McGrath 
Victoria Marshall 
Parsons New School of Design, US……………………………………………………………….363 
 
The mixed‐use urban block: 
A fundamental brick for an economic and sustainable urban development 
Michael Stojan                               
City of Garbsen, Germany…………………………………………………………………………381 

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Adaptive urban design 
Prof. Arch. Benno Albrecht, Arch. Mauro Frate 
University IUAV, Venice, Italy, Faculty of Architecture……………………………………….384 
   
The dramatic increase of car traffic in and around Romanian cities after 1990:   
The case of Timişoara, Romania 
Prof. Arch. Smaranda Maria Bica, Ph.D. 
Ass. Prof. Arch. Liliana Lucia Roşiu, Ph.D. 
Universitatea “Politehnica” din Timişoara, Facultatea de Arhitectură……………………….395 
 
The role of landscape ecology applied to urban realms in climate change mitigation 
Roberto Bio 
Architect and Urban Designer 
Via Gioia 11 
10040 Rivalta di Torino……………………………………………………………………………..400 
 
Assessing the Incorporation of Watershed Protective  
Techniques in New Urban Development Site Plans:  
What are the Implications for Mitigating Climate Change? 
Joseph A. MacDonald, Ph.D., AICP 
Program Development Senior Associate 
American Planning Association, US 
Philip R. Berke, Ph.D. 
Professor 
Department of City & Regional Planning 
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US…………………………………………..410 
 
TOPIC 8:  Aesthetics, Biophilia and Evidence‐Based Design 
 
Thermal comfort and psychological adaptation as a guide for designing urban spaces  
Marialena Nikolopoulou 
Centre for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES) 
Koen Steemers  
The Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies 
University of Cambridge…………………………………………………………………………..457 
 
View from a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery 
Roger S. Ulrich 
Texas A&M University……………………………………………………………………………..458 
 
Urban Design Aesthetics: 
The Evaluative Qualities of Building Exteriors 
Jack L. Nasar 
Ohio State University in Columbus………………………………………………………………458 
 
Excerpt from Aesthetics, Well‐Being and Health:   
Abstracts on theoretical and empirical research within environmental aesthetics 
Birgit Cold 
Formskrift, Oslo………………………………………………………………………………….…459 

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TOPIC 9:  Social and Economic Issues 
 
Protect and Grow 
Ogunlande Davidson 
Dean, Post‐Graduate Studies 
University of Sierra Leone 
CO‐Chair, Working Group III 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change……………………………………………………462 
 
Climate Change and Land Use: The Choices Before Us 
Laura Hall 
Hall Alminana 
Michael Mehaffy 
Sustasis Foundation………………………………………………………………………………...465 
 
Social housing in Latin America: A method to utilize processes of self‐organization 
Nikos Salingaros 
David Brain 
Andres Duany 
Michael Mehaffy 
Ernesto Philibert‐Petit……………………………………………………………………...………476 
 
 
 
 
 

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FOREWORD 
 
The paper excerpts that follow are meant as a beginning point of the conference discussion, and a 
stimulus to that discussion.  They are not and cannot be an exhaustive summary of the topic of 
climate change and urban design, or even of the work of the many remarkable people gathered for 
the conference.  (Although they do represent a topical selection of the papers that will be 
presented, supplemented by a few others.)   
 
Nonetheless we hope these papers and excerpts will also offer useful links and connections to the 
growing body of work of others beyond the conference itself.  The Council for European Urbanism 
is meant to be a meeting place of ideas and resources for urbanists of all disciplines and interests.  
It seeks to promote greater collaboration and advancement of best practice, and the research, 
policy and education needed to advance it.  In that spirit, this conference will be a success if it 
helps to catalyse more diverse international collaboration on the vital topic of climate change as it 
relates to urbanism. 
 
During the conference we will consider a range of key topics: new research, new understanding of 
the potential effects of urban design, new opportunities for mitigation and adaptation, and new 
approaches to policy, education and best practice.   
 
Among all these topics, we suggest that one in particular looms large.  In tackling climate change, 
the role of urban morphology – the pattern of urbanism, operating as a system ‐ has been a less 
prominent factor up to now.   That is for obvious reasons:  it is harder to quantify, harder and 
slower to alter, and complex by nature.   Naturally we want to pursue the lower‐hanging fruits of 
energy generation, transport systems and building systems.  And that is very sensible, up to a 
point. 
 
But in a deeper sense, we cannot expect merely to provide technical solutions to increase the 
efficiency of current ways of life – that is, those ways of life that were made possible by the 
historically bounded era of cheap fossil‐fuel energy.    The current crisis surely demands a 
thorough‐going re‐assessment of those patterns of living and of making things that developed 
during this exceptional period – and in that re‐assessment, urban settlement patterns must loom 
large.   
 
After all, these are the patterns that have made the modern world what it is, for better and for 
worse – and the negative side of the ledger includes such intolerable and unsustainable 
phenomena as climate change, and more.   
 
At such a gathering it is important to remind ourselves that, as grim as it is, climate change is not 
the only thing we have to worry about.  Our modern industrial ways are also producing the 

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unintended consequences of resource depletion, toxic pollution, habitat destruction, species 
extinction, soil and water degradation, and a host of other familiar ills.   
 
While we are at it, let us re‐assess the return in terms of human happiness and quality of life.  Let 
us not merely concentrate on the technical and the quantitative – and risk being the sorts of “bean‐
counters” who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.  
 
There are reasons to think these qualitative matters are much more important than they may 
appear, and more connected to the quantitative issues before us.  As new research from the 
promising new field of evidence‐based design is showing, the pleasurable quality of a streetscape 
is linked to the walkability of the streetscape, which in turn is linked to the question of whether 
people actually will walk (emitting hardly any carbon) or drive (emitting quite a lot of carbon).     
 
Many other factors appear to link to qualitative ones: for example, whether high residential 
density, which is a lower‐carbon pattern on average, can be made desirable and marketable and 
culturally valuable.   Or whether low‐density suburban development is really a satisfying pattern 
of living in human terms, in relation to its high cost – or an  increasingly desperate chase after an 
unfulfilling form of consumption.  Or, even more broadly, whether the current system of 
marketing and advertising and volume is really delivering sufficient quality of life, on a 
sufficiently sustainable basis.  (Does anyone really believe this any more?)  
 
And there are many other such qualitative factors to consider, that go to our core ways of living 
and operating today.    The current challenge forces us to put everything on the table for discussion 
and careful re‐assessment. 
 
Having taken such a hard look, then we must ask questions about how we are going to make the 
transitions it appears we must:  what specific policy changes, educational reforms, innovations in 
best practice, are going to be needed – and what are the practical, collaborative steps from here?  
What changes will be needed in our economics, in our institutional structures, in our national and 
international governmental operations?  What assumptions about modern life – consumption, 
debt, other economic foundations – must be changed, by choice now, or perhaps by grim 
circumstance later? These are the kinds of questions we aim to begin to explore in the conference. 
 
It may well be (and it is this author’s hunch) that in doing so we will confirm a core proposition of 
the Council for European Urbanism: that beautiful, diverse, high‐quality urbanism is a key 
ingredient in a survivable future, and a future worth surviving into. It will be a most worthwhile 
achievement if this congress of the Council for European Urbanism serves to explore and to 
deepen that idea. 
 
Michael Mehaffy 
Chair, CEU Academic Committee 
     
 

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ABOUT THE COUNCIL FOR EUROPEAN URBANISM 
 
Welcome to our third world congress ‐ this year on Climate Change and Urban Design. 
The Council for European Urbanism (C.E.U.) is a pan European movement that includes 
members from across Europe. The Council for European Urbanism started at a gathering 
in Bruges in the early 2000s as a movement dedicated to promoting (and protecting) the 
qualities that make European cities, towns, villages and countryside unique and humane. 
We launched our Charter in Stockholm in 2003. It aims to distil these qualities and 
aspirations and is a starting point for national, regional and local action on urbanism. A 
section is reproduced below: 
MISSION ‐ The Council for European Urbanism is dedicated to the well being of present 
and future generations through the advancement of humane cities, towns, villages and 
countryside in Europe. 
CHALLENGE ‐ Cities, towns and villages are being destroyed by social exclusion and 
isolation, urban sprawl, waste of land and cultural resources, monofunctional 
development, lack of competitiveness, and a loss of respect for local and regional culture. 
OBJECTIVES ‐ Cities, towns and villages should have mixed uses and social diversity; 
make efficient and sustainable use of buildings, land and other resources; be safe and 
accessible by foot, bicycle, car and public transport; have clearly defined boundaries at all 
stages of development; have streets and spaces formed by an architecture that respects 
local history, climate, landscape and geography; and have a variety that allows for the 
evolution of society, function and design. 
ACTION ‐ The C.E.U. will promote: the distinctive character of European cities, towns, 
villages and countryside; consolidation, renewal and growth in keeping with regional 
identity and the aspirations of citizens; where appropriate, the creation of new towns and 
villages according to these objectives; the reorganisation and redesign of declining suburbs 
into thriving mixed use areas; respect for the natural environment and its balance with 
human habitation; and the protection of our built and landscape heritage. 
To that end we have developed chapters and networks in a number of countries and 
regions that promote human scaled urbanism based on the European City Model ‐ fine 
grained, mixed use, transport centred, walkable, inclusive and socially rich and robust. We 
think that such places are good in their own right and that if we can stick to designing 
urban places with these kinds of qualities we have a better chance of limiting and 
mitigating sprawl. 
We’ve held two world congresses so far ‐ on the European City (in Berlin in 2005), and on 
Sustainable Urbanism (in Leeds in 2006) ‐ as well as many smaller meetings, workshops 
and symposia on issues as broad as urbanist education (in Viseu in 2004) and waterfront 

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development (in Lisbon in 2007). We take part in charrettes and summer schools to help 
teach the message of sustainable urbanism to students involved in architecture, planning 
and urban design. And more latterly we have become involved in the development of 
curricula for a planned European School of Architecture and Urbanism to the same end.  
This year’s World Congress ‐ our third ‐ is in Oslo from the 14‐16th September. The topic is 
the extremely urgent issue of Climate Change and Urban Design. This exceptional 
gathering is bringing together researchers and institutions from around the world, 
representing 30 countries from every continent except Antarctica. It promises to be an 
excellent opportunity for people from all parts of the world to come together to both learn 
from European Urbanism and to suggest ways to improve its capacity to both mitigate 
and adapt to climate change effects, in keeping with our Stockholm Charter principles. 
This year we appointed a new chair, Dr Harald Kegler, while last year we established a 
foundation in Stockholm where our CEO and secretariat is based. At the same time we 
initiated our constitution to make sure we have a proper basis for our activities in future. 
While we have very active chapters in places as diverse as Norway, the Netherlands, 
Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom ‐ and excellent links with other urbanists in 
places as diverse as Israel, Cuba, the United Kingdom and the United States ‐ we are keen 
to start chapters or more informal networks in other European countries ‐ especially in the 
south and east where there are of course many significant urban issues. So if you would 
like to get involved wherever you are in Europe please contact us. We are very open to 
proposals for new networks, new projects and new events within the framework of our 
Charter principles. 
It’s worth pointing out that the Council for European Urbanism is not just another 
professional association that only includes architects or planners. People involved come 
from a very broad range of backgrounds. What we share is a passionate concern for the 
future of urbanism in Europe. Please look at our website to find out more about us: 
http://www.ceunet.org/index.html. There are links there to national chapters and to 
interesting research through the Journal of Urbanism which presents peer reviewed 
international research on place making and urban sustainability: 
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t782882883~db=all 
If you would like to join discussion and debate about urbanist issues, anther good start is 
to join Euro‐Urb ‐ a lively, moderated email group where many of these issues are aired. 
Find out more at http://www.ceunet.org/euro‐urb.html. So please do join us if you feel the 
same way! 
To contact us directly please email Tigran Haas, the C.E.U. Board Secretary based in 
Sweden: tigran.haas@infra.kth.se 
 
Susan Parham 
C.E.U Board 
September 2008 

12
 
 
ABOUT THE EUROPEAN SCHOOL OF URBANISM AND ARCHITECTURE 
Partner in the Council For European Urbanism 2008 Congress 
 
The European School of Urbanism and Architecture is a pilot programme in European 
education for careers in the built environment, aimed at the most pressing issues for the 
built environment today.  The programme recognises that practitioners and stakeholders 
face an unprecedented combination of challenges: chaotic growth of our built 
environment, and severe degradation of our natural environment; rampant globalization 
and erosion of local identity; and increasing disparity in economic and social opportunity. 
Educators must prepare practitioners to meet these challenges for today, while also 
meeting their timeless obligation to promote the health and well‐being of humanity, today 
and for generations to come. 
 
Therefore, the European School of Urbanism and Architecture offers a programme of 
study that is founded on: 
  
•  urbanism and architecture as an integrated discipline; 
•  immersive, project‐based learning, provided both in the field and through  
     coordinated studio simulations, as the core of the educational process; 
•  rotating studies in different European locations;  
•  an inter‐disciplinary curriculum combining science, history, philosophy, the arts,  
     design, engineering and construction; 
•  recognition of the social and economic value and strength of Europe’s diversity; 
•  learning from precedent, as a resource to evolve and innovate in a rapidly changing  
     Europe; 
•  understanding the ever‐present human need for beauty, livability and identity of  
     place; 
•  sustainable urban and architectural design, crafts and building processes;  
•  real‐world skills of problem‐solving, collaboration, facilitation and leadership,  
     across disciplines, sectors and national boundaries, and with specialists and  
     stakeholders; 
•  ʺlearning to learnʺ throughout life. 
   
The 2008 Council for European Urbanism congress topic of “Climate Change and Urban 
Design” is a premier example of the programme’s commitment to engage the most 
formidable challenges of the built environment today.  The programme is built on 
partnership and collaboration, as is the Council for European Urbanism, and we welcome 
the inquiries or proposals of sympathetic organisations. 
 
For more information please visit www.esua.org/

13
14
TOPIC 1:  Urban Morphology: Measuring it, Re‐Shaping It 
 
Policy, Urban Form and Tools for Measuring and Managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions; The North
American Problem.
Nicole Miller, Duncan Cavens, Patrick Condon Ronald Kellett and Armando Carbonell
24 July 2008

INTRODUCTION
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, in collaboration with planning experts and planning directors from many
of North America’s major cities, has identified a critical need to measure the influence of urban form on
greenhouse gas emissions for US and Canadian metropolitan regions. To address this issue, the Lincoln
Institute convened two meetings for policy makers in the Cascadia mega-region, an area that includes the
coastal regions of the US states of Oregon and Washington, and the highly urbanized south-western corner
of British Columbia, in Canada. This region is currently at the forefront of North American climate change
mitigation policy. At the first event, held in October, 2007, representatives from the three major Cascadia
metropolitan areas – Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, BC, joined by leading technical experts, identified the
need for new tools and knowledge to support planning decisions and assist municipalities in meeting
greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. At the second meeting, held in April, 2008, these same
representatives began formulating a research agenda to develop such tools.
Workshop participants agreed that achieving challenging GHG reduction targets, such as those recently
adopted by governments in the Cascadia region will require new levels of integrated decision making. New
tools supporting these processes must be robust enough to speak to decision makers engaged in various
disciplines, who manage efforts at different scales and who regulate different elements of public
infrastructure or private enterprise (building code regulators, departments of transportation, etc.). This
suggests a level of coordination in decision making at the policy level which is presently uncommon,
particularly in the US where the rights of lower levels of government and private property interests are
protected by the US constitution.

POLICY AND THE DECISION MAKING CONTEXT

Nevertheless, in both the US and Canada, new state and provincial laws are demanding that cities reduce
GHG emissions to specified levels in relatively short time. City and regional planners are under new
obligations to meet these reduction targets and to provide quantitative evidence on the impacts of their policy
decisions. For example, a bill recently passed in Washington state calls for emission reductions of 25%
below 1990 levels by 2035 and 50% by 2050 with mandatory reporting and statewide annual VMT (vehicle
miles traveled) reduction goals (SSB 6516 2008). The California Global Warming Emissions Cap established
a statewide GHG cap for 2020 based on 1990 emissions levels and has adopted mandatory reporting rules
effective in 2008 (AB 32 2006). In British Columbia, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act requires the
reduction of GHG emissions by at least 33% below 2007 levels by 2020, and 80% below 2007 levels by
2050 (Bill 44 2007).
Recent calculations done within the province of British Columbia suggest that at least 43% of total provincial
GHG emissions are under the control or influence of local governments. A significant majority of these
emissions can be linked to urban form, particularly the GHG produced by transportation and building energy
consumption. At the scale of local government, the multiplicity of urban form-related decisions (official
community plans, development guidelines, development permits, etc.) can be informed by a clear
understanding of their contributions to, or competition with, higher level policy; however, this is most often not
the case. Currently here is a lack of spatial, real-word data on the relationships between urban form and
GHG production. Some of the key information and data necessary to make sound, locally-relevant policy
decisions is not easily accessible to policy makers or understandable and meaningful for the public.
Addressing these challenges requires understanding the current US and Canadian policy decision-making
process. In reality, such processes are iterative and complex social-political processes that vary among
agencies and locations; however, a simplified model of the process provides a starting point. At present, the
process through which planning decisions are made in the US and Canada can be described as a series of
stages, moving from information gathering and processing, though interpretation and collaboration facilitated

15
by a variety of experts, and finally to policy and implementation (Table 1). Participating in this process is a
diverse set of players, interacting at specific stages and bringing with them a diverse spectrum of (sometimes
disparate) interests, interpretations, and inputs towards eventual policy decisions. Actors involved in the
various stages and scales of decision-making often speak arcane languages that create difficulties for
communication, collaboration, and consensus. This breakdown in the process means that decisions are
often being made in the absence of good, applicable evidence regarding the potential impacts of policy
decisions on GHG emissions.

16
POLICY AND URBAN FORM ACROSS SCALES
Developing effective GHG policies is complicated by the fact that GHG emissions are influenced by
decisions made at a variety of scales. While targets are being set at the provincial or regional scale, the
decisions that impact GHG emissions are spread across many scales, ranging from the building-level to the
region. The increasing recognition that cities, and the relationship between land use and transportation, are
significant drivers of GHG emissions implies that urban form – the streets, blocks, land uses, buildings and
infrastructure that shape regions, cities and neighbourhoods – must be understood at a variety of scales in
order to fully access its capacity to mitigate climate change. Much like the relationship between cell and
body, the various scales of urban form are inextricably connected.
It has been argued that in the US the disconnect between land use and transportation planning has been
comparatively extreme. With the single exception of Oregon, no US state or region has established an
overarching set of land use goals linked to transportation expenditure. Absent regional controls the US
interstate highway program became the de facto national planning entity, providing an armature for national
development which could only reasonably accommodate sprawling low density development and an urban
landscape that was hostile to walking and biking. Not surprisingly this spawned a culture where 89 percent of
all trips are by car and only 2 percent of trips by transit and 7 percent by foot.1 These numbers are only
meaningful in comparison to other advanced nations. Auto trips in western European countries account for
roughly half of all trips with transit, walking and biking capturing the rest. It does not appear however that
tendency for Americans to use their car to the exclusion of all other modes is a purely national trait. Only 33
percent of those who work in the City of New York use their car to get there, a much higher percentage than
Rome, where somehow 57 percent bring their car to work despite their national affection for the
passeggiata.2 Clearly something beyond national norms is at work. The finger of reason clearly implicates
urban form and the options that urban form precludes (or opens up) as the main determinant of travel
behaviour.
In this and in many other things Canada is neither here nor there – neither US, nor European. Canada’s less
aggressive but still substantial metropolitan highway building programs established a more modest but still
robust armature for auto dependence. Vancouver now services its region with only .2 meters of freeway per
capita while St. Louis, a city of similar size, provides its citizens with five times more freeway lane miles per
capita. 3. Auto trips that account for 76 percent of all trips is the legacy of that still substantial effort,
generating the currentrelatively anaemic transit trip share of 10 percent, albeit a proportion still five times
higher than that of the US. Efforts to control regional growth, while more frequent than in the US, have waxed
and waned as competing interests and opposed parties occupied provincial legislatures, with more or less
interest in the topic.
Thus it seems that steady increases in per capita VMT, along with growing per capita building energy
consumption, are attributable in large part to urban form and related policy at several scales. For example, at
the regional scale, funding a new freeway will most certainly have some impact on decisions to drive or take
transit. At the municipal scale, zoning for high density development will greatly impact the viability of transit
service, district energy systems and efficient land use. At the neighbourhood scale, development guidelines
promoting mixed-use communities enable opportunities to walk or cycle to meet daily needs, and at the
parcel scale, appropriate building forms and orientation reduce heating and cooling loads. Recent studies
have concluded that urban form decisions made at the district scale (mixed use housing, interconnected
streets, higher density, walking distance to services and jobs) can impact per capita automobile travel by as
much as 40% (Ewing et al. 2007). Higher density building forms, where units share walls, have intrinsic
advantages for reducing energy consumption (Ewing 2008, Norman et al. 2006).
These nested scales are each shaped by a variety of policy decisions (Table 2); however, related policies in
both the US and Canada are often disconnected, segregated into “policy silos” such as building codes and
zoning bylaws at the parcel scale, community or local area plans at the neighbourhood scale, municipal
development plans at the municipal scale and regional growth strategies at the regional scale, among others.
In addition, these policies are often created by different groups and, in the case of regions, by different
governing agencies. The discontinuity of policy between scales of urban form imposes challenges on
understanding urban form holistically. Presently very little consideration is given to how regional decisions may
affect neighbourhoods or individual parcels and vice versa.

1
Transportation Research Board. http://www.trb.org/
2
Statistics from US census and from urbanaudit.org.
3
Canadian Cities American Cities. Our Differeneces are the Same. Patrick M. Condon.
http://www.jtc.sala.ubc.ca/bulletbody.html

17
AVAILABLE TOOLS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO DECISION MAKING AND SCALES
Understanding the wide variety of tools available, their place in the decision making process and the scale or
scales at which they are most relevant can help to clarify the current context within which the Lincoln
Institute’s work is situated. At present, the decision making process for climate change policy is dominated
by incomplete or difficult to use tools, limiting their abilities to support the processes of interpretation and
collaboration. Often these tools require the guidance of skilled operators, particularly when even moderate
degrees of accuracy are demanded. Other tools are designed primarily to be easy-to-use and thus influential
but fail to answer the complex, data intensive questions generated by the need to mitigate climate change. At
the same time, tools tend to deal with only one scale of urban form, without the ability to consider multiple
scales simultaneously.
A majority of existing tools best serve the information stage of the policy decision making process, while
fewer tools are available to fully support interpretation and collaboration. The following matrix describes this
condition using an illustrative (albeit incomplete) set of available tools (Figure 1). The matrix, for reasons of
clarity, does not address the additional need for tools that provide education to the public during policy
processes or tools at later implementation and monitoring stages. It should be noted, however, that many
existing tools have substantial potential to support these areas with improved usability. In other words, there
are still only limited resources for developing and translating GHG data, at any scale, into policy-relevant
information that evidences the impacts of urban form. In addition, although there are at least some tools
available at every scale, few of these tools have the ability to assess or provide information about GHG
emissions across scales, meaning that understanding the impact of parcel or project scale decisions on the
region and region scale decisions on individual blocks and parcels is still a challenge to be addressed.

18
19
20
CURRENT TOOL APPROACHES
The majority of tools in Figure 1 are measurement tools that can be used to quantify the implications of
different strategies and/or scenarios on GHG emissions. Each of these tools work at different scales, and are
the products of very different goals, approaches, methods and academic disciplines. While this allows them to
measure different aspects of an urban region’s GHG emissions, it means that it is more difficult to integrate
them into a comprehensive, easy-to-use tool for informing policy choices.
While not exhaustive, the following pairs of parameters can be used to categorize many available tools:
• Spatial/non-spatial: Even though the spatial arrangement of urban areas (i.e. proximity of residences
to jobs, transit, and commercial services) is a key driver of transportation-related GHGs, many tools
(spreadsheet-based tools and scorecard tools in particular) are not sensitive to the specific spatial
arrangement of scenarios. This makes them much less data-intensive and quick to prepare, as they do
not require a detailed GIS representation of the urban area, but also means that they are not able to
represent spatial arrangements of specific urban areas, which can have a large impact on
transportation GHGs, especially at the regional scale. They are also less able to reflect what is actually
(as opposed to theoretically) possible in a specific urban area given existing infrastructure, ownership
patterns and history. More complex tools such as MetroQuest, INDEX, and other land use and
transportation simulations explicitly model a city’s spatial patterns, and use spatial scenarios to drive
their analyses. The down side is that such tools can be time consuming and expensive to use, and
thus may not be applicable for many day to day development choices at the site, block and even
district scales.

• Top down/bottom up: Planning in metropolitan areas is done primarily at two scales: approvals of
specific site-level projects and the development of municipal and/or regional plans. Available GHG
tools reflect these two approaches: many bottom-up tools focus on the performance of specific
buildings or projects (building energy models, RETScreen), while other, top-down tools start with
regional-level scenarios (land use and transportation simulations, cell-based models). Few, if any,
tools make an effective link between individual projects and regional performance.

• Simulation/end state assessment: Many tools are designed to assess the end-state of scenarios,
where users are expected to provide as inputs the information that describes a predicted future
condition. Tools use the data provided for these scenarios to generate performance estimates. Other
tools, (ILUTE, UrbanSim) are simulation models. Users provide the current conditions for a region and
a set of land-use/transportation policies, and a tool projects selected policies forward to generate a
scenario of how these policies would develop spatially.

•Process-based/observation-based: Process-based simulation models (i.e. building energy tools

such as ESP-r and urban simulation tools such as UrbanSim) represent and explore the behaviour of
and interactions between the individual components that make up the entire system. For instance, in
building energy models, detailed information (size, orientation and R-value) of every surface in a
building is used, in conjunction with information about specific room uses and mechanical systems, to
calculate the heating and cooling load for the entire building. For regional simulation systems like
UrbanSim, a detailed behavioural model is used to simulate how each individual makes decisions,
such as the location of their homes and jobs, to represent effects on urban form. Other tools, such as
most of the spreadsheet-based calculators, use empirical data collected from representative buildings
and/or regions to summarize various effects as algorithms. These can be used to generate values
based on a number of parameters without simulating underlying individual actions. While the latter is
likely to be accurate for known conditions, tools based on measurements of existing conditions are not
able to generate results for conditions that are outside of the range of their observed data. For
instance, if a transportation model was calibrated based on how mode splits in a suburban
environment change in reaction to increased transit service, it is unlikely to be accurate when
extrapolated to much higher levels of service such as those found in a dense urban area.
“PLANNING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE”
The preceding information was presented to participants at the “Planning for Climate Change” workshop held
in Vancouver, British Columbia in April, 2008. At this workshop, regional modeling and policy experts were
asked to comment on material and to further elaborate their needs for new GHG modeling tools towards the
creation of a research agenda for the Lincoln Institute and its partners. Three major findings arose from this
meeting:

21
 1) Two key needs for local governments: a GHG target allocation method from the state/provincial
level down to cities and regions, and a tool for understanding planning consequences and
solutions

2) Goals and characteristics for a new type of GHG tool

3) A three-track action plan for forwarding tool development

Key needs
Throughout North America, governments are taking action to reduce GHGs. This movement is particularly
pronounced in the Cascadia region where two states and one province have approved legislation aimed at
reducing GHGs substantially over the next 50 years (SSB 6516, HB 3543, Bill 44). Despite impressive policy
changes, little is known about how these targets are to be met. Even less is known about how regulations will
impact the building and retrofitting of communities. Under these conditions, participants identified two key
needs for meaningfully moving forward with GHG reduction goals.
First, in the US and Canada, no means for equitably distributing GHG reduction targets has been
established. For example, one could determine that it would be more equitable to require suburban
communities to shoulder the largest burdens for reductions, as suburban dwellers have been shown to
produce up to four times more GHGs per capita than inner city dwellers (Center for Neighborhood
Technology 2006). Conversely, one could argue that since inner city dwellers often have the advantage of
transit and other key pieces of infrastructure, they have the greater capacity and responsibility for reductions.
Such issues are complicated further by considering the challenges and opportunities of high-growth versus
low-growth communities, as well as questions of per capita versus total reduction targets. In the case of
British Columbia, the Province plans to negotiate with local governments with the intention of arriving at an
equitable allocation on a municipality by municipality basis.
Second, policy makers need to know what capacity exists in communities for GHG reductions and what
costs related changes would generate – physically, socially and economically – before they can act. Policy
makers need to know, for example, how the gradual rebuilding of the suburbs as more complete, transit
friendly communities might overcome, in time, car dependency. Policy makers also need to know how much
the GHG reductions already achieved in center cities like Portland, Vancouver and Seattle can be
accelerated while addressing market forces and therefore political and economic issues. To answer these
questions, a new tool– likely building on and accessing the available suite of GHG models and related
methods – is needed. The characteristics of such a tool are described in the following section.

A new GHG tool: goals and characteristics

Based on the above, it seems clear that a new tool or set of tools is needed. While the exact attributes of
such a tool and its performance are not yet known, a few things can be said. The tool needs to be relevant to
the way policy is made and implemented; information by itself is not enough. It needs to be based on real
cities and their real forms; tools that are blind to the role of block configuration on one end of the scale
spectrum or the influence of regional scale decisions like freeway construction on the other will fail. The tool
must move fluidly between processes that generate GHG performance data and the policies that might
influence this performance; it’s not enough to do only one and expect the tool to be used. New tools must
also be particularly sensitive to the aggregate effects of site scale decisions - how building form, shared
walls, and orientation, for example, influence GHG performance, not at the site scale only, but in the
aggregate, at the district and regional scale. Finally, the tool must also model the feasibility of district scale
infrastructure such as district heating; it is not enough to generally ascribe a value to such systems absent a
cognizance of the neighborhood characteristics necessary to implement them practically.
Feedback from workshop participants on their goals for a new GHG tool (or tools) for policy makers reflects
the diverse challenges and questions facing city planners today. When asked what a new tool or suite of
tools for GHG policy planning would look like, planners and technical experts responded with comments that
can be summarized as seven key characteristics:
• Iterative: A new tool will have the capacity to iteratively test scenarios, ideally in a charrette-like
environment. Results generated by any modeling tool must be capable of rapid integration into
collaborative decision making processes where participants can collectively suggest and assess the
costs and benefits of alternative options.

22
• Spatial: A new tool will generate scenarios based on alternative urban forms. The urban elements of
building, parcel, block and street network configuration are the essential media for planning
decisions and, when assembled into districts and regions, predetermine transportation demands and
key aspects of building energy performance. A form-based tool enables opportunities for
visualizations, particularly at the neighbourhood scale, allowing decision makers and the public to
understand the impacts of policy and other choices “on the ground.”

• Scaleable: A new tool will move between small and large scale policies in order to understand the
relationship between differently scaled decisions, including state/provincial, federal and global
initiatives. Available tools fail to connect large scale decisions to small scale consequences and vice
versa - for example, decisions on freeway construction have substantial consequences on local
scale land use and VKT averages.

• Synthetic: A new tool will build on and link to existing modeling and measuring tools and related
applications. A reasonable design for such a tool must take advantage of existing simple tools and
also have the capacity to connect to more complex and data intensive tools when the situation or
scale demands. Technically, this will require the development of a standard “language” among tools,
as well as connections to planning process tools, such as design charrettes and other public
participation mechanisms.

• Multi-issue: A new tool will be holistic and able to consider issues beyond building energy and
transportation, such as infrastructure, and be responsive to the impacts of economy, affordability,
and livability, among others.

• Accessible: A new tool will be widely accessible to local governments and other decision makers in
terms of both availability and usability for the full range of potential users. A new tool must also be
accessible by providing data and results that are understandable to all appropriate audiences and
should be transparent (i.e. not a “black box”) in terms of assumptions and methods of analysis.

• Economical: A new tool will be economical in terms of cost, time, and staffing required to achieve
desired results. Ideally, such a tool would be able to provide both quick comparisons within an
iterative process such as a charrette, and also allow “drilling down” to more accurate, absolute
values with increased effort and calibration time.

23
A new tool approach
Given these characteristics, an approach where generic and ubiquitous neighbourhood types or patterns are
identified seems fruitful. It may be possible to characterize a limited number of generic North American
neighborhood configurations, and the related district configurations into which they assemble. Once
characterized, their inherent or potential capacity for GHG reductions could be assessed, thus avoiding the
necessity of assigning attributes on a much smaller parcel by parcel scale. Once assembled, these patterns
could then be used to generate regional scenarios. There are a number of reasons why using a form-based
methodology grounded in neighbourhood patterns has the potential to meet demanding functional
requirements. Neighbourhood scale “development patterns” have the potential to simplify the data
requirements commonly associated with more data intensive models. Existing models typically rely on
detailed, measured data (i.e. census measures) to represent the current condition. This results in a model
that requires similarly detailed data for future scenarios, which can be very time consuming to produce and
calibrate. A development pattern approach, on the other hand, would enable the assembly of an existing
region or future scenario comprised of a few hundred neighbourhoods from a smaller palette of
neighborhood types and base computations on that limited set of inputs. With this method, it would be
possible to develop a tool that would simplify data input, analyze scenarios quickly and cheaply, and
potentially function in real-time in collaborative, public processes.
Accessing existing tools and methods as sub-models to generate GHG measures for regional scenarios, a
development pattern-based tool could absorb and translate data from available models into the
characterization of neighbourhood and regional scale energy and GHG performance. Key sub-models would
include building energy use (e.g. ESP-r), alternative energy feasibility models (e.g. RETScreen), and travel
behaviour (regional and neighborhood scale). Ideally, the methods by which information emanating from sub-
models is absorbed should be transparent and modifiable as circumstances dictate.

A way forward: the action plan

Conclusions from the April 2008 meeting on a course of action for developing a new GHG tool varied.
Participants with modeling expertise, some with related projects completed or underway, were of the opinion
that tool needs and requirements varied significantly and that more than a single tool was necessary.
Building a more comprehensive, synthetic “tool suite” or meta-tool from a mosaic of existing tools,
supplemented with remodeled and new components was considered the more robust and resilient approach.
Generally, these participants were interested in a collaborative and coordinated effort able to cross
geography, scales and energy sectors. The resulting suite of tools would be rationalized through a
consensus around best research and experience, and would share a common engine of methodological
concepts and standards, be open-source, scaleable and incrementally developed. Getting the core of this
shared effort “right” was a high priority.
Conclusions forwarded by policy representatives, on the other hand, were influenced by the rapid emergence
of similar policy in all three Cascadia states/provinces, requiring dramatic reductions in GHGs by 2020 and
up to 80% reductions below current levels by 2050. Among participants, there was a sense of urgency and a
shared feeling that efforts to characterize the GHG performance of current municipal and regional forms
must begin immediately. State and provincial laws will soon require jurisdictions at various levels to bring
their transportation, zoning, building code and economic development policies into alignment with mandated
GHG reduction goals. Workshop participants recognized that they have a limited amount of time to provide
guidance to policy makers and legislators as new laws increase emphasis on the assessment of GHG
performance and the mitigation of GHGs through planning actions in the absence of a complete
understanding of potential solutions. The action plan for this group would have trial-run mapping and
visioning exercises commence within the year with the objective of characterizing existing GHG performance
for one or more of the three main metro planning areas as well as generating future scenarios for
comparison purposes.
After consideration of these comments by the organizing team, it was felt that these positions, while
seemingly contradictory, can be compatible. Compatibility is structured by conceptualizing a “three track”
process where several parties work in parallel over time (Figure 2). At the base of this process, a technical
research track involves specialists who continue working on the models, data collection, calibration and
analysis necessary to develop a sufficiently robust understanding of the impacts of urban form on climate
change, increasing in depth and sophistication over time. The top track, policy, involves those policy makers
and senior planners who, in order to carry out their responsibilities, require immediate information and action
on GHG targets as well as long-term strategies for allocating, implementing and monitoring climate change
policies. This track will necessarily proceed with the best available information for a given point in time. The

24
central (and critical) track in this process involves experts who will continue work on tool development,
insuring that the goals and desired tool characteristics articulated above are achieved over time. A key
objective over the course of tool development in this track should be to provide initial, on-going and growing
capacity to take new research as it becomes available and incorporate it in ways accessible to the top track
of policy makers. A successful process would mean that policy makers quickly have access to a simple,
useable, tool using the best available data and increasingly improved, more complete and sophisticated
versions of the tool and underlying data over the duration of the process.

CONCLUSION
The challenge for both Canada and the US is to find a way to think and act across scales and coordinate
many different realms of policy regulation. Coordination of this type is not common and in the case of the US
is often looked at with outright hostility. The daunting challenge is made even more intimidating by the
absence of tools that explain to citizens and policy makers what would be the benefits of such coordination.
Therefore, the challenge for the Lincoln Planning for Climate Change project is to identify an effective point
of intervention in this dynamic context. It would seem that participation in the “Tool Development” track would
be most fruitful; as it is here that the research and policy come together as applied to the questions of future
city form. As a starting point, it seems appropriate that test cases from one or more of the three Cascadia
states/provinces (for example Vancouver’s Sustainability by Design initiative, a fifty year plan for Portland, or
a low-carbon vision for King County, Washington) could utilize the earliest iterations of a developing tool as a
means to explore its potential effectiveness in both top down (regional scale effects on neighbourhoods) and
bottom up (neighbourhood level effects on regions) policy decision making. Established early, these cases
could then continue to provide testing grounds and critical feedback over the duration of GHG tool
development. Lincoln will continue to play a strategic role, bringing together the necessary experts and
organizations in support of this process. It is by no means clear that the mere existence of such a tool will
produce positive policy actions. It IS however clear that rational policy action is not possible in the absence of
such a tool.

25
26
SOURCES
AB 32. 27 September 2006. California Global Warming Emissions Cap. California Assembly Bill.
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_california/California_Legislative_Update_10-
1006.html#SB_1368_Global_Warming_Emissions_Standar

Bill 44. 20 November 2007. Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act. British Columbia Parliament Bill.
http://www.leg.bc.ca/38th3rd/1st_read/gov44-1.htm

Center for Neighborhood Technology. 2006. Regional CO2 emissions maps of Chicago, Los Angeles and San
Francisco. http://www.cnt.org/resources

Ewing, Reid, and Fang Rong. 2008. The Impact of Urban Form on U.S. Residential Energy Use. Housing Policy
Debate. Volume 19, Issue 1.

HB 3543. 25 June 2007. Oregon House Bill.

http://landru.leg.state.or.us/07reg/measpdf/hb3500.dir/hb3543.en.pdf

Norman, Jonathan, et al. 2006, March. Comparing High and Low Residential Density: Life-Cycle Analysis of
Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Journal of Urban Planning and Development.

SSB 6516. 13 March 2008. Washington State Senate Bill.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/4126CF5A-3BF2-4169-8312
49FD60A28FBA/0/2008StateLegislativeBills.pdf

27
Environment and urban form - The real scale of its morphological anatomy

Teresa Marquito Marat-Mendes, (MSc., Ph.D.),

Auxiliary Professor
Lisbon University Institute - ISCTE
Department of Architecture and Urbanism
Av. Das Forças Armadas
1649-026 Lisboa – Portugal
teresa.marat-mendes@iscte.pt

Abstract

This paper introduces the debate of climate change and urban design by calling attention to the
importance of reading the parameters of urban form, whereas examining the urban morphological
parameters from a fresh perspective; i.e. recognizing the measures of urban form that better optimize
performance across whole nature systems and whole life cycles. Accordingly, through a comparative
analysis of a number of case studies within the Lisbon area, in Portugal, this paper aims to demonstrate
how did the impact of subterranean and surface water management determined specific urban
morphological parameters of urban design over time in a sustainable manner.

Keywords: urban form, environment, natural resources, morphological parameters

28
1. Introduction
This paper introduces the debate of climate change and urban design by calling attention to the
importance of reading the parameters of urban form, i.e., the ground rules or the urban arrangements,
that when allocated appropriately, enable change to occur within the urban layout and that at the same
time contribute to more sustainable urban forms.

As a supplement to the contribution on Sustainability and urban morphology by Stanilov (2003) Marat-
Mendes and Scoffham (2005) have also drawn attention to a method of analysis of urban form that
bears on the notion of Sustainability. Whereas, the analysis of the physical dimensions of urban forms
that have been able to adapt and transcend over time in a sustainable manner constitutes the focal point
of such methodology. A sustainable urban form is here defined as one that has the capacity to survive
processes of change, and that at the same time provides an environmental quality that responds to the
variety of needs over time (Marat-Mendes, 2002).

Furthermore, by challenging the debate of climate change and urban design into areas wherein strong
urban tensions have been caused by the phenomenon of the ‘diffuse’ and ‘sprawl’, this paper proposes
a fresh insight into the discipline of urban design, at a time when a widespread demand for renewal in
this discipline is being claimed.

The phenomenon of ‘diffuse’ and ‘sprawl’ have demanded for different and new forms of action from
those of the traditional urban models; as these have been claimed to no longer respond according to the
idea of an original nucleus around which a succession of urban expansions and transformations took
place.

Besides, a line of thought that is being defended by several authors such as Laureano (1995), Tello
(1999), Marat-Mendes and Cuchi (2008), the natural environment should not be understood as a single
support for the allocation of different activities, infrastructures, equipments or buildings but instead as
an intrinsic part of a complex global system. Recognition and identification of the inherent proprieties
or the qualities of the natural environment, as part of a more general ecological system is therefore
important. As a consequence, the view of nature as something “external” to the urban environment is
now open for revision.

Several authors are also claiming revision of the traditional architecture and landscape practices, such
as Ábalos (2008) in his work Atlas Pintoresco. Indeed, when referring to the death of Robert Smithson
in 1973, Ábalos considers this moment to be the time of the first energetic crisis and the birth of a new
awake for the need to articulate other nature policies, and among them, other strategies for the
construction of the territory.

Besides, Ábalos (2008) also claims for a revision of the academic routes, and of the professional
inherences of modernity, with a specific agenda: The construction of observatories able to promote new
dialogues between humans, in order to create new places and techniques capable to enrich and to
intensify our condition in the world. (Ábalos, 2008, p. 235).

It is precisely the recognition for the need of revision of the models of urban form and land use in
practice that have performed good results on the dialect climate-urban form that it is here argued as

29
being crucial in order to renew the discipline of urban design. Whereas the emphasis attributed to the
identification of the dimensions of the urban form layout and the real scale of the ecological impacts in
the urban planning process, thus appear to be all important and reveal an urban agenda that should be
recovered in urban design curricula.

This Agenda embraces recognition of land use planning with great respect to the biophysical
environment – such as climate, soil, and vegetation, in order to enhance an appropriate exploitation of
its natural resources. Understand the most adequate manner to approach such knowledge is determinant
to extract the lessons that we must learn when addressing new proposals of urban design.

In order to demonstrate how does the biophysical environment can intrinsic respond to the built
environment, whereas enhancing an appropriate exploitation of its natural resources, this paper will
now demonstrate how did the impact of subterranean and surface water management determined
specific urban morphological parameters of urban design over time and in a sustainable manner. To do
this, this paper will now focus on the analysis of a Portuguese case study that is situated in the western
area of Lisbon region.

2. The Climate, soil and the ecological aspects of the Lisbon Region

Figure 1 – Portugal and the location of the Territory of Lisbon. Source: National Library of Lisbon.

The Portuguese case study refers to a specific geographical area that is situated on the west region of
Lisbon; delimited at west by the Atlantic Ocean, at East by the Alcântara water stream, at South by the
mouth of Tagus River and at North by the Sintra Mountains.

Located in the territory of the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, this area belongs together with other
adjacent territories to a region of Lisbon, called “saloia”, its old term, with which it established since

30
very early times, close interdependence ties with particular characteristics, such as architectural, social,
cultural, and others. Moreover, such territory is situated in a geographical area considered by Ribeiro
(1988) to be of a transition zone, where de great contrasts of the Ocean presence and the Mediterranean
influence separates the country and comes to dissolve themselves.

Lisbon Region lies in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean climatic zones, thereby enjoying a
pleasantly temperate climate year-round. Its mean annual temperature is 17°C, with average
temperatures in winter of 13°C and 27°C in summer. Even when summer temperatures reach the mid
30ºC, the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean insures some cooling breezes. July and August are the
hottest, driest months, while November to February are the wettest and the coldest. The Sintra
Mountains, that bounds the north area of the Lisbon Region, hosts a series of climatic phenomena that
results in considerably cooler, damper conditions than in Lisbon, with frequent mists that occur even in
midsummer.

The soil of this area is constituted by a rich variety of geologic elements, that over different times was
subject of different phenomenon of volcanic, tectonic and sedimentary origins. Such phenomenon’s
have contributed to shape the actual topography of this territory with a geographic structure that can be
regarded as a plane surface undulated by water streams that crosses it from north to south and that
finally drains the continuous mountains situated northwards between Sintra and Montejunto Mountains.
Such strategic situation of the mountainous area allows the taking hold of the humidity of the marine
air and therefore granting the clouds formation that after rain allows the feed of the water streams and
the increment of the ground water levels.

Figure 2 - Carta Corográfica dos Arredores de Lisboa, Guerin de Lamotte, 1821.

Source: Instituto Geográfico Português.

This territory climatic condition together with other natural conditions provides very different
geographical environments and a rich landscape diversity, of natural and human occupancy, from
which the greater area can be identified as being of Mediterranean characteristics.

31
3. The human occupations and morphology of the Lisbon Region
Significant and valuable archaeological findings have proved that this territory must have been very
attractive since very early times, such as the Palaeolithic period. The small inhabitant nucleus,
positioned in the inner areas of this region, can have found their origin in the precarious occupations of
the Palaeolithic period or already on the Neolithic and Calcoolític. Furthermore, they might have
continued their establishment with a much more sedentary occupation based on the “Casais Agrícolas”
at the Final Bronze and the Iron Age and, finally were found as inhabited settlements in the following
periods, with a special remark to the Roman and Medieval occupation, including the Muslim period, in
a continuous occupation that we dare here to propose.

As Lisbon was supplied by the ‘saloia’ region, also other smaller urban centres within this region, such
as Oeiras, Carcavelos or Cascais, needed their own suppliers from the ‘saloia’ region, such as
laundrywomen, salesmen of goods and fresh goods. Thus, to a subsistence economy, of historical
origins, for some ‘saloios’, there was in addition the trade of excess, the servant work in the closest
urban areas or the employment as stonemason, consigning to proximity a dependence that would
pursue over time.

A long period of economic stagnation seems to have characterized the history of these urban
settlements until very recent times; even Cascais and Oeiras promotion to a “Village of the Court”, its
XIX century development, together with the littoral developments as beach resorts, had any influence
to emphasize in this sleeping inner region.

But, it can have been exactly this extraordinary isolation that, at the same time, allowed the
consolidation and the emergency of the ‘saloia’ identity. Generally considered as descending from the
Moorish populations that were banned from the re-conquered Lisbon, to whom Afonso Henriques’
allowed to settle in the Term, is most likely that its genealogy submerges into a variety of populations
that have fixed here, and that formed its character and appearance mainly through the long hospitality
of several generations of Christians and Muslims (Marat-Mendes & Cabrita, 2007).

Alongside with this isolation and the coexistence of ways of living based on a subsistence economy,
most of the interior area of the neighbour municipalities of Lisbon, situated in this saloia region, have
allowed until 1950’s the possibility to describe this territory’s landscape as of merely “villages and
deserts” as the summary that a writer from the end of 15th century makes of the country (Ribeiro, 1988,
p95).

Such “deserts” were however a vast area of countryside disposed along the territory, and explored by
different cultures through inherited knowledge as already stressed, but always according to the
availability of resources, such as sun, soil and water. It was later during the 17th and 18th centuries that
with the intensification of agriculture, mainly with the olive tree and the promotion of summer houses
and estates for nobility and royalty, that such “deserts” testified a new transformation input in its
landscape, however without neglecting the most appropriate use of the natural resources available. The
pattern that reflects such landscape it is here argued as essential in order to desiccate the morphological
anatomy of Lisbon’s territory.

32
4. The morphological anatomy of Lisbon and its environments.
As already stressed, during the 17th and 18th centuries, the territory of Lisbon in analysis, assisted to the
establishment of the Royal Estates of Lisbon Region. These Royal Estates, together with other non
Royalty Farms, Framhouses, Estates, Casais and Azenhas and other productive structures were
responsible for the guarantee of the sustainability of Lisbon’s environments, whereas assuring a natural
symbiosis between man, nature and the built environment.
In an attempt to better understand this territory and its inherent landscape Marat-Mendes & Cuchi
(2008) throughout their analysis of the water basin of Barcarena Basin, licated in the surroundings of
Lisbon. Such case study refers to the distribution of the Farms along the water basin of Barcarena water
stream that is also located in the western region of Lisbon territory.

The analysis of the territory of Lisbon proposed by Marat-Mendes & Cuchi (2008) refers to the
application of a model of reading the landscape that is drawn up on a requisite that is the relevance of
the resources management. Wherein, the identification of the distribution of the Farms along the
western region of the Lisbon Territory was its primary instrument. Moreover, Farms, Farmhouses,
Estates, Casais, Azenhas and other productive structures were distributed all over this territory. The
same territory, that during the 18th century supplied and feed the City of Lisbon, with its fresh goods,
trade, services and material resources. Such structures represent the most visible elements of an
elaborated management process of the territory biophysics materials matrix, which is characterized by
the drainage of the water captured from the mountain system towards the river. Moreover, such
territory that is successively modulated by different water basins also provided navigation connection
through its water streams in conjunction with the road system that connected Lisbon to Paço de Arcos,
Oeiras, Cascais and Sintra (Marat-Mendes & Cuchi, 2008).

The farms that until the 1755 earthquake have gradually assisted to the transformation of their main
function into the residential one, lead a complex production unit that incorporates various uses. Its main
part usually presents an enclosed precinct, sheltered by walls, which provides protection for high-
performance crops in opposition to the lower-performance crops, mainly cereal cultures, which in turn
dominate all the other available territory. In addition to the main residence and its gardens, when they
do exist, vegetable plots and fruit plots of various types occupy the above-mentioned walled spaces.
These plots constitute the irrigated crops that assume the use of the water resource as a flow that needs
to be managed through the restrictive available conditions that the traditional systems could permit
(Marat-Mendes & Cuchi, 2008).

The dry land crops, the crops of lower-performance, exploits the infiltration of rainwater that falls
directly on the ground with the help of farm operations, thus promoting competitors elimination and
permeability of soil increment through tillage; therefore, ensuring their maximum availability for
cultivation in moments of growth and maturation. Instead, the irrigation crop system or the crops of
high-performance exploits the overflow and the infiltration that is not evaporated by the plantations, in
order to concentrate water and to make use of it to fertilize exotic crops or crops of higher productivity
(Marat-Mendes & Cuchi, 2008).

However, the traditional water management system is conditioned by the use of the gravity power as
the main element of water transport, as in the traditional societies there was not enough power to move
systematically the quantities of necessary water fluid for agriculture. Thus, the capture, regulation and
distribution of water were determined by the same geography of the territory, by the topography, the

33
substrate, and the technical capacity for the management of the necessary elements for its government.
As one defines these parameters, the availability of water reveals also to be very different at different
spots in the territory, whereas the potential of agricultural production under irrigation systems are
differentiated (Marat-Mendes & Cuchi, 2008).

If one assumes that in the 18th century there was enough market demand in Lisbon to accept the
increases of the agricultural capacity of Lisbon’s surroundings, and that neither the man-power nor the
investment capital constituted restrictive elements, one must assume that at that time, it was produced
the maximum utilization of the opportunities that the differential biophysics matrix generated to
establish irrigated crops in the study area. Only local constraints, such as the lack of access to the
distribution channels such as roads or some water streams, could justify the non-exploitation of plots or
land that was positioned in places capable of crop irrigation use.
Accordingly, the readings of the farms study disposition throughout the territory, at that time, should
show which were those spots and how do they responded to the availability of these factors through the
dimension of its own farm, the existing crops and the ability to capture water (Marat-Mendes & Cuchi
2008). Moreover, the work of Marat-Mendes and Cuchi (2008) considers the basin as the basic unit
when considering the water flow.

5. The 23 water basins of Lisbon Territory and the real scale of Lisbon’s urban environment
morphological anatomy.
In order to contribute to Marat-Mendes & Cuchi (2008) analysis and to need of finding better
relationships between environment and urban form, the present paper will now introduce a broader
analysis of Lisbon’s Territory that was established through a method of territory analysis that bears on
the notion of Sustainable Urban Form according to Marat-Mendes (2002) and Marat-Mendes &
Scoffham (2005). Wherein a Sustainable Urban Form is here defined as one that has the capacity to
survive processes of change, and that at the same time provides an environmental quality that responds
to the variety of needs over time.

Although Marat-Mendes & Cuchi (2008) have already implemented such model on the analysis of one
water basin, the Barcarena Basin, the present paper will identify and analyse a territory that is
constituted by a total number of 23 water basins. Moreover, such analysis hopes to promote a broader
conscience of the need of more detailed territory analysis in order to better implement principles of
sustainable urban environment and urban form.

Supported by a strong environmental and ecological perception this methodological framework

consisted on an analysis of the territory and in the recognition and identification of its morphological
structure. Such analysis was followed on information provided by the military maps of the
surroundings of Lisbon from 1893-1899 at the scale 1:20.000 (Corpo do Estado Maior, 1893-1899);
thus enabling the establishment of the farms disposition throughout the territory. More current
cartography was also used in order to compare the 19th century information with the actual one. The
different steps that were followed throughout the methodology were the following ones:
a) Delimitation of the territory in analysis throughout its natural features;
b) Identification and delimitation of the 23 water basins that constitutes the study area of the
territory;
c) Recognition of the natural conditions of the water basins: geological, topographic and climatic;

34
 d) Identification of the human and physical conditions of the water basins: urban agglomerations,
Farms, road systems, types of uses;
e) Delimitation of the different walled farms located in each water basin;
f) For each farm it was identified its respective water basin, that was defined by considering the
geometry of the territory situated above the farm highest topographic level;
g) Identification of the type of crops and location in every identified walled farm;
h) Analysis of the landscape use (through type of occupation and crops) regarding its distribution
throughout the territory in analysis, and finally the establishment of some final remarks,
throughout a comparative analysis between the 23 water basins.

While the analysis was elaborated, several walled properties were identified. However, these presented
different designations, namely “Qta”, “Q” and “C”. After and analysis of the areas of these properties it
was possible to verify several differences in their areas. While the “Qtas” presents an average area of
130.000m2, the “Q” presents an average area of 51.000m2, and the “C” approximately 14.600m2.
Moreover, while the number of properties designated with a “C” is relatively reduced in comparison to
the other two cases, it is possible to conclude that such designations have a correspondence to the areas
of the properties. The analysis of the territory has also allowed the identification of other properties,
however not walled ones. These non-walled plots were not considered for the comparative analysis; as
they do not represent high-performance crops plots, as defended by Marat-Mendes & Cuchi (2008),
and therefore these non-walled plots do not assume the use of water resource as a flow that needs to be
manages, and therefore an important morphological element of urban planning. Only the walled
properties or plots were therefore considered for analysis. Interestingly, these were greatly found under
the 250m heights, and with predominance between the 0m and 50m high. Such situation might owe to
the area of each farms own water basin; as the lowest the level of the farm, greater will be its own
water basin.

From the 23 identified water basins it is in basins 21 (Barcarena Basin), 22 (Jamor Basin) and 23
(Algés Basin) that one can find the greater number of farms; each basin with more than 20 farms.
Interestingly, these are the basins that are closely located to the city of Lisbon.

The location of the farms is superior throughout the two main accesses (Lisbon-Cascais) and (Lisbon-
Sintra). The first one is situated closer to the Tagus river coast, and the second one where the water
streams initiate their course. Other farms are located along the north-south water streams that run each
water basin, although in a less number.

Around the Sintra Mountain it is also possible to verify a great concentration of farms, located in its
basement level, approximately at the 200m level, concentrated in three main locations; where the
mountain faces South, North and on its top level (510m height). This last location presents the biggest
farms. However, due to the aggressive natural conditions, such the high level, the accentuated
topography and the Atlantic influence, the farms located at the Sintra Mountains have as principal
crops type pine trees and trees.
Another concentration of farms is contained in the area of Oeiras, close to the Marginal (the route that
connects Lisbon to Cascais). The majority of these farms belong to the Marques of Pombal (the Count
of Oeiras). In this same area, it is possible to identify good quality soils, of great solar exposition in a
flat slope, thus favouring the vineyards plantation.

35
Regarding the types of crops identified in the entire area in analysis, one can identified pine trees, olive
trees, trees, vineyards and also worked land. The greater number of crops production is found at the
250m high level. Above this level the crops production is almost null, remaining however only to the
growth of pine trees and other trees; crops that did not depend on watering subsistence.

Vineyards are found in farms situated under the 150m high. However, registering prevalence at the
50m-height level. Preference seems also to be given in territories facing a south solar exposition. Only
one vineyard faces north, and this is located at the Sintra Mountains.

Concerning the growth of trees, there is no information regarding its species, but it was possible to
verify a great concentration of farms that growth trees situated between the 100m and 150m height-
level (15 in 25 farms). The other farms that growth trees are dispersed at the different levels, having
however a greater predominance in water basin number 9 (Ribeira de Colares basin). Moreover, there
is no predominant solar exposition.

Olive trees are predominately located at the 100m height-level; and there is no presence of this type of
tree above the 250m height-level. This crop is constantly associated to the worked land identified
crops. There is also no predominant solar exposition for this type of crop.

Finally, the worked land appears to be located always associated to the growth of other type of crops,
and are mainly located at the lowest levels (under the 250m high), with a greater predominance at the
50m height. The reason for this situated might be the need for watering and the need for the biggest
farms own water basins, that are precisely located at the lowest levels.

From all the identified farms 37% of them do not have any indication of crops. There might be two
reasons for this situation. One refers to an abandonment of the respective farm, and the second reason
refers to the use of the farm, that might be of Summer Houses use instead of a productive use. The
Summer houses were very common during the 18th century. And, this possibility is coherent with the
great number of farms without crops type identification and of reduced dimensions that we can find in
water basin number 23 (Algés basin), the one nearest to Lisbon.

Summarizing, basins number 18 (Maradas basin), 19 (Lage basin), 20 (Porto-Salvo basin), 21

(Barcarena basin), 22 (Jamor basin) and 23 (Algés basin) are the ones that present a greater number of
productive farms, principally privileged by its proximity to Lisbon and to the regularity of its
topography and south solar exposition.

From the analysis of the road systems and of the urban nucleus, indentified in the 1893 cartography,
one can identify a close interdependence between these and the localization of the farms. The principal
routes, such as the rail trail structure the two main axes of access for both principal routes Lisbon-
Cascais and Lisbon-Sintra. The connection between these two principal routes is effectuated by
secondary roads that runs perpendicular to the main routes, along the top levels of the identified water
basins.

Regarding the analysis of the sobreposition between the road system and the existing urban nucleus
with the identified farms on the maps of 1893, one has found permanence on the localization of such
roads and urban nucleus. However, a third road emerges between the two previous identified main

36
axes. A new motorway built during the 1980’s generated the expansion of new urban nucleus along its
route. Thus, allowing the occupation of the less occupied territory of the 18th century.

Finally, the analysis effectuated over the 1893 cartography has allowed identification of the land use
rules that regulated this territory occupation since 18th century, while urban development was however
elaborated according to an idea of natural resources management synchrony.

Figure 3 – Lisbon’s Territory and the identified water basins of the study area.

37
 Figure 4 – Lisbon’s Territory Hypsometry and the location of the farms.

Figure 5 – The location of the old urban nucleus, the principal roads and the farms.

38
Figure 6 – The location of the actual urban nucleus, the principal roads and the farms.

Table 1: Relation between Type and number of crops per altitude

No crops
Trees
Worked land
Olive trees
Vineyards
Pine trees
39
6. Conclusions

The present work has shown different ways of approaching landscape analysis, such as adequate tools
to read and understand the traditional productive systems of such landscapes, which in the end is the
expression of the resources management model that used it. Moreover, it reflects on the need to better
understand landscape when environmental enhancement is demanded for urban form improvement.
Indeed, urban form when resulting from a parcelling inherence reflects previous models of land use that
needs to be better perceived in order to extract the lessons of environmental control. Indeed, as one can
conclude from the analysis of the 23 water basins identified in the western region of Lisbon’s Territory,
one can confirm that the previous isolated territory as defined by Marat-Mendes & Cabrita (2007) was
subject of agricultural intensification during the 18th century as confirmed by Marat-Mendes & Cuchi
(2008). Therefore, such agricultural intensification responded to an urban and rural parcelling order
that responded however to a model of natural resources management, wherein water was the main
resource. Moreover, this same territory, has proved, that until very recently it has kept the parcelling
structure, although suffering some annexations or plots divisions. Nevertheless, such parcelling
structure did assure until very recently to the natural conditions of the site in a sustainable manner.
Thus, if improvements of the natural conditions of the site need to be done in the future, a better
acknowledgment of the previous resources management model and its intrinsic parcelling structure are
therefore needed. In order to better respond to a more positive relationship between Environment and
Urban Form, the scale of analysis that should approach such relationship is therefore important. It
concerns not only the scale of the natural resources that flows in such territory, and that determines the
physical constrains of the natural system, but also the scale of change that such territory structure can
determine in future urban arrangements. Thus, landscape seems to appear as the real scale to approach
urban form and environment, as the most adequate one when analysing the morphological anatomy of
each site in analysis.

Credits: Figures 3, 4, 5, 6 and Table 1 were elaborated by the students of the Master Course of Architecture, at the
Department of Architecture and Urbanism at the High Institute of Lisbon-ISCTE (2007/2008) - Liliana Vieira, Luciana
Lameirinhas, Mário Nunes, Paulo Saiote and Susana Santana, for the course of Ecology and Territory, supervised by Prof.
Teresa Marat-Mendes.

References
Ábalos, I., 2008. Atlas pintoresco, Vol.2: los viajes. Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili.
Corpo do Estado Maior. Carta dos Arredores de Lisboa (1893-1899), scale 1:20.000.
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Marat-Mendes, T., 2002. The Sustainable Urban Form: a comparative study in Lisbon, Edinburgh and
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governed order to Lisbon’s surroundings. In Proceedings of the 1st Euro-Mediterranean Regional

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Conference on Traditional Mediterranean Architecture, Present and Future - REHABIMED, Barcelona,
Spain, 12-15 June 2007. ISBN: 84-87104-79-7, pp.199-201.
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patterns: the water in the Royal Estates of Lisbon region. In Proceedings of the International
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95671-0-8. pp.441-446.
Marat-Mendes, T., and Scoffham, E., 2005. Urban Sustainability and the ground rules that govern
urban space. Urban Morphology, 9 (1), 45-46.
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evolutiva”, História Agraria, 19, pp.195-211.

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Low-carbon, Attractive, Resilient Communities: New Imperatives for Sustainable Retrofitting of Existing
Neighbourhoods.

Dr. Stephen R.J. Sheppard, Ellen Pond, and Cam Campbell

Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (CALP)

Department of Forest Resource Management/Landscape Architecture Program
Forest Sciences Centre
2424 Main Mall, UBC
Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4

ABSTRACT
Climate change poses multiple challenges for sustainable community planning and retrofitting. In particular,
three specific linked dimensions require more explicit and thorough consideration on the best practice list of
sustainability indicators. First, the need for radical reduction of carbon footprints in existing communities is
becoming more evident, due to the urgency of stabilizing climate change and staying below 2°C average global
warming. This will require a profound paradigm shift in society, beyond technological advances and legislation
on greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, and necessitate changing landscapes, urban patterns and behaviour
sufficiently to meet critical low-carbon emission thresholds. Secondly, a continuously changing climate
threatens the integrity of the community fabric and the success of GHG reduction strategies. We need more
holistic climate change planning that considers resilience under various possible future impact scenarios, and
promotes synergies between adaptation and mitigation, such as using urban forestry to reduce heat island effects
and GHGs. Thirdly, in most North American communities, a high-carbon aesthetic prevails, reflecting and
shaping high levels of consumption and waste; both mitigation and adaptation measures can meet resistance on
aesthetic grounds. Thus, for sustainability and climate stabilization to succeed, people need to be convinced that
key aspects of quality of life will be protected. Retaining the character of well-loved communities, ensuring
attractive design, and expressing greener performance will therefore be vital. Planners will need to assess
impacts on character and the acceptability of new technologies such as biomass-fuelled district heating plants,
photovoltaics, and wind power; designers will need to fit new technologies into existing and beloved landscapes.
The challenges are great, requiring comprehensive changes in many aspects of our lives and all sectors of
society; these in turn are likely to require shifting of public preferences through intelligent, informing
informative processes that reveal the true trade-offs in design choices. Local Climate Change Visioning is one
new participatory planning and capacity-building process that attempts to integrate low-carbon targets, improved
community resilience and character changes resulting from climate change actions in the community, using GIS-
based visualisations. Visioning case studies conducted at the University of British Columbia illustrate some
approaches to meeting quantified low-carbon thresholds and retro-fitting for resilient and attractive
neighbourhoods. Such approaches call for profound changes in how we plan our communities in the short and
long term, including the need to use better metrics and techniques for measuring, mapping and modelling
performance on all three new imperatives for sustainability.

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1 INTRODUCTION

Climate change poses multiple challenges for sustainable community planning and retrofitting. This paper calls
for more explicit and systematic consideration of three vital sustainability dimensions that are still often given
short shrift in sustainability assessment and planning exercises: carbon (GHG emission) levels relative to
aggressive reduction targets, resilience in terms of reduced vulnerability to direct and indirect effects of global
change, and the attractiveness or acceptability of urban design/retrofitting required for climate change solutions.

The first dimension, low-carbon, sets an essential threshold for sustaining human life into the future. The need
for radical reduction of carbon footprints in existing communities is becoming clearer, due to the urgency of
stabilizing climate change at GHG concentrations of 450 ppm4 or below (Hansen, 2008); without this, the world
has no hope of staying below the level of 2°C average global warming believed by many scientists to represent
the threshold for dangerous climate change (IPCC, 2007). John Ashton, the UK Foreign Secretary’s Special
Representative for Climate Change, writes that “we should no longer speak of avoiding dangerous climate
change. That is yesterday’s issue. We have dangerous climate change already; what we now need to focus on is
avoiding catastrophic climate change” (Ashton, paraphrasing John Holdren, President of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, in MacCracken et al., 2008). The latest science reveals
unexpectedly rapid loss of summer arctic sea ice -- with possibly complete loss by 2013 -- and much faster
melting of the Greenland ice sheet than predicted, leading to a potential 6-7m of sea level rise (Homer-Dixon,
2008; Hansen et al., 2007). Hansen et al. (2008) conclude that the current levels of atmospheric CO² are too
high:
“Continued growth of greenhouse gas emissions, for just another decade, practically eliminates the
possibility of near-term return of atmospheric composition beneath the tipping level for catastrophic
effects.” (15).

The Stern Review (2006) also demonstrated the costs of doing too little, including mass population migrations,
increased regional conflicts (eg. Darfur), massive water shortages, and other human catastrophes. We must
therefore move quickly: the world only has about 10 years to pass through “peak carbon” and drop GHG
emissions rapidly thereafter; developed countries, and by extension their communities, must reduce GHG
emissions 80-90% by 2050 , in keeping with emerging international standards and urgent calls for action from
scientists (IPCC, 2008). However,
“there is an enormous gap opening up….between those people who are looking at the possible futures that
an unstable climate will create …. and the assessment being made by the people who are rooted in the
policy community….. What the policy community thinks is the best that we can do is nowhere near what
the people on the frontlines say is what we have to do” (Ashton, in MacCracken et al 2008, xvi).

Hansen et al. add that “Present policies, with continued construction of coal-fired power plants without CO2
capture, suggest that decision-makers do not appreciate the gravity of the situation. We must begin to move now
toward the era beyond fossil fuels” (2008: 15, emphasis added). In fact, most countries including Canada and
its communities, are still heading in the wrong direction on total carbon emissions. While the concept of low-
carbon is now starting to be accepted in some parts of the world, the speed and depth of needed emission cuts is
not widely grasped. New sustainable developments need to have much higher benchmarks for low-carbon, and
existing communities need to be retrofitted as quickly as possible. Specific and radical thresholds need to be
adopted in comprehensive plans with rapid on-the-ground implementation to ensure that low-carbon
communities become a reality in time.

Climate change is arguably the biggest sustainability driver of all, providing the frame for all other sustainability
issues and making carbon reduction the pre-eminent criterion. If we get this one wrong, other sustainability
dimensions will become irrelevant. As we correct for climate change, we will of course need to manage all the

4
Current GHG concentrations approximate 385 ppm.

43
other sustainability dimensions and indicators as well, in part to maintain vital ecosystems and community
resilience. However, in planning terms, getting greener is no longer enough. Anything less than massive cuts in
GHGs in developed nations represents failure. For the first time in the history of sustainability, we now have
and must meet hard quantifiable targets, set by the climate science fraternity. The rate of the cut, size of cut, and
the one-chance-only imperative to hit the target are unprecedented.

To meet this challenge, we argue that resilient and more localized communities will be necessary both to reach
the low-carbon targets and reduce vulnerabilities and impacts from that part of climate change that is already
unavoidable. Adaptation strategies could negate mitigation (and vice versa) if the two are not considered in an
integrated way: for example, the adaptation of air conditioners to handle warmer temperatures increases CO².
Further, communities will need to pay serious attention to their attractiveness, maintaining or enhancing their
character so as to make a low-carbon and resilient lifestyle attractive and acceptable to residents. Low-carbon
communities therefore need to be measured both quantitatively – we must meet and exceed stringent greenhouse
gas emission goals – and qualitatively – we must want to live in them – so that low-carbon community strategies
can be implemented with minimal delays due to public or stakeholder opposition.

Putting these three dimensions together, we argue that converting existing communities to a Lo-CAR (Low-
Carbon, Attractive, Resilient) state is essential, going beyond current open-ended ‘Green” or sustainability
objectives. Existing indicator systems such as Smart Growth often miss or only implicitly embed low-carbon,
resilience and character dimensions. Accordingly, we need Lo-CAR indicator sets, which can explicitly show us
how far we have to go to achieve true low-carbon communities, facilitate decision-making among multiple
climate change strategies, accelerate implementation, and aid performance monitoring. Beyond simply adding
three new sustainability indicators, we argue that these new imperatives herald a profound shift in planning for
sustainability.

This paper examines all three dimensions, and illustrates how climate change design moves can be critically
assessed using them. We review the reasons why each of them is important, how they are defined, and ways of
measuring and achieving success in each dimension. We suggest how sustainable urban design can and should
bundle these three dimensions together, and identify synergies between them to advance implementation of a
low-carbon society. We argue that such transformations will require a paradigm shift in society (Kok et al.,
2002; Raskin et al., 2002), moving beyond technological advances and legislation on greenhouse gas (GHG)
reductions, to encompass significant changes in our landscapes, urban patterns and community behaviour that
are necessary to meet critical low-carbon emission thresholds. The role of participatory planning processes is
clearly critical to achieving this shift. The paper draws upon new research findings on community visioning
processes in the Vancouver area that consider multiple climate change issues and future scenarios as a prototype
for holistic planning and outreach for behaviour change. One visioning case study, conducted as a graduate
Landscape Architecture project (Pond, 2008), proposed a neighbourhood retrofit plan that met 80% reduction
targets in a low-density suburb of Burnaby, BC, which is used to illustrate key points in this paper.

The paper focuses on retrofitting existing North American communities, some of the worst per capita carbon
emitters in the world, with a particular emphasis on the Pacific Northwest, although many of the concepts apply
much more widely. North America’s traditional approach to environmental and resource problem solving has
been expanding to new frontiers and greenfield development sites. But we cannot sprawl, grow or new-build our
way out of our current predicament as a general strategy. Even if all new development were zero carbon,
everybody else would have to cut by 80%; the more that new development is not zero carbon, the more the rest
of us have to cut our own footprints (beyond 80% reduction) in order to compensate. The imperatives of climate
change and dwindling cheap energy require us to retrofit existing communities. While the existing building
stock will continue to be replaced over time – moving towards zero carbon as rapidly as possible so as not to add
to our problem – future energy deficits will make new building more costly and critical resource shortages could
inhibit timely completion of new projects. And, as we argue below, there are other reasons to value and protect
the urban fabric of existing communities, even as we retrofit them.

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2 LOW-CARBON

2.1 Why ‘Low-Carbon” is Important

In addition to the reasons given above for urgent and drastic cuts in GHG emissions to mitigate and minimize
climate change, there are increasingly policy and legislated mandates for reducing community carbon footprints.
For example, the BC Government has established targets for GHG emission reductions of at least 33% from
2007 levels by 2020, and 80% by 2050 (Bill 37, May 2008); Toronto’s target is 30% reduction from 1990 levels
by 2020 (Toronto Environment Office, Framework for Public Review and Engagement, March 2007). In reality,
meeting these targets will require even greater reductions by each individual or community if we are to account
for continued growth in population and the economy. Co-benefits of such targets include healthier lifestyles due
to increased walking and cycling, increased tranquility due to noise reduction, increased jobs in green industries,
and a feeling of empowerment in taking positive action to address climate change. Low-carbon communities also
are adapted to a lower-carbon (post peak-oil) future (see Section 3 below).

2.2 Definition of ‘Low-Carbon’

Carbon emissions are typically measured in terms of CO² equivalent (CO² e) to account for differential effect of
various GHGs on global warming. However, it is not enough to measure simply carbon emissions; we must
define ‘low-carbon’ in relation to the levels that need to be achieved. These are defined here as:
ƒ reduce to approximately 10% or less of current carbon usage levels (if these exceed 1990 levels), or 20% of
1990 levels, by 2050, with half of the reduction by 2035, in general accordance with the emerging
international consensus e.g. BC, UK, and EU (IPCC, 2008; Monbiot, 2006)
ƒ apply comprehensively across the transportation, food, energy, housing, water, production, other consumption,
and waste disposal sectors
ƒ apply to all materials/energy used in a community, including their supply, production, processing, transporting,
use and disposal
ƒ ensure the problem of carbon emissions is not simply transported in space or time (Berg and Nycander, 1997)
as in the current use of some biodiesel and carbon offsets.

2.3 Achieving and Measuring ‘Low-Carbon’

Our case studies on planning low-carbon communities suggest that effective mitigation measures will be site and
region-specific; solutions are not ubiquitous. For example, in BC, it is only necessary to replace the relatively
small proportion of electrical generation which is coal-fired, since most electricity is generated by hydropower.
Given the singular importance of attaining the targeted carbon reduction, indicators used in assessing carbon
reduction measures must address not only process (eg. establishing policies, designing new green
developments,) but also performance (ie. actual emissions reduction achieved as a result of policies, designs and
behaviours). The Burnaby case study found that implementation levels would need to be very high (see Box A)
to reach and exceed 80% reductions (Pond, 2008). Our experience to date suggests that low-carbon retrofit of
existing suburban communities in the Pacific Northwest could be achieved by combining all of the following
strategies/measures (suggested indicators are listed in Table 1):

1) Reduced energy use, improved conservation, and efficiencies in buildings: These constitute a critical first
step in reducing energy usage and therefore fossil fuels to 2020, and must be widely and deeply implemented.
Energy gains from widespread efficiency implementation can and must be considerable (Torrie et al., 2002 ),
with close to 100% deployment across all sectors, and high efficiency targets with near-term fixed dates. For
example, 85-100% of all existing homes need to be retrofit for higher energy performance, and all homes must
go to clotheslines, low-e lightbulbs, etc.

2) Changing energy sources by moving from fossil fuel to renewable energy/decentralized energy/local
energy. The amount and type of green energy needed will depend on local baseloads and renewable energy
potential in the area (on-site) or region (off-site). Solar technologies including passive solar heating/cooling and

45
solar thermal hot water need to be widely deployed to ensure that electrical generation can be used for more
critical services (Box A).

3) Change transportation by both mode and fuel source, which requires technological innovation, modified
planning, and behaviour change among residents. Communities need a rapid shift to effectively zero-carbon
mobility (walk, bike, equestrian) and renewably powered electric public transit, such as the wind-powered LRT
C-train in Calgary. Fuel switching to private electric vehicles is likely to be available only for small, efficient
vehicles such as electric bikes and scooters (EV2-3), if electricity is needed for other uses. Distances from
residential locales to services must include the distance to actual supply sites, which may require broadening of
current compact community measures such as 400m “walking circles”.

The implications of transportation changes are large, particularly in North America where post-1940s
communities have been almost wholly designed around the large, private vehicle. Society will need to undertake
a major attitudinal (paradigm) shift as we move from the freedom of the car and the open road to more localized
communities and rail/bus service for community-to-community movement. Density in sprawling suburbs must
increase to support efficient transit, and some currently developed, remote areas may become non-viable as
housing tracts.

4) Re-localization, particularly of food production: acquisition of food and other consumables account for a
significant portion of a community’s carbon footprint. Local production of foods will likely require another
paradigm shift if it is to be interwoven back into the sub/urban fabric; other critical needs including water, waste
and materials must increasingly be met locally as well. Figure 1 shows the conceptual transition proposed for
Burnaby.

The overall critical change in retrofitting existing urban form follows from and incorporates all of the above
strategies holistically. It requires a new definition of ‘compact, complete communities’. This definition
includes not only the urban cores but also the required productive land that is linked by rail, water, and
roads/tracks to the community. Land use needs to be mixed to enable not only “live-work-play” activities but
also “produce” activities, that take into account carbon miles from imported food/materials versus local sources.
Land use changes may require both smart density (increased in certain nodal or corridor locations – see Kellett et
al., elsewhere in this issue) and reduced density as high-energy using low-density housing tracts are reallocated
to food and industrial production (Balfour and Keenan, 2007). A productive land indicator must therefore be
included in mixed-use land planning, eg. amount (percent) of industrial land, agricultural land, or possibly
biomass/forest land within the community. In addition, optimal or acceptable density ranges (with locally
defined upper and lower thresholds) will be needed: for example, too much density may reduce solar thermal
coverage (Roaf et al., 2005), limit stormwater infiltration ,and increase heat island effect (Penney 2008); too
little density increases energy use and makes public transit infeasible.

The range and magnitude of changes in the community arising from GHG reduction will depend on housing
type, existing density, proximity to public transit, and available local food production, among other things. It is
crucial to measure both per capita GHGs and total emissions (see Section 6.2). The inventory, mapping and
projection of community carbon is still in active development, with few methods yet including food and material
consumption. Kellett et al. (in this issue) explore mapping carbon based on land use patterns. Pond (2008) has
conducted mapping of renewable energy capacity in suburban neighbourhoods in Burnaby, based in part on
architectural and landscape form (Figure 2). In lieu of specific quantitative indicators for low carbon, distinct and
widely separated scenarios can be used to frame and benchmark major (Figure 3) conducted in Greater
Vancouver (Sheppard, 2008).

3 RESILIENCE

3.1 Why Resilience is Important

46
A continuously changing climate threatens the integrity of both the community fabric and the success of GHG
reduction strategies. Resilience improves a community’s ability to persist (and thrive) through dangerous or
potentially catastrophic climate change and diminishing cheap energy. Climate change impacts on communities
may include: 1) the direct local effects of prevailing conditions and extreme events associated with issues such
as sea-level rise, snowpack reduction, drought, heavy precipitation and flooding, rising temperatures, etc. (eg.
Lemmen et al., 2008); and 2) the indirect effects of climate change in other places, such as storm disruption of
remote energy supply-lines, drought in other food-exporting regions, and in-migration of environmental refugees
displaced from other countries. Thus resilience needs to address both diverse kinds of climate change adaptation,
and adaptation to the end of cheap fossil fuels that currently drive our food, transportation, infrastructure,
buildings, consumer goods and medical systems. Other future shocks requiring resilience include
globalization/technology shifts and mineral shortages. Without careful and systematic planning for resilience,
we are likely to increase community vulnerability through inappropriate urban/infrastructure design and land use
planning, e.g. expansion of suburbs into fire-prone forest areas or overbuilding downtown cores that are
vulnerable to black-outs or heat-island effects.

3.2 Definitions of Resilience

Used loosely, resilience often refers to the capacity of a system to return to normal following a disruption.
However, resilience should not be mistaken for stability or “the ability of a system to return to an equilibrium
state after a temporary disturbance” (Holling 1973: 17). Resilience encompasses our ability to maintain core
structure, functions, identity and drivers while undergoing change (Walker et al., 2004; Berkes and Turner,
2006). Thus, following a disturbance, a resilient system or community does not necessarily return to how it used
to be, but is able to meet the needs of its residents, maintaining continuity and integrity while reorganizing in
response to change.

Homer-Dixon defines resilience simply as “the ability to withstand shock without catastrophic failure” (2007).
Given the current and anticipated disruptions due to climate change and the end of cheap energy, communities
will need to reorganize frequently and transition between states as they withstand variable and ongoing shocks
into the future. Thus a dynamic rather than a stability-based definition is required with anticipated climate
change impacts. Dynamic resilience itself may be adaptive or transformative, with adaptive resilience
comprising gradual and consensual actions within existing institutions. Transformative resilience retains key
functions, but the system itself may not be stable, and may move towards a new set of relationships (Goldstein,
2008). Transformative resilience may be what is required to meet the urgent and stringent greenhouse gas
reductions required to stabilize climate, while adapting to the other changes underway.

3.3 Achieving and Measuring Resilience

How do communities become more resilient? How should we judge or measure resilience?
Current engineering (and many design) solutions tend to favour rigid, single-solution strategies -- controlling,
reducing or eliminating natural cycles rather than working with them (Hough, 2004). These favour a stability
mode where fluctuations are minimized and systems solidified. However, resilient solutions will need flexibility,
adaptability, dynamic systems, interdependence and heterogeneity (Berg and Nycander, 1997; Goldstein,
2008; Pickett et al., 2004; Walker et al., 2004; Holling, 1973; Hough, 2004; and Hester, 2006). Holling posits
that resilient systems “maintain flexibility above all else” (1973:18), and that “the more homogenous the
environment in space and time, the more likely is the system to have….low resilience” (ibid).

Resilience in cities depends on physical form, people’s capacity, and social behaviour, which in part relates to
form (Hester, 2006). Community resilience requires self-reliant, skilled and capable citizens who are
knowledgeable about the systems they live in (Goldstein 2008), have developed iterative learning (Berkes and
Turner, 2006) with mature face-to-face social networks (Tompkins and Adger, 2003; Hester, 2006), resulting in
strong place-based social capital (Sydneysmith, 2007). Citizens and governments then become co-producers of a
flexible, resilient community that can respond to change and disruption, and proactively reduce vulnerabilities.
Note that urban form resilience and community resilience may not always be one and the same. Indicators and

47
thresholds for resilience are likely to be quite site-specific (Lemmen et al., 2008), but may be categorized as
shown in Table 1. For example, Figure 4 suggests ways of reducing the vulnerability of island communities to
resource shortages and cost fluctuations through increased local production and cycling of food, energy and
water (see Lyle, 1994).

The indicators of resilience suggested in Table 2 clearly overlap with indicators for low carbon communities, as
pointed out by Penney (2008) among others. Pursuing resilience thus offers communities holistic mechanisms to
achieve low-carbon conditions.

Resilience indicators need to be assessed across scales: at the parcel/block, neighbourhood, municipal, and
regional levels, so as to articulate more clearly the key relationships between the community and its hinterland
for supply of resources and waste disposal. Spatial analysis of resilience is thus critical in answering the big
questions such as: how large is your water supply, how much forest is available to produce biomass, how far
away are your supplies, where are the pinch points and vulnerabilities? Beyond downscaling of climate change
impacts (e.g. Murdock et al., 2007) and some emergency response plans, much needs to be learned about
mapping, modelling, and projecting adaptation and resilience at the community scale, in forms suitable for use in
planning (see early precedents such as Cohen, 1997). There is much uncertainty about identifying meaningful
thresholds for resilience such as capacities and targets for community food production. One approach would be
to derive these from requirements for community GHG reduction requirements.

In terms of action on resilience, one of the most important adaptation measures to implement first is to develop a
community-based process (Penney, 2008) that will build capacity and support better decision-making.
Approaches on this include top-down guidance from local government (e.g. the King County Adaptation
Guidebook (Snover et al., 2007)0 and bottom-up programmes such as the UK Transition town movement
(Hopkins, 2008).

4 ATTRACTIVENESS/CHARACTER

4.1 Why Attractiveness/Character is Important

The range and depth of community changes required to eliminate most GHGs and adapt to climate change have
major implications for our community landscapes. For example, green energy solutions such as wind farms,
rooftop solar panels, and passive solar retrofits/greenhouses will be highly visible. Neighbourhood character
will change as productive landscapes replace non-productive ones, and streets will look different, perhaps for the
better, as we replace wide expanses of single-use asphalt with increased social and ecological functions on
public rights-of-way. Some of these landscape changes can be expected to raise substantial acceptability barriers
to implementing low-carbon/resilience neighbourhoods. Careful consideration of the qualitative social
dimensions of climate change solutions will be critical to achieving our targets in democratic societies. Two
kinds of barriers related to community character can be identified:

1) Attachment to existing landscape forms that may be modified or eliminated: people tend to love
where they live and typically do not like change. The loss of trees, lawns, heritage buildings, and even ordinary
but familiar features is controversial. In most North American communities, a high-carbon aesthetic prevails in
the symbolism of quality-of-life and individual/family achievement, even though these are tied to high levels of
consumption, waste, and carbon emissions: residents of most affluent communities would be unwilling to give
up big single-family homes, the best views from the highest topography (furthest from services), multiple luxury
cars, imported furnishings, etc.

2) Objections to new landscape forms that may be introduced: .proposals for new developments in
community landscapes are often met with resistance from resident populations (Sell and Zube, 1986). These
public responses can provide serious barriers to otherwise viable climate change solutions, such as local wind
farms (Elliot, 2003). Other community intrusions such as high-rise towers or even neighborhood stores regularly

48
provoke opposition. In our case study in Delta, BC (Sheppard et al., 2008), we found that aesthetics trumped
adaptation to sea-level rise where until very recently, the raising of the sea wall in a traditional beach-front
neighbourhood had been successfully fought by the community in order to preserve open views and beach access
(Figure 5).

However, landscape character and attractiveness are important not just because of barriers to sustainable design.
Sense of place is recognized as a key measure of social sustainability and community well being (eg. Stedman,
2003; Swanwick, 2003; Parkins et al., 2004). Community identities may be rooted in tangible attributes of
landscape (Stewart et al, 2004) that are often the most tangible symbol of many other socio-economic factors.
Community character can be associated with resilience through its influence on social cohesion and the visible
demonstration of caring for the community and the environment (Sheppard, 2001). In our work with various BC
communities, we have been told it is an entry-point for discussions on carbon footprints where community
concern over threats to character greatly outweighs awareness of climate change imperatives. Public perception
studies in places such as West Vancouver (Mikicich, 2007) and Lake Tahoe (Logan Simpson Design Inc., 2005)
reveal growing opposition to “monster homes” and other trappings of a high-carbon society (massive grading,
construction activity, traffic, etc), but on primarily aesthetic grounds. Thus, character is a powerful force that, as
planners, we ignore at our peril.

4.2 Definitions of Attractiveness/Character

‘Attractiveness’ is used here as short-hand for a combination of factors related to community character and
reflective of community values. These include:
ƒ The more physical/visible aspects of sense of place (the meaning and importance of a setting for individuals
and communities), with stronger sense of place associated with distinctive, historically or socially
meaningful, and imageable local characteristics (Lynch, 1976).
ƒ Landscape quality or level of preference, relating to how attractive the community is to look at, its scenic
quality, etc.
ƒ Compatibility or fit of parts with the overall character.
ƒ Visual expression of sustainability, eg. revealing to the community key landscape functions which contribute
to a ‘green’ community identity.

Ultimately, attractiveness and character contribute to the acceptability of current landscape conditions and
proposed community changes.

4.3 Achieving and Measuring Attractiveness

Communities need to have tangible local symbols and familiar anchors to hold on to and feel good about if we
are going to ask them to make big changes and sacrifice their high-carbon aspirations. People need to be
convinced that other key aspects of quality of life are being protected. Attractive communities tend to be well-
loved, and people are more likely to look after what they love through the coming transformations.

If planners are able to identify desirable community character and can design strategies that achieve or maintain
it, in the face of inevitable changes, we should have a higher chance of success at implementing climate change
solutions that are acceptable to communities. However, communities will need to implement some actions that
are less desirable to their current residents and cannot be designed away. It is now widely recognized at all
levels of government that public education to build awareness and promote behaviour change is needed; this may
also require an aesthetic attitude adjustment in some cases, in much the same way as wetlands have shifted
from being seen as ugly wastelands to being valued for their beauty and ecological richness. Therefore, the
planning and outreach process has a key role to play in shaping new aesthetic standards associated with low-
carbon, resilient communities. Heavy-handed processes and technological or top-down solutions that do not
respect local values/preferences will be less successful than respectful processes and solutions emerging from
local collaboration, as shown by the emerging Transition Towns initiatives (Hopkins 2008).

49
Workable techniques for character assessment can be used or adapted, with indicator sets that are measurable
and proven, as shown in Table 2. Examples of indicator sets can be found with expert-evaluation systems,
public preference methods, and combinations thereof, as in the following examples:
ƒ the expert-based visual quality objective system used in various versions for decades by the US Forest Service
(1974) and BC Ministry of Forests (1997)
ƒ the expert-based UK Landscape Character Assessment process (Swanwick, 2003)
ƒ urban perception studies measuring relative preference of community residents (eg. Kaplan et al., 1998).
ƒ participatory and expert character mapping/assessment conducted as part of Smart Growth design charrette
processes (see Figure 6)

Such techniques enable assessment of character impacts and the acceptability of new technologies including
biomass-fuelled district heating plants, photovoltaics, wind power, and community-wide retrofitting alternatives.
Thus, how climate change strategies may be received, where barriers to adoption may lie, and where needed
changes can be designed to protect or enhance key community values can be identified. 3D visualisation, as an
additional tool, is valuable not only in character assessment and design development, but also in clarifying
overall strategies and community preferences for alternative solutions (Sheppard, 2005).

However, these approaches are not well known, taught, or widely used, for various reasons (see Sheppard et al.,
2004). There is very poor understanding of socio-cultural/perceptual impacts of projected climate change or
resulting mitigation/adaptation strategies on sense of place and other important social values associated with
community landscapes. Designers, as the only professionals trained in aesthetics and perceptions, have a critical
role in moving actions needed for sustainability from outside the acceptability/character circle to within it, as
shown in Figure 7.

5 INTEGRATING LOW-CARBON, RESILIENCE, and ATTRACTIVENESS

5.1 Importance of Combining Lo-CAR Dimensions in Community Planning

Low carbon and resilience need to be twinned: low carbon reduces our reliance on fossil fuels, which enhances
our resilience to external disruptions if we localize more of the solutions. Enhancing community self-sufficiency
reduces carbon footprints. We need to look for synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation, and
avoid mitigation that increases vulnerability to local climate change impacts and dependence on external
sources, long supply lines and complex, rigid systems. We also need to avoid adaptive emissions (Robinson et
al., 2006) from measures that increase use of energy or fossil fuels, eg. air conditioning or continuous
groundwater pumping. Community character must also be considered, allowing us to embed mitigation and
adaptation sensitively within existing communities, fostering more rapid diffusion of needed actions with less
public opposition. Using explicit Lo-CAR criteria encourages us to look for more synergies such as adapting to
worsening heat island effects by cooling streets and buildings through an increased urban forest, reducing both
the energy load and GHG emissions, and improving urban character.

As an example of the need to apply Lo-CAR criteria to climate change planning moves, Vancouver’s
“ecodensity” initiative proposes densification across many single-family dwelling neighbourhoods and corridors.
Citizen concerns about impacts of high-rise towers on neighbourhood character, little neighbourhood
involvement in developing the programme/solutions, and inflexible attitudes towards the changes needed have
led to widespread opposition. Examining ecodensity from a Lo-CAR perspective would point to the need to
respect character while determining the type/extent of density increases, enhance levels of community
involvement early in the process, and raise concerns about the long-term viability of high rise towers. High
density reduces GHGs by enabling walking to services, conserving heat, and supporting high quality transit.
However, towers require high-embodied energy and CO² emissions from concrete manufacture, and can also be
high-energy consumers, with recent research showing that their energy requirements per square meter are almost
as high as single-family houses (Norman et al., 2006; Compass, 2007). In terms of resilience, high levels of
densification can increase urban heat island effects and exacerbate flooding (Penney, 2008). Towers in

50
particular are difficult to cool without A/C and difficult for citizens to modify as conditions change. In a black-
out, an increasing risk with energy shortages and climate disruptions, towers can become traps as emergency
workers may only be able to reach the first 9 to 10 floors (Roaf et al., 2005). In a recent Toronto example,
Homer-Dixon extrapolatess that:

If the blackout had lasted for a couple of days …the situation could have become grim, especially for
seniors living in condominium high-rises. Many of these buildings are thirty or more stories high, and
some don’t have windows that open. With the power off, many residents had no elevators, air
conditioning, or water. After a couple of days of 35-degree temperatures, we would have been taking
some of them out in body bags (2005).

What would ensure long-term resilience, respect local character, and have higher acceptability while cutting
carbon footprints? Potential synergistic solutions in BC include: a diversity of urban form solutions fitted to each
neighbourhood, with walkable heights of about 4-6 stories, enabling connections to the street and social
networks; a mix of density types emphasizing wood-frame buildings (using sustainable wood products that lock
up carbon and can be easily repaired), with natural lighting and adequate cross-ventilation for cooling; rainwater
capture, storage and use (as in China); retention of open space/vacant land within the community for future food
production and ecological services; and a balance of local and regional energy, food and water production.

5.2 Precedents for Whole Landscape Planning with Climate Change

In order to deliver such integrated climate change solutions, in combination with other sustainable development
requirements, we need improved holistic planning methods that also build in public engagement and behaviour
change. We need a whole landscape approach (Dolman et al., 2001) that considers trade-offs and avoid
conflicts between objectives wherever possible. This involves system thinking, linking the urban cores to their
resource hinterland in more tangible ways, and considering multi-functional landscapes. Our carbon inventories
need to include all carbon sources attached to specific places and communities, not just the ones that
municipalities' control or that are easy to measure. In order to replace carbon fuels, we need to assess and
utilize all the renewable energy and conservation options that are available, feasible, and can be made consistent
with resilience, character, and other sustainability objectives. We increasingly need mapping to
spatialize/quantify inventories and community capacities, and modelling of alternative scenarios and outcomes,
with the ability to aggregate across scales up to the regional/cumulative level (Condon, 2008), in order to
determine performance against higher government targets.

We also need to engage the social, educational, and behavioural dimensions of community participation in
planning, recognizing the key role of community residents and not limiting ourselves to the physical aspects of
urban form and infrastructure. Collective action is essential; urban and landscape design can enable and
reinforce the shifts in attitudes and behaviour required (Lyle, 1994; Sheppard, 2001). Participatory planning
processes are vital in educating communities and building capacity for the necessary changes, helping to
overcome the kinds of social barriers described above. It is equally important to ensure that planners, engineers,
and their councils fully understand the urgency/rate of cut required in carbon emissions, the size of those cuts,
and the importance of actually meeting the targets.

New models for this kind of holistic climate change planning bundled with outreach are beginning to emerge.
The earliest procedures tend to live within narrower silos of adaptation (e.g. King County guidelines) or
mitigation (eg. Climate Protection Plan for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities), sometimes with very
short-term planning horizons (eg. carbon reduction targets to 2012).

Broader approaches with emphasis on action and policy change are emerging as Smart Growth design processes
are adapted to address additional climate change goals. For example, the City of North Vancouver 100 Year
Visioning Plan for a carbon-neutral city (see Condon, elsewhere in these Proceedings), has modified Smart
Growth principles to address carbon emissions, plus adding an additional indicator to address climate change

51
adaptation. These studies tend to have a heavy focus on mitigation via urban form, drawing on transportation
and mixed-use/high density/walkability as the chief actions.

A number of community-led planning and action campaigns have arisen particularly in Europe to address
climate change and peak oil holistically. Most notably, the Transition Town process (Hopkins, 2008) involves
grass-roots social learning and action planning to build resilience and attain a low-carbon society, drawing on
community sense of place and civic spirit to conduct a future visioning process. This culminates in a Transition
Plan, such as Kinsale’s “Energy Descent Action Plan”, which is related to but not led by the official
municipality. It is not yet clear how these plans will be implemented, though they are spreading to other
communities.

A more planning-specific Local Climate Change Visioning process has been recently developed from
participatory landscape planning and scenario assessment techniques, which addresses a broad array of
mitigation and adaptation issues within a global/regional/local framework (Sheppard and Shaw, 2007). Tested in
two Metro Vancouver communities, the process integrates downscaled regional climate modelling, scientific
data, GIS mapping, local stakeholder knowledge, and hybrid modelling to spatialize, localize, and visualize
alternative future scenarios with climate change impacts and responses (Figure 8). 4D visualisations bring the
science down to the street or back-yard level. Evaluation research has shown that these techniques can enhance
local climate change understanding, increase participants’ sense of urgency, and increase support for new
mitigation and adaptation policies (Sheppard et al., 2008).

In a further extension of the Local Climate Change Visioning Process, conducted in suburban Burnaby, BC
(Pond, 2008), a more quantified vision of a low-carbon, attractive, resilient future was developed as a
community retrofit plan. The project assessed the potential for radical climate change mitigation – 80% by 2050
across food, transportation and housing – within three low-density neighbourhoods, while maintaining key
elements of the well-loved suburban character, and building considerable local self-reliance in what is now a
largely fossil fuel dependent community (Figure 9). The project developed new techniques for mapping and/or
estimating carbon footprints from buildings, transportation, and food consumption; it also mapped capacity for
retrofitting/ on-site energy and food production, taking into account slope, architectural types, road network, etc.
Calculations show that the design could achieve an 80% reduction in total GHGs by 2050, with a 60% increase
in population. Of the many urban design actions on climate change considered in the overall plan, we illustrate
how two of its design strategies might be assessed using Lo-CAR principles: increasing street trees (Box B) and
introducing passive solar retrofits (Box C).

6 DISCUSSION

6.1 Limitations, Other Issues, and Research Questions

Use of Lo-CAR criteria does not mean that we can drop other sustainability criteria/indicators as some
mitigation strategies could have other destabilizing consequences or environmental impacts, such as corn-based
ethanol biofuels. Climate change responses and general land use planning need to be assessed against a range of
indicators in order to reveal co-benefits and achieve as many positive goals as possible while minimizing adverse
impacts. Some Lo-CAR indicators will be hard to define and enforce within policy and regulation.

Many barriers to climate change mitigation and adaptation exist; those created by interactions between
community character and carbon reduction or resilience are of particular concern to designers and planners, and
unlikely to be pragmatically addressed elsewhere. Clearly, making radical cuts in carbon emissions in existing
communities (through retrofitting) will be much harder to achieve than with complete redevelopment where new
design standards and innovations would be less disruptive to existing vested interests. In many communities,
climate change impacts may not yet be apparent and there will be heavy pressure to maintain the status quo.
Community character often represents the touchstone or meeting ground for such arguments.

52
There is debate whether a real paradigm shift in community attitudes, design, and lifestyles is required, or
whether climate change targets can be met through technology, regulation, and taxation. Our experience so far
working with community scenarios suggests that the more radical forms of resilience and associated rapid, deep
cuts in carbon emissions will require some major transformations in the community, which exceed the more
acceptable, iterative forms of adaptive change and conventional greening such as LEED. Combining climate
change mitigation with community resilience provides opportunities to improve our communities, rather than
only asking for sacrifices. There is, for example, the opportunity for designers to develop a distinctive, low-
carbon, resilient West Coast vernacular that strengthens sense of place, community, and property values. We
have fewer historical precedents for sustainable communities, but we can draw on a rich heritage through First
Nations and global immigrants to develop modified urban forms; for example, mixing agriculture into urban
areas and low-rise buildings, as used in China, Europe and elsewhere. At the same time, we argue that the
Pacific Northwest has a crucial international role in demonstrating how quickly existing communities can be
turned around on carbon emissions and providing attractive feasible solutions, given the region’s links and
influence with Asia and the Pacific Basin.

Further research on Lo-CAR indicators is called for, with attention to defining appropriate thresholds or targets
for performance. How much density or local energy production is enough? It is not yet clear if simply adapting
conventional sustainability indicators can deliver the substantive GHG cuts now required. Tangible indicators of
resilience in particular need more development. We also need better mapping, modelling and visualisation tools
to measure, analyze, and interpret the indicators. Evaluation of new indicator sets and planning methods is
required, tailored to meet regional priorities with follow-up implementation in real neighbourhoods. We must
learn more about perceptual barriers to planned climate change responses at the community level, in order to
formulate more acceptable and effective solutions. Demonstration retrofits, preferably stemming from grass-
roots community action, are urgently needed.

Given the urgency of achieving climate solutions on the ground, the role of universities and colleges in
disseminating emerging results and training other practitioners should be expanded. We need guidelines on how
to implement climate change planning methods, including: mitigation/ resilience/character assessment; mapping
and simple visualisation methods; and participatory visioning processes using scenarios.

6.2 Recommendations for Practice

Initial recommendations for conducting participatory climate change planning processes include:
• ensuring that low-carbon, resilience, and character/attractiveness indicators are explicitly applied, moving
beyond vague or unmeasurable definitions and identifying desired thresholds and target dates;
• explicitly expanding the definition of ‘compact, complete communities’ to include food, energy, water, and
other supplies. This requires clearer articulation of the links between urban centers and their
hinterland/region for production.
• considering whole landscape solutions: eg. role of street trees (as one landscape component) in community
identity, shading buildings, and food production; and comprehensive consideration of all renewable energy
sources within or near the community.
improving planning methods through practical applications of proven tools such as GIS, simple modelling, and
3D visualisation

Community strategies and policies for collective climate change retrofits are urgently needed to provide
direction to individuals, local businesses, municipal staff and councils. While some of the measures described in
this paper may seem radical, sober analysis of the alternatives suggests that these may be the next lowest
hanging fruit, once the initial easy steps (over-inflating tires, conserving energy, greening fleets) have been
taken. Many of the strategies for low-carbon/resilient communities have well-known historic precedents, use
proven locally accessible technology, and deliver valued co-benefits: the barriers are primarily social and in
some cases governmental, meaning that they are highly mutable given political will, financial incentives, and
effective public communication. Policies could be quickly phased in to encourage, and if necessary require,

53
almost 100% solar-heated, earth-sheltered, multi-family homes with clotheslines in any new or retrofit
development, for example. Policy-makers in British Columbia, for example, also need seriously to consider,
question and perhaps reduce growth assumptions, allocating where it goes to minimize energy use, solve existing
sustainability problems, and take advantage of secure water supplies and land productivity; lastly identifying
areas of contraction in areas unable to reduce carbon emissions any other way.

7 CONCLUSIONS

Sustainable urban design, in the context of climate change, needs to consider three critical and linked
dimensions: low-carbon communities, resilient communities, and communities that enhance character so as to
make a low-carbon life attractive to residents. The urgency and severity of climate change and its quantification
in GHG levels means that GHG emission reduction becomes the pre-eminent sustainability criterion. For the
first time, the practice of sustainable design has hard targets to meet. Getting ‘greener’ is good but no longer
enough. It is vital that performance matches or exceeds the goals. We argue that combining stringent GHG
reduction targets with community resilience and attractive design is crucial for effectiveness and social
acceptance in the transition to a low-carbon, climate-stabilized future. Building resilient communities will
become critical as we adapt to dangerous and potentially catastrophic levels of climate change and also prepare
for the necessary (due to climate change) and inevitable (due to peak oil) decline of cheap fossil fuel over the
coming years. Relocalization of services and production of food, energy, etc. in the community will reduce
carbon usage and reduce risk of essential service disruption. Given the breadth of changes required, especially
in retrofitting existing neighbourhoods, opposition to many climate change strategies can be expected, in part
due to impacts on community character and identity. Widespread rejection of low-carbon strategies such as
wind farms and urban densification could delay low-carbon implementation past catastrophic tipping points. We
believe that climate change solutions would be more locally acceptable and more easily implemented through
careful consideration of character and site-adaptive solutions, and thus better urban design.

Urban designers have a unique role to play in bringing the technical requirements of climate change mitigation
and resilience together with the human need for desirable and attractive communities. Using Lo-CAR criteria
within inclusive, educational processes to assess climate change urban design moves, we can begin to see which
changes will be more acceptable or less acceptable, which changes require a greater attitude shift, which changes
provide more benefits, and which ones will require more sensitive urban design. Through holistic planning and
visioning methods, designers and planners can catalyze behaviour change, and interact with community-led
plans or grassroots movements. We need to ensure that the Lo-CAR criteria are explicitly built into
sustainability indicator sets and assertively used in decision-making, supported by better mapping, modelling,
and visualisation.

The need for low-carbon and resilient community retrofits requires a radical realignment of our priorities. Given
what now seems a shocking and tragic 18 year gap between the science of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (Houghton et al., Tegart et al.1990) and our response as community planners, who are only now
starting to factor in climate change mitigation and adaptation systematically, it is clear we have a critical role to
play in responding to these new imperatives.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank: our colleagues at the Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning and
Design Centre for Sustainability, UBC, including Adelle Airey, David Flanders, Sarah Burch, Patrick Condon,
Ron Kellett, Nicole Miller, and Duncan Cavens; and the staff/officials of our numerous partners and funding
organisations, including the GEOIDE Network, Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada, BC Ministry
of Environment, Integrated Land Management Bureau, BC Ministry of Community Development, Fraser Basin
Council, Metro Vancouver, Corporation of Delta, District and City of North Vancouver, City of Burnaby, and
Union of BC Municipalities.

54
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Urban Form, Energy and the Environment: A Review of Issues, Evidence and Policy
William P. Anderson
Urban Studies, Volume 33, Issue 1 February 1996 , pages 7 - 36

Abstract
The spatial configuration of cities and its relationship to the urban environment has recently been the
subject of empirical, theoretical and policy research. Because of the disciplines involved, relevant
articles are scattered over a large number of journals. The objective of this paper is to put the issues in
perspective by reviewing the basic concepts and relationships involved, and to evaluate critically the
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Urban Structure and Energy—A Review
Peter Rickwood; Garry Glazebrook; Glen Searle
Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology, Australia
Urban Policy and Research, Volume 26, Issue 1 March 2008 , pages 57 - 81

Abstract
The nature and form of the urban environment is a critical determinant of the sustainability of our
society, as it is responsible directly for a large proportion of consumed energy, and influences
indirectly the patterns and modes of energy consumed in everyday activities. We examine the current
state of research into the energy and greenhouse gas emissions attributable directly or indirectly to
urban form. Specifically, we look at the embodied (construction) and operational energy attributable to
the construction, maintenance and use of residential dwellings, and we review the literature on the
relationship between urban structure and private travel behaviour. While there is clear evidence from
both intra- and inter-city comparisons that higher density, transit-oriented cities have lower per-capita
transport energy use, the effect of housing density on residential (in-house) energy use is less clear.
More detailed research is needed to examine the relationships between urban form and overall energy
use.

60
Excerpt from: 
SHRINKING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF METROPOLITAN AMERICA 
Marilyn A. Browna, Frank Southworthb, Andrea Sarzynskic 
May 2008 
 
aMarilyn A. Brown, Professor, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology 
marilyn.brown@pubpolicy.gatech.edu 
bFrank Southworth, Senior R&D Staff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

And Principal Research Scientist, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of 
Technology.  frank.southworth@ce.gatech.edu 
cAndrea Sarzynski, Senior Research Analyst, Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings 

asarzynski@brookings.edu 
 
Full paper at: 
www.brookings.edu/.../~/media/Files/rc/papers/2008/05_carbon_footprint_sarzynski/carbonfo
otprint_brief.pdf 
 
 
3. Development patterns play a role in emissions from transportation 
and the built environment 
 
The spatial arrangement of buildings and transportation infrastructure in 
communities and urban systems can play a role in carbon reduction. Urban form 
links the energy consumed in different building designs, densities, and land‐use 
configurations to the energy required to support daily travel, provide freight 
pickups and deliveries, and support a rapidly growing number of on‐the‐job 
service trips. 
 
Carbon‐reduction benefits from more spatially compact and mixed‐use 
developments that have access to rapid transit include: 
 
• Reduced residential heating and cooling costs owing to smaller homes and 
shared walls in multi‐unit dwellings 
• The use of district energy systems for cooling, heating, and power generation 
• Lower electricity transmission and distribution line losses 
• Shorter freight and personal trips 
• More use of public transit, and more walking and cycling instead of car trips 
• Reduced waste streams 
• Reduced municipal infrastructure requirements, including the reduced need 
for local street construction and shorter electric, communication, water, and 
sewage lines, requiring less energy and water treatment 
• The use of microgrids to meet local electricity requirement with highly efficient 
distributed power generation 

61
• Reuse of existing structures 
 
Some studies have quantified the role of compact development in carbon 
reductions. For instance, the number of dwellings per acre is directly related to 
GHG emissions. With shared walls and generally smaller square footage, 
households in buildings with five or more units consume only 38 percent of the 
energy of households in single‐family homes.(31) At a suburban density of four 
homes per acre, carbon dioxide emissions per household were found to be 25 
percent higher than in an urban neighborhood with 20 homes per acre.(32) 
 
Studies also show that household vehicle miles traveled vary with 
residential density and access to public transit.(33) Higher residential and 
employment densities, mixed land‐use, and jobs–housing balance are associated 
with shorter trips and lower automobile ownership and use.(34) In comparing two 
households that are similar in all respects except residential density, the 
household in a neighborhood with 1,000 fewer housing units per square mile 
drives almost 1,200 miles more and consumes 65 more gallons of fuel per year 
over its peer household in a higher‐density neighborhood.(35) 
 
Less is known about how household behavior may change in response to 
changes in density or the concentration of housing or jobs. A recent simulation 
estimates that shifting 60 to 90 percent of new growth to development that is 
more compact would reduce VMT by 30 percent and cut U.S. transportation 
carbon dioxide emissions by 7 to 10 percent by 2050, relative to a trajectory of 
continued urban sprawl.(36) This effect is comparable to what might happen with a 
doubling of fuel prices.(37) It may be unrealistic to expect 60 to 90 percent of new 
growth in compact development, however, suggesting the secondary role that 
compact development might play to advances in efficiency, technology, and 
fuels. Other efficiency studies project even greater and more rapid GHG 
reductions, with savings of 10 percent of the U.S. 2001 level of GHGs possible 
within as few as 10 years, although again these results may be optimistic.(38) 
 
Despite the contribution of these earlier works, the empirical evidence 
quantifying the role of development patterns on carbon reductions remains 
limited. Studies to date rely on single‐sector, case study, or simulation 
approaches, which do not allow analysts to draw accurate or broad‐based 
conclusions about the effects of policy changes on national emissions. What 
might seem true from a study in Seattle may not be true for residents in 
Cleveland or Atlanta. 
 
A recent policy brief by Edward Glaeser and Matthew Kahn summarizes 
research that offers a more comprehensive study of metropolitan carbon 
footprints.(39) In addition to quantifying the transportation and residential carbon 

62
emissions of 66 large metropolitan areas, the analysis examines differences 
between central city and suburban emissions. Their major data sources are 
different from those employed here; they rely on the 2000 individual Public Use 
Microsample for household electricity and fuel consumption and the 2001 
National Household Travel Survey for information on gasoline use from 
automobile transportation. Glaeser and Kahn’s preliminary findings are largely 
consistent with the findings reported here, with some subtle differences.(40) 
 
The Vulcan project at Purdue University has also recently released an 
inventory of carbon emissions data from multiple sources at very fine‐grained 
detail for 2002.(41) The purpose of the Vulcan project is “to aid in quantification of 
the North American carbon budget, to support inverse estimation of carbon 
sources and sinks, and to support the demands posed by the upcoming launch of 
the Orbital Carbon Observatory.”(42) The data will provide valuable context for 
understanding the carbon footprints of metropolitan areas, although it will take 
time to correlate the emissions data with the energy consumed by metropolitan 
households, businesses, and associated activities. Data that are more recent 
are needed to allow analysis of emissions change over time. 
 
In short, before researchers can appropriately study the impact of 
proposed federal policy changes—or even the experiences from state and local 
efforts—the nation needs a consistent set of emissions data for multiple periods 
and at a level of resolution and scale that can be tied to the activities, land uses, 
and the infrastructure networks of metropolitan areas. 
 
[end of excerpt] 
 
31) Brown, Southworth, and Stovall, ʺTowards a Climate‐Friendly Built Environment.” 
32) Patrick Mazza, ʺTransportation and Global Warming Solutions.ʺ Climate Solutions 
Issue Briefing (May 2004): 1–4. 
33) John Holtzclaw, ʺA Vision of Energy Efficiencyʺ (Washington: American Council for an 
Energy‐Efficient Economy, 2004). 
34) Mary Jean Bürer, David Goldstein, and John Holtzclaw, ʺLocation Efficiency as the 
Missing Piece of the Energy Puzzle: How Smart Growth Can Unlock Trillion Dollar 
Consumer Cost Savingsʺ (Washington:, 2004). 
35) Thomas F Golob and David Brownstone, ʺThe Impact of Residential Density on 
Vehicle Usage and Energy Consumption,ʺ available at 
http://repositories.cdlib.org/itsirvine/wps/WPS05_01 (March 31 2008). 
70 BROOKINGS ∙ May 2008 
36) Reid Ewing and others, ʺGrowing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and 
Climate Changeʺ (Washington: Urban Land Institute, 2007). 
37) Based on a ‐0.3 long‐term elasticity of VMT with respect to fuel price, a doubling of 
fuel prices would reduce VMT by 30 percent. Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 
ʺTransportation Elasticities: How Prices and Other Factors Affect Travel Behavior,ʺ 
available at www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm11.htm (April 8 2008). 
38) Bürer, Goldstein, and Holtzclaw, ʺLocation Efficiency as the Missing Pieceʺ; Holtzclaw, 
ʺA Vision of Energy Efficiency.” 

63
39) Edward L. Glaeser and Matthew Kahn, ʺThe Greenness of Citiesʺ (Cambridge, MA: 
Harvard University, 2008). 
40) For example, Glaeser and Kahn find that “Per capita emissions generally are lowest in 
Western metropolitan areas and highest in Southern ones. Metropolitan areas in the 
Northeast and Midwest fall in between these two extremes.” Ibid, This empirical analysis 
arrives at slightly different conclusions about the Midwest and South. 
41) These data are available at an hourly timescale and a common 10 km grid. For more 
information, see www.purdue.edu/eas/carbon/vulcan/index.php 
42) Ibid.

64
TOPIC 2:  Historic Fabric and Embodied Energy 

Building Reuse:
Finding a Place on American Climate Policy Agendas

By Patrice Frey
Director of Sustainability Research
National Trust for Historic Preservation

With research assistance from

Paul Anderson, Monica Andrews, and Carl Wolf

National Trust for Historic Preservation

1785 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington DC, 20009

65
Patrice_Frey@nthp.org

66
 Building Reuse:
Finding a Place on American Climate Policy Agendas

Despite—and perhaps because of—an abdication of leadership at the federal level of

government in the United States, public policy at the local level is playing a vital role in
combating global climate change. But too few cities focus on greening the existing building
stock as part of their climate change initiatives. Even fewer cities support building reuse as
part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The common perception is that historic buildings are energy sieves, and that the
environmental costs of demolition and new construction are far outweighed by the energy
saved by the operation of more energy efficient buildings. Yet preliminary research reveals
that there are major environmental impacts associated with demolition and new construction.
Reusing buildings and reinvesting in older and historic neighborhoods offer a means of
avoiding these negative impacts.
Furthermore, research suggests that many historic and older buildings are actually
more energy efficient than buildings of more recent vintage because of their site sensitivity,
quality of construction, and use of passive heating and cooling. Nonetheless, the energy
efficiency of many older and historic buildings can and should be improved through retrofits.
An increasing number of green historic rehabilitation projects demonstrate that these retrofits
can be undertaken with the utmost respect for the unique character of historic buildings.
The research case for the importance of reusing buildings and reinvesting in older
communities is the subject of Part I of this paper, as is the rationale for retrofitting the existing
building stock. Although the environmental benefits of retrofitting existing buildings can be
estimated with some accuracy, research assessing the environmental benefits of reusing
buildings is less straightforward.5 Preliminary evidence suggests that building reuse creates
significant carbon and energy savings, but additional research is needed. Research on the
value of reinvesting in older, more traditionally planned communities, which offers the benefit
of relying on existing infrastructure and promoting other modes besides the automobile, is
also examined.
In Part II, this paper provides a brief overview of the federal policy landscape related to
buildings and the built environment, then examines local climate change policy in the United
States as it relates to preserving and protecting the existing built environment. This paper
finds that while building-related climate change policy in most cities and states is directed
toward greening new construction, some cities and states are developing innovative policy to
address the goals of reuse, reinvestment, and retrofits.

Background: The National Trust for Historic Preservation Sustainability Initiative

In the United States, historic preservation—known as heritage conservation in other English-
speaking countries—has traditionally focused on the conservation of our irreplaceable cultural
resources, including buildings, monuments, and landscapes. Yet heritage stewardship is also
inextricably linked to the responsible management of our natural resources. After all, our
cultural treasures include everything from the majestic landscapes of the American West to

5
A note on terminology: By reuse of buildings, I mean the act of keeping an existing building in service rather
than demolishing or abandoning the structure. Retrofitting buildings, however, refers not just to reusing a
building – but improving its energy performance and reducing other negative environmental impacts associated
with the building.

67
buildings and other structures that required a significant investment of natural resources to
construct. As the United States mobilizes to address the climate crisis, it is clear that we must
make responsible and sustainable use of all of our resources, whether human-made or
natural.
Although global warming is the result of the over-consumption of natural resources, the
discussion of solutions often turns on activities that lead to further consumption. New green
products—whether cars, homes, or office buildings—are presented as the solution to climate
change. The National Trust for Historic Preservation launched its Sustainability Initiative in
2007 in order to bring to the conversation towards an understanding of the value of
conserving our existing resources rather than consuming more.
The National Trust’s Sustainability Initiative was also born out of concern about the
reckless treatment of historic resources in the name of green building. For example, a new
24-hour television network dedicated to “greening” will feature a show called “Wrecklamation,”
which celebrates the demolition of perfectly sound older homes and construction of new
green houses (albeit while salvaging demolished materials of value).6 In Lexington, Kentucky,
a developer has proposed to level 14 historic buildings7 along a historic Main Street –
including the oldest building in Lexington -- to make way for a new green hotel. The show
stresses the environmental benefits of this approach. However, the conservation of older and
historic buildings has important and often overlooked environmental benefits.
The National Trust’s Sustainability Initiative is guided by four core principles of
sustainable stewardship. First, the reuse of our existing buildings reduces the amount of
demolition and construction waste deposited in landfills, lessens the unnecessary demand for
new energy and other natural resources needed to construct a new building, and conserves
the energy originally expended to create the structures. Reinvestment in older and historic
communities also has numerous environmental benefits. Older and historic communities tend
to be centrally located, dense, walkable, and are often mass-transit accessible – qualities
promoted by Smart Growth advocates. Reinvestment in these communities also preserves
the energy expended in creating the existing infrastructure, such as roads, water systems and
sewer lines.
Retrofits of historic buildings can and should be undertaken to extend building life and
better capture the energy savings available through newer technologies. Finally, respect for
our existing built environment is an important component of the Sustainability Initiative’s
strategy.
This paper is primarily concerned with three of these four principles – reuse,
reinvestment, and retrofits. The more technical aspects of integrating green technology with
respect for the integrity of historic buildings, which are not addressed herein, deserve far
more attention.

Part I: Why Existing Buildings Matter

6
Margaret Foster, "Block of Historic Downtown Lexington may be Leveled for ‘Green’ Hotel," Preservation
Magazine, April 16, 2008, 2008, http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2008/todays-news/block-of-
historic-downtown-lex.html (accessed Sept. 1, 2008).
7
Discovery Channel Planet Green, "Why Demolish a Home,"
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/wrecklamation/why-demolish.html (accessed Sept. 1, 2008).

68
Although the United States is home to five percent of the world’s population, it is responsible
for 22 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.8 In 2006, China surpassed the
United States as the single largest emitter of carbon dioxide, the chief contributor to global
warming.9 However, Americans have among the highest per capita emissions in the world.
Per capita emissions in the United States amount to double those of other industrialized
countries such as the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany.10
The U.S. Energy Information Agency reports that approximately 28 percent of
emissions come from the transportation sector, 36 percent are attributed to industry, and 36
percent are attributed to the operations of residential and commercial buildings.11 Brookings
Institution scholar and developer Christopher Lineberger has further analyzed this data and
determined that fully 73 percent of carbon emissions are attributed to the built environment.
Building operation and construction account for 45 percent of GHG, while the transportation
sector (the means through which we move about the built environment) produces 28 percent
of the harmful gases.12 Annually, buildings also consume 70 percent of electricity in the U.S.,
and 40 percent of raw materials.13
The United States federal government has been slow in responding to the global
warming threat in general, and has been particularly sluggish in addressing the challenge of
reducing the environmental impacts associated with the nation’s building stock. Compared to
the federal government, state and local governments have been somewhat more progressive
in this arena. Much of the progress made at any level of government has been driven by the
work of the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
Formed in 1993, the USGBC has brought considerable attention to the building-climate
connection through advocacy, research and education. Shortly after its founding, the USGBC
developed a rating system for sustainable buildings. After pilot studies in the late 1990s, the
LEED-NC (New Construction and Major Renovation) standard became available for public
use in 2000. Since the beginning of the decade, additional rating systems have been added
for neighborhoods (LEED-ND), homes (LEED-H), existing building (LEED-EB) and other
building types. The LEED standards are designed to incentivize private developers and
building owners to improve energy efficiency of buildings and reduce other environmental
impacts associated with building operations and construction. LEED standards have quickly
become the gold standard in green building rating systems in the United States.
Despite widespread public and private support, a number of criticisms of LEED have
been raised, including that there is insufficient sensitivity to building location in the current
standards. The current version of LEED-NC awards points for dense locations and mass-
transit accessibility, but does not require that projects be constructed or rehabilitated in smart-
locations. In fact, it is possible that a Platinum-certified building (the highest level of LEED
certification attainable) could be located on the urban fringe. As has been demonstrated,
poorly selected locations have a significant environmental impact. A study by Environmental

8
U.S. Energy Information Agency, "Emissions of Greenhouse Gases Report,"
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/ (accessed Sept. 1, 2008).
9
Brad Knickerbocker, "China Now World's Biggest Greenhouse Gas Emitter," Christian Science Monitor June
28, 2007, http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0628/p12s01-wogi.html (accessed Sept. 1, 2008).
10
World Resources Institute, "Climate Analysis Indicators Tool," http://cait.wri.org/ (accessed Sept 1, 2008).
11
U.S. Energy Information Agency, Emissions of Greenhouse Gases Report
12
Christopher Leinberger, "Sustainable Urban Redevelopment and Climate Change Briefing" July 17, 2008.
13
U.S. Green Building Council, "Green Building Research,"
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1718 (accessed Sept 1, 2008)

69
Building News demonstrated that energy efficient gains made with green building technology
are easily negated by high vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by employees at offices in sprawl
locations.14
The allocation of points under the current version of LEED poses significant
challenges. In particular, the distribution of credits undervalues the benefits of building reuse.
For example, projects can earn one credit for reusing 75 percent of the core and shell of an
existing building, or one credit for installing environmentally friendly carpeting.
Fortunately, the USGBC has taken such criticisms seriously. In May 2008, the USGBC
released a draft of LEED 2009, which addresses the location and weighting concerns, among
other issues. The proposed rating system is more context-sensitive than the previous version
and provides many more points for placing or reusing buildings in environmentally responsible
locations. This updated version of LEED will adopt a new system where credits are weighted
according to Life Cycle Analysis Indicators (explained further below), and will take into
consideration the durability of materials.15 It will also incorporate what the USGBC calls an
“Alternative Compliance Path” which will make it easier for reuse projects to accumulate
points.
But even with significant changes to LEED, convincing the American public of the
importance of building reuse and retrofits and changing consumer preferences for “the new”
will continue to be a challenge. Enormous financial obstacles and market distortions must be
addressed before meaningful change can begin to occur. Public policy at every level of
government must lead the way.
The remainder of this section examines more closely the environmental benefits
associated with reusing buildings, reinvesting in older neighborhoods, and retrofitting the
existing building stock.

A. The Value of Building Reuse

Embodied Energy
We are accustomed to thinking of buildings as mass consumers of energy. But they are also
vast repositories of energy. It takes energy to extract and manufacture building materials,
more energy to transport them to a construction site, and even more energy to assemble
them into a building. All of the energy required to provide a finished product is known as
embodied energy. Interest in quantifying the embodied energy in building materials first
emerged during the 1960s and the 1970s. New York-based architect Richard Stein and
researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign led the American field with
research published in Energy Use for Building Construction..The report provides the typical
embodied-energy values for multiple types of building materials.
During the oil embargo of the late 1970s, historic preservationists saw the opportunity
to link environmental and energy concerns with the reuse of older buildings. Stein’s analysis
of building materials became the foundation for the preservation-motivated arguments
regarding the value of energy embedded in historic buildings. The Advisory Council on
Historic Preservation commissioned a study on the subject of energy conservation and
historic preservation that is based on Stein’s data. This study assessed four issues, including
the energy already existing in structures to be rehabilitated, energy needed for construction

14
For further information, see a blog posting by the National Trust for Historic Preservation at
http://blogs.nationaltrust.org/preservationnation/?p=625
15
Life Cycle Analysis is described in greater in Section I below.

70
and rehabilitation, energy needed for demolition and preparation of a construction site, and
energy needed to operate a rehabilitated or newly constructed building.
The goal of the study was to produce simple formulas so that energy calculations could
be applied to any historic building to better quantify the energy benefits of building
conservation and rehabilitation. The final report, Assessing the Energy Conservation: Benefits
of Historic Preservation: Methods and Examples, concludes that in all of the examined case
studies, preservation saves more energy than demolition and reconstruction.
According to the Stein data, for example, constructing a 4600 square meter building
requires approximately the same amount of energy needed to drive a car over 22 million
kilometers - or more than 600 times around the earth.16 Recent calculations using Stein’s data
suggest that when an existing building is demolished it takes between approximately 25 and
60 years to recover the energy used in demolition and new construction.17
However, there are qualifications that must be made regarding the Stein data and the
calculations produced by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. First, because these
numbers are based on embodied energy values of materials used in new construction in the
1960s, they are not a precise calculation of the energy value of historic buildings. Instead,
they offer an estimate of the amount of energy that would be needed to construct a new
building in the 1960s. Since material manufacturing has changed over time, some critics
argue that embodied energy values based on studies of 1960’s new construction no longer
accurately represent the amount of energy embodied in a new structure today.
There is also significant variation in the embodied energy numbers produced by Stein
and more recent research in the field. Raymond Cole, a researcher at the University of British
Columbia, has compared embodied energy data on commercial buildings from several
sources and found sizable differences. For example, at an estimate of 18.6 MJ/m2, Richard
Stein’s embodied energy estimates for commercial structures are approximately double that
of Japanese Researcher Oka at approximately 10.9 MJ/m2, and more than four times those
produced by Cole’s own research, which estimates the energy value at around 4.5 MJ/m2. 18
The embodied energy research field is plagued with methodological issues.
There is no scientifically-agreed upon standard for calculating embodied energy, and
uncertainty and controversy surrounds the data collection process. For example, undefined
boundary conditions muddle the collection of data. Some data collection relies on cradle-to-
gate calculations, which measure the energy involved from raw material extraction up until
materials leave the gate of the factory. For example a cradle-to-gate measurement of a
building would include energy extracting raw materials (wood, steel, and other natural goods)
and converting them in the building materials. Cradle-to-site calculations also include the
energy costs associated with the actual buildings construction process on-site, and cradle-to-
grave calculations include all energy costs through the disposal of a building. Numerous
other methodological issues also await resolution.
With such dramatic differences in data and such methodological challenges, it is
unsurprising that there is little scientific agreement about the importance of embodied energy
relative to other energy used in buildings. In the past, embodied energy was believed to be

16
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Assessing the Energy Conservation Benefits of Historic
Preservation: Methods and Examples (Washington, DC, 1979), 91.
17
An embodied energy calculation is available at www.thegreenestbuilding.org.
18
Raymond Cole, "Life-Cycle Energy use in Office Buildings," Buildings and Environment 31, no. 4 (1996), 307-
317.

71
relatively insignificant, amounting to no more than 10-15 percent of a building’s total energy
usage over a 50 year life span. According to the Athena Institute, a leader in life cycle
research in North America, the vast majority of energy usage over a building’s lifespan is
used in operations. Reoccurring embodied energy, or the energy needed for remodeling and
retrofits over a building’s life span, accounts for another 10 percent of total energy usage. 19
Recent research from outside North America looks at more energy efficient buildings
and suggests that the Athena Institute findings may significantly underestimate the total ratio
of embodied to operating energy. A 2007 study by Klunder Itard finds that embodied energy
can account for 30 percent of total energy use in homes.20 Research that assessed green
multi-family housing in Sweden found that up to 45 percent of lifecycle energy costs are
attributed to embodied energy.21 One Israeli study found that embodied energy accounted for
60 percent of a building’s energy usage over a 50 year life cycle.22
With ever-increasing concerns about energy and other resource use, scientists must
reach a consensus on an accepted methodology for calculating embodied energy. A renewed
effort must then be made to accurately account for the embedded energy in buildings. Even
with questions about the reliability of current data, one thing is certain: as buildings become
more and more energy efficient, embodied energy will account for a proportionally larger
share of a building’s total lifetime energy usage. As energy becomes more scarce, and
energy operations in existing buildings can be made more efficient (discussed more below),
destroying buildings in the name of constructing new, energy-efficient buildings will become
less justified.

Embodied Carbon
Interest in embodied carbon is a more recent phenomenon, driven by concerns about climate
change inducing carbon dioxide emissions. Like embodied energy, embodied carbon
calculations estimate the amount of carbon emitted through building construction, including
the carbon emitted extracting and manufacturing building materials, carbon emitted in
transporting materials, and carbon emitted assembling a building. In 2006, a comprehensive
assessment of carbon associated with building materials was conducted by researchers Craig
Jones and Geoff Hammond from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. Jones and
Hammond’s draft of Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) drew data from secondary
resources, including books, conference papers, and the web. The ICE draft selected what the
researchers believed to be the best of this data to create the ICE database.
Jones and Hammond found that the embodied carbon figures are less accurate than
those for embodied energy. Only about 20 percent of the researchers that produced
embodied energy data used in the Inventory also provided estimates of embodied carbon;
thus, Hammond and Craig relied on other sources, such as data for average fuel mix per
industry.23 In addition, embodied carbon numbers are also compromised by other

19
Athena Institute; http://www.athenasmi.org/about/
20
Itard Klunder, "Comparing Environmental Impacts of Renovated Housing Stock with New Construction,"
Building Research & Information 35, no. 3 (2007), 252-267.
21
Catarina Thormark, "A Low Energy Building in a Life-Cycle –its Embodied Energy, Energy Need for Operation
and Recycling Potential," Building and Environment 37, no. 4 (2001).
22
N Huberman and D. Pealman, "A Life-Cycle Energy Analysis of Building Materials in the Negev Desert
," Energy & Buildings 40, no. 5 (2008), 837-848.
23
Geoff Hammond and Craig Jones, Inventory of Carbon and Energy (Version 1.5 Beta) (Bath, U.K.: University
of Bath,[2006]).pg. 2

72
methodological issues that plague researchers. Nonetheless, the Inventory of Carbon and
Energy is still the most complete study to date that synthesizes research on embodied
carbon.
Using ICE data, New Tricks with Old Bricks, a March 2008 study from the British
Empty Home Agency, compares carbon dioxide emissions in new construction with the
refurbishment of existing homes. The study concludes that when embodied CO2 is taken into
account, new, energy-efficient homes recover the carbon expended in construction only after
35-50 years of energy efficient operations.24
Architect Stephen Tilly has noted that while new construction may offer carbon
savings in the longer term (30-50 years, according to the UK analysis), most climate scientists
have argued that carbon emissions must be reduced radically within the next 20-30 years.
New construction appears to have a damaging impact on the environment in the short to mid-
term, and environmental benefits would be recognized only after up to a half-century of
efficient operations.25 Since the climate crisis requires immediate action to reduce global
warming gasses, reuse and retrofits of existing buildings offer a more environmentally
responsible way of reducing carbon emissions in the short term than demolition and new
construction.

Life Cycle Analysis

Estimates of embodied energy or embodied carbon look at only one dimension of the impacts
of building construction, and are therefore limited tools. According to Canadian Architect, “the
internationally accepted method for evaluating the environmental effects of buildings and their
materials is life cycle assessment (LCA).”26 This process evaluates the direct and indirect
environmental impacts associated with a building by quantifying energy, material usage and
environmental releases at each stage of the life cycle. The calculation also includes resource
extraction, goods manufacturing, construction, use, and disposal.
LCA is considered superior to other forms of environmental assessment because it
examines impacts during a building’s entire life, rather than focusing on environmental
impacts at one particular stage. Unlike embodied energy or embodied carbon calculations,
LCA provides an assessment of environmental impacts such as air and water pollution, toxic
releases in landfills, and natural resource depletion.

The Athena Institute is one of the leading developers of LCA software in North
America. In Renovating vs. Building New: The Environmental Merits, Wayne Trusty, President
of the Athena Institute, discusses the application of Athena’s Environmental Impact Estimator
software. The software is able to compare the environmental costs of renovation versus new
construction. Trusty explains the importance of looking at a variety of indicators to understand
a building’s environmental impact.

24
Building and Social Housing Foundation and Empty Homes Agency, New Tricks with Old Bricks (London,
U.K.) Empty Homes Agency,
http://www.emptyhomes.com/documents/publications/reports/New%20Tricks%20With%20Old%20Bricks%20-
%20final%2012-03-081.pdf. 2008
25
Personal conversation with Stephen Tilly, AIA. July 28, 2008
26
Canadian Architect, "Measures of Sustainability,"
http://www.canadianarchitect.com/asf/perspectives_sustainibility/measures_of_sustainablity/measures_of_sustai
nablity_intro.htm (accessed June 7, 2007).

73
 “In the case of buildings, the energy required to operate a building
over its life greatly overshadows the energy attributed to the
products used in its construction. However, for other embodied
effects such as toxic releases to water, effects during the resource
extraction and manufacturing stages greatly outweigh any release
associated with building operations. The essence of LCA is to cast
a wide net and capture all of the relevant effects associated with a
product or process over its full life cycle.”27

Trusty’s analysis suggests the importance of assessing and weighing all impacts of new
construction – not just the energy used – to understand the full environmental costs and
benefits of new construction relative to rehabilitation.
Yet his analysis regarding the energy dimension of the LCA methodology raises
important questions. As discussed above, there are significant methodological issues that call
into question the accuracy of embodied energy estimates, and since these numbers are
embedded in LCA models such as those used by Athena, the resulting LCA analysis may be
inaccurate.
Nevertheless, a recent study by Dian Ross with the University of Victoria uses the
Athena software to perform three separate life cycle analyses for a heritage building and a
newly constructed building. The Ross study concludes that the “Hypothetical House [newly
constructed house] consumes more energy in its construction, and at a substantially higher
environmental cost than the Original house.” She notes that operating cost comparisons
alone do not fully consider the environmental impact of demolition and new construction. 28
Both Ross’s and Trusty’s work demonstrate the need for a comprehensive assessment
of the environmental impacts of reuse versus new construction, and underscores the
importance of ensuring that embodied energy and embodied carbon data are accurate. This
is all the more important now that the influential U.S. Green Building Council has made
Athena’s LCA model the basis for the distribution of points under LEED.

B. Reinvestment: Why Neighborhoods Matter

While building reuse represents an important means of reducing carbon emissions and the
use of energy and other natural resources, reinvestment in older neighborhoods offers a
means to capitalize not only on the embodied energy and carbon in existing buildings, but
also on the infrastructure that serves buildings. As will be examined, older and historic
neighborhoods offer other environmental advantages as well.

Land Use
In recent years, land has been developed in the United States at a rate of approximately three
times that of population growth. In fact, the average American uses five times more land than
just 40 years ago. For example, while the city of Baltimore, Maryland lost about 250,000

27
Wayne Trusty, Renovating vs. Building New: The Environmental Merits, 200?),
http://athenasmi.ca/publications/docs/OECD_paper.pdf (accessed October 12, 2007).
28
Dian Ross, "Life Cycle Assessment in Heritage Buildings" (Work Term Report, Victoria, British Columbia,
2007).

74
residents in the last quarter century, its suburbs expanded by 67 percent.29 In yet another
older Northeast city, Philadelphia, metropolitan population growth has grown by 66 percent in
the past 50 years, but land development has grown by 401 percent.30
Land use has a tremendous impact on carbon emissions. Research has demonstrated that in
the United States, people who live in more sprawling locations drive 20-40 percent more than
those who live in more compact urban areas.31 Yet as the authors of the recent Growing
Cooler report note, “for 60 years, we have built homes ever farther from workplaces, created
schools that are inaccessible except by motor vehicle, and isolated other destinations – such
as shopping – from work and home.”32 The planning and transportation theory of “smart
growth” has emerged as an alternative to such sprawling development, and promotes high
concentration of growth, transit-oriented development, and walkable, mixed-use communities.
The research surveyed in Growing Cooler “shows that much of the [projected] rise in
vehicle emissions can be curbed simply by growing in a way that will make it easier of
Americans to drive less.”33 Smart growth tactics could “reduce total transportation-related
emissions from current trends by 7 to 10 percent as of 2050,”34 according to some
projections. The Brookings Institution notes that carbon savings from smart growth extend
well beyond those associated with decreased driving. Compact development often means
reduced heating and cooling costs because homes are smaller, or are in multi-family
buildings. District energy systems can be used for power generation, which also creates
substantial carbon savings. Municipal infrastructure requirements for roads, sewers,
communication, power, and water are reduced by high density developments. Brookings
points out that the reuse of existing structures provides carbon savings as well. 35
Sprawl is a relatively recent phenomenon, because pre-World War II communities
were built more compactly out of necessity. These neighborhoods tend to be dense, walkable,
feature mixed uses, and are very often accessible to public transit. It makes sense that a
significant component of a smart growth strategy would be to reinvest and redevelop in older
urbanized areas to take advantage of their inherently sustainable features. Nevertheless,
there are numerous obstacles to reinvestment in these older areas.

Demographic Shifts and the Abandonment of Sustainable Communities

29
Chesapeake Bay Foundation, "Growth Sprawl and the Chesapeake Bay: Facts about Growth and Land use,"
http://www.cbf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=resources_facts_sprawl (accessed Sept. 1, 2008).
http://www.cbf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=resources_facts_sprawl
30
Brookings Institution Center on Metropolitan Policy, Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing
Pennsylvania (Washington DC: The Brookings Institution,[2003]),
http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/pa/chapter1.pdf.
31
Reid Ewing, Keith Bartholomew, Steve Winkelman, Jerry Waters and Don Chcen, Growing Cooler: Evidence
on Urban Development and Climate Change Executive Summary (Washington, D.C.: The Urban Land
Institute,2008), http://www.1kfriends.org/documents/Growing_Cooler_Executive_Summary.pdf (accessed Sept.
1, 2008) pg. 4 Cooler pg. 4).
32
Ibid pg. 2
33
Ibid pg.4
34
Ibid pg. 9
35
Marilyn A. Brown, Frank Southworth and Andrea Sarzynski, Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan
America (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 2008), pg. 11-12
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2008/05_carbon_footprint_sarzynski/carbonfootprint_report.p
df.

75
Major demographic shifts in the last half-century have resulted in the movement of millions of
Americans from older and historic communities in the Northeast and Midwestern United
States to points south and southwest.36 This southward flight has been fueled by the
significant restructuring of the American economy, including the loss of manufacturing jobs
that were previously concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest.
While older industrial cities (now known as rustbelt cities) hollow out, tremendous population
growth has occurred in areas such as Atlanta, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, where sprawl is the
dominant form of development, and where water resources in particular are scarce. The result
is the movement of millions of people from more sustainably designed places to far less
sustainably developed areas that face uncertain futures given rapidly escalating gas prices
and water scarcity.
There is some good news, however. Reinvestment in many traditionally planned
communities in some regions of the U.S. – largely on the coasts - is occurring. With gas
hovering between $115-135 a barrel, Americans now have more incentive than ever to
reduce VMTs and live and work in transit-accessible areas. Recent analysis suggests that
while housing prices have dropped between significantly nationwide, homes in center cities or
in transit accessible areas have retained, or even increased in value.37
Nonetheless, rustbelt cities lie fallow, and remain significantly underused and
potentially undervalued assets. This poses several important questions: Is it environmentally
responsible to encourage growth in areas of the country that are environmentally unfit to
handle it – while masses of infrastructure and buildings in sustainable designed cities rot?
What are the real environmental consequences of such decisions? Or is disinvestment in the
rustbelt just a simple – if troubling -- economic and political reality with no solution?
The answers are not so clear. But with millions of square feet of abandoned building
stock, the questions seem to warrant at least some consideration. This is an area in which
additional research and thought is of enormous importance.

C. The Value of Green Retrofits

In addition to reinvestment in older and historic communities and building reuse, building
retrofits offer a significant and essential means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the
United States. Researchers from McKinsey and Company identified five major clusters of
abatement potential, including the building and appliance sectors. Buildings and appliance
efficiency is projected to reduce carbon emissions by at least 710 megatons by 2030.38
Significant barriers to retrofitting buildings exist, including:
Cost: Many home and business owners expect a short payback period. Many
consumers are reluctant or unable to make the capital investment needed to
retrofit a home or building.
Visibility: Energy consumers often do not see the real price of power, or how
power usage can be reduced dramatically based on behavioral changes.

36
Bruce Katz and Robert Lang, Redefining Urban and Suburban America: Evidence from Census 2000
(Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 2005).
37
Eric M. Weiss, "Gas Prices Apply Brakes to Suburban Migration," Washington Post August 5, 2008,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/08/04/ST2008080402649.html.
38
Jon Creyts et. al., Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much and at what Cost? McKinsey &
Company,[2007]), pg. 33, http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/ccsi/pdf/US_ghg_final_report.pdf.

76
 Agency. Landlords frequently pass on utility costs to tenants. While the market
for energy efficient buildings is improving, there are not enough incentives to
outweigh the substantial capital outlay required for owners to retrofit their
buildings.
Quality. Consumers may worry that efficient appliances may not perform as
well as conventional ones.
Availability. Energy efficient products and/or skilled labor to perform retrofits
may not be readily available in certain geographic areas.39

These barriers often make it more attractive to demolish and rebuild a new green building
rather than reuse and retrofit an existing building.

Historic Buildings and Energy Efficiency

There is a widespread perception that buildings constructed prior to World War II are “energy-
hogs,” and are far less energy efficient than more recently constructed buildings. However,
data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency suggests that buildings constructed before
1920 are actually more energy efficient than buildings built at any time afterwards – except for
those built after 2000. Even then, the improved performance of new construction is
marginal.40

Average annual energy consumption Btu/sq. ft

Commercial Buildings (non malls)
Before 1920 80,127
1920 – 1945 90,234
1946 – 1959 80,198
1960 – 1969 90,976
1970 – 1979 94,968
1980 – 1989 100,077
1990 – 1999 88,834
2000 – 2003 79,70341

This data suggests that only in the last ten years have we constructed buildings that are more
efficient than those constructed prior to 1920.
Furthermore, in 1999, the federal General Services Administration (GSA) examined its
buildings inventory and found that utility costs for historic buildings were 27 percent less than
for more modern buildings.42 The relatively superior performance of historic buildings is due

39
Ibid pg.41
40
U.S. Energy Information Agency. Consumption of Gross Energy Intensity for Sum of Major Fuels for Non Mall

Buildings. 2003. Available at:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cbecs/cbecs2003/detailed_tables_2003/2003set9/2003pdf/c3.pdf
41
Ibid
42
U.S. General Services Administration, Financing Historic Federal Buildings: An Analysis of Current Practice
(Washington, D.C.: Office of Business Performance, Public Building Service, General Services
Administration,[1999]).

77
largely to difference in construction methods. Many historic buildings have thick, solid walls
with thermal mass that reduces the amount of energy needed for heating and cooling.
Buildings designed before the widespread use of electricity often feature transoms, high
ceilings, and large windows for natural light and ventilation, as well as shaded porches and
other features to reduce solar gain. In the past, architects and builders also paid close
attention to siting and landscaping as methods for maximizing sun exposure during the winter
months and minimizing it during warmer months.
Despite data suggesting the overall efficiency of pre-1920 buildings, there are many
instances in which historic buildings do not use energy efficiently. Older forms of heating and
cooling do not often match the precision of today’s technology. Elaine Adams from the
General Service Administration noted that alterations to many historic buildings over the years
have actually made buildings that were once efficient more energy inefficient.43
Modern buildings, or those constructed between 1940 an 1970, present a different and
more complicated set of challenges. Architect Carl Elefante has noted that modern era
buildings perform very differently than buildings constructed before World War II.44 These
buildings were often constructed of experimental materials and systems that failed or never
performed as expected. This lack of quality was also driven by a building ethic and philosophy
that posited that buildings should only last about 30 years and that each generation should
have the opportunity to build anew.
Since these buildings were constructed during an era in which cheap energy was
abundant, there were also few concerns about designing buildings efficiently. Government
data provided above illustrates the poor energy performance of these buildings. However,
demolishing these buildings and replacing them is not a realistic solution. Elefante notes that
“in practical terms, the quantity of the modern-era building stock dictates that we find ways to
use these buildings far into the future. Their (lack of) quality requires that we find efficient yet
effective ways to transform them, elevating their performance to sustainable levels.”45

The Challenge Ahead

Although building reuse, reinvestment in existing neighborhoods, and retrofits of existing
buildings are important strategies for reducing carbon emissions in the United States, these
are not yet market-driven outcomes. Because of a range of market realities, consumer
preferences, and ill-formed policies, buildings are often demolished to make way for new
construction, older communities are abandoned in favor of the new, and green retrofits of
existing structures do not occur at nearly the rate needed. Policy changes at every level of
government offer a means to addressing some of these challenges.
The following section offers a very brief overview of the federal policy landscape vis-à-
vis the built environment, with the goal of establishing the context in which local governments
have been left to develop their own approaches to climate change policy, particularly as it
relates to the goals of reuse, reinvestment, and retrofits. Recent developments in the cities of
New York (NY), San Francisco (CA), Tacoma (WA), and Dubuque (IA) will be assessed.

43
This chart was created by Elaine Gallagher Adams, AIA LEED APN, formerly with the GSA’s Denver office.
44
Carl Elefante, "The Greenest Building is...One that's Already Built," Forum Journal 21, no. 4 (Summer 2007),
pg. 26-38, http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/sustainability/additional-
resources/Forum_Journal_Summer2007_Elifante.pdf.
45
Ibid pg. 29

78
II. Policy

The Federal Policy Landscape

Federal climate-related policy in the United States consists of a patchwork of programs and
laws that are estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a small margin. In fact, given
projections about population increase in the United States, carbon emissions are expected to
rise by 1.5 percent a year between now and 2025, and it is doubtful that existing federal
measures will result in net carbon emission reductions in the near term.46
Specifically, a small number of federal policies and programs have focused on
reducing carbon emissions in privately owned homes and buildings. For example, in 1992, the
Department of Energy’s Energy Star program was created to provide energy efficiency ratings
for homes and appliances. This program enables consumers to make wiser choices about
their purchases, and is widely viewed as successful. In addition to the Energy Star program,
tax credits for solar panel installation have existed since 2006 and provide homeowners with
up to $2000 to cover the cost of installation of solar units. However, these credits are set to
expire at the end of 2008.
Although helpful, such programs are a far cry from the over-arching policy framework
needed to tackle carbon emissions associated with the buildings.

Looking Ahead
After many years of inaction on climate issues by the Republican controlled Congress and
Administration, the mid-term elections of 2006 brought about a Democratic-dominated
Congress that was more inclined to consider climate policy. The current session of Congress,
which draws to a close in January 2009, produced a large amount of legislation related to
climate change that was grand in scope, but less so in substance. Legislative proposals
sought to address every aspect and dimension of climate change. Topics included
conservation, energy efficiency, producing renewable sources of energy, and market-based
incentives to save energy and reduce the industrial carbon footprint.
The only significant piece of legislation enacted was the Renewable Fuels, Consumer
Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007. This law mandates the improvement of vehicle
efficiency to increase the fuel efficiency of automobiles. The law includes an increase in
vehicle efficiency from 27.5 miles per gallon to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 and requirements
to increase the use of renewable fuels by nearly five times current levels. Other provisions are
targeted at improving the energy performance of buildings. The law provides for the creation
of an Office of High-Performance Green Buildings, and sets out increased efficiency
standards for federal buildings. The law also includes increased efficiency standards for state
residential and commercial building codes and authorizes grants to support state
implementation of green building codes.
The 111th Congress considered one particularly notable piece of legislation that did not
become law: the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. Lieberman-Warner would have
established a mandatory cap-and-trade program requiring power plants, petroleum refiners,
and other big smokestack industries to either cut their own emissions or buy and sell credits
on a new carbon market from carbon-reducing companies. Emissions from about three-

46
U.S. Energy Information Agency, "Annual Energy Outlook 2005," U.S. Department of Energy,
http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/sustainability/additional-
resources/Forum_Journal_Summer2007_Elifante.pdf (accessed Sept 1, 2008).

79
quarters of the U.S. economy would be covered under the bill, which seeks to reduce
greenhouse gas levels by about 70 percent from 2005 levels by mid-century. The bill suffered
from a lack of sufficient political support for passage and was withdrawn in June 2008.
The fate of similar climate change legislation in the 112th Congress will depend on a
multitude of factors in the coming year – most notably on who will occupy the White House in
2009. Climate change proponents are optimistic about passing legislation in the next
Congress to cap greenhouse gas emissions and allow polluters to buy and sell emissions
allowances. Both presidential nominees, Barrack Obama and John McCain, support their own
cap-and-trade plans and will greatly influence climate change sentiments in the White House.
While both Obama and McCain make serious commitments to pass comprehensive
energy legislation to address climate change, Obama generally favors more aggressive
action. He pledges an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050, whereas McCain calls for a
60 percent reduction. In the short and medium term, both candidates’ priorities revolve around
achieving efficiency goals and the transition to renewable forms energy.
It remains to be seen whether either candidate or the new Congress will create the
larger policy framework needed to incite meaningful change in the way we build and use
buildings. Far more is needed to both incentivize energy conservation and develop cleaner
sources of energy, such as on-site renewables. In the mean time, state and local
governments are leading the way.
Leading the Way: State and Local Policy
Despite the near absence of federal support or guidance, state and local governments have
taken numerous measures to reduce carbon emissions and address other environmental
concerns. The commitment of local government to meeting the climate challenge is
particularly noteworthy, and demonstrated by the National Conference of Mayors Climate
Protection Agreement, which was launched in February 2005. By signing the agreement,
mayors pledge to meet or exceed Kyoto targets in their cities through land use policies,
building codes, forest restoration projects, education, and other measures. As of August
2008, 850 mayors have signed the pact.
This following sections profile the progress of four cities in addressing greenhouse gas
emissions associated with the built environment. Special emphasis will is placed on
evaluating the extent to which these programs promote the goals of reusing existing buildings,
reinvesting in traditionally planned communities, and fostering green retrofits of buildings.

Local Policy

Typically, the response from municipal governments to global warming has been to develop
climate change action plans that involve efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
simultaneously tackle the problems of recycling waste, conserving and recycling water, and
creating green jobs. While these plans generally acknowledge the fact that buildings are the
largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, they generally offer little in the way of strategies
for reducing emissions through reuse of buildings, promoting reinvestment in older areas, and
encouraging retrofits of the existing building stock. To varying degrees, the cities of New York
(NY), San Francisco (CA), Tacoma (WA), and Dubuque (IA) are exceptional in that they
address one or more of these principles of sustainable stewardship to a greater extent than
most other communities.

80
NYC – Leading the way in addressing the retrofit challenge

In April 2007, New York City released its PLANYC 2030, which establishes a goal of reducing
carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030. Around 80 percent of New York City’s carbon
emissions are attributed to the operation of buildings. In no other American city is the need for
policy to address buildings more pronounced.47 As the PLANYC 2030 authors explain,
“Nationwide, energy efficiency efforts are focused on industry and automobiles, but in New
York, our challenge is different—it is primarily the buildings.” Furthermore, “when buildings
are mentioned [in the context of other climate action plans] the context is usually new
construction.”48 PLANYC 2030 addresses the reality that by 2030, at least 85 percent of
energy usage is expected to come from buildings that exist today.49 The city acknowledges
that significant efforts must be made to reduce emissions in extant buildings. PLANYC 2030
finds that “under-investment, a series of fragmented programs, and the absence of city-
specific programs or planning have prevented us from achieving our efficiency potential.”50 It
also notes that participation in existing programs has been disappointing because of the
relatively high costs of going green, and because building owners have no incentive to
improve energy efficiency, since lower utility costs will only benefit their tenants.
PLANYC 2030 establishes a number of strategies for reducing energy demand in
buildings, including improving the energy efficiency of government buildings, enhancing
building and energy codes, and creating targeted incentives, mandates and challenges.
These incentives, mandates and challenges are specifically directed to the city’s largest
energy users, including institutional buildings, commercial and industrial buildings, and multi-
family residential buildings. Targeting these consumers is expected to produce the largest
energy savings possible initially, while creating the expertise and best practices needed to
tackle energy efficiency improvements in smaller buildings.
The enormity of the challenge is vastly acknowledged. “With 5.2 billion square feet of
space parceled into almost a million buildings, reining in the energy consumption of New
York’s building sector presents a challenge of remarkable complexity and scale.”51 An April
2008 progress report indicated only small steps forward in meeting these goals. While Mayor
Michael Bloomberg signed into law a revision to the city’s building and energy codes that
incorporates many green elements, these will primarily affect new construction and major
renovations. Progress in retrofitting major commercial and institutional buildings that are not
undergoing major renovation has been slow.52
Like most other climate action plans reviewed for this paper, PLANYC 2030 does not
identify the reuse of buildings as a priority to help reduce carbon emissions. Historic
preservationists have expressed particular frustration that the values of historic buildings have
not been called out in the plan. Perhaps even so more than most other cities, New York is
subject to tensions between the value of building reuse and higher levels of density.

47
City of New York, PLANYC (New York, NY: City of New York,[2007]), pg. 101,
http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/downloads/pdf/full_report.pdf.
48
Ibid. pg. 106
49
Ibid pg. 106
50
Ibid pg. 102
51
Ibid pg. 107
52
City of New York, PLANYC Progress Report 2008 (New York, NY: City of New York,[2008]),
http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/downloads/download.shtml (accessed Sept 1, 2008).

81
 The increasing value of land located near transit introduces a conflict between the
value of reusing existing buildings and increasing density in areas served by mass-transit.
Reusing existing buildings, as discussed above, reduces the negative impacts associated
with new construction. However, increasing density in areas well served by mass transit
reduces VMTs, and the development of environmentally costly new infrastructure.
PLANYC 2030 acknowledges the potential conflict between density and neighborhood
preservation, noting “we must ask which neighborhoods would suffer from the additional
density and which ones would mature with an infusion of people, jobs, stores and transit. We
must weigh the consequences of carbon emissions, air quality, and energy efficiency when
we decide the patterns that will shape our city over the coming decades.”53 But this density-
preservation challenge has not always been handled well in recent years.
For example, New York’s Lower East Side was listed by the National Trust for Historic
Preservation as one of the 11 Most Endangered Places in 2008. Few places in America can
boast such a rich tapestry of history, culture and architecture as New York's Lower East Side.
This legendary neighborhood was the first home for waves of immigrants since the 18th
century. The area is now undergoing rapid development with new hotels and condominium
towers being erected across the area, looming large over the original tenement streetscape.
Neither the density-preservation conflict nor the green retrofits of more than five billion
square feet of building stock lend themselves to easy solutions. Acknowledging these
challenges and making them explicit in PLANYC 2030 is a significant step in the right
direction. Whether the city is able to develop the right combination of policies to tackles these
challenges remains to be seen. But New York remains a city to watch, and one that may well
serve as an example for others.

Making Reuse a Priority: San Francisco, California and Tacoma, Washington

San Francisco
San Francisco, California, has developed an even more aggressive goal of reducing carbon
emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2012. Like PLANYC 2030, San
Francisco’s SForward climate action plan places significant emphasis on improving energy
efficiency in buildings. Strategies include providing subsidies and loans to businesses,
homeowners and multi family housing owners, and assisting with solar roof installation.54
Unlike New York, or any other city evaluated for this paper, San Francisco is unique in
directly addressing the density-preservation dilemma described above. The City’s New Green
Building ordinance, which the City touts as the most progressive in the country, requires
LEED Gold certification of every private project over 5,000 gross square feet, beginning in
2012. Developers who demolish buildings and rebuild new structures must meet additional,
more stringent requirements. For example, if an owner demolishes a building, the project
must earn 10 percent more LEED credits than would normally be required. When a new
building triples the density of the demolished structure, 8 percent more credits are required

53
City of New York, PLANYC 2030 pg. 18
54
City of San Francisco, Building A Bright Future: San Francisco's Environmental Plan 2008 (San Francisco,
CA: City of San Francisco,[2008]), http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/mayor/SForwardFinal.pdf (accessed
Sept. 1, 2008).

82
under the LEED system. If density is quadrupled, the point penalty is 6 percent of total LEED
credits. 55
The point penalties for demolition are somewhat arbitrary because they are not based
on a rigorous assessment of the relative environmental benefits of building reuse versus
increasing density. However, San Francisco appears to be the first community to begin to
grapple with the value of reuse of relative to density. San Francisco offers a model to other
communities that will inevitably face the challenge of balancing increased density with the
value of conserving the existing building stock.

Tacoma
The City of Tacoma, Washington, is among the more progressive in developing policy that is
favorable toward reuse. As with most other cities, Tacoma’s climate action plan identifies
green building as an important strategy. The plan suggests that energy audits be required
before the sale of any building and proposes hiring a “green building advocate” to provide
technical assistance to homeowners, builders, architects, and developers. Tacoma also
identifies smart growth as an important strategy for reducing carbon emissions. Such policies
are largely centered on development that creates dense, walkable neighborhoods with a
mixture of uses, and mass-transit accessibility.56
The City’s recently released a climate action plan also establishes the reuse and
recycling of buildings as a strategy for addressing global warming. It is noted that “using older
buildings for new purposes should be encouraged by city policy.”57 While more is needed in
the way of substantive recommendations to implement this strategy, Tacoma remains a
leader among cities in calling out the reuse of buildings as a goal.
This focus on reuse is also reinforced by the development of a stronger demolition
ordinance, This ordinance will require review of all permits issued for buildings over 50 years
of age and provide an opportunity to determine whether a structure is historically significant
and should be listed on the Tacoma register. (Structures listed on the register cannot be
demolished.) This proposed policy change is designed to reduce the number of “teardowns”
of historic homes and other buildings. Similar to people in other cities in the United States,
many homeowners in Tacoma have decided to demolish their older home in order to build
new, usually much larger homes.58
While teardowns present an enormous challenge for those concerned with retaining
community character, they also present environmental concerns. Tacoma’s demolition
ordinance is therefore motivated not only by an interest in historic preservation, but also by
concerns about landfill waste and reducing the negative environmental impacts associated
with new construction.

Putting it All Together:

Promoting Reinvestment in Dubuque, Iowa’s Warehouse District

55
2008 Green Building Ordinance, (2008): ,
http://www.sfenvironment.org/downloads/library/sf_green_building_ordinance_2008.pdf.
56
Green Ribbon Climate Action Task Force, Tacoma's Climate Action Plan (Tacoma, WA: City fo
Tacoma,[2008]), http://www.cityoftacoma.org/Page.aspx?nid=674.
57
Ibid pg. 18
58
See more about teardowns at http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/teardowns/

83
Perhaps no single city is doing more than Dubuque, Iowa, to reuse older buildings, reinvest in
urbanized areas, and retrofit buildings as part of its sustainable development policy. The
Dubuque City Council “is committed to sustainable stewardship of our built environment
through the adaptive reuse of existing structures that represent high volumes of embodied
energy.” Through the Sustainable Dubuque Program, the city has launched the Dubuque
Warehouse District project to revitalize a 17 block neighborhood that used to serve as the
city’s mill-working area. The Warehouse district contains approximately 1 million square feet
of space that is currently underutilized and energy inefficient. 59
The Dubuque Warehouse District Project includes the development of an Energy
Efficiency Zone (EEZ) pilot program: The EEZ program, similar to an Enterprise Zone60,
would make assistance available to an existing, defined neighborhood to encourage energy
efficient redevelopment of the area. Building owners in the EEZ would be eligible for technical
assistance on greening their building, as well as grants and low-interest loans. The EEZ will
also be home to a Zero Solid Waste pilot project, which will seek to dramatically reduce waste
deposited in landfills.
Still, there are significant economic and social dimensions to the Warehouse project.
City officials and council members see revitalization of the district as key to attracting high
quality jobs and new residents to the area. According to the City, “this pedestrian friendly,
urban cultural atmosphere creates a ‘Live, Work, and Play’ product that will promote the
values of economic development, workforce recruitment, and energy efficiency to the growing
number of individuals that place value on these components.” Social and cultural values are
also promoted by the retention of the rich historic fabric of the neighborhood.

Conclusions
The urgency of climate change requires us to act even before we have all the facts at
our disposal. Since each historic building can be seen as a nonrenewable resource, it would
be wise -- even without all needed evidence -- to care for our existing built environment and
encourage a conservation-based approach to sustainable development that values our
existing buildings.
Existing research indicates the environmental value of existing buildings. Specifically,
research concludes that it can take between 25 and 60 years to recover the energy lost
through demolishing and reconstructing a building, and that it can take between 35-50 years
to recover the carbon expended in constructing a new home. Reinvesting in older and
historic communities takes advantage of the embodied energy and embodied carbon in
existing buildings, and also directs population growth to neighborhoods that are typically
sustainably designed. Retrofits of older and historic buildings also offer important means of
reducing energy usage. However, more research is needed to quantify the benefits and
tradeoffs of building reuse, neighborhood reinvestment, and green retrofits.
There has been a notable absence of federal policy that directs attention and
resources to the environmental costs of buildings, leaving local jurisdictions and some states
to step alone into the fray; some localities have begun to address their built environment as a
chief contributor—and potential ally in combating—climate change. These cities offer

59
Cindy Steinhauser and Teri Goodmann, City of Dubuque, Iowa Power Fund Pre-Application (Dubuque, Iowa: ,
2008).
60
Enterprise Zones are geographic areas targeted for economic redevelopment. These zones are often eligible
for special economic incentives to promote revitalization.

84
practical policy strategies that can serve as examples for other communities, and inspire hope
that the value of existing buildings will be integrated into sustainable development policy at all
levels of government.

85
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88
TOPIC 3:  Adaptation and Mitigation 
 
Socio-spatial Vulnerability Analysis of Coastal Regions during Disaster:  
Experience of a Pilot Research Project in Bangladesh

1. Bishawjit Mallick
PhD Student
Institute for Regional Science/Planning
University of Karlsruhe (TH)
Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe
Germany
E-Mail: Bishawjit.Mallick@ifr.uni-karlsruhe.de ; bishawjitmallick@daad-alumni.de

2. Tamer Soylu
PhD Student
Institute for Regional Science/Planning
University of Karlsruhe (TH)
Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe
Germany
E-Mail: Tamer. Soylu@ifr.uni-karlsruhe.de

3. Prof. Dr. Joachim Vogt

Professor and Director of the Institute
Institute for Regional Science/Planning
University of Karlsruhe (TH)
Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe
Germany
E-Mail: Joachim.Vogt@ifr.uni-karlsruhe.de

Abstract

Coping with a natural hazard is a process of concern, response and survival, where every individual of
every society plays a vital role. Our study considers the “society” rather than the individual as the most
important aspects for preventing the causalities and damages of natural hazards. It focuses upon the
endogenous and exogenous approaches of disaster management and emphasis on cultural manifestation
and people’s beliefs within a community of a region. It tries to design a research concept on sustainable
strategies for mitigating natural calamities in the coastal belt of Bangladesh.
Key Words
Disaster, Vulnerability, Coastal Region, Bangladesh
1. Introduction
The linkage between development, environment and disaster is critical, thus it requires a test before any
intervention. Non-participatory or top-down planning implementation can fulfil their agenda of service
delivery, but it is only the people who experiences disasters or bad impacts of any development

89
interventions, and it is them who have been marginalized or so called “vulnerable” in the process more
than others. As a result natural or even man-made disaster experiences along with “social disasters”
(Braun and Shoeb 2008; Cannon et al. 2004) and it seeks for “social protection” (Devereux and
Sabates-Wheeler, 2004) and finally the question of “planning” is raised.
We can speak about the concept of “planning with the coping strategies (Mallick et al. 2005)”. Yet the
concept itself is questioned by some people . They are arguing that what goes by the name of
“coping”, might be “adjusting” to the inevitable by the sufferers. The fact is that, whatever their natural
capacity to cope was,, it is diminishing because of the increasing trend of natural disasters, false-
planning practice or non-participatory planning, lack of national legal supports and unorganized
localized interventions from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or community based
organizations (CBOs). It seems that development initiatives may cause disasters and interventions in
disaster may heighten disaster as well (Najam 2004). This has largely happened because the victims are
not really participants in any of the process, although development practitioners have started their trend
with Community Based Management (CBM) approach (Pandey and Okazaki 2005; Miyan 2005;
Morshed and Huda 2002, Sumathipala 2002; ADPC 2001; ISDR 2000). Or may be because the policy
maker or scientists didn’t address the adverse vulnerable issues, although there exist a lots of
vulnerability management programmes in the world.
Taking such discrepancy of planning into consideration our study concentrate on the planning problems
of coastal regions with the help of an empirical pilot study in a coastal union of Bangladesh. In the
followings a conceptual descriptions leading towards the findings of the pilot study and on the basis of
the findings a proposal for vulnerability oriented regional planning research is discussed briefly.
1.1 Problems of development - unaddressed vulnerability
Newton’s theory of “action-reaction” is very operational in planning practices and initiatives as well, if
someone does not consider the adverse effect of the taken measures. It appears that in many cases,
action taken to the end of the disasters often ends up creating another one. ‘Flood Action Plan-2000’ of
Bangladesh is a good example which has been challenged at the court by activists on the ground that
this mitigation plan could create another disaster (Wiebe 2000). Another important example is that of
arsenic contamination in Bangladesh (Safiuddin and Karim 2001), people were advised to sink
tubewell to get rid of diarrhoeal disease crisis, which was dubbed as a “tubewell revolution”. The
community never thought about the water quality or contained minerals in the underground water. Thus
development delivered disaster due to “unaddressed vulnerability”. In both cases the development was
perceived as service delivery and inspired by a limited and externally inspired understanding of
development (Chowdhury 1998). In many cases it is providing excuses for going ahead and act
disregarding the impact on these people with the argument that they will be able to cope.
Numerous research on natural hazards and disasters in recent years focuses increasingly on the society
(Wisner and Blaikie 2004; Dikau and Weichselgartner 2005; Müller-Mahn 2007), which interprets the
so called ‘social disaster’ as a result of natural disasters. The effects of such natural disaster can also be
determined on the social situation and adaptation capability of the affected peoples. For the reason of
the affect of disasters and increasing vulnerability individual or even collective groups can become
aware about their coping strategies to reduce risks and to respond to a disaster (Callon and Law 1989;
Bankoff 2004). Thus empowering them and making them able to identify problems and needs; and
increasingly assuming responsibility themselves to plan, to manage, to control and to assess the
collective action that are needed for the situation.
The concept of “vulnerability” expresses the multidimensionality of disasters by focusing attention on
the total social systems, environmental situations and it stands between the intersections of nature and
culture of the individual or the group in general (Oliver-Smith 2004). The modern integrative approach

90
to vulnerability comes from the disaster community and is set out in the Hyogo Framework 2005-2015
adopted by the UN in 2005. It is defined here as ‘the conditions determined by physical, social,
economic and environmental factors or processes, which increase the susceptibility of a community to
the impact of hazards’ (Yamin et al. 2005). Although vulnerability is not defined as poverty but today’s
poverty is yesterday’s unaddressed vulnerability (Chambers 1989; Yamin et al. 2005) and it is
shorthand for factors that drive people into poverty, keep them in poverty and block their exit-route
from poverty (ActionAid 2005), it introduces the ‘social vulnerability’ (Braun and Shoeb 2008; Cannon
et al. 2004), and finally emerges ‘social protection’ (Devereux. and Sabates-Wheeler. 2004).
Accordingly understanding of vulnerability should spread out our understanding on climatic,
economical, generational, geographical, political and social processes of the society that generate
poverty, particularly the poverty traps (Chambers 1989; Barrett and McPeak 2004). Procedural and
institutional frameworks are also important because they help to define actors, funding flows and types
of policies that must be linked to support successful community-led adaptation strategies (Yamin et al.
2005; Sperling and Szekely 2005). Thus “vulnerability” issues were taken into consideration in our
work as the concerns for disaster mitigation planning.
1.2 Study Questions
Cyclones that are formed in Bay of Bengal and crashed into the coastal belt are the main causes of
increasing susceptibility of the coastal belt community in Bangladesh. It is just like a regular event for
the coastal people, and it let them develop locally organized strategies and mechanisms to cope with it.
Again, the scenarios of climate changes result in an increment of the frequency and intensity of cyclone
disaster and make it necessary to examine the socially, culturally and economically accepted preventive
measures. That will be possible to know, if we analyse their existing reaction samples and their
vulnerability issues during any natural calamities.
Vulnerability depends on the interaction of socio-economic and natural factors of a region. Thus it
raises the question of how the societies of the coastal countries react on this menace and risk; and how
they perceive it, particularly in the field of disaster prevention and spatial planning. In the
industrialized countries of the North have several established state sponsored programs to respond on
the vulnerability issues of their coastal areas - for example, the German coasts are secured through
extensive embankment construction, and other measures; which are primarily not available in most of
the developing countries. Neither knowledge, consciousness and relevant government responsibilities
nor appropriate material resources are available in the developing countries; and some appear as an
unmatched dream forever for those poor countries of the South in comparison with the high technical
and societal standards of the North. Despite of huge financial expenses in prevention, prediction and
protection of the natural disasters, the Hi-Tech country like the United States also responds to
hurricanes with frightening helplessness in their coastal regions. Accordingly what should be in
developing countries, where almost all the conditions are missing, unplanned and unimplemented? So,
it is important to know the applicability of the instruments and methods in the South, which are applied
for reducing vulnerability in the North. Are such instruments transferable to them, or not? It is rather
important to make question: what adjustments are possible at the real social and cultural conditions of
the country; which are socially “acceptable” rather than “need” and, therefore, can be implemented
with the help of participatory planning; and where and how the critical weaknesses of vulnerability
oriented spatial planning can be resolved. Our study concentrates on those questions and tries to
identify the problem areas with the help of a pilot survey’s findings.

91
2. Socio-spatial analysis of vulnerability: Findings of a pilot survey
2.1 Brief description about the pilot research and its methods
The Institute for Regional Science (IfR) of the University of Karlsruhe in Germany focuses upon the
research on the issues related with planning problems in tropical coastal regions. A part of this research
goal of the institute, this pre-test of our research concepts was undertaken in cooperation with Urban
and Rural Planning Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh during February-March 2008.
It helped particularly to learn the experiences of the victims of cyclone Sidr, which hit Bangladesh on
November 15, 2007. Reviewing the newspaper information and different media, we selected one of the
most devastated union61s, namely Baniasanta union of Dacope Upazila in Khulna district during
cyclone Sidr. Our co-partners of Bangladesh conducted other researches in the same Upazila, which
helped us to have better access on information. Total area of our studied union is around 29 km² with a
population of 17300 and total 3331 households (Source: Dacope Upazila Parishad, 2008). Fishing is
more favourable occupation rather than agriculture here, though most of them are also involved
primarily or secondarily in agricultural activities. Due to poverty most of them worked as day labourer
inside and even outside their locality. There exist 4 primary schools, one high school, 2 cyclone centres
with 7 religious centres, where people can take shelter during any emergency, like disaster (Figure-1).
The quantitative data collection phase i.e. household survey constituted with a sample size of 124
households. The questionnaire concentrated on the immediate action of the victims of Sidr, taken
initiatives for their family, success of their initiative, relief and rehabilitation opportunities for them,
their housing conditions before and after Sidr, institutional and community involvement as well as their
socio-economic situations to cope with abnormal situations. We had taken in-depth interviews with the
victims of Sidr and also asked some old people about their life experiences with respect to disasters.
Results of questionnaire survey were also verified with the qualitative interviews. Our field data shows
that there are different types of natural calamities like flood, tornadoes (locally called ‘Kalboishaki’),
cyclone, drought, river bank erosion, salinity and even water logging exist in this locality. However,
more than 50 percent respondents identified Kalboishaki as the frequently experienced disaster in their
locality. In the followings we described how they responded to Sidr.
Figure 1: Study Area
Source: Field data 2008

2.2 Response to cyclone Sidr: plan vs. (re)action

2.2.1 Household level
Every population at risks designs and plans its own strategies to cope, to response and finally to
overcome the difficulties of a disaster. Every steps of managing risk is influenced by the earliest way of
having information. In our study we found that radio (50 percent) was the main sources of having
information during Sidr, following with the information from relatives or neighbours (29 percent),

92
community volunteer (17 percent) and television (4 percent). It seems that the information flown by the
neighbours, relatives and community volunteer can be most rationale for a poor country like
Bangladesh, where the poor people are not capable to buy a radio or a TV. Unity is strength and for
mitigating disasters’ risks people should take decision in combined. Most of the respondents (73
percent) took decision alone immediately after having the information, whereas 25 percent discussed
with their neighbours regarding the problems and tried to repair their own houses and made own
residence safer. It was also found that 60 percent people who took decision alone could not implement
their immediate action plan and had faced major problems (Figure-2).
Figure 2: Divergence-Convergence their immediate action plan
Source: Field data, 2008

Around 86 percent of the respondents decided to stay at own house to protect their own family, only 11
percent planned to take their old family members and children to other safer places, like neighbours or
relatives house; and only 3 percent had plan to take their family in cyclone centre. It was shown that 81
percent of them tried to stay in their own houses, whereas only 19 percent had left their own house and
took shelter in cyclone centre or neighbours house. Amongst those 19 percent, who left their house,
only 4 percent took shelter in cyclone centre and 54 percent were in neighbours house (Table 1). The
reasons of such decisions stand firstly on the distances of cyclone centre or safer places from their own
houses.
Table 1: Plan versus real action to save family
Source: Field Data 2008

It was easy to reach to their neighbours house, when they felt at risk in own houses. If we see the
spatial and temporal distance of cyclone centre (Table 2) it is assumed that one can reach to the cyclone
centre during normal period by an average of 10-20 minutes time from any corner of their village. Thus
one must reach in cyclone centre before the beginning of cyclone. And spatial distance is in an average
of 1 Kilometre. If the road-network is well planned and constructed with bricks or paved materials,
then this spatial distance of cyclone centre is not a problem during any calamities, only if they leave
their houses before the calamities strikes. These issues of infrastructural uses and conditions are not
well discussed in our study due to lack of land use survey. It is also found that 50 percent of the people
who live within 1 Kilometre spatial or 10-20 minutes temporal distance from cyclone centre (around 50
percent of the respondent) wanted to take their family in cyclone centre (Table 2) during Sidr. Is this a
positive impression to take shelter in the cyclone centre within the community?
Table 2: Spatial and temporal distance of cyclone centre in relation with the surviving plan of the respondents’ family
Source: Field data, 2008

It strictly depends on their motivation and knowledge to handle the crisis with respect to their culture,
norms, religion and social strata. As per the field data it is seen that 63 percent of the respondents who
left their house (19 percent of total respondents) during Sidr, constructed their house for less than $145
(likely 10000 Bangladeshi Taka) and can be termed as poor segment of the society. It also depends on
their occupational status and sources of income to improve their housing condition as well as their
motivation to mitigate risks. It is found that those who have regular and relatively good income
opportunities, mostly the business group, people in job, and trading wanted to stay their own houses
and their housing condition is relatively good. Interestingly amongst the day labourers (44 percent of
the total respondent) 80 percent wanted to stay their own houses though 51 percent of them have no
good conditioned-house in terms of monetary investment in preparing house (Table 3).
Table 3: Plan to save their family in respect of occupation and housing conditions
Source: Field data, 2008

93
The middle income groups always tried to preserve their resources, re(de)construct or repair their own
shelter, as reported here that 16 percent tied down the roof of houses with the rope and bamboo into the
ground, 31 percent tried to preserve some dried food like fried rice, chira, sweet etc. using mud-pot or
poly-packet under the ground. Interestingly those people who preserved food (31 percent respondents)
had also collected relief foods (74 percent of who preserved food). Thus in one hand it raises the issue
of “dependency on relief works” and on the other hand it accuses the sources of income. It shows that
mostly day labourers (93 percent), fishermen (80 percent), small business people like hunting, trading
etc. were dependent on relief foods (Table 4).
Table 4: Dependency on relief in terms of occupation and preservation of food
Source: Field data, 2008

Further 53 percent reported that they had faced food shortages during Sidr, amongst them 14 percent
didn’t receive any relief at all. Whereas, 84 percent of them, who didn’t face any food shortages had
received relief foods. This shows misappropriation of relief works, thus weakens the community
resilience to risks management, increases corrupt acts, favouritism, conflicts and let the poor be
deprived. And it indicates the sign of individuality and individual strategies to cope with risks, which in
total could strengthen the community resilience to the risk, if it is properly managed (Gupta 2002).
Otherwise in the long run it will increase the poverty ratio and pressurize them to stay in “vulnerability
trap” for any kind of calamities.
2.2.2 Community level
In Bangladesh the Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) set up by the Red Cross Society is charged
to spread the message through the community via hand-held microphones. In 1991, though there was
ample warning that a cyclone might strike, few people were convinced of the imminent danger until
they saw the embankment overtopped or the wave advancing. Analysts of the ’91 cyclone event
concluded that the warning system in that place was not really designed to convey information to local
people. Further investigations showed that many people did not believe the warning in 1991 because
the number 10 warning (which means “Great Danger”) had been issued on several occasions prior to
this event, with no cyclone occurring. In 1991, the “Great Danger” warning was broadcast well in
advance of the cyclone but when it increased in intensity and a new, more urgent warning needed to be
broadcast, the imminent arrival of the storm could not be communicated to the public (EU, 1998). This
experience of 1991 helped to aware the people during cyclone Sidr. Our field study shows that the
community level efforts were not too satisfactory as the respondents awaited for more initiatives from
the community volunteer. The messengers, local volunteers were shouting through loud speakers or
megaphones to warn the people about the impending cyclone and let them to bring people to cyclone
shelters. Many of the affected people, who had mobile phone, maintained contact with the rest of the
country. 25 percent of the respondents replied that they got support from their community initiative,
like as information distribution, rescue and relief work. However, there were few rooms in the cyclone
shelter and hardly accessible for all the people and a majority of people didn’t leave their own houses.
It was very common in the coastal belts that peoples did not want to leave their houses They tried to
reconstruct their houses or shelter and wanted to preserve their foods and other resources; but most of
them never want to take shelter in cyclone centre. One of the problems was scarcity of resources and
the others were lack of coordination, favouritism, nepotism by the local chairmen and ward
commissioners. The women and children were somewhat lagging behind in securing relief materials.
Although government of Bangladesh with Red Cross Society (RCS) had implemented a project
“Cyclone Preparedness Programme” to reduce the communication problem, there also existed the

94
problems with social status and relationship which explored that middle-class farmer and fishermen in
the cyclone-prone areas suffered most (The Daily Star, 2007).
2.3 Social domains of Disaster response: experience of Sidr 2007
Social domains are areas of social life such as family, community and institutions whose nature allow
one to understand how social norms and ordering work. The following part of this work starts from the
premise that disaster research should accord central importance to mutuality and complexity in the
relation between nature and society. It allows us to focus upon the everyday practices and movements
of actors who negotiate the conditions and effects of vulnerability and disaster with respects to his/her
culture with available institutional supports.
2.3.1 Culture, mentality and perceptions of the society
The heterogeneous characteristic of the community shows that the impact of disasters varies from
individual to individual, groups to groups and community to community. Communities are
differentiated in terms of access to resources and factors such as gender, age, class and ethnicity and
these differences are highly significant to the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of particulars
individuals (Yamin et al. 2005). Our study replied with the similar understanding amongst the
respondents with respects to their mitigating approach and responds to cyclone Sidr. We found that
more educated people (although only 1.6 percent of the respondent) invested more capital in
constructing their house, as they face regularly different types of natural calamities. The poor segment
or the illiterate (47 percent of the respondent) group did not invest much money to construct their
residence, as they knew that after every disaster somebody would come to rehabilitate their settlements
with lots of housing materials. Such mentality of waiting for relief materials introduces “dependency”
and let them to be more “vulnerable” to any calamities.
It is also seen that more than 85 percent of the respondents had received relief during Sidr amongst
them 91.2 percent had below secondary level educational qualifications. Though the education
qualification helps to expand the income opportunities and changes the mentality of the person, we
found in our study that 50 percent of the more than secondary education group had taken the chance to
collect relief although most of them have regular income sources (Table 5).
Table 5: Stands of receiving relief in respects of the education and occupation
Source: Field data 2008.

Previous section of this paper showed that 81 percent did not want to leave their house during Sidr,
though most of the houses and trees were damaged severely (Figure 3). This convergence surely
interprets the issue of self resilience, religion and cultural belief. Usually the Muslims don’t like to take
shelter in common place with their female and children because of their religious beliefs and norms,
whereas other religion is relatively more flexible during any unnatural situations. Although 76 percent
of our respondents were Hindus, the rate of taking shelters in a cyclone centre was also very minimal (4
percent of the total). It raises the questions of not only the social beliefs but also the personal habits and
customs or particular issues of social segregation due to local political power exercises.
Figure 3: Damage Status during Sidr
Source: Field data 2008

As example it is reported that the middle-income group didn’t receive enough relief as they felt shy to
collect relief standing behind the poor people in a queue (Daily Star, 24.11.2007). It led them to sell
their own property or to take credit from other sources. Such continuous trend of taking loan from
different sources due to natural disasters makes them more susceptible to poverty traps. And in the long
run it will introduce a community without middle class, and in general it hinders the capabilities of the
community to responds on disasters as well as development tempo of the country.

95
2.3.2 Gender Aspects of vulnerability
In a study of European Union (1998) it was seen that women in most cases, do not feel willing or able
to take refuge in cyclone shelters. This shyness relates as much to women’s perceptions of social
appropriateness, mobility and domestic responsibility as to the design and location of current cyclone
shelters. As managers of a household, women recognise that they are responsible for its assets in the
absence of the male head of household. However, they may not leave the Bari (Homestead) in many
cases, without her husband’s permission. In a cyclone emergency, women are placed in an invidious
position. Before going to the refuge or depositing their cattle on the Killa (where, cattle can take shelter
during disasters), women know that they must prepare fodder and water for their livestock as well as
for their families.
Thus in extreme emergencies, some women have gone to cyclone shelters for once or twice, but in the
shelter, women find that no separate facilities are provided for their needs. In the past, some women
had been rejected by their husbands if Pardah (one kind of dress in Muslim religion only for female that
help the women to hide herself from outsider of the family) is seen to be compromised by going to an
unlit and crowded cyclone shelter. When cyclone shelters are used for exclusively male activities
(mosques in particular) women do not believe themselves to have sanctioned access and will not enter.
This suggests that future cyclone shelters should be designated as gender-neutral places for multi-
purpose, community use. Access to shelters is dominated by the elites and inactive shelter management
committees. Minority groups and others may not be granted entry and at the same time, religious
centres of minority groups are often not opened to outsiders. Unless these issues are addressed in a
community-managed plan, it may be futile to construction further refuges.
2.3.3 Institutional vulnerability
Preconditions are first stage where the planning process begins. Likely, for ten thousand populations or
for minimum two villages government should provide a primary school in Bangladesh. Other
institutions like cyclone centre, high schools, religious places etc, where people can take shelter in case
of emergency, like disaster, should also maintain some basic preconditions before the establishments.
Table 6 shows the preconditions and with respects to those an analysis of the existing scenario of
different institutions in the study area is given.
Table 6: Existing scenario of the institutions in study area
Source: Islam 2006: 20, Rahman, 2004: 49

After 1991 cyclone the government had planned to develop cyclone centre in coastal belt for
multipurpose. During normal period those cyclone centres are treated as primary school and high
school. In our study area, we found that two cyclone centres are constructed near the existing primary
school, without improving the conditions of those schools (Figure 4). The primary school is not yet
shifted to this cyclone centre, although the condition of primary school buildings was very vulnerable
and it didn’t supports to take shelter during Sidr.
Table 6 shows that two more cyclone centres are required there to supports the whole population of the
union. Figure 4 shows the catchments areas of the cyclone centres, and shows the deficiency of
supports for all the inhabitants in the study area.
Figure 4: Catchments area of available institutions
Source: Field data 2008

If we consider the supports and catchments area of high school, it is also seen that there requires one
more high school for this union. And the location of present high school is not effective for supporting
the whole union. To supports this argument, there requires analysis of proximity of another high school
in the adjacent unions. The religious places like the Mosques, Temple, and Church have a very little

96
capacity of accommodating people during disaster and most of them are not well constructed. We took
the religious places where the people had taken shelter during Sidr and as per their descriptions in an
average 80-100 people can take shelter during any emergencies. In this view, it is very difficult to
estimate either the present institutional supports are effective for the local population or more supports
are needed there. In our analysis we tried to define the catchments areas of existing institutions (Figure
5).
Figure 5: Catchments different institutions
Source: Field data 2008

It seems here that all the populations had a chance to take shelter in a safer place. However, from our
household survey we found that only 19 per cent of the total respondents had left their houses and taken
shelter in safer places, like cyclone centre (only 16 percent of those 19 percent). This result raises not
only the questions of adequate institutional supports but also the questions of their socio-cultural
motivation to leave house in emergency. Why they didn’t like to leave their own house, as their house
was risky to stay during any natural calamities? Why they didn’t like to improve their housing
conditions, as they face such types of natural disasters in very frequent? Are these problems really
related with their lack of knowledge or motivation? Or there are some other indigenous strategies,
knowledge, norms or customs, which influence their life styles, their communications behaviour and
their ways of thinking. Our analysis cannot reply all these questions. It requires further field based
intensive analysis, especially with the methods of endogenous and exogenous approaches of fact
findings analysis. That may help to design or plan for a sustainable resilience for the community based
disaster mitigation.
2.3.4 External supports and question of “Interdependency”
As the infrastructure, health and education systems of Bangladesh lag far behind, people who live in
the cyclone’s path had their homes and livelihoods destroyed, with no safety net to help them recover.
Effective disaster risk management relies on a strong legal policy, inter-institutional coordination
mechanism and of course community participation (IISD, 2003). After the devastating cyclone of 1970,
Government and other agencies undertook construction of multi-purpose cyclone shelters. During
1972-79, a sum total of 238 shelters were constructed in coastal districts out of which 11 appeared to
have been washed away. Each centre was capable of accommodating about 2000 people during cyclone
and tidal surge. After 1985 cyclone, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society constructed 62 shelters and
Caritas and other NGO’s constructed 20 shelters. These shelters are 2-storied frame building with free
ground floor 3 meter height on R.C.C columns, which can accommodate 800 people during cyclone
and tidal surge. After devastating cyclone of 1991, various organizations like Bangladesh Red Crescent
Society, Ministry of Education under Saudi grant, E.E.C, local Government Engineering Bureau as
well as several NGO’s have constructed considerable number of cyclone shelters which are of different
types and design. At present about 2400 cyclone shelters are available in the country for usage of the
coastal people (Karim 2000).
Differences are also seen in forecasting, detection, communications and public awareness everywhere
in the world. As for example, a shift from the traditional ‘top-down’ approach (Victoria 2002) is
emphasized by the Bangladesh Urban Disaster Mitigation Project (AUDMP 2002, BUDMP 2002). And
still up to $2.2 trillion of the U.S. economy are believed to be affected annually by weather and climate
events (Dutton, J. 2001). Though the cyclones or tornadoes are more common in the U.S than
anywhere else in the world (it is reported that in an average 1000 tornadoes reported nationwide in US
per year), the amount of damage and losses (70 deaths and 1500 injuries per year) compared to
Bangladesh (death of 3406 human lives in cyclone Sidr 2007) are quite negligible. Conversely the paid
out amount for the recovery in Bangladesh is very little with respect to the investment of the Federal

97
Emergency Management Assistance of US government. During last decades, a total number of 102
tornados US disbursed $1.72 billion (SDR 2003), whereas Bangladesh spends $1 billion emergency
help during cyclone Sidr 2007. It is also noticeable that Joint Damage Loss and Needs Assessment
(JDLNA) Mission of 11 donors proposed to the Bangladesh government a $4 billion programme to
mitigate natural disasters like cyclone Sidr to be implemented in the next 15 years (GoB 2008). Such
perception between developed and developing countries for disaster management augments the intra-
dependency of disaster preparedness amongst rich and poor countries and leads the rich to spend for the
problems of the poor (Turner et al. 2003; IDS 2005). Thus it makes the poor countries more dependable
and redundant upon rich countries and more vulnerable to natural calamities. Therefore it is urgent to
develop strategies that will be originated from the community itself and will be sustainable in the long
run. This point leads the expert community to enlarge the ‘risk-hazard model’ to a ‘vulnerability
model’ (Wisner and Blaikie 2004; Cutter 1996) and it ultimately adds up the environment to population
and place in order to determine resilience (Adger et al. 2005; Turner et al. 2003). Accordingly during
any disaster, people at the community level must use coping and survival strategies to respond the
situation long before the arrival of outside help from NGOs or the government. In the following
sections we discussed on our research concepts.

3. Our Proposal: “necessity” or “acceptance”?

The frequent visits of cyclones cannot be stopped in future due to rise of sea level, increased
temperature of sea, and the amplification of the greenhouse effects due to climatic change. To mitigate
such unavoidable natural disasters it is needed now to draw up a sound plan for the people. Community
Based Disaster Management (CBDM) requires the importance of people’s participation (ADPC 2006;
Pandey and Okazaki 2005; Steins 2001; ISDR 2000) and technical improvement which can provide
early warnings to successful evacuation of people from vulnerable areas prior to cyclones. Thus it
results in fewer casualties, but it could not resist the damages done to houses, crops and trees, proving
it imperative that measures should be planned to curb the possibility of such damages. With risk
embedded in the vulnerability concept, a more vulnerable population is one that is frequently exposed
to, is easily harmed by, and has low levels of recovery, buffering, and adaptation to a hazard (NRC
2007). Therefore, we should consider the approach of “what is accepted by the community” rather than
“what is necessary for the community”.
Numerous reports and news on Sidr reported that the villages behind the Sundarbans (the biggest
mangrove forest in the world) were saved! Can we think of having such mangrove trees planted on the
water edge throughout the length and breadth of the coastal area? Can we motivate the villagers who
live near the rivers and seashore to plant them on their own volition? Are there leaders to undertake the
task?
Our study goal undertakes research to know the methods and strategies already exist within community
for capacity building of the common people to cope with disasters rather to focus in a way to take pre-
determined initiatives. It also aims to strengthen the local governments, institutions, and above all on
enhancing the government's capacity of negotiation with the developed countries that had pledged
assistance for developing nations. It also must be asked whether after a disaster the individual and
collective learning process inhibit and how they are sustained, and in particular whether the provision
to the next disaster subjects to or reaches the typical pattern of individual or collective displacement
processes. Public policies must be geared to local policies and must secure the social changes, rather
than to call by technical means of prevention from foreign experts.
Figure 6: Model Research Concept
Source: Drafted by Authors, 2008

98
There are many best practices to mitigate cyclone disaster in the world, but sustainable mitigating
approach should always be developed within the community and by the community considering the
aim of “accepted by the community rather than necessary for the community” (Pandey and Okazaki
2005). Therefore, our proposed research work considers “society” as the key element for understanding
acceptable approaches for preventing the causalities and damages of natural hazards by the community
(Figure 6) and then tries to develop alternative sustainable local strategies for mitigating natural
disasters through an endogenous approach of research (Clausen et al. 2003). Technical supports and
development works can be supported exogenously but at first we should identify the local strategies
endogenously. The figure 6 shows the endogenous and exogenous approaches for this new concept of
disaster mitigation research. Considering the cultural manifestation and people’s beliefs within a
community, our research work will try to find out the sustainable local strategies for mitigating natural
calamities in coastal region of Bangladesh. Local experiences during cyclone Sidr will result in
designing the endogenous methods of our aimed work.
4. Conclusion and implications
A holistic approach with vulnerability and local knowledge as a concept of assessing disasters within
their cultural, socio-economic, political and environmental context is now very important for disaster
mitigation and planning. This concept provides a helpful guide in formulating approaches and policies
in hazard management. In spite of that, there exists lack of methodological and conceptual advances of
this approach. It is still hampered by a one-dimensional construction of the processes that transform a
hazard into a disaster (Bankoff 2004). In particular, the relationship between society’s vulnerability and
the adaptation its culture in terms of local strategies and knowledge has not been adequately explained.
The absence of a holistic approach to vulnerability that assesses it different characteristics – seems to
have contributed to a decrease in the effectiveness of disaster management. An approach – combining
exogenous and endogenous methods for vulnerability research – would help to improve the
effectiveness of management and to identify and to prioritize factual and efficient measures for the
adequate reduction of risks by the local communities and authorities, who are undoubtedly the
fundamental actors in achieving a preventive attitude.
Note:
1. Union is the third level unit of local administration in Bangladesh. It consists of 9 wards, which is the lower most unit of local

administration

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Table 7: Plan versus real action to save family

What did you plan to save Did your family leave your own house during Sidr?
your family? No If yes, where did they take shelter?
Cyclone Well House of
shelter constructed neighbour
religious place
To take them in cyclone 1% 4% 0 8%
shelter
Wanted to stay at own house 99% 8% 8% 13%
Wanted to send children and 0 4% 0 54%
old family members to others
relative
Total 81% 19%
Source: Field Data 2008

Table 8: Spatial and temporal distance of cyclone centre in relation with the surviving plan of the respondents’ family

What did you Cyclone Cyclone shelter distance in time Total

plan to save Shelter up to 10 10 to 20 20 to 30 more
your family? distance in min min min than 30
meter min
To take your 250 to 500 25% 0 0 0 25%
family meter
member in 750 m to 1 km 0 25% 0 0 25%
cyclone shelter more than 1 0 25% 25% 0 50%
km
Total 25% 50% 25% 0 100

105
Wanted to stay up to 250 2% 0 0 0 2%
at your own meter
house 250 to 500 13% 0 0 0 13%
meter
500 to 750 7% 2% 0 0 8%
meter
750 m to 1 km 9% 21% 0 0 30%
more than 1 0 22% 8% 16% 46%
km
Total 31% 44% 8% 16% 100
Wanted to 250 to 500 7% 0 0 0 7%
send children meter
and old family 500 to 750 7% 0 0 0 7%
members to meter
relative's safe- 750 m to 1 km 0 21% 0 0 21%
house more than 1 0 50% 0 14% 64%
km
Total 14% 71% 0 14% 100
Source: Field data, 2008

Table 9: Plan to save their family in respect of occupation and housing conditions

Occupation What did you plan to save Cost of construction of the residential Total
of family your family? house before Sidr in US$ (1 US$=
head 69.73525 BDT, dated on 19.06.2008)
up to 145- 290- 435 - 725
$145 290 435 725 +
Farming Wanted to take them in 6% 6%
cyclone shelter
Wanted to stay at own house 66% 6% 6% 5% 83%
Wanted to send children and 11% 11%
old family members to others
relative
Total 72% 17% 6% 5% 100
%
Fishing Wanted to stay at own house 56% 20% 8% 4% 4% 92%
Wanted to send children and 8% 8%
old family members to others
relative
Total 64% 20% 8% 4% 4% 100
%
Hunting Wanted to stay at own house 50% 50%
Wanted to send children and 50% 50%
old family members to others
relative
Total 100% 100

106
Occupation What did you plan to save Cost of construction of the residential Total
of family your family? house before Sidr in US$ (1 US$=
head 69.73525 BDT, dated on 19.06.2008)
up to 145- 290- 435 - 725
$145 290 435 725 +
%
Timber Wanted to stay at own house 34% 33% 67%
business Wanted to send children and 33% 33%
old family members to others
relative
Total 67% 33% 100
%
Trading/ Wanted to stay at own house 40% 20% 20% 20% 100
shop/ small %
business Total 40% 20% 20% 20% 100
%
Day labour Wanted to take them in 2% 2% 2% 6%
cyclone shelter
Wanted to stay at own house 40% 29% 7% 4% 80,0
%
Wanted to send children and 9% 3% 2% 14%
old family members to others
relative
Total 51% 34% 11% 4% 100
%
Job Wanted to stay at own house 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 100
%
Total 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 100
%
Housewife Wanted to stay at own house 50% 50% 100
%
Total 50% 50% 100
%
Others Wanted to stay at own house 11% 56% 11% 11% 11% 100
%
Total 11% 56% 11% 11% 11% 100
%

Source: Field data, 2008

Table 10: Dependency on relief in terms of occupation and preservation of food

Occupation of family Did you receive Have you preserved food for your Total
head any relief? family?
Yes No

107
Occupation of family Did you receive Have you preserved food for your Total
head any relief? family?
Yes No
Farming Yes 16% 67% 83%
No 6% 11% 17%
Total 22% 78% 100%
Fishing Yes 12% 68% 80%
No 8% 12% 20%
Total 20% 80% 100%
Hunting Yes 100% 100%
Total 100,0% 100%
Timber business Yes 33% 67% 100%
Total 33% 67% 100%
Trading/shop/small Yes 60% 20% 80%
business No 20% 20%
Total 80% 20% 100%
Day labour Yes 27% 66% 93%
No 5% 2% 7%
Total 32% 68% 100%
Job Yes 40% 40%
No 40% 20% 60%
Total 40% 60% 100%
Housewife Yes 100% 100%
Total 100% 100%
Others Yes 33% 44% 77%
No 11% 11% 22%
Total 44% 56% 100%

Source: Field data, 2008

Table 11: Stands of receiving relief in respects of the education and occupation

Did you receive any Total

Education of family Occupation of family head relief?
head
Yes No
Illiterate Farming 12% 12%
Fishing 15% 4% 19%
Timber business 3% 3%
Trading/shop/small 2% 2% 4%
business
Day labour 43% 4% 48%
Housewife 3% 3%
Others 10% 2% 12%
Total 88% 12% 100%
Primary Farming 13% 5% 18%

108
 Did you receive any Total
Education of family Occupation of family head relief?
head
Yes No
Fishing 16% 5% 21%
Hunting 5% 5%
Timber business 3% 3%
Day labour 45% 5% 50%
Job 3% 3%
Total 85% 15% 100%
Secondary Farming 18% 18%
Fishing 23% 23%
Trading/shop/small 18% 18%
business
Day labour 35% 35%
Job 6% 6%
Total 94% 6% 100%
SSC Farming 12% 12%
Fishing 13% 12% 25%
Day labour 37% 37%
Job 13% 13%
Others 13% 13%
Total 50% 50,0% 100%
HSC Others 100% 100%
Total 100% 100%
Graduate and more Job 50% 50% 100%
Total 50% 50% 100%

Source: Field data 2008.

Table 12: Existing scenario of the institutions in study area

Type of Preconditions
Demand in respects of
two same institutions

Institutions
Minimum number of

Distance in Km (on

Distance between

Existing situation
Minimum area in

Deficit/ Surplus
total number of
Minimum total
Population for
supporting the

square meter
beneficiaries

populations
institution

foot)

Primary 10000 200/ 250 1 km 2 km 40.53 2 4 +2

school
High School 8000/1000 200/ 250 2 km 3- 4 1 1 -1
0 km

109
Cyclone 5000 800 1 2 4 2 -2
centre
Religious No data 80-100 0.5 km No No It is not 7 -
centre data data calculable

Source: Islam 2006: 20, Rahman, 2004: 49

110
 
The influence of urban features on air temperature distribution

Martina Petralli1* martina.petralli@unifi.it

Luciano Massetti2 l.massetti@ibimet.cnr.it
Simone Orlandini1 simone.orlandini@unifi.it

*Corresponding author
1 – Interdepartmental Centre of Bioclimatology, University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine, 18 –
50144 Florence (Italy)
2 – Institute of Biometeorology, IBIMET - CNR, Via Caproni, 8 – 50145 Florence (Italy)

Abstract
The knowledge of the influence of urban features on air temperature distribution in a city is very
important, especially considering the population increase worldwide and the impact of urban climate on
human health. The aim of this study is to investigate the distribution of air temperature in the city of
Florence during the summer and to evaluate its relationship with building height, urban density and
presence of trees. A significant positive relation between minimum air temperature and mean height of
buildings and urban density was found throughout the entire summer period especially during the
hottest months (July and August).

Keywords: Urban density, green areas, microclimate, air temperature

Introduction:
In the last few years, and even more for the future, the importance of urban climate and of thermal
comfort within the cities is increasingly being recognised (Mills, 2007), as can be observed by the
growing number of international conferences and of sessions in conferences on meteorology and
climatology concerning urban climate (for example: ECAC – European Conference on Applied
Climatology; ICB – International Conference on Biometeorology; ICUC – International Conference on
Urban Climate). The increasing interest of urban meteo-climatic conditions is related to the growing
importance of the consequences of climate change on human health, and it is also related to the
increase of percentage of people that in the future will live in urban areas, as forecasted by the last
“State of the World Population” by United Nations Population Fund: “For the first time in history,
more than half of human population, 3.3 billion people, will be living in urban areas and by 2030, this
is expected to swell to almost 5 billion: in the next few decades we will see an unprecedented scale of
urban growth, especially in the developing world” (United Nations Population Fund, 2007). The
increasing size of urban areas will have a great influence on urban climate, and it is for this reason that
it is very important to study the relationship between urban features and air temperature distribution
(Oke, 1988; Ali-Toudert and Mayer, 2006). The use of meteorological stations located in cities and in
areas characterized by different level of urbanization in order to study temporal and spatial air
temperature distribution is increasingly widespread (Huang et al., 2008; Ren et al., 2008). In fact, air
temperature is the most important parameter used in biometeorology, combined with other
environmental and subjective parameters, to describe the thermal comfort and the impact of weather
condition on human health in urban areas (Nikolopoulou et al., 2001; Johansson and Emmanuel, 2006).
Therefore, it is very important to study the air temperature distribution within a city, in order to find a
relationship between urban structures and human well-being (Botty’an et al., 2005): in this way, urban

111
planners could take into account some suggestions for managing the rapid growth of the cities expected
by the UNPF forecasts.

Materials and methods

In this study, the relationship between urban features and air temperature distribution in the city of
Florence were analysed during the summer of 2007. Florence is a very well-known tourist city, located
in the centre of Italy. The city covers an area of approximately 102 km2 with a population of about
360.000 citizens and it is situated in a plain surrounded by hills along the Arno river (lat: 43°47’N, lon.
11°15’E, elevation: 50m a.s.l.). Rainfall averages about 850 mm per annum and occurs mainly in
spring and autumn, while summer is dry and hot. The study area was preliminary divided in 72 areas
using a pre-existing partition made by the Statistic Department of the Florence Municipality (SDFM):
for each area, data about the mean building height (expressed as number of floor per Km2) (F) and the
urban density (expressed as number of buildings per Km2) (UD) were taken from the last Italian
building census (2001). Moreover, a geo-referenced database of the trees managed by the
Environmental Department of Florence Municipality (in public green areas and along the streets) was
used to estimate the percentage of green area (number of trees per km2) (GA) in each sector. A
categorization of F into terziles (values 33rd; 34th – 66th; > 66th percentiles) and of UD and GA into
quartiles (values 25th; 26th – 50th; 51st – 75th; > 76th percentiles) was performed. According to these
categories, 21 types of sectors, from the previous 72 areas, were identified and a network of air
temperature sensors (Hobo Pro Series logger ) was placed in a representative area of each sector
(Figure 1).

(Figure 1)

Hourly air temperature data were collected to calculate daily minimum (Tmin), maximum (Tmax) and
average air temperature (Tave) and daily temperature range (dTr); even monthly averages of these
variables were calculated.
Temporal distribution of air temperature during the day was analysed in order to compare differences
of this variable among the stations. Mean monthly diurnal changes of air temperature (TM) were
calculated; (1) the value of the ith hour (TMi) was calculated as the average of the ith values (Tij) of
every day (j) of each month:

(1) TMi = ∑j TiJ/n; n number of the days of the month

The stations were then grouped according to their position in street (S) and garden (G). To compare
differences between the two groups, the series of mean daily changes (TMG) of each group was
calculated as the average of the daily series (TM) of each station (2).

(2) TMGi = ∑j TMij/N; N number of sensors of the group

Pearson product moment correlation (r) was used to investigate the influence of the sensor's location
characteristics (building height, urban density and percentage of green areas) on monthly averages
values of air temperature.
Results:
Air temperature variables showed a great variability among the stations during the study period:
differences in monthly values among the stations varied from 3°C to up 3.9 °C in Tmin , from 2.9 °C
to up 3.5 °C in Tmax, from 2.6°C to up 3.1 °C in Tave and from 3.6°C to up 5.9 °C in dTr (Table 1).

112
The air temperature distribution analyses (Table 2) showed that F is positively related to almost all the
monthly average (rTminJun = 0.655** p = 0.001, rTaveJun = 0.643** p = 0.002; rTmaxJun = 0.458* p = 0.037;
rTminJul = 0.624** p = 0.003; rTaveJul = 0.675** p = 0.001; rTminAug = 0.699** p < 0.001, rTaveAug =
0.697** p < 0.001), with an higher correlation for Tmin, especially in August.
Furthermore, monthly temperature averages showed also a positive relation with UB, even if less
meaningful than F parameter (rTminJun = 0.531* p = 0.013, rTaveJun = 0.573** p = 0.007; rTmaxJun = 0.458*
p = 0.037; rTminJul = 0.579** p = 0.006; rTaveJul = 0.609** p = 0.003; rTminAug = 0.520* p = 0.016, rTaveAug
= 0.548* p = 0.01).
(Table 2)
Conversely no significant relation was found between GA and monthly temperature averages.
Finally air temperature differences between streets and gardens were analysed. Mean hourly values of
air temperature collected by sensors located in streets were higher than those collected by sensors in
gardens during the whole day and this difference was higher during the night. In June and August,
temperature difference was about 1.2 °C in the afternoon and 1.7 °C in the night (data not shown),
while in July it ranged from 0.9 °C to 1.9 °C (Figure 2).

(Figure 2)

Discussions and conclusions:

The results of this study show the important relationship between air temperature and mean building
height and density, supporting the hypothesis of many authors on the connection between air
temperature distribution and the sky view factor (SVF) (Oke, 1981; Unger, 2004; Petralli et al., 2006a).
The higher relation was found with the mean building height, especially as regards Tmin and,
consequently, Tave. The rise in minimum air temperature according to the height of buildings had a
statistical significance in all the months analysed. As regards monthly average of maximum
temperature, a significant, although weak, relation was found only in June, both with building height
and urban density. These results support the well known theory that UHI effect is stronger during
nighttime (Oke, 1981).
The higher values of Tmin in urban environment have some very important consequences on
biometeorological studies. Human health, in fact, is strongly linked with minimum air temperature: the
daily number of emergency calls, for example, rises with the increase of minimum air temperature
(Petralli et al., 2006b) and the same do the number of hospital admissions of tourists (Morabito et al.,
2004), with great logistic and pecuniary problems for the Health Care System.
As regards the number of trees, no relation with air temperature parameter was found: this is in contrast
with many urban climate studies that underline the importance of trees in the UHI mitigation (Streiling
and Matzarakis, 2003), but it can be due to the fact that trees data used in this study were incomplete
and limited only to the green areas managed by the Florence Municipality.
In fact many authors underline the benefits of shade trees concerning the reduction of urban air
temperature (Thorsson et al., 2004) and the potential energy savings in air conditioning of buildings
during summer (Carver et al., 2004; Akbari, 2002).
According to this, our analyses of hourly differences of temperature between sensors located in streets
and gardens underlines the importance of the mitigating effect of green areas, especially during the
night. For this reason further studies must be done including data concerning both public and private
green areas in Florence.
The increase in the number of people who will live in cities and the expected growing of the cities size
will strenghten the UHI effect with important consequences on human health. Therefore, it is important

113
that biometeorologists and urban foresters contribute to improve the knowledge on urban climatology
to support urban planners that will play an active role in the UHI mitigation.
Acknowledgements:
The authors wish to thank the Florence Municipality: Direzione Ambiente for providing georeferenced
environmental data and Ufficio di Statistica for providing data from the Italian Building Census
(2001). This study was supported by Tuscany Region “Servizio Sanitario Regionale”, the
Interdepartmental Centre of Bioclimatology of the University of Florence and the Institute of
Biometeorology of the National Research Council of Italy.

114
References:
Akbari, H., 2002. Shade trees reduce building energy use and CO2 emissions from powerplants.
Environmental Pollution116, suppl1:s119-126.

Ali-Toudert, F., Mayer, H., 2006. Effects of street design on outdoor thermal comfort. In: A. Kiss, G.
Mezösi and Z. Sümeghy (Hrsg): Landscape, Environment and Society. Studies in Honour of Professor
Ilona Bárány-Kevei on the Occasion of Her Birthday. Szeged: SZTE Éghajlattani és Tájföldrajzi
Tanszék, Természeti Földrajzi és Geoinformatikai Tanszék; 45-55.

Botty’an, Z., Kircsi, A., Szegedi, S., and Unger , J., 2005. The relationship between built-up areas and
the spatial development of the mean maximum urban heat island in Debrecen, Hungary. International
Journal of Climatology 25: 405–418.

Carver, A.D., Unger, D.R., Parks, C.L., 2004. Modelling energy savings from urban shade trees: an
assessment of the CITYgreen energy conservation module. Environmental Management 34(5), 650-
655.

Huang, L., Li, J., Zhao, D., and Zhu, J., 2008. A fieldwork study on the diurnal changes of urban
microclimate in four types of ground cover and urban heat island of Nanjing, China. Building and
Environment, 43, 7-17.

Johansson, E., Emmanuel, R., 2006. The influence of urban design on outdoor thermal comfort in the
hot, humid city of Colombo, Sri Lanka. International Journal of Biometeorology, 51, 119–133.

Mills, G., 2007. Cities as agents of global change. International Journal of Climatolology, 27, 1849-
1857.

Morabito, M., Cecchi, L., Modesti, P.A., Crisci, A., Orlandini, S., Maracchi, G. Gensini, G.F, 2004. The
impact of hot weather conditions on tourism in Florence, Italy: the summer 2002 – 2003 experience.
In: Advances in Tourism Climatology (Matzarakis A, de Freitas CR, Scott D). Vol. 12 Freiburg, 158-
165.

Nikolopoulou, M., Baker, N., Steemers, K. (2001). Thermal comfort in outdoor urban spaces: the
human parameter. Solar Energy, Vol. 70, No. 3.

Oke, T., 1981. Canyon geometry and the nocturnal urban heat island: comparison of scale model and
field observations. International Journal of Climatology, 1, 237-254

Oke, T., 1988. Street design and urban canopy layer climate. Energy and Buildings, 11, 103-113

Petralli, M., Prokopp, A., Morabito, M., Bartolini, G., Torrigiani, T., Orlandini, S., 2006a. Role of
green areas in urban heat island mitigation: a case study in Florence (Italy). Italian Journal of
Agrometeorology, 1, 51-58.

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Petralli, M., Morabito, M., Cecchi, L., Torrigiani, T., Bartolini, G., Orlandini, S., 2006b. Relationship
between Emergency Calls and hot days in summer 2005 (Florence - Italy). Preprints of “Sixth
International Conference on Urban Climate”, Goteborg (Sweden) 230-233.

Ren, G., Zhou, Y., Chu, Z., Zhou, J., Zhang, A., Guo, J., and Liu, X., 2008. Urbanization effects on
observed surface air temperature trends in North Cina. Journal of Climate, Vol. 21, 1333-1348

Sterling, S., Matzarakis, A., 2003. Influence of single and small clusters of trees on the bioclimate of a
city: a case study. Journal of Arboriculture 29(6), 309 –316.

Thorsson, S., Lindqvist, M., and Lindquist, S., 2004. Thermal bioclimatic conditions and patterns of
behaviour in an urban park in Goteborg, Sweden. International Journal of Biometeorology 48(3),149-
156.

Unger, J., 2004. Intra-urban relationship between surface geometry and urban heat island: review and
new approach. Climate Research, vol 27, 253-264.

United Nations Population Fund, 2007. State of world population 2007- Unleashing the Potential of
Urban Growth. New York, USA.

116
Table 1 – Variation of monthly mean averages of Tmin, Tave, Tmax and dTr among the sensors: Min:
minimum value; Mean: mean value; Max: maximum value; DT difference between the maximum and
the minimum value.
Min Mean Max DT
June Tmin 16.0 17.6 19.5 3.5
June Tave 21.0 22.6 24.1 3.1
June Tmax 25.9 27.3 28.8 2.9
June dTr 7.8 9.7 11.4 3.6
July Tmin 16.4 18.3 20.3 3.9
July Tave 24.0 25.4 26.7 2.7
July Tmax 30.7 32.5 34.1 3.5
July dTr 10.4 14.2 16.3 5.9
August Tmin 16.4 18.0 19.4 3.0
August Tave 21.9 23.3 24.5 2.6
August Tmax 26.8 28.4 30.2 3.4
August dTr 7.6 10.4 12.1 4.5

Table 2 - Pearson product moment correlation values (r) among monthly averages of temperature
parameter and urban density (UB), building height (F) and trees density (GA)

UB F GA
June Tmin .531(*) .655(**) -.386
June Tave .573(**) .643(**) -.418
June Tmax .458(*) .458(*) -.233
June dTr -.222 -.368 .250
July Tmin .579(**) .624(**) -.330
July Tave .609(**) .675(**) -.347
July Tmax .287 .299 .068
July dTr -.337 -.368 .332
August Tmin .520(*) .699(**) -.355
August Tave .548(*) .697(**) -.356
August Tmax .232 .377 -.169
August dTr -.294 -.342 .192

117
Figure 1 – Map of Florence showing the subdivision in 72 areas and the location of the 21 sensors used
in this study

Figure 2 – Mean daily changes of air temperature in streets (unbroken line) and gardens (broken line).

118
 Febrile cities: the influence of construction materials in the production of heat islands in
low-income districts of urban areas with tropical climate in Brazil62.

João Lima Sant’Anna Neto

Rua Bela Vista, 180 - Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brasil
PhD – Department of Geography, Sao Paulo State University, UNESP
joaolima@fct.unesp.br

Margarete Cristiane de Costa Trindade Amorim

Rua T. Nicolau Maffei 1743 - Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brasil
PhD – Department of Geography, Sao Paulo State University, UNESP
mccta@fct.unesp.br

Abstract

The fast demographic growth associated with high levels of urbanization over the last decades has been
responsible for a territorial urban expansion never before seen in Brazilian history. As a result of low-
income people migrating from the countryside to urban areas which form attraction spots, common
condominiums have spread throughout suburban areas of cities, in a large number using inappropriate
constructive materials, both from the point of view of quality of life and thermal efficiency. In this
project, five cities of small and medium size located in the Brazilian states of Sao Paulo and Parana
were analyzed, where their air temperatures were measured by mobile transects, automatic stations
fixed on representative spots of the urban spatial structure and satellite images from Landsat (infrared
thermal channel) in synoptic situations of summer and winter. The types of roofing on buildings were
classified into four groups: ceramic, metal, fibrocement and zinc. The results indicate that fiber cement
roofing (common houses) produces between 10o C and 12o C higher than the external temperatures,
ceramic roofing between - 0.1° C and – 0.3° C (middle and high class houses), and metal and zinc
roofing (industries and services) between 16o C and 20o C. The studies demonstrated a rise of 2.5o C in
the mean temperatures in the cities studied in the past thirty years, as well as a difference of 10° C
between urban and country areas. The main problem concerns common houses which are not only
being built in small constructed areas but are also too crowded. Besides the production of heat and low
quality of life, these areas are the main focus of respiratory illnesses.

Introduction

At the turn of the XXth century, Brazil had a little more than 17 million inhabitants, for the
most part, living in narrow coastal strip, despite its expanse of 8.5 million km2.
The eastern part of the state of São Paulo, in this period, still had a substantially indigenous
population, and since the 1910s , adventurers began the conquest of the “sertão,” i.e., the interior, for
the incorporation of new lands and the expansion of farming and ranching.

62

119
 The city of Presidente Prudente is the principal urban center of this region and occupies an area
of approximately 20,000 km2. It was founded in 1917, primarily dedicated to grazing, and later with the
arrival of the railroad came the beginning of commercial agriculture.
Natural factors favored the expansion of the coffee crop, which between the 1940s and 1970s
was responsible for the rapid demographic growth of the region, as well as for the structuration of the
territory (Abreu 1972). Accelerated clearing of forests and vegetation for pastures and the damming of
the hydrographic network indicated profoundly the degradation of the natural landscape and changes in
the water cycle. There are indications that this process of occupation has increased temperature and rain
concentration, modifying the climatic regime.
In urban areas, the increase in temperature, according to Amorim (2000), was even greater due
to the concentration of buildings and the impermeability of the ground. Besides these factors, it is
necessary to consider the construction materials utilized, mainly by the low-income population, which
produces thermal inertia and human discomfort.

Hypothesis, objectives and methodological procedures.

The urban areas constitute poles of population attraction. Since socio-spatial segregation is one
of the characteristics of capitalism, in general and in Brazil in particular, the usual barriers have been
established on the urban periphery, to a large part utilizing construction materials that are inadequate
from the point of view of quality of life as well as thermal efficiency.
This hypothesis was the basis of this work whose aim was to identify how the production of the
urban climate develops in medium-sized cities in eastern Sao Paulo State (Figure 1), based on an
analysis of structuration of space forms and characteristics of land use and of the constructive materials
in the generation of islands of heat and their implications in environmental comfort.

120
 Fig. 1. Localization of state of São Paulo and region of Presidente Prudente.

The idea is based on the concept of perception channels of the urban climate proposed by
Monteiro (1976) and Monteiro and Mendonça (2004), emphasizing the principal thermo-dynamic
channel responsible for thermal comfort factor. Intra-urban air temperatures were determined taking
measurements using moving transects running north and south (42 recordings) and east and west (78
recordings) on five typical days of summer and five other days in winter in 2002, under stable
atmospheric conditions (Figure 2).

121
 N

7557000

Center
7554000

7551000

Transect 1
Transect 2
7548000 Center
1000
1000 0 0
1000 2000 1000
3000 m 2000 3000 (m)

452000 455000 458000 461000

Fig. 2. Presidente Prudente - location of moving transects
Source: Urban Map - Prefeitura de Presidente Prudente – 1995

Digital thermometers were utilized with the sensors fixed on wooden boards 1.5 m in length,
connected to the side two vehicles that went from the periphery (rural area), passing through the center,
arriving at the extreme opposite of the city. The measurements were made between 20:00 h and 20:45
h, as this period is the most adequate for temperature readings in heat islands in the tropical world,
when air temperatures do not undergo rapid changes and construction materials release their stored heat
with the setting of the sun.
The regional atmospheric systems that occurred on the days of the field survey were analyzed
by means of synoptic charts of the surface made available at the website Marinha do Brasil63 (Brazilian
Army) and from images of the Goes satellite.64
Isothermic charts were elaborated for analysis of the results using the software Surfer for
Windows,65 thereby permitting the visualization of the variation in temperature in different points of the
city. The urban temperature chart was produced based on the image from Landsat ETM7, with a spatial
resolution of 60 m, on the thermal channel (band 6), treated by means of the software Idrisi.

63
www.mar.mil.br
64
http://satelite.cptec.inpe.br/imagens/
65
Surfer is a trademark of Golden Software, Inc.

122
Population and territorial urban expansion

The first demographic census of the region recorded in 1920 only 846 persons in the urban area
of Presidente Prudente and a little more than 4000 inhabitants in the rural area. With the arrival of the
railroad (Companhia Sorocabana de Estradas de Ferro), came migrants from various regions of the
country, besides a large contingency of Italians and Japanese who dedicated themselves to coffee
agriculture, the principal export product of Brazil up until the middle of the XXth century.
The local population grew rapidly until the 1970s, and from then on slowed in growth due to the
eradication of coffee plantations and the substitution of the main agricultural activities with cattle
ranching. This change in the agrarian structure gave rise to a rural exodus causing a rapid urbanization
process (Figure 3).

200000
180000
160000
140000
População

120000
Urbana
100000
80000 Rural
60000
40000
20000
0
1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

Décadas 2007

Fig. 3. Population growth of Presidente Prudente (1920/2007)

Source: IBGE, 2008.

As the territorial expansion was not accompanied by a respective structure of services and urban
equipment, a significant portion of the population lived and still lives under inadequate conditions from
the point of view of quality of life and indicators of sustainability.
The urban area of Presidente Prudente shows a great diversity with regard to the occupation of
the land, because the oldest barriers (constructed between 1950s and 1970s) are densely constructed
and with significant arboreal vegetation cover in the streets and yards.
On the other hand, the residential areas that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, for the most part,
had lawns and trees and few buildings. In this same period, to attend the demand for living
accommodations for the common classes, housing complexes and lots were constructed for the low-
income population with smaller plots and construction materials less suitable for the tropical climate
and thermal and environmental comfort (thin walls and roofs of fiber cement), which store substantial
heat and produce thermal inertia. The use of urban land was characterized by the predominance of
residential homes (87%), while industrial, commercial and service uses amounted to only 13% of the
total construction area.
The territorial urban expansion gave preferred status to the western section of the city due to
both political and economic reasons such as regarding the higher ground characteristics. In this area the

123
water dividers show more elongated convex profiles, forming smoother interfluvial areas separated by
less narrow valleys, representing today about 80% of the total urban mesh. In the East quadrant, the
terrain has steep slopes making it difficult for the expansion of the urban mesh where the low-income
population lives.

Construction materials and thermal comfort

The territorial urban expansion is characterized by the increase in built-up and paved areas,
which generate thermal inertia and heat. Heat islands cause not only thermal discomfort in tropical
climate environments but are also responsible for greater demand of energy and for unwholesome
urban environments, which affect people’s health.
Building roofing is the main factor responsible for the heat produced both inside and around
buildings. This head is determined by the variables albedo (reflectance) and emissivity of materials.
The albedo represents the portion of incident solar radiation that is reflected by the material, while
emissivity determines the thermal performance characterized by the surface temperature.
Thus, surfaces with high albedo and emissivity tend to be cooler when exposed to solar
radiation, because they absorb less radiation and emit more thermal radiation into the air, transmitting
less heat to their lower surroundings. On the contrary, when the albedo is low and emissivity greater,
heat is absorbed more and stays in the surroundings.
Various types of construction materials have been utilized in buildings in urban areas. In the
eastern part of Sao Paulo State, there is a prevalent use of three types of roofing materials: ceramic,
fiber cement and metal (aluminum, zinc and galvanized steel). Ceramic roofs are more utilized in
middle and upper class residences, while those of fiber cement prevail among the districts and housing
complexes of the low-income population. The metal roofs are used in commercial and industrial
buildings. Due to their physical properties, roofing materials show the following thermal responses
(Ferreira and Prado 2003).
Table 1. Surface temperature of materials (ASTM and 1980-98)66
Material Albedo Emissivity Surface Temperature difference
(a) (e) temperature (oC) Between air and material
Red ceramic 0.53 0.9 36.8 - 0.1
White ceramic 0.54 0.9 36.2 - 0.6
Fiber cement 0.34 0.9 47.1 + 10.3
Aluminum without 0.57 0.05 69.4 + 32.6
paint
Aluminum, light 0.40-0.47 0.9 40.1 - 43.3 + 3.2 to + 6.5
colors
Aluminum, dark 0.26-0.38 0.9 45.0 - 51.4 + 8.1 to + 14.5
colors
Galvanized without 0.57 0.25 57.9 + 21.1
paint

Regional climatic characteristics

66
ASTM and 1980-98: Standard Practice for Calculating Solar Reflectance Index

124
 The sub-humid continental tropical climate of the central east of Brazil is characterized by two
well-defined seasons of the year: a warm, rainy summer from October to March and a mild, dry winter
from April to September. However, due to the great climatic irregularity of the of the region, explained
by its localization in the latitude of Tropic of Capricorn, an area of conflict between the tropical and
extra-tropical systems, Presidente Prudente shows a marked seasonal variability (Figure 4).

Summer Autumn Winter Spring

250 45
40 Rain
200 35 Max. Absol.
30
150 25 Max. Average
20
Average
100 15
10 Min. Average
50 5
0 Min. Absol.
0 -5
J F M A M JN JL A S O N D
Fig. 4. Climatogram de Presidente Prudente (1969/2007)

In general, the tropical systems prevail in the region most of the year, sometimes more humid
with its Atlantic arm and other times warmer and drier with continental trajectories. In the spring and
summer, daily temperatures oscillate between 20ºC and 32ºC, with absolute maxima close to 40ºC.
About 75% of the annual precipitation of 1300 mm is concentrated in this period of the year.
In the fall/winter, the temperatures decrease slightly, but are still high, with the exception of
episodes of polar anticyclone fronts when the minimal temperatures vary between 15ºC and 20ºC, with
absolute values dropping down to as low as 0ºC.
The mean annual temperature (1969/2007) has oscillated between 21ºC and 24ºC, in an
increasing manner since the expansion of the municipal urban area surpassed the limits of the
meteorological station, as demonstrated in Figure 5 for the development of the temperatures in this
recording period. It is seen that there has been a warming of 1.7ºC in less than 40 years.

125
 2,0
Presidente Prudente y = 0,0411x - 0,8625
1,5 Average Temperature Deviation 2
R = 0,6075
1969/2007
1,0

0,5

0,0

-0,5

-1,0

-1,5

-2,0

Fig. 5. Development of the mean annual temperature for Presidente Prudente.

Intra-Urban Thermal Structure

The temperature of the urban area of Presidente Prudente was analyzed using two different
techniques. First, field studies were conducted (transects) in two situations characteristic of the regional
seasonality, in January (representative of summer) and July (winter) of 2002. Later, a thermal chart
was created utilizing an image from the Landsat ETM 767 (thermal channel of band 6), with a spatial
resolution of 60 m, from March 21, 2001. The temperatures were converted into surface values
considering a fixed value of 1 for emissivity.
The thermal response of the urban structure demonstrated that urbanization and the
characteristics of the use of the land are responsible for the distribution of air temperature creating heat
islands in the densely constructed districts and in the city center. This distribution pattern, however, can
be modified by the direction and velocity of the wind, which moves these heat islands to other parts of
the city. Very strong heat islands were observed with the difference between the warmest point and
coolest point being 3.6ºC to 5.6ºC on days representative of summer and 4.9oC to 9.6oC in winter. The
differences were less on days with a little stronger winds (3.0 m/s to 4.0 m/s) (Table 2).

Table 2. Maximal and minimal temperatures and thermal differences between points.
January (summer) July (winter)
o
Temp.( C) 15/01 16/01 17/01 18/01 23/01 14/07 16/07 17/07 23/07 25/07
Max. 27.5 26.2 26.3 25.9 27.8 17.9 22.3 20.1 22.3 26.7
Min. 21.9 22.6 21.1 21.9 24.2 11.9 14.8 14.7 17.4 17.1
Difference 5.6 3.6 5.2 4.0 3.6 6.0 7.5 5.4 4.9 9.6
Source: Field work – January and July of 2002 (TABLE 2)

67
The satellite image utilized was acquired at the Global Land Cover Facility website,
http://glcfapp.umiacs.umd.edu:8080/esdi/index.jsp

126
 During the night, the city produces heat islands with temperatures increasing in the densely
constructed districts and in the center, and diminishing in the direction of the rural area. Besides the
density of constructions, the materials utilized also contribute to the storage of heat.
In the majority of studies of heat islands conducted at night, the center of the island is well
defined and is frequently located in the center of the city with the highest density of constructions or in
industrial districts.
In Presidente Prudente, however, at least two separate cells of heat islands were detected, which
could be directly attributed to urban structures.
A major cell of warmer air was localized in the central zone in the direction north and south of
the city, where the oldest and most densely constructed districts are located. As the density of the
constructions diminished, a fall in temperature was seen in the direction of the rural area.
The second cell was located in the west part of the city, where there are two common housing
complexes, which densely constructed. The temperatures in this cell, although also elevated in
comparison to other points in the city, were 1o to 2oC lower in relation to the center. Therefore, besides
the temperature being slightly lower than the center of the city, its size was much smaller in relation to
the center and its surrounding.
The diminution in the density of construction produces a pronounced effect with respect to the
break in the continuous distribution of the more elevated temperatures. Under calm conditions and
wind velocities up to 0.5 m/s, much lower temperatures were observed between the cell in the east part
and that in central area (Figure 6).

T oC

7557000
17.5

17.0

16.5

16.0

7554000 15.5

15.0

14.5

14.0

13.5
7551000
13.0

12.5

12.0

7548000

1000
1000 0 0
1000 1000
20003000 m 2000 3000 (m)

452000 455000 458000 461000

Org. Margarete C. de C. Trindade Amorim

127
 Fig. 6. Presidente Prudente: air temperature, July 14, 2002, 20:00 h

The limit of lower temperatures between the two main cells of higher temperatures was broken
on July 17, due to the presence of weak winds from the southeast, between 1 m/s at 20:00 h and 3 m/s
at 21:00 h. The movement of air was sufficient to mix the warmer air throughout the west part of the
city, independent of the density of constructions (Figure 7).
The heat produced in the area most densely constructed was distributed by winds predominantly
from the southeast, and only the rural area and the city districts to east of the center had lower
temperatures on this day.

T oC
19.5
7557000 19.3
19.1
18.9
18.7
18.5
18.3
18.1
17.9
17.7
7554000 17.5
17.3
17.1
16.9
16.7
16.5
16.3
16.1
15.9
7551000 15.7
15.5
15.3
15.1
14.9
14.7
14.5

7548000

1000
1000 0 01000 1000
20003000 m 2000 3000 (m)

452000 455000 458000 461000

Org. Margarete C. de C. Trindade Amorim

Fig. 7. Presidente Prudente: air temperature on July 17, 2002, 20:00 h

128
 The borders of the constructed areas in the direction of the rural zone clearly defined the borders
of the heat island. However, the intra-urban areas that are less densely constructed, were subject to
higher temperatures because of breezes coming from the west quadrant where higher temperatures are
found usually at night. On cloudless nights, the valleys were favorable to lower temperatures in the
rural environment, as observed in this study in the south, west and east portions of the urban sprawl.
It is important to observe that the streams located in the urban environment, for the majority,
have been channelized. In the nocturnal period, the points with lower heights did not cause diminution
of the main heat island found in the city. Even the Parque do Povo (principal green area for relaxing),
where the Veado Stream was channelized and the area was covered by low and arboreal vegetation, the
intense flow of traffic and the use of the land as avenues encroaching on the valley (commercial and
residential), caused temperatures to remain high.
In a previous study, Amorim (2000), showed that in the summer stronger magnitudes of heat
islands (between 4oC and 6oC) during the day were observed mainly between 10:00 h and 16:00 h,
coinciding with times of greatest insolation and diurnal warming and thereby intensifying the thermal
discomfort occurring in the summer in tropical cities. At other times (7:00 h, 8:00 h, 9:00 h, 17:00 h
and 18:00 h), there were frequent heat islands of medium magnitude (between 2oC and 4oC), but also
recorded on some days were heat islands of strong magnitude, albeit with less frequency.
In summer, the main factors for the greater differences between the warmest points were the
densely constructed areas and those with little vegetation. The presence of trees in the streets and
backyards exerted an essential role in this warmer period. The densely treed areas and in some cases
with high density of constructions had lower temperatures. However, the densely constructed areas
with little vegetation or areas with few constructions but without vegetation had higher temperatures.
The localization of the higher temperatures correlated directly with the density of constructions
and nocturnal heat is attributed to the release of heat stored during the day by buildings, as seen in the
treated image from the thermal channel of Landsat 7 shown in Figure 8.

129
 Fig. 8. Presidente Prudente: Surface temperature: treated image from Landsat 7
Thermal channel
Thus, it can be stated that the presence of vegetation plays an essential role in easing the heat
from the high temperatures during the day, a fact also observed in the image from Landsat 7 satellite
(Figure 8). However, in the nocturnal period, as demonstrated in this study, the presence of vegetation
in streets and backyards do not contribute to the softening of high temperatures in densely constructed
areas. The lowest temperatures were observed in the outer districts sparsely occupied, in the rural areas
and essentially in the valleys of the rural region close to the city.
The two transects started and ended in the rural region where the lowest temperatures were
clearly at these points, in valleys with few buildings and in districts close to the rural area, which have
high temperatures eased by breezes that are formed due to warming.

Urban Climate and Sociospatial Segregation

The thermal structure of the urban area interpreted in the image from Landsat 7 (Figure 8),
shows the current occupation, the density of constructions and the arborization. In the districts densely
constructed, mainly in the common, low-income housing complexes with fiber cement roofs and little
amount of arboreal vegetation in the streets and backyards, the temperatures detected on the surface
were more elevated, reaching 25ºC (Figures 9 and 10). In the central districts, the residences with
smaller plots of land, in which buildings do not occupy all the area, which have ceramic roof tiles and
sparse arboreal vegetation, the temperatures were lower, around 21º C (Figures 11 and 12). In the parks
and other green urban areas, the temperatures varied between 19 and 21ºC, depending on the type of
vegetation, low or arboreal.

130
Fig. 9. Common district with fiber cement Fig. 10. Common house with fiber cement
roofing. Image from Google (2007) roof, small windows and high walls.

Fig. 11. Middle class district Fig. 12. Middle class house with tile roof,
grided and wide windows.

In medium-sized cities with continental tropical climates, the creation of the urban climate is a
result of the interaction between the radiation received and that reflected basically by the types of
construction materials of residential buildings that store heat during the day and release heat in the first
hours after sundown. As tropical cities are naturally warm, these urban heat islands are responsible for
the intensification of thermal discomfort and can therefore be considered an indicator of urban
environmental quality.
The low-income population, unable to acquire more suitable construction materials and larger
urban lots, is the most harmed by the adverse effects of heat stored in buildings.
In the major part of the days in spring and summer, daytime air temperatures oscillate between
30oC and 35oC, which when summing the heat produced and stored by the fiber cement roofing can
supercede 45oC, exposing the population, notably the elderly and children (who remain indoors most
of the time) to unwholesome situations which are manifested in the form of ailments such as respiratory
and circulatory diseases.

131
 Therefore, urban areas of greatest socio-spatial segregation are those in which there is the
greatest morbidity due to respiratory diseases, which are very dependent on climatic influences (Figure
13). They are also the areas in which a greater intensity of heat islands is produced, in contrast to
metropolitan areas in which the dynamism of the traffic and the sources of particle emissions are the
major concerns. Thus, climate also constitutes an important factor in quality of life and indicator of
social fairness.

Fig. 13.
Map of social exclusion of Presidente Prudente
Source of information: CEMESPP (FCT/UNESP) / IBGE, Censo Demografico 2000.

132
References
ABREU, D. S., 1972. Formação histórica de uma cidade pioneira paulista. Presidente Prudente:
Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras.
AMORIM, M. C. C. T., 2000. O clima urbano de Presidente Prudente. São Paulo: Faculdade de
Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas, Universidade de São Paulo.
FERREIRA, F.L. and PRADO, R.T.A., 2003. Medição do albedo e análise de sua influência na
temperatura superficial dos materiais utilizados em coberturas de edifícios no Brasil. São Paulo:
Boletim Técnico da Escola Politécnica da USP.
MONTEIRO, C. A. de F., 1976. Teoria e Clima Urbano. São Paulo: IGEOG/USP,
MONTEIRO, C. A. F. and MENDONÇA, F., 2004. Clima Urbano. São Paulo: Contexto.

Bibliography
GOMEZ, A. L. and GARCIA, F. F., 1984. La isla de calor en Madrid: avance de un estudio de clima
urbano. Estudios Geográficos, 45 (174), 5-34, enero-marzo.
JOHNSON, D. B., 1985. Urban modification of diurnal temperature cycles in Birmingham, U. K.
Journal of Climatology. 5, 221-225.
OKE, T. R. and MAXWELL, G.B., 1975. Urban heat island dynamics in Montreal and Vancouver.
Atmospheric Environment, 9, 191-200.
PITTON, S. E. C., 1997. As cidades como indicadores de alterações térmicas. São Paulo, Faculdade de
Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas, Universidade de São Paulo.
SANT’ANNA NETO, J.L., 2002. Os climas das cidades brasileiras. Presidente Prudente: UNESP.
 

133
A new thermal comfort index for urban design: the case of São Paulo, Brazil.

Author:
Leonardo Marques Monteiro (corresponding author)

Co-Author:
Marcia Peinado Alucci

Department of Technology
Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism
University of São Paulo
Rua Oscar Freire, 1523, s.82, São Paulo - SP - Brazil, 05409-010
Tel: +55 11 9831-0512 e-mail: leo4mm@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
This paper presents a research that proposes a thermal comfort index, allowing the verification of the
thermal adequacy of urban spaces in the city of Sao Paulo, the greatest Brazilian metropolitan area,
with over eighteen million inhabitants. The method adopted is experimental inductive (research of
micro-climatic variables and subjective answers) and deductive (simulations of predictive models). The
field research consists of 72 different micro-climatic scenarios and closely 2000 applied questionnaires.
The empirical data is treated through multiple linear regression analysis, providing a simple and easy-
to-use empirical equation to be used as predictive model.

INTRODUCTION
The city of Sao Paulo is the greatest Brazilian metropolitan area, with over eighteen million
inhabitants. This paper presents a research that proposes a thermal comfort index, allowing the
verification of the thermal adequacy of its urban spaces.
The method adopted is experimental inductive, with field research of micro-climatic variables
and subjective answers, and deductive, with regression analysis of the data gathered. Simulations of
predictive models, which were computationally processed, were done in order to comparatively check
the results.
The originality of this paper is to provide a thermal comfort index which can be properly used
for predicting thermal comfort in outdoor spaces of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Last, the experimental comparative study of different outdoor thermal comfort predictive models
allows the verification of the results.

BACKGROUND
This study considered twenty-two predictive models and their indexes. They will be here briefly
presented.
Houghten et al. (1923), of ASHVE laboratories, propose, the Effective Temperature (ET), as
determined by dry and wet bulb temperature and wind speed. Vernon & Warner (1932) propose the
Corrected Effective Temperature (CET) substituting dry bulb temperature with globe temperature.

134
 Siple & Passel (1945) develop the Wind Chill Temperature (WCT) from the data obtained with
experiences in Antarctica.
Belding & Hatch (1965) propose the Heat Stress Index (HSI), relying on a thermal balance
model with empirical equations for each exchange.
Yaglou & Minard (1957), propose the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT). ISO 7243 (1989)
gives an alternate equation for situations under solar radiation.
Gagge (1967) presents the New Standard Effective Temperature (SET*), defining it as the air
temperature in which, in a given reference environment, the person has the same skin temperature (tsk)
and wetness (w) as in the real environment.
Givoni (1969) proposes the Index of Thermal Stress (ITS), which considers the heat exchanges,
metabolism and clothes. Originally, it did not consider the radiation exchanges.
Masterton & Richardson (1979) propose the Humidex, an index calculated based on air
temperature and humidity. It is used by the Environment Canada Meteorological Service to alert people
of the heat stress danger.
Jendrizky et al. (1979) developed the Klima Michel Model (KMM). It is an adaptation of
Fanger’s model (1970), with a short wave radiation model, computed in the mean radiant temperature.
Vogt (1981) proposes the evaluation of thermal stress through the required sweat rate (Swreq).
This index was adopted by ISO 7933 (1989). Dominguez et al. (1992) present the research results of
the Termotecnia Group of Seville University, also based on Vogt (1981). The authors accept low sweat
rates according to the conditioning required.
Brown & Gillespie (1995) propose an outdoor Comfort Formula based on thermal budget (S)
with some particularities in its terms.
Aroztegui (1995) proposes the Outdoor Neutral Temperature (Tne), based on Humphreys
(1975) and taking into account the solar radiation and air speed.
Blazejczyk (1996) proposes the Man-Environment Heat Exchange model (Menex), based on
thermal balance. The author proposes three criteria, which are supposed to be considered as a whole:
Heat Load (HL), Intensity of Radiation Stimuli (R’) and Physiological Strain (PhS). He also proposes
the Subjective Temperature Index (STI) and the Sensible Perspiration Index (SP). DeFreitas (1997)
presents the Potential Storage Index (PSI) and the Skin Temperature Equilibrating Thermal Balance
(STE), both using the Menex Model.
Höppe (1999) defines the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) of a given environment
as the equivalent temperature to air temperature in which, in a reference environment, the thermal
balance and the skin and core temperatures are the same of that found in the given environment.
Givoni & Noguchi (2000) describe an experimental research in a park in Yokohama, Japan, and
propose the Thermal Sensation Index (TS).
Bluestein & Osczevski (2002) propose the New Wind Chill Temperature (NWCT), through a
physical modelling of a face exposed to wind.
Nikolopoulou (2004) presents the works developed by the project Rediscovering the Urban
Realm and Open Spaces (RUROS), proposing the actual sensation vote (ASV).
Empirical Research
Data gathering
The procedures were done following guidelines and data from [24, 25, 26, 27, 28], and are
briefly presented in the following paragraphs.

135
 For the measurements and application of questionnaires, three bases were set: the first one
under open sky, the second one shaded by trees, and the third one under a tensioned membrane
structure.
In each one of the three bases, micro-climatic variables (mean radiant temperature, air
temperature, air humidity and wind speed) were measured and a hundred and fifty people answered a
questionnaire, in six different hours of the day. These people came from different regions of Brazil.
Further studies will consider not only the results from acclimatized ones, but also comparatively the
results from those who were not acclimatized.
The questionnaire considered questions of personal characteristics (sex, age, weight, height),
acclimatization (places of living and duration) and subjective responses (thermal sensation, preference,
comfort and tolerance). Pictures were taken of everyone who would answer the questionnaire, in order
to identify clothing and activity. A forth base, at 10m high, was set for measuring meteorological
parameters (global radiation and wind speed).
The equipment used in each base was the following. Under open sky: meteorological station
ELE model EMS, data logger ELE model MM900 EE 475-016. Shaded by trees: meteorological station
Huger Eletronics model GmbH WM918 and personal computer for data logging. Under tensioned
membrane structure: station Innova 7301, with modules of thermal comfort and stress, and data logger
Innova model 1221. At 10m high: meteorological station Huger Eletronics model GmbH WM921 and a
piranometer Eppley. In each base, globe temperature was also measured through 15cm grey globes and
semiconductor sensors, storing the data in Hobo data loggers.
The measurements were done in intervals of one second, and the storage was done in intervals
of one minute, considering the average of measurements.
Data sample
On the field researches, 72 different micro-climatic scenarios were considered and 1750
questionnaires were applied during summer and winter of 2005 and 2006, in the city of Sao Paulo,
Brazil.
The limits in which the empirical data were gathered are: air temperature (ta) = 15°C~33°C;
mean radiant temperature (mrt) = 15°C~66°C; relative humidity (rh) = 30%~95%; wind speed (va) =
0,1m/s~3,6m/s. It should also be mentioned that, although it is not a limiting factor for normal
situations, the maximum and minimum clothing thermal insulation values found were 0,3 and 1,2 clo,
with mean values between 0,4 and 0,9 clo.
Considering the Typical Reference Year (TRY) for Sao Paulo (Goulart et al., 1988), the ranges
presented represent over 90% of the general climatic situations during day time. On the other hand, if it
is necessary to make an extrapolation, it must be done carefully and would better be object of further
researches.
thermal comfort index proposal
Modelling
The multiple linear regression to be presented was obtained considering the data from thirty-six
microclimatic situations, regarding the application of 875 questionnaires. Only half of the entire sample
was used in order to allow the following comparative study with other predictive models. Using only
half of the sample to perform the regression, allow confirming if the results are valid to the whole
sample. Thus, considering that the whole sample was constituted by empirical researches done during
summer and winter of 2005 and 2006, only the results from 2005 were took into consideration to
perform the following regression:

136
tsp= -3,528 + 0,0698 · ta + 0,0603 · mrt + 0,0134 · rh - 0,306 ·va (1)

where: tsp = thermal sensation perception [dimensionless], ta = air temperature [oC], mrt = mean
radiant temperature [oC], rh = relative humidity [%], v = air velocity [m/s]
with: r= 0,925; r2= 0,855; r2aj= 0,836; se= 0,339; P< 0,001.

Considering the thermal sensation perception (tsp), following the categories of the applied
questionnaires, result from -0,5 to 0,5 means neutrality; from 0,5 to 1,5 means warm; from 1,5 to 2,5
means hot; above 2,5 means very hot; from -0,5 to -1,5 means cool; from -1,5 to -2,5 means cold; and
below -2,5 means very cold.
Table 1 presents a statistic resume of the constant and the four dependent variables, where: ct=
constant, c = coefficient, se= standard error, t= statistical test t, p= significance, vif= variance inflation
factor. Table 2 presents the analysis of variance, where: DF= degrees of freedom, SS= sum of squares,
MS= mean square, F= statistical test F, p= significance.

[TABLE 1 and TABLE 2]

Equivalent Temperature
Monteiro & Alucci (2005), reviewing the state of the art of outdoor thermal comfort modelling
researches, observe that there is a tendency to use equivalent temperatures instead of interpretative
ranges, since an equivalent temperature itself, without an interpretative range, would give a notion of
the thermal sensation, taking into account a reference environment.
In this research, in order to propose an equivalent temperature model, the following
assumptions to the reference environment where done: mrt = ta; rh=50%; va=0 m/s. Considering these
assumptions, the relationship between the air temperature of the reference environment and the thermal
sensation perception is the following:

ta,re = 21,968 + (7,686 · tsp) (2)

where: ta,re = air temperature of the reference environment [oC], tsp = thermal sensation perception
[dimensionless].

By equations 1 and 2, the Temperature of Equivalent Perception [oC] is proposed:

TEP = -5,148 + 0,537 · ta + 0,464 · mrt + 0,103 · rh - 2,352 · va (3)

The Temperature of Equivalent Perception (TEP) of a given environment can be defined as a

thermal sensation scale which presents values numerically equivalent to those of the air temperature of
a reference environment (mrt=ta, rh=50%, and va=0) in which the thermal sensation perception is the
same to the one verified in the given environment.
Following equation 2, one may observe that the air temperature of neutrality, in the case of a
reference environment, is approximately equal to 22°C. Yet the advantage of equivalent temperatures is
the intuitive interpretation of their values, it is also interesting to provide an interpretative range, since
the intuitive interpretation is only possible after the exposition to several environments and their
respective equivalent temperatures. Thus, Table 3 presents the interpretative ranges for the
Temperature of Equivalent Perception, considering the mean values gathered in the empirical research.

137
[TABLE 3]

In the topic 3.2, the limits in which the empirical data were gathered were presented. On the
other hand, as mentioned, the multiple linear regression presented was obtained considering only half
of the entire sample in order to allow the following comparative study with other predictive models. As
a consequence, the limits in which the Temperature of Equivalent Perception (TEP) is valid are not the
same as the one presented before. Table 4 presents the limits of the microclimatic variables, in which
TEP is based. Further studies to be developed, with more comprehensive empirical data, would test the
validity of the results beyond those limits.

[TABLE 4]

Comparative verification
Criteria
Three criteria were established for comparing the simulation results with the field research
results aiming to verify the significance of the results provided by the new proposed predictive model.
The first criterion is the correlation between the results of the model parameter and the results of
the thermal sensation responses obtained in the field study. The second criterion is the correlation
between the results of the index and the results of the thermal sensation responses obtained in the field
study. The last one is the percentage of correct predictions. All the criteria are based on results
concerning all the 72 different micro-climatic scenarios and the mean thermal sensation responses for
each one of the scenarios (1750 questionnaires applied).
Concerning the indexes based on equivalent temperatures, the criterion for interpretation of the
indexes used was the one by De Freitas [19]. Yet the author proposes this one only for effective
temperatures, it was used for other equivalent temperatures because no other references were found;
except for STI, for which was used Blazejczyk [18].
Calibration
Aiming better results to the specific evaluation of open spaces of Sao Paulo, a calibration was
performed in order to fit the results from the simulations to the results found in the empirical
researches. In order to do so, each index was linguistically compared to seven values (the same used in
the field researches): three positive ones (warm, hot, very hot), three negative ones (cool, cold, very
cold) and one of neutrality (negative values do not apply for models that consider only hot
environments).
The calibration was done through iterative method, changing the range limits of each index in
order to maximize the correlation between its results and those found in the empirical researches. The
calibration could be done, also iteratively, to maximize the percentage of correct predictions. However,
it was assumed that is more important to assure the maximization of the correlation between the results
of the index and those from empirical data, once this correlation expresses the tendency of correctly
predicting other situations.
Results
Table 5 presents the final results considering the comparison criteria presented in 5.1. This table
presents the correlation modules between field study results and simulation results, without and with
the calibration process presented in 5.2

138
 In such table, C= Correlation with the model parameter; Co= Correlation with the original index
without calibration; Po= Percentage of correct predictions without calibration; Cc= Correlation with the
index with calibration; and Pc= Percentage of correct predictions with calibration.

[TABLE 5]
Conclusion
The empirical data gathered was treated through multiple linear regression analysis, providing
an empirical equation to be also used as a predictive model. The results from this equation, compared
with those from the calibrated predictive models, showed that, for the specific case of Sao Paulo, they
present better correlations with the data gathered. Concluding, the methods used provided a simple,
easy-to-use and reliable thermal comfort index to assess outdoor thermal comfort in urban spaces of the
city of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP), for
the financial support in this research.
References
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140
Table 1: Statistic summary
c se t p vif
ct -2,858 0,831 -3,439 0,002
ta 0,0698 0,0400 1,744 0,091 2,562
mrt 0,0603 0,00928 6,495 <0,001 2,348
rh 0,0134 0,00302 2,220 0,034 2,099
va -0,306 0,173 -1,764 0,087 1,152

Table 2: Analysis of variance

DF SS MS F p
Regression 4 20,928 5,232 45,661 <0,001
Residual 31 3,552 0,115
Total 35 24,480 0,699

Table 3: Interpretative ranges for Temperature of Equivalent Perception (TEP).

TEP Sensation
> 41,2 very hot
33,5 - 41,2 hot
25,8 - 33,5 warm
18,2 - 25,8 neutrality
10,5 - 18,2 cool
2,8 - 10,5 cold
< 2,8 very cold

Table 4: Limit values for microclimatic variables

variable min max
air temperature [oC] 19,5 28,9
relative humidity [%] 39,5 86,7
air velocity [m/s] 0,1 2,2
o
mean radiant temperature [ C] 20,3 59,0

Table 5: Correlation modules between field study results and simulation results
Index C Co Po Cc Pc
ET* 0,69 0,58 40% 0,64 61%
CET* 0,88 0,79 15% 0,84 81%
OT 0,71 0,63 39% 0,71 64%
EOT* 0,67 0,66 36% 0,73 65%
WCTI 0,72 0,68 25% 0,73 71%
HSI 0,80 0,74 64% 0,83 78%
WBGT 0,80 - - 0,82 77%
SET* 0,82 0,79 19% 0,81 65%
ITS 0,86 0,76 58% 0,86 81%
HU 0,65 0,61 51% 0,69 61%
PMV 0,78 0,72 56% 0,76 69%

141
PPD 0,86 - - 0,85 76%
Swreq 0,84 - - 0,83 76%
W 0,88 0,84 72% 0,88 78%
Swreq’ 0,87 0,63 58% 0,84 81%
S’ 0,87 0,74 31% 0,87 81%
Tne 0,88 0,83 63% 0,87 83%
HL 0,82 0,77 61% 0,88 83%
PhS 0,87 0,75 67% 0,85 78%
R’ 0,86 0,77 52% 0,81 78%
STI 0,86 0,82 72% 0,85 71%
SP 0,73 0,74 36% 0,70 61%
ECI 0,87 0,82 61% 0,85 74%
PSI 0,78 0,71 54% 0,80 74%
STE 0,82 0,78 35% 0,85 79%
PET 0,86 0,83 65% 0,86 80%
TS 0,68 0,64 18% 0,69 64%
NWCTI 0,84 0,74 61% 0,81 79%
ASV 0,69 0,58 40% 0,64 61%
TEP 0,93 - - 0,93 92%

142
Earth monitoring and Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) for Climate
Change mitigation
Nina Milkova Ilieva

3111 Flatwood court, Pearland, Texas 77584, USA

Strachil voivoda 6, Sofia, Bulgaria 1504, EU

e-mail: ilievanina@yahoo.com, ph. USA: 415 608 9414 ph. EU: +359 2 9 44 98 67

Abstract:
On February 16, 2005, 61 countries joined forces through the Group of Earth Observation (U.S.EPA, 2008) to build what is known as the
Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) which has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the planet. Historically,
the Earth has been studied in fragments and in isolation. This new system of systems, will enable a deeper understanding of environmental
variablity and change that will more fully address the interdependence and interaction between society and the natural environment. This
vast amount of data and information will be available to all people and decision makers. By making possible the integration of different types
of data and information, GEOSS will bring an unprecedented power of control over our choices. It will advance many public sectors and
industries such as natural resource management, the study of ecosystems, and planning. GEOSS will help us strengthen our understanding
of natural and manmade disasters, it will help promote sustainable agriculture, conserve biodiversity, and help us better respond to climate
change.
keywords: climate change, GEOSS, adaptive urbanism

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

Introduction:
General System Theory (GST), which was introduced by the biologist Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy in 1936, laid
out the foundation for system thinking, providing new ground for development as an organizational theory with
applications in numerous areas of study and disciplines, including environmental and urban design. The theory
proposed an alternative to the dominant organizational model , known as reductionism. Bartalanffy proposed
that one can only understand a system by viewing it in a holistic manner, examining the linkages and
interactions between the elements and the nonlinearity of these interactions. Unlike the old model, which
concerned itself only with discrete elements, General System Theory posited that the only way to fully evaluate a
problem or element is to understand the part in relation to the whole.
Testament to the theory’s relevance, Bertalanffy’s concept began to appear in all branches of science,
irrespective of whether the object of study was inanimate objects, living organisms, or social phenomena.
(Bertalanffy, Ludwig Von.,1968). The adoption of the theory in the social sciences and design field began in the
1960’s. Jane Jacobs first introduced system thinking in urbanism in 1961 with her book “The Death and Life of
the Great American Cities”. At that time, the dominant method was to examine the city as a collection of
independent parts. She changed the worldview of urban study by adopting a holistic approach, viewing the city
as a living organism, rejecting the view that one can understand a city while looking at the different elements in
isolation. (Jacobs, 1961)
Later Christopher Alexander, architect and urbanist also trained as a scientist,” redefined with his writings a
theory of architecture, matter, and organization for the 21st century. At the core of his work lies a radical new
theoretical framework for understanding the act of design, and the system

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

in which it occurs. His recognition of good design is not a matter of elements working properly in an additive
atomic system, but rather of regions of space amplifying one another in a larger totality. That is, one cannot
really take the environment apart into recombinable elements, as is routinely done in the analysis stage of
design programming.” (Mehaffy,2007a)

143
Although system thinking has been in use in science since the 1930’s, it has only recently begun attracting the
attention of scholars in other fields, mainly due to improved computational and technological advances, as well
as through interdisciplinary collaborations.
Current paradigms in scientific thought have widely informed the design field, dominated by the broader
philosophy of complexity thinking, which potentially has an even greater capacity for understanding complicated
phenomena than system thinking alone. Complexity thinking, like General System Theory, studies the
relationships between parts, but goes further to describe systems which give rise to a collective behavior of co-
evolving and self-organizing dynamic systems, which have led to ideas of emergence and morphogenesis. More
recently the design practice has seen morpho-ecological design, defined by Michael Hensel and Achim
Menges as a “multitude of effects, the mileu of conditions, modulations and microclimates that emanate from the
exchange of an object with its specific environment - a dynamic relationship that is both perceived and interacted
with by the subject.” (Hensel, Menges 2008).
Further on Michael Hensel emphasizes the importance of creating a new architectural tool-set and
techniques to which supplement the existing with techniques that register environmental dynamics such as
mapping, serving both analytical and generative purposes of design. (Hensel, 2007)

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS):
At the time GEOSS (Global Earth Observing System of Systems) came into existence a myriad of ongoing
programs for Earth observation existed, but none were coordinated and all these programs were specific to a
single focus problem. There were global climate observing systems, ocean observing systems, terrestrial
observing systems, biodiversity observing systems and a number of other observing systems on disasters,
such as the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters. To use these discrete tools for Earth
observation in a more powerful and effective manner one must be able to observe their interaction out of
isolation. GEOSS is an attempt to coordinate all of them instead of having many isolated observing systems.
(Fairley, 2008), Fig.1. This is happening at a time when The United Nations Association outlines in a briefing
on climate change that one of the core challenges will be to bring coherence in often fragmented systems
and to ensure that, as much as possible, the duplication of efforts is minimized and the whole adds up to
more than the sum of the parts. (Evans, 2008)

(fig.1) @ EPA GEO

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

On February 16, 2005, 61 countries joined forces trough the Group of Earth Observations (GEO) to build a
Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) that will revolutionize our understanding of the planet.
Historically the Earth was studied in fragments and in isolation. The new “ System of Systems” for the first
time, will enable us to get real-time environmental monitoring of the entirety of Earth’s conditions, linking

144
diverse systems together and studying their interactions. Emergent geo-spatial technologies, which will
expand our observation scale and enable deeper understanding of environmental variability and change, will
address better the interdependence between human society and the natural environment. By making
possible the integration of different types of data and information, GEOSS will bring an unprecedented power of
control over our choices. This vast amount of data and information will be available to all people and decision
makers, through the GEO Portal web-based interface that provide free, reliable, and up-to-date integrated and
user-friendly information. It is expected to advance many public sectors and industries such as natural resource
management, the study of ecosystems, and planning. GEOSS will help us strengthen our understanding of
natural and manmade disasters, it will help promote sustainable agriculture, conserve biodiversity, and help us
better respond to climate change. (U.S. EPA, 2008)
GEOSS and Climate Change: Understanding, Assessing, Predicting, Mitigating, and Adapting to
Climate Variability and Change.
Climate Change is affected by many variables. The Global Earth Observing System of Systems will help us
track these variables more effectively, to develop better forecasting models. The global prediction models will
also enable us to monitor long-term changes and enable planners and decision makers to consider future
adaptable scenarios to these changes. These models will eventually become interoperable, creating a system
of systems that will facilitate the global

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

exchange and observation of data and forecasting information. The resulting ability to access new and more
powerful decision support tools will eventually change the way we approach the problem. It will also help to
reduce risk over the long term by providing a better understanding of the relationship between natural disasters
and climate change. Climate forecasts must become an integral part of sustainable development planning and of
strategies for adaptation and risk management.
The climate has societal impact as well, including urbanism. Coping with climate change and variability
demands a scientific understanding based on sufficient and reliable observations and internationally,
multidisciplinary collaborations. GEOSS outcomes will enhance the capacity to model, mitigate, and adapt to
climate change and variability. Better understanding of its impacts on the Earth system, including its human
and economic aspects, will contribute to improved climate prediction and facilitate sustainable development.
(GEO, Cape Town Ministerial Summit, 2007)

145
 (fig.2) @Ilieva

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

SERVIR VIZ and GEOSS (Global Earth Observing System of Systems)

decision support tool:

SERVIR VIZ is a customized version of NASA’s free, open source 3D earth exploration tool known as World
Wind, allowing users to employ GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of System) data. (fig.3). In this
user-friendly interface, using the GEOSS decision support tool (fig.2), one can easily access and analyze
important environmental data such as disaster, ecology, weather and climate change. Currently, it is available
only for the Mesoamerica region in an interactive, 3D globe environment, but it is expected to be developed soon
for the entire globe. Integrating satellite and other geospatial data improves vital scientific knowledge and
decision making by managers, researchers, students and the general public. Information on past weather and
projected climate should inform development practitioners as they design projects to be more resilient to climate
variability and change.

(fig.3)
According to the GEO Secretariat Director Jose Achahce we are not going to find a solution to climate
change for number of decades, possibly centuries, so adaptation is going to be a priority. Forecasting
information is essential for planning adaptation efforts. Whatever the adaptation scenarios are, early
anticipation is crucial. These estimates can be used to develop regional and national climate change
simulations, as well as identify adaptive management strategies for responding to these changes. (Fairley,
2008)

146
N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation
The SERVIR VIZ project has developed comprehensive climate change scenarios for Mesoamerica for future
years: 2010, 2015, 2050 and 2099. Change in surface temperature, wind, precipitation and air temperature
(fig.4-7) forecasting for the years 2005-2099 should enhance vulnerability assessment as development planners
consider adaptation strategies of a project. SERVIR VIZ will make the results of climate change models
accessible to broad users of the scientific, as well as the design community.

(fig.4) Surface temperature, Mesoamerica simulations, 2005-2099

(fig.5) Wind, Mesoamerica simulations, 2005-2099

(fig.6) Precipitation, Mesoamerica simulations, 2005-2099

(fig.7) Air temperature, Mesoamerica simulations, 2005-2099

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

Climate Mapper for SERVIR VIZ
Climate Mapper is a plug in developed for the SERVIR VIZ program to give more precise access to historical
weather data as well as projections of climate change. (fig. 8) Currently, the data is centered in Africa, but a
global dataset is forthcoming.
A grid, roughly 50 by 50 km (or ½ degree by ½ degree) overlays the entire continent. Data that is available for
each grid cell specifies the current situation, but also as a projection for the period of the next 100 years. This
includes Temperature, Precipitation, Potential-Evapotranspiration, Climate-Moisture-Index, Runoff, Soil-
Moisture, etc. The following figures illustrate, how one can easily obtain the observed monthly temperature data
in the form of chart/graphs and colored maps for the period 1960-1990 (fig 10,11), for any location, as well as
future (fig.12) and for the years 2051-2060 (fig.13). Figure 14,15 and 16 demonstrate average precipitation, run
off, climate moisture for the years 1961-1990, as well as future modeled scenarios with the average change for
the next 100 years.

147
 (fig.8)
Observed data:
The observed data is the temperature For the selected specific location
for the base period (1961-1990) the chart shows temperature changes in months and years (1961-1990)

( fig.10 ) (fig.11)

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

Scenario 1: Scenario 2:
Modeled monthly temperature from 2031-2040 Modeled monthly temperature from 2051-2060
monthly and yearly temperature graph monthly and yearly temperature graph
for selected location, ( Lat. 8.1, Lon. 28.56) for selected location, ( Lat. 8.1, Lon. 28.56)

(fig.12) (fig.13)

(fig.14)
Average Precipitation: for the period the time period 1961-1990

(fig.15)
Average Runoff for the period the time period 1961-1990

148
 (fig.16)
Average Climate Moisture for the time period 1961-1990

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

City of Aburja, Nigeria.
Using, for example, the city of Aburja, Nigeria will illustrate some of the available data for the region, which we
can obtain by using the Climate mapper. By choosing the Longitude and Latitude (09.05 N., 07.32E) of the
city’s location, we can obtain the average change per month in precipitation, climate moisture, and soil moisture
in the past (1961-1990), as well as in future scenarios and projections. (fig.17).

Average Change in Precipitation Average Change in Climate Moisture

2031-2040 2031-2040

Precipitation 1958-1990 Soil Moisture 1961-1990

Average Change in Soil Moisture Average Change in Climate Moisture

2031-2040 2031-2040

(fig.17)

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

GEOSS outcomes will enhance the capacity to model, mitigate, and adapt to climate change and variability.
This available information defines new framework of ever changing forces and conditions, within which our
design project will be embedded. It unfolds new potentials for more intelligent and efficient relationship between
natural and built environments such as context driven adaptation and responsiveness, informed by these
dynamic forces.

149
 “Linking the response of infrastructure systems to groups of environmentally intelligent buildings
will allow higher-level behavior to emerge. We are within the horizon of a systematic change, from a design and
production of individual “signature” buildings to an ecology in which evolutionary designs have sufficient
intelligence to adopt and to communicate, and from which intelligent cities will emerge.” (Weinstock, 2004)
Cities become dynamic systems, which can sense, respond and adapt to the feedback of environmental ,
climate change conditions.

(fig.17) Postagriculture project, Achim Menges

Parametric information about the climatic requirements of the agricultural and recreational systems and their sub processes was used to
build an organizational model. The model is dynamic and is used for evolving the development of activities, organized by differential
intensities of light, temperature and smell. It is employed to test internal development and changes, and to absorb and reconfigure new
information and external expertise , and establishes a continuous feedback loop enabling an intricate relation between analytical and
generative nodes.

(fig. 18) Phenotype skin model,

Development of Phenotype is driven by environmental forces. Environmental data from interior and exterior is collected by local
sensors and processed locally. The activity of individual panels is a response to a local stimuli. Each panel is interdependently
responsive, capable of modulating the passage of light , heat and air trough it in both directions and managing its own energy economy.
Sensing and activation are embedded functions in each individual panel and multiple links between them provide the means for a
distributed intelligence, from which complex global performance emerges. The exterior appearance will be constantly changing depending
on the environmental triggers.

150
(fig.19) Dae Song Lee, Michael Hensel , Achim Menges
The particular parametric specification of the system is informed by extensive measuring and mapping of thermal , luminous and aeolic
conditions across the specific test site. Environmental measurement s taken for different times of the day were listed on a data spreadsheet.

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

Conclusion:

Although the systemic, holistic approach for understanding, assessing, mitigating and adapting to environmental
variability and change is not new, the GEOSS ( Global Earth Observing System of Systems) will enable us for
the first time to test the limits of this new paradigm in planning and architecture as never before.
The new interface is an example of how the next generation of computer tools, using dramatic improvements in
computer power and the availability of spatially related data, will support decision makers on all levels, from
intergovernmental organizations to everyday citizens. It provides a user-friendly information and decision support
tool, which is easily accessible. By having available this data and analysis, linking diverse environmental
monitoring network data and models, GEOSS will enable us to make evidence based decisions about global
environmental challenges. It provides us a new perspective on how to gather and manage information globally
and implement it regionally.
GEOSS brings a global vision and perspective to address the current and future environmental challenge, while
supporting multidisciplinary, cross-cultural collaboration and coordination, which is crucial for coping with climate
change, bringing normally independent disciplines together to create new alliances.

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

Notes:

1. GEO was established in February 2005 by the Third Earth Observation Summit in Brussels at the end of a process that started in 2003
with the First Earth Observation Summit in Washington D.C. It was launcehd in respond to call for action by the 2002 World Summit on
Sustainable Development and the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized countries. These high level meetings recognized that
international collaboration is essential for exploiting the growing potential of Earth observations to support decision making in an
increasingly complex and environmentally stressed world. As of January 2008, GEO’s membership includes 72 Governments and the
Europe and the European Commision : In addition , 52 intergovernmental, internationsl and regional organizations with a mandate in Earth
obseravtion or related issues have been recognized as Participating Organizations.

151
2. Reductionism can either mean (a) an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of
their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things or (b) a philosophical position that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts,
[1]
and that an account of it can be reduced to accounts of individual constituents. This can be said of objects, phenomena, explanations,
theories, and meanings.(wiki)

3. Since the Descartes, the “scientific method” had progress under two related assumptions. A system could be broken down into its
individual components, so that each component could be analyzed as an independent entity, and the components could be added in the
linear fashion to describe the totality of the system. Von Bertalanffy, who is the founder of the interdisciplinary school of thought, known as a
general system theory, proposed that both assumptions were wrong. On a contrary, a system is characterized by the interaction of its
components and the nonlinearity of those interactions.

Bibliography:

1. Hensel, Menges. 2008, Versatility and Vicissitude: Performance in Morpho-Ecological Design. Wiley

2. Hensel, Michael, Menges, Achim.2007, Morpho-Ecologies: Towards Heterogeneous Space In Architecture

Design . AA Publications

3. Evans, Alexander.2008.UNA-UK Briefing paper series on climate change., United Nations Association of the
UK

4.Walonick David S. Walonick., General Systems Theory.[online] Available from:

<http://www.survey-software-solutions.com/walonick/systems-theory.htm>. [Accessed 06/20008]

5. Bertalanffy, Ludwig Von.,1968."General System Theory: Foundation, Development, Application." George

Braziller Inc.

6. Michael Mehaffy, 2007." Notes on the genesis of wholes, Christopher Alexander and his .continuing
influence." Urban Design International ( p. 41-44)

7. Jacobs, Jane., "The Death and Life of Great Amreican cities",1961 p432, Publisher: Random House

8. Alexander, Christopher. 2004. The Nature of Order, Center for Environmental Structure

9. A Pattern language: Towns, buildings, constructions by Christopher Alexander

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA 1977, ISBN-10 -019509199

N.M.Ilieva Earth monitoring and GEOSS for CC mitigation

10. Katarxis #3, September 2004, London UK, " New Science, new urbanism, new architecture"

11. US Environmental Protecting Agency.,(2008)., Global Earth Observing System of Systems

(GEOSS)report.[online] Available from:
<http://www.epa.gov/geoss/>. [Accessed 05.20.2008]

12. Fairley, Peter, 2008. Conversation With GEO Secretariat Director José Achache.[online].Earthzine.Available
from:
<http://www.earthzine.org/2008/04/15/the-geo-challenge-an-earthzine-conversation-with-geo-secretariat-
director-jose-achache>. [Accessed 06.08.2008]

13. Cape Town Ministerial Summit. (2007), The First 100 Steps to GEOSS, GEOSS 10-Year Implementation
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152
14..The Mesoamerican regional Visualization and Monitoring system.2007.[online].Available from:
< http://servirtest.nsstc.nasa.gov/manual.html>. [Accessed: 06/2008]

15. The Institute for Geospatial Technology at Cayuga Community College, Inc.2008. Climate Mapper for
SERVIR VIZ. [online].Available from:
< http://www.iagt.org/servir/servir_viz/climatemapper.asp>.[ Accessed 06/2008]

16. Michael Weinstock, “Morphogenesis and the Mathematics of Emergence,”AD Profile 169 (2004):11

153
Disappearances and Apparitions: Urban ecosystem research and education relating to the Chao
Phraya River delta and the city of Bangkok, Thailand.

Brian McGrath mcgrath@newschool.edu

Associate Professor of Urban Design
Department of Architecture, Parson the New School for Design
25 East 13th St. New York, NY, U.S.A.

Danai Thaitakoo danait@yahoo.com / danathai@gmail.com

Lecturer
Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Architecture,
Chulalongkorn University, Phyathai Rd., Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

Abstract

The urban hydro-agricultural complex of the Chao Phraya Delta was radically transformed as a
result Bangkok's rapid and expansive car-based urbanization over the last fifty years. While the delta
and the city are now in conflict, they were once entangled in a highly resilient absorbent agricultural
matrix in concert with climatic cycles of monsoon and dry seasons. This paper will argue that urban
design education and research can begin to address the pressing need of adaptation to climate change in
Asia’s delta mega-cities through a careful reexamination of the evidence of the resilient performative
capacity of this delta city’s past through systematic archival, remote sensing and field observation.

The Politics of Cultural Disappearances and Apparitions in Urban Design

Akbar Abbas, (1997) has identified cinema, architecture and writing as three spheres where
Hong Kong culture has been defined through tracing the process of cultural disappearances. As
Marshall Berman (198?) has pointed out, urbanization is always marked by both creation and
destruction. He captures the destructive force of modernization by quoting Karl Marx in the title of his
book on modernity and the city, “all that is solid melts into air.” While the focus of Berman’s book is
19th century Paris and 20th century New York, Abbas has demonstrated the viability of the politics of
cultural disappearance in the modernization of Asian cities. This paper will examine Abbas and
Berman’s cultural readings not only in terms of disappearances but also in relation to the apparition of
different actors and agents in urban design and will argue for both comprehensive and detailed urban
design research and education on the implications of this landscape of disappearances and apparitions
in relation to in the context of climate change.

The paper will be organized around three overlapping eras of historical research in the socio-
natural systems which constitute the Chao Phraya Delta region, as well as three periods of modern

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urbanization change in Bangkok. The first, from around 1950 to 1970 comprises the Cold War era and
Thailand’s geopolitical alliance with the U.S. American advised, financed and directed much of the
planning of the city and the Kingdom during this period of rapid growth. The long term field work on
the social ecology of rice growing village of Bang Chan east of Bangkok by social scientists from the
Cornell Thailand project, will be examined. Lucien M. Hanks’ Rice and Man: Agricultural Ecology in
Southeast Asia (1972) will be examined along with Bang Chan: Social History of a Rural Community
in Thailand.

The second period of examination will be from 1970 to 1990, which in the vacuum following
the American military withdrawal from Southeast Asia, was filled by foreign investment and research
from the Center for South East Asian Studies at Kyoto University in Japan. Works examined
include Shigeharu Tanabe’s Historical geography of the canal system in the Chao Phraya, 1977,
Yoneo Ishii’s Thailand: A Rice-Growing Society of 1978, and Yoshikazu Takaya’s Agricultural
Development of A Tropical Delta : A Study of the Chao Phraya Delta of 1987.Together they produced
comprehensive historical surveys of a rice growing society. While the American’s anthropological
work is marked by a fascination with the “other” in their close examination of one village, The
Japanese scholars, impressed by the capability of Southeast Asia’s deltas as “the world’s rice bowl,”
focused on the common rice growing culture they shared. Comparing the American and Japanese
research reveals differing cultural concepts of nature, and the relationship between the urban and rural.

Finally, we will examine the development of Bangkok from 1990 to the present and the
emergence of transnational researchers in the last twenty years in new research the Faculty of
Architecture and Chulalongkorn University which reflect an acute understanding of the challenges
facing the city in the near future. Of particular importance for current education and research programs
is a deeper understanding of the early modernization of Bangkok between 1890 and 1940. This
emergent research and education field in Thailand represents a hope for achieving urban design models
which grow out of more intimate knowledge of the Thai cultural and environmental historical contexts,
especially in its examination of a more complex ecosystem outside of the American and Japanese
research infatuation with rice cultivation.

As both Abbas and Berman demonstrate, disappearance and destruction have both cultural and
political dimensions. While Berman has tied this to capitalism and modernization, in Abbas we see
how colonialism and post-colonialism also contribute to the political dimensions of disappearance.
Like Turkey and Japan, while Thailand has never been colonized, it has had to modernize and develop
in different periods according to outside models. This has resulted in the disappearance of much
indigenous knowledge as expertise and answers have been sought from abroad. In tracing the recent
history of this tension between indigenous and foreign knowledge, this paper asserts the importance of
an urban design educational and research framework that balances transnational discourse with
investment in indigenous knowledge in order to begin to develop resilient urban design models in the
face of the imperatives of climate change.

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1950-1970: American Cold War Research and the Planning of Greater Bangkok

When Chulalongkorn University first hosted Columbia University’s Urban Design Program in
2003, we traveled to Minburi, in search of the “rural” rice growing village of Bang Chan, the research
field site chosen by Lauriston Sharp in 1948. (Sharp and Hanks, 1978) Sharp and Hanks, together with
numerous doctoral students and researchers conducted long term anthropological research on the
adaptation of social and agricultural practices in response to changing economic conditions in Thailand.
While the American researchers’ decades of close-up field observation, documentation, oral histories
and interviews with village informants comprises a robust archive of knowledge on the
interrelationships between economic conditions based on access to markets, social structures of family
and work force, and changes in agricultural practices. Sharp realized that a comprehensive study of rice
growing villages in Thailand was unfeasible and his decision to focus the Cornell Thailand Project
research on this single village was based on its proximity to Bangkok, and therefore its inevitable
disappearance within the duration of the study.

In Rice and Man: Agricultural Ecology in Southeast Asia, Lucien M. Hanks (1972) points to
three significant shifts in socio-ecological practices by the villagers in Bang Chan. The first rice
farmers began to cultivate the scrubby wilderness east of Bangkok following the construction of the
San Saeb Canal by King Rama 3 between 1837 and 1840. This 53.5 kilometer long canal was built as
part of the infrastructure for war with the the conflict with Vietnam over Cambodia to establish a water
transport for soldiers and weapons to Cambodia. While in Rice and Man Hanks refers to his research as
a agricultural ecology or social ecology and Sharp and Hanks (1978) in Bang Chan: Social History of a
Rural Community in Thailand emphatically refer to Bang Chan as a rural community, by its location
along this important artery and the conclusion of the research about the adaptation of the village to
changing urban markets in Bangkok, their work can be interpreted as urban ecosystem studies with a
great relevance to urban design research and education in respect to the changing social economic and
environmental conditions of climate change.

Hanks begins his discussion on the relation between the village of Bang Chan and the
cultivation of rice by examining the qualities and history of rice as a crop and a food source. He also
establishes rice as part of dynamic ecosystems in Nature that require social energy for cultivation. This
is the key framework through which in the second part of the book he examines the adaptations of rice
cultivation to a changing economic environment. He divides these changes into three successive
periods of changing chultivation by first tracing back to the years of shifting cultivation between 1850
and 1890, the transitional years of broadcasting which just preceded the Cornell field work between
1890 and 1935, and the years of transplanting immediately from 1935 through 1970 when the study
was published.

The first method of the first migrant farmers that the Cornell researchers deduced through
interviews with the oldest resident informant from Bang Chan was shifting cultivation (1850-1890).
This method is the least labor and tool intensive, requiring just the digging of holes and planting seeds,
but requires a surplus of land to support the periodic moving of fields and their regeneration to forests.
Broadcast cultivation was introduced by new migrants who brought water buffalo and plows to more
restricted land holdings. New world markets opened up by the modernizations of King Rama 5 (1868-
1910) and the great inflation in prices following World War I. Water supplies the nutrients to a
broadcast fields which are planted perennially. Finally, in the context of a world economic depression

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and deflation and World War II, there was a great increase in labor, yet an even larger global demand
for rice. Larger extended family units invested in the labor of constructing the complex of dikes and
paddies for transplanting rice from nurseries to paddies. In spite of the increase in demand and
production, Rice and Man concludes with the demise of rice farming in Bang Chan in 1970 as factories
and housing for their workers takes over rice farms.

The distinctive cultural feature that the Cornell researchers marvel at is the flexibility of
the Thai household. Unlike the rigid nuclear family, both the Thai house and the thai household can be
added to and adapted to the needs. On the village level the larger extended families generate more
wealth and stronger client/patron ties, as well as the ability to support Buddhist monastic communities
and government institutions. The micro world of the village of Minburi gives us an close-up vantage
point of a micro ecology over a long time period. The methodology, if not the conclusion, of this
research is a significant research and educational model which we, at Chulalongkorn University’s
Faculty of Architecture, have continued to adapt in our long term socio-ecological research in the
Bangkok Metropolitan region. While during the workshop with the Columbia students, we were not
able to find any rice fields in Minburi, we did find some turf farming developed to serve the new
suburban subdivisions which ring Bangkok, which continues to validate Sharp and Hanks’ research on
landscape transformation fifty years later. This continued validation of the importance of bottom-up
social behavior that is so valuable to the issues Bangkok is now facing as it seeks to develop resilient
and adaptable urban design models.

Benedict Anderson, a successor to Sharp and Hanks at the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell,
describes the origins and spread of nationalism in Southeast Asia as the creation of Imagined
Communities. (1983) Bang Chan, for the Cornell Thailand Project was an imagined community. Their
close-up lens could not take in the rapid change that was happening just outside the geographical frame
of their research. Modern industrial Bangkok was being created with the Cold War geo-political and
economic alliance with America, and the city was being recreated not with the knowledge uncovered in
their exhaustive study but with Los Angeles and Houston as urban design models. What was imagined
by the Cornell Thailand Project was that Bang Chan was “rural” when it had always been an extension
of the first canal and then road tentacles of Bangkok.

Anderson’s essay “Withdrawal Systems” (1998) marks the student revolts of October 6, 1976 as
a turning point in Thai history in larger part due to the impact of American influence. In May 1975, the
Royal Thai Government asked the United States to remove all of its combat forces (27,000 troops, 300
aircraft) by 1976. (wikipedia) The American’s withdrew from their military involvement in Southeast
Asia between 1973-1975, but the influence in Bangkok urbanism has been indelible. American lifestyle
continues to be an apparition which has accompanied the disappearance of the bucolic rural agricultural
society Sharp and Hank’s imagined. Thongchai Winichakul, (1994) an exiled student revolutionary
from 1976 and a student of Benedict Anderson, has produced the seminal work on the disappearance of
the hydro-body of Thai urbanism and the appearance of land based urbanism in Siam Mapped: A
History of the Geo-Body of a Nation. It is in the survey and mapping projects that Thongchai locates
the traces of this disappearance of a tributary culture in relation to modernization projects undertaken
by the King Chulalongkorn at the turn of the 20th century. This study of the disappearance of water-
based urbanism will return in the final era of our research survey.

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1970-1990: Japanese research and The Urban Hydro-agricultural industrial complex of the Chao
Phraya River Delta.

The Center for South East Asian Studies at Kyoto University was founded in 1965, but soon
replaced Cornell University as the international center for Thai studies following the American
strategic withdrawal from South East Asia in 1975, while essentially following the American Cold War
model of area studies. While the American’s focused in depth on an anthropological study one rice
farming village which was eventually absorbed into the Bangkok Metropolitan region, the Japanese
conduct a more comprehensive and more richly illustrated geomorphological study of a “rice growing
society.” While anthropology was the tool for American’s to discover the “other” outside of Bangkok,
the Japanese research establishes affinities between its own rice growing culture and those of Southeast
Asia.

Yoneo Ishii has assembled eleven interdisciplinary research projects between 1963 and
1974 which overlap with the last visits of the Cornell researchers to Bang Chan. history, geography,
anthropology, political science, sociology, geomorpolgoy, soil science are all represented, but
agronomy, its history and economics frame the anthology in the initial and three concluding chapters,
and the other disciplines all circulate around agriculture as the dominant them. This research must have
had great significance for rapidly modernizing and industrializing Japan following World War II, and
formed the basis for a strategic economic alliance between Thailand and Japan which resulted in the
Japan-led industrialization of Thailand itself.

Shigeharu Tanabe (1977) researched the historical geography of the canal system in the Chao
Phraya delta from the Ayutthaya period to the fourth reign of the Chakri Dynasty, while Yoshikazu
Takaya continued this research in his book on the agricultural development of the Chao Phraya Delta.
(1987) This period of research accompanied a relocation and expansion of Japan’s industrial base to the
lower wage regions such as Thailand. While the American’s close-up research of the American team
neglected the urban changes just outside its village framework, the Japanese research exhaustively
studies the landscape that its national economic development will assist in destroying in the decades
between 1970 and 1990 when Thailand became the world fastest growing economy. (Pasuk and Baker,
1998)

The Chao Phraya River delta’s rice growing society is a complex socio-economical-ecological
relationship of structures and functions and changes (Ishii 1978). Base upon the condition of climate
(Kyuma 1978), topography (Takaya 1978) and soil (Hattori and Kyuma 1978), according to the
Japanese researchers cultural imagination, the low land/wet rice cultivation has been adopted in
according with nature (Hattori and Kyuma 1978). Landscape and people evolved together through rice
cultivation in sync with the indispensable rhythms of water cycles into a rice-economy (Ishii 1978).
The rice-economy was significantly influence by water availability, thus traditional water management
was in place for distribution of water and flood control at a small scale in according to hydrological and
topographical characteristics with unique local social organization (Ishii 1978).

The lower part of the Chao Phraya River, the geomorphologically younger part of the delta, is a
part of “the center of the geographical living space” of Thailand. (Tanabe, 1977). This view was built
upon the capability of the landscape to provide functions or potentials for human inhabitation and
exploitation, such as the capacity to produce foods and resources, the capacity to build human’s habitat

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and places, a self-regulated environment, based on the resilience of the landscape’s ecosystem and the
capability to link with aesthetic, scientific, cultural and other interest of human kind. (Zonneveld, 1988)
However, the rapid development of the lower delta for export rice cultivation affected the rapid
urbanization of the city of Bangkok (Takaya, 1987). In the early years, many canals were constructed
and functioned as highways rather than for irrigation. (Takaya, 1987). The canals radiated outward
from the center of the city, providing access to the city center as well as the agricultural market towns
along the waterways.

While the Cornell Thailand Project is notable in its close-up observation of one micro-ecology
over generational time frames, the SEAS research is much broader historical and geomorphological
contexts. Yet the question remains why did this comprehensive knowledge of a water based
urbanization based in agriculture not direct an alternative urbanization model to the car based designs
that exploded following American withdrawal. Why did Japan continue to finance car-based urbanism
rather than model the development on mass transit oriented Tokyo? Thailand has become the “Detroit
of the East, ” but it is mostly populated by Japanese auto manufacturers and their subcontractors. An
elaborate foreign financed modern expressway system was built in and around Bangkok before mass
transit could take a foot hold and the economic crisis of 1997 curtailed most plans. Industrial zones and
automobile infrastructure now dominate the Chao Phraya Delta, that fertile and fragile human altered
landscape so celebrated in the research work at CSEAS.

1990-2010: Long term ecosystem research at Chulalongkorn University

Our research in Bangkok began with the desire to combine the capability of remote sensing to
describe large scale land cover change as well as the close-up long term ethnographic research. The
hope is to develop cross-disciplinary, multi-scaler and transnational research methodologies without the
nostalgia for disappearance that created a huge gap between the Cornell and Kyoto research projects.
This work has since been complimented by an effort at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of
Architecture to recognize the agricultural, rural and village landscape as the basis of Thai urbanism,
and to survey and archive the historical records of that urban transformation. In our first project,
“Tasting the Periphery” (McGrath and Thaitakoo 2005) we complimented remote infrared sensing with
field sites along the Outer Ring Road of Bangkok. The road has yet to be completed, and in the area
southeast of Bangkok that still awaits the construction of the last link of the beltway we found the of
first Honda motorcycle factory. Discussions with farmers reveal the struggles they have had in the
thirty year limbo of waiting for the highway to be built, while trying to grow crops in water that is
contaminated by nearby industrial zones. Our method which senses the city both close-up and remote,
combines the comprehensiveness of Japanese scholarship with the thick local knowledge ascertained
by the Cornell Thailand project. (McGrath and Shane, 2005)

Of particular importance for the research at Chulalongkorn is on the early modernization of

Bangkok between 1900 and 1940, before the domination of American and Japanese influence,
particularly the period of King Chulalongkorn, (Rama 5) who the university is named after. Of special
interest is the cartographic development which accompanied modernization, and the historical maps of
the fifth reign are important artifacts which give rich detail on the changes the city went under during
this period, but also what has happened in the post World War II period. Other important documents
include the British aerial survey of the city conducted by William Hung in 1950 and the continuous
aerial survey’s since 1967 by the Royal Thai Airforce. Additionally civilian satellite imagery, from

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Landsat since 1972 and the Japanese-US Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection
Radiometer (ASTER) imagery since 1999, form our large scale data base.

Remote sensing thermal and reflection analysis is complimeted by research in the historical
changes of land use in Bangkok during 1890s to 1930s utilizing old maps and GIS. This research
intends to put forth methods of studying urban evolution and urbanization in order to understand
historic urbanization and its impacts. Moreover, this research intended to delineate the patterns of
historic physical-environmental and socio-economic factors and their influence in urbanization
processes of Bangkok during 1890-1932. This research lays the foundation of this type of research in
Thailand and will be the case study for further research in similar and related subjects. It is also will be
a case study for students, researcher to look upon as a case study for the subject of urban study.

Understanding historical context of urbanization and urban evolution in terms of urban patterns
and their underlying processes could be critical knowledge and information pertains to urban planning
and urban development policy especially the issues around climate change. The knowledge and
information can also be contributed to build a foundation of a knowledge base society that have critical
knowledge and information to make a proper decision for its future and help developing a democratic
society that can evaluate its own choices and making intelligent decision that affect its quality of life
and be able to build the place that could produce richness of human life and activities.

Bangkok is one of Asian mega-city with rapid growth rate. Bangkok is a place with more than 6
millions inhabitants with desire and expectation for richness of human life and activities. The alteration
of the landscape overtime through the course of urbanization and modernization has turned the way of
living in concert with nature into a modern way of living without the realization of natural process.
This direction of urbanization creates unforeseen consequences, which result in negative impacts on
urban environment. During 1900s-1940s periods can be view as an early evolution through
modernization. Bangkok started to expand and modernized following the influences from European
prototypes. Although rather slowly, the pattern created by urbanizing and modernizing reflex the
evolution of the city through the complexity of intermingle among ecological, economic, social,
cultural, and political processes and characteristics of that period. Bangkok started to become the center
of modern political, administration, economic, commercial, industry and services. This is a very
important transitional period of changes and modernization. Understanding the historical dynamics of
urban patterns and changes would be a critical knowledge that can be use as a foundation to study
urbanization and its’ impacts on the urban inhabitants.

Maps as historical documents represent the state of the landscape of urban and its' environ
during the period of data collecting. There are physical and biological and land use patterns that
represent underlying processes of urbanization and urban evolution. These pattern represent human
ecosystem at the specific period of time which indicate the driving factors that change the landscape of
urban intermix that thought to be vital to the conditions of urban environment and urban life. By
comparing and analyzing the different patterns and morphology of different period of times, this
research aims to understand the characteristic of urban changes in term of land use and morphology and
their underlying processes of a part of Bangkok.
GIS, in general terms, means “a computer system designed to allow users to collect, manage
and analyze large volumes of spatially referenced information and associated attribute data”

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(www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/glossary/G.htm) In our research, we would like to make a
more specific definition according to our purpose, maps and information pertaining to the study of the
past land use and urban morphology, so our definition of “Historical GIS” is “a system designed to
allow users to collect, manage and analyze large volumes of spatially referenced information and
associated attribute data extracted from historical maps and documents for the purpose of studying the
past”

In our study, we primarily use GIS as a conceptual and organizational framework for
constructing, restructuring, organizing and managing spatial data and attributes. Furthermore GIS is
also used as a tool in analyzing and synthesizing data such as disaggregating, aggregating and
visualizing information pertaining to urban patterns and processes. This research intended to use the
new methodology in the form of “Historical GIS” to explore and investigate the possibility in
visualizing and understanding the past patterns and urban morphology of Bangkok during 1890-1932.
We anticipate that this methodology would enable us to better visualizing spatial patterns of land use
and urban morphology and let us to investigate spatial patterns that this methodology would reveal to
us.

We produced and used three forms of GIS data base. The first data is geo-referenced images of
historical maps (1890, 1908s and 1932 maps). The second data is the point data of places digitized
from 1908s and 1932 maps. The third data is polygon data of land parcels digitized from 1908s maps.
The attribute data attached to the point data of places are the name of the places labeled in the maps.
The attribute data attached to the polygon data of land parcels is the records of land owners as the
accompanying records with the 1908s maps. These records contains the names of the land owners and
the size of the land parcels. All of these data were need to be built from the ground up from a paper
based data to a digital based data because there is no previous work in the field of historical GIS in the
area of Bangkok before.

Since maps from each period were made by different methods, skill and technology, we are
confronting the completely different map systems to analyze, and synthesize in our study. The
discrepancy among map data digitized from these maps mostly the systematic shifting of maps and
reference points are inevitable and make a directed and quantitative comparison unfeasible at this stage
of the study.

We can characterize the macro scale changes of land use as the transformation of agricultural
lands to urbanized areas. There are two major characteristic of land transformations the first one is the
transformation of small remnant orchard patches within the urbanized mosaic of inner urban areas. The
second characteristic of land transformations is the transformation of the rice fields along the edge of
the urbanized areas into new urbanized residential land use. In terms of urban structures, although there
were evidences of canals uses as a major transportation routes, the building of more new roads were the
major landscape changes that transformed urban morphology, land uses and relationship of urban
inhabitants to water based transportation.

As mentioned as the limitation of the data, we will need to find the effective and efficient way
of reducing the discrepancy among map data digitized from historical maps from different periods. The
solution will enable us to perform directed and quantitative comparison of map data from historical
maps. We need to classify and delineate, in detail, urbanized land and agricultural land for the purpose

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of studying the dynamics and characteristic of urbanization and transformation of agricultural land to
urbanized land through the 1890-1932. This will reveal the dynamics and characteristic of changes
from agricultural based town into commercial, industrial and service based city. During our detailed
exploring and investigating the list of the land owner of the 1908 maps, we discovered the details in
terms the prefix, noble rank and others of the name of the land owners appear in the list. These prefix
can point out to the ethnic group, social and economic status, relationship to royal family and certain
types of land use. In our initial analysis, historical GIS help us delineated patterns that we were able to
visualize the clustering patterns of the ethnic group, social and economic status, relationship to royal
family, and certain types of land uses. So the in depth analysis and interpretation of the land owner list
need to be performed in order to delineate a thematic map of the ethnic group, social and economic
status of 1908 Bangkok as a tool to study social structure and dynamics and urban morphology in
Bangkok during 1908.

The further research will put forth a method of analyzing and synthesizing historical maps in
systematic and explicit analytical manner using Geographic Information System. Better understanding
the characteristic of spatial and temporal of urban changes in term of land use and morphology and the
relationships with their underlying processes through the broader framework of human ecology could
lead to a better preparation for a more sustainable urban planning.

The work of the researchers from Kyoto provides the basis for systematic study of urban as well
as their intended agricultural ecosystems. Upstream capitals like Chiang Mai sent tribute downstream
first to Sukhothai, then Ayutthaya and finally to Bangkok. The design of these cities reflects the divine
order of the Buddhist monasteries and royal palaces, with adaptations to local geographies. Chiang Mai
is a moated city built within a mountain valley. The city uses and filters the water that comes from the
near by Doi Suthep Mountain before feeding the orchards and rice fields which line the Ping River.
Sukhothai is the first Siamese capital city, and its builders adjusted the geometry of the city away from
the ideal east/west alignment of the older Khmer settlement, instead orienting the city in line with a
water axis that travels down the hills and into the river valley comprising a similar orchard/paddy
agricultural landscape. The great city of Ayutthaya was built on a constructed island at the confluence
of three rivers which fed a regular grid of canals which crisscrossed the city. Ayutthaya replaced
Angkor as the dominate capital in the region and the surrounding wet agricultural landscape provided a
natural protective barrier for the city. Finally, Bangkok was the site of the reconstitution of the Siamese
Kingdom by the Chakri dynasty in the Chao Phraya Delta.

The tributary cultural geography in the Chao Phraya River Basin terminates in the distributary
network of an endlessly meandering network of natural streams and constructed waterways in and
around Greater Bangkok. Absorbing, distributing and retaining water during the dry season and
draining excess water during wet season, the vast network of canals brings tangible evidence of the
regions larger hydrological cycles to the details of every-day life in the historically urbanized delta. The
research of the formative basis of canal building and rice farming in the Chao Phraya Delta has been
complimented by the groundbreaking work of Terdsak Tachakitkachorn on the orchard farming west of
Bangkok. Bangkok is situated in a slight deltaic high amidst a predominantly low lying, flat terrain of
the lower Chao Phraya River Delta. The area was first urbanized during the Ayutthaya period, as a vast
network of mixed fruit orchards and market towns planted within a harsh marshland. (Tachakitkachorn,
2005) Along the canal banks were homes and shop houses. The lands in between were fruit orchards
and rice paddies.

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 The research of Terdsak has demonstrated that from the Ayutthaya period, this delta was a vast
planted forest of productive orchards which supported a network of market towns interconnected by
waterways. (Terdsak, 2005) The landscape of Chao Phraya River Delta in the 20th century went
through the processes of modification and transformation to become the world’s rice bowl and the
undisputed world leader of rice production for export. The locally managed system of rice farming was
modernized beginning with the arrival of Dutch engineer Homan van der Heide in 1902.
(Brummelhuis, 2005) The inhabitants of the Chao Phraya Delta have been through long periods of
adaptation and resilience in dealing with various kinds of landscape change, and the complex
distributed city of orchards, rice, fish and prawn farms, as well as electronics and automobile factories
now faces new challenges related to climate change, lands subsidence and rising sea levels.

The other major research project of the Chulalongkorn period is on Homan van der Heide, a
Dutch engineer who worked for the Thai government between 1902 and 1909 and the creator of the
royal irrigation department proposed an ambitious plan for economic development that would
significantly increase the wealth of the nation by the way of building irrigation and drainage system in
the Chao Phraya River delta (Brummelhuis 2007). A hydro-economy was viewed as: A good irrigation
and drainage system would maintain water supply throughout the year, thus a period of rice cultivation
can be extended and also the area for rice cultivation can be expanded. Quality and quantity of rice
could be improved, and the major canals and their branches would deposit more silt on the plot as the
way to replenish the field from fertilizing effect. Moreover, flooding of village and gardens could be
prevented as a result orchards lands can be expand and fruit production can be improved. Pure dinking
water would become available throughout the region and during the whole year. Besides, extensive
network of canals would improve transportation which include road building on the embankment
(Brummelhuis 2007).

The promise of this research and educational direction at Chulalongkorn is in its close ties with
the Bangkok Metropolitan Admistration’s new climate change initiatives.
Bangkok, a tropical megacity, occupies a vast area of the lower Chao Phraya Delta with an estimated
area within the administrative boundary is around 1568 Sq.Km. and urbanized area around 613
Sq.Km.(BMA 1999, 2003). This vast area contains a daytime population around 10 million people and
around 7 million registered population (BMA 2004c).

The Bangkok metropolitan area can be classified into three categories as (BMA 1999, 2003):
1. Inner city: It is the area consists of old city core, high-density commercial centers, and high-
density residential area with high population density.
2. Urban fringe: It is the area between the inner city and the outer part, which characterized by
the urban sprawl with high growth rate of population and development.
3. Suburb: It is the outer part of the city consists of mostly agricultural areas and open space, a
mixture of urban and rural characteristics.

The recent trend of urban growth is concentrated in the urban fringe area, a transition between
the inner city and the outer part or suburb area. This urban-rural intermixed area can be characterized
by the sprawl of old and new residential estate developments, clusters of industrial estate, strip
developments of commercial areas along the roads and large shopping centers. These settlements
situate in the old agricultural areas that can be viewed as the pattern of patchy human developments in

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the matrix of agricultural and open fields. The current governor of Bangkok has joined the international
consortium of cities, C40 that is committed to reducing carbon emissions. It is as part of this initiative
that the most recent group of Columbia University Urban Design students participated in a workshop
sponsored by Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Architecture and the BMA. We conclude our paper
with a report on this student work completed just this Spring Semester, 2008.

The lower Chao Phraya Delta including Bangkok metropolitan area is under the influence of
following hydro-ecological factors (Jarupongsakul, 2000).

1. The rainfall in upland watershed of the Chao Phraya River creates excessive flow from the northern
part of the river basin. The excessive flow runs through Bangkok towards the sea and causes
overflow from the Chao Phraya River. It also creates the flow of run-off from the northern
and eastern areas runs through Bangkok due to geomorphic and topographical
characteristics of the area.

2. The rainfall in the lower Chao Phraya Delta and Bangkok creates excessive runoff in the area.

3. The backup of the Chao Phraya River due to the high tides slows water discharge.

Compounded with the low-lying flat terrain, the topography has an elevation of less than 2.5
meters with virtually no gradient. The landscape of the area is greatly dominated by these hydro-
ecological characteristics that compounds the flood conditions severely. As a result, draining excessive
runoff is very difficult.

Lying on the low-lying of the lower Chao Phraya Delta, Bangkok encounters periodic floods
every year. As an agricultural settlement in the past, flood, a natural process, was a part of life and
considered life’s nourishment. Historically people lived in concert with the natural process of flooding
as essential to the wet rice growing economy, while the modern city depends on the immediate release
of excess rain water, upstream runoff and tidal surge through elaborate technologies of flood control
dikes and gates, which too often remain closed to water flows and discharge. The alteration of the land
and waterscape overtime through the course of urbanization and modernization has turned the effect of
flooding into a negative impact, especially in urban areas. Flooding has become a natural hazard and is
considered threatening to life and property, although several factors contributing to urban flood are the
consequences of human activities. Engineering solutions (structural controls) to prevent flooding were
introduced at great cost. Unforeseen consequences due to the limitation of structural controls have
changed the landscape and natural process that have affected the way of life for people to a great
degree. Moreover, when the structural controls fail, it causes greater damage (Jarupongsakul, 2000).

The plight of climate change compounds an already complex ecosystem with many conflicts
between delta and the city dynamics. More hot days, longer summers, higher rain intensity, more water,
and sea level rise (SEA START RC 2007) are among the main concerns in the Bangkok metropolitan
area and vicinity. These changes would be compounded by the increasing threats of urban heat island
phenomena, periodic flood during rainy season, drought during dry season, loss of coastal land due to
coastal erosion, industrialized prawn production, and land subsidence due to industrial ground water
withdrawal. The delta and the city present threats to each other only because of a lack of recognition of

164
natural hydrological processes and the indigenous and traditional knowledge of living in concert with
natural cycles of wet and dry seasons. The dynamic of space-time relationships of human and nature
has failed to recognize the importance of the hydro-ecology of the landscape of the city.

Liquid Perception: Disappearances and Apparitions

Along the 14th parallel, day and night oscillate neatly between predictable twelve hour divisions
and months pass with little change in temperature barely affected by the earth’s axial tilt. However
between May and October, a slight shift in atmospheric currents brings monsoon rains from the
Indonesian archipelago north to the mountain ranges ringing northern Thailand whose runoff feeds the
Mae Nam Chao Phraya River Basin - and Bangkok sprawling across its flat, silted tidal delta. Seasonal
cycles of precipitation rather than temperature extremes of winter and summer bring rhythm to life just
above the equator, putting into motion human cycles of planting, harvest and migration, as well as
shaping Thai beliefs and rituals. The mountain rainforests release a sacred mixture of rain and nutrients
which follows the historical geography of the capital cities of the Kingdom of Siam through the alluvial
valleys at Sukhothai (13th century); terraced floodplains converging at Ayutthaya (14th-18th centuries)
before finally depositing in deltaic Bangkok (18th to present).

Thai urbanity and domesticity evolved from intimate association with climatic, topographic and
hydraulic conditions. River, canal and lagoon based garden cities retained six months of rainwater for
the following six dry ones, staging ceremonies and rituals in sync with attentive observation of
hydrological cycles and variations. The Thai fluvial geography was overcoded by a feudal tributary
power system. Up stream vassals and lesser kings sent annual gifts to the royal houses in the
successively downstream capitals, from which auratic power was reflected back to village hinterlands.
(Winichakul,1995) Honorific space materialized a layered Buddhist cosmology of distant Kings and
river valley kingdoms comprising distinct watersheds. Power was primarily symbolic, as villages made
decisions about land and water management locally.

Contemporary life in a newly industrialized country follows the less predictable flows and
fluctuations of global capital. Thailand’s strategic Cold War alliance with America catapulted the
Kingdom’s economy to a world stage, and new ideas and fantasies from abroad now freely mix with
ancient myths and rites. When rice prices fall and word of jobs in Bangkok reaches small subsistence
agricultural settlements, economic migrations trickle and then flood the capital city. Now, media flows
in a reverse direction of the watershed, and television broadcasts from Bangkok infiltrate nearly every
household in the Kingdom. Modern Bangkok disseminates images and messages much more rapidly
and viscerally to the rural majority’s village T.V. screens than news and laws from the distant Kings of
the past, producing more impulsive and less predictable human responses.

Today, the Chao Phraya River Basin is managed by a vast network of hydro-electrical and
draught control dams and reservoirs by ministries in Bangkok rather than tributary kingdoms. Modern
dams and huge reservoirs replaced cities as locally controlled and maintained water retention systems
modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority with World Bank and American assistance during the Cold
War. Water and floods were thought to be technologically controllable and manageable in a system that
is more ideologically aligned with techno-rational models than with the complexities of indigenous
Thai socio-hydrology and urbanism.

165
 The vanishing views of natural processes and the vanishing land and waterscape that reflect the
relationship between human and natural processes are clearly visible in the Bangkok metropolitan area.
These views are also reflected in the recent transformation of agricultural areas to built-up areas in the
urban fringe of the metropolitan area. As consequences of these different views, the roles and functions
of natural processes and the landscape are perceived differently. These different values play a major
role in dictating different changes in the land and waterscape and land and water use.

The future in the past

Early settlements along the bank of rivers, canals and flood plain areas were subjected to
flooding and draught every year. This settlement characteristic was the result of cultural, topographical
and hydrological characteristic of the delta. The vast agricultural settlement benefited from flooding
without serious problem or flood damage. Flood, a natural process, was a part of life and considered as
life’s nourishment. People adapted to the rhythm of the natural process by building their living
environment according to flooding and draught characteristic without any action against the course of
the natural process.

Contemporary Bangkok might look to the historical context of Thai waterscape urbanism for
solutions to the pressing problems of climate change: a pre-modern, locally controlled, human
ecosystem watershed model structured and sustained Thai cities for centuries. An animist tradition
combined with an inherited Hindu-Buddhist cosmological framework created a tributary culture for a
locally managed, forest and agricultural production society with a Dhamma King, as the symbolic Lord
of Life symbolized through water. A reassessment of how river and water flows have been adjusted to
pass around and through cities rather than flushed under them is critical in order to create new dynamic
design models of urban ecosystems. The understanding of historical resilience and adaptability of
living with water of indigenous and traditional processes would be crucial for dealing with future
uncertainty. This is not just a historical model, but contemporary urban ecosystem designs around the
world are looking for ways to retain water in cities. (McGrath, 2008) The discipline of landscape and
urban planning and design is being added to this ecosystem framework in order to create new dynamic
planning and design models of urban ecosystems. Contemporary urban ecosystem science and Thai
urbanism both point to the creation of cities as water retention systems for socio-cultural as well
environmental reasons.

We suggest a radical shifting in emphasis from the current “solid state” of “land”scape
urbanism, towards a more systemic approach to urban ecosystem understanding in urban design – a
“water”scape urbanism inspired by the concept of liquid perception (Deleuze, 1986) and long term
urban ecosystem research in Greater Bangkok, Thailand. Contemporary ecosystem science, in its
search for controlled research field sites in which to monitor and model the complex interrelationships
switched between the studies of terrestrial island ecosystems to the watershed approach. (See Hubbard
Brook Experimental Forest web site) It would be important for architects, landscape architects and
urban designers to understand the difference between these two land and water based models to
critically analyze current trends in landscape urbanism. While landscape urbanism has developed an
argument around North American post-industrial cities and the creation of large parks as islands in
these cities, we suggest the exploration in depth the watershed approach as a new model for urban
design, allied with the new modes of perception Deleuze calls for, waterscape urbanism

166
167
Abbas, Akbar, 1997. Hong Kong and the Politics of Cultural Disappearance, Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press.
BMA 2004: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, General Information WWW page,
http://www.bma.go.th/bmaeng/body_general.html#geography, December, 2004.
Brummelhuis, Han ten, 2005. King of the Waters, Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.
Deleuze, Gilles, 1986. Cinema 1: The Movement Image, Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press.
Hanks, Lucien 1972. M., Rice and Man: Agricultural Ecology in Southeast Asia, Chicago: Aldine
Publishing Company.
Ishii, Yoneo, 1978. Thailand: A Rice-Growing Society, translated by Peter and Stephaie Hawkes.
Monographs of the Center for South East Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Honolulu:
University Press of Hawaii.
Jarupongsakul, T. and Kaida, Y. 2000. The Imagescape of the Chao Phraya Delta into the year
2020, Proceedings of The International Conference: The Chao Phraya Delta: Historical
Development, Dynamics and Challenges of Thailand's Rice Bowl: 12-15 December 2000,
Bangkok: Kasetsart University.
Jarupongsakul, T. 2000: Chapter 2: Geomorphology Aspects Affecting the Occurrence of Floods and
influencing the Drainage in the Lower Central Plain, Thailand, in the Analysis and Preparation
for Flood-risk map in the Lower Central Plain, Thailand, Jarupongsakul, T. edited. Bangkok:
Center for Disaster and Land Information Studies, Chulalongkorn University.
McGrath, Brian et. al., 2008. Designing Patch Dynamics, New York: Columbia University Graduate
School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
McGrath, Brian and Danai Thaitakoo, (2005) “Tasting the Periphery: Bangkok’s agri and aquacultural
fringe” from Food and the City, guest edited by Karen Franck, London: AD Vol. 75, No. 3.
McGrath, Brian and Grahame Shane, (2005) Sensing the 21st-Century City: Close-up and Remote, AD
Vol. 75, No. 6.
SEA START RC 2007. South East Asia START Regional Center: A Decade of Climate
Change Research in Thailand, South East Asia START Regional Center,
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Sharp, Lauriston and Lucien M. Hanks, 1978. Bang Chan: Social History of a Rural Community in
Thailand, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Sternstein, L. 1982. Portrait of Bangkok, Bangkok: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
Tanabe, Shigeharu 1977. Historical geography of the canal system in the Chao Phraya
Delta from the Ayutthaya period to the fourth reign of the Ratanakosin Dynasty,
Monographs of the Center for South East Asian Studies, Kyoto University,
Takaya, Yoshikazu, 1987. Agricultural Development of A Tropical Delta : A Study of
the Chao Phraya Delta, translated by by Peter Hawkes, Monographs of the Center for South
East Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii.
Tachakitkachorn, Terdsak 2005: A comparative Study on the Transformation Process of
Settlement Developed form Orchards in the Chao Phraya Delta, Doctoral
Dissertation, Kobe University.
Winichakul, Thongchai 1995. Siam Mapped, a History of the Geo-Body of a Nation,
Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Zonneveld, I.S. 1988. Landscape Ecology and its Application, in Landscape ecology and
Management, Proceedings of the First Symposium of the Canadian Society for

168
Landscape Ecology and Management: University of Guelph, May, 1987,
Polyscience Publications Inc., Montreal, Canada.

169
 Urban micro-climate in the City of Mosul, Iraq
Turki Hassan Ali*. Bahjat Rashad Shaheen**
*Department of Architecture- College of Engineering, Mosul University
turk61ali@yahoo.com
Tele: +9647701698904
**Department of Architecture- College of Engineering, Baghdad University
Tele: +9647701698904

ABSTRACT
The proportion of the world's population living in urban areas is constantly increasing.
Different urban shapes result in different micro-climates. The way cities are planned and
build is therefore important for the global energy use. The city of Mosul ( north of Iraq)
had witnessed a rapid urbanization during the second half of the last century, adopting
the open grid iron system in planning the new residential areas which now exist beside
the traditional compact system. This study present result from measurements of Max. air
temperature during hot season in (156) points in the traditional paths of the old city
(called zuqaqu) and (44) points in the streets of the modern neighborhoods, more over
the engineering-physical characteristics of each point had been measured. Using
statistical analyzing for determining the impact of each of these characters on the urban
micro climate (Max. air temperature). The primary results show that sky view factor has
the major impact on air temperature, and that confirm the important role of the urban
designers and planners in the urban micro-climate.

INTRODUCTION
The proportion of the world's population that lives in urban areas is constantly
increasing. Urbanization gives rise to economic growth, which results in higher energy
use for e g: cooling and heating buildings. The way cities are planned and built is
therefore important for the global energy use, and for creating livable spaces for the
individuals within the urban fabric. Most of the Arabic cities adopt the gridiron type
(wide open streets) in their planning without any regard to the hot-dry climate
consideration, which prevail in most of them.
This work aims at studying the degree of influence of the urban path physical-
engineering characters on urban microclimate (AIR TEMPERATURE). Accordingly,
we look at the relationship between the built space and environment, so it is assumed
that variations of urban path configurations and characters cause significant climate

170
modifications, and has significant impact on the thermal comfort of the individuals and
energy use.
From this general hypothesis, fundamental question rises, is there any valid way
making it possible to quantify the impact of these physical-engineering characters of
urban path on the air temperature in the urban micro climate?
However, we do not dispute the already formalized links between urban form and the
climate. They have been addressed in several studies (Ait-Ameur 2000), (Rosenlud et al
2000). In the context of our work, we look for the precise interpretation of these links,
by using a statistical analysis to evaluate the influence of urban path characters on the
climatic factor( air temperature).

Background
Mosul, with almost two million inhabitants, is the third largest city in Iraq. Mosul is
situated 36.19 N, 43.09 E, at 230 m above sea level in a hilly area between the
Mountains in the North and the Al-jazeera plane in the South and the West, Tigress
River divides the city into two parts. The climate of Mosul is characterized by hot and
dry summers and cold winters with rare snow, (Aljanabi 1991). Annual mean
temperature is 19.5◦ C and rainfall is 383 mm, (Ali 2007). Monthly climate data is
shown in figure (1, 2).
Mosul consists of two contrasting parts: the traditional Arabic-Islamic, organic urban
pattern, the old city, and the modern city with its gridiron urban pattern. Six housing
neighborhoods in each part of the city were studied. The old city is one of the most
densely developed areas. Introverted courtyard buildings in two to three stories surround
the narrow streets, which cut deep ravines through the city. The street network is
irregular. This means that the buildings shade each other, there is a great variation of
traditional building elements and a large number of building details provide shade at
street level.

Problem
Different urban shapes result in different urban micro-climates. This study seeks to
define the relationship between urban space characters (physical-engineering factors)
and urban micro-climate (Max. temperature) in traditional and modern living areas of
Mosul city. The aim is to quantify the effect of these factors so the urban designer can
make use of this in their designs to enhance the quality of urban micro-climate, which
reflect to the comfort level of users of the urban space and energy consumption.

METHODOLOGY
In the traditional neighborhoods (156) measuring points were studied, and (44)
measuring points in the modern neighborhoods, figure (3, 4). Measurements were made

171
in different types of paths, (cul-de-sac, and open and covered paths). The streets had
different orientations.
For each measuring point, Max air temperature (measured in the middle of the street
canyon, 2 m above street level), physical characters (reflection coefficient of the ground
and the walls material and color) and engineering characters (orientation, height to width
(H/W) ratio, sky view factor) were measured. See table (1) and figure (5). The
instrument was protected from sunlight during the measurements. The measurements
took place at 2 am. The measurements were made in each neighborhood at one day, with
other measurement took place at meteorological station synchronously. The Climate
Measurements were made during summer, 20 July to 5 august in 2007, the non-urban
climate for Mosul for the actual periods, measured at the meteorological situated on the
outskirts of the city, Air temperature was measured with the testo-179-H2. The accuracy
of the air temperature is ±0.5°C.
After defining the physical-engineering characters of each measuring point in the two set
of the neighborhoods (traditional and modern), the research consider these characters as
dependent factors , and the climatic factor as independent factor, as the following:
The dependent factors are:
X1= type of urban fabric.
X2= orientation of the path.
X3= sky view factor.
X4= width to height ratio (W/H).
X5= reflection factor of ground material.
X6= reflection factor of facades material.
X7= reflection factor of facades color.
The independent factor is:
Y1= Max air temp. at measuring point- Max air temperature at meteorological Station.
Using statistical program (SPSS), in order to make regression analysis to explore the
relation between the factors, and the effect of each physical-engineering factors on urban
air temperature.

RESULTS
Table (1) shows that the summary of the field survey of the physical-engineering
characters and Max air temperature of measuring points, we can notice the following:
9 The mean difference in Max. air temperature between measuring points in the
traditional urban path and Meteorological Station was (-1.05) ◦ C, while the same
indicator in the modern urban fabric measuring points was (+2.11) ◦ C. The
lowest reading in the traditional fabric was (- 3.30) ◦ C, while the in the modern
fabric was (0.1) ◦ C, The highest reading in the traditional fabric was (+0.6) ◦ C,
while the in the modern fabric was (+7.3) ◦ C

172
 9 Standard deviations of reading in the traditional fabric is the lower than the
reading in the modern fabric.
9 The average width of urban path in the traditional fabric was (3) meters, while the
average width of the modern street was (12) meters. The average height of the
traditional facades was (6.5) m and (2) m for the modern facades.
9 Mean Sky view factor (SVF) for the traditional spaces was (0.14), and (0.77) for
the modern spaces.

The regression analysis shows a significant relation (p<0.001) between Max. air
temperature factor and the combination of the physical-engineering factors, where the
correlation coefficient reach (0.75), see table (2) . Thus the equation which governing
this relation is:
Y1 = 1.69-0.28 (X1) + 0.00035 (X2) + 2.56 (X3) -0.05 (X4) - 11.72 (X5)
- 2.84 (X6) + 1.85 (X7)
Noticing the effect of each factor individually, the sky view factor (0.38) has the major
effect followed by ground material factor (-0.27) then finally the facades color factor
(0.14).

CONCLUSIONS
9 Sky view factor have the major effect in air temperature of the urban micro
climate, this mean that the role of engineering characteristics are more
important than the role of the physical characteristics of urban space. That
means the important role played by urban designer in this regard.
9 The measurements indicate the differences in the Max. air temperature
between the compact urban fabric in the old city and the very open urban
fabric of modern neighborhoods. In the densest part, of the old city the air
temperature is normally lower than the non urban temperature at the
meteorological station, whereas it is higher in modern neighborhood streets.
One explanation to this is that the sun does not penetrate down into the narrow
street canyons.
9 The factor of urban path orientation has no effect in air temperature of the
urban micro climate, because the air temperature was measured in the shade.

173
 REFERENCES
1- ROSENLUD, H. et al, 2000. Urban micro-climate in the City of Fez, Morocco.
Proceedings of PLEA 2000, Cambridge, UK. James & James (Science Publishers)
Ltd, PP472-476.
2- AIT-AMEUR, K. 2000. Exploring morphological indicators for studying the
relationship between microclimate and urban form. Proceedings of PLEA 2000,
Cambridge, UK. James & James (Science Publishers) Ltd, PP535-536.
3- Aljanabi, S., 1991. Mosul Geography: a study in the regional relations. Civil
Mosul Encyclopedia, vol. 1, Book House Publication , University of Mosul, Iraq P
13.
4- Ali, T., 2007. Environmental Reference in the Traditional Arabic qcity. Ph.D.
thesis, College of Engineering-University of Baghdad, Iraq, PP 46-49.

Table (1) Sample of measuring points shows the data gathered through the field
survey

174
 0.7 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.4 (X7) reflection factor of
facades color
bright bright dark dark bright bright bright bright dark left facade color

bright bright bright bright bright bright bright bright bright Right facade color
0.3 0.375 0.3 0.3 0.375 0.375 0.375 0.375 0.3 (X6) reflection factor of
facades material
Gypsu
Gypsum Gypsum cement cement Gypsum Gypsum Gypsum cement left facade material
m
Gypsu
cement Gypsum Gypsum Gypsum Gypsum Gypsum Gypsum Gypsum Right facade material
m
0.225 0.225 0.225 0.225 0.225 0.225 0.225 0.225 0.225 (X5) reflection factor of G.
material
concret
concrete concrete concrete concrete concrete concrete concrete concrete Ground material
e
7.188 4.444 1.444 3.75 3.667 8.125 8.125 3.333 1.184 (X4) W/H ratio

0.044 0.078 0.211 0.083 0.033 0.039 0.028 0.078 0.278 (X3) sky view factor

8 14 38 15 6 7 5 14 50 Sky view angle

12 4 7 8 12 12 13 12 6 Left façade height

11 12 6 7 10 14 13 8 3.1 right façade height

1.6 1.8 4.5 2 3 1.6 1.8 3 3.8 Path width

Table (2) Regression analysis result

N_S E-W E-W N_S NE_SW N_S E-W NW_SE NE_SW (X2) path orientation
tradition traditiona traditional tradition tradition traditio traditional tradition tradition (X1) type of urban fabric.
al(2) l(2) (2) al(2) al(2) nal(2) (2) al(2) al(2)
-1.8 -2.1 -2.2 -2.4 -2.1 -1.9 -2.9 -2.7 -2.6
(Y1) Max air temp. factor
42.4 42.4 43.2
Max. air temp at meteo
43.2 43.2 43.2 43.2 43.2 43.2
station
40.6 40.3 41 40.8 41.1 41.3 40.3 40.5 40.6 Max. air temp at site
G. G. G. G. G. G. G. G. G.
Mosque Mosque Mosque neighborhood
Mosque Mosque Mosqu Mosque Mosque Mosque

175
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No.
 Dependant variables coefficien Standard t value p value
coefficient
t
X1= type of urban fabric. -0.28 -0.07 -0.4 0.69
X2= orientation of the path. 0.00035 0.01 0.18 0.86
X3= sky view factor. 2.56 0.38 2.2 0.029
X4= width to height ratio (W/H). -0.05 -0.04 -0.61 0.54
X5= reflection factor of G. material. -11.72 -0.27 -4.28 <0.001
X6= reflection factor of facades material. -2.84 -0.10 -1.06 0.29
X7= reflection factor of facades color. 1.85 0.14 2.65 0.009
Equation constant 1.69 - 1 0.32

r value= 0.75 (p<0.001) ، p<0.05= significant

50

45

40

35
Temp. in C

30

25

20

15

10

5Figure (1) Max. & Min air temperature in MosulTemp.

CityMax

0 Temp. Min
Ja

Fa y

Ap

Ju

Ju

Au

Se

D
ov

ec
ar

ay

ct
nu

ne

ly
bu

ri l

gu

pt

ob r
ch

em

em
em
ar

ar

st

er
y

be

be
be

Month

176
 Average Monthly Fall (mm)

450

400

350

300
Fall in mm

250
Fall in mm
200

150

100

50

0
ay

ly
ril

st
y

ar
ry

ch

ne

be
be

be

be
ar

ju
ap

gu
ua

ye
m
ar

ju
nu

m
to
em

m
au
m
br

oc

ve

ce
ja

fa

pt

no

de
se

Month

Figure (2) Monthly and Annual Rain Fall in Mosul City

Figure (3) Measuring points at one of the Traditional neighborhoods

177
Figure (4) Measuring points at one of the Modern neighborhoods

178
Figure (5) Sample of Sections through Measuring points at a Traditional and
Modern neighborhoods

179
 URBAN HEAT ISLAND: SPATIAL ANALYSIS, ASSESSMENT AND MEASURING
MITIGATION IN CITIES OF EXTREME DRY WEATHER
Jorge Villanueva Solis*
Francisco Raúl Venegas Cardoso**
Onofre Rafael García Cueto ***
* M of S. Student at UABC email arqvillanueva@hotmail.com
** Professor of the Architecture Faculty at UABC email rvenegas@uabc.mx
*** Researcher at the Engineering Institute at UABC email rcueto@uabc.mx
Bulevar Benito Juárez y Calle de la Normal s/n Mexicali, B.C. México C.P. 21250
Tel. 011-52 (686) 566-42-50

ABSTRACT
The growing urbanization in cities of the north of Mexico reflects a generalized tendency
according to the global warming and it is probable that the heat waves amplify the frequency
and intensity in the urban centers, mainly those located in arid and semi-arid zones, like
Mexicali city, with a extreme arid climate, very hot in summer and cool and rainy in winter.
Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico it’s located at N 32º 38' and W 115º 20'. The urban area is
expanded over 36,794 acres, with a population rise the 640.000. In addition in the last three
decades has experienced an accelerated industrial growth, mismatched land uses, for
example the industrial parks occupied the 5.5 %, most of them were settle before of the 80’s
decade, where it was the city periphery, but nowadays practically are inside of the urban area,
contributing to the increase of the urban temperature or the phenomenon known as urban
heat island.
The main objective of this research was to characterize the thermal gradient of the city, in
relation to the urban structure and the proposal guidelines for the environmental design that
diminish this impact. In order to obtain the urban thermal zones, we used a satellite image
AHVRR-NOAA, allowing precise and temporary information of the thermal behavior of the
ground. In addition we used a data base of a weather stations network distributed in the
whole city. The data obtained by the processing of the satellite image defined the urban
thermal zones and through the weather stations data base interpolation, were obtained
isotherms maps which represent the thermal behavior of the city, this distribution allowed to
establish environmental design strategies and mitigation proposal of the urban heat island.

Key words: urban heat island; thermal zones and remote sensing; spatial distribution and
interpolation, mitigation strategies

INTRODUCTION
The urban growth that most cities have experienced, has caused great impact on the
environment, vegetation has been replaced by construction elements that show a high
absorption of solar radiation, high thermal capacity which modify the energy balance, such as
paved avenues, buildings, enormous surfaces used as parking lots. As a consequence,
consumption of energetic and atmosphere pollution have increased. Therefore, identified as a
health problems, these have become research topics in urban weather modification (Roth
2003; Sailer and Lu, 2004; Weng and Yang, 2004).

180
The interest over the study the increase of temperature in cities, started almost two centuries
ago, when Luke Howard documented temperature increment in urban areas compared to
temperatures shown in peri-urban areas in 1833 (Roth, 2003).

It has been demonstrated that the production and storage of heat in cities are in a range from
320F to 400F compared to rural areas, where there has not been a dramatic change of the
vegetation (Weng and Yang 2004). This heat storage is called urban heat islands (UHI)
(Oke1987).

An urban heat island is built by a first hot layer that expresses the thermal variation of all the
elements of the city, and another layer that includes the first one and that makes the transition
to regional weather. The use of satellite images do not allow discrimination of these two
layers vertically, for this purpose, other devices and methodology that analyze the
characteristics of each one are used. Nevertheless, the use of satellite images makes
possible to evaluate the behavior and intensity of each thermal extent and the decrease in the
transition from the city to rural areas (Toudert, 1996).

Arnfield (2003) examines the last two decades on state of the art about the urban heat islands
(UHI) phenomenon, Unger et al. (2001), refer to the studies on thermal pollution when they
were carried out using meteorologic stations placed on vehicles or through a network of
meteorologic stations distributed in the cities. Other authors as Voogt and Oke (2003),
present an overview of the evolution in the use of remote sensing in studies on urban heat
islands.

Nowadays, most studies on UHI have taken place on densely populated cities, most of them
located in mild and subtropical weathers (Arnfield 2003). Opposite to this, cities located in
desert ecosystems have been studied very little (Pearlmutter et al. 2006). This type of studies
are even more scarce for North American deserts, which have an extreme dry weather, and
except for cities like Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona (Baker et al. 2003; Hawkins et al. 2004;
Comrie 2000) in the United States of America and more recently in the city of Mexicali in Baja
California, México (García-Cueto et al. 2007), this type of studies on thermal pollution are still
scarce. The aim of this research was to determine the thermal gradient of the city in relation
to the urban structure and a proposal of environmental design to mitigate its impact.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

For the analysis of urban climate, two methodologies were used in this study. The first
methodology was done through a satellite image AVHRR-NOAA of May 1993 (Akbari et al
1993), to define an area of study of commercial, industrial and services activity (Insert Fig. 3).
The use of this technology allows to have accurate and temporal information of the thermal
behavior of the whole city.

181
The second phase of the methodology was executed according to Ealisson (1966) and
Balling (1987) it consists in the comparative analysis of data obtained by fixed stations
located in the city. In addition on the study area with commercial and industrial land uses, a
mobile station was placed using an Eddy Covariance which has three sensors that measure
variations of wind speed, air temperature and water steam density. The equipment has a
sonic anemometer (CA27), an ultraviolet crypton hygrometer. Measures were taken for 16
days (October 8-27, 2004). During this period, speed and direction of wind, air temperature,
humidity, latent and sensible heat flow, as well as net radiation were measuring. (Insert Fig.
No. 5)

Additionally, as part of this second phase of the methodology, a measurement campaign was
carried out using an infrared thermometer and a humid bulb to obtain ambient temperature,
in order to compare the readings from the fixed stations and know the behavior of the
horizontal and vertical surfaces of the buildings from the industrial park. The measurements of
this last phase were carried out throughout 16 days by 8 hour periods, followed by one hour
intervals.
The data obtained from the 6 fixed meteorological stations and the mobile one, was
interpolate, by Surfer and Kriging as an interpolation method. The processed data were
grouped in four periods; January represents the winter period; April, spring; July, summer and
October for autumn. The years used were 1997 and 1998, both years had a normal
meteorological behavior according to specialists.

RESULTS
Climatological characteristics of the Mexicali Valley.
Mexicali, Baja California, is located 32º 38’ North and 115º 20’ West. Border city adjoins North
with California state in the United States of America. (Insert Fig. 1) The entire region belongs
to the physiographic subprovince of the Colorado River Delta, in the Sonoran Desert (Shreve
and Wiggins, 1964), as a consequence the city has a very arid, hot and dry climate, with
rainfall during winter and an oscilation thermal extreme throughout year. In summer, higher
temperatures have exceeded 122º F; while in winter the temperatures may drop under 32º F
(García 1981).

URBAN CHARACTERISTICS.
Until the 2005, the city reached a population of 640,000 inhabitants, covering a surface of
14,890 has with a density of 43 hab/ha., showing a city with horizontal expansion, that in the
last three decades it has suffered a demographic and economic explosion due to the growth
of the manufacturing industry. Currently, there are 11 industrial parks with a total of 1,164
companies from the manufacturing industry, and covering a surface of 825 has. (Insert Fig. 2)

It is a young city, which has deveoped on a floodplain area, the Colorado River Delta, its
physiography is almost flat, for this reason, it shows very uniform heat transmision. It is a city

182
with poorly planned development, uneven growth, incompatibility of land use, which has
provoked that the manufacturing industry has spread in almost the whole urban area.

Most of these companies were created aroud the 80’s in the pheripheral area of that time and
with agricultural land use, as a result this is the reason why at the present time a great part of
the manufacturing industry is practically in the city (PDUCP, 2007).
This situation has caused that buildings made for the manufacturing industry consume a lot of
energy and contribute to the increase of urban temperature, causing thermal pollution and
atmospheric problems. (Insert Fig. 2a)
In contrast, the city has about 140 has of green areas. Such surface represents about 2.1 m2
per inhabitant, which shows a 131.35 has as deficit according to the Federal Mexican Norm of
4 m2 per inhabitant. (PDUCP, 2007).
According to this aforementioned information, we can see that the effect of the high heat-
emitting urban spaces is spread throughout the urban area. In contrast low heat emitting
spaces or urban thermal sumps such as: green areas, sporting facilities, bodies of water,
urban periphery with agriculture, represent a minimal area compared to the industrial land
use.
The overlay of the urban area with the satellite image shows the different temperatures within
the study area in the form of spots (Insert Fig. 3). Such study area is located in an industrial
and services zone adjacent to a main corridor of the city. See Fig. 2, It has a surface of
232.5232 has, where the area for the each one of the land use is as follows: 75.61% for the
industry, commerce and mixed uses, 12.65% for residential uses, 9.93% for roads, and only
1.27% for green areas.
Regarding the construction materials used in the area of study, we found that asphalt was
used for roads, sheet metal in dark colors and some red brick details were used for the walls
and roofing of industrial buildings, and concrete block walls and sheet metal are used in
commercial and services buildings. With regards to the residential area, different construction
systems were found, materials such as concrete block, clay bricks, wood, as well as light
materials such as sheet rock, together with roof sealing materials such as asphaltic cement
and membranes.
Related to the results obtained when interpolating the data from the 6 fixed meteorological
stations showing a thermal distribution similar to the obtained from the AVHRR-NOAA
satellite image, see image 3 and 4 (Insert Fig. 4)
Similarly, the data obtained throughout the 16 days of measuring with the mobile station were
directly related to the measurements taken by the fixed stations within the same period of
time. This allowed us to validate thermal behavior and the urban-spatial relation of the study
areas, by using precise information. We also included the mobile station in the interpolation
at a city level, which allowed to define in a more precise form, the distribution of the
temperatures at an urban and study area level. In addition, we were able to validate the data
obtained with the satellite image. (Insert Fig. 5)
In relation of thermal behavior of the industrial park, the horizontal surface materials (floors or
pavements), as well as vertical ones (walls), have an effect on the south-facing sheet metal
wall which has an elevated thermal behavior, as opposed to the brick wall facing north. Its

183
thermal behavior was below room temperature. (Insert Fig. 6), show the thermal behavior of
the existing materials in the industrial park.
The behavior of horizontal surfaces that do not have a specific orientation, but can be shaded
or exposed to sunlight at any given time of the day or year, then we can say about shaded
and non-shaded surfaces, and due to the characteristics of the materials have two different
types of behavior. For example, asphalt exposed to solar radiation presents a temperature
higher than room temperature, as opposed to the shaded concrete sidewalk whose
temperature was lower compared to surfaces covered with vegetation and exposed to solar
radiation. (Insert Fig. 7).
DISCUSSION.
One way in which cities could improve their environmental quality is by designing the urban
space to alleviate the effects produced by the urban heat island. That is to reduce waterproof
surfaces, especially those with a low albedo, and increase vegetable coverage. This will help
reduce the air temperature.
Solar reflectance and thermal emittance have important effects in the increase or decrease of
temperature. The surfaces of conventional rooftops have a low reflectance and a high thermal
emittance, reaching temperatures between 151°F and 190°F. Sheet metal roofs or metallic
surfaces have a high reflectance and a low thermal emittance, reaching temperatures
between 140°F and 171°F, as opposed to high reflectance and emittance roofs which can
reach temperatures between 100°F and 120°F in the summer (Meredith, 2004).
Baker et al. (2003), suggested for Phoenix, Az. a redesign of the city to reduce urban heating
through narrower streets, high albedo materials for roads and roofs, more green areas
between buildings. These are strategies suggested by other authors that are applicable to
the existing meteorological conditions in Mexicali.
To increase albedo in rooftops and pavements, as well as urban forestation are the three
main strategies suggested by Akbari et al. (1992). According to the data obtained in this
research, surfaces covered by plants keep temperatures below 86ºF, whereas asphalt
temperature surfaces can be higher than 104ºF when the ambient temperature of the
monitoring dates were around 90ºF (See Fig. 6 and 7).
Increasing the albedo in rooftops as a measuring mitigation is important since the surface
covered by rooftops within the urban area is very big. Therefore it makes sense to consider
these options that will help reduce the thermal load in them.
Meredith (2004), says, an increases the 0.07 albedo on building and road surfaces can help
reduce ambient temperature up to 86ºF. Our data showed that vertical surfaces (walls) have
a different thermal behavior depending on their orientation. Walls facing north-northeast
reached 113ºF, whereas those located south-southwest their temperature reached 89.6ºF
(See Fig. 6 and 7). It is estimated that if the solar radiation absorbed by roads and parking
lots is reduced from a 90 to a 65%, the peak temperature of the air can be reduced by 33.1°F
(Pomerantz et al. 2000).
Another remedial measure involves increasing the urban vegetation areas like break winds
curtains and floor coverings (Scott et al. 1999). The first one, besides functioning as a filter
for wind currents, will intercept solar radiation before it is absorbed by waterproof materials
and also help decrease air temperature between 34.9ºF and 37.9ºF through
evapotranspiration (Meredith, 2004). At the same time, those areas covered by vegetation or

184
floor coverings (besides the evapotranspiration benefits) will not allow an increase in surface
temperature thus their temperature will be lower than the surroundings according to field
monitoring observations (See Fig. 6 and 7).
With regards to the information obtained through satellite imagery, interpolation and
monitoring campaign of the surface materials with infrared thermometer, it shows that there is
a relation at a different scale. In other words, satellite images show a spatial thermal
distribution at a regional level, fixed stations show the distribution of isotherms at an urban
level, mobile station monitoring at a site level, and the use of an infrared thermometer allows
a precise evaluation of the site materials related to their orientation.

CONCLUSIONS.
Through to use the AVHRR-NOAA satellite image, it is possible to obtain much more rapid
and precise spatial and temporal distribution of the urban heat islands. It is an economic
method that can be applied in any urban area where there are insufficiency climatologic and
meteorological information for the study of urban climate.
It was also of great help to have available information provided by a network of fixed stations
measuring meteorological variables; because once this information is interpolated we are able
to find out more about the behavior and trends of the urban microclimate.
Being able to have mobile stations allowed us to obtain very precise information about
meteorological variables and have the ability of relating them with data from different sources
such as satellite images and fixed stations.
Finally, evaluating thermal behavior of materials from a specific place at a micro scale will
allow us to suggest design and material usage strategies according to their thermal properties
and their location within the site, thus producing a decrease in air temperature and
consequential energy savings, as well as a comfortable urban landscape.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Akbari, H., S. D., S. Dosano, J. Huang, and S. Winnett (eds.) (1992). "Cooling Our
Communities: A Guidebook on Tree Planting and Light-Colored Surfacing," United States
Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. Also Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory Report LBL-31587, Berkeley, CA.
Akbari, H., P. Martien, & A. Rosenfeld (1993). Using Light-Colored Surfaces to Cool Our
Communities. In Akbari, H., S. Davis, S. Dorsano, J. Huang, & S. Winnett (Eds.) Cooling our
Communities: A Guidebook on Tree Planting and Light-Colored Surfacing (LBL-31587) (43-
52). Unites States Environmental Protection Agency and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.
Arnfield, J. (2003). Two Decades of Urban Climate Research: A Review of Turbulence,
Exchanges of Energy and Water and the Urban Heat Island. Int. J. of Climatology 23: 1–26.
Baker, L., A. J. Brazel, N. Selover, C. Martin, N McIntyri, F. Steiner, A. Nelson and L.
Musacchio 2003. Urbanization and Warming of Phoenix (Arizone, USA): Impacts, Feedbacks
and Mitigation. Urban Ecosystems, Vol. 6:183-203
Comrie, A. C. 2000. Mapping a Wind-Modified Urban Heat Island in Tucson, Arizona (with
Comments on Integrating Research and Undergraduate Learning) Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.,
Vol. 81 2417-2431
García-Cueto, O. R., E. Jáuregui-Ostos, D. Touder and A. Tejeda-Martínez. 2007.
Detection of the Urban Heat Island in Mexicali, B.C., México and Its Relationship with Land
Use. Atmósfera Vol. 20 No. 2 pp. 111-131

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Hawkins, T. W., A. J. Brazel, W. L. Stefanov, W. Bigler, E. M. Saffell, 2004. The Role of
Rural Variability in Urban Heat Island Determination for Phoenix, Arizona. J. Appl. Meteor.
Vol. 43 476-486
Meredith H. A. (2004). Designing with Climate: Using Parking Lots to Mitigate Urban Climate.
Master of Landscape Architecture Thesis. Department of Landscape and Urban Studies.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. USA.
Oke T.R., 1987. Boundary Layer Climates, Second Edition., London: Methuen and Co., 435.
Pearlmutter, D., P. Berliner and E. Shaviv. 2006. Current Research and Challenges in
Urban Climate Research in Arid Regions PREPRINTS SIXTH INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE ON URBAN CLIMATE 12-16 JUNE, 2006 GÖTEBORG, SWEDEN
International Association for Urban Climate World Meteorological Organization Urban Climate
Group, Department of Geosciences, Göteborg University. pp 28-31
PDUCP, (2007). Programa de desarrollo urbano de centro de población, Ayuntamiento de
Mexicali, B.C. (Urban Development Program of the Center of Population of the Mexicali B.C.
Municipality)
Pomerantz, M., B. Pon, H. Akbari, & S.C. Chang, (2000). The Effect of Pavements’
Temperatures on Air Temperature in Large Cities (LBNL-43442). Berkeley, CA.: Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory.
Roth, M. (2003). Effects of Cities on Local Climates Proceedings of Workshop of IGES/APN
Mega-City Project. 23-25 January 2002 Kitakyushu Japan.
Sailer, D. J. and L. Lu (2004). A Top-Down Methodology for Developing Diurnal and
Seasonal Anthropogenic Heating Profiles for Urban Areas. Atmospheric Environment Vol.
38:37 pp. 2737-2748.
Scott, K.I., J.R. Simpson, & E.G. McPherson, (1999). Effects of Tree Cover on Parking Lot
Microclimate and Vehicle Emissions. Journal of Arboriculture, 25 (3), 129-142
Shreve, F. and I. L. Wiggins (1964), Vegetation and Flora of Sonoran Desert. Stanford
University Press. Stanford.
Surfer Versión 8. Golden Softare. www.goldensoftware.com
Toudert, D. (1996). La Articulación Urbana con el Clima Intraregional y el Estudio de las
Islas de Calor en la Ciudad de Mexicali. Revista Calafia Vol. VIII, No. 4 1996 Pp. 29-35
Unger, J., Z. Sumeghy and J. Zoboki (2001). Temperature cross-section features in an
urban area. Atmospheric Research 58 117–127
Voogt, J.A. and T.R. Oke (2003). Thermal Remote Sensing of Urban Climates. Remote
Sensing of Environment 86 370–384
Weng, Q. and S. Yang (2004). Managing the Adverse Effects of Urban Development A
Density Populated Chise City. Journal of Environmental Management Vol. 70:2 145-156.

IMAGES.

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 Fig. 1.- Location of the City of Mexicali, B.C., México.

Fig. 2.- Study area location and city land use.

187
Fig. 2a.- Study area, aerial photograph .

URBAN AREA

Fig. 3.- AVHRR-NOAA satellite image. Surface temperature, May

1st-10th, 1993 at 21:30 GMT. Temperature Isolines at 2ºC.
Source: Garcia, 2003 .

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Fig. 4.- Temperature isolines as result of fixed stations data
interpolation .

Fig. 5.- Mobile station installation, Eddy Covariance

system.

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 HORIZONTAL SURFACES TEMPERATURES

50
45
TEMPERATURE (C

40
35 ASPHALT
30 VEGETATION
25 SIDEWALK
20 SHADED SIDEWALK
TEM PERATURE
15
10
5
0
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
DAY HOURS

Fig. 6.- Horizontal surface temperatures, measured by infrared

thermometer.

VERTICAL SURFACES TEMPERATURES

60

50
TEMPERATURE (C

M ETAL SHEET WALL

40 CONCRETE BLOCK WALL
RED BRICK WALL
30 WEST BRICK WALL
NORTH BRICK WALL
20
TEM PERATURE

10

0
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
DAY HOURS

Fig. 7.- Vertical surface temperatures, measured by infrared thermometer.

190
Micro Climatic House Design:
A Way to Adapt to Climate Change through Urban Design?

Kh Md Nahiduzzaman
PhD fellow at the Department of Urban Planning and Environment, KTH
E-mail: kmna@infra.kth.se

Tigran Haas, PhD

Assistant Professor at the Department of Urban Planning and Environment, KTH
E-mail: tigran@infra.kth.se

Doubt over global warming and its adverse consequences on the global environment are diminishing in
the presence of rising and firm scientific evidence supporting this phenomenon. There is not enough
room or time to indefinitely explore the discourses on climate change; rather it is the time to act
together in local and global scale for the common future of this planet. This, then, raises the question of
what actions should be taken by the communities within their respective nation states and larger multi-
national and global associations. Especially, in the case of developing countries, which are worst
effected - being in the forefront of (negative) global climate change, actions at the community level
becomes paramount. One of the poorest nations in this earth planet, Bangladesh, is worst hit by the
recurrent floods and cyclones that are caused by increased global warming. The recent cyclone Sidr,
which caused around 3,000 deaths and several million dollars of property loss, is an example and one
of the most devastating consequences of climatic changes. Coastal areas of this country are in danger
and highly vulnerable to cyclones and floods. Scientists believe that global warming will make
cyclones in this region bigger and more frequent. This paper is based on the study carried out on the
south-western coastal areas, located adjacent to the Sundarbans (world’s largest chunk of mangrove
forest) that make them unique in relation to resource dependencies by the surrounding communities.
The focus of the paper is on the micro-climatic design of houses in response to frequent cyclone and
the ways they should be designed in a more sustainable way, with available resources affordable to the
community habitants. Finally, the paper raises some general questions about urban design and climate
change and posits certain recommendations that could be valuable in similar contexts.

Key words: global warming, climate change, micro-climatic design, urban design

191
Introduction
There is no doubt over climate change and that it’s a global phenomenon caused by the human
activities in different nation states. Though it’s a global problem, the solution has to come both from
international and community scale. This paper focuses on the actions that should be undertaken at the
community level beside the initiatives being taken at national and international level. Among the
developing countries Bangladesh is considered as one of the worst victims of climate change and it has
been reflected through frequent and devastating natural calamities. Among them flood is frequently
occurred natural disaster resulting 30-70% of the country normally flooded each year. The huge
sediment loads brought by three Himalayan rivers, coupled with a negligible flow gradient add to
drainage congestion problems and exacerbate the extent of flooding. The societal exposure to such
risks is further enhanced by Bangladesh’s very high population and population density i.e., 932.7 per
sq. km68. The rapid explosion of population manifested in a continuous over-growth population
coupled with the new climatic changes and disappearing natural resources in the coastal areas will be
an enormous problem with far-reaching and devastating consequences. It would appear that population
growth is a major factor in this looming crisis, directly affecting the built environment, therefore
making urban design a crucial theme and tool in dealing with this. However, many projected climate
change impacts including sea level rise, higher temperatures (mean temperature increases of 1.4°C and
2.4°C are projected by 2050 and 2100 respectively), evapotranspiration losses, enhanced monsoon
precipitation and run-off, potentially reduced dry season precipitation, and increase in cyclone intensity
would in fact reinforce many of these baseline stresses that already pose a serious impediment to the
economic development of Bangladesh. A subjective ranking of key climate change impacts and
vulnerabilities for Bangladesh identifies water and coastal resources as being of the highest priority in
terms of certainty, urgency, and severity of impact, as well as the importance of the resources being
affected (Agrawala, 2003). The context of this study, therefore, is south-western coastal belt where
housing was chosen as unit of analysis. A comprehensive study was undertaken in a village of this
coastal belt to see the resources dependencies on the mangrove forest Sundarbans in order to frame out
a system for sustainable resources management and to identify the available and affordable resources
that could be spent to build sustainable climate resistant houses by using indigenous knowledge shaped
by modern technology and in line with urban design principles.

Damages on housing due to cyclone (Sidr) and flood

The locational settings offer Bangladesh, largest deltaic island on the earth, a lot of cyclones and
floods, which used to occur in a regular pattern and in low intensity. But due to global climate change
since 90s the patterns of occurrence of natural disasters have become irregular and their intensity and
frequency have become very high. One of the strongest named cyclones in the Bay of Bengal was
cyclone Sidr. The number of deaths caused by Sidr was estimated at 3,406, with 1,001 still missing,
and over 55,000 people sustaining physical injuries. The Joint Damage, Loss, and Needs Assessment
(JDNLA) estimated the total damage and losses caused by the cyclone to be 1.7 billion USD. Loss on
housing due to cyclone Sidr was 893 millions USD (GoB, 2008). The impact is primarily borne by the
poor people who hardly have any affordability to build cyclone resistant house and thereby to save their
lives. In the flood history, flood in 2004 were likely to be as devastating as the 1998 floods in many
ways. The joint mission’s preliminary estimates show that total damage to assets and output losses are

68
http://original.britannica.com/eb/question-51736/6/density-sq-km-Bangladesh accessed on July 29, 2008

192
approximately about 2.2 billion USD or 3.9% of GDP, most of which correspond to lost assets
(houses)69.

Study area and method

Ghar Kumarpur village is situated in the eastern part of Shyamnagar thana70. This village is located in
south-western coastal belt (see figure 18 in Annex) and near to the Sundarbans which is known as the
largest chunk of mangrove forest in the world. This contextual setting has made the study area unique
compare to other coastal areas in Bangladesh. The housing characteristics (see latter part of this paper)
couple with frequent natural calamities has made it distinct to draw attention for research and
education.

A questionnaire survey was conducted following a sampling technique. Morphology and land use type
and its information were collected by means of observation and land use survey respectively. However,
stratified sampling, also known as restricted random sampling, was selected to draw plausible
information about the study. The entire households were divided into 8 categories (see table 1; had
been identified from survey and categorized accordingly) according to construction materials of roof,
wall and floor. The purpose of dividing the households was to achieve greater degree homogeneity
within each type and grater degree of heterogeneity between the types.
Table 1. House typologies in the study area
Category Construction Materials
Roof Wall Floor
Type-A Tiles Mud and Date leaf Mud
Type-B Golpata Mud and bamboo stick Mud
Type-C Golpata Bamboo mat Mud
Type-D Coconut leaves Bamboo mat Mud
Type-E Golpata Bamboo mat Bricks
Type-F CI sheet Bamboo Mud
Type-G Tiles Mud and bamboo mat Mud
Type-H CI sheet/ Concrete Bricks Bricks
Source: Field survey, 2007
From each type of house (or strata) sample was drawn based on optimum allocation method. According
to this method sample was drawn randomly depending on the size and variability of each stratum. On
an average 35% i.e., 100 households were surveyed, out of 282, in each strata depending upon the
number of houses in each typology.

Settlement pattern in this coastal belt

69
http://www.adb.org/Documents/Economic_Updates/BAN/2004/eco-update-ban.pdf accessed on July 29, 2008
70
third administrative hierarchical body from the top

193
Settlement pattern was identified using a mathematical equation by Clark and Evans (1954)71. In the
word of urban design, settlement pattern is defined as objects and spacing among objects to perform
desired functions. However, the amount of ‘nearly regular’ pattern of settlement in the study area is
high and this is figured to 52.4%. This pattern is addressed as the middle ground between the random
and complete pattern of settlement (Sultana, 1993). From the questionnaire survey average damage of
each cluster of this pattern was found 194 USD72 (13,200 BDT) a year which is caused by cyclone and
flood to some extent.

Figure 1. Nearly regular pattern of settlement

Clustered pattern of settlement was found 25.8% in this village. Empirical data show that average
damage in such type of settlement is low. In fact people have learnt such clustering technique to get
more protection from cyclone and through a learning paradigm- experiential learning.

Figure 2. Clustered pattern of settlement

71
Nearest-neighbour Analysis:
D
Rn = ------------------------
0.5 {1 / (A/N).5}
Rn is the description of the distributional pattern of settlement, D is the mean distance between the nearest neighbour, A is
the area under study, N is the number of points in the study area.
72
I US Dollar is equivalent to 68 Bangladeshi Taka

194
The clustering technique, which also could be regarded as vernacular architecture and mass in urban
design, has been evolved from the beginning of human settlement to cope and survive in the harsh
climate. This area is prone to nor-western storm and cyclone and therefore settlement pattern is highly
influenced by them. Due to flood, most of the housing units are elevated by 2-3 feet from the ground.
However, the existing building morphology of the study area explicitly embodies that settlements are
mostly nearly random and clustered in nature. Countries in the north, modern technology guide the
pattern of settlement beside traditional practice, culture and climatic condition. The same scenario also
prevails in the southern country Bangladesh remaining difference in technology which is based on
indigenous knowledge and is rudimentary in nature which is generated from the need of survival. There
are numerous examples of juxtaposition of modern technologies without necessarily understanding the
indigenous knowledge in the context and its practice and resources available at hand. In the name of
sustainable housing development in the coastal areas a number of projects have been carried out
leaving the question that in what ways those house models are sustainable when they are unaffordable
to a larger section of the society and resources (construction materials) are not, at all, easily available.

N
Figure 3. Existing house morphology in Ghar Kumarpur Village

Kapatakhshi River

A
A
Water Body

C HBB Road

Kholpetua River

195
 Figure 3 A. Regular pattern of settlement

Figure 3 B. Nearly regular pattern of settlement

Figure 3 C. Random pattern of settlement

196
House types in this coastal belt

From observation survey 8 different types of house were identified according to the structural materials
of main housing unit, kitchen, cow shed and granary (see Table 2). Golpata73 is widely used materials,
collected from the Sundarbans, for different units of house.

Table 2. Housing typology according to structure

Housing Typology Main Kitchen Cow Granary

Unit (%) Shed (%) (%)
(%)
Type-A Roof-Tiles, Wall- Mud & Date leaf 2 - - -
Type-B Roof- Golpata, Wall- Mud & Bamboo stick 73 59 93 70
Type-C Roof- Golpata, Wall- Bamboo mat 9 13 1 -
Type-D Roof- Coconut leaf, Wall- Bamboo mat 5 26 6 -
Type-E Roof- Golpata, Floor- Bricks, Wall- Bamboo mat 2 - - 20
Type-F Roof- CI sheet, Wall- Bamboo, Floor- mud 6 - - -
Type-G Roof- Tiles, Wall- Mud & Bamboo mat, Floor-mud 1 2 - 10
Type-H Roof- CI sheet/ Concrete, Wall- Bricks, Floor- 2 - - -
concrete
Total 100 100 100 100
Source: Field survey, 2007

73% residential unit, 59% kitchen, 93% cow shed and 70% granary are built up with Golpata, mud and
bamboo sticks. This means on an average 73.75% (average of the four) household use Golpata, mud
and bamboo as construction materials which belong to Typology B. Formally this type of house is also
recognized as wattle-and-daub (Ahmed, 1994). The British use the word hurdle is intended to mean a
portable wall panel (or fencing) made of intertwined branches or wattle. This wattle is held in place by
a bamboo frame and bamboo laths. In some cases, instead of wattle, mats made of interwoven split
bamboo are used. This is quite common mats can be found in a wide variety of weaving techniques.
The important piece of information is the fact that sometimes the hurdles or mats are plastered with
cow dung and clay. This, of course, is a version of the wattle-and-daub system in the village area.

Construction of A-type house involves higher amount of labour cost together with tiles. Tiles are
imported in water transport by boat which contributes an extra cost to the total price. But mud and date
leaf are mostly available for free of cost in and around the village area and therefore it costs nothing.
Only 2% main unit (residence) of households falls to this typology.

73
It is, also popularly known as 'shelter leaf,' grows abundantly near the rivers, on the seashore. A leaf gains a height up to a
maximum of 15 to 20 feet. Saline water and silted ground are suitable for its cultivation

197
 Figure 4. House type A- made of tiles, mud and date leaf.
B-type house is the most dominant and widely used by the inhabitants of this village. Cheap cost,
comparatively long lasting durability and easy availability has made Golpata widely used materials for
house construction. Construction of this house type involves less labour cost and this is because of the
fact that both men and women assist actively during the construction though division of labour depends
on the physical strength of the individuals. Women usually take part in the construction as jogaldar-
helper.

Figure 5. House type B- made of Golpata, mud and bamboo sticks

Cost of roof of house type C is least because of easily available construction material- Golpata. But the
cost of bamboo and labour cost is higher in comparison with other components because of the reason
that additional labours are needed for weaving mats.

198
 Figure 6. House type C- made of Golpata, bamboo mat and mud
Figure below is the example of house type D where some of the construction materials like mud and
coconut leaves are found free of cost. Despite such free materials overall cost of this type is bit high
because of additional labour cost for weaving of bamboo mats.

Figure 7. House type D- made of coconut leaves, bamboo and mud.

Construction of house type E is comparatively expensive because the floor is made of bricks. As
comparatively skilled labors are required for construction of floors, it increases the overall price
automatically.

Cost components of house type F reveal that CI sheet requires a comparatively higher price for
construction. It was found that cost of one bundle CI sheet is about 32.5 USD (2,200 BDT). In terms of
strength this house type is recognized as natural calamity resistant house but only middle and high
income class people can afford this house type.

199
 Figure 8. House type F- made of CI sheet, bamboo and mud

Total cost of house type G provides a view that tile’s cost is not so high among other materials but
labour involvement hikes the over all cost a bit. This is, indeed, not a popular type of house in the study
area which has been reflected by its presence i.e., only 1% used as main unit and 20% is used as
granary.

Type-H house is completely built structure and its number is only quite a few in this village. Only the
higher income class people can afford to enjoy it. The cost of such house was estimated from the cost-
estimation chart by Eastern housing private limited, a Dhaka base real estate company. According to
that price index, cost of each square foot well furnished structure requires 11 USD (750 BDT) which is
far of being affordable by the low income people who are majority in the society.

Figure 8. House type G- made of tiles, mud and bamboo

A cost matrix table of different types of house in this part of coast has been prepared in order to provide
an idea on economic feasibility for different income people. This, in the end, will help to devise a
house type which will be climate resistant and economically affordable to all income class people. This
is how sustainability and sustainable house design have been defined.

200
Table 3. Cost Matrix for Different of Typologies of House.
Housing Cost (USD) Total
typology Cost
1 Main unit 1 kitchen 1 Cow shed 1 Granary Toilet
(in USD)
(180 Sq. (150 Sq.
(120 Sq. (100 Sq. (49 Sq. ft.)
ft.) ft.)
ft.) ft.)
Type-A 28 13 24 8 4 77
Type-B 23 20 12.5 12 6 73.5
Type-C 25 20 13 12 6 76
Type-D 22 18 10.5 11 5.5 67
Type-E 82.5 55 51 44 22 254.5
Type-F 34 26 20.6 17 8.5 106.1
Type-G 39 23.5 31 14 7 114.5
Type-H 1985 1323.5 1654 1103 441 6506.5
Source: field survey, 2007
Spatial setting of the houses

Here spatial setting refers to spatial distribution of housing units within household and natural elements
around. Orchard, water body and agricultural land are parts of housing and it is interesting to observe
how they are being spatially distributed to protect households from natural calamities. A typical pattern
has been shown in figure 9 to give an idea of indigenous knowledge on house units in relation to their
surroundings.

Table 4. Spatial setting of houses

Type Avg. amount of Orientation75 Location
land (in North South West East Front Rear
Katha74) owned (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
by each
household
Residential unit76 12.31 - 48 13 39 - -
Orchard 3.29 - - - - 17 83
Water body 1.93 - - - - 76 24
Agriculture land 76.6 Far from household but within short walking distance
Source: field survey, 2007

Most of the residential units are oriented towards south and east direction (see table 4) and 83%
orchards are located behind the housing unit. This spatial setting is due the fact that the villagers are

74
Katha is locally used unit of land measurement which is equivalent to 720 sq. ft
75
Orientation only for residential unit
76
It includes- residence, kitchen, cowshed, granary and courtyard in case of area

201
mostly affected by the Nor-western storms (as come from north-western side), which frequently occurs
2-5 times in a year in the Bengali months of Baishakh-Jaistha (April-May).

Nor-
western
Orchard

Granary

Pond

Figure 9. A typical setting of house in Ghar Kumarpur village

Though some households are facing towards the west, their orientation is being compensated by the
fact that they are located in a clustered way to protect themselves from strong storms, cyclones etc.

202
Designing a micro climatic house

After the most devastating cyclone of 1994, it was found that in cyclone affected areas there is less
likelihood of house damage if the roof structure of the house is strong and secured to the vertical
support system which is firmly anchored to the foundation (Huq, 2000). Considering this phenomenon,
the following guidelines can be followed for proposed cyclone resistant houses,

Lay-out and Orientation: Lay-out of the houses should be oriented in a manner that the shorter face of
the house is facing towards the windward direction of the cyclone or nor-western storm.

House Plan: The best plan shape is a square or rectangular for wind resistance. The traditional houses
in this area are mostly rectangular with length and width ratio within 2:1. The length to width ratio of
house plan should be 3:1 as houses being built in such a ration are considered to be cyclone resistant
(Huq, 2000).

Tree plantation and orchard in the backyard: A well thought out plan of plantation helps to reduce the
impact of both cyclone and tidal surge (Huq, 2000). Tree plantation should be undertaken by involving
participation of local people in order to select species of trees like Shishu and location of plants. In this
area 48% houses are facing towards the south and the 39% towards the east giving a total sum of 87%
housing units that are oriented to south and east directions because of nor-western storm and cyclone.
Most of the orchards/gardens are located in the rear side of housing units which offer a primary
protection from any intensity of storms (field survey, 2007). This indigenous technique of house
construction have been evolved because of the fact that it offers advantages from the nature by setting
up facade of houses into opposite direction of cyclone and planting tress on the rear side of house.

House roof shape: Traditional south-eastern coastal houses have different construction mechanism
which has been characterized by hip roof over the Ghar and very low roof over the Pashchati which is
separated from the hip roof (see figure 10). House roof’s characteristics in the study area are different
than what are located in south-eastern coastal areas. But empirical evidence proves south-eastern
coastal houses more resistant against cyclone (Huq, 2000). This model of cyclone resistant roof is
suggested to be constructed in the study area to offer more resistance.

Hip roof

Low roof

Figure 10. House roof’s shape in the south-

203
Use of Sundari77 and Goran (beside bamboo) as prime material: Sundari and Goran should be treated
with preservatives to enhance their durability and strength. In most of the cases bamboo and in some
cases Goran and Sundari are used without treatment by appropriate preservatives for protection against
decay, insects, fungi, termite attack, and when in contact in moist ground. The preservatives treatment
of Sundari, Goran and bamboo include the following guidelines which should be followed before its
use,

1. Burning of the lower 4 ft till it is black (see figure 11A).

2. Cover the lower 4 ft with old sump or motor oil (see figure 11B).
3. Or after burning, soak Sundari, Goran or bamboo timber in bitumen for 24 hours (see figure
11C).
4. Then this is amenable for use for house construction (adapted from Ahmed, 1994).

Figure 11A: Burning till it Figure 11B: Cover it with Figure 11C: Soaking it in
is black old sump / motor oil bitumen for 24 hours

4 Feet

77
Scientific name is Heritiera fomes

204
 Figure 11. Proposed treatment of bamboo posts to be embedded into the ground

Land elevation: A river called Kholpetua is flowing beside Ghar Kumarpur village. As the village is
prone to flood during the rainy season, an embankment has been constructed around to protect the
village from river erosion. Sometimes the embankment itself becomes a cause of water logging as there
is lack of proper drainage facility. However, proper drainage facility should be created to drain out
water to the river. For safety reason each house should be elevated by 4 ft from the ground level.

Foundations: Sundari, Goran and bamboo should be selected on the basis of appearance and strength
for foundation of houses. Foundation of each house unit should be designed according to the
instructions given below (see figure 12) to improve anchoring of the vertical support firmly to the
ground giving sufficient weight to the house (adapted from Ahmed, 1994).

Sundari, Dowel to be
Goran or inserted in
bamboo hollow
CoaCI
Post bamboo post.
sheetg of Loose soil to
Bitumen be used for
filling gaps.

Dowel

Concrete block/Post base

Drainage pipe. A
hollow passage
without pipe may
also suffice.
B
A

Pos
Note: Where bitumen is available detail A is to be used for better stability and protection.

Figure 12. Proposed concrete blocks for protecting bamboo posts.

Walls: The strong wind could be easily resisted by woven bamboo or timber board sheathing and
vertical support. Diagonal bracing should be used to strengthen the walls and to reduce the chances for
corner failures; due to unequal pressures on two side wall during cyclones.

205
 A

Figure 13. Corner bracing

For construction technique and its details local people could depend on the expertise of local builders
for spacing of vertical Sundari, Goran or bamboo post and fixing and tying of woven bamboo
sheathing to the post.

Roof structure and roof cladding: Different experiments have shown that if the roof structure is
secured firmly to the vertical support system there is little likelihood that the house will be damaged by
cyclone (Huq, 2000). The suggestions focus on Sundari, Goran, bamboo and Golpata as building
materials for roof structures and cladding.

1. Roof Structure: The roof structure should consist of horizontal Goran/ Sundari/bamboo support
beams strengthened by Goran/Sundari/bamboo posts. The Goran/Sundari/bamboo beams support the
rafters of split bamboo. In the roof structure system, the most important connections are between beams
and vertical support and the connection between the rafters and beams. In order to make houses
cyclone/storm resistant, these connections should be

Goran, Goran,
S d i

Metal Strap

206
 Figure 14. Fixing detail between beam & rafter

strong in order to withstand the strong upward force of the cyclone/storm. Metal straps commonly
known as hurricane straps in hurricane prone countries, may be used in the connections, particularly
for connections between post and beam (Huq, 2000). The local technology for connections details
between and rafter is done by tying the rafter firmly to the beam by nylon rope after cutting a notch or
‘housing’ in the rafter and in a better constructed structure the notch in the rafter is securely fitted to the
beam maintaining the required
Goran/Sun

Figure 15. Fixing detail

between beam & post Goran/
Sundari/

slope at the same time. To enhance strength of each joints and to make them more resistant 20 gauge
galvanized metal strap should be used with nails, nuts, and bolts beside traditional use of materials like
nylon rope etc.

2. Roof Cladding: In addition to the roof structures, the thatch roof cladding must be able to transfer the
wind loads to purlins. Research results show that the eaves and ridges of the roof are particularly
susceptible to wind load during cyclone. Purlins, therefore, are important structural members of the
roof structural system.

Settlement pattern: In the study area 78.2% settlements belong to the categories of nearly regular and
complete regularity and regular pattern which offer support and protection against cyclone. There is
enough provision for air and light circulation, spacious road for better accessibility in such patterns of
settlements. For random pattern of settlement the disadvantages should be offset by tree plantation and
rear side gardening.

Position of door and window: To cope with the cyclone, wall frame should be improved with the
inclusion of cross bracings as shown in figure 13.

Figure 16. Location of doors and windows.

This cross bracing will distribute the

total load, crated by the cyclone, to the
four pillars of the house and it will be
remained strong despite strong velocity
of cyclone since depth and strong
concrete foundation. To manoeuvre the
strong wind walls and openings can be
improved by placing door in the centre

207
of the wall and placing small window opening in the rear wall (see figure 16).

An affordability measurement for cyclone resistant house

Many research projects have been undertaken to construct cyclone and flood resistant house. In most of
the cases the cost has gone so high up that they have become unaffordable to all income people. This
paper argues for a new model of cyclone and flood resistant house which is economically viable and
affordable to all income people.
Below section we have analyzed the economic feasibility of this new model with respect to the cost of
existing house typologies and income of different group of people.

Table 5. Cost of proposed cyclone and flood resistant house

Proposed natural calamities resistant house Cost of main unit (in USD)
Area: 180 Sq. ft.
Roof- Sundari, Goran, Bamboo and Golpata 7
Wall- Sundari, Goran, Bamboo Mat and Bamboo 13.25
Floor- Mud No
Labor 12
Transport 3
Accessories i.e., Metal Straps, Nylon Rope, Bitumen, 4.5
Motor Oil, Concrete Foundation etc.
Total Cost 39.75

Cost of the proposed cyclone and flood resistant housing unit (180 sq. ft) is 39.75 USD which is
slightly higher than other existing house typologies in the study area. Though the price is

35 31.14

30

25

20
15 15
Per sq. ft.
15
11
9 9 . 3 38 . 3 3
13
Construction
10

5
Cos t (in Taka)
0

Figure 17. A comparison between per sq. ft. construction cost of different types of house.
little higher (detailed have been given in table 6), it offers a good resistance against frequently occurred
natural calamities and affordable to all income people. In comparison with per square feet construction
cost this new model offers the best price.

Table 6. A Comparison between per square feet Construction Cost of Different Types of Houses.
Type Construction materials Per sq. ft.
Roof Wall Floor construction
cost (in USD)

208
A Tiles Mud & Date Leaf Mud 0.16
B Golpata Mud & Bamboo Sticks Mud 0.13
C Golpata Bamboo Mat Mud 0.15
D Coconut Leaves Bamboo Mat Mud 0.12
E Golpata Bamboo Mat Bricks 0.46
F CI sheet Bamboo Mud 0.19
G Tiles Mud & Bamboo Mat Mud 0.22
H Concrete Bricks Concrete 11
Proposed Sundari, Goran, Sundari, Goran, bamboo Mud 0.22
model bamboo & Golpata Mat & Bamboo
Source: Field survey, 2007.
Most used housing type in the study area is Type-B and its construction cost is USD 0.13 per sq. ft.
whereas per unit cost of proposed house type is USD 0.22 which is considered to be very reasonable.

Table 7. Economic feasibility of the proposed house model for different income people
Income Group Yearly expenditure Present expenditure Expenditure on
on housing on housing/year proposed house/year
( in USD) (% of income) (% of income)
Low 18 5.10 11.39
Middle 94 11.57 4.52
High 115 12.65 3.75
Source: Field survey, 2007.
If all the income groups adopt new house type, merely the low income people would have to enhance
their expenditure for construction, which is a negligible figure compare to its potential output (field
survey, 2007). Since this is a disaster prone area, having average natural calamities 2/3 per year,
certainly such natural calamity resistant house will minimize the cost of maintenance to a greater extent
that will eventually compensate the extra expenditure for new construction.
From social acceptance point of view, the new house type is highly accepted as the construction
mechanism is based on and modified from indigenous knowledge and techniques, is made of locally
available materials and affordable to any income class people in the society. This house type has also
higher potential to be replicated in the areas of similar socio-economic, physiographic and climatic
characteristics. Therefore, there is a need to change in understanding to have the right knowledge and it
needs to be applied in reality for a greater change in the society. As Stott et. al. (2006), University of
London, rightly points out: ‘Climate is governed by millions of factors, from the flip of a butterfly's
wing, through volcanic eruptions, the oceans and natural greenhouse gases, to solar activity and
meteors’. If we really want to bring about a fundamental change and shift in all segments of society one
has to look into this issue, as a systemic and holistic problem with no easy solution. We simply need to
adapt to sustainable (in our case: urban design) principles and to fundamentally rethink our current
architecture, planning and urban design as well as to see what can be fixed in the best way to solve
this.

Points to ponder on the use of resources and urban design principles

In the increasing concern of global warming, protection of environment is a big issue to be dealt with
by the national and international communities. Due to sea level rising there is a dire possibility that half

209
of Sundarbans mangrove forest will go under water by 2020. Therefore, at the community level a
preventive measure should be taken so that ecological biodiversity could be protected and frequency of
natural calamities could be lessened.
For daily livelihoods the inhabitants are dependent on the resources from Sundarbans. They extract
Golpata, Goran, Gewa78, Sundari etc. for constructing and repairing houses and as fuel as well. It is
needless to mention that the iterative cyclone cause a huge damage on house properties. However, there
is a positive correlation between the extent of loss of house properties and dependencies on the
resources from Sundarbans. Therefore, the frequent and higher intensity of cyclone is, greater the
likelihood of resources extraction from Sundarbans. In the near future this resource dependency will
cost a lot on overall natural environment, unless some actions are initiated at the community scale.
This fact leads to sustainable use of resources at the community level. This paper argues and presents
findings in line with this argument that at the community scale a natural calamities resisting house
(proposed house type) could minimize the dependencies on Sundarbans’ resources and therefore there
is a need to adapt climate change through urban design principles. However, forest department (FD)
together with non-government organizations (NGOs) could take adequate steps to control resource
extraction by introducing awareness program. The aim of such program should be to let them know the
potential threats and its symptoms due to environmental degradation, their individual responsibilities in
relation to this and to grow awareness and motivation to protect the environment at their immediate
surroundings.
Effective strategies and new ways of foresight planning thinking should consider planning and regional
development in a much more integrated and systemic way. Planning needs to identify, respond and
influence the changes in the environment in this part of the world due to global warming. We see a
clear need to identify new and improved urban design principles in order to ensure that the priorities of
urban design and climate change align successfully, otherwise the whole effort will be still born. There
exist the urban design elements (people, place, space and objects) but there lacks an initiative to plan
these in line with climate change and increasing need of climate resistant houses. Function, space (for
living), perception (indigenous knowledge of house construction and environment) and practice are
important elements in urban design. While designing new model of climate resistant house all these
elements were considered as pivotal factors to achieve sustainability.

Concluding remarks
We have to look more into and consider some of the difficult issues that lie behind future planning and
urban design. Some of the issues brought up in our discussion are considered here as crucial ones for
understanding the complexity and transformation of our society as risk and uncertainty grow
systematically in vulnerable areas, thus making natural disaster mitigation, systemic approaches and
sustainable urban design, issues that are crucial. Undoubtedly, this is the right time to work together
with the international communities despite the fact that some of the major powerful nation states are
not that willing to curb carbon emission in an agreed rate and thereby to cooperate with others.
Whatever the case is there is no spare time to wait for someone else to cooperate with as in every single
moment this planet earth is heading towards a devastating and inhabitable future. In this paper we have
primarily highlighted what actions could be carried out at the community level focusing on housing in
the coastal areas by applying micro climatic urban design elements. Nevertheless there is an urgent
need to merge actions and initiatives at the global level with the actions at the community level. At this
point of discussion we could argue that designing a new house type is a way, if not others, to adapt to
changing climate at the community level.
78
Scientific name is Lespedeza cuneata

210
Bibliography
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flooding and the Sundarbans, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.
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http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/55/21055658.pdf accessed on June 30, 2008

Ahmed, K. I. (1994), Up to the Waist in Mud: Earth-based Architecture in Rural Bangladesh, Dhaka,
University Press Limited

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) (1993), Population Census, 1991 Dhaka, Government of
Bangladesh.

Clark PJ & Evans FC (1954), Distance to nearest neighbour as a measure of spatial relationships in
populations, Ecology, 35:445–453

Government of Bangladesh (GoB) (2008), Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh: Damage, loss and needs
assessment for disaster recovery and reconstruction. [WWW] URL.
http://gfdrr.org/docs/AssessmentReport_Cyclone%20Sidr_Bangladesh_2008.pdf, accessed on June 28,
2008

Govt. of Bangladesh (GoB) (1993), National Housing Policy, 1993, Dhaka, Ministry of Housing and
Public Works.

Hasan, M (1999), Urban and Rural Housing in Bangladesh, Dhaka, Global Publications.

Huq, H. (2000), ---------------------------------------------------------, Dhaka

Seraj, S. M., Hodgson R. LP. & Ahmed K.I. (eds.) (2000), Village Infrastructure to Cope with the
Environment, Dhaka, BUET & UK, University of Exeter.

Seraj, S. M, Hodgson R. LP & Choudhury J (eds) (1996), Implementing Hazard Resisting Housing,
Dhaka, BUET and UK, University of Exeter.

Stott, P., Moore, P., & Chaloner, B. (2006), Global environmental change (Blackwell Science: largely
on climate change), London

Sufian M.J.A (1998), Methods and Techniques of Social Research, Dhaka, University Press Limited.

Sultana, S. (1993), Rural Settlements in Bangladesh: Spatial Pattern and Development, Dhaka,
Graphosman.

[WWW] URL. http://www.adb.org/Documents/Economic_Updates/BAN/2004/eco-update-ban.pdf

accessed on July 29, 2008

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on July 29, 2008

211
Sundarbans Biodiversity Conservation Project: Inception Report, vol.-2000

Annex

Sundarbans

Ghar Kumarpur village located in the

south-western coastal belt

Figure 18. Location of the study area

212
URBAN GEOMETRY PARAMETERS AS INDICATORS FOR URBANIZATION EFFECTS: A CASE STUDY IN
PARANHOS, PORTUGAL

Licinia Balkeståhl*1, Ana Monteiro*1, Joaquim Góis*2,3 , Roger Taesler*4

1
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Departamento de Geografia, Portugal
2
Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Portugal
3
Centro de Investigação em Geoambiente e Recursos, CIGAR, Porto, Portugal
4
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Norrköping, Sweden
*Email: balkestahl@mail.telepac.pt; anamt@letras.up.pt; jgois@fe.up.pt

Licínia Paula Morais Caldeira Balkeståhl

Rua Aval de Baixo, 110 – 2º Esq.
4200-103 PORTO - Portugal

balkestahl@mail.telepac.pt

213
 URBAN GEOMETRY PARAMETERS AS INDICATORS FOR URBANIZATION EFFECTS:
A CASE STUDY IN PARANHOS, PORTUGAL

Licinia Balkeståhl*1, Ana Monteiro*1, Joaquim Góis*2,3 , Roger Taesler*4

1
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Departamento de Geografia, Portugal
2
Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Portugal
3
Centro de Investigação em Geoambiente e Recursos, CIGAR, Porto, Portugal
4
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Norrköping, Sweden
*Email: balkestahl@mail.telepac.pt; anamt@letras.up.pt; jgois@fe.up.pt

Abstract

This urban climate study is about the parish of Paranhos – Porto, Portugal. The size of the parish area
is approximately 7,2 km2. The area grew substantially in the last fifty years both in terms of population
number, widening of the urbanized area and extent of human activities as a result largely of the
creation of a new University Pole. We have tried to evaluate the influence of the urban geometry of
Paranhos as an external cause of the climatic subsystem, generating important contributions to changes
in the behavior of temperature (thermal anomalies). The methodology is based on on statistical
analyses of measured urban-rural temperature anomalies (∆Τu-r) versus two parameters characterizing
the urban structure, namely:
Street geometry is parameterized by a 2-dimensional view factor (vf) representing the unobscured
angular fraction of sky in a vertical plane perpendicular to the street. This approach differs from the 3-
dimensional sky view factor (Oke 1987).
Building density (bd) is parameterized by the number of buildings (n) in square areas of 100 × 100 m,
(n/hm2).
The correlations established separately between street geometry and building density respectively and
the thermal deviations show that both parameters are of significance as explanatory factors for the
urban heat island. The most densely built up areas with lowest vf correspond to the areas where the
urban heat island is best developed and observed most often.

Keywords: Urban Environment, View Factor, Urban Canyon, Thermal Anomalies, Urban Heat
Island.

214
 1. Introduction
We are convinced that studies of urban climate can give good indicators of life quality and
sustainability and can help to reduce/prevent situations of danger - or simply of lack of bioclimatic
comfort - for the urban population.
Located on the NW coast of Portugal, Oporto is a medium-sized city with approximately 300 000
inhabitants, that has experienced an intense urbanization process, especially over the last 50 years.
The town is integrated in the northwestern Atlantic façade of the Iberian Peninsula, in the occidental
extremity of Europe, enclosed therefore in the zone of the mid-latitudes alternating and affected by
the subpolar and subtropical pressure belts of the northern hemisphere, which clearly places it in the
temperate latitudes.
The town of Oporto is situated on a platform down descending softly towards the Atlantic ocean. From
the municipality of Paranhos the terrain also goes down almost imperceptible to the North, with altituds
around 100/150 m.a.sl.
The area studied, the parish of Paranhos - Porto – Portugal, has grown substantially in the last fifty
years, both in terms of population number, widening of the urbanized areas and human activities
associated with the creation of a new University Pole.
The following steps were included in the process of data aquisition and analysis:
1.1 Collection and statistical analysis of data from stationary and mobile measurements of
temperature in the parish of Paranhos;
1.2 Analysis of data from surface atmospheric pressure and temperature, relative humidity and
wind;
1.3 Statistical/geostatistical comparison of collected data and data from the synoptic weather station
at Porto-Pedras Rubras airport;
1.4 Measurements of the width of the streets and the building density (number of buildings/hm2).
1.5 Statistical analysis of correlations between urban temperature anomalies and various possibly
influential factors.

Realizing the importance of urban form and street geometry for the intensity of the urban heat island at
street level (Oke, 1987 we intended to use the 3-dimensional sky view factor (svf), which gives the
fraction of firmament that can be seen from a given point, to analyze the significance of the urban
structure of Paranhos as an external cause of the climatic subsystem, generating important changes in
temperatures (thermal anomalies), specially in constructed areas of great compactness. However, as
explained below, it has not been possible to determine values of 3-dimensional sky view factors for the
points of measurements. As a substitute, we have used a simplified, 2-dimensional view factor (vf)
representing the unobscured fraction of sky in a vertical plane perpendicular to the street.
Several parameters were selected initially as possibly influencing the thermal behavior of the study
area. Statistical correlations between the measured temperatures, the thermal anomalies and each of
the selected parameters were examined. The two parameters found to have the highest influence on
the urban temperature anomalies, in the area of narrow and old streets, are the view factor (vf) and
the building density (number of buildings/hm2, bd).

215
 2.Methodology
2.1. Aquisition of data
Data for the study area were obtained from several sources.
Measurements of air temperature and relative humidity were made at 6 fixed sites. A passenger car was
used for mobile measurements of temperature and relative humidity, using a digital termohygrometer
installed in right side of the roof of the outside of the vehicle (at a height of around 1,5 m.a.g.).
The temperature of the Automatic Meteorological Station (EMA) of Porto-Pedras Rubras airport at the
beginning of each run of measurements was taken as the reference for evaluating the urban temperature
anomaly ∆Τu-r. Measurements were taken, during most runs, at a total of 100 points along a fixed route.
The average duration of a run is appr.40 minutes, corresponding to an average time step between
readings of appr. 25 seconds.
During every run repeated readings were taken at a 16 points of measurement along the route, selected
to represent different urban environments.
Between November 2003 and January 2005 a total of 126 useful measurements (throughout 116
days) were performed, the majority of which during the night period and only six in daylight.
Synoptic charts from United Kingdom Meteorological Office, 00h00 and 18h00 as well as satellite
NOAA 17 photos (Dundee Satellite Receiving Station, Dundee University, UK) have been collected.
Whenever possible, the synoptic charts and the satellite photos corresponded to the hours next to the
periods of measurement.
The synoptic charts and satellite photos have been used to obtain over the Porto region. Subsequently,
the collected data were compared with the data from the synoptic airport station at Porto-Pedras
Rubras. Later, going through the methodologies in the geostatistics domain, we proceeded to the
analysis of the spatial structure of the information and its cartographic representation.
2.2. Data analysis
The following process was used for further data treatment and posterior cartography:
i) Local temporal trends at the 16 points, where repeated measurements were taken, were used for
smoothing out local variations in temperature by means of linear interpolation. For each point (i) the
time between the first and last reading is divided into ni intervals and an adjusted temperature is
calculated as
T adj i = a 0 +a 1 * n i (1)

ii) Denoting the over all change in temperature between the first and last adjusted temperature by δT
and the corresponding number of time steps by N, we corrected all values to a time representing the
midpoint of the run.
δT
Tcorri = Tadji − (ni − N ) (2)
N 2
iii) The urban thermal anomalies were calculated relatively to the reference station:

216
 (∆Τu-r) i = T corr i – T ref (3)
With the purpose of converting the discrete information thus obtained into continuous data which is
possible to georeferenciate, we applied the classic methodology in geostatistics, previously used in
simmilar cases (J. Góis, 2004; A. Monteiro, and A. Fernandes, 1996): structural analysis, estimate
with kriging and cartographic representation. The estimate of unknown values from known data,
with kriging, implies the construction of variograms (a variogram consists of a mathematical
function to evaluate the spatial continuity of a given variable, subsequently adjusted by theoretical
models applied to the experimental variograms). The objective of the geostatistics is the study of the
variability of spatially distributed data, his estimation and definition of vaguenesses and spatial
representation of the variables (see illustration 1).
iv) The 2-dimensional "view factor” was calculated according to the following equation:
vf = (180 - (arctg (Hl / 0.5W) + arctg (Hr / 0.5W))) / 180 (4)
where:
Hl (high left) is height of buildings to the left of the street (at measuring point i)
Hr (high right) is height of buildings to the right of the street (at measuring point i)
W (wide) is width of the street (at measuring point i)

Equation (4) refers to the central point of the street at a distance of 0,5 W from either side of the
street. The heights of individual buildings along the streets and the width of the streets were
obtained from the data provided by Oporto Municipal Council (Digital Mapping of Porto, the scale
of 1:2 000). The value of vf should represent the screening from the different buildings that flank the
street but, as we will see below, this is not always the case.
The two-dimensional view factor vf represents the concealment of the firmament, resulting from the
perpendicular position of buildings on both sides of the street, but not all along the street, that is, the
formula used here does not take into account the three-dimensional structure of the "urban canyon."

3. Results
The street data obtained from the Oporto Municipal Council were found not to portray accurately
the real conditions because in certain cases there are high buildings that are not by side of the street
but at some distance away. Such cases will distort the results. It was decided to use therefore not the
official width of the streets, but to take into account the opening of spaces in certain areas where the
buildings are not near the side of the street but very far apart from each other.
The factor building density (here represented by the number of buildings/hm2) is a supplementary
parameter representing the influence induced by the adjacent blocks and city areas, and therefore we
can consider it as an influencing factor at the topoclimatic or local scale.
When examined by linear regression on data from individual runs of measurement the relation
between the temperature anomaly and the parameters vf and bd respectively shows a considerable
scatter (R2-values typically 0,10 – 0,20). The intercepts ai also vary considerably between different
runs which may be seen as indicating shifts in general temperature level of the entire area of

217
 measurement relative to the level of the reference station. This illustrates the difficulty in finding a
representative rural background temperature.
The mean value of the intercept avf (1,33) may tentatively be interpreted as representing
approximately the upper limit of the local urban temperature anomaly. i.e. at vf =0, corresponding to
a completely closed sky. The mean value of the intercept abd (0,97) may tentatively be interpreted as
representing approximately the lower limit of the urban temperature anomaly, i.e. at bd=0,
corresponding to the mean shift in temperature levels between the reference station and the local
rural background level of the study area.
The slope of the regression lines is in qualitative agreement with the expected behaviour and
approximately consistent around -0.45 for vf and 0.02 for bd. Thus, the local dependence of
temperature on each of the two parameters may be fairly well established. Further analysis on larger
amounts of data is needed, however, to verify the relevance of these results (see Table 1).
Regarding wind direction and wind speed, it was not possible to analyze the influence of these
parameters at the fine scale due to lack of data. Regarding the direction of the streets, although this
factor is in the table of the correlations factors, no statistical treatment could be undertaken because
of the uncertainty in local wind direction at street level.
In further developments we believe that the application of different statistical techniques such as
nonparametric statistics, directional statistics, multivariate statistics (factorial methods) or classical
methods like Markov, spectral analysis and auto-correlation models applied to the climatic mobile
data, may contribute to a better understanding of the spatial-temporal variability associated to the
urban island phenomenon.

4. Discussion
4.1 Urban building density
Urban development results in the removal and/or covering of a significant part of the natural
materials, as the vegetation, the rivers, and the ground, which is substituted by brick, hardened,
asphalt, steel, glass, etc. The layout of the urban geometry means that the various directions of the
streets embody different microclimates as a result of differences in exposure to the sun (different
angles of incidence of sunlight) and different directions of wind.
The green areas disclose a typical influence, being usually cooler than the involving area, in the
summer; and more mitigated than the remaining area, in the winter (this is inclusively valid for
habitually cold areas, as the Roberto Frias Street, for example, whose points modify its thermal
behavior being more pleasant, in the spring, when the trees along the street get leaves).
The correlation established between the buildings density and the thermal deviations show that the high
building density contributes to the phenomenon of the urban heat island. The most densely occupied
areas with lowest vf correspond to the areas where the urban heat island was identified most often and
of highest magnitude.

218
 4.2 The 2-dimensional view factor
Oke (1987) considers that the level of the urban canopy (“urban canopy layer”) is characterized by
great complexity due to the pronounced three-dimensional structure of the surface and the complex
dynamics of the atmospheric processes in the layer below roof level. Understanding of the complex
dynamics can be simplified by reducing studies to lesser units, as the “urban canyons”. The “urban
canyon” unit is characterized by long, uninterrupted walls of buildings adjacent to the street and by
the ground between them (in general, the street), This approach would represent the interaction
between the buildings together instead of treating these as isolated objects. However, due to lack of
proper equipment for fish-eye photography but also due to the very irregular building geometries
along the streets which conflicts with the idealized canyon geometry, we have not been able to work
out proper 3-dimensional sky view factors.
Through the correlation between the values of the simplified vf calculation and the urban-rural thermal
anomalies it is clear that the 2-dimensional view factor is capable of explaining some part of the urban
influence on temperature conditions. The same is true for the correlation between the thermal
deviations and the building density. Both parameters are seen to influence the phenomenon of the
urban heat island.

219
 Temperature Profile
(2004/04/25)

21

18

M
15
Temp. (ºC)

12

0
1 11 21 31 41 51 61 71 81 91 101
Points of the route
Temperature measurements Adjusted temperature
Temperature corrected values Urban thermal anomalies

Fig. 1 - Evolution of the different temperature profiles along a fixed route.

220
Table 1.
Urban temperature anomaly vs. view facto
and building density (bd) respect
Linear regression on data from individual r
dT vs vf 20040204 1,96 -0,55 1,29 0,03
Date avf bvf abd 20040205 0,26 -0,21 -0,02 0,01
20031112 -0,06 -0,27 20040207 3,37 -0,87 2,40 0,04
20031116 -0,85 -0,20 20040208 4,20 -0,22 3,87 0,02
20031117 1,68 -0,40 20040209 0,15 -0,12 -0,03 0,01
20031118 1,80 0,13 20040210 3,03 -0,53 2,37 0,03
20031119 0,52 -0,35 20040211 2,96 -0,43 2,45 0,02
20031120 -0,51 -0,16 20040212 2,74 -0,31 2,33 0,02
20031122 0,72 -0,11 20040213 2,71 -0,35 2,23 0,02
20031123 -1,12 -0,94 20040214 2,57 -0,82 1,61 0,04
20031124 1,76 -0,26 20040215 2,46 -0,35 2,01 0,02
20031125 -1,76 -0,09 20040216 0,69 -0,24 0,37 0,01
20031203 -0,09 -0,14 20040217 3,11 -0,24 2,75 0,02
20031204 0,86 -0,48 20040218 5,26 -0,05 5,19 0,00
20031209 1,01 -0,18 20040219 0,81 -0,72 -0,06 0,04
20031210 0,93 0,06 20040220 1,23 -1,21 -0,13 0,05
20031211 -0,06 0,06 20040226 0,42 -0,31 0,05 0,01
20031214 -1,03 -0,08 20040301 4,85 -0,59 4,15 0,03
20031215 0,67 -0,10 20040302 -1,02 0,15 -0,89 0,00
20031216 2,47 -0,57 20040303 -1,01 -0,10 -1,15 0,01
20031217 -1,18 -0,15 20040304 1,01 -0,06 0,96 0,00
20031220 -1,66 0,04 20040306 0,76 -0,21 0,51 0,01
20031221 -1,23 -0,13 20040314 2,67 -0,44 2,16 0,02
20031222 1,89 -0,51 20040315 5,19 -0,73 4,37 0,03
20031223 -1,12 -0,94 20040316 3,15 -0,53 2,56 0,02
20031224 2,57 -0,18 20040320 1,68 -0,13 1,51 0,01
20031225A 2,60 -0,31 20040321 0,54 -0,13 0,37 0,01
20031225B 0,12 0,19 20040322 1,48 -0,28 1,11 0,02
20031226 -0,25 -0,13 20040325 0,43 -0,27 0,12 0,01
20040101 -0,10 -0,13 20040326 -0,41 -0,14 -0,59 0,01
20040102 0,68 -0,36 20040327 0,13 -0,07 0,04 0,00
20040103 0,44 -0,64 20040328 1,50 -0,27 1,20 0,01
20040104 1,89 -0,32 20040403 1,29 -0,30 0,93 0,01
20040105 -1,70 0,06 20040404 2,21 0,01 2,14 0,01
20040106 -2,05 -0,04 20040405 4,43 -0,93 3,37 0,04
20040107 -0,54 0,04 20040406 3,28 -0,53 2,68 0,02
20040118 0,96 -0,30 20040408 1,07 -0,15 0,86 0,01
20040119 4,11 -1,28 20040412 2,24 -0,18 2,03 0,01
20040120 1,45 -0,38 20040413 4,65 -1,08 3,43 0,05
20040121 1,54 -0,45 20040424 4,29 -1,09 3,09 0,04
20040122 -0,44 0,02 20040425 5,96 -1,01 4,80 0,04
20040127 0,75 -0,19 20040426 4,47 -0,77 3,55 0,04
20040128 0,24 0,00 221
20040202 0 71 0 21
5. References

Alcoforado, M. J., 1993. “O Clima da Região de Lisboa – Contrastes e Ritmos Térmicos”. Lisboa: C E G da
UL.

Góis, J., 2004. Contribuição dos Modelos Estocásticos para o Estudo da Climatologia Urbana. Porto: FEUP.

Monteiro, A. and Fernandes, A., 1996. “A Geoestatística-uma incursão exploratória a considerar no domínio da
Climatologia Urbana?” Cadernos de Geografia, nº15. Coimbra: FLUC

Monteiro, A., 1997. O Clima Urbano do Porto – Contribuição para a Definição das Estratégias de Planeamento e
Ordenamento do Territírio. Porto: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Junta Nacional de Investigação Científica e
tecnológica.

Oke, T. R., 1987. Boundary Layer Climates. London and New York: Routledge.

Quenol, H.- Modifications Climatiques aux Echelles Fines Générées par un Ouvrage Linéaire en Remblai, USTL,
Lille, France, 2002

Taesler, Roger, 1980. “Studies of the development and thermal structure of the urban boundary layer in Uppsala”,
Reports Nº 61. Uppsala: Dep. of Meteorology, Univ. of Uppsala.

Balkeståhl, L., 2005. Os efeitos da intensificação dos processos de urbanização no balanço energético local: Estudo de
caso no pólo da Asprela. Porto: FLUP, Departamento de Geografia.

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TOPIC 4:  Local and Regional Policy Issues 
 
Climate Change and the Future of Havana:  
A Heritage of Beauty Under Threat  
Julio César Pérez Hernández 
Chair, Cuban Chapter, CEU 
 
  
Although Havana skipped the damaging world‐wide urban renewal of the second half of the 
twentieth century, it is currently endangered not only by climate change but also by an 
eventual market‐ driven overdevelopment.  Havana features compact city blocks, mixed‐use 
buildings, and lacks traffic jams and multi level highways for which an urban plan has been 
devised according to sustainable principles for preserving the city’s historic, urban and 
architectural legacy while allowing its future urban and economic development. The Master 
Plan devised by local professionals has a strong commitment to great urban design based on 
traditional urban patterns and remains true to the city’s history, its people and its landscapes 
in terms of typology, morphology and cultural identity.  
 
Considering climate change issues of the utmost importance, the plan envisions urban infill 
with reasonably high densities and waterfront redevelopment that will serve as a buffer zone 
by creating a new streetscape with seafront boulevards, squares, parks and promenades and a 
pedestrian friendly ambience that encourages a healthy outdoor living and grants social and 
cultural integration. Two international Charrette organized by the Norwegian and the Cuban 
Chapter CEU have focused on the redevelopment of the Havana Harbor based on the belief 
that the principles applied to the regeneration of the harbor can be applied to the rest of the 
city. The plan proposes a new public transportation system whose coastal stretch takes 
advantage of the topography of the existing reef allows for the increase of public space on top 
of it along the waterfront and also for the infrastructure renovation reducing the dependence 
on cars. The Plan represents an ecological alternative to suburbanization by reinforcing the 
polycentric character of the traditional city and by increasing the amount of green space and 
its presence in open spaces. 
 

223
A Regional Government’s Effort to Manage Growth in California’s Central Valley
Cynthia van Empel
140 Almond Avenue
Modesto, CA 95354
cvanempel@gmail.com

The Central Valley and Sacramento-Area Growth

California’s Central Valley is comprised of two smaller valleys, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, which are
tied together by the Sacramento River Delta. The Central Valley, nearly 650 kilometers long and 65 to 95
kilometers wide, is home to 6.5 million people. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy throughout the
Central Valley, indeed, Valley agriculture supplies 25 percent of the food Americans eat (NPR 2002). But urban
growth is rapidly increasing in the Central Valley, which is expected to accommodate the bulk of the state's
growth to 2040, resulting in a likely tripling of urbanized land (an additional 1,000,000 acres) if current
development trends continue (Teitz, Dietzel, and Fulton, 2005). If allowed to continue uncontrolled, this growth
has the potential to increase greenhouse gas pollution from automobile-dependent sprawl, while increasing the
demand for agricultural products and simultaneously reducing productive acreage. As such, unmanaged growth
in the Central Valley poses various risks, not all of them directly resulting from greenhouse gas emissions.

Table 1

The California Department of Conservation publishes data on conversion of farmland every two years. In its
most recent reporting period, 2002 to 2004, as in the previous biennium, four of the top 10 agriculture-
converting counties were in the Central Valley, two of which were in the Sacramento Area Council of
Governments (SACOG) region during both bienniums, Sacramento County and Placer County. During the 2002
to 2004 period, these two counties alone converted 11,056 acres to urban uses, compared to 8,149 acres during
the 2000-2002 period. The conversion of agricultural land to urban uses throughout California is occurring in
counties or portions of counties that lie on the edge of urban areas and in a form familiar to most Californians:
low density, automobile-dependent sprawl. This is also true of development in Sacramento and Placer counties
and in the greater SACOG region.

Metropolitan Transportation Plan 2035

The Sacramento Area Council of Governments administers transportation funds for six of the 11 Sacramento
Valley counties: El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba and the 22 cities in the six counties.
SACOG must demonstrate conformity with state and federal air quality plans as a prerequisite to receiving
transportation funding. SACOG's Metropolitan Transportation Plan 2035 (MTP 2035 or MTP) is an outgrowth
of the regional "Blueprint" vision and land use strategy SACOG developed in 2002 in response to the region's
inability to effectively address traffic congestion, air pollution, housing, open space, and loss of agricultural land.
Currently 2.1 million people live in the SACOG region; an additional one million are expected by 2035.
Without good management, the expected population growth could drastically increase the amount of agricultural
land converted to urban uses and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the subsequent
sprawling development pattern.

The Preferred Blueprint Scenario (Blueprint), unanimously adopted by the SACOG board in 2004, includes
seven "smart growth" principles:

► provide a variety of transportation choices

► offer a variety of housing choices
► take advantage of compact development

224
► use existing assets
► mix land use
► preserve open space, farmland and natural areas
► encourage distinctive, attractive communities

Implementing the Preferred Blueprint Scenario requires voluntary cooperation from SACOG member agencies.
Each member agency is required by state law to prepare a comprehensive plan for development within its
jurisdiction and is responsible for the subsequent land use decisions. Individual land use decisions are subject to
environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Evaluating consistency with
adopted regional plans is part of CEQA review. MTP 2035 is a regional plan, for which an environmental
impact report was prepared in accordance with the requirements of CEQA. In order to be consistent with the
MTP, each agency must either find that its comprehensive plan is consistent with MTP 2035 or revise its
comprehensive plan to make it consistent with the MTP. Should an agency fail to make its comprehensive plan
consistent with the MTP, the MTP and Preferred Blueprint Scenario should be revised to be consistent with the
noncompliant agency's plan. Revising the MTP, its environmental document, and the Preferred Blueprint
Scenario would require a majority vote of SACOG member agencies and a significant application of time and
financial resources.

In order to implement the Preferred Blueprint Scenario, SACOG developed several planning scenarios, from
which one was selected and analyzed as the regional planning scenario. Each planning scenario was intended to
embody the seven smart growth principles from the Preferred Blueprint Scenario.

The MTP's performance was measured against four indicators (SACOG 2008):

► vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on regional roadways

► congestion and delay for all travelers, but particularly for motorists
► transit ridership and the proportion of trips made by transit
► non-motorized travel (bicycle and pedestrian) and the proportion of trips made by non-motorized modes

These indicators were selected because the SACOG region was experiencing faster growth in VMT than in
population (65 percent compared to 49 percent from 2000 to 2005) and an expected increase in congestion on the
region's roadways of 230 percent by 2025, in spite of significant roadway investments. Additionally, only a
small increase in transit ridership was expected (1.0 to 1.2 percent by 2025) and a loss in the share of non-
motorized travel was expected by 2025 (from 6.9 to 6.6 percent). Furthermore, the annual rate of growth in
households from 1995 to 2005 was 2.0 percent, while the annual growth in VMT over the same period was 2.5
percent. The SACOG board was appropriately alarmed by these trends and decided a new development and
transportation investment strategy was necessary.

Consequently, MTP 2035's investment strategy is radically different from that of MTP 2025, which was adopted
in 2002. MTP 2035 increases the investment in bicycle and pedestrian facilities by 56 percent, as compared to
MTP 2025, not including road investments that also include bicycle and pedestrian elements. "Complete
streets," sidewalk extensions, pedestrian bridges and intersection improvements, bike lanes, off-road
bike/pedestrian trails, and bicycle amenities are included in the funding. MTP 2035 also increases transit
investments by 21 percent, as compared to MTP 2025. These investments focus on higher frequency service,
new service, and rail investments. The remaining capital transportation investments, focusing on road
maintenance and rehabilitation, safety projects, and aesthetic improvements, which will not increase roadway
capacity. Relatively little money is targeted to local road improvements, but these are generally capacity-
enhancing projects. All told, of the expected $41.7 billion during the life of the MTP, $1.4 billion (3.3 percent)
is exclusively committed to bicycle and pedestrian projects, $14.3 billion (34.3 percent) is exclusively
committed to transit, $12.4 billion (29.7 percent) is committed to non-capacity-enhancing road projects, and $8.2
billion (19.6 percent, an increase of two percent) is committed to local capacity-enhancing road projects, 25

225
percent which includes bicycle and pedestrian improvements. Another $2.4 billion (5.7 percent) will be used by
the California Department of Transportation on state highways.

The historic trend and the comparative performance of MTP 2035's revised transportation investments were
measured for each indicator above to measure the MTP's overall performance. SACOG used several models to
measure the MTP's performance including a land use model, PLACE3S and two travel demand models,
SACMET and SACSIM. SACMET is a four-step traffic model, used to measure the performance of previous
Metropolitan Transportation Plans (1996, 1999, and 2002), combined with some post-processing to capture the
effects of density, diversity, design and destination. SACSIM is a much more detailed, activity-based model that
utilizes data at a parcel level, rather than using SACMET's Traffic Analysis Zones. The result is a more accurate
transportation model.

Environmental Impact Report for the Metropolitan Transportation Plan for 2035

The greenhouse gas emissions analysis in the environmental impact report (EIR) is based upon fuel
consumption. Specifically, MTP 2025 is estimated to result in 92,624,000 daily vehicle miles traveled,
compared to an estimated 86,784,000 daily vehicle miles traveled with MTP 2035, a reduction of 6.3 percent.
This also results in 6.1 percent less gasoline and 5.0 percent less diesel fuel burned daily. Using both its land use
and transportation models, SACOG estimates that 75 percent of this reduction is attributable to land use changes.
While not adequate to meet the state's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, the
reduction in fuel usage demonstrated by MTP 2035 is substantial. Furthermore, SACOG's analysis does not
account for the depressing effect on automobile travel demand of rising fuel prices.

Figure 1
Figure 2
Table 2

SACOG's recognition that a four-step traffic model is unable to provide appropriate forecasts for other travel
modes, combined with its use of PLACE3S, has allowed SACOG to do more than simply model unconstrained
traffic demand. Major failings of other regional transportation planning organizations are the incorrect
assumption that no land use changes will occur as a result of transportation investments and the failure to
recognize the role of low-density development in congestion and automobile dependency, which creates a self-
reinforcing pattern of roadway capacity investment spurring low-density development, in turn resulting in the
desire for further roadway capacity investment, also known as "trying to build your way out of congestion," a
strategy that has failed in its every implementation effort in California. Furthermore, SACOG's Blueprint and
the subsequent transportation investment strategy are likely to appear prescient as fuel prices continue to rise,
providing Sacramento metropolitan area residents with feasible alternatives to the automobile and reducing the
emission of greenhouse gases much sooner than would otherwise be expected.

The fundamental idea behind the Blueprint land use strategy is to focus new residential development around
mixed-use activity centers, then support those areas with investments in non-automobile transportation. SACOG
furthers supports local agencies by providing analysis tools, technical assistance, and seed money for smart
growth projects to help those agencies make land use decisions consistent with the Blueprint strategy. However,
in order for SACOG's MTP 2035 to produce the greenhouse gas emission benefits demonstrated in the
environmental impact report, it is necessary for every member agency to adopt the regional goals and land use
strategy, as well as to adopt supporting policies of their own that can be applied to daily land use decisions.

Figure 3

City of Rancho Cordova's Comprehensive Plan

226
The SACOG-member City of Rancho Cordova approved a new comprehensive plan in 2006, two years after the
SACOG board adopted its Preferred Blueprint Scenario. Rancho Cordova is a city in eastern Sacramento
County that encompasses 22.5 square miles within city limits and is home to 55,000 people for an average of
about 1.2 dwelling units per acre. Rancho Cordova's comprehensive plan acknowledges and attempts to fulfill
the purpose of the Blueprint. The Circulation Element of the city's comprehensive plan includes the following
policies, among others:

Goal C.1: Develop a roadway system that accommodates future land uses at the City's desired level of
service, provides multiple options for travel routes, protects residential areas from excessive
traffic, coexists with other travel modes, and contributes to the quality of the City's residential,
commercial, office, and industrial uses.

Action C.1.1.1: Review and update the City's roadway cross-sections and design standards that implement the
roadway types shown in the circulation diagram.

Policy C.1.2: Seek to maintain operations on all roadways and intersections at Level of Service D or better at
all times, including peak travel times, unless maintaining this Level of Service would, in the
City's judgment, be infeasible and/or conflict with the achievement of other goals. Congestion
in excess of Level of Service D may be accepted in these cases, provided that provisions are
made to improve traffic flow and/or promote non-vehicular transportation as part of a
development project or a City-initiated project.

Goal C.2: Establish an extensive, complete, smooth, interconnected, and continuous pedestrian and bicycle
network that is a safe and attractive option for local or regional trips or recreation and that
connects to the City's neighborhoods, parks and schools, employment areas, and retail centers.

Policy C.2.3: In designing development projects, design for the pedestrian first.

Policy C.2.6: Provide on-street bike lanes along all connector roadways and on local and major roadways
when necessary to provide interconnected routes. On-street bike routes may be provided on
local, connector, and major roadways as deemed necessary by the City.

Rancho Cordova's circulation element clearly supports the Blueprint and MTP 2035 goal of providing
transportation choices and by actively promoting bicycle and pedestrian transportation. Most remarkable is
Policy C.2.3, which makes pedestrian planning the first priority of development projects. Policy C.1.2 refers to
maintaining Level of Service D citywide, which is antithetical to good transit, bicycle, and pedestrian service.
However, the policy is worded to allow the city to decide to favor non-automobile transportation to automobiles
when it isn’t practical to provide Level of Service D for cars. It will be interesting to see how this policy is
implemented in practice.

The more difficult task is planning land uses that make alternative transportation viable. The land use plan
organizes the future city around neighborhoods, villages, and town centers. Every location in a neighborhood
can be reached on foot in 15 minutes and would have and each neighborhood is intended to house 4,000 citizens
with an average density of six dwelling units to the acre. Each neighborhood is planned to include a center
which is intended to serve as a gathering place for residents and may be a school, park, or corner coffee shop.
Villages are comprised of three or four neighborhoods, each of which has higher-density development near the
village center, which serves the daily shopping needs of residents. Villages house 12,000 to 15,000 citizens.
Districts are an additional level higher, housing around 45,000 residents in three or four villages and each having
a town center, which serves retail and entertainment needs of the villages. Ultimately, the city is planned to
house approximately 300,000 residents, roughly six times more than today at about double the existing density.

227
Figure 4

Rancho Cordova appears to embrace the basic principles of smart growth presented in the Blueprint, however, it
is too soon to determine how well the comprehensive plan will be followed and what the results will be.
Initially, the average density of six dwelling units to the acre suggests that transit service might not be well-
supported. It remains to be seen whether the plan for higher-density development near village and town centers
will be adequate to create substantial transit ridership.

Conclusion

Because the comprehensive plan process is lengthy and expensive, often involving $3 to $5 million and four to
seven years to complete, most of SACOG's member agencies have not yet updated their plans. However, some
municipalities have indeed begun the process. SACOG has limited means at its disposal to enforce compliance
with the Blueprint and MTP 2035. However, in the last year SACOG has commented pointedly on
environmental documents for major development projects in Yuba City and Placer County, neither of which was
consistent with regional planning documents and both of which would have resulted in continuing the region's
upward trend for greenhouse gas emissions. While it seems a small effort, commenting on an environmental
document makes it possible for the agency that prepared the documentation to be sued on the issues contained in
the comment later, even if the commenting party, SACOG in this case, decides not to pursue legal action. As it
happens, the California Attorney General's office has proven interested in pursuing legal action against public
agencies that prepare inadequate greenhouse gas analyses. To date, neither SACOG nor the Attorney General's
office has yet initiated legal action against Yuba City or Placer County.

SACOG has taken bold action by adopting the Blueprint and MTP 2035, both taking a giant step in a new
direction for California. However, SACOG represents only a small number of fast-growing California counties
and does not have final land use authority. Other Central Valley counties lag far behind SACOG, continuing
"business as usual" sprawl. By comparison, Stanislaus County, in the northern San Joaquin Valley, will place a
half-cent sales tax meaure for transportation on the November 2008 ballot. This transportation tax, expected to
raise $700 million over 20 years, is dedicated solely to automobile-capacity enhancement projects and roadway
maintenance: not one dollar is to be used on transit, bicycle, or pedestrian projects. Tremendous change will be
needed in the Central Valley to avoid the fates of California's metropolitan areas, which once were famous for
their agriculture and are now famous for their car culture. The metropolitan areas are discovering how difficult
and costly it is to retrofit an automobile-based development pattern. Neither do the Central Valley counties seem
enthusiastic about Blueprint-type regional planning. California may need to take a top-down approach to
prevent similar problems and huge increases in greenhouse gas emissions in the Central Valley, but hasn't so far
been willing to do so.

Table 1: Agriculture to Urban Conversion in the SACOG Region, 2002 to 2004 (ac)
Agricultural Land
Total Acreage Agricultural Agricultural Converted to
County Surveyed Land, 2002 Land, 2004 Change % Urban Uses
El Dorado 536,404 269,248 263,581 -0.79 2,132
Placer 511,528 175,446 170,262 -3.04 5,343
Sacramento 636,083 391,544 384,653 -1.47 5,759
Sutter 398,441 345,989 344,063 -0.21 743
Yolo 653,452 545,050 542,763 -0.25 1,360
Yuba 411,817 233,680 230,413 -0.15 360
Total 3,138,525 1,960,957 1,935,735 -0.80 15,697
Source: Appendix A, California Farmland Conversion Report, 2002-2004, California Department of Conservation

228
Figure 1: Growth in Vehicle Miles Traveled, SACOG Region, 1995 to 2005

Source: SACOG, Metropolitan Transportation Plan 2035, Figure 4-1

Figure 2: Daily Vehicle Miles Traveled, SACOG Region, 1995 to 2035

229
Source: SACOG, Metropolitan Transportation Plan 2035, Figure 4-2

Figure 3: Preferred Blueprint Scenario Land Use

230
Source: SACOG, Metropolitan Transportation Plan 2035, Figure 7-1

Table 2: Regional Total Fuel Consumption

231
Source: SACOG, Draft and Final Environmental Impact Report for the Metropolitan Transportation Plan for 2035, Table 9-2

Figure 4: Building Blocks of the City

Source: City of Rancho Cordova General Plan, Land Use Element, Figure LU-1

References

California Department of Conservation, Division of Land Resource Protection, 2006. California Farmland

232
 Conversion Report, 2002-2004.
City of Rancho Cordova General Plan, adopted 26 June, 2006.
National Public Radio, 2002. http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/nov/central_valley/, accessed on 26
June 08.
Sacramento Area Council of Governments, 2008. Draft Final Metropolitan Transportation Plan for 2035,
SACOG 08-002.
Sacramento Area Council of Governments, 2007. Draft and Final Environmental Impact Report for the
Metropolitan Transportation Plan for 2035.
Teitz, Michael B., Charles Dietzel, and William Fulton, 2005. Urban Development Futures in the San Joaquin
Valley, Public Policy Institute of California.

233
 Climate Change: How Local Authorities in the Lake Victoria Basin
can rise to the Challenge

Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga79

Key words: Climate Change, Greenhouse gas emissions, Adaptation, Mitigation, City Development
Strategies (CDS)
ABSTRACT
Climate change is a global phenomenon and one of the most important challenges for the future
of mankind. In Africa, the main focus of adaptation planning has been at the national level and not
having adequately addressed municipal-scale adaptation.
With particular relevance to cities in the Lake Victoria Basin currently embarking on City
Development Strategies (CDS) for improving the urban environment as well as poverty reduction, this
paper presents an insight into how the CDS can be used as a tool to address climate change and ensure
that such issues are included in local and national development strategies from the start

Introduction
Climate change is a global phenomenon and one of the most important challenges for the future
of mankind. Cities are directly affected by rising global temperatures induced by climate change and
the consequent changes in weather patterns and sea levels. The increased incidence and severity of
extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones, flooding, landslides, heat waves and cold snaps will
have severe consequences for cities and their inhabitants, not least because the geographical location of
many of the world’s major urban settlements exposes them to hydro meteorological hazards (Oyeleran
2007).
Nonetheless, whilst cities are threatened by the effects of climate change UN-HABITAT (2007)
states that they also contribute directly to global warming. According to the Agency, “cities consume
80% of the world’s energy and are responsible for 75% of CO2 emissions that cause climate change.
Direct sources of greenhouse gas emissions in cities include energy generation, vehicles, industry and
the burning of fossil fuels and biomass in households” (p.2).
In keeping with the U.S. Department of Energy’s International Energy Annual (2002), one
region of the world where the effects of climate change are being felt particularly hard is Africa. As
luck would have it, Africa can easily be said to contribute the least of any continent to global warming.
Each year it produces an average of just over 1 metric ton of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide per

79
Correspondence: Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga, Human Settlements Officer, Urban Environment Section, UN-HABITAT,
P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya.Tel: 254 020 7623164, Fax: 254 020 7623715, Mobile: 254 722919767. E-mail:
cecilia.njenga@unhabitat.org

234
person. The most industrialized African countries, such as South Africa, generate 8.44 metric tons per
person, and the least developed countries, such as Mali, generate less than a tenth of a metric ton per
person. It is a cruel irony that, in many experts’ opinion, the people living on the continent that has
contributed the least to global warming are in line to be the hardest hit by the resulting climate changes
(Environmental Health Perspectives, 2005).
Urgent action is needed. Mukheibir & Gina Ziervogel (2007 note that, in the past, the agenda
has focused mainly on mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, they say, there has been a
shift in focus, where policy makers and academics have begun to debate the issues surrounding
adaptation to future climate impacts and to consider the implications for the future. However, the main
focus of adaptation planning has been at the national level and not having adequately addressed
municipal-scale adaptation.
Bulkeley and Betsill (2005) also support this argument, asserting that with the increasingly pre-
eminent role accorded to local governments owing to their strong position to advance the goals of
sustainable development, efforts to combat climate change must involve local action because of the
urban nature of consumption and production practices.
Still, given that knowledge surrounding climate change at the local level seems uncertain, how
are local authorities to formulate tangible mitigation and adaptation strategies and policies? Especially
with the significant amount of ambiguity that continues to linger regarding localized impacts?
Answering these questions has a very particular relevance to cities in the Lake Victoria Basin currently
involved a participatory planning process known as City Development Strategies (CDS) for improving
the urban environment as well as poverty reduction.
This paper presents an insight into how the CDS can be used as a tool to address climate change
and ensure that such issues are included in local and national development strategies from the start. It is
divided into 2: parts.
Part I sets the broader context by discussing the inextricable linkages between climate change
and economic development challenges in Africa, highlighting some of the adaptation activities
undertaken by local authorities in the Lake Basin. Part II presents the challenges for local intervention
and suggests steps to guide local authorities in the development of a Municipal Adaptation Plan
PART I
Climate Change and Economic Development Challenges in Africa
Water Availability
Climate variability and change are major threats limiting opportunities for sustainable development. In
Eastern Africa for example research suggests that warming sea surface temperatures, especially in the
southwest Indian Ocean, in addition to inter-annual climate variability i.e., El Niño/Southern
Oscillation (ENSO) may be linked to the change in rainfall across some parts of equatorial-subtropical
East Africa (Cane et al., 1986; Plisnier et al., 2000; Rowe, 2001). Warm sea surface temperatures are
thought to be responsible for the recent droughts of in equatorial and subtropical Eastern Africa during
the 1980s to the 2000s (Funk et al., 2005).By extension, these have invariably exacerbated poverty
levels and affected food security and forced the introduction of water and power rationing schemes, and
in the process caused serious interruptions of economic activities in the basin region (UNEP, 2005).
Food Security
According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2004), the number of African
food crises per year has tripled from the 1980s to 2000s. Drought diminished water supplies reduce
crop productivity and have resulted in widespread famine in East Africa.
Similarly, in Southern Africa, much of the famine in 2003 was attributed to the severe drought
of 2002-2003. In the Horn of Africa (Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia), famine is mainly a result of drought,

235
although in Ethiopia and Eritrea, war was also a contributory factor. A total of 13.6 million people in
the two countries faced immediate food shortages in early 2003. In Mozambique, the floods in 2000 –
the worst in 150 years – left the country’s lowlands in the Limpopo River basin inundated for up to
three months, affecting the plant resources upon which people relied (Cleveland, 2007).
Extreme Weather Events
According to IPCC (2001), warming temperatures are projected to cause more frequent and
more intense extreme weather events, such as heavy rain storms, flooding, fires, hurricanes, tropical
storms and El Niño events. Tropical storms can ravage coastal areas and intensive the impacts of sea-
level rise by accelerating erosion in coastal areas and by removing protective natural buffer areas that
absorb storm energy, such as wetlands and mangroves (Magadza, 2000).
Extreme rainfall and subsequent heavy flooding damage will also have serious effects on
agriculture including the erosion of topsoil, inundation of previously arid soils, and leaching nutrients
from the soil. Regional fluctuations in lake levels are another impact of regional climate variations and
are expected to worsen with projected climate change. While land use change can have a dramatic
effect on lake levels, climate variability is more unpredictable and difficult to manage for.

Lake Victoria for example, is now 0.5 oC warmer than in the 1960s (Hecky et al, 1994).
Maximum temperatures in the region have been progressively increasing over the past two or three
decades. It is also likely that extreme events such as El Nino are being experienced more frequently and
have become more intense in the basin (IPCC, 2001). The 1997 El Nino which saw Lake Victoria level
rise by 2.4m (Birkett et al, 1999) was the strongest in the region and caused wide ranging agricultural,
hydrological, ecological, economic and health impacts (Conway,2002).
Change in climate in the lake basin is linked to local processes (UNEP, 2005). Greenhouse
gases are emitted in the course of the production and consumption of energy produced from fossil fuels
(coal, oil), incineration of waste products, land-use changes and rumination of cattle (Gupta, 1997).
Land use changes have also contributed significantly to carbon dioxide emissions through activities
such as the conversion of forest lands to agriculture and vegetation burning (Mwangi, 1995).
Furthermore, extensive clearing of forests for cultivation and the provision of wood fuel has led
to increased carbon dioxide emissions and a reduction in sinks for carbon dioxide absorption including
reduced infiltration and top soil depletion as well as soil erosion (Mwangi, 1995; UNEP, 2005). Solid
and liquid waste generation in addition has been a serious problem in majority of the urban centres and
a significant contributor to air and water pollution in the Lake Victoria region (Field-Juma and Karani,
1995).
Human Health
It is also a driving force for a number of health problems including malaria epidemics in the basin
(Githeko & Ndegwa, 2001; Giketho et al, 2000).
Given the lack of capacity to implement sustainable development policies, especially within a regional
context of high urbanization rates and weak national and regional economies, local authorities in eight
cities have embarked on City Development Strategies (CDS) for improved urban environment and
poverty reduction in the Lake Victoria Basin.
CDS as a tool to address climate change issues
CDSs are defined as “action plans for equitable urban growth as developed and sustained through
participation to improve quality of life for all citizens” (UN-HABITAT, 2005:3) The objectives of a
City Development Strategy include “a collective city vision and action plan aimed at improving urban

236
governance management, increasing investment to expand employment and services, and systematic
and sustained reductions in urban poverty” (UN-HABITAT, 2005:3).
The process of devising a City Development Strategy generally adopts a multi-stakeholder, consensus-
building approach in the identification of major issue-specific areas, including the subsequent
development and implementation of Strategic Action Plans (SAPs). These Strategic Action Plans
(2006-2010) have all recognised and reiterated the importance of improving the urban environment for
the sake of enhanced productivity and poverty reduction. To date, there are several proposed local
interventions and initiatives by the respective city municipalities, which constitute important climate
change adaptation activities.
In Kisumu (Kenya), management of municipal solid waste continues to be an important
environmental challenge. With a collection efficiency estimated at 20 per cent of the 500,000 tons
generated, most of the solid waste in the city remains uncollected. The Municipal Council of Kisumu
and UN-HABITAT, with support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Practical Action
and the Umande Trust, has embarked on an eighteen month initiative aimed to improve waste
management and promote environmental conservation in the city.
Through a public – private partnership approach, the Kisumu Integrated Sustainable Waste
Management Project (KISWAMP) presents many opportunities for greenhouse gas emission reductions.
By promoting recycling and source reduction, emissions can be reduced at the manufacturing stage,
increasing forest carbon storage, and avoiding landfill methane emissions. Further, combustion of
waste will allow energy recovery to displace fossil fuel-generated electricity from utilities, thus
reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the utility sector and landfill methane emissions. Diverting
organic materials from landfills to be developed will also reduce methane emissions (EPA, 1998).
The project also involves several capacity-building approaches for the improvement of the
regulatory environment that include; enforcement of reviewed by-laws ; fee collection ; monitoring and
evaluation systems ; private sector linkages; start-up machinery and land-fill development by the
Municipal Council of Kisumu (KISWAMP project document, 2007).
Similarly, The Municipal Council of Musoma (Tanzania) has stepped up efforts to purchase
refuse collection equipment and promote recycling of waste in a bid to improve the collection rate from
12 to 80 percent of the 19,032 tonnes generated every year. By developing identified landfill areas to
serve as alternate dumping sites, flooding of the current dumping site (Kitaji Pond) can be brought to
an end with further plans of transforming it into a park (Municipal Council of Musoma CDS Report,
2002 – 2007).
In Homa Bay (Kenya), a major challenge is conservation of the Asego, Simenya and Got
Rabuor Hills to curb run-offs from the hills on account of deforestation and extraction of building
materials for mining. UNEP (2004) cautions that although the primary source of anthropogenic carbon
dioxide emissions is the use of fossil fuels, deforestation contributes significantly to the net increase of
atmospheric carbon dioxide. It defines deforestation “as the conversion of forested land to other land-
use”. This includes forest conversion for permanent land-use changes such as agriculture, as well as the
development of permanent infrastructure, such as highways. UNEP further notes that Forests also
contain a high proportion of the world’s biodiversity and as these areas are deforested, biodiversity is
threatened.
The Municipal Council of Homa Bay in response is initiating preservation of natural habitat by
planting and ensuring protection of approximately 200,000 trees annually that can help absorb the
greenhouse carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and help keep the planet cool. Additionally, through
community sensitization programmes tree nurseries are to be initiated in primary schools, and energy
saving technology is to be promoted to reduce dependence on firewood. The Council also aims to

237
restore wetland basins on the Lake beaches of Paya, Koginga, Lela and Angola through re-
establishment of aquatic vegetation, as well as sensitization of the community on soil carbon
restoration in riparian zones and uplands that may be cultivated to address climate change (Municipal
Council of Homa bay CDS Report, 2002 – 2007).
Realizing the potential of agricultural soil carbon sinks including conservation practices on crop lands,
reduced or no tillage, conservation of wetlands are some of the local interventions that the Bukoba
Municipal Council in Tanzania through a consultative process has initiated. According to UNEP
(2004), agricultural soil sequestration could offer crop producers greater revenue, and potentially lower
input costs resulting from lower fuel use, as well as more efficient use of fertilizers. The agency further
states that the overall impact of agricultural soils conservation practices on the environment is a
healthier, more productive soil that is less subject to wind or water erosion more resilient,
environmentally sustainable agro-ecosystem.
Entebbe on the other hand – home of the Entebbe Wildlife Educational Center and Botanical Gardens –
has embarked on the promotion and conservation of its tropical paradise of Ugandan plant life as well
as its exotic birds and wildlife. With the World Resources institute (2000), affirming that there is a link
between climate change and biodiversity in which a rapid global warming can affect ecosystems
chances to adapt naturally, key local interventions being undertaken by the city include: developing
appropriate research programmes in collaboration with national, regional and internal institutions;
improving documentation of preserved plants and raising awareness of the community in the
management of plant species (Entebbe Municipal Council CDS Report, 2005).
In Jinja (Uganda) the council has also developed programmes with respect to land and resource
management, as well as the designation of environmental zones within the municipal boundaries, in a
bid to restrict development, safeguard shorelines and wetlands as well as control runoffs and erosion
from municipal lands. Likewise in Kampala (also in Uganda), housing, industrialization and
infrastructure development play an important role in wetland degradation and has designated waste
management and slum upgrading for immediate action under the CDS. Action plans include
sensitization to, and training in, sound solid-waste management practices for council officials and
community-based enterprises, in addition to supplying garbage skips to all potential garbage collection
points in the city. (Kampala CDS report, 2005).
It is in general, laudable that the local authorities in the city municipalities in the Lake Victoria
region have embarked on various initiatives and also outlined proposed interventions in their respective
Strategy Action Plans (SAPs) to enhance their adaptive capacity to cope with the impacts of climate
change.
Indeed, these efforts remain critical in facilitating the attainment of the Millennium Goal No. 7
on environmental sustainability by 2015 as articulated by the Millennium Declaration adopted in 2000
given that “climate change will alter the quality and productivity of natural resources and ecosystems,
some of which may be irreversibly damaged, and these changes may also decrease biological diversity
and compound existing environmental degradation” (African Development Bank et al; 2003).
However, significant challenges remain in the gap between developing strategy action plans and
actually implementing them as apparent due significant capacity problems.
Challenges for local intervention in addressing climate change issues
From the onset, it must be made clear that none of the Strategy Action Plans developed by the
local authorities in the city municipalities of the Lake Victoria region explicitly outlines climate change
mitigation and adaptation as an important priority environmental issue to be considered. This
highlights the urgent need for the respective city municipalities in the region to proactively integrate

238
the climate change component into their Programmes of Work and development plans given the
profound influence of local authorities over various urban processes including energy supply and
management, transport supply and demand, land-use planning, building requirements, waste
management and offering advice to the local communities (Bulkeley and Betsill, 2005; UNEP/UN-
Habitat, 2005).
However, successful adaptation planning to climate change depends upon, among other factors,
technological capability, institutional arrangements, availability of financing and exchange of
information (CSIR, 2006). Furthermore, planning effective adaptation must in essence begin with a
clear understanding of vulnerable populations and regions based on a thorough assessment of the
capacity of these groups to effectively cope with climate variability and change (UNEP, 2001).
It is also important to recognize that climate change is a cross cutting issue that will require
integration across the work programmes of several government and municipal departments and
stakeholders across many sectors of industry, business, Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs),
Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and local communities (Department of Environment Affairs
and Tourism, 2004).
This notwithstanding, several challenges other remain in addressing climate change issues at
the local level in the coastal cities including the following: lack of disaster reduction, preparedness or
management programmes in the Lake Victoria region ; lack of an effective legal and policy regulatory
framework and weak human and institutional capacity. Additionally:
• Development of public education and awareness campaigns, including local/regional workshops,
and dissemination of information materials related to the urban environment and climate change.
By extension, this should be useful in allowing local government to proactively engage with other
stakeholders involved in climate change issues in order to involve them in the awareness raising
and advocacy activities;
• The urgent need to strengthen assessment and information gathering including capturing of local
knowledge, systematically and continuously assessing its applicability and ensuring its widespread
dissemination to diverse stakeholder groups;
• Importance of recognizing and investing in research, science and technology as a critical
underlying factor that would proactively support existing education and outreach activities;
• Development of public education and awareness campaigns, including local/regional workshops,
and dissemination of information materials related to the urban environment and climate change.
By extension, this should be useful in allowing local government to proactively engage with other
stakeholders involved in climate change issues in order to involve them in the awareness raising
and advocacy activities;
• The needs to address the two fold challenge of communication. Firstly, the changing attitudes
about climate change and make the issue relevant to all stakeholders. Secondly, the importance of
promoting behavioral change by persuading individuals and groups that they can make a difference
in terms of their own lifestyle choices and in mobilizing their own communities and adjusting
cultural practices that are adverse to changes in waste disposal management at the local level.
• Finally, the urgent need to proactively engage and empower communities in order to improve their
adaptation coping mechanisms to climate change at the local level (UNEP, 2005; Africa
Development Bank, 2003; Satterhwaite et al; 2007 CSIR, 2006).
In addressing these emerging challenges at the local level, it should be emphasized that while
cities and local authorities must make concerted efforts to “adapt” to the impacts of climate change at
the respective levels, they also by extension, remain in the driver’s seat in terms of any sustainable

239
effort in mitigation (Tibajuka, 2007). It therefore remains critical for the Lake Victoria cities to
develop a specific framework for adaptation to climate change at the municipal level in order to
identify and clearly prioritize the most urgent local adaptation activities including the required financial
and human resources (Mukheibir and Ziervogel, 2007).
Developing a Municipal Framework for the Adaptation to Climate Change

In this regard, extensive research undertaken by Mukheibir and Ziervogel, 2007:146-147

suggests the following ten steps to guide local authorities in the development of a Municipal
Adaptation Plan including the following:
1. The need to critically assess climate trends and future projections for the respective
geographical region;
2. The importance of undertaking a thorough climate change vulnerability assessment of
the municipal area;
3. The need to review current development plans and priorities as articulated in the
muncipality’s strategy action plans;
4. Overlay development priorities, expected climate change, current climate
vulnerability and expected climate future vulnerability using GIS for spatial
interrogation and other participatory and quantitative assessments for further critical
analysis. These various overlays (vulnerability maps, vulnerability assessments;
climate impact assessments) remain critical in assisting decision-makers to identify
hotspots where adaptation activities should be focused;
5. Development of adaptation options using new consultative tools. These options
should aim to integrate climate sensitive responses with development priorities that
are highly vulnerable to climate variability and also, if possible, assess the adaptive
capacity of various sectors;
6. Prioritise the climate change adaption actions using various tools, for example, multi-
criteria analysis (MCA), cost-benefit analysis (CBA) etc;
7. Develop programme and project scoping and design documents including their
associated budgets, which will in essence constitute the Municipal Adaptation Plan;
8. Implement the interventions prioritised in the Municipal Adaptation Plan;
9. Monitor and evaluate the interventions on a regular basis and;
10. Regularly review and modify the municipal adaptation plans at predefined intervals.

However, in order to actualize the foregoing ten steps effectively in the development of a Municipal
Adaptation Plan, stakeholder engagement and participation remains critically important in order to
provide insights into the projected impacts and potential adaptation actions to be prioritized (Mukheibir
and Ziervogel, 2007).
Furthermore, for climate adaptation to be effective, it is also vital to empower civil society to
participate in the assessment process, including identifying and implementing adaptation activities
(African Development Bank et al; 2003). However, this also requires information access, analysis and
dissemination of knowledge particularly on the broader impacts of climate change on people’s lives.
Therefore, the inclusion of an early warning system remains critically to effectively identify climate
impacts and potential disasters (Mukbeibir and Ziervogel, 2007; UNEP, 2001). Without widespread
awareness, realization of the steps would remain but wishful thinking.

240
 However, key challenges remain in the development of Municipal Adaptation Plans including
the general lack of human capacity and financial resources to undertake this kind of planning, limited
knowledge and understanding of climate issues, which are usually fraught with high scientific
uncertainty and the absence of an appropriate policy and legislative framework (Mukbeibir and
Ziervogel, 2007; African Development Bank et al; 2003; CSIR, 2006).
In the final analysis, however, it is important to emphasize that the development of a Municipal
Adaptation Plan should “lead to adaptation actions being integrated into development policy and
planning at every level...development itself is key to adaptation, since adaptation should be an
extension of good development practice and should reduce vulnerability” (Mukheibir and Ziervogel,
2007:149).
Conclusion

241
 Figure 1: Rainfall Variability and Macroeconomic Performance

.
Figure 2: Natural disasters reveal the existing adaptation deficit

Source: WB draft report (M. van Aalst)

Figure
3
:
T
h
e
H
i
g
h
 Variability of Africa’s climate
Source: A. Lotsch, World Bank based on the UEA-CRU monthly time series from 1951-2000

Figure 4: Image of submerged houses due to perennial flooding of dams in Dallas, Kenya

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Cane, M.A., S.E. Zebiak and S.C. Dolan. 1986. Experimental forecast of El Niño. Nature 321: 827-
832.
Cutler J. Cleveland (Topic Editor). 2007. "Climate change and development challenges in
Africa." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.:
Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the
Environment). [Published in the Encyclopedia of Earth April 13, 2007; Retrieved
July 18, 2008].
Funk, C., G. Senay, A. Asfaw, J. Verdin, J. Rowland, J. Michaelson, G. Eilerts, D. Korecha and R.
Choularton. 2005. Recent drought tendencies in Ethiopia and equatorial-subtropical eastern
Africa. Washington DC, FEWS-NET.
Food and Agricultural Organization. 2004. Monitoring progress towards the World Food Summit
and Millennium development goals. The State of Food Insecurity Report. Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100
Rome, Italy.
Plisnier, P.D., S. Serneels and E. F. Lambin. 2000. Impact of ENSO on East African ecosystems: a
multivariate analysis based on climate and remote sensing data. Global Ecology and
Biogeography 9: 481-497.
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244
“Cities and Climate Change: What is to be Gained or Lost from Reframing an
Urban Sustainability Agenda in Terms of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions?”

Shiri Bass Specktor, Yodan Rofè, Alon Tal

Address correspondence to:

Yodan Rofè
Department of Man in the Desert
J. Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research
Ben Gurion University, Israel
Sde-Boqer Campus, Israel 84990
yrofe@bgu.ac.il

Alon Tal
Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology
J. Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research
Ben Gurion University, Israel
Sde-Boqer Campus, Israel 84990
alontal@bgu.ac.il

Shiri Bass Specktor

Department of Man in the Desert
J. Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research
Ben Gurion University, Israel
Sde-Boqer Campus, Israel 84990
bassspec@bgu.ac.il

245
Abstract__________________________________________________________
In the last several years the issue of climate protection and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mitigation has
become a central element in sustainability programs of local governments. This paper examines
whether cities' adoption of the climate change agenda implies a strategic change in the local pursuit
for environmental protection, or only constitutes a rhetorical reframing of the sustainability
paradigm, resulting from limited capacity to instigate meaningful collective action. Drawing from
the theory of social movements, this paper offers an analysis of the strategies and political framing
of different local environmental initiatives.
The paper argues that due to its quantitative characteristics, GHG mitigation was chosen by many
cities as a mobilizing tactic to attain sustainability. Measuring GHG emissions enables cities to
quantify the environmental costs of unsustainable urban practices. This reframes ‘sustainability’ as
a tangible, measurable concept, towards which all sectors of society can be galvanized. However,
the focus on GHG emissions as a dominant parameter may limit the optimal practices that could
best improve urban sustainability, and the desired balance between the environmental, economic
and social objectives might be undermined.

Introduction:
The phrase "Think Globally, Act Locally" has long been an axiom of modern environmentalism.
The role of local authorities in preventing environmental degradation and promoting sustainable
development received formal international recognition at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment
in chapter 28 of Agenda 21 that stated: "Because so many of the problems and solutions being
addressed by Agenda 21 have their roots in local activities, the participation and co-operation of
local authorities will be a determining factor in fulfilling its objectives" (United Nations, 1992). In
an attempt to translate this abstract concept into practice, hundreds of organizations, programs and
plans around the world were initiated, in order to promote sustainability among local authorities
(Betsill and Bulkeley, 2006).
Many commentators see local authorities, rather than national governments, as more suitable for
addressing global environmental issues, such as climate change (Besill and Bulkley, 2006; Bai,
2007). More than half of the world's population is now urban, and this ratio is expected to grow in
the future (Cohen, 2005). Cities are a focal point for high levels of resource consumption and waste
production. Therefore, cities increasingly dominate the greenhouse gas emissions associated with
climate change (Bai, 2007). Furthermore, local authorities can directly affect these processes by
controlling energy supply, planning transportation and land uses, managing waste, setting building
regulation etc. (Betsill and Bulkley, 2006).
Over the last several years the issue of climate protection and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation has
become a central element in local sustainability programs. Thousands of cities worldwide have
committed to reducing their GHG emissions through joining local climate protection initiatives.
Among these are: International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives' (ICLEI) Cities for
Climate Protection Campaign- 691 participants in 31 countries (ICLEI, 2008), Cool Cities initiative
in the USA- 973 cities, US Mayors Climate Protection Agreements- 710 cities (City of Seattle,
2007), C40- the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40 Cities, 2008), etc.
Nevertheless, due to its global characteristics, numerous cities have found the integration of climate
change concerns into local level of management to be politically and practically unfeasible.
Engagement in climate change policy arena is often considered to be beyond most cities'
jurisdiction with respect to space, time and institutional scales (Bai, 2007).
Considering the political, financial and institutional obstacles to tackling climate change at the local
level (for elaboration see: Betsill, 2000; Betsill 2001B, Bai, 2007), it is important to question the
motivations that led to the extensive engagement of thousands of cities in climate change as a
central axis of their environmental policy. This paper examines whether cities' adoption of the
climate change agenda implies a strategic change in the local pursuit of environmental protection,

246
or merely constitutes a rhetorical reframing of the sustainability paradigm, resulting from the latter's
limited capacity to instigate meaningful collective action and political change.
This paper argues that due to the ambiguity of 'sustainable development' as a decision making tool,
GHG mitigation in the city has become a powerful quantitative indicator of urban sustainability.
Measuring GHG emissions enables cities to quantify the environmental costs of unsustainable urban
practices, in a somewhat simplistic manner. Therefore, the GHG mitigation - climate change (GHG-
CC) matrix was chosen by many cities as a mobilizing tactic to attain sustainability. This new
strategic emphasis reframes ‘sustainability’ as a tangible, measurable concept, toward which all
levels of government, civil society and the economy can be galvanized.
Drawing from the theory of social movements, this paper analyses the framing tactics and
environmental practices implemented by three cities: Seattle, USA and Stockholm Sweden- both
cities known for their sustainability policy, and which are now focusing on, as well as leading
others, in a climate change agenda; and Santa Monica, USA- in which the sustainability framing
remains dominant, and the climate change issue is merely one indicator among hundreds, assessing
the city's sustainable development. The analysis will focus on the mobilizing power of both the
sustainable development paradigm and the climate change (or GHG mitigation) framework.
In conclusion we will argue that although the GHG-CC frame may have better mobilizing potential,
the narrow focus on GHG emissions as a single dominant parameter may limit the strategies and
range of practices that could optimally improve urban sustainability. As a result of an excessively
confining climate-driven approach, the desired balance between the environmental, economic and
social objectives might be undermined. As shown in the case studies of Seattle and Stockholm, a
good climate change program should amplify and not replace the principles of sustainability.

Collective action frames__________________________________________________

Analysis of collective action framing is often used in the literature to examine the mobilizing
strategies of social movements (Gamson, 1988; Benford, 1993). This paper draws from the theory
of social movements, and implements its principles in the arena of environmental policy-making.
Successful implementation of an environmental policy pursuing urban sustainability and climate
protection depends not only on political and institutional actors, but also on the voluntary
compliance and behavioral changes by a wide range of social actors. Therefore, evaluation of
environmental policy design benefits from an analysis of framing strategies used to mobilize the
different social actors.
As stated in the City of Sydney environmental management plan (2007; 7):
"This plan focuses action on areas in which the City has a direct influence through
management responsibility or decision-making powers. In addition, the plan contains actions in
which the City has a less direct ability to influence. These actions involve the City working in
partnership with our community, or advocating for change within other sectors. Key stakeholders
are residents, community groups, businesses, government agencies and environmental
organizations.”
According to Steinberg (1998) the practice of framing is a deliberate and focused persuasive
process necessary for mobilization of consensus before a collective action, and a cognitive process
needed to inspire, legitimize and sustain such action.
Benford (1993) identifies three core framing tasks:
• Diagnostic framing- requires identification of the situation as problematic and therefore in
need of change. This task requires an attribution of blame and causality.
• Prognostic framing: involves identification of a solution to the problem and indication of
strategies, tactics and goals.
• Motivational framing- entails a call for action by specifying the severity of the problem and
generating a sense of urgency. It also requires creating a shared belief that an action will
produce change, and produce a sense of moral duty to participate in the collective action.

Sustainable development as a mobilizing concept:

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The concept of Sustainable Development was first introduced in the seminal U.N. report “Our
Common Future” (Bruntland, 1987) where it was defined as "[development that]… meets the needs
of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs…Sustainable development is not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change in
which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological
development, and institutional change are made consistent with future as well as with present
needs".
Perhaps due to its inherent lack of specificity, the notion of sustainable development appeals to
many. The questions of what should be developed and how, what should be sustained and for what
period of time, remain open for a given society's interpretation. Because of its ambiguity, the
concept is widely used by policy makers, industries, NGOs and researchers (Parris and Kates,
2003). This process-based, rather than target-based concept, in fact constitutes a problematic basis
for policy making. In practice, the integration of environment, economy and society (the three
"cornerstones" of Sustainable Development) tends to be limited to rhetoric rather than actual
practice (Gibbs and Jonas, 2000).
In order to make the concept of sustainable development more precise and accessible, as well as to
let it serve as a guide for policy formulation and implementation, over 500 attempts were made to
design quantitative indicators for 'sustainable development', 289 of which were applied at the
city/metropolitan level. Parris and Kates (2003; 531) state that: "the role of indicators is to indicate
progress toward or away from some common goals of sustainable development in order to advise
the public, decision makers, and managers." Quantitative, measurable and time-specific indicators
are therefore crucial for management and decision making processes.
The term 'sustainable development', being both politically appealing to a wide range of social
groups, and having little specificity, creates a political arena in which advocacy groups can promote
specific aspects (indicators) of sustainability, established in line with their particular agenda (Parris
and Kates, 2003).
In summary, the greatest strength of the concept of Sustainable Development is its ability to offer a
wide consensus around its basic principles and values, which have proven acceptable in the
extremely diverse political arenas of the UN summits in Rio De Janeiro, 1992 and Johannesburg,
2002. As stated in the Johannesburg declaration: "…we have achieved much in bringing together a
rich tapestry of peoples and views in a constructive search for a common path towards a world that
respects and implements the vision of sustainable development…significant progress has been made
towards achieving a global consensus and partnership among all the people of our planet" (United
Nations, 2002). On the other hand, the concept's obscurity that results from multiple, inter-related
values and principles, turns it into a relatively weak catalyst for policy and progress.

The linkage between climate protection and sustainable development_______

There is clearly no definitive line from which the sustainability discourse ends and the climate
change discourse begins, as these two environmental frameworks are interconnected. The urban
strategy for GHG mitigation could precede a city's sustainability strategy, or be one of its results.
Analysis of urban climate initiatives shows that city planning according to the principles of
sustainable development is crucial for reducing a city's carbon footprintbbbb (Gotliv et al., 2007).
Some of the literature discussing this issue defines development as sustainable if it reduces
vulnerability to climate change, and/or mitigates GHG emissions. This implies that climate change
should be considered to be a central indicator of sustainability (Kok and de Conick, 2007). Other
literature explores ways of reaching the goals of climate protection, by following the path of
bbbb A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the

amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide (Wiedmann and Minx, 2007).

248
sustainability. According to the IPCC's Third Assessment Report, the chosen path of development
has great effect on future GHG emissions. Climate change should be handled through an integrative
approach which includes social, economic, environmental and technological aspects of city life.
Indeed, it is possible to reach GHG mitigation objectives independently from targeted climate
change policy, by committing to such goals and practices of sustainable development as: planning
of urban form, land uses, transportation systems, energy, infrastructure, etc. (Robinson et.al, 2006).
A report issued for the government of British Colombia, Canada, discussing recommendations for
climate change policy, stresses that: "action to address climate change should not be separated
from actions in pursuit of important economic, social and other environmental benefits. A strategy
that propels the province along a sustainable development path can achieve these broader goals,
while at the same time, reducing GHG emissions..." (In: Robinson et al., 2006;4).
The framing analysis offered in this paper, acknowledges the strong link between climate protection
and sustainable development, yet tries to better characterize the appropriate "lens" through which
the city's environmental policy should be framed.

Case Study Analysis:

To illustrate the way that GHG-CC framework completes the SD framework as a mobilizing force
we examine the framing of environmental policies of three cities: Seattle, USA and Stockholm,
Sweden - both cities known for their sustainability policy - that are now focusing on, and leading
others in the climate change agenda. In contrast, Santa Monica, USA- offers an example of a city in
which the sustainability framing remains dominant, and the climate change issue is merely one
indicator among hundreds that assess the city's sustainable development.
After considering the cities' plans and action with regards to climate change, and reviewing the
evolution of their environmental strategies and three framing tasks, it becomes clear that the frame
of GHG mitigation, although relatively narrow, potentially entails greater mobilizing power in the
city realm than the more complex and amorphous frame of sustainability.

Seattle, Washington, USA- Population: 2.8 million

Seattle is considered to be a leading city with respect to local climate change innovations. The city's
mayor took part in initiating the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, in which over 700
mayors have pledged to "meet or beat" the Kyoto targets by 2012. (City of Seattle, 2007A).
In the year 2005, the city of Seattle produced 8% less GHG emissions than in 1990; Per capita
emissions were 11% lower that year relative to 1990: 11.5 tons/year (compared with 24 tons per
person/year in the U.S). This reduction is based mostly on energy conservation in the domestic,
industrial and business sectors. The use of electricity, which constitutes 20% of the carbon footprint
of the city, compared favorably to 1990 levels as a result of two main efforts: first, a transition of
the Seattle City Light (electric company) to a “zero net emissions” electricity supply by investing in
conservation, renewable energy sources, and carbon offsets; and second, energy conservation in
households and businesses.
In addition, the city also initiated the Seattle Climate Action Now campaign, through which it
encouraged citizens to purchase their energy from a renewable source and promoted 'green building'
and energy conservation projects. Despite these efforts, however, transportation related emissions
that make up for 60% of the city's carbon footprint, grew by 3% since 1990. Therefore, the city now
focuses on developing alternative transportation options, in order to mitigate transport related
emissions. In particular, a streetcar service was opened (2007), a new light-rail line will soon carry
an estimated 40,000 people a day (2009), and Bicycle Master Plan is being implemented (2008)
(City of Seattle, 2007B).
Illustration 1.1 shows Seattle's GHG inventory according to sectors in 1990 and 2005.
The city of Seattle has a long history of pursuing environmental management and sustainability
goals, including climate protection and GHG emissions reduction. It is quite noticeable that the
"attention" given to the climate change issue changed substantially over the years, up to the point

249
where currently it stands at the front of urban environmental policy, and at times even appears to be
an entirely separate arena.

Sustainability and Climate Protection in Seattle's environmental programs

Seattle's commitment to the concept of sustainability dates back to 1992, when the city council
adopted 11 Guiding Principles for Environmental Management. These included a pledge to" meet
our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”
(Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment, 2003). This general framework of sustainability
has continued to be at the heart of environmental policy programs, such as its Environmental Action
Agenda, adopted in 2002. This program, intended to define the environmental goals of the city at
the beginning of the new millennium, focused on three areas: Green City Government, Healthy
Urban Environments and Smart Mobility. The gravest environmental concerns, specified as reasons
for the new environmental agenda were: effects of population growth, air pollution, human health,
water pollution and global climate change (with emphasis on the effect of the melting ice caps on
coastal settlements). (Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment, 2003).
Several years later, in the 2005 Environmental Action Agenda, titled: "A Global City Acting
Locally", the issue of climate change was the first to be mentioned and elaborated into specific,
measurable practices (City of Seattle, 2005). In addition, the city's Climate Action Plan and climate
related projects are extremely prominent in its website, framing the issue of climate protection as
central to the life of the city.

Stockholm, Sweden- Population: 782,000

The city of Stockholm has been a part of ICLEI's Cities for Climate Protection program since 1996,
and it outlined its first climate change action plan as early as 1998. According to the Action Plan
Against Greenhouse Gases (City of Stockholm, 2002), between the years 1990-2000 the city
reduced emissions by 4%, despite a sharp incline of 11% in its population. In other words, per
capita emissions in Stockholm diminished by 15%, from 5.3 ton/year to 4.5 ton/year (the average
Swede emits 8 tons/person/year). By the year 2006, per capita emissions were reduced to 4
tons/person/year, and the city is now focusing on the goal of reaching a Fossil Fuel Free Stockholm
by 2050cccc (ICLEI, 2006).
Illustrations 1.2 and 1.3 show Stockholm's CO2 production and per capita CO2 production
(1990-2050) respectively.

Specific plans and projects are being implemented in all sectors of society, in order to reach the
targets above. Prominent goals and projects are (City of Stockholm, 2002):
• Green Building: reduction of energy use in existing buildings by 20% and by 50% in new
buildings (reduction of 9000 tons/year by 2005).
• Mixing 5% ethanol in petrol which can produce a 4.6% reduction of GHG emissions. This
results in an emission decrease of 25,000 tons/year.
• Reduction of 30 million short car rides per year and 2000 long-rides a day, by encouraging
cycling. The city has improved existing bike-lanes and constructed a contiguous and dense
network, causing an emission reduction of 1000 tons/year.

Sustainability and Climate Protection in Stockholm's environmental programs

Although Stockholm has been a member of the CCP Campaign since 1996, the issue of climate
change was not mentioned in its environmental program of 1996-2000 ("Environment 2000), which
was based on the principles of Agenda 21 and public participation. The main goals set in this
cccc
According to the Kyoto Protocol, in order to reach sustainable levels of CO2 content in the atmosphere, global
emission levels should be stabilized on 1.5 tons per person/year (ICLEI, 2006). This means a reduction of 62% of
emissions in Stockholm and 86% in Seattle (compared to 76%in Sweden and 93% in the USA)

250
program were: Reduction of polluting emissions to the air; reduction of noise levels; green
purchasing by the city; informed consumption of environmentally-friendly products, and reduction
of the city's waste volume (City of Stockholm, 2000).
The "Stockholm Action Program against Greenhouse Gases", and the "Stockholm Environment
Program" were both published in the same year, and therefore, complemented each other. "The
Environmental Program for 2002-2006 did not state specific targets with regards to carbon dioxide
or greenhouse gases. However, many of the targets of the Environment Program contribute to the
overall greenhouse gas target. This is especially true regarding the targets for energy and traffic…
The greenhouse gas targets make up a cross section of the six target areas set out in the
Environment Program." (City of Stockholm, 2008).
GHG mitigation is considered to be a central indicator of sustainability in Stockholm's
environmental policies, meaning that sustainability is assessed to a great extent through a climate
protection lens (as referred to by Robinson et.al, 2006). The concept of sustainability was only
referred to in the GHG Action Plan by stating that:
"In order to achieve sustainable development, we need to stop human impact on the climate… If the
proposed measures in the Action Programme 2002 are implemented, it will contribute in many
cases to positive economic and environmental development. It will also have a positive impact on
social development. The Action Programme will therefore not only lead to reduced greenhouse gas
emissions, but also to improvements in the city in many other areas" (City of Stockholm, 2002).

Santa Monica, California, USA- Population: 91,000

Unlike the two previous examples, Santa Monica is an illustration of a city that has designed its
urban policy in accordance with the principles of sustainability since 1992. An examination of the
different Sustainable City Plans that have been conducted until now, shows no significant change in
the role taken by the climate change issue over time.
In 1994 the municipality adopted the Santa Monica Sustainable City Program that included
strategies and goals for the city to "conserve and enhance our local resources, safeguard human
health and the environment, maintain a healthy and diverse economy, and improve the livability
and quality of life for all community members in Santa Monica.” (City of Santa Monica, 2008). In
order to reach these goals, specific targets and quantitative indicators were developed, regarding
resource conservation, transportation, pollution abatement, public health protection and social and
economic development. In 2006 the issues of open space and land use, housing, public participation
and human dignity – were all added as goals of the plan. (City of Santa Monica, 2006A).
The issue of GHG mitigation is referred to as one of seven indicators measuring resource
conservation. The target for this indicator is reduction of 15% of GHG emissions by 2015, mainly
by the development of public transport and car sharing alternatives, as well as the promotion of
renewable energy generation. The 2006 progress report states that between 1990 to 2000, GHG
emissions have been reduced by less than 1%. The 2005 emissions that have yet to be calculated are
expected to be higher (City of Santa Monica, 2006B).
Illustration 1.4 shows Santa Monica's CO2 production by sectors 1990-2005.
It is important to note that in the environmental and climate protection plans examined in Seattle
and Stockholm, connection to the social and economic aspects of the city was quite limited. On the
other hand, Santa Monica's plan emphasized these links by including a Goal / Indicator Matrix .
"The amount of overlap shown by the matrix demonstrates the far ranging impact of our decisions
across environmental, economic and social boundaries". (City of Santa Monica, 2006A).

Discussion_____________________________________________________________
Literature dealing with the issue of cities and climate change policy often maintains that in order to
localize this global issue, an association with a familiar local issue, such as air pollution, is required.
In fact, some claim that the most effective strategy for engaging a local authority and mobilizing it
to address climate change is not to mention climate change at all ("think locally, act locally").
(Betsill, 2001; Bai, 2007).

251
Examination of the framing of the central role climate change plays in different cities'
environmental agenda, raises the question of whether tackling climate change is now considered an
efficient policy framework that could be better implemented in the local arena than the
sustainability agenda. Using Bedford's (1993) three framing tasks (diagnostic, prognostic and
motivational framing) to analyze the case studies described above, We argue that the GHG
mitigation frame was chosen by these cities for its ability to expedite collective action.
Diagnostic Framing requires identification of the situation as problematic and therefore in need of
change. This task requires an attribution of blame and causality. Unlike assessing the success of
urban sustainability programs, which requires a long and complex list of indicators, urban climate
protection initiatives are measured by a single indicator - the amount of GHG mitigated. For this
reason, many cities, like Stockholm in its Action Program Against GHG, define the “problem” in
terms of its ultimate solution (GHG mitigation), rather than its actual manifestation (changes in
global climate) (Betsill, 2001A). This enables social actors to simplify the problem and its causes,
and allow the public to feel both a part of the problem, as well as, potentially, a part of the solution.
For example, Seattle's Climate Action Plan (2007A) states that: "Just as climate pollution is a
human-caused dilemma, humans can solve it… we are committed to helping everyone in the city
take steps today to reduce climate-changing pollution in their homes, at work and on the road".
The sustainability frame, on the other hand, does not identify a specific problem against which
society should act. It is a more cognitive frame, "designed to help us as a community begin to think,
plan and act more sustainably, to help us address the root causes of problems rather than the
symptoms… to help us think about the future when we are making decisions about the present"
(City of Santa Monica, 2006).

Prognostic Framing involves identification of a solution to the problem and indication of strategies,
tactics and goals. The ambiguity of the sustainability concept, and its focus on the process rather
than targets, structures it as a problematic basis for policy making. As mentioned, over 500 attempts
were made to design quantitative indicators for 'sustainable development', following the old axiom,
"what gets measured gets managed" (Parris and Kates, 2003). Measurable targets are in fact
indicators for a successful implementation of a plan. Defining success is politically essential both
for decision making reasons, but also for mobilization purposes. An urban policy based on unclear
measurements for success could in fact demobilize social actors from action. It is relatively simple
to define a successful implementation of a GHG mitigation plan ("Stockholm's Action Programme
2002 is categorized into ongoing, planned and conceivable measures. If measures up to 2005 are
fully implemented, the target of reducing emissions to 4.0 tons carbon dioxide per inhabitant will be
achieved"), but is it possible to determine a point in which the city has reached sustainability?
Motivational Framing entails a call for action by specifying the severity of the problem and
generating a sense of urgency. It also requires creating a shared belief that the action would produce
change, as well as producing a sense of moral duty to take part in the collective action. The
uncertainty regarding the time scale of global warming and the exact timing of an alleged "point of
no-return", could, in theory, demobilize social actors, and specifically political actors from
becoming involved. In reality, this uncertainty of whether we are "too late", has created a sense of
urgency, expressed in Seattle's climate protection campaign: Climate Action Now (City of Seattle,
2007A). The sense of urgency was expressed in a CCP Europe conference in Stockholm, where it
was stated that "International pressure is rising to address climate change. The impact of human
behavior on climate change has to be tackled urgently. There is a limited timeframe in which we
can still effectively mitigate the impact of climate change. This is the time to act…"(ICLEI, 2006).
Emphasizing the severity of the problem is in the case of global warming the simplest of the
framing tasks.
The city of Seattle (2007A) refers to it as "one of the biggest threats to the future of our city and our
planet", and the Stockholm Action Plan (2002) describes horrific outcomes to northern countries
that can result from the rising global temperature. Framing efforts that focus on the severity and
urgency aspects could have negative effects and create a demoralizing sense of hopelessness

252
(Benford, 1993). Establishing a belief in one's ability to create change is especially important in the
case of the global warming issue, in which a person's, a city's and even a country's efforts could
seem negligible in comparison to the global emissions. The organization of city networks, offers a
cumulative urban effect which may serve to mobilize cities and individuals in what would
otherwise seem to be a hopeless battle: "No single city, nation or organization can turn the tide in
relation to climate change, but together we can have an impact" (City of Stockholm, 2002).
The sustainability frame, according to the Santa Monica Sustainable City Plan (2006) is meant to
"help us address the root causes of problems rather than the symptoms of those problems, and to
provide criteria for evaluating the long-term rather than the short-term impacts of our decisions".
This short description reflects the difficulties in using the sustainability frame as a motivator for
social and/or political action.

Conclusions
Over the last several years the issue of climate protection and GHG mitigation has become a central
element in local sustainability programs. This paper examined whether cities' adoption of the
climate change agenda implies a strategic change in the local pursuit for environmental protection,
or merely constitutes a rhetorical reframing of the sustainability paradigm, resulting from its limited
capacity to instigate meaningful collective action and political change.
An analysis of three case studies (the cities of Seattle, Stockholm and Santa Monica), performed
according to collective action framing tactics, shows that the characteristics of the GHG framing,
such as quantifiablity, severity, and the ability to create a sense of urgency, are the reason that many
cities chose this framing as a mobilizing tactic to attain sustainability. Measuring GHG emissions
enables cities to quantify the environmental costs of unsustainable urban practices and reframe the
rather vague concept of ‘sustainability’ as a tangible, measurable concept, towards which social
actors in the city can be galvanized.
Although a climate change frame may have better mobilizing potential, the focus on GHG
emissions as a single dominant parameter may limit the range of strategies and practices that could
best improve urban sustainability, leading to a less than optimal outcome. Cities who opt for a
“Climate-driven” urban planning strategy rather than a broader sustainability one may find that key
social areas are neglected. For example, handicapped accessibility often depends largely on access
by large vans – and other large constituencies (e.g., elderly, etc.) who cannot utilize rail or bus
systems may have compromised mobility when their needs are not considered in a greenhouse gas
reduction program. Therefore, as a result of an excessively narrow climate-driven approach, the
desired balance between the environmental, economic and social objectives might be undermined.
The use of GHG mitigation - climate protection frame does not replace the sustainability frame, but
rather complements it. The climate change frame in itself entails the principles of sustainability, for
it has environmental ramifications, social aspects (the adaptation to climate change and the effects
on social equity and city livability), and economic bearings (investments in new technologies,
changes in energy consumption patterns). Aside from the moral and environmental reasons for
engaging in climate change, cities should be aware of the frame's potential mobilizing power, as a
complementary tool in the pursuit of city sustainability. A city's climate change policy, however,
should be integrative and include not only the environmental parameters, but also social and
economic aspects.

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http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/agenda21toc.htm

United Nations, 2004. Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development.

http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/Johannesburg%20Declaration.doc .

Wiedmann T., Minx J., 2007. A definition of Carbon Footprint. ISAUK Research Report 07-01.
http://www.isa-research.co.uk/docs/ISA-UK_Report_07-01_carbon_footprint.pdf .

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Illustrations____________________________________________________________

Ilustration 1.1: Seattle GHG Emission By Sector(City of Seattle,

2007)

Illustration 1.2: Stockholm Illustration 1.3: Stockholm Per

CO2 production 1990-2050 Capita CO2 production 1990-
(City of Stockholm, 2002) 2050(City of Stockholm, 2002)

256
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Illustration 1.4: Santa Monica Greenhouse Gas emissions by source,
  1990-2000
 
(City of Santa Monica, 2006B)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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WALKING THE TALK? –CLIMATE CHANGE & UK SPATIAL DESIGN POLICY
Dellé Odeleyea, b & Michael Maguirea

a London Borough of Brent, The Planning Service, Brent House, 349 High Rd, Wembley, Middlesex HA9 6BZ, UK

Fax: (+44) 20-8937 5207, email: michael.maguire@brent.gov.uk Tel: (+44) 20-8937 5310 Web: www.brent.gov.uk/planning.nsf

b From 22nd Sept. 2008 Department of the Built Environment, Faculty of Science & Technology, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford UK

delle.odeleye@anglia.ac.uk

Abstract:

The policy shift towards reducing carbon emissions – and seemingly away from ‘sustainable
development’ - risks confusing an already complicated set of information presented to developers,
designers and planners. Climate system integrity depends on sustaining resource interactions in
complex ecosystems –as urban design depends upon understanding spatial interactions in
complex cities.
We highlight ongoing policy, design and implementation barriers to success at the local level
in Britain. ‘Design Guidance’ still treats sustainability as an afterthought -and ‘Sustainable Design
Guidance’ typically focuses on building design.
Fragmented design, funding and procurement alongside inadequate training, monitoring and
enforcement resources, mean the gap between rhetoric, well-meaning aspirations and practice, is
wide. We argue for more critical and imaginative ways of reconciling these tensions –to generate
more sustainable urban design.

Keywords: Planning Policy, Sustainable development, Climate Change, Urban Design

1. INTRODUCTION: POLICY CONTEXT

1.1 Climate Change

Climate change has been the new buzzword on politicians’ and professional agendas. But what does this really
mean for how we are planning for, designing, and managing development in cities? The most noticeable difference for how we
do business appears to be the narrower emphasis upon carbon emissions and energy, with the seeming relegation of some
related issues (with less easily calculable, carbon effects) to a lower place on the agenda1.
However, to a large extent, this shift is based on climate science which is still developing and the resulting reviews by
the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists, who recommend stabilising atmospheric carbon dioxide
levels below a notional ‘tipping point’ to avoid triggering the catastrophic changes likely beyond a 2oC increase2 in global
surface temperatures (IPCC, 2007). A summary of broad movements/policy shifts is shown below.

Table. 1: Broad Shift in Issues & Approaches –Source: Authors

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 1.2 Sustainable Development?
So whatever happened to ‘sustainable development’? –the much abused and overworked notion meaning all things
to all people:

However, for all its faults, one positive aspect about the Rio Earth Summit’s Agenda 21 was its raising the awareness
of lay people at local levels and bringing community stakeholders together, but its weaknesses included the lack of any
monitor-able targets nor any binding obligations to implement these plans –with many Local Agenda 21 (LA21) Action Plans
jettisoned soon after the year 20003. Though still promoted by environmentalists and loosely referred to by Governments, the
wholistic consideration of sustainability seems overtaken by carbon trading –the exciting ‘new kid on the block’ and renewable
technologies (preferably visible types) the must-have, ‘bling-bling’ accessories on new development schemes –advertising
their Council’s/developers’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) and their owner’s ‘green’ credentials. However, there is a
more serious note to this seemingly flippant use of colloquial language.
To some extent, many design professionals have endeavoured to integrate the two concepts by defining climate
change as an important aspect of the wider sustainability agenda. But, to all intents and purposes, when not being invoked as
a fig leaf to camouflage continued environmental overexploitation by vested interests, ‘sustainable development’ now seems to
be on the LA21 scrapheap, with its less glamorous issues such as materials resource efficiency and use of ecological
footprints.
One might ask; ‘What does it matter if policy terms are continually being invented, discarded, or reinvested with
different emphases, so long as they ensure we act positively on the environment?’
Optimists would say the various climate change scenarios put forward, have usefully highlighted key imperatives
such as ‘adaptation’ and ‘mitigation’ approaches, with their different but overlapping agendas of coping and reduction
respectively –such that flooding and overheating risks for example, have rightfully, received more attention –and helped focus
minds more clearly than the vaguer notions of sustainability.
However, cynics could charge that it also helps conceal the continued ‘business-as usual’ behind an apparently
urgent, flurry of rhetoric and activity. And that resources (funding, methods, training, data systems, evaluation tools) needed to

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properly implement and monitor development outcomes, are still not adequately developed, nor deployed widely at local levels
(Odeleye, 2005).

1.2 UK & Strategic London Policy Initiatives

The re-orientation of terms and priorities towards ‘climate change’, have been reflected in the UK repackaging of
short-term funding regimes and grant programmes and in the drive to rehabilitate nuclear energy (controversially advocated by
the Gaian scientist, James Lovelock & the environmental journalist, George Monbiot) –whilst reducing monies for renewable
technologies (in relative terms). This occurred just as ‘bottom-up’ action from UK local planning authorities (using
sustainability rationale) provided innovative policy initiatives to galvanise moribund national efforts to meet UK Kyoto targets.
These local initiatives range from the ‘Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change’ 4., Woking Council’s ambitious
targets alongside local planning policies on sustainable design and construction including for instance, Merton Council’s 10%
onsite renewable energy policy for major commercial development schemes as well as Brent Council’s adoption of the ICE
Demolition Protocol5. Such local initiatives, partnerships between environmental, professional / other organisations, and their
intense lobbying, helped to galvanise a raft of subsequent UK Government climate change policies and revisions to the
Building Regulations at the national level6 –as well as a more recent, Climate Change Bill with a provisional 60% UK carbon
reduction target by 20507.
In particular, the reform of the British planning system in 2004 redefined the purpose of planning ostensibly as being;
to ‘deliver sustainable development’ (ODPM, 2005a). But with a greater emphasis in practice on enabling the ‘delivery of
development’ and weaker legal powers to ensure ‘sustainability’ compliance than in most other West European spatial
planning systems. The fundamental principles, or more weaknesses, of the UK planning system remain unchanged; namely
that the developer is entitled to planning consent unless the local planning authority can demonstrate ‘material harm’ and that
refusal can be appealed on the grounds that the local plan’s policies are but one of a number of ‘material considerations’ (such
as the costs of implementing policy requirements). This is exacerbated by the requirement to put much of the effective detail
into ‘supplementary guidance’ which is accorded a ‘lower material consideration’ than the actual policies.
Local Councils are preparing the new, spatially-based, Local Development Frameworks8 (LDFs) which are a portfolio
of Development Plan Documents (DPDs) and Local Development Documents (LDDs) as Fig.1 below. The reform revised
national Planning Policy Statements (PPS) on flooding, pollution, biodiversity and waste, with new PPSs on renewable energy
and climate change9. In addition, it strengthened the requirement for Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of development framework
documents in line with the 2001 European ‘Assessment of Policies & Plan’ Directive (ODPM, 2005b).

Fig. 1: UK Local Development Framework Composition – POS et al, 2006

A major new UK Government initiative –in
response to demands for a national standard for
assessing housing sustainability –was the ‘Code for
Sustainable Homes’ (DCLG & BRE, 2007) with 6 tiers of
carbon reductions above the 2006 Building
Regulations minima –embodying a timetable for the
progressively improving the regulations towards ‘zero-
carbon’ by 2016. It is derived from the Building
Research Establishments (BRE) existing ‘EcoHomes’
sustainability assessment methodology –and a non-
residential Code is also in production with a proposed
‘zero-carbon’ goal of 2019.
More recently, is the exciting but
controversial Eco-towns proposals (DCLG, July 2007) LOCAL for
ten new settlements of 5,000-20,000 population each – DEVELOPMENT to
DOCUMENTS
be developed to the UK Government’s ‘Zero-Carbon’
definition (Code level 5) , which it proposes procuring
10

largely outwith the local authority plan-making system

using Local / Special Development Orders (DCLG,
April 2008). The intent is to help speed up the delivery of
the 3 million new homes projected as needed in the
UK by 2020, and to also demonstrate how ‘zero-
carbon’ homes could be built before 2016, and thereby
address the UK’s falling behind other countries with
similar initiatives (e.g. Danish, German, Chinese &
Japanese examples). So far, the original 57 entries were reduced to 15 for further scrutiny (DCLG, June 2008) –with the
assessment criteria being criticised, and threats of challenges from refused bids.

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 Issues: However, despite the expressed centrality of sustainable development to the new planning regime, and
these various guidance documents, there are a number of worrying trends emerging in practice, for instance:
1. It is now a highly centralised plan making system, with detailed procedures, emphasising speed in preparing basic Core
Strategies intended to do little more than locally deliver National and Regional planning targets. And local planning
authorities who wish to take more time than agreed, to prepare policies dealing with specific local issues, will likely be
penalised by reductions in their government funding;
2. The rigid spatial expectation of policies, while useful, is in danger of becoming a straitjacket, such that issues that are not
easily identified with specific sites, are ignored / not addressed;
3. This, as well as the strict enforcement of fewer policies and brief LDF documents (ironically in sharp contrast to the
copious National and London policy documents!) restricts an adequate exposition of the objectives and rationale for the
limited policies now allowed by the Planning Inspectorate who have to approve them. For example, the Government
appointed planning Inspector criticised the draft Brent LDF Core Strategy for including too much detail on sustainable
planning implementation criteria –rather than on delivery of housing/infrastructure;
4. Given these circumstances, sustainability is not faring well in emerging LDF documents – the focus of the Government
and Planning Inspectorate is on delivery of housing figures and associated social infrastructure, with even energy /
adaptation/ green infrastructure often left out or only briefly and inadequately addressed in LDFs – in terms of the
increased emissions resulting from planned development growth;
5. The Sustainability Appraisal methodology is complex, lengthy and of mixed usefulness/influence on policy sustainability
given its lack of sufficiently rigorous, objectivity –and extending the resources needed to prepare LDF documents, such
that Government has waived it for guidance documents;
6. The Government’s practice guide for councils on how to locally meet policies in its own Climate Change Supplement
(DCLG, 2007) is still in draft form, with no date set for adoption –meanwhile, more LDFs are progressing to a point where
it will become more difficult to include its provisions;
7. The detailed procedures in preparing the many documents in the LDF (ODPM, 2004 & DCLG 2008) reduced the time
available for policy planners to help negotiate and monitor the implementation of existing and emerging policy in ongoing
development proposals coming forward, given the Government’s 8-13 week deadlines for development control to decide
applications;
8. And the required Annual Monitoring Reports (AMR) need a level of monitoring and data accessibility that many Boroughs
struggle with in terms of available database systems, to make the AMR a useful document. However, the Government is
only interested in a few indicators –namely housing completions and retail / industrial floorspace;
9. The Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) has become mandatory. However, no level is specified (except for public
sector-funded homes which are a minority of development output and expected to achieve Code Level 311). Developers
have a loophole as they can also opt to not achieve any Code level by logging onto the website and self-certifying a ‘null’
rating for their development;
10. The Government’s aim for market forces to act as the driver for developers’ to compete by seeking higher Code levels,
was the basis for initial guidance (DCLG, 2006) to planners not to set local sustainability standards. This is now relaxed
with stringent conditions for any local standards to be supported by detailed viability studies –likely leading to difficulty for
Councils’ ability to insist on higher Code levels in the current ‘credit-crisis’.
At the Strategic London-wide level: The Mayor’s wide ranging strategies include energy, ambient noise, waste
management, biodiversity, transport and food. The London Plan (GLA, 2008) sustainability policies draw on these strategies to
focus on planning and design requirements for implementing their objectives. To support the London Plan’s sustainability
policies, strategic supplementary planning guidance was also produced on sustainable design and construction (GLA, 2006) –
with a useful, detailed renewables manual for planners and developers. The Plan also requires Boroughs to implement the
Lifetime Homes standards user for life-cycle adaptability.
However, the London Plan also seeks to maximise new housing development by using a Density Matrix, linking local
townscape and transport links to numbers of habitable rooms (which effectively prescribes the number of new homes on a site
in a very mechanistic manner that can be contrary to sustainability objectives). For example, it is desirable for new homes to
have reasonably sized rooms (such as kitchens and dining areas) –but if these are larger than 13m2 they count as a habitable
room and thus, use up/exceed the density number allowed (giving impression of ‘site-cramming’/over-intensity) leading to
possible refusal. The initial aim of design-led density is thus, reversed.

2. COMPLEXITY –ECOSYSTEMS & CITIES

And whilst it is understandable that the urgent situation seems to call for a policy focus on one key aspect of the
climate (e.g. carbon dioxide) to avoid the suggested ‘tipping point’, the type of system we are dealing with, is also important to
understand.
Complexity science has developed over the past 30 years from observations across a range of fields – from biology
to physics and from chemistry and math to computing and economics, amongst others. These found that systems like Gaia,
display emergence –i.e. sophisticated, ‘global’ behaviour from simpler, ‘local’ interactions at lower levels. Such complex
systems ‘self-organise’ and are ‘adaptive’, seeming to ‘learn’ to respond to changing conditions / needs (Johnson, 2001).

261
 However, as the range of IPCC projected future scenarios indicate, complex systems such as the climate ecosystem
are difficult to precisely predict in terms of their long term behaviour –given the range of sub-systems (e.g. water, carbon,
sulphur, nitrogen eco-cycles) and factors involved within them leading to a climate ‘feedback loop’ (Lovelock, 2000).
Thus, forecasts are thematic with ‘chaos’ (instability) being one of the potential states possible, when they can be
sensitive to relatively small changes and science may still need to appreciate the interactions between these sub-systems
better, to help us avoid unwittingly triggering other potential mini-‘tipping-points’ –beyond carbon, that we may currently be
unaware of.
Fig.2: Urban Emissions & Eco-Cycles – Source: Strategic Plan for U.S. Climate Change Science Program & Subcommittee on Global Change
Research (July 2003) cited in David King, 2007

For instance, in our view, there is a danger that too narrow a focus on carbon alone, may result in far greater
demands on resources –such as grain and other biomass – such that our ‘Ecological Footprint’, which depicts how much of
the Earth’s biologically productive land and sea, needed to meet our demands and to absorb our wastes (SEI, 2007) becomes
far more unsustainable than it already is, with unfortunate consequences despite carbon emission reductions.

2.1 Sustainable Urban Design?

This is particularly relevant for urban designers and urban planners for two main reasons. Firstly, the exponential
rate of urbanisation occurring in many parts of the world, and secondly, the fact that cities are now also recognised as being
complex systems in their own right. Urban morphological studies have also identified several ‘levels’ of form structure through
which the complexity of cities emerges –from ‘local to global’ system scales –and over a range of timescales (Larkham, 2005).
These increasingly provide a basis for urban design methods (Whitehead, 2005).
Table 2: Urban Morphology Levels of City Form & Change Rates –adapted from Bentley, Butina-Watson & Roaf, 2003

262
 Urban design methodologies such as Pattern Language, Space Syntax and Responsive Environments (Alexander,
1977; Hillier & Hanson, 1984; Bentley et al, 1985) have been enormously influential over the past 25 years in providing a
framework for designers’ postmodernist practice emphasising peoples’ needs and the vitality of places. Their empirical results
were a key basis of much of the Government and CABE’s earlier adapted guidance for urban design within the planning
system (DTLR & CABE, 2000, 2001). And more recently, American New Urbanism ‘design codes’ have also been promoted
by the Government and implemented in pilot schemes in the UK (CABE, 2005).
However, an Oxford Brookes University study of potential sustainability indicators for Surrey County Council
(Bentley, Butina-Watson & Roaf, 2003) reviewed the sustainability methods and indicators available within three built
environment fields (planning, architecture and urban design). It highlighted that despite a relevant scope in planning, its
indicators were limited by its lack of spatial definition, and the more coherent architectural indicators were too narrowly,
building energy focused, neglecting socio-cultural aspects –while the wider spatial focus of urban design and its guidance
documents had still not led to a range of formal sustainability indicators (Ibid.).
In our view, this may be because urban design campaigns over the past 20 years have predominantly focused upon
‘quality’ –of buildings, of the public realm, and ‘quality-of-life’ implications. The main environmental sustainability issues
promoted early on by urban design theorists, were public transport and mixed-uses –again mainly for qualitative reasons in
relation to the vitality of the public realm (Odeleye, 2007). This is exemplified in the current emphasis on ‘place-making’ in both
urban design and planning (DTLR, 2001; ODPM, 2005).
Nonetheless, the notion of cities also having a ‘metabolism’ (Girardet, 2004) is one that is compatible with Gaian
principles, and has been expressed in ‘Ecological Footprint’ tools. This indicator, as mentioned earlier, aims to quantify
resource usage in relation to the population and the earth’s ‘bio-capacity’ and is measured in global hectares.
An analysis of greater London’s ‘footprint’ in 2000 found that each Londoner consumed 6.63 global hectares –more
than 3 times the available budget of 2.18 global hectares per person (Best foot forward, 2002). London’s footprint represents
293 times its actual size –an area twice as large as the UK and is 42 times its actual biocapacity (Ibid.).
Figs.3a,b: (Left) Breakdown of London’s footprint. (Right) Bio-productive Categories in Ecological Footprinting. City Limits, 2002

263
The UK footprint is 5.4 global hectares per person, and an analysis for Brent in Northwest London indicates a slightly higher
footprint of 5.41gh (Birch et al, 2006) both being more than twice the available global share per capita. Ecological Footprint
analysis is becoming increasingly sophisticated, and is a useful, wholistic alternative indicator that should be used alongside
carbon emissions to ensure other important sustainability factors can also be quantified on a per capita basis and better
monitored. But, in addition to these impacts that cities impose on their hinterland and further afield, they are also more
vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to the micro-climatic conditions within them.
Figs. 4 a,b: Urban Heat Island Sketch (Above) & London Temperature Distribution 21.30pm August 7, 2003 (Below) –GLA 2006

Warmer city air temperatures become trapped within a ‘sea’ of cooler air in the rural periphery and is thus termed:
the ‘heat island effect’ (GLA, 2006). This arises from loss of vegetation and thus, of evaporative cooling in the built-
environment replaced by non-reflective, engineered materials such as tarmac, brick paving concrete, steel etc. and release of
stored heat. The principle and the summer situation in London is shown in the diagrams above (Ibid.). And the following table
begins to suggest the potential for urban design and planning policy mechanisms to help address this effect, at a range of
urban climate scales.
Table 3: Link Between Urban Climate Scales, Policy & Urban Design –Source: Adapted from GLA 2006

264
 How then, could urban design policy and guidance help achieve sustainable development of cities within the wider
complex ecosystem, by mitigating and adapting to climate change? It would seem that a key aspect required would involve
mechanisms for integrating the issues raised above, with methodologies for practitioners to be better able to generate
wholistic solutions that are elegant and more affordable than bolted-on, ‘technical fixes’. We shall return to consider these
issues after exploring sustainability progress and challenges in a local authority policy case study, and reviewing wider
practice in other London Boroughs.

3. POLICY CASE STUDY –LONDON BOROUGH OF BRENT

3.1 Brent Background
Brent, home of the famed Wembley Stadium in northwest London, is also notable for the contrasts of its environment
(leafy suburbs in the north and dense inner city in the south) -as well as for the diversity of its population of 289,000, living in
107,000 homes12 –it is the most ethnically diverse area in Britain13, and has an area of 4325 hectares (nearly 17 square
miles).
Like many other UK Local Authorities, Brent Council is a signatory to the Nottingham declaration. Corporately, the 14
departments in its environment and culture service area have gained accreditation under ISO14001 Environmental
Management System (EMS) since 2001. Efforts are underway to extend this EMS to all departments in other service areas
(housing, social, education, corporate).

Fig. 5 : Brent in London Context –Source: Brent Council Website

265
 The Council has also adopted a ‘Carbon Management Strategy & Implementation Plan’ (CMS&IP) which commits the
Council to a 20% emissions reduction in its own operations by 2011 including an Action Plan to implement this across its
service areas. And Brent’s ‘Climate Change Strategy’ is currently being produced by consultants commissioned by the
Council, liaising with the Brent Sustainability Forum of local stakeholders aiming to adopt the strategy by the end of 2008.

Fig. 6a,b: Planning Service ‘Plug-in’ Electric Peugeot Car–Source: Odeleye

In terms of Council operations, an electric car was

leased by Planning for three years from 1998 assisted by a
partial £5,000 grant from the Energy Savings Trust, proving
very popular with planning officers for their site visits. The
Environmental Health department also followed with its own
electric car and LPG-fuelled vans for inspections.
However, Peugeot would not allow renewal of the
lease, as it was phasing the cars out –to focus on hydrogen
fuel cell technology, with the other major manufacturers e.g.
Citroen and Ford14. Since 2001, two Toyota Prius hybrid cars
have been purchased by the Planning Service, and these are heavily used by officers for site visits.

3.2 Planning: Design Space Standards & Flexibility

The Planning Service in Brent receives on average, 3500 planning applications a year, of which up to 120 are
considered as ‘major’ development proposals15. It has two main professional sections (‘Area Planning’ with planning officers in
1 enforcement, and 3 development control area teams as well as ‘Policy & Projects’ which includes officers in policy,
landscape design, and urban design & regeneration teams).
In policy terms, while new housing is obviously a key spatial planning priority, given the scale of new homes needed,
simply meeting housing targets, without much consideration of their quality, has become the crucial Government criteria for
assessing the acceptability of spatial plans. For example, the Inspector considering Brent’s first draft Core Strategy strongly
criticized it for aiming to meet its London Plan quota target of 915 new homes annually rather than proposing ‘to significantly
exceed’ this figure, which has never been achieved in recent years.
The extent to which Housing development so dominates the UK spatial planning system, at the expense of key
sustainability issues, can be further seen from the name of the Government’s main funding to local planning authorities, the
‘Housing and Planning Delivery Grant’ which requires Brent to complete 750 new homes annually before it qualifies for
additional new housing delivery funding. The problem is that while planners can enable the provision of new homes by
identifying suitable sites and giving them planning consent, their actual development is subject to market forces and Britain, as
in Ireland and in Spain, is currently experiencing a rapidly escalating housing market recession.
This recession, is likely to further reduce the already limited ability of planners to try to ensure that new homes are
sustainably designed and constructed to provide reasonable accommodation for residents. Britain, unlike most West European
countries has no minimum new housing floorspace specifications. It builds the smallest sized housing in West Europe and not
surprisingly has the highest levels of residential changes in West Europe. Yet Inspectors have repeatedly overruled Brent’s
refusals of housing proposals for homes with insufficient space and amenities, arguing that internal design and amenities is ‘a
matter for the market to decide’. This argument was employed by the Government when it initially tried to prevent the London
Plan from requiring that all new homes in London should be designed to Lifetime Homes Standards so as to accommodate
residents with mobility problems.
Long-term flexibility of development, especially housing to adapt to users’ life changes, is a key aspect of
sustainability. Although the Government has recently introduced the ‘Code For Sustainable Homes’, which belatedly
recognises the value of Lifetime Homes, full mandatory compliance with its sustainable design and energy conservation
specifications will not be enforced for another 8 years as the Government favours ‘encouragement’ rather than sanctions; a
process of ‘exhortation’ rather than ‘enforcement’ which echoes the its fundamental approach to sustainable development in
general and climatic change in particular. So, this means in practice that Brent can only try to persuade developers to build
homes with dual aspect windows and balconies to maximise passive ventilation and mitigate climatic change without any
assurance that the Inspectorate would support these requirements.

3.3 Landscape design: Amenity & Trees

The space and flexibility issues raised above are particularly significant when considered in relation to external
amenity provision which is also being severely squeezed. Specific UDP urban design Policies BE6 & BE7 on landscape and
streetscape have been useful tools for urban design and landscape design officers in dealing with planning applications but
the lack of provision of adequate amenity space on nearly all new developments is a major concern –as is the often somewhat
optimistic but unsustainable approach of architects / developers building 3-6 storey developments in extremely close proximity
to large forest type trees that may if evergreen, create unwelcome winter shade, and lead to subsequent efforts to remove
them16.

266
 Figs. 7: Brent Spatial Zones –Source: Brent Council LDF Pre-submission Core Strategy 2008
Brent landscape design
officers are concerned that the need
to provide additional homes and the
required infrastructure for a growing
population is eroding our tree stock
and preventing adequate new
planting of large species of tree. A
fear of structural damage to property
built on London’s shrinkable clay
subsoil adds to the pressure for tree
removal and reluctance to plant
anything other than ornamental
species. Brent is still losing far more
trees than are currently being
planting despite a tree protection
Policy. Building subsidence due to
clay soil shrinkage is still the major
cause of tree loss in the Borough
and when presented with all the
evidence, officers have no option but to grant consent for tree removal. The Borough’s tree stock is declining significantly and
will continue to decline –unless addressed17.
Higher rise, high density proposals which do not include any space at ground level, provide no opportunity for tree
planting in the ground, only in containers. In such cases, officers have sought Section 106 agreements to include contributions
for off-site landscaping and street tree planting. The Planning Service has supported street tree planting and small scale
environmental improvements using such Section 106 contributions.
Landscape Officers helped draft some Corporate tree policies, especially for Council properties and street trees, but
these have not yet fed into the ongoing revision of urban design guidance (SPD 17) which will include new standards for
frontages and amenity space. Informal tree advice sheets produced for 10 species are sent to residents’ making enquiries
and applications.
With ongoing climate change, Brent’s trees seem to be under threat from more exotic pests and diseases, which can
cause serious skin irritation and breathing problems to people, or annually defoliate the beautiful Horse Chestnuts completely
by late July/early August. Chestnuts also suffer from a bacterial bleeding disease that can ultimately kill the tree. Heartwood
decay fungi also seem to be more prevalent on Brent’s seriously stressed street trees.
New and strengthened policies are needed in the emerging Local Development Framework (LDF) to include
measurable standards for landscaping and tree planting. These would raise the profile of trees and landscape design
considerations in development proposals, by better integrating them with urban design and sustainability objectives –and
enable an increased level of S106 contributions to arrest and reverse the decline in trees18.

3.4 Urban design: Integration

The space, flexibility and landscape design issues raised above occur despite Brent’s Unitary Development Plan
(UDP) including a suite of (then) new, urban design policies which sought to integrate these concerns within criteria-based
indicators of urban quality and these cross-references were encapsulated within an overarching policy on design statements.
Fig8: Brent Unitary Development Plan & Urban design Principles –Source: Brent UDP 2004

The policies are supported with more detail in the sustainable design guidance (SPG19) and Urban design guidance
(SPG17) which also cross-reference to each other (albeit not as much as one would have liked). Key elements of each

267
guidance document is further set out within a checklist for assessing compliance. The sustainability checklist (to be described
later in the section below), and the matrix used by many applicants in their Design Statements to demonstrate compliance with
elements of the urban design guidance is shown below.
Typically, applicants for major development proposals, submit a Design & Access Statement, which focuses on
planning issues first, design secondary, with occasional vague references to sustainability (where mentioned). In some cases,
sustainability is addressed in a separate statement, including energy demand and renewables feasibility options.
Table 4: Extract from Urban Design Guidance (SPG19) Matrix

Urban design officers are not in favour of such limited tick-box instruments and (in our view, it is the absence of
alternative objective evaluation methodologies19) highlights the divergence between urban design and sustainable design
issues –and their lack of a common methodology for addressing the various scales becomes problematic.

3.5 Brent Sustainable Design & Construction –Policy Background

In 1996, the Council began preparations for establishing Local Agenda 21 in Brent with the local community,
including State of the Environment position papers. Alongside this, a few policy planners began to consider the need for
planning to be more pro-active in seeking sustainable development: Some issues in particular, provided further opportunities
for this –firstly, the prospect of Wembley being chosen to be the site for a new English National stadium involving the
redevelopment of the site, secondly, the renewals of two, problem housing estates, Stonebridge / Chalkhill..
Figs. 9a,b: Demolition / deconstruction of old Wembley Stadium & Construction of the New Stadium –Source: Brent Council SPG19, 2004 &
LDF Issues & Options , 2006

A mini-conference held in 1998 included as key speaker a co-author of the pioneering Dutch handbook on selecting
environmentally-friendly materials (Anink et al, 1998). The level of interest was such that, an officer group was formed to
influence the stadium redevelopment as a pilot. This resulted in a policy document; ‘SuStadia: Sustainable Planning Advice for
Wembley Stadium’ in 1998. But, concern that sustainability of individual buildings was outside the legal remit of planning,
meant the document was never adopted as formal guidance by Councillors –however, it still influenced the stadium
negotiations –leading to some sustainability measures being promised by the developer.
Fig. 10a,b: Sustainable Design Guidance– Brent Council , 2004
SuStadia emboldened the lead author to formulate a brief,
albeit weak sustainable design policy in the 1st Draft Unitary
Development Plan (UDP) in March 2000 –on the basis this was the
most that could be done within landuse planning at the time. However,
the supporting text committed the Council to adopting Sustainable

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Design Guidance during the life of the Plan (i.e. 5-10 years). A progressive Kilburn Ward Councillor (Dr. Noel Thompson)
presented a paper to the UDP Members Steering Group, which was considering the Council’s response to objections received
from public consultations (Spring 2000). Thompson’s paper criticised the low sustainable design content of the Development
Plan. As a result, the UDP Steering Group Councillors agreed officers should formulate a stronger policy and produce
supplementary planning guidance (SPG) in time for a UDP Public Inquiry.
A Sustainable Design Working Group, led by the main author, was formed in December 2000 with the Kilburn Ward
Councillor, officers from other environmental departments (Corporate sustainability, Building Control, Environmental Health,
Transportation) and the local energy advice centre, to formulate a stronger policy for the 2nd Deposit Draft UDP, 2001. The
Working Group researched and compiled current best practice into a Draft Supplementary Design & Planning Guidance
document, in Oct. 2001 for internal consultation. And eventually launched in Feb.2004 –alongside a householder guide.
Fig. 11: (Left) Sustainable Design Guide for Householders & (Right) Advice Leaflet –Source: Brent Council, 2004

The timeline chart below indicates the length of key steps in this process (shown in green), and of subsequent
implementation of key elements of the guidance (shown in orange), as well as ongoing development of LDF policy within the
new planning regime (shown in blue). Strategic policy adoption is shown in red. Clearly, this has been, and remains, a lengthy
process for adoption of policy and guidance –but, full and effective implementation takes even longer.
Fig. 12: Sustainable Design Policy & Guidance Timeline –Source: Odeleye

3.6 Sustainable Construction

Brent UDP Policy BE12 states that development should incorporate measures to minimize construction and
demolition waste, and to reuse and recycle materials. The Councillors in Brent's Waste Management & Recycling Task Group
recommended in December 2003 that urban design guidance for new development (SPG17) should include a section on
design of integral facilities for recycling of waste, particularly for high density and/or flatted developments (still not occurred
yet), and that SPG19 should make reference to their need to apply the ICE Demolition Protocol in redevelopment schemes.
As a result, SPG19 and the Sustainability Checklist include references to this requirement. Brent Council was the
first Borough to adopt the Protocol. The GLA and many other Boroughs have now followed this best Practice example. The
Demolition Protocol is a resource efficiency tool which, through both planning (Development Control) and contract negotiation

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processes (the client and project team), can drive pragmatic approaches to the management of demolition and new build
projects, in terms of resource recovery. The Protocol also requires the New Build to be assessed in terms of the potential to
specify recovered materials in the various parts of the development.
Brent was also the first Planning Authority to impose a Planning Condition on a developer to use the Demolition
Protocol within its Construction Management Strategy (CMS). As part of the application of the ICE Demolition Protocol in
Quintain's Stage 1 development in Wembley, a Supplier's Forum was organised in September 2004. It brought together
major and local aggregate and concrete suppliers, with project consultants, contractors and officers from a number of Brent’s
Environmental services departments. The objective of the forum was to establish the potential for structural concrete to be
supplied for Wembley using recycled aggregates. To raise the awareness of developers in Brent as well as planning and other
officers, a Protocol Process guide was produced by EnviroCentre with input by the lead author.
Fig. 13a,b: ICE Demolition Protocol (Left) Brent Summary Guidelines and (Right) WRAP Summary for Developers & Designers
–Source: Brent Council Website

The initial pilot study support at Wembley was funded by Waste Aggregates Action Programme (WRAP). Further
work included extending the materials to include glass, plastics, etc. Brent as a Client is also promoting adoption and
implementation of the Protocol within its own major developments, such as the Stadium Access Corridor, in order to minimise
use of limited resources, reduce waste, and maintain Council credibility in negotiations with developers'.
In view of the major demolition and redevelopment projects in Wembley, London Remade provided funding to match
Brent’s to enable experts to provide FREE technical support and enable all projects in the Wembley area to implement of the
Protocol for a 1 year period, which has now ended (See preliminary outputs below
Figs.14a,b,c: (Left) Elvin House demolished with Conference Centre; (Centre) Wembley link/Whitehorse Footbridge in foreground; &
(Right) Stadium Access Corriror: Source: EnviroCentre, 2007

The Brent & London Remade-funded, ‘North-West London Construction Materials Recycling Pilot Study’ aimed to
transfer skills to participating developers, design & engineering consultants, contractors and local authority officers – as well
as provide templates for continuation of more sustainable practices with respect to planning, design, demolition and
construction in other Brent and London-wide projects. The partners in the delivery of the project were:
• Brent Environment Directorate & • London ReMade
• Planning Service • EnviroCentre
And the projects considered during the implementation of this project were:

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 • Stadium Access Corridor: • Quintain Plot W01
• Wembley Link/Whitehorse footbridge • Elvin House & Wembley Conference Hall
As part of this project, the Protocol was applied in demolishing existing buildings on the London Development
Agency (LDA)-funded footbridge/public square linking Wembley triangle with the area south of the stadium, and Brent as a
Client implemented the Protocol in its own major developments, such as the Stadium Access Corridor, to minimise use of
limited resources, reduce waste and maintain credibility in its negotiations on developers' schemes.
Table 5: Summary of overall recovery of demolition arisings & recovery targets –Source: EnviroCentre, 2007

Table 6: Summary recovery breakdown of demolition materials for projects in Wembley –Source: EnviroCentre, 2007

Table 7: Summary of NB-BOQ data for combined project data (three Wembley projects)–Source: EnviroCentre, 2007

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 WRAP (Waste Recycling Aggregates Programme) also provided further funding to develop Case Study profiles of
the Wembley pilots for dissemination on their construction website. It also developed a recycled content evaluation tool for
developers, alongside ‘quick wins’ listings of readily available components and finishes incorporating a percentage of
recycled/recovered content, to aid the uptake of the ICE Protocol methodology. Other schemes in the area using the Protocol
include the next phase of Quintain’s redevelopment and projects around the Borough. This has proved more challenging to
monitor so, updates to the Brent Checklist and templates will be produced to facilitate this.

3.7 Renewables Fig.15: 400 North Circular Rd, Neasden

The Government has issued Guidance on Renewables in PPS22 with related
practice guides. The Mayor of London also published a London-wide Energy Strategy
along with a renewable energy toolkit and guides for planners, developers, housing
associations. UDP Policies EP14 & BE12 also seek and encourage renewable energy
installations or their inclusion within development. The consolidated London Plan now
requires a 20% onsite renewables target to offset carbon emissions. Brent’s LDF
requirements will be in conformity with this, and the policy is already being applied on
major schemes.
Of the 24 major permissions granted during the 2006-07 monitoring period, 11
included a proposed 10% proportion of energy demand from renewable sources, of which 8 were from onsite technologies
(including for 2 CHP, 16 roof mounted turbines, 12 PV street lights, 9 solar thermal panels) –while 2 consents (for 12 & 21
dwellings) were from off-site ‘Green Tariffs’ (minimum of 30% electricity supply) for the life of the development, secured by
S106 Agreements.
The ‘green tariff’ off-site renewables sourcing (a transitional option for smaller schemes which demonstrated a lack of
feasibility for onsite renewables) has now been removed from the Sustainability Checklist as the case and policy support for
onsite renewables has become more established. Any necessary off-site provision is now be expected to be provided on a
local community facility (e.g. a school) through ‘in-lieu’ contributions, if the Council accepts it is partially/wholly unfeasible
onsite (See calculator below, based on Mayor’s toolkit). A much higher proportion of permissions including onsite renewables
have been permitted since March 2007, but the data is not yet collated.
Fig. 16: Spreadsheet tool –Source: Odeleye for Brent Council

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 Although there are now more renewables being proposed and implemented within developments than previously as
a result of pro-active seeking through the planning system, these are still fewer than the potential. Emerging LDF policy will
provide greater support, but procedures to ensure greater implementation through greater planning officer confidence, need to
be strengthened;

3.4. Brent Implementation Issues

A. Training: Councillor awareness and Officer knowledge has been raised over the past by 16 key training events,
site visits and technical topic briefings e.g. tours of BedZed (see below) and Gallions EcoPark, renewables training for all
planners funded by London’s Mayor, visits to major exhibitions, and in-house seminars on the Demolition Protocol, on SUDS,
and on Brent’s S106 renewables calculator.
Fig17a,b: Brent Planners & Members (Councillors) Visit BedZed Oct.2002 –Source: Authors

However, this relates to groups of officers and does not include relevant individual training. Generally, development
control planners tend to go on fewer external training events than regeneration / policy planners and designers who are faster
moving in terms of their need to keep up to date with, and formally respond to, an increasing stream of new national, regional
and local policy, strategies, guidance, best practice, consultations and research reports. A key challenge has been the high
turnover of planning officers and loss of training and skills with new temporary staff.
In addition, Landscape design officers also gave well received briefings to planners on British Standard 5837 'Trees
in Relation to Construction' 2005, Home zones in Holland, landscaping policies in New Zealand and an informative talk on
fencing20.they also invited manufacturers of tree products and paving systems to give talks to planners on assessing the space
and conditions needed for trees to survive in the urban environment, and on identifying a range of sustainable urban drainage
products suitable for ground conditions within the Borough.

B. Brent’s Sustainability Checklist -Usage

The Checklist was produced by the sustainable design working group alongside the supplementary guidance
document (SPG19). It aims to address key aspects of sustainable design, construction and operational pollution – in terms of
measures required to demonstrate compliance with a range of policies for transport, community, town centres and sustainable
design within Brent’s UDP as well as the best practice highlighted in SPG19.

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 It is a self-assessment tool which developers submit with their planning application giving a range of indicative
ratings (‘very detrimental’ to ‘fairly positive’ and ‘excellent’ –corresponding to scores ranging from -100 to +100%). It is then
assessed again by sustainability or case officers based on the evidence provided to substantiate the claims made. The Officer
case notes template is transparent to applicants on the website, alongside the baseline standard clauses that could be used or
modified within Planning Conditions attached to any permission (or nearly always, a Section 106 Planning Agreement) which
are used to help ensure the commitments get delivered onsite. The carrying out of post-construction reviews (PCRs) is a
standard Planning Condition/S106 requirement in major applications meeting the SPG19 threshold).
Fig. 18: Pages from Sustainable Design Checklist for Major Applications–Source: Brent Council, 2004

However for the first 12 months, initial implementation using these tools to assess major applications in Brent was
patchy at best, and fell short of expected policy outcomes. There was a slow start to implementing these standards (only 6 of
the 31 initial major applications were assessed for sustainable design in the first year). This was due firstly to receipt of the
biggest application received in Brent (Quintain Stage 1 surrounding the Stadium) at the time of SPG19’s adoption, alongside
another major application (LDA Scheme, Southway, Wembley) which both took a high proportion of officer time in terms of
assessing detailed EIA documentations and protracted negotiations across a range of issues including Environment Impact
Assessments (EIA).
Secondly, having recognised the lack of integration of sustainability assessment into established development control
procedures, evaluations of development proposals in Brent improved considerably as procedural barriers were resolved. 40
major applications were evaluated through Brent’s Sustainability Checklist process (in the following year, 2005-6). Of these, 36
had Conditions and/or S106 terms requiring implementation of a range of measures and ‘Very Good/ Excellent’ ratings to be
achieved on the Building Research Establishment (BRE) sustainability assessments (EcoHomes & BREEAM)21.
Brent’s own Checklist is used at the application stage to assess the level of compliance with UDP sustainability
policies & SPG19 requirements, as well as to facilitate discussions on, & commitments to, specific measures. The major
permissions comprise the following approved sustainability measures (approximate numbers –monitoring database still under
construction):
Table 8: Key approved Sustainability Measures 2006-7 –Source: Brent UDP 2004

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 A few schemes since 2004 had also been approved with a requirement for ‘Excellent’ on EcoHomes / BEEAM, but
these have not yet been implemented. As the submission Core Strategy has introduced higher sustainability standards
generally across the Borough, and more so within the proposed Growth Areas / Energy Action Area, current consents are now
including these requirements (i.e. BREEAM ‘excellent’ & Sustainable Homes Code Levels 3 (or 4 respectively). It is not yet
known what proportion of these committed measures in approved schemes has been implemented onsite. Greater resources
are needed for monitoring and enforcement.

C. Monitoring and Enforcement

The sustainability-related workload has increased significantly, with greater importance now placed upon this issue
from national, regional and local levels –but this has not been reflected in the officer time allowed for assessment and
negotiations to ensure higher standards. The BRE database contains all its BREEAM (commercial) and EcoHomes/CSH
(housing) Assessments of schemes, but their database cannot filter information for Brent, and as a commercial organization,
they insist on client confidentiality, so the data is only available at an aggregated London and County level. Further resources
urgently need to be devoted to setting up relevant fields & queries to input and extract sustainability data from the Council’s
centralized Acolaid database system for monitoring purposes.
The importance of follow-through to secure implementation on the ground, has been underestimated –simply stating
requirements in Conditions or S106 is not enough to guarantee delivery and maintenance of the approved measures.
Enforcement capability is thus required, but this requires an adequate monitoring system to be established. Work has now
begun on this, but resources are needed to ensure it is comprehensive, linked to other databases, and can be kept up to date.
The 20 Section 106 (S106) agreements signed in 2006/07 was considerably less than previous years in both number
and value. This partly reflects many being signed just before or after the monitoring cut off dates (March 2006 and April 2007).
Higher levels of non-financial S106 obligations are being secured, e.g. on-site training, community and other requirements.
Sustainability obligations, which included monitoring, sustainability building measures and the demolition protocol has been
successfully signed on all larger applications22.
Table 9: Key elements in S106 Agreements 2006-7 –Source: Brent AMR, 2008

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 Although the carrying out of a BRE Post-Construction Review (PCR) is also a standard S106 requirement in
consents for major applications, there has apparently been only 3 such reviews carried out on Brent schemes so far. This
demonstrates the need for enforcement action in cases where construction has occurred.
Officers are giving serious consideration to taking action, and seeking compensation to install sustainability
measures on other sites –if the PCR's are not forthcoming, or if they demonstrate the required standards have not been
delivered onsite. Reminder /warning letters sent out have led to a good response with developers’ seeking advice on the
PCRs requirements for submission, to avoid court action.

4. INDICATIONS OF LONDON BOROUGHS’ POLICY IMPLEMENTATION

There have been a number of formal surveys of sustainable policy developments in Local Planning Authorities:
4.1 London Boroughs Sustainability Policy Reviews (Enfield Council Surveys)
Two surveys on sustainable design and construction (SDC) policies were carried out by Enflield Council – the results
of the first in 2003, with 14 responses, revealed that there were a core of 4-6 Boroughs (Enfield, Brent, Westminster, Camden,
on renewables Merton) leading in the development of policy, guidance and checklists, or a built exemplar (Sutton) while others
were beginning to think about it.
By the time of the updated survey in 2005, there were 19 responses and 10 of these had adopted, were in the
process of adopting, or had either draft sustainability policies, guides or checklists – of these, 4 Boroughs, only had an energy
conservation or renewable energy policy.

4.2 Client-led Analyses of LPA guidance (Upstream Consultant study) 2005

The sustainability consultancy Upstream was commissioned by a syndicate of major landowners and property firms
(e.g. Stanhope, the Crown Estate, Development securities & Lna securities) to develop a comprehensive listing of
sustainability guidance and checklists in London and the South East, including their legal status, to compare / critique the
requirements in terms of issues, performance standards and benchmark in/consistencies, and to understand how the
guidance and checklists were being implemented in the planning process (Upstream, 2005).
A number of public sector organisations, including Brent, Westminster and Greenwich Local Planning Authorities
(LPAs), Surrey and Hampshire County Councils, the London Development Agency (LDA), English Partnerships, and the South
East England Development Agency/Regional Assembly (SEEDA)/(SEERA) participated in framing the study, and the outputs.
• 108 LPAs, and regional authorities (GLA, LDA, SEERA & SEEDA) contacted -67 responded.
• 25 had sustainability guidance &/or checklists -analysis based on 20 LPA documents made available, plus SEEDA
(Ibid.)

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 Fig. 19: (Left) Environmental Issues Weightings in Council Sustainability Guidance/Checklists & (Right) Socio-Economic Weightings –
Source: Upstream, 2005

Sustainability Checklist attributes & issues found:

o Legal status / thresholds –varied but most applied to major schemes (10 dwellings, 1,000 sqm);
o Type, style, scoring and implementation also varied;
o Strong emphasis on environmental issues 75% of weightings on average, notably energy, with less well defined socio-
economic issues accounting for 25% of weightings.
o Not enough references to specific performance standards (Ibid.)
And within the socio-economic issues addressed in sustainable design guidance and checklists, design of buildings
and their setting (architecture & quality of life in chart above) were found to have the greatest emphasis, compared to social
infrastructure (Ibid.). Upstream suggested this may be due to the then embryonic sustainable communities agenda, but in our
view, it may reflect social infrastructure being already well addressed in other planning documents.
Table 10: Sustainability Guidance References to other standards or ‘Proxies’ –Source: Upstream, 2005
PROXIES Number of mentions Percentage of Total References

Planning and Design

BREEAM 12 29%
BRE Green guide to specification (1998) 5 12%

Secured by Design 4 10%

Lifetime Homes 4 10%

BRECSU Design Service 4 10%

BRE Smart Waste Methodology 2 5%

Ecological Footprint 2 5%
NHS NEATAssessment (for health schemes) 2 5%

Materials Information Exchange 1 2%

Environmental Reference Method 1 2%

Arup's SPEAR - Sustainable Project Assessment Routine 1 2%

Buro Happold's PSPA - Sustainability Performance 1 2%

Assessments

Institute of Civil Engineers, CEEQUAL – Environmental quality 1 2%

assessment scheme
WSP Group SAT 1 2%
Sustainability works 1 2%

Construction Industry Board (CIB) 'Considerate Contractor 5 12%

Scheme'
Environmental Management System (EMS) 4 10%
CE Demolition Protocol 3 7%
Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) 1 2%
guides
Lawson Criteria (Environmental Code of Construction for air 1 2%
quality and noise)

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 The Upstream consultants recommended that Councils’ need to ensure there is
• Identification of gaps in current checklists & (if needed) to be filled-in;
• Linkage of Sustainability principles, guidance/ checklist to other policies;
• Clarity of process for applicants about how the guidance/checklist is implemented;
• Follow- through of sustainability commitments made during planning process.
These largely reinforce the challenges we earlier identified in applying and implementing sustainable design and
construction, using these mechanisms, in Brent’s experience.

4.3 London School of Economics (LSE) ‘SusCon’ Project Reviews, 2006

The LSE carried out five main studies under the ‘SusCon’ project funded by the Higher Education Council from 2004-
6. It aimed to examine the relationship between planning and sustainability of the built environment. Two of these studies are
briefly summarised here:
1 The Policy Agenda –The review identified a lack of clear definition of the sustainable construction agenda which is
loosely applied to scales ranging from buildings up to the urban level (Cooper, 2006):
• This is compounded by two divergent approaches –the policy route for planners and technical approaches for
designers, engineers and contractors reflected in the planning system on the one hand and minimum Building
Regulations on the other. Different Government departments also exemplify these two emphases albeit sharing a
laissez-faire stance of voluntary, self-regulation ostensibly to encourage ‘innovation’ (Ibid.).
• Planners lacking technical skills had thus, felt compelled to push the agenda further, due to a perceived lack
/inadequacy of sustainability standards in the 2002 Building Regulations –such that strategic policy targets seemed
unattainable. But, despite the urgent impetus that planning guidance/checklists have provided, planners were not
considered the best ‘gatekeepers’ to ensure sustainable design –given the technical skills needed. And it concluded
the responsibility should be shared across central Government and regional/local government (Ibid.).

2 Ecological Footprint Analysis of London Plan & Draft SPG –This review explored the potential of a Footprinting tool,
REAP for evaluating sustainability policy for new housing construction. The REAP tool highlights carbon dioxide
emissions and resource use/waste, and can be refined for a range of geographic contexts (Nye & Rydin, 2006).
• The review suggested that if supported by sensitivity analysis, Footprinting could play a significant role in policy
development. It demonstrated the London Plan policy and guidance could lead to a38% improvement in London’s
Footprint through infrastructure, energy, water, transport and waste –with 90% of these savings arising from energy
and waste reduction (Ibid.).

4.4 Renewables Policy Effectiveness Review – South Bank University 2007

This study reviewed the energy and carbon saving effects of London Plan energy policies, in applications referred to
the Mayor of London’s Greater London Authority (GLA). At the time of analysis, after the first two and half years of the
policies, 350 applications had been approved (out of 617 proposals, with 244 pending and 23 refused) but the data set
consisted of only 113 detailed energy statements available from the 350 approved schemes (Day et al, 2007). The findings
were that:
• Statements were of variable format, quality, reporting & calculation methods;
• The GLA did not have an electronic system for this data, and much effort was spent by the researchers to
interpret and enter it into a new database –requiring in some instances, back-calculations of emissions from
various sources/methods and of installation capacities (in all cases) of technologies;
• For the first year of the policies, few statements were received mainly of poor quality, until better developer
understanding and new technical staff support at the GLA led to a higher number of statements becoming more
coherent in the second year, and subsequently;
• The policies resulted in estimated carbon savings of 26% above baseline estimates for new schemes –
cumulatively equivalent to about 135,528 tonnes CO2 p.a. since the 2004 adoption of the Plan –and these could
have been greater if the renewables toolkit was available from the beginning (Ibid).
The study recommended new, more challenging targets should be set for renewables and energy efficiency savings
–and on a new basis (Kg CO2 per sqm). The former has occurred, but not the latter. It also recommended a central database
be established for key applications data to facilitate future analyses (Ibid). And further, that a standard renewable assessment
template with clearly defined fields for standardised data –particularly on installation sizes and capacities be set up23.
Overall, the issues the study raised about data quality, lack of officer confidence and monitoring systems are very
similar to Brent’s experiences described earlier, at the local level.

4.5 Sustainability Monitoring & Implementation –Brent Online Survey 2008

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 To bring these reviews more up to date, and focus more on implementation and monitoring issues, a short online
survey was also produced by the authors24 and sent in early August 2008 by email to three main Officer groups, namely;
planning officers in the Association of London Borough Planning Officers (ALBPO), sustainability officers in the London
Environmental Coordinator’s Forum (LECF), and urban design officers in Urban Design London (UDL).
The survey consisted of 10 main multi-choice, tick box format questions (with about 6 sub-questions in free text
format) It yielded 15 responses (out of 33 Boroughs). Although respondents were given the option of anonymity, at least half
identified their Boroughs, and all identified their subregion of London. There were fewer responses from North London
Boroughs, with West, East, Central and South London Boroughs evenly represented. Clear patterns emerged in relation to
respondents’ roles (i.e. between planners, sustainability officers, urban designers or others e.g. environmental health):
• Generally, urban design officers did not know what their Council’s sustainability standards were, nor how they were
implemented;
• sustainability officers (and some planners) were aware of the sustainability standards, but knew less about standards
for dwelling space, landscaping, trees;
• sustainability officers knew little about whether sustainability guidance requirements were integrated with those in
urban design guidance documents
• most respondents knew even less about the Lifetime Homes standards (with exception of car-parking, and to a
lesser degree, wheelchair standards).
To ensure the maximum number of responses by limiting the survey to 10 easy questions it was not possible to drill down
to greater detail in relation to specific urban design elements. However, a couple of urban designer respondents did elaborate
their concerns further:
• potential heat island effects:
• canyon effects for exaggerating noise;
• lack of new trees in developments within designated Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs)
And Internal:
• reduced daylight factors resulting from low-emissivity/double glazing particularly in windows overhung by balconies
• kitchens with no external windows
• lack of space for passive stack ventilation, particularly in single aspect building design layouts (also an issue in noisy
areas e.g. Heathrow flight path and late night activities) –this leads to fire-doors being propped open by residents in
flats, to get some cross-ventilation.

5. WAYS FORWARD?
“If the past is a different country, the future is a different planet. The British attitude to change is to walk backwards into the
future while looking longingly at the past . . . we must shape our own future.”
-Michael Frye25

5.1 Council Initiatives & Local Regulation

As the Brent Case Study and London reviews indicate, many local planning authorities in the UK have made, or are
beginning to make, significant efforts to address sustainable development, and an increasing number are seeking to actively
address climate change. Currently, their Planning &/or Corporate Sustainability, Environmental Health, Parks And
Transportation departments tend to be at the forefront of such efforts –with varying degrees of liaison and co-ordination
between them. Other departments such as Building Control, Housing and Property also tend to be making some efforts –albeit
Building Control are limited by the regulations which are minimum standards, as well as by their competition for business with
‘Approved Inspectors’ in the private sector. Council housing and corporate property departments are also for the most part
constrained by the perceived costs of higher sustainable design measures. And confusing Governmental changes in policy
buzzwords, priorities and funding opportunities lacks continuity for the effectiveness of efforts to communicate climate change
issues in the built environment and related procurement sectors.

5.2 Sustainable Urban Design –Realising the Potential

Architects and urban designers well understand how frustrating and yet how very useful constraints (i.e. limiting
conditions) can be within the design process –and how a site that is a ‘blank slate’ with no constraints often results in poor
design outcomes. Counter-intuitively, the combination of site, technical, and client constraints, more often lead to optimal, ‘win-
win’ design solutions, which tend to be the simplest, most efficient and ‘whole’ –when found (Odeleye, 2007).

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 Too often however, in practice, due to the incompatibility of prevalent economic and social desires with
environmental needs –as well as the impracticability of searching all possible solutions in ‘configurational space’ –optimal
design configurations are not found, and trade-offs lead to cruder, less satisfactory solutions.
And key urban design instruments such as Masterplans, are still relatively crude mechanisms which predict desired
outcomes at a single or few linear point(s) in the future, remaining incapable of adequately modelling the systemic effects of
changes to the urban tissue. For instance, if we consider three key effects of current city layouts, form and movement, namely;
poor air quality, the heat island effect and flooding – which urban design has the potential to address, there turn out to be
some similarities underlying their causes and solutions:
A common thread that seems to link the causes of these sustainability issues and their solutions – is that of space for
air or water movement, as well as how engineered materials have modified the built environment responses to natural
imperatives (drainage, ventilation, etc.). Such threads need to be further analysed by urban designers, to identify the
integrated role that spacing, alignments, and materials specifications play at all morphological scales.
Table 11: Possible Framework of Links Between Air Quality, Heat Island & Drainage Issues & Measures
–Odeleye

And this leads to the question of whether ‘top-down or ‘bottom-up’ approaches work best? -and whether or how
innovative ways can be found to marry both in complementary approaches that are more wholistic? It seems apparent that
achieving sustainable urban design will require a clearer operational framework that further develops urban design
methodologies in relation to both the mitigation and adaptation imperatives, building space and public space amenity
standards, as well as the wider, regulatory context in which urban designers must work in partnership with allied built
environment professions, developers and other environmental fields.
But how might we do this? As an example of how such frameworks might begin to be developed, the Oxford Brookes
university study referred to earlier in this paper, proposed a means of integrating urban morphological form scales with both
responsive urban design criteria and sustainable design criteria (See summary table overleaf). This table depicts areas of
overlapping design issues both in terms of their scales and possible measures –such that this integrative framework maps a
range of sustainable urban design indicators (Bentley et al, 2003) which are currently lacking in many local authority policy and
guidance, that tend to focus separately on sustainability and urban design quality. Further research is needed to develop such
integrative sustainability frameworks, and the means /tools for, applying them in practice.

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Table 12: Urban Morphological Levels of Responsive & ‘Sustainable’ Design Qualities:
Adapted from Bentley, Butina-Watson & Roaf, for Surrey County Council, 2004

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 5.3 Conclusion

There have been notable successes in securing sustainable design in parts of London and the UK, which helps
mitigate climate change, but much remains to be done. In policy terms, housing numbers (and affordability) are the most
heavily monitored aspect of the British planning system, and the success of this monitoring provides a useful window into gaps
in effectively seeking climate change through planning’s role in delivering higher sustainable design and construction and
urban design.
Resources -Ensuring sustainable development requires expertise with skilled personnel and resource requirements.
Unfortunately, the Planning System is not only generally inadequately funded, but on a basis that effectively minimises
sustainability-promoting initiatives. Planning application fees are fixed by the Government and are insufficient to fund
sustainability appraisals and the extensive follow-up necessary. Additional Government grants are only awarded to Councils
who determine their planning applications to the tight timetables, speedily prepare their development plans in accordance with
Government requirements and who maximise their new housing delivery grant.
Training -The need for greater sustainable design and carbon literacy is not confined to planners, but also to urban
designers (both public and private sector) and elected councillors. It is also important for Planning Inspectors on appeals, who
often lack knowledge of sustainability evaluation. On this issue, funding is not the main barrier, but time –particularly for
development control and policy planners hard pressed on application and LDF deadlines. The Mayor of London has funded
three training events on renewables (2 for planners 2004 & 2008) and 1 for Councillors in 2004. These were very good, but the
high turnover of planners due to shortages, low public sector pay and use of temporary contract staff, requires addressing as
skills are quickly lost by Councils.
Monitoring & Enforcement –Evaluating the sustainability of development proposals is an intensive staffing resource
activity given the absence of sustainable urban design methodologies similar to the ‘Building For Life’ for housing design. The
Code for Sustainable Homes is individual building focused (with compromises made on energy groupings in blocks of flats).
And standardised electronic assessment tools, such as the Affordable Housing Toolkit for undertaking financial appraisals are
lacking for renewables. The Mayor of London’s Renewables Manual was a useful technical guide (particularly for developers)
– but many planners still struggle to interpret the variant energy statements submitted by developers. WRAP’s recycled
content toolkit for materials is a good initiative, but even architects’ struggle with its complex input requirements. Site Waste
Management Plans were finally made mandatory in the UK this year, but no indicative targets were suggested as a guide, with
no electronic system for standardising them and collecting the data for annual monitoring. And effective enforcement of
sustainability both through the Building Regulations, and Planning, is patchy at best, and sometimes non-existent.
Fiscal Investment -Who pays? Compared to the level of subsidies available to mainstream sectors, sustainability-
related research and development, programmes and technologies suffer from a plethora of poorer funded, fragmented, and
short-lived initiatives from a bewildering array of organisations, most little known26 – with the exception of the two major
players (Carbon Trust and Energy Saving Trust). Yet fiscal measures are the most powerful incentives for behavioural
changes. For instance, the one-off grant scheme Brent applied for, to pay the additional cost of the Peugeot electric car, was
little known and underused – until the Mayor’s Congestion charge waived the fee for alternative-fuel, low emission cars. For
the first time, the fund was oversubscribed, and the number of electric cars, and of cycles, on London roads increased
significantly. Enhanced Capital Allowances are available for energy and water-saving technologies, but are little known, and
seen as hard to access. But conversely, the recent removal of business rate relief for empty commercial properties has led to
many factory and office owners simply demolishing their buildings to avoid paying the hefty tax –as planning permission is not
required27 -an unintended, unsustainable effect.

ENDNOTES
1 leading those promoting materials resource efficiency, for instance to try and find ways of expressing the benefits in carbon terms
2 Although Prof. Watson, the chief scientific adviser to the UK Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DeFRA) now recommends we
should prepare to adapt to a 4 degree rise, heralding dangerous climate change, given the unlikelihood of mitigation efforts achieving the level of
reductions needed to avoid this (Randerson, August 7th 2008).
3 Brent for instance, published its last LA21 Action Plan and subsequently decided to re-orientate its efforts internally to corporate issues, although

a small fund for local community group projects was maintained.

4 The Nottingham declaration is a voluntary pledge to address climate change issues. It represents a high-level, commitment that a council can
make to its own community. It was first launched in October 2000 in Nottingham with 200 leaders, chief executives and senior managers of UK
local government: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/housingbuildings/localauthorities/NottinghamDeclaration/who-has-signed/
5 The ICE Demolition Protocol is a robust materials resource efficiency methodology for demolition and construction developed for the UK Institute

of Civil Engineers (ICE) by EnviroCentre & London Remade

6 An example was the 2003 report; ‘Building Sustainably: How to Plan & Construct New housing for the 21st Century’, by the Sustainable Housing

Forum, led by the TCPA (Town & Country Planning Association)/WWF and 9 other organisations including Brent Council. It reviewed relevant

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sustainability issues, Borough Council and other initiatives and identified the gaps in Government policy. It also advocated a range of national,
regional and local policy measures such as changes to the Building Regulations and a new Planning Policy Statement on Climate Change amongst
other measures – many of which have now been taken on board by Government.
7 The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) has been tasked with advising the Government on whether this 60% target should be

increased to 80%
8 Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) are replacing the former, Unitary development Plans (UDPs)
9 Further examples include the Energy White Paper, draft Sustainable Construction Strategy and Site Waste Management Plan Regulations 2008
10 It represents 100% CO2 reduction in relation to the 2006 Building Regulations, which only covers (heating, hot water, lighting and ventilation) not
all energy use
11 represents a 25% CO2 reduction beyond the maximum emission rate allowed by the 2006 Building Regulations
12 Professor Mayhew’s demographic study 2007 for Brent Council
13 UK Office of National Statistics, 2006
14
Due to the slower than expected progress on hydrogen fuel cells, they are once again beginning to launch electric cars. Currently, the only model
available in the UK is the ‘G-Whiz’ a franchise of the Indian RIVA electric which filled the gap left by the major manufacturers.
15 defined as 10 or more dwellings, or 1,000 square metres or more, of commercial or other floorspace)
16amended extract from Brent’s Annual Monitoring Report (AMR 2000-2004), built-environment chapter –from information provided by Chris
Barrons & Lawrence Underwood
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 ‘Building For Life’ standard recently produced is intended to assess housing design (but again treats sustainability as an afterthought).

20 Ibid. It was decided to merge an initially proposed Landscape Design Guidance document with the existing urban design Guidance to better
integrate these issues. This is still in production.
21 EcoHomes and BREEAM are the nationally recognised, sustainability assessment methodologies for homes and non-residential schemes

produced by the Building Research Establishment (BRE)

22 amended extract from Brent’s Annual Monitoring Report (AMR 2006-7), Planning Obligations chapter –from information provided by Zayd Al-

Jawad.

23 Such a renewables template has since been developed in draft form, by Creative Energy Networks (a non-profit organisation) and has been
piloted by about 4-6 Boroughs, including Brent, for over a year. It has proved very useful in helping planners using it to better scrutinise and query
applications’ energy statements. However, CEN is struggling with the resources needed to refine and launch it (with no funding).
24 With the assistance of Laura Jenkinson, planning policy officer, London Borough of Brent
25Paper given at 4th vision for London lecture, 19th Nov. 1996 –cited in London Planning Advisory Committee (LPAC) & London Arts Board (1997)
‘Values Added: How Emerging Values Could Influence the Development of London’ study by Ben Jupp & George Lawson of Demos.
26 Article by Huw Morris in Planning journal, 29 August 2008 see at: www.planningresource.co.uk/bulletins/Planning-Resource-Daily-Buttetin

27 Article by Michael Donnelly, 4th August 2008 in Planning Resource, on the UK’s unspent 2004 £42m budget for developing wave and tidal energy

technologies: www.planningresource.co.uk/bulletins/Planning-Resource-Daily-Buttetin

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 Twenty Percent By 2020
Ken Hughes

Abstract
Meaningful reductions in greenhouse gases are thwarted in large part due to our urban form,
or lack thereof. Significant land use and transportation policies, along with a variety of
other solutions, can cut greenhouse gas emissions in time to stave off the worst changes in
the climate. While many climate researchers tackle the various pieces of the carbon
emissions puzzle, few address the land use and transportation aspects of the problem. New
Mexico aims to reduce energy use 20 percent by 2020. This paper addresses land use and
other policy options for achieving that goal.

Energy Conservation and Management Division, State of New Mexico

1220 S. St. Francis Drive
Santa Fe NM 87505 USA
khughes@state.nm.us

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 Introduction

This report offers ten policy options the State of New Mexico is considering that can cut
both energy use and carbon emissions:
1 Direct state funding to communities adopting land use plans that incorporate best
energy efficiency practices;
2 Invest in urban and rural transit, including transit villages surrounding major stops;
3 Adopt decoupling and other incentives to stimulate full utility support for energy
efficiency improvements;
4 Adopt innovative electricity rates to stimulate greater electricity conservation and
peak demand reduction;
5 Develop new energy efficiency programs that address the needs of the poor;
6 Incorporate carbon neutrality design into new neighborhood and building energy
codes;
7 Require aggressive energy efficiency updates when a home is up for sale;
8 Set industry energy efficiency goals that compel commitments to implementing cost-
effective energy efficiency projects;
9 Increase energy efficiency of local government and public school buildings by 50
percent by 2012, thence zero net energy use by 2020; and
10 Assess carbon fees and offer carbon rebates to stimulate purchase of more efficient
motor vehicles and homes.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson issued in November 2007 an energy efficiency
executive order that requires a ten percent energy reduction in 2005 per capita levels by
2012 and twenty percent by 2020. The State of New Mexico has also produced a climate
action plan that quantifies potential reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and measures
cost effectiveness of a range of policies. Meeting these carbon and energy reduction targets
require bold, aggressive measures to be adopted soon. Given a range of policy alternatives,
New Mexico communities can choose options best suited to their local circumstances. New
Mexico’s goals meet those set by over 1,700 top U.S. scientists and economists, whose May
2008 declaration urges a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 as a mid range
step toward an 80 percent reduction by 2050 (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2008).

The energy efficiency executive order represents the latest in a series of measures taken by
Governor Richardson to transform New Mexico into the “Clean Energy State”. These
measures include: utilities must generate fifteen percent of their electricity from renewable
sources by 2015 and twenty percent by 2020; establishment of the country’s first
renewable energy transmission authority, designed to deliver New Mexico’s wind and solar
energy to other states; a commuter rail link is being built between Albuquerque and Santa
Fe, making the trip easily accessible to half of the state’s population; as a condition to
permitting, proposed coal plants must evaluate gasification as a best available technology;
economic incentives attracted innovative renewable energy businesses from around the
world, starting with Schott and Advent Solar. Tesla Motors is scheduled to build all-electric,
high-performance cars in New Mexico by 2010; the Western Climate Initiative seeks
agreement among Western states and provinces in the United States, Canada and Mexico on
a market-based cap-and-trade aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions fifteen percent
below 2005 levels by 2020; and New Mexico’s clean cars program conforms with
California’s fuel economy standards.

Governor Richardson’s proposed state, national and international initiatives emphasize

low- and zero-petroleum plug in vehicles; push fuel economy standards for conventionally

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fueled vehicles to 50 miles per gallon (21 km per liter) by 2020; sharply advance the most
energy-efficient renewable fuels as well as plug-in hybrid technologies to power not only
cars but trains, planes, ships, and heavy trucks; emplace smart growth and transit options to
create more energy efficient and livable communities; diversify our electrical sector; create
a national energy innovation trust fund; and return to the international negotiating table as a
responsible and leading nation and supporting mandatory limits on global warming
pollution.

New Mexico, with Native American communities tracing back to time immemorial, was
sparsely settled for much of its history. New Mexicans before World War II sustained
themselves with crops grown in fields, timber cut from woods, and prayers offered in
chapels. Snowmelt fed into fields by acequias helped moderate the climatic extremes of
intense droughts and epic floods, just as adobe homes moderated daily swings in
temperature. Today, much of New Mexico’s economy is based on silicon and scenery.
Urban, rural and suburban interests do not always coincide in an era of a larger and
increasingly diverse population. The glue that binds together our society and culture is
under great challenge from growth and change.

The New Mexico Energy Conservation and Management Division contracted with the
Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, or SWEEP, a Colorado-based think tank, to report on
a strategy on how to meet the twenty percent goal. While this paper addresses ten similar
policy options, the 22 options analyzed by SWEEP are:
• Option 1: Expand Electric Utility Energy Efficiency Programs
• Option 2: Decouple Utility Profits from Energy Sales
• Option 3: Adopt Innovative Electricity Rates
• Option 4: Expand Natural Gas Demand-Side Management Programs
• Option 5: Upgrade Building Energy Codes
• Option 6: Adopt Energy Conservation Ordinances for Existing Homes
• Option 7: Increase Support for Low-Income Energy Programs
• Option 8: Offer Tax Credits for High Efficiency Appliances
• Option 9: Provide Industrial Energy Efficiency Initiatives
• Option 10: Provide Oil and Gas Sector Initiatives
• Option 11: Initiate a Combined Heat and Power Initiative
• Option 12: Initiate a Local Governments and K-12 Schools Initiative
• Option 13: Conduct a Public Education Campaign.
• Option 14: Provide Energy Efficiency Training and Certification
• Option 15: Adopt Clean Car Standards
• Option 16: Adopt Motor Vehicle Efficiency Incentives Such as Feebates
• Option 17: Offer Pay-as-You-Drive Insurance
• Option 18: Reduce Growth in Vehicle Miles Traveled
• Option 19: Better Enforce Speed Limits
• Option 20: Improve Freight Transport Energy Efficiency
• Option 21: Set Replacement Tire Efficiency Standards
• Option 22: Initiate a Car Clunker Retirement Program

SWEEP’s report for the State of Utah analyzed energy efficiency savings potential, cost
effectiveness, environmental and social benefits, political viability, and high/medium/low
priorities. Among the high priority options: demand side management; natural gas energy
efficiency program; better building codes; lamp and appliance standards; increased
weatherization in homes of the poor; pay-as-you-drive insurance; feebates; clean car

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standards; and smart growth that cut vehicle miles driven. Utah stands to gain over $7
billion (€4.5 billion) in net economic benefits, over half from transportation, and an 8
million ton carbon dioxide reduction per year by 2015.

The remainder of the paper explains ten policies that show great promise in achieving
energy efficiency gains in New Mexico. Emphasis is placed on land use and transit options,
though the policies together offer synergistic possibilities toward an energy efficient
economy in the State.

Policy 1 Land Use – Direct state funding to communities adopting land use planning that
incorporate best energy efficiency practices.

Climate change adds another dimension to the role of land use planners in determining the
future of New Mexico. Land use-related climate change practices and policies offer some of
the most cost effective and efficient ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Addressing how land is used when adapting to climate change is particularly important in
New Mexico, part of the Intermountain West where, with the exception of Alaska, climate
change is most visibly evident.

A review of recent research confirms that replacing exurban sprawl with compact
development patterns reduces driving by up to 40 percent. If three out of five new
developments shifted from sprawling to compact designs, household travel could be reduced
by about 20 percent and 85 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030 could be
saved (Ewing, 2008).

Recognizing that most planning decisions are made at the local level, state policies can
influence development decisions through infrastructure investment and incentive programs.
In Maryland, for example, state funds target projects consistent with statewide growth
management policy. Massachusetts’ Smart Growth Zoning Incentive offers municipalities
about $6,000 (€3,876) per residential unit built in any transit-accessible area rezoned to
increase density (SWEEP, 2007).

The dominance of sprawl and its attendant carbon-intensive lifestyles, far-flung exurbs
tethered to jobs and stores by taxpayer funded roads, are antithetical to traditional New
Mexico lifestyles that focused growth inward. The standardized American dream saps the
strength from native pueblos, Hispanic villages, urban compounds, and rural towns.
Demographics, lifestyle preferences, record gasoline prices, and increased incidents of
wildfires threatening stand-alone McMansions, all wrapped up in the overriding climate
change issue, foretell the end of sprawl. It also allows us to place a healthy demand on
underused urban lands such as parking lots at abandoned strip malls to accommodate new
growth. Thus, land use decisions need to take a back to the future approach and stress
efficiency not only with land but also with buildings, water, landscaping, urban forms, and
proximity to facilities to meet our daily needs.

There is a direct correlation between the rate of energy use and urban form. American
conventional development demands more energy use than any lifestyle ever devised in
human history. Overreliance on electricity and gasoline from far flung sources confines
exurbanites to symbolic reductions in energy use, that is, they are stuck in a high energy
vicious cycle. A land use form that places people in sight of neighbors, preferably where
walls touch and within walking distance of a transit stop, can greatly reduce energy use and
at the same time bring back a sense of humanity to a community.

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While New Mexico’s population has increased by 48 percent, the state’s vehicle miles
traveled has increased more than 112 percent. The state ranked 6th in the nation for annual
vehicle miles traveled per driver in 2005, at 18,369 miles (29,562 km) (Ewing, 2007). Based
on current development and transportation spending trends, the amount of driving will
increase 55 percent more than will population increase in and around Albuquerque, New
Mexico’s largest city, according to the Mid Region Council of Governments.

Land use decisions will become increasingly important is tackling climate change in New
Mexico. Identified in the state’s climate change study were recommended land use-related
actions that, together, comprise a significant 17.5 percent of potential emissions reductions
(CCAG, 2006). These strategies include:
• Reuse land that is already developed but is now vacant, underused, or even mildly
polluted, and meet the growing demand by a larger number of households comprised of
singles, working parents and single parents for housing located close to services, jobs
and transit.
• Build compact development around transit stops and cluster employment centers
around transit in ways that allow the foot, bicycle, or transit to meet most daily
transportation needs.
• Allow, support, and encourage location-efficient growth of jobs, shopping, school,
services, entertainment and recreation close to home, and discourage growth that is auto
dependent. Smart growth cuts carbon and gives tools needed to shift growth back to
town.
• Design and implement the statewide multimodal transportation plan in a manner that
reduces greenhouse gas emissions, with a shift of focus from roads to an integrated,
multimodal system.
• Promote energy and location efficient neighborhood development: integrate the
principles of smart growth, urbanism, and green building into neighborhood design
standards, as measured by a development’s compact design, proximity to transit, mixed
use, mixed housing type, and pedestrian- and bicycle- friendliness.
• Direct and coordinate state spending to communities that adopt land use and
transportation practices that contribute to VMT performance standards. State
governments should inventory all available discretionary funds in such areas as housing,
economic development, infrastructure, schools transportation, and state facilities, and
allocate these funds to communities that adopt best practices in land use planning and
regulation that meet performance standards related to climate and VMT reduction goals.
The Massachusetts Commonwealth Capital Fund uses a scorecard system to award
funding for communities that align their development rules and funding streams to
encourage compact, mixed-use communities (McEntire, 2008).
• Designate priority areas for energy-efficient growth: downtowns, centers, and
corridors. Localities create a designation for mixed use commercial centers and
corridors that achieve carbon reductions. These areas could be eligible for certain types
of funding that could be used for building rehabilitation, mixed use development,
transportation improvements, and other strategies that reduce global warming emissions
(McEntire, 2008).
• Provide zoning for mixed use development in priority areas. Despite the market
demand for smart growth, one of the biggest hurdles to climate-friendly development
patterns is the myriad of outdated local land use policies that effectively prohibit mixed
use and more compact development. New Mexico’s major jurisdictions should reform
zoning to incentivize the right things and discourage or prohibit sprawl, and the state
should enhance technical assistance to small communities (McEntire, 2008).

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Policy 2 Transit – Invest in urban and rural transit, with transit villages surrounding major
stops.

As gasoline and diesel prices soar, New Mexicans buy less, drive less in favor of the bus or
train, with some home buyers increasingly choosing locations near major transit lines. The
coming of new commuter rail service between Albuquerque and Santa Fe comes at an
auspicious time. Increasingly New Mexicans are asking for relief from the motor vehicle as
the only arrow in the transportation quiver. On the land use side of the tracks, transit
oriented development planning, or TOD, is proceeding, giving local communities the needed
tools and technical assistance. The hope is that, with updated plans in place, they will build
compact development around transit stops to meet daily needs by foot or transit.

A community that links transit and land use through TODs benefits by fewer cars on its
streets. New research shows that TODs cut motor vehicle trip by an average of fifty percent
from levels predicted if one merely goes by the manual, in this case, the Institute for Traffic
Engineers’ green book (Arrington 2007). In addition to expanding systems, funding transit
improvements to increase the frequency and hours of service and improving transit facilities
also increases ridership and reduces driving (McEntire, 2008).

A local government may adopt a transit village plan that permits a significantly higher
density of development than previously permitted. The transit village development district
plan should address a neighborhood centered around a transit station that is planned and
designed so that residents, workers, shoppers, and others find it convenient and attractive to
patronize transit; a mix of housing types, including apartments; other land uses, including a
retail district oriented to the transit station and civic uses, including day care centers and
libraries; pedestrian and bicycle access to the transit station, with attractively designed and
landscaped pathways; a transit system that encourages and facilitates intermodal service, and
access by modes other than single occupant vehicles; and installation of needed public
improvements.

Upon adoption of a transit village plan a community should update existing zoning, building
codes and other land use regulations to ensure consistency with the plan. The local
government shall also allow use by right for multifamily residential uses on each parcel
designated for multifamily residential development.

Funding mechanisms and or incentives include a state transit village fund, to provide
funding to local governments who adopt and implement a transit village plan for public
improvements around transit stops; priority funding from other state and local capital outlay
funds for pedestrian improvements, bicycle facilities, housing projects, and parking facilities
within walking distance of transit stations; tax increment financing for certified TOD
districts; and transportation improvement districts that would use funds generated by land
uses that demand lots of motor vehicle trips.

Changes to zoning must be accompanied by changes in design standards, ideally combined

into a design based form code, so that a TOD district offers ample cycling and walking with
adequate facilities and attractive street conditions. Streets need good connectivity and traffic
calming features to control vehicle traffic speeds. Mixed-use development includes shops,
schools, green space and other public services, and a variety of housing types and prices,
within each neighborhood.

The State of New Mexico could help prioritize housing and job opportunities adjacent to
RailRunner stations, beyond the Governor’s new directive to state agencies to locate new

291
facilities within RailRunner walking distance. Criteria for transportation project funding
could include setting miles traveled/climate targets, evaluating funding through a mode-
neutral lens, and adopting a ‘Fix it First’ infrastructure policy.

The state could direct spending to communities adopting land use planning and regulations
that reduce VMT and meet other energy efficiency performance standards, as done in
Massachusetts and California. State financial support for housing and other private
development could go toward projects in locations where driving is minimized. And
incentives such as discounted mortgages or tax deductions could be provided to
homeowners or businesses that choose to locate in transit-rich, mixed-use, energy-efficient
development.

New Mexico is exploring setting a goal to reduce the percent growth in vehicle miles
traveled, or VMT, from three times greater to no more than the same growth in population
by 2012 through a requirement in the State Transportation Improvement Plan. Reducing
driving would be achieved through a combination of actions. First, set targets for that are
allocated to local and regional governments, who would submit VMT reduction plans to the
state. Financial and/or technical assistance could be provided to localities to help achieve
these reductions. This would be similar to how Albuquerque submits to EPA an inventory of
their emissions sources and develop plans to bring air pollutants in line with Clean Air Act
standards. Second, invest in new transit and significantly expand and improve existing mass
transit systems. Third, change zoning to prevent sprawl and foster infill development and
higher densities in urban areas. Fourth, designate priority downtowns and mixed use
commercial centers that are willing to meet high environmental and economic benchmarks
set by the state, similar to the idea of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design –
Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND). These areas could be eligible for certain types of
funding that could be used for building rehabilitation, mixed use development,
transportation improvements, and other strategies that reduce global warming emissions.

Policy 3 Decoupling – Adopt decoupling and other shareholder incentives to stimulate full
utility support for energy efficiency improvements. The aim is to encourage utilities to
maximize the amount of cost-effective energy savings they can achieve.

Utilities increasingly are acting within a regulatory structure that decouples how they make
money from how many kilowatt hours they sell. This is a most important breakthrough, for
not only can homeowners figure out what to do about energy efficiency, they can be given
the tools on how to do it and how to pay for it. Decoupling incentivizes utilities to become
major players in energy efficiency by making it in their financial interest to do so.

New Mexico in 2008 adopted decoupling policies that break the link between electric or
natural gas utility sales and recovery of fixed costs. The amount of allowed fixed cost
recovery is determined ahead of time in a rate case, and a true-up mechanism is used to
ensure the utility received no more (or no less) than the determined amount. This removes
the financial incentive that utilities traditionally have of promoting more energy
consumption – and ineffective conservation programs – in between rate cases. Decoupling
also removes the disincentive that utilities have for supporting adoption of combined heat
and power systems by their customers. To address those who feel decoupling excessively
rewards utilities for doing what should be part of normal business operations, regulators can
make shareholder incentives performance-based and limit profits to a small portion of the
net economic benefits provided by energy efficiency programs. (Geller, 2007).

While rules have yet to be written and hearings yet to be held in implementing decoupling in

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New Mexico, programs in place elsewhere prove illustrative. One performance-based
approach known as Conservation Enabling Tariff rewards utilities heretofore resistant to
implementing effective energy efficiency programs. Incentive approaches include allowing
utilities to earn a higher-than-normal rate of return on some or all energy efficiency program
costs; to earn a bonus if they meet certain targets; or to keep a portion of the net economic
benefits from programs. Given the ease of implementation of performance incentives,
according to analysis by SWEEP, more states have adopted this approach than decoupling
(Geller, 2007).

Utility demand side management programs in the Rocky Mountain region of the United
States are up 35 percent in the past year, with a 2010 goal of $200 million (€129 million).
States are setting aggressive goals, such as Utah’s 20 percent efficiency increase by 2015
and Colorado’s adoption of the Western Governor Association’s goals. Of new homes
constructed, 71 percent are Energy Star rated in Nevada, 50 percent in Arizona, Nevada and
Texas; 36 percent in Arizona, 16 percent in Utah; Colorado 7 percent; and New Mexico is
last at 5 percent (SWEEP, 2007).

Nevada Power, which serves Las Vegas’ 1.2 million customers, is working to cuts it three
percent annual growth rate and meet one-fifth of a renewable portfolio standard through
efficiency. The utility trained 150 builders in Energy Star standards, resulting in 74 percent
Energy Start market penetration in 2006. The selling feature was a combination of market
expectation and builder competition. Nevada Power is pursuing air conditioner
programmable thermostats; controls on the 1000 escalators on the Las Vegas Strip, which
now run 24/7 as if they are 100 percent full; highly efficient air conditioners; duct sealing;
home energy display; adsorption chillers; night breeze ventilation system; solar heating;
swap out all lights in homes; emplace high efficient motors and chillers into contractor
warehouses, so when the old ones conk out customers will choose the right ones; motel
window system that sets temperature for occupied units using room keys, then defaults
when key removed; zero energy homes; refrigerator recycling, with a goal of 14,000;
Energy Star manufactured homes; Energy Star lighting; and Sure Bet commercial incentive,
a set of prescriptive measures that are directly installed in less profitable businesses. With a
focus on poorer customers, compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFL’s, rule Las Vegas;
Nevada Power markets the CFL as “the bulb that looks funny, saves money.” The one day
record: 10,000 at a Costco superstore, part of the 2008 compact fluorescent sales goal of two
million (SWEEP, 2007).

Charging polluters for the right to emit carbon dioxide is a new way to pay for energy
efficiency. According to the May 2008 Energy Design Update, Maryland will take revenue
from a carbon credit auction, likely in the $100 million (€64.7 million) annual range, to fund
new investments in energy efficiency. Vermont, another member of the Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative for many Northeastern states, plans to take $2.4 million (€1.55
million) from emissions credits sold through the initiative to invest in improved space
heating efficiency.

Policy 4 Rate Restructuring – Adopt innovative electricity rates to stimulate greater

electricity conservation and peak demand reduction – critical peak pricing or real-time
pricing for residential customers with all electric homes or central air conditioning. This is a
distinct policy, separate from expanded utility demand side management.

There are a number of ways to use electricity rates to stimulate electricity conservation and
peak demand reductions. One way is to adopt time-of-use rates that have higher charges
during peak demand periods compared to off-peak periods. Another strategy is to adopt

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inverted block rates, whereby the price per kWh increases as electricity consumption
increases. A third way is to adopt some sort of demand response pricing strategy such as
real-time pricing or critical peak pricing.

Two pilot programs illustrate how rates can directly entice customers to cut back energy use
while continuing to meet energy demands, only more efficiently. California’s Automated
Demand Response System placed households with central air conditioning on time of use
rates. Rates tripled during certain critical peak periods. Customers used program controls to
change thermostat and other settings during peak periods. Participating households cut
summertime electric use by five percent, however, peak use in homes with automated
controls was shaved by up to one-half. In the Chicago-based Energy Smart Pricing
Program, utility prices were communicated by phone or web to participants on a day-ahead
basis. Participating households cut summertime electric use by three to four percent, with
peak demand reductions of about 20 percent (Geller, 2007).

A fitting way to use funds generated from innovative electricity rate is to impose a systems
benefit charge. For states such as New York, the system benefits charge funds energy
efficiency promotion, alternative fuel vehicles, building audits and retrofits, green building
installations and clean energy R&D, among other programs. Together the programs result in
$480 million (€310 million) per year in energy savings for New Yorkers, a two million ton
reduction in CO2, and a 1.2 – 1 investment to avoided cost ratio. Project examples include
start up funding and financial bridges to commercialization, an inefficient appliances
exchange campaign, green workforce training, hybrid buses, and plug-in hybrid cars
(Energy Efficiency Forum, 2008).

Pay as You Save System is a utility program for energy efficiency retrofitting in use in New
Hampshire, Kansas and Hawaii. Under the system, the utility bills and collects payments for
up to 75 percent of estimated annual energy savings over 75 percent of the measures’ life.
Payments are less than savings and stay with the house. The vendor guarantees the product
for the term of the savings. This program offers immediate positive cash flow and
overcomes the barriers of high first cost, getting information on energy efficient equipment,
and transaction costs. And it is getting customers to install more energy efficiency measures
than they otherwise would have done. According to Mark Berman of Advanced Energy
Products, for low hanging fruit, $1,500 (€971) per home saves 1,000 kWh/year. For healthy
retrofits, $10,000 (€6470) per home saves 4,000 kWh/year. A extensive retrofit costing
$50,000 (€32,250) saves 7000 kWh/year; and adding a 3 kilowatt PV system for another
$25,000 (€16,175) actually produces 4300 kWh/year (Energy Efficiency Forum, 2008).

Geller stresses the role of education of low-income households in making pricing an

effective tool. “Education should be carried out to inform customers about opportunities to
reduce electricity use during peak demand periods... Adopting critical peak pricing could
benefit low-income households since these households tend to have below average
electricity use in general and less electric air conditioning in particular. These households
would benefit both from the lower rates during non-critical periods and from the reduced
investment in new power plants and/or distribution system upgrades as a result of
attenuating peak load growth (Geller, 2007).”

Policy 5 Low-Income Energy Framework – Develop new energy efficiency programs that
address the needs of the poor.

Those who can least afford to pay high heating and cooling bills often live in the most
energy leaking dwellings. The poor spend fifteen percent of their income on home energy

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needs, compared to three percent for the average family. Coupled with gasoline purchases,
fully one out of every three of their dollars are spent by poor New Mexicans on energy bills.
Only one percent of eligible households receive weatherization assistance, and 40 percent
get help with their fuel bills. Providing energy efficiency services is therefore critical to
reducing energy expenditures for the households of New Mexico’s poor.

Savings follows waste, thus those who consume large amounts of energy have great energy
efficiency potential. Key are energy audits, when performed by trained diagnosticians, to get
cost effective weatherization and energy efficiency improvements installed in low-income
families’ homes. Without energy efficiency measures installed in their homes, low income
families will continue to suffer from high home heating bills and need home heating utility
assistance. Gaps – in windows and walls, in income, and in the capacity of programs to
respond – are fiscally and morally untenable. Energy efficiency investments must start with
those most in need.

One avenue to actively pursue is a low-cost, high-volume energy efficiency program for
existing homes in low-income neighborhoods. Program activity options include in-home
weatherization, reduced costs on materials and training of energy efficiency providers. Low
cost programs that can deliver cost effective results include neighborhood energy swings,
that is, going door-to-door through low-income neighborhoods.

Colorado’s First Response initiative has delivered cost-effective and easy-to-install energy
saving devices to over 21,000 households, saving $2.33 (€1.5) for each dollar spent. The
initiative used four service delivery channels: home visits via Youth Corps; interactions with
clients during their request for energy assistance; mailing efficiency devices to low-income
energy assistance program recipients; and on-site electric use audits.

At the community level, Boulder CO supplements state support with $1 million (€647,000)
annually generated from its carbon tax on electricity sales to provide a full range of energy
efficiency services, including as an initial step the neighborhood energy sweep. The staff
goes door to door and gives residents conservation kits of efficient light bulbs, low flow
showerheads and caulk. Interested residents can then receive a climate smart visit, a
simplified version of an energy audit. Houston TX city staff goes door-to-door in
neighborhood sweeps, installing an average of $940 (€608) per unit in energy efficiency
measures, saving 12 percent on average and 20 percent from peak demand.

Based on Colorado’s 2.33 to 1 ratio and applying similar service delivery mechanisms,
coupled with aggressive outreach and education programs – media PSAs, utility bill inserts,
local government outreach, weatherization workshops, hardware store promotions – New
Mexico could expect to see a $700,000 (€452,900) return on a $300,000 (€194,100)
investment. That is, low-income recipients of $1.00 (€0.65) worth of energy efficiency
assistance can be expected to benefit by another $2.33 (€1.5) to in reduced energy bills. Low
income energy funding in existing homes could leverage funding from federal, legislative,
nonprofit, utility and for profit sources.

For new affordable homes, state grants could buy down the value of home loans equivalent
to the extra costs associated with making homes thirty percent more energy efficient. This
subsidy would be part of a package offered to homebuilders intended to entice them to build
more green affordable homes. Beyond this enticement, the state’s sustainable building tax
credit could be offered to homebuilders who achieve a home energy rating of 60 on
affordable homes, worth an extra $4,000 (€2,588) per home. By combining programs to
build affordable housing for working families and to increase residential energy efficiency,

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New Mexico could become a leader in green affordable housing.

Two potential sources of new funding can augment state support for green affordable
housing. One is the Clean Energy Block Grant program, authorized when the National
Energy Act was signed into law in December 2007. Increasing energy efficiency in the
homes of the poor should be a high priority when that block grant is appropriated. The
second is the cap and trade program under the Western Climate Initiative. Projects with low
costs and high energy/carbon savings will be sought after by those needing carbon credits. A
Green Communities Offset Fund would attract investments from polluters seeking to buy
carbon offsets. They could get credits by funding energy efficiency improvements on new
or existing low-income homes. With carbon at $36 (€23) per ton in Europe, many projects
can potentially attract significant sources of financing.

Policy 6 Carbon Neutral Neighborhoods and Codes – Design carbon neutrality into new
neighborhood and building energy codes.

Given how buildings are responsible for such high levels of greenhouse gases, it is vital to
build future and renovated homes energy efficiently. Santa Fe’s Ed Mazria, founder of
Architecture 2030, estimates that 75 percent of all buildings will be either new or renovated
by 2030, hence the urgency. A high energy efficiency scenario addresses infiltration,
insulation, ducts, and lighting so well that these homes see the majority of electricity
demand from plug loads, lighting and appliances.

Austin, Texas’ Zero Energy Capable Homes Initiative, according to the May 2008
Energy Design Update, will require new single-family homes to be zero net-energy capable
by 2015. These homes will be 65 percent more efficient than homes built to the city’s
energy code that it adopted in 2006. The expectation is that it will be cost effective to install
solar heat and electric panels on roofs to allow them to become zero energy homes. And
Massachusetts Governor Patrick aims to set a goal of zero net energy use for new buildings
in the state.

Policy 7 Efficiency at Time of Home Sale – Before a home can be sold, it must be brought
up to a certain level of energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency is the top priority for green homebuyers: one-half are willing to pay
$2500 (€1,615) or more for energy efficiency features. Homebuilders, no matter the state of
the economy, are seeing better sales of energy efficient homes. Four states emulate many
parts of Europe and post energy ratings at time of sale. A new Nevada state law requires an
energy inspection at time of home sale, using a rating system of A,B,C,D,E. The
expectation is that few if any homes will get an ‘E.’ Boulder’s green points program set an
energy efficiency goal of 50 percent for homes somewhat larger than most homes in that
city.

Opportunity points for increasing energy efficiency in existing homes in New Mexico are
few. Utility and municipal programs, often geared toward low-income residents, cover a
small fraction of the market. One avenue that has worked in areas such as water efficiency is
to require that existing homes achieve a certain level of energy efficiency before they can be
put on the market for sale.

A less stringent yet useful alternative is to post in the home sale ads a home energy rating.
Typically, in America an existing home’s HERS rating is 140, compared to rating of 100 for
a new home built to current code. If, as many predict, information on how well a home is

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insulated and other efficiency measures matters to homebuyers, bringing homes energy
efficient will become commonplace.

Policy 8 Industrial Efficiency – Undertake an industry challenge and recognition program

to stimulate industrial energy intensity reductions – encourage industrial firms to set
voluntarily energy intensity reduction goals and to commit to increasingly implementing
cost-effective energy efficiency projects.

While increasing energy efficiencies in New Mexico manufacturing, mining and natural gas
processing facilities, productivity can similarly be increased. Standing in the way are
heretofore low prices paid by industries for energy, relative inattention paid to cutting fuel
bills compared to labor costs, staff not trained to act on energy efficiency measures and
technologies, and a keen competition for capital. These barriers restrict industrial managers
from investing much in energy efficiency projects, typically only those with payback of two
years or less (Geller, 2007).

Technical assistance offered by states including Washington, New York and Wisconsin
provides best practices training along with targeted technical assistance to individual
companies. Canada’s Industry Program for Energy Conservation offers a smorgasbord of
technical assistance, networking, incentives, audits, and process efficiency studies. The
Canadian program has yielded a nine percent reduction in industrial energy intensity
between 1990 and 2004, saving over $3 billion (€1.9 billion) in fuel bills in 2004 (Geller,
2007).

If we captured waste heat we would have 19 percent more energy, equivalent to that which
is currently produced by all existing nuclear power plants in the United States. A most
promising area to promote, mostly in the industrial sector, is combined heat and power
(CHP), or co-generation. CHP is an efficient distributed generation technology that produces
both heat and power from a single fuel source. Such systems can have overall efficiencies of
80 percent or better. These systems also provide additional savings associated with reduced
transmission and distribution, or T&D losses. Most commercial buildings and
manufacturing firms purchase electricity for cooling, fans, pumps, equipment, lighting,
processes, etc., and buy fuels to generate heat. The electricity generated at distant power
plants is 30 to 40 percent efficient, so most of the energy content of the fuel is wasted as
heat to the surrounding environment. Further energy losses occur in the T&D of electricity
from the power plants to end users. By contrast, on-site thermal energy is produced at
efficiencies up to 70 percent (Geller, 2007).

Barriers must be removed and incentives provided in order to stimulate greater adoption of
combined heat and power systems, placed near buildings where the heat and power they
produce is needed, rather than transmitting the power over long distances. Needed are
appropriate environmental regulations, utility interconnection policies, and utility tariffs;
promotion of fuels other than natural gas for fueling CHP systems; and reasonable financial
incentives for high performance CHP systems. (Geller, 2007).

A number of steps can be taken to provide reasonable financial incentives and favorable
market conditions for expansion of high performance CHP systems, meaning those with an
overall efficiency of at least 60 percent. First, require utilities to pay a large fraction of full
avoided costs for power supplied to the grid from high performance CHP systems. These
full avoided costs should include avoided generation and T&D costs, not just fuel and
operating costs. Second, encourage utility ownership or co-ownership of CHP systems, in
effect converting the utility from an inhibitor to a proponent. Utilities should be allowed to

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earn their authorized rate of return on CHP investments at a minimum, and potentially a
higher return if a CHP system provides significant net economic benefits for utility
customers as a whole. For example, utilities could be allowed a bonus equal to 10-20
percent of the net economic benefits resulting from a CHP project, meaning consumers
would receive 80-90 percent of the benefits. Third, give tax credits for non-utility owners of
CHP systems, with the tax credit based on electricity output similar to renewable energy
production tax credits. This policy would bring greater parity between tax treatment of
utility-owned power plants and customer-owned CHP and renewable energy systems. Tax
incentives are justified since many of the benefits of CHP accrue to society at large rather
than to the individual CHP system owner (Geller, 2007).

Pacific Gas & Electric aims to tell data intensive industries, a major industry in California,
that the utility will pay for Prius-like energy services but not if they want Hummer-type
energy. To meet a goal of increasing by 50 percent data energy efficiency use, PG&E offers
incentives for energy efficient computing equipment; virtualization and consolidation;
airflow control systems (currently one half of air does not reach equipment); high efficient
power distribution systems; high quality technical services for new and retrofitted cooling
systems; energy efficiency data storage technologies, so old data are not read (reading uses
energy); 80 Plus program that offer computer companies rebates for energy efficient
computers; rebates for PC network management software, so one can’t override power
saving software; conversion to thin-client systems, to improve LCD monitors’ energy
efficiency by one-quarter; and drop cards that workers can insert into any computer in any
work station anywhere (SWEEP, 2007).

Policy 9 Public Sector Zero Net Energy Use – Increase energy efficiency of local
government and public school buildings by 50 percent by 2012, and set a 2020 target that all
public buildings use no more energy than they produce.

California has set goals of net zero energy homes by 2020 and businesses by 2030. New
technologies backed with performance incentives are emerging that can help meet these
goals, including frictionless refrigerant compressors; addressable ballasts; dispatchable
thermostats; bilevel stairwell lighting control; auto control sash fume hood; high output
fluorescents; induction lamps; and automatic demand response. Southern Cal Edison already
has 69 energy efficiency programs in place that are worth 9000gwh (Energy Efficiency
Forum, 2008).

Colorado seeks to achieve 20 percent energy efficiency by 2020, with 20 percent of the
renewable portfolio standards coming from energy efficiency, and LEED Gold for new state
buildings. The state is investing $500,000 (€323,000) per year for 3 years to upgrade school
buildings, using performance contracting. Colorado’s Clean Energy Fund, up to $10
million/yr, comes from gambling revenue. The State offers LEED design assistance grants
and performance contracting for state agencies, local governments and K-12 schools. When
applied to the Colorado capitol complex, the resulting $500,000 (€323,000) savings paid for
PV panels on the governor’s mansion.

The large regional utility Xcel currently offers its New Mexico customers home cooling,
business lighting and custom efficiency programs, plus compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL)
discounts. Xcel soon may offer dual stage evaporative cooling rebates; refrigerator
recycling; Energy Star new homes; and electric water heater rebates. In Colorado Xcel
offers businesses design assistance, lighting efficiency, motor, cooling, custom, energy
management, and energy analysis. For homes it offers air conditioner tune up, evaporative
cooling, gas weatherization, and discounted CFL’s that fly off the shelves: 50,000

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distributed in 2006, 330,000 in 2007, and projected 500,000 in 2008. Xcel’s best practices
includes a focus on lighting; variable frequency drive rebates; growing interest in new kinds
of evaporative coolers; and distribution of CFLs through buy down events, bus tours, and
inserts (SWEEP, 2007).

Policy 10 Feebates – Apply a market based strategy that sends a price signal to buyers to
choose items, cars or homes that are more energy efficient than they might otherwise
choose. This market-based approach is called a “feebate,” which assesses fees on energy
intensive products and rebates those fees on energy efficient products.

The recent major increase in energy prices has accomplished much of what a feebate offers:
get consumers to acknowledge fuel costs when making a purchase of their first of second
most expensive items: the home and the vehicle. Assuming energy prices stabilize or
otherwise return to levels consumers once again ignore them, a feebate policy can prove to
be on ongoing prod to increase decisions made on the basis of energy efficiency.

A feebate can be designed to be revenue-neutral, so that the implementing entity incurs no

net cost or revenue. Or, to overcome resistance of sellers from changing how they profit
from sales (bigger and less efficient has been hugely profitable for both auto dealers and
realtors), the program could be modified to put some portion of the feebate in the hands of
car dealers, as an incentive for them to sell more fuel economizing models. Several states
are currently considering feebates. New Mexico could set up feebates to cover new light
duty vehicles (cars and light trucks) sold in the state, setting the fee or rebate on its mileage.

The drive to set feebates for autos is only exceeded in need by a similar mechanism for
America’s homes, where smaller families are living in bigger houses. While it is obvious
that motor vehicles have carbon emitting engines, less evident are the boilers, heaters,
chillers, and electronics that together make the home the number one producer of carbon
dioxide in the United States. And it is growing: two of every five homes being built in the
United States have over 2,400 square feet (223 square meters) of floor space, compared with
only 10 percent of 1970-vintage homes. So many Americans have vacation houses – 5.7
million units at a median size of 1,300 square feet (121 square meters) – that together this
surplus living space could accommodate the nation’s homeless population ten times over
(Cox 2007).

Since 1970, the average number of people living in an American home has dropped from 3.1
to 2.6, but the average size of new houses has nearly doubled. Homebuilding and
remodeling consumes 75 percent of America’s lumber. Size matters: a typical energy using
1,500-square-foot (139 square meter) house uses far less energy for heating and cooling than
a house twice its size yet comparable geometry with much better energy detailing. As Cox
notes, “even if the mania for big houses fades, Americans will be stuck with heating, cooling
and powering the millions of them already littering the landscape – not for years like SUVs,
but for decades (Cox, 2007).”

A home feebate system would send a price signal to homebuyers to more fully account
energy costs into the purchase decision. It could be designed so that a residence not
exceeding state energy efficiency standards would be assessed a carbon fee, with a rebate
going to those who exceed the code by 30 percent (Wenz 2008).

Conclusion

This paper looks at ten policy options that can help the State of New Mexico meet its goal of

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twenty percent energy consumption reduction by the year 2020. The policies attempt to
show the linkages of increased greenhouse gases to our lifestyle, especially as manifest in
our urban form. These policies can only succeed if New Mexicans heed the advice of
planning professor David Henkel: “In the very near future we are going to be called upon to
make some difficult choices about how we live our lives, about how long we can continue to
pursue our livelihoods as we have become accustomed in an age of subsidized natural
resource consumption. Our focus should be on the future…several generations down the
road. The challenge for us is to find ways to derive satisfaction and comfort from different
ways of moving around, providing for our basic needs, and living together as members of a
common community. Sustainability is not only about slowing down the rate of consumption;
it is about rediscovering the common interests we have in sharing our space. We cannot
expect to live long in our space unless our neighbors can live there too. New Mexicans have
a long history of learning how to live with change, with different customs and values, and to
be changed in the process. Our task now is to create a new understanding of common pool
resources and neighborly interdependence, while maintaining our adaptability and self-
reliant energies. We will succeed if we learn from each other (Henkel, 2008).”

References
Arrington, G., 2007. The Results Are In: Residential TODs Produce 50 percent
Fewer Car Trips. Planetizen.com
Climate Change Advisory Group (CCAG), 2006. Final Report, New Mexico Climate
Change Advisory Group. State of New Mexico.
Cox, S., 2007. Big Houses Are Not Green: America’s McMansion Problem.
AlterNet .
Energy Efficiency Forum, 2008. Arlington: American Council for an Energy
Efficient Economy.
Ewing, R., Winkelman, S., Bartholomew, K., Walters, J., and Chen, D., 2007.
Growing Cooler: Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change. Washington DC:
Urban Land Institute and Smart Growth America.
Geller, H., Baldwin, S., Emerson, K., Wright, S., Case, P., Langer, T., 2007. Utah
Energy Efficiency Strategy: Policy Options. Boulder: Southwest Energy Efficiency Project.
Henkel, D., 2008. Enhance Our Environment and Natural Resources. Santa Fe:
Governor’s Task Force on Our Communities Task Force.
McEntire, J., 2008. Curbing Global Warming With Smart Growth & Transportation:
State and Local Policies and Strategies. Albuquerque: 1000 Friends of New Mexico.
Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP), 2007. Fourth Annual Southwest
Regional Energy Efficiency Workshop. Albuquerque: SWEEP
Union of Concerned Scientists, 2008. Top U.S. Scientists and Economists Call For
Swift, Deep Cuts In Global Warming Pollution.
Wenz, P., 2008. Greening Codes. Planning, 14.

A special thanks to the paper’s editors Ellen Kemper, Craig Fiels, Sharon Leach, Jane
Tabor and Anne Clark.

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TOPIC 5:  Codes, Certification and Legal Reforms 

SUSTAINABLE NEIGHBORHOOD RATING SYSTEMS:

AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

by

Faith Cable

This paper was written for

a 2007-2008 Fulbright Project,
the C.E.U. Climate Change and Urban Design Conference,
and a project class, Stadtplanung in Treptow Köpenick,
at the Berlin Technische Universität.

Berlin, Germany

July 31, 2008

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ABSTRACT
Climate change requires cities to reduce resource use, vehicle travel and open space loss – problems
the sustainable neighborhood rating systems measure and evaluate. This paper compares rating
systems from the U.S. and Germany, LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) and the
Assessment Matrix, respectively. The analysis finds there are universal goals of sustainable
neighborhoods, yet unique problems due in part to the context of each country. The relationship
between transportation and land use is particularly insightful; the concept of “reachability”
evaluates the ability of a person to get to common destinations using sustainable modes of transport
such as walking, bicycling or taking transit. The rating systems measure environmental impacts due
to how people live and how a balance between development and nature is achieved, offering the
potential to reduce climate change impacts by achieving greater neighborhood sustainability.

I. INTRODUCTION

Global warming and world resource depletion have accelerated to worldwide concerns that must be
addressed. However, as the business adage states, you cannot manage what you cannot measure.
To measure and certify green buildings that use less energy and resources, rating systems have been
developed around the world. Considering buildings are a major contributor to greenhouse gas
emissions, this is an important first step. Yet the context of buildings – the neighborhood –
influences the distance and frequency of transportation, which is another major contributor to
greenhouse gas emissions. If the goal is to create neighborhoods that reduce vehicle travel, open
space loss and overall resource use, what are the best metrics to define an ecologically “sustainable
neighborhood”? The following international comparison of sustainable neighborhood rating
systems reveals universal goals, similar evaluation metrics and unique problems.

The Problem
Since the International Panel on Climate Change reports were released in 2007, global warming has
been in the daily news worldwide. In the U.S., buildings contribute to 38 percent of CO2 emissions
from fossil fuel combustion and globally are 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Transportation contributes another 33 percent to CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion in the
U.S. and 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Most transportation emissions are due to
auto travel: over 60 percent of the U.S. CO2 emissions from personal vehicle use. Land use change
and forestry resulted in a net carbon sequestration that offset approximately 13 percent of U.S. CO2
emissions; yet it is an 18 percent worldwide contribution to greenhouse gas emissions (EPA, 2006,
World Resource Institute, 2005). Since 2006, this issue has been presented as a challenge that the
building industry – architects, developers, engineers and planners – must address together.
However, as of 2008, the focus needs to shift from restating the problem to implementing the
solutions.

Rating Systems
Green building rating systems have proliferated around the world and international organization
among them is increasing. The World Green Building Council is coordinating the efforts of the
twelve existing green building councils and five emerging councils. The best known systems are
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) by the U.S. Green Building Council and
BREEAM (British Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method) by BRE
in the U.K. The International Council of Shopping Centers launched an initiative to develop a
BREEAM framework across Europe, with pilot projects to be implemented later this year.
(Godding, 2008) In Germany, the DGNB (German Sustainable Building Council) has just
introduced the DGNB-Certificate system, a more rigorous standard that includes life cycle analysis.
The Sustainable Building Alliance, begun by a partnership of BRE in the U.K. and CSTB in France,
plans to develop a common core for green building rating systems, identifying universal criteria

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common to all systems. (Larsson, 2008) As rating systems compete and collaborate, the trend
toward higher and more widespread standards is clear.

The most prominent effort to rate the sustainability of a neighborhood is LEED for Neighborhood
Development (LEED-ND). LEED-ND was developed jointly by the U.S. Green Building Council
(USGBC), the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) and the Natural Resources Defense Council
(NRDC), respectively representing green building, new urbanism and smart growth interests. In the
U.K., BREEAM for Developments has offered some development guidance based on a checklist
booklet. Germany also has several smaller efforts underway. One is the DGNB committee for
People Friendly Environments, which envisions an extension of the DBNB certificate system for
buildings. Another is the Urban Index by Professor Wolfgang Christ of the Bauhaus University in
Weimar, which will be presented at the C.E.U. conference in 2008. Finally, the Assessment Matrix
was developed by Bernhard Weyrauch of the Berlin Technical University and refined through an
urban planning project class in which the author participated. The development of sustainable
neighborhood rating systems is following the path of building rating systems, with future
collaboration is highly possible in the future.

An International Comparison
To further the international dialogue about sustainable neighborhood rating systems, this paper
provides a comparison of two systems: the LEED-ND in the U.S. and the Assessment Matrix in
Germany. There are notable differences between the two systems: the former is a large-scale effort
by three major nonprofit organizations with 238 pilot projects while the latter is a small-scale
university project. The systems were developed within the context of their respective countries’
rules, regulations and standard practices. Yet despite the differences in scale and context, both
systems have parallel goals and evaluate similar criteria focused on environmental sustainability.
The comparison of LEED-ND and the Assessment Matrix in this paper identifies universal
principles of sustainable neighborhoods, contextual issues of the rating systems and overarching
ideas central to a sustainable neighborhood rating systems.

II. RATING SYSTEM CONTEXT AND OVERVIEW

The Assessment Matrix and LEED-ND both address city-related climate change issues – buildings,
vehicle travel and land use change. Yet the differences in the planning and development context
between Germany and the U.S. explain some of the differences between rating systems. The rating
systems are designed to influence the decisions made during the development process of each
respective country.

The Context
The planning and development context of Germany and the U.S. differ in terms of historical
development, zoning regulations and transportation systems. This overview offers insight into the
context to which each rating system reacts.

Planning History
Germany and the U.S. share a history of zoning practice; indeed, Germans invented the concept of
dividing the city into residential and industrial zones which later influenced American planning.
German planners originally focused more on the control of noxious industry, relief from crowding
and the protection of countryside; U.S. planners shared these goals to some extent but concentrated
on the protection of single-family housing. The resulting German regulations mainly consider bulk
and density and the U.S. primarily evaluate land use incompatibility (Hirt, 2007). The current
German planning and cultural attitude is accepting of some conflict. People are willing to tolerate
some noise in exchange for the benefit of increased proximity to everything one needs. (Weyrauch,
2008) Mixed-use neighborhoods have been common throughout Germany’s history.

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In contrast, mixed-use is a recent innovation in the U.S. As David Godschalk describes, “The big
news in American city planning is that urban design has replaced lawyerly limit-setting as the major
reason for regulating development… major new tools for shaping cityscapes [include] traditional
neighborhood development, mixed-use districts, and form-based zoning.” (Godschalk, 2007)
Although mixed-use development is an increasing trend, it still remains a small part (5-7 percent) of
a typical zoning map (Hirt, 2007).

Even though European cities are considered more sustainable than their American counterparts,
they also face the challenge of sprawl. A European Union report, Urban Sprawl and Europe, noted
that low density suburban development in the periphery has become the norm over the past 20 years
in Europe. Sprawl continues over the available land remaining, using large quantities of resources
for relatively few people and leading to a loss of biodiversity (European Environmental Agency,
2006). Although this trend is stronger in other European countries, peripheral development still
occurs in Germany.

Zoning Regulations
Germany has a national building law that regulates the planning and development process. This
national law defines the standards and process for land use plans, zoning districts and the
Bebauungspläne, or “B-plans.” Germany has 10 zoning districts: classified as residential, mixed-
use, commercial and special. In the residential and mixed-use districts, local commercial is
permitted (either by right or conditional) and required, respectively. (See Table 1) As a result,
most areas have varying levels of mixed-use. The “B-plan” is a legally binding local development
plan that regulates the specific type and degree of land uses and buildings. Typically initiated by
the local planning authority, B-plans usually cover an area from block to several blocks. In
locations without a B-Plan, the use of the property is regulated by the underlying zoning and must
generally match the surrounding development in the nearby area. In comparison to American
regulations, B-Plans are somewhat similar to the regulating plans used in form-based codes and
planned unit development ordinances. However, B-plans are customized to a greater degree at the
block and building level, through a specific design customized to fit the local context.

The American planning system is characterized by strong local planning control. The primary
federal involvement was the 1921 zoning enabling act that authorized local governments to divide
territory into districts. The resulting land use regulation in the U.S. is the unique zoning code and
subdivision regulations of each municipality. Despite variation between codes, most typical
suburban codes include strictly separated uses, low permissible housing densities, large building
setbacks and high minimum parking requirements. Recent efforts at increasing mixed-use have
included new mixed-use zones, new form-based code zones (that allow a rezoning from the old
code to the new code), and occasionally rewriting entire zoning codes.

Transportation Planning
Public policy in Germany has supported walking, bicycling and transit use with increased funding
and infrastructure while restricting automobile use through higher taxes as well as limitations on
driving and parking, especially in town centers. Metropolitan wide transit systems are standard,
with significant subsidies that enable high-quality service for low ticket prices. Germany has levels
of automobile ownership only 10 percent lower than the U.S. It boasts an extensive autobahn
system between cities although the autobahn does not penetrate into the center of German cities.
Yet transit use has increased in a case study of three cities, Muenster, Freiburg and Munich due in
part to major improvements in public transit systems and bicycle networks. In Munich, use of
public transit rose from 19 percent in 1976 to 25 percent in 1995; bicycling doubled from 6 percent
to 14 percent. Freiburg showed similar results between 1976 and 1994: transit use rose from 22

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percent to 26 percent, bicycling rose from 18 percent to 28 percent, and the share of automobile
travel fell from 60 percent to 46 percent (TCRP, 1998).

Since the 1950s, U.S. cities have been developed around the automobile. The federal interstate
highway system connects cities nationwide and provides transportation within cities.
Transportation is funded primarily from gas and vehicle taxes (TCRP, 1998) with 80 percent
dedicated to highways and roads and 17 percent for transit (Farr, 2008). In the U.S., transit
expansion is in planning stages or underway in most major metropolitan areas. Federal funds for
transit are limited so transit projects line up and “wait in line” for several years before receiving
funding in a competitive process. In 2007, a year of rapidly rising gas prices, American transit use
had the highest number of rides taken in 50 years. (APTA, 2008) Transportation planning operates
under the assumption that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) will increase annually therefore roads must
be expanded to accommodate the additional vehicles. However, if this increase occurs, it could
eliminate any potential reduction in CO2 emissions from more fuel efficient vehicles.

The Role of the Rating System

Each rating system is oriented to the primary decision makers in the development process. In
Germany, the city has a stronger role in the development process than in the U.S., through the B-
Plan process; the purchase and sale of developable land; and public private partnerships. Although
the role of the private sector is increasing, the public influence still dominates. In the U.S., the
private sector takes the lead role, making more decisions in the planning process and the design of
the urban structure. Given this context, the German Assessment Matrix is primarily for city
planners; the American LEED-ND is oriented more toward developers although it can also be used
by municipalities.

The rating systems address climate change by analyzing neighborhood level planning. By
discouraging planning that leads to auto-dependent sprawl, the rating systems aim to reduce
potential increases in VMT. To achieve this goal, both Europe and America need to align
government and market forces. A neighborhood rating system offers a reason to improve upon the
status quo to achieve specified development goals.

About the Rating Systems

The goals of LEED-ND and the Assessment Matrix overlap, from the provision of transit and local
services to the preservation of natural habitats. The Assessment Matrix is best categorized as a
“green” rating system, in that it is focused on the environmental principles of sustainability. LEED-
ND, although focused primarily on environmental aspects, considers some social aspects of
sustainability.

LEED-ND Goals
Currently in its pilot period, LEED-ND is a neighborhood rating system created to spur market
change. Like LEED rating systems for buildings, LEED-ND certification offers third-party
verification that a project achieves high benchmarks for environmentally sustainable development.
LEED-ND creates a standard of “quality” in the market, giving developers an incentive to stretch
beyond conventional site design practices to achieve the LEED-ND seal of approval. Furthermore,
LEED-ND encourages municipalities and other local authorities to change their regulations that do
not permit the smart growth or new urbanist standards. In a study that analyzed three potential
LEED-ND projects, each one required new zoning standards to be written for the project to proceed
(Cable, 2007). By using criteria different from conventional development practice and not allowed
by conventional regulations, LEED-ND creates an incentive to change standard practices and
procedures so a quality project is possible.

Assessment Matrix Goals

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The Assessment Matrix was created to help city planners respond to climate change concerns.
Developed by Bernhard Weyrauch of the Berlin Technical University, the Assessment Matrix is
geared toward local city planners. Since one of the main tools created by Germany’s national
building law is the B-Plan, the Assessment Matrix rates potential development locations to identify
the best places for new B-plans. The rating system is still undergoing revisions and plans are
underway to determine the best way to integrate the Assessment Matrix into the German planning
process. The Assessment Matrix is intended to be applicable throughout Germany for metropolitan
areas, smaller cities and towns.

Rating System Process

LEED-ND can be initiated by developers or local governments and allows projects to be certified in
a three stage process. Stage One is an Optional Pre-review for projects before the entitlement
process. Stage Two is the Certification of an Approved Plan and is available after the project
receives all entitlements and other approvals needed to build the project. Stage Three is the
Certification of a Completed Neighborhood Development and occurs when construction is
complete. Similar to other LEED green building rating systems, LEED-ND has a few prerequisites
and many credits. LEED-ND has specific criteria, often requiring GIS-based calculations and
mapping procedures that produce a precise score. During the pilot phase, there is no size restriction
to the size of a “neighborhood,” therefore there is no minimum or maximum project size.

The Assessment Matrix is designed to be an informal tool and allows four different potential
locations to be analyzed quickly and compared on an interactive website. Each location is assessed
by a list of criteria, which are graded on a scale of 1 to 6 (best to worst) and weighted in the overall
matrix. Some data gathering is necessary but the process does not require the extensive
documentation of LEED-ND.

Points vs. Grades

By using a generalized analysis, the results of the Assessment Matrix are more subjective whereas
LEED-ND draws a bright line between what achieves a point and what does not based on a specific
calculation. The Assessment Matrix allows for more professional judgment in the rating process;
however some criteria are vague and may not create consistent results between users. Without more
specific criteria in some areas, it would be difficult to implement in a certification process. The
advantage to the Assessment Matrix approach is that it rates all criteria, giving poor grades to areas
that do not meet the rating system goals. The weighted grades provide a detailed differentiation
between good and bad aspects of a project. In LEED-ND, if a project goes against the criteria and
goals of the rating system or simply falls just short of achieving the required criteria, no points are
scored either way. Although LEED-ND has a more thorough documentation system and objective
criteria, the grading system of the Assessment Matrix offers a better reflection of the gradation
between positive and negative project attributes that occurs in reality.

Main Categories
The neighborhood rating systems are organized quite differently. LEED-ND is arranged into three
parts that reflect the development process of most projects: choosing a site, then creating a master
plan for the site and finally designing the building and site details. This three-part system also
corresponds with three co-authors – the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Congress for the
New Urbanism and the U.S. Green Building Council – and their respective interests: smart growth,
urbanism and green building. An additional category is offered for innovative ideas not included in
the rating system.

The categories of LEED-ND are:

I. Smart Location & Linkage (30 points)
II. Neighborhood Pattern & Design (39 points)

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 III. Green Construction & Technology (31 points)
IV. Innovation & Design Process (6 points)

In contrast to LEED-ND, the Assessment Matrix is arranged thematically. Since the Assessment
Matrix focuses on location choice, it is most closely related to the first category of LEED-ND
however it does address issues raised in the other categories. Each category is weighed (in
parentheses below) and the criteria within each category are also weighted.

The main categories of the Assessment Matrix are:

1. Mobility / Location / Reachability (30%)
2. Emissions / Immissions (10%)
3. Microclimate (5%)
4. Ground & Area (new) Use (20%)
5. Nature (Flora & Fauna) (15%)
6. Water (10%)
7. Energy (5%)
8. Appearance of the Townscape and Scenery (5%)

III. COMPARISON OF RATING SYSTEM CRITERIA

In order to compare two systems which are organized in completely different ways, new thematic
categories were developed. They are:
1. Location and Previous Use
2. Transportation and Reachability
3. Compact and Walkable Design
4. Protecting the Natural Environment
5. Social Issues
6. Resource Efficiency
7. Pollution

Due to fundamental differences between rating systems, the criteria don’t always align solely within
one of the above categories. The separation of “diverse uses” and “mixed-use” is the best example:
the former is included in Transportation and Reachability to measure the time-distance travel to
these common goals; the latter is included with Compact and Walkable Design since it analyzes the
density of a particular place. Mixed-use development is created by including diverse uses, yet it
becomes easier to distinguish between the users’ experience and a planner’s calculation when travel
distances and density are measured separately.

In this evaluation, the criteria for earning LEED-ND points are compared and contrasted with the
criteria that receive the best to worst grade by the Assessment Matrix. Some heavily weighted
criteria will also be noted for credits over two points in LEED-ND and above six percent in the
Assessment Matrix. (For a further comparison of all credits, see Appendix 1. The complete text of
LEED-ND is available at www.usgbc.org/LEED/ND; the Assessment Matrix is available in English
in Appendix 2.)

1. Location and Previous Use

The Location and Previous Use category focuses on the where the project is located in relation to
the surrounding area and the degree of prior development there. The goal is to use previously
developed sites in central locations with transit and services nearby. Discouraged is the use of
greenfield sites in remote locations.

Site Location

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Both rating systems address project location: LEED-ND favors urban infill sites with infrastructure
and some retail and other services while the Assessment Matrix prioritizes proximity to a
neighborhood center. In LEED-ND, the minimum requirement for a greenfield site is adequate
transit service, some diverse uses nearby or low vehicle miles traveled. Up to 10 additional points
for site location are based on whether the site was previously developed, the amount of adjacent
development surrounding the site, and the “urbanness” of the site as measured by street centerline
density in the mile radius around the project. In contrast, the Assessment Matrix considers the plan
location to be a mobility issue and ranks locations by time-distance to a neighborhood center when
traveling by transit or bicycle. The reachability of a neighborhood center – a place with multiple
retail and service businesses, good transit connections to the region and the “urbanness” that
characterizes a city area – is important with an overall 9 percent weight for this criterion.

Previous Site Use

In LEED-ND, aside from categorizing a site as “previously developed” or “not previously
developed,” the only additional consideration regarding previous site use is whether or not the site
is a brownfield. Brownfield credits address soil remediation, if one is redeveloped in a low-income
area, and extensiveness of brownfield soil remediation. The Assessment Matrix goes into detail
rating the previous use of the site, using a gradation of over 20 different site uses. This rating, with
a 14 percent weight, gives the best score for using completely built-up locations with impervious
surface and the worst score for using forests or protected natural areas.

Infrastructure Provision
Unique to LEED-ND is a prerequisite for locating a development where water and sewer
infrastructure are located or planned to be located. This prevents the common practice of installing
individual wells and septic systems which is only possible in very low density areas. The use of
septic systems can pose health problems if a failure occurs and sewage enters underground water
resources.

2. Transportation and Reachability

This category, Transportation and Reachability, reflects the relationship between transportation and
the access it provides to different destinations. The first part includes the primary modes of eco-
mobility that are encouraged: transit and bicycling (walking is considered in the next category) as
well as the reduction of automobile travel. The second part, the concept of “reachability,” evaluates
the quality of a location based on the time-distance by eco-mobility to common destinations such as
jobs, shops, schools or parks. The concept of reachability is central to the Assessment Matrix;
however in LEED-ND only the bicycle network credit and jobs and housing balance credit consider
the destination and transportation mode together.

Common destinations are measured by both systems; however the Assessment Matrix takes a more
nuanced view toward types of destinations and their respective locations. LEED-ND has one
category of “diverse uses” to measure all common destinations whereas the Assessment Matrix
differentiates “daily needed goods,” social infrastructure and cultural offerings. For higher level
goods and services, the Assessment Matrix evaluates the distance to a neighborhood center (listed
here under Site Location).

Transit
LEED-ND gives credit for the number of transit rides provided on a weekday within a quarter- to a
half-mile (400-800 meter) walking distance, depending on the type of transit. To earn the minimum
two points there must be at least 20 rides on a weekday; for the maximum seven points there must
be 500 or more rides. In LEED-ND, there is also a credit that can be earned by providing transit
shelters, schedules and route information at every stop. The Assessment Matrix requires an
evaluation of public transit based on its competitiveness with auto travel and considering the

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following factors: type of transit, frequency, proximity to the station or stop, other stops along the
line(s) and regional connections. Although the wording of this credit does not give specific
instructions as to how to complete this evaluation, it has a higher weight of 7.5 percent.

Reduction of Auto Travel

Reduced auto travel is only addressed by LEED-ND. The transit standard listed above can be
substituted by lower vehicle miles traveled in the project area. This is based on average vehicle
miles traveled in the metropolitan area, awarding two to seven points for every 10 percentage points
the project area is lower than the metropolitan area. Another LEED-ND credit for creating a
Transportation Demand Management Program may include solutions such as charging tolls or
encouraging alternate work hours. This credit may also be achieved by providing subsidized transit
passes for project residents or employees or by providing transit service for the project area to
destinations such as a commuter rail station or a shopping center.

Bicycles
LEED-ND provides a point for a bicycle network of at least 3 miles (4800 meters) which goes to at
least four diverse uses and for offering bicycle parking. In the Assessment Matrix, a good score is
achieved when bicycles are accommodated with an appropriate ground surface, connections
between neighborhoods, safe traffic conditions and destinations along the way.

Access to Jobs
The Jobs and Housing Balance credit in LEED-ND provides three points for either locating a
project that includes new housing within a ½ mile (800 meter) walk of existing jobs or locating new
jobs on an infill location within a ½ mile (800 meter) walk of a transit station and existing housing.
Although the intent of this credit is important, access to the regional job market via transit in only
considered when creating new jobs and not new housing. Additionally, the possibility of creating
both new jobs and housing within walking distance is not considered.

Access to Daily Needed Goods

LEED-ND gives credit to projects that offer “diverse uses” within a ½ mile (800 meter) walk for at
least half of the residents and businesses, offering up to four points for 10 diverse uses. The
Assessment Matrix evaluates the access to “daily needed goods,” giving the highest score to a place
where they are within walking distance and a mid-level score when they are within a 10 minute
bicycle or transit journey. LEED-ND’s “diverse uses” list has some services which are also
considered “daily needed goods” in the Assessment Matrix such as a bank, pharmacy, restaurant
and supermarket. (See Table 2 for a complete comparison.) However, the LEED-ND “diverse
uses” list includes less frequented services such as a theater, a hardware store and a police/fire
station. In the Assessment Matrix, the first two are considered appropriate for a neighborhood
center location; the third is not addressed.

Access to Social Infrastructure and Cultural Offerings

LEED-ND has a credit for providing a school within a ½ mile (400 meter) walk for at least half of
the residents and considers day care as a “diverse use.” In the Assessment Matrix’s evaluation of
social infrastructure, such as a school, day care and doctor, the best score is based on the ease of
reachability and competitiveness of transit. The Assessment Matrix has a separate category for
cultural offerings such as a theater or museum, also measured by reachability and transit
competitiveness. Once again, LEED-ND doesn’t differentiate cultural options but does include a
theater as a “diverse use.”

Access to Recreational Space

For recreational space, LEED-ND offers credits for providing parks, squares, sports facilities or
other recreational options within a 1/6-1/2 mile (130-400 meters), depending on the type of space.

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In the Assessment Matrix, the best score is for at least two recreational options in close proximity; a
mid-level score is for recreational options reachable within 10 minutes by bicycle or transit.

3. Compact and Walkable Design

The Compact and Walkable Design category analyzes the density and urban design of a particular
site. While both rating systems share the same goal of compact design with higher density, LEED-
ND goes further in evaluating walkability.

Density and Mixed-Use

Common metrics are used to evaluate density: floor area ratio (FAR) and dwelling units (DU) per
acre in LEED-ND and FAR and lot coverage ratio in the Assessment Matrix. LEED-ND has a
prerequisite density of a 0.50 FAR for commercial buildings and 7 dwelling units per acre (2.8 units
per hectare) for residential areas. This standard goes up to a 3.5 FAR for commercial buildings or
70 dwelling unit per acre (2.8 units per hectare). In the Assessment Matrix the best scores are for
residential areas with a lot coverage ratio of 60 percent and 1.8 FAR and for mixed-use areas with
an 80 percent lot coverage ratio and 2.4 FAR. Overall, LEED-ND has a higher density standard,
since a FAR of 1.8 is the best residential rating in the Assessment Matrix, yet it only scores three
out of seven points in LEED-ND.

Design and Walkability

Only LEED-ND has criteria for walkable design. The basic set of criteria include providing
building entries on a street, square or park (not a parking lot), creating at least a 1:3 building height-
to-street-width ratio and providing continuous sidewalks. After meeting the first set of criteria
worth four points, an extra four points can be earned for additional elements. These elements
include: buildings located near the property line (within 0-25 feet or 0-8 meters), frequent building
entries, limited blank walls along the street, ground floor retail, street parking and street trees.
Another credit for is awarded for locating parking alongside or behind a building and not in front
between the building and the street.

LEED-ND also considers street density and connectivity. Points are given for the street network
density within the project, as measured by street centerline miles per square mile. An additional
credit is achieved for building a through-street every 800 feet (250 meters) along the project
boundary, although exceptions are made for natural features such as water or streams and
infrastructure such as highways or railroads.

4. Protecting the Natural Environment

The category of Protecting the Natural Environment addresses impervious surfaces, stormwater
management, groundwater quality, water bodies and habitat protection. The main goals are
reducing and cleaning stormwater runoff, protecting habitat areas and limiting site disturbance.

Water
For stormwater treatment, LEED-ND calls for all stormwater to be infiltrated, reused or
evapotranspirated for either 90 percent of the average annual rainfall or 1 inch (2.5 cm) of rainfall.
Up to five points are awarded for the percentage of impervious surface treated in this manner. In
the Assessment Matrix, the best score is given to projects if the amount of rainwater absorbed by
the ground increases and filters pollutants in the process; the score declines as the amount of
rainwater absorbed decreases. Rainwater absorption is given a high weight of 7 percent. The
Assessment Matrix also measures the amount of impervious surface change, giving the best scores
if there is no impervious surface change as a result of project realization and below average scores
if impervious surfaces increase. This reinforces a site selection of previously developed locations
which begin with higher amounts of impervious surface.

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A LEED-ND prerequisite is to either not build in a floodplain or if the area is previously developed,
to follow federally recommended standards for floodplain development. In areas with water bodies
and wetlands, LEED-ND requires a minimal impact on the 100 foot (30 meter) buffer around them.
LEED-ND also provides credits for water body and wetland conservation, restoration and
management; however these credits can be earned either for water bodies and wetlands or for
habitat (and are described below with Habitat). For surface water quality in the Assessment Matrix,
the best score is achieved if water bodies in the area are improved; poor scores are given if water
bodies become more impaired as a result of the plan.

Habitat
LEED-ND also offers credits for the conservation, restoration and management of either water or
habitat areas. Conservation efforts need to include all important natural habitats that can be
identified (or alternately, all water bodies, wetlands and a 100 foot (30 meter) buffer). Restoration
effects of either habitats or water bodies to predevelopment conditions need to equal 10 percent of
the development footprint to achieve the credit. For management of habitats or water bodies, a
management plan must be created and funding identified for at least 10 years to implement the plan.
The Assessment Matrix takes a simpler approach to habitat, with three areas graded: protected
areas, habitat and flora & fauna. The best scores are given when there is a positive influence on
these areas, with the score declining slightly if there is no influence and poor scores for negative
influences.

Site Disturbance
Site disturbance is addressed only by LEED-ND. One credit includes not developing on steep
slopes with a grade of over 15 percent in undeveloped locations or limiting development on slopes
between 15 to 40 percent in previously developed locations; in either case slopes over 40 percent
are not to be used. During the construction process, there is a prerequisite for implementing an
Erosion and Sedimentation Control Plan and credits for minimizing site disturbance of total land
and of areas near construction.

5. Social Issues
The Social Issues category goes beyond the traditional focus on the environmental aspect of
sustainable development and broadens the scope to social and equity concerns as well. In LEED-
ND, the affordable housing credits are for including for-rent affordable units and another for
including for-sale affordable units. The credits follow common housing goals: 10 to 30 percent
affordable units with rental units affordable to people below the federally defined Area Median
Income and for-sale units affordable around the Area Median Income. The universal accessibility
credit requires at least 20 percent of all residential units and all common spaces be handicapped
accessible. A credit is offered for provided a farmer’s market or shares in a community farm.
Finally, a credit for community outreach is intended to foster greater dialogue between the
developer, the city and the neighborhood residents in the creation of a new development. In the
Assessment Matrix, the only issue considered is the overall appearance of the townscape and
scenery. It is considered important because the preservation an value is seen as an indicator of town
construction and leaves an impression as to if the city space is positively perceived and accepted.

6. Resource Efficiency
The Resource Efficiency category addresses common green building criteria, from reduced water
and energy use to recycled materials. LEED-ND evaluates a range of these construction related
issues, offering credits for greening both buildings (overlapping the LEED building rating systems)
and infrastructure. Due to the focus of the Assessment Matrix on location evaluation, only a
minority of the issues that arise in the construction process are considered.

Building Green

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LEED-ND has several credits that mirror the LEED for buildings criteria. One credit is for
including LEED certified buildings in a project, for at least 20 percent LEED certified buildings up
to 40 percent or more. Credits are also given in LEED-ND for core elements of the LEED for
building systems, including building energy efficiency and reduced water use. At the site level, a
LEED-ND credit is given for a reduction of at least 15 percent site level energy consumption from
street lights, water and wastewater pumps and water and wastewater treatment systems as well as
for using LED traffic light technology. Finally there are two credits for building reuse, the first is
for reusing at least one building and the second for reusing a historic building and rehabilitating it to
federal standards for rehabilitation.

Microclimate
LEED-ND considers microclimate in terms of heat island effect, with a credit for installing either
roofs with a high solar reflective index or green roofs. This credit can also be achieved by either
shading half of the impervious site landscape or using paving that has a high solar reflective index
or an open grid. In addition, LEED-ND offers a credit for solar orientation: either orienting blocks
north-south or buildings east-west. In the Assessment Matrix, microclimate is focused on fresh air,
providing the best scores to locations where the plan realization would have a positive effect on
fresh air movement and lower scores as the movement of fresh air decreases. This can be important
for passive ventilation, used more often in Germany due to typically narrow building depths.

Energy
LEED-ND offers two energy credits, one for providing on-site energy generation for at least five
percent of the project’s electrical and/or thermal load, and the other for providing the same amount
of energy (on- or off-site) using renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric
and biomass. The Assessment Matrix only considers renewable energy, providing good scores to
plan areas that are suitable for renewable energy and poor scores to locations where renewable
energy options are limited or not possible.

Recycling
LEED-ND also offers credits for recycling and reusing materials during the construction process
and the final use. This includes one credit for the use of recycled content in asphalt and concrete
infrastructure such as roads or parking areas and another for recycling or salvaging at least 50
percent of construction waste. The credit that focuses on the end user is given for including a
hazardous waste drop-off site, a recycling or reuse station in the project and a compost station or
locating in a city that offers those services.

7. Pollution
LEED-ND and the Assessment Matrix consider pollution problems, although they focus on
different types of issues. LEED-ND offers a light pollution credit to encourage dark night skies,
which can be met by lighting areas so they do not exceed 50 to 80 percent of the ASHRAE
standards (an independent certifying organization). The Assessment Matrix also considers light
along with other types of pollutants such as odors or poor air, providing a good score when there are
no negative effects and a bad score corresponding to the increase in any problems. The Assessment
Matrix also addresses traffic noise, giving a higher score if there are no negative effects and a lower
score if traffic noise turns into a major disturbance.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

The comparison of how the rating systems function as well as their context provides insight into the
rationale behind the criteria. While both systems take different approaches and have different
standards as a result of their respective countries of origin, it is clear there are indeed universal
goals of sustainable neighborhoods.

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How the Rating Systems Work
The Context
There are some notable differences between the rating systems due to their context. LEED-ND
addresses some uniquely American problems that would not make sense to evaluate in Germany.
For example, LEED-ND offers a credit for providing transit shelters, schedules and route
information; however this standard practice for all German transit systems so the status quo should
not be rewarded. Other LEED-ND credits that respond to uniquely American issues include
reduced vehicle miles traveled compared the regional average as a substitute for the transit credit
and creating a transportation demand management program or providing transit to local
destinations. These credits offer options for cities that do not have transit. Unique LEED-ND
prerequisites include providing public (not private) streets without gating the community; providing
city water and sewer; meeting federal floodplain standards; and creating an erosion and
sedimentation control plan. Although these problems may exist outside of the U.S., they are not
significant problems in the German development process and would not be as useful to evaluate
through neighborhood level planning.

Rating Process
The two rating systems reflect different approaches to rating the sustainability of a project. The
LEED-ND point system is easy to understand with a black and white “point or no point” approach.
In contrast, the Assessment Matrix grading system reflects the subtle shades of gray inherent in
development. LEED-ND is prescriptive based; requiring certain elements (such as bicycle racks) in
place or ratios met (such as a limited percentage of the development footprint allowed to be
parking). The Assessment Matrix is performance based and evaluates the outcome achieved (such
as the time distance to a school). Yet the Assessment Matrix standards are less specific, due in part
to the informal nature of the rating system, and may lead to a more subjective evaluation. The
LEED-ND standards are rigorous and specific enough to provide a clear rating.

Level of Standards
The Assessment Matrix generally has higher expectations of sustainability than LEED-ND. The
uniquely American problems addressed by LEED-ND are not appropriate to evaluate in Germany.
Yet there is a wide variety of development in the U.S. as well; a city with higher density and
extensive transit such as Portland or New York may have more in common with some German
cities than with other American cities. LEED-ND tries to bring up below average development to
be above average; as a result it doesn’t give as great of an incentive for the best areas to improve.

A rating system creates a basis for comparison. LEED-ND and the Assessment Matrix are both
designed to be nation-wide rating systems, yet a nationwide approach does not take into account
regional differences. This raises the question: should a rating standard reflect the international,
national, regional or local context?

In order to provide consistency of ratings between cities, it is important to have core rating system
standards between diverse cities. Some issues may need to be customized to local climate
conditions such as high humidity or arid heat. Yet the differences between regions such as transit
provision or average density offers an incentive for projects that may not perform well under
LEED-ND due to metropolitan wide decisions to become a catalyst for metropolitan reform.

The Evaluation
The evaluation of LEED-ND and the Assessment Matrix reflects two major themes where
environmental change is needed: how people live their lives and the relationship between
development and nature. In the course of daily life people must get from one place to another: if
mobility requires long distance auto trips it will produce more CO2 emissions than shorter transit or

313
bicycle trips. Development needs to be sensitive to the natural environment, preserving and
restoring valuable natural areas. The most significant part of this comparison analyzes transit, the
region and reachability, perhaps the most challenging issue of the rating systems.

Location Matters
The location of a project is important in terms of how the users relate to their surroundings. A
central location is more likely to have retail and other services and transit nearby. In the U.S, cities
are more likely to suffer from a lack of “good locations” because the development patterns over the
last 50 years offer poor context to integrate into. In contrast, Germany’s previous development has
created better infill sites. Reflective of this difference, the Assessment Matrix has a higher standard
than LEED-ND. The minimum standard in LEED-ND could easily receive the worst score by the
Assessment Matrix. Yet a moderate score by the Assessment Matrix would do well in LEED-ND.

Additionally, the use of greenfield land for development is more strongly regulated in Germany,
and the types of greenfield land that could be used are reflected in varying low scores in the
Assessment Matrix. LEED-ND uses a broader brush, giving lower scores to projects that use land
that was not previously developed yet does not consider variation by type of prior use.

Transit, the Region and Reachability

Transit, a regional service, offers the only real choice to access a metropolitan area yet without high
quality transit few people will actively choose to use it. The jobs and housing balance concept
reinforces the connection between the region and transit. For local goods and services, a time
distance measurement to destinations reflects the importance of integrating services into a
neighborhood.

The standard for public transit was one of the most contentious in the development of the
Assessment Matrix due to concerns about how it would apply to cities of different sizes. The
original standard was a high score for a location within 200 meters (1/8 mile) of an S-Bahn or U-
Bahn (heavy rail) station, with lower scores for increased distance or a lesser form of transit such as
a tram, followed by a bus. This standard is reflective of transit service in Berlin; however the
standard was modified to accommodate smaller cities and towns where the need for public transport
is smaller. The revised standard rates transit service according to how well it competes with auto
travel, considering the type of transit, frequency, proximity to the station or stop, other stops along
the line(s), and regional and trans-regional connections. The resulting standard is vaguer, but it
takes into account more factors that contribute to transit quality.

In LEED-ND, the transit standard opts for a model closer to the original Assessment Matrix
standard, providing a rating based on the number of transit rides within a ¼ mile (400 meters) for
streetcars and buses or a ½ mile (800 meters) for bus rapid transit, light rail or heavy rail. While
this standard addresses type of transit, frequency and proximity to the station, it does not cover the
competitiveness with the auto or its connection to the region.

The extent to which a rating system should reflect the regional variation is debatable. Considering
the Assessment Matrix transit standard was rewritten in response to concerns about regional
appropriateness, it lessens the bias toward the largest German cities. The first version would have
given poor scores to Rieselfeld, a new neighborhood in Freiburg, centered on a streetcar line with a
service frequency of seven minutes that connects directly to the center of town in 20 minutes. Yet
Freiburg, a compact city of 600,000 people, was noted earlier for its increase in transit and bicycle
use and decrease in car use. Freiburg has a transit system based on streetcars that is suitable for the
city size. The rating standards need to recognize high achievement appropriate to the metropolitan
size.

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The jobs and housing balance credit in LEED-ND addresses the relationship between where people
work and where they live, providing the credit for housing within walking distance or jobs near
transit. Yet transit researcher Robert Cervero analyzed Stockholm, a city that planned for a jobs-
housing balance in all of its commuter suburbs, and found that less than 20% actually worked in the
community that they lived in. (Cervero, 1995) This reflects the importance of analyzing the jobs-
housing balance on a region-wide level in terms of accessibility by transit. Although the
Assessment Matrix does not have a specific credit for access to jobs, the criteria for regional transit
access partially fulfills a similar intent.

“Reachability” is an important way to evaluate how people get to their destinations. This word – a
direct translation from the German “Erreichbarkeit” – offers a single term for both mobility and
access. While not a common planning term in English, it expresses how the relationship between
land use and transportation works. “Reachability” reflects how people make decisions: how do I
get what I need and what is the quickest way there?

The Assessment Matrix uses the concept of reachability to evaluate access to daily needs, schools,
parks and other destinations through time-distance measurements. This reflects how people interact
with their environment better than the LEED-ND quarter mile standard for a wider variety of
diverse uses. Since the Assessment Matrix analyzes the eco-mobility options of walking, bicycling
or transit in comparison with driving a car as to time competitiveness, it reflects the importance of
time in considering mode choice. LEED-ND does not consider the amount of time needed to reach
destinations.

The ability to place common destinations in convenient places is encouraged by German planning
regulations. The standard of “daily needed goods,” are specified as conditional uses in restricted
residential zones and permitted uses in general residential and mixed-use zones. (See Table 1 for a
comparison of residential zoning.) The small scale retail allowed in general residential or mixed-
use areas has a size limit of 1,200 square meters (13,000 square feet). (Weyrauch, 2008) However,
German businesses have adapted to this scale of retail, from national chains to local businesses.
While the determination of a “daily needed good” is at the discretion of a local planner, the
application of it is not considered problematic – they are considered to be shops or services that
most Germans frequent at least once per week (Hirt, 2007). The Assessment Matrix corresponds
with the German planning standard and business practice. If LEED-ND plans to spur market
change, increasing the amount of retail services available, adoption of this idea not only by
regulators but also by retail businesses is important.

Density and Design for Transit and Livability

The standards for density and urban design are important for creating a livable city. Higher
densities reduce the amount of land needed per person and increase the level of transit service that
can be provided. Density is not emphasized as much by the Assessment Matrix as it is by LEED-
ND; however the Assessment Matrix is focused on the site location decision. LEED-ND offers a
greater density range than the Assessment Matrix, reflective of the range of lower density
development to very high density in city cores that occurs in the U.S. In contrast, Germany has
smaller variations between moderate densities.

In order to make a place with higher density livable, it needs to be well designed. Urban design is a
significant part of LEED-ND: the design of walkable streets that improve the pedestrian experience
seeks to ensure places that are attractive, enjoyable spaces. The Assessment Matrix does not cover
urban design; there is little need to in Germany where walkable, bicycle friendly urban design is
common.

Using Development to Protect Nature

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As development continues to significantly alter the landscape, the ability to tie new development
options with the protection of nature has increased in Germany and the U.S. Stormwater absorption
into the ground is a major component of both rating systems. LEED-ND has higher expectations
for the developers to prioritize the conservation, restoration and management of natural habitat or
water bodies as a result of development.

Social Issues
The consideration of social issues in LEED-ND such as affordable housing, universal accessibility
and community involvement reflects the need for development to not just build for a small portion
of people, but to consider numerous types of users. The only issue considered by the Assessment
Matrix is the appearance of the overall scenery and townscape – a concept focused on leaving a
lasting impression of a positively perceived city space.

Building it Green
There is still a significant component of green building and infrastructure within LEED-ND and to a
lesser extent in the Assessment Matrix. In LEED-ND, over half of this category overlaps with the
LEED for buildings standards. As the LEED building standards are revised in 2009, the role of
LEED-ND may be reexamined to determine if the overlap between systems is the best option. The
only elements considered by the Assessment Matrix are the microclimate effects and renewable
energy possibilities that might occur through plan realization.

Minimizing Pollution
Although major pollution problems are not common in Germany or in the U.S., there is attention
given to reducing pollution problems, including annoyances such as light and noise. These credits
in both LEED-ND and the Assessment Matrix try to reduce the harmful side effects of living in
cities.

Universal Goals
Considering LEED-ND and the Assessment Matrix were developed separately, the amount of
overlap between both systems is notable. One area is related to “Good Urbanism” – that relates to
the urban environment people use in their daily lives.
Good Urbanism criteria include:
• an urban location on previously developed land;
• good transit connections and a bicycle network that go to common destinations;
• the necessary variety of common destinations: daily needs, cultural, social, recreational;
• density to support these services;
• and walkable places enjoyable to users.

The other main area is the “Protection of Nature,” which considers the relationship between urban
development and the natural environment.
Protection of Nature criteria include:
• the absorption of rainwater into the ground;
• the protection of water bodies, habitat, flora and fauna;
• green buildings that reduce resource use during construction and operation;
• reduced microclimate effects and reduction of pollution;
• renewable energy.

Together, these goals form the basis of international core criteria for sustainable neighborhoods.
While the list can be rearranged or reordered, the goals are appropriate for new neighborhoods in
developed countries. This analysis also shows how two rating systems have evaluated the same
issue. Despite the size advantage of LEED-ND, it can learn from the Assessment Matrix criteria

316
which are based on the German planning context that tends to outperform the U.S. on most
measures of sustainability. The Assessment Matrix tends to have higher but more general criteria,
appropriate for an informal system yet not adequate for a certification process. Similarly, if the
Assessment Matrix ideas want to be used in a certification model, LEED-ND offers a view of
highly rigorous, measureable criteria. When sustainable neighborhood rating systems are revised in
the future or if new systems are created, the comparison of alternative criteria offers insight on
differing approaches.

Achieving Climate Change Results

A study of LEED-ND pilot projects highlights the potential of LEED-ND to reduce climate change
effects. The results show that pilot projects have increased density, increased transit commute share
and increased walking/bicycling commute share beyond average U.S. communities – which could
lead to potential CO2 savings. (Criterion Planners, 2007) Given these results, encouraging more
development to follow LEED-ND standards could reduce CO2 emissions, especially from vehicle
travel. The Freiburg example shows that the share of travel by automobile can decrease and transit
and bicycling shares can increase if simultaneous investments are made in transit and bicycling
infrastructure.

Sustainable neighborhoods provide people with more mobility choices and make destinations
closer, allowing people the option to produce less CO2 emissions while maintaining or increasing
their quality of life. Additionally, sustainable neighborhoods seek to have the smallest negative
influence and the greatest positive influence on our natural environment by linking new
development to natural area protection goals. As worldwide expectations for sustainability
increase, sustainable neighborhood rating systems will increase to become an important tool to
understand and promote more sustainable forms of development.

317
 References

American Public Transit Association, 2008. Public Transit Ridership Continues To Grow In
First Quarter 2008. Press Release, issued: 2 June 2008.

Baumart, K., Herzog, T. and Pershing, J., 2005. Navigating the Numbers Greenhouse Gas Data
and International Climate Policy. Washington, D.C.: World Resources Institute.

Cable, F., 2007. Toward Sustainable Urbanism: Measuring Projects with LEED-ND. Masters
thesis, University of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Cervero, R., 1995. “Sustainable New Towns: Stockholm's Rail-Served Satellites.” Cities 12, 1:
41-51.

Criterion Planners, (Unpublished 2007). LEED for Neighborhood Development:

Characteristics of Pilot Projects. Report dated June 2007.

Environmental Protection Agency, 2004. Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks:
1990-2004. Washington, DC: EPA.

European Environment Agency, 2006. Urban sprawl in Europe: The ignored challenge.
Copenhagen, Denmark: European Environment Agency.

Farr, D., 2008. The 2030 Communities Campaign: A Convenient Remedy. In Congress for the
New Urbanism XVI 3-6 April 2008, Austin, TX.

Godding, N., March 2008. ICSC’s Green Drive. Property EU, No. 2, 103-105.

Godschalk, D., 2007. Comment of Hirt: U.S. Zoning: Mixed Use by Design. Journal of the
American Planning Association, 73 (4), 451-453.

Hirt, S., 2007. The Devil Is in the Definitions: Contrasting American and German Approaches
to Zoning. Journal of the American Planning Association, 73 (4), 436-450.

Humpert, K., 1997. Stadtereiterung: Freiburg Rieselfeld - Modell für eine wachsende Stadt.
Stuttgart, Germany: GmbH.

Larsson, N, 2008. The Sustainable Building Core System: Toward Common Metrics for Key
Issues. In Consense: International Congress and Exhibition on Sustainable Building, 17-18 June
2008, Stuttgart.

Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc., Pucher, J., 1998. Consequences of the Interstate
Highway System for Transit: Summary of Findings. Transportation Research Board National
Research Council: Transit Cooperative Research Program Report 42. Washington, D.C.: National
Academy Press.

Pushkarev, B and Zupan, J, 1977. Public Transportation and Land Use Policy, Bloomington,
Indiana: Bloomington University Press.

U.S. Supreme Court (1926). VILLAGE OF EUCLID, OHIO v. AMBLER REALTY CO., 272
U.S. 365 No. 31. Reargued Oct. 12, 1926. Decided Nov. 22, 1926. Referenced at:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=272&invol=365.

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Weyrauch, Bernhard, 2008. [Personal Communication]. 27 May 2008.

319
Table 1: Comparison of American and German Zoning
American German
Zoning Rules Local Zoning Codes: every city &
suburb is different
Zoning Tools + Comprehensive Plan/ Land Use
Plan
+ Zones (C-1, C-2 for Commercial, R-
1, R-2 for Residential)
Zone Comparison
Restricted Single Family Residential
Residential
By Right: one-family homes,
government buildings, parks, small
group living
Conditional: churches, schools,
greenhouses, other civic.
General Multi-Family Residential
Residential
By Right: multiple-family dwellings,
public uses, senior citizen or
handicapped housing
Conditional: churches, mobile home
parks, private schools, daycare
BauGB: a nation-wide zoning system
+ Land Use Plan
(Flachennutzungsplan)
+ Zones (MI for Mixed-use
(Mischgebeite), WA for Residential
(Wohngebieten))
+ B-plan
Restricted Residential
(Reine Wohngebiete)
By Right: residential buildings
Conditional: retail & restaurants that
serve the daily needs of residents;
workshops; small hotels; religious,
cultural, health, sports facilities
General Residential
(Allgemeine Wohngebiete)
By Right: residential buildings; retail &
restaurants that serve the daily needs
of residents; workshops; small hotels;
religious, cultural, health, sports
facilities
Conditional: hotels, non-disturbing
industry, gas stations, office buildings
320
Table 2: Comparison of Common Destinations
LEED-ND Assessment Matrix
Diverse Daily Social/ Neighborhood
Uses Needed Cultural Center
Goods
Bakery X
Stationery Store X
Bookstore X
Newsstand X
Groceries/Supermarket X X
Post Office X X
Hair Care X X
Bank X X
Convenience Store X X
Laundry/Dry Cleaner X X
Pharmacy X X
Restaurant X X
Child Care Facility X X
Community/Civic X X
Center
Health Club or Outdoor
X X
Recreation
Library X X
Place of Worship X X
School X X
Senior Care Facility X X
Hardware Store X X
Medical/Dental Office X X
Police/Fire Station X X
Theater X X

321
Appendix 1: Detailed Comparison of Rating System Criteria
LEED-ND Assessment Matrix
Main Categories Smart Location & Linkage (SLL)
30 points
Neighborhood Pattern & Design (NPD)
39 points
Green Construction & Technology (GCT)
31 points
Innovation & Design Process
6 points
Rating Prerequisite (PRQ): project must fulfill one of
the listed prerequisite criteria
Credit (CR): one or more points are given for
benchmarks that the project achieves under
each credit.
1. Site Location
Weighting 10%
Location • SLL PRQ: Infill site or located near adequate
transit service or near diverse uses or where
VMT is lower than average in the metro area.
• SLL CR: Credit given for amount of previous
development at the site: a previously
developed infill site (6 points), an adjacent site
that is previously developed (3 points), an
adjacent site not previously developed (1
point). Additionally, street centerline density is
used a proxy for urbanness: 40 centerline mi/sq
mi and greater (4 points), 30-39 (3 points), 20-
29 (2 points), 10-19 (1 point).
Prior Use of Site • Note SLL PRQ & CR above: infill site as
option for fulfilling location prerequisite; the
location is partially rated by its prior use.
• SLL PRQ: If not located in a developed or
developing area, do not locate where prime soil
(agricultural) is located.
• SLL CR: Reuse and clean a brownfield site.
(2 points)
• SLL CR: Reuse a brownfield in a federally
designated (low-income) location for
redevelopment. (1 point)
Infrastructure • SLL PRQ: Use existing water & sewer or
where it is planned to be expanded.
2. Transportation and Reachability
Weighting 22%
1. Mobility/Location/Reachability (30%)
2. Emissions/Immissions (10%)
3. Microclimate (5%)
4. Ground & Area (new) Use (20%)
5. Nature (Flora & Fauna) (15%)
6. Water (10%)
7. Energy (5%)
8. Appearance of the Townscape & Scenery
(5%)
Grade given for a range of criteria. 1,0 is the
best grade, 6,0 is the worst grade, and a range
of grades exist for the possibilities in between.
The grades are weighted within each category
and then the categories are weighted against
each other.
Percentages listed below reflect the ultimate
weight within the final project grade.
23%
• Best to worst locations: (1,0) In a
neighborhood center, (2,0) within 15 minutes
(by transit or bicycle) of a neighborhood center,
(3,0) within 30 minutes (by transit or bicycle) of
a neighborhood center, or (6,0) distant from a
neighborhood center. Weight: 9.0%
• Prior use of site: (1,0) completely built-up or
impervious surface, contaminated area,
garbage deposit, military area, docks or airport;
(1,3) storage space; (2,0) impervious sports
area, (3,3) unused pervious land with minimal
vegetation; (3,7) pervious sports area,
playground; (4,0) camping place, city field land,
garden area; (5,0) cemetery/church land, park
area, rented garden on public land, unaltered
natural areas; (6,0) unaltered natural areas with
old tree groves, forest, natural legally
protected natural areas. Weight: 14%
21%
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Transit • SLL CR: Credit given for number of total
transit rides per weekday within a ¼-½ mile
(400-800 meters) walk. The scale goes from
20-59 rides (2 points) up to 500 or more rides
(7 points).
• NPD CR: Provide transit shelters, schedules
and route information at every stop (1 point)
Bicycling • SLL CR: A bicycle network must connect
50% of buildings to at least 4 diverse uses
within 3 miles (4800 meters). Bicycle parking at
all multi-family and commercial buildings should
equal 15% of car parking. (1 point)
Reduction of Auto • SLL CR: (this portion can substitute for
Travel transit rides, above). Credit given for
percentage less that people drive in that
Transportation Analysis Zone: at 80% of
average vehicle miles traveled (2 points) up to
30% (7 points). Also credit for locating within ½
mile (800 Meters) of a car-sharing program (1
point).
• NPD CR: Create a transportation demand
management program; or provide subsidized
transit passes; or transit service to local
destinations. (2 points)
Access to Daily • NPD CR: Credit given for number of diverse
Goods uses that are within a ½ mile (800 meter) walk
from 2 diverse uses (1 point) up to 10. (4
points)
Access to Jobs • SLL CR: Locate a project with new housing
within a ½ mile (800 meter) walk of existing
jobs. Or locate new jobs on an infill site within
a ½ mile (800 meter) walk of a transit station
and existing housing. (3 points)
Access to Social • SLL CR: Locate at least 50 percent of the
Infrastructure residential within a ½ mile (800 meter) walking
distance of a school. (1 point)
• Note location ranking (same as above): is
based on access by eco-mobility.
• Public transit is rated according to how well it
competes with auto travel, considering the
following factors: type of transit, frequency,
proximity to the station or stop, other stops
along the line(s), and regional and trans-
regional connections. Weight: 7.5%
• Best to worst bicycling conditions: (1,0) the
plan area accommodates bicycles with
appropriate ground surface, connections
between neighborhoods, safe traffic and goes
to destinations such as a neighborhood center
or nature trail; (2,3) the area has a limited
ability to accommodate bicycles but no
potential hazards; (5,0) the area is
inappropriate for bicycles due to high traffic,
lack of bike paths or lanes and bad connections
to destinations. Weight: 4.5%
• None
• Supply of daily needed goods: are within
walking distance (1,0); are reachable by bicycle
or transit in 5 minutes (2,0); are reachable by
bicycle or transit in 10 minutes (3,0); are further
away and easier to reach by auto (4,3). Weight:
4.5%
• None
• Reachability of social infrastructure such as
a day care, school or doctor is: quickly and
easily reachable without an auto (1,0); not well
reachable but transit is not inferior time-wise to
driving (3,0); not well reachable but transit is
inferior time-wise to driving (4,0); poor and
easier to reach by auto than by transit (5,0).
Weight: 1.5%
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Access to • NPD CR: Provide a park or square within 1/6 • Proximity of recreational options such as
Recreational mile (130 meters) walking distance of 90 usable green space, playgrounds, river bank or
Space percent of buildings. (1 point) sea coast, beach, water sports or other sports:
there are at least two recreational options in the
neighborhood (1,0); there is recreation within
10 minutes by eco-mobility (2,3); recreation can
only by reached by auto (4,7). Weight: 1.5%

• NPD CR: Provide sports fields or a public
recreation center with active recreational
facilities within a ½ mile (800 meter) walk or a
bicycle trail within a ¼ mile (400 meter) of 50
percent of buildings. (1 point)
• Cultural offerings (theater, museum, etc.)
are: quickly reachable without an auto (1,0); not
well reachable but transit is not inferior time-
wise to driving (3,0); not well reachable but
transit is inferior time-wise to driving (4,0); poor
and easier to reach by auto than by transit
(5,0). Weight: 1.5%

3. Compact and Walkable Design

Weighting 20%
Density and Mixed- • NPD PRQ: Minimum density of 7 dwelling
Use units/acre and .50 FAR
• NPD CR: Credit given for increased density
of the project, given in dwelling units per acre
for residential and floor area ratio for non-
residential: 10-20
DU/acre, 0.75 to 1.0 FAR (1 point); 21-30
DU/acre, >1.0 to 1.5 FAR (2 points); 31-40
DU/acre, >1.5 to 2.0 FAR (3 points); 41-50
DU/acre, >2.0 to 2.5 FAR (4 points); 51-60
DU/acre, >2.5 to 3.0 FAR (5 points); 61-70
DU/acre, >3.0 to 3.5 FAR (6 points); 71+
DU/acre, >3.5 FAR (7 points).
4%
• Density for a Residential area:
(2,0): Lot Coverage: 0,6 and FAR: 1,8+
(3,0): Lot Coverage: 0,4 and FAR: 0,4-1,2
(4,0): Lot Coverage: 0,2 and FAR: 0,2-0,4
(5,0): Lot Coverage: 0,1 and FAR: 0,1-0,2
Mixed-use area:
(2,0): Lot Coverage: 0,8 and FAR: 2,4+
(3,0): Lot Coverage: 0,6 and FAR: 1,8+
(4,0): Lot Coverage: 0,5 and FAR: 1,5+
(5,0): Lot Coverage: 0,5 and FAR: 1,5<
Weight: 4.0%

Walkable Design • NPD PRQ: Dedicate streets to the public • None

and no gates on the community.
• NPD CR: Do not locate parking in front of
any building, minimize the amount of parking
surface area to less than 20% of the
development footprint and provide bicycle or
carpool parking. (2 points)
• NPD CR: Provide building entries on the
street, square or park, create a minimum of a
1:3 building-height-to-street-width ratio for 30%
of the project, provide continuous sidewalks,
limit speed to 20 mph for residential and 25 for
mixed-use. (4 points) Additional points given
for building near the property line, having
frequent building entries, no blank walls,
unshuttered ground level windows, on-street
parking, street trees, ground floor retail and
shade along the sidewalks. (up to 8 total
points)
• NPD CR: Build a street network of 20-29 or
over 30 centerline miles per square mile. (1-2
points)
• NPD CR: Build through-streets every 800
feet (250 meters) along the project boundary.
(1 point).

4. Protecting the Natural Environment

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Weighting 14% 27%
Water • SLL PRQ: Locate where there is no • Impervious surface change: there is less
wetlands or water bodies, compensate for impervious surface and major impaired or
impacts to those if the area is highly developed; contaminated areas would be improved (1,0);
if not highly developed, only minimal impacts there is no impervious surface change and
are allowed. minor contaminated areas are improved (2,0);
10-50% more impervious surface is created
(3,0-4,0); over 50% more impervious surface is
created (5,0-6,0). Weight: 2.0%

• SLL PRQ: If located in a floodplain, use only • Ground absorption of rainwater: will increase
previously developed areas and follow federal and be cleaned by a filtering process (1,0); will
recommended standards for floodplain increase (2,0); does not change (3,0); will
development. decrease somewhat (4,0); will greatly decrease
(6,0). Weight: 7.0%.
• SLL CR: Conserve all water bodies, • The nearby surface waters will be: improved
wetlands and a buffer around them (may (1,0); not changed (2,0); impaired (4,0);
substitute habitat conservation). (1 point) significantly impaired (6,0). Weight: 3.0%.
• SLL CR: Restore predevelopment water
bodies or wetlands, in an area equal to 10% of
the development footprint (may substitute
native habitat restoration). (1 point)
• SLL CR: Create a management plan and
funding for habitat sites or wetlands and water
bodies for 10 years (may substitute native
habitat site management). (1 point)
• GCT CR: Stormwater treatment should
infiltrate, reuse or evapotranspirate runoff from
90% of average annual rainfall or 1 inch
rainfall. Points awarded by percent of
impervious surface treated, with the lesser
number for previously developed sites: 15-20%
(1 point); 30-40% (2 points); 45-60% (3 points);
60-80% (4 points); 75-100% (5 points)

Habitat • SLL PRQ: Comply with an existing Habitat
Conservation Plan or create one if there is a
high likelihood of imperiled species existing.
• Protected areas are: positively influenced
(1,0); not affected or protected areas are not
existing (2,0); affected and the protected area’s
goals are not met (3,0); are considerably
impaired (6,0). Weight: 6.0%

• SLL CR: Use native plants for previously • Habitat protection is: positively influenced
developed sites; or conserve all important (1,0); not affected or habitat is not existing
natural habitats (may substitute for water body (2,0); only affected to a small extent (3,0); are
conservation). (1 point) greatly affected (6,0). Weight: 6.0%
• SLL CR: Restore native habitat in an area • Flora and fauna are: positively influenced
equal to 10% of the development footprint (may (1,0); not affected (2,0); only affected to a small
substitute for water body restoration). (1 point) extent (3,0); are greatly affected (6,0). Weight:
3.0%
• SLL CR: Create a management plan and
funding for habitat sites for 10 years(may
substitute for water body management). (1
point)
Site Disturbance • SLL CR: Do not develop on steep slopes • None
over 15% or limit development to 40-60% of the
site with slopes of 15-40%; no development of
slopes over 40%. (1 point)

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 • GCT PRQ: Implement an Erosion and
Sedimentation Control Plan for construction
activities.
• GCT CR: Minimize site disturbance by
locating on a previously developed site or by
leaving 10-20% of the site undisturbed. (1
point)
• GCT CR: Minimize site disturbance during
construction by locating on a previously
developed site; or by limiting disturbance within
40 feet (12 meters) beyond buildings and 10-25
feet (3-8 meters) beyond sidewalks and roads;
or by preserving significant tree species and
majority of all trees. (1 point)

5. Social Issues
Weighting 10% 5%
Diversity of • NPD CR: Provide a variety of housing types, • None
Housing Types small and large, of detached residential,
townhomes, and a range of multi-family
buildings. Points based on Simpson Diversity
Index. (1-3 points)

Affordable Housing • NPD CR: Provide affordable rental (15 or • None

30% of units) depending on level of subsidy. (1-
2 points)
• NPD CR: Provide affordable for-sale housing
(10 or 20% of units) depending on level of
subsidy. (1-2 points)
Universal • NPD CR: Provide 20% of the housing to be • None
Accessibility handicap-accessible and apply universal
design to common areas and recreational
facilities. (1 point)
Community • NPD CR: Meet with neighbors and local • None
Outreach officials during all phases of project
development and modify project based on
feedback. (1 point)
Local Food • NPD CR: Provide a neighborhood farm or • None
Production garden, buy shares in community supported
agriculture or locate near a farmer’s market. (1
point)

Appearance of the • None • Appearance of the Townscape and Scenery:

Townscape and the best score is given for enhancing the image
Scenery of the city(town)scape and scenery and a poor
score with any negative influence. Weight:
5.0%
6. Resource Efficiency
Weighting 21% 10%
Green Buildings • GCT CR: Include 20-40%+ LEED-Certified • None
Green Buildings. (1-3 points)

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Energy Efficiency • GCT CR: Energy Efficiency in Buildings: • None
provide a minimum standard increase of 10-
20% based on the baseline ASHRAE standard
or comply with the prescriptive measures of the
ASHRAE Advanced Energy Design Guide; for
residential buildings 3 or fewer stories, comply
with or exceed the ENERGY STAR for Homes
requirements. (1-3 points)

• GCT CR: Use street lights, water and

wastewater pumps and treatment systems to
use 15% less energy than the base line. Use
LED technology for traffic lights. (1 point)
Water Efficiency • GCT CR: Reduced Water Use: use 20-30% • None
less water than the baseline of the Energy
Policy Act; install low-flow fixtures in residential
buildings 3 stories or fewer; use rainwater or
graywater for irrigation or landscaping that
does not require irrigation. (1-3 points)

• GCT CR: Divert at least 50% of the

wastewater by treating and reusing it to replace
potable water. (1 point)
Building Reuse • GCT CR: Reuse one or more buildings, • None
keeping at least 50% of one building and 20%
or more of other buildings. (1-2 points)
• GCT CR: Reuse a Historic Building designed
by a local government or the National Register
of Historic Places and rehab according to
federal “Standards for Rehabilitation.” (1point)

Heat Island Effect/ • GCT CR: Heat island reduction achieved by
Microclimate installing most roofs with a high solar reflective
index or green roofs or by providing 50% of
impervious site landscape with shade, paving
with a high solar reflective index or open grid
paving. (1 point)
• Microclimate: the best score is for having a
positive effect, or good score for a no or little
effect on the microclimate. Poor scores are
given for compromising fresh air currents
through the site and surrounding area. Weight:
5.0%

Solar Orientation • Solar orientation achieved by orientating • None

blocks north-south or by or orientating buildings
east-west. (1 point)

Energy Generation/ • GCT CR: Provide on-site energy generation • For renewable energy options, better scores
Renewable Energy for at least 5% of the project’s electrical and/or are given when the plan area is more suitable
thermal load. (1 point) for renewable energy and poor scores when it
• GCT CR: Use solar, wind, geothermal, is not possible. Weight: 5.0%
hydroelectric and biomass for 5% of the
project’s electrical and/or thermal load. (1 point)
Recycling & • GCT CR: Use recycled content in asphalt • None
Reusing and concrete infrastructure, based on layer and
type of material. (1 point)
• GCT CR: Recycle or salvage 50% of
construction waste. (1 point)
• GCT CR: Provide a hazardous waste drop-
off site; a recycling or reuse station or locate in
a city that provides recycling; and include a
compost station or locate in a city that provides
composting. (1 point)

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7. Pollution
Weighting 2%
Brownfields • Note SLL CR: Reuse and clean a brownfield
site (located in Prior Use of Site category)
• GCT CR: Use clean up methods that treat
and remediate (not remove or cap)
contaminated material onsite. (1 point)
Light, Noise and • GCT CR: Only light areas for safety and
Other Pollution comfort; do not exceed 50-80% of lighting
power densities in ASHRAE. (1 point)
10%
• None
• Other potential problems evaluated (odor,
light, poor air) receive a good score when there
are no negative effects; the score declines as
the amount of these problems increase.
Weight: 3.5%
• Traffic noise issues receive a good score
when there are no negative effects; the score
declines as the amount of noise increases.
Weight: 3.5%
• The potential for the plan to produce any
emissions or other polluting effects is also
evaluated, with a good score when there are no
negative effects and a poor score declines as
any emissions increase. Weight: 3.0%
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Appendix 2: Assessment Matrix
For climate equality and ecological responsibility neighborhood location decisions

Introduction
In the context of a Bachelor Project Class at the Institute for City and Regional Planning (ISR) in
the topic area of building and planning law, an Assessment Matrix was developed for the
environmental guidance of plan areas where residential uses are permitted. Different to other
matrices, not only are the regularly assessed environmental aspects (protected water, land, fauna
and flora, people…) considered, but additionally a particular aspect of CO2 emissions are addressed
through the evaluation of traffic conditions. With the matrix, the planners in- and outside of the
urban planning and building zoning processes (land use planning - FNP) are offered help by an
indicator system for environmentally just urban development decisions which are also ecologically
appropriate with regards to general (global) climate protection (regulated by § 1 Paragraph 5 of the
German Federal Building Code).

The Assessment Matrix consists of several sections which have individual evaluation criteria.
These criteria use the German educational grading system which allows for a more nuanced
evaluation. The grading system is as follows:
1,0 = very good
2,0 = good
3,0 = satisfactory
4,0 = sufficient
5,0 = poor
6,0 = unsatisfactory/ very bad

It is recommended, if consistently applied, that foreseeable changes to the general conditions of the
area (i.e. a new tram line will be provided in three years for better public transit connections) are
included in the evaluation. If current conditions must be confirmed or if conditions for a later area
need to be described, the field for “notes” can hold that information as well as other provisions or
goals.

The Assessment Matrix begins by entering the names of each potential plan area. Four areas can be
compared parallel to each other in the current version of the FNP Assessment Matrix. These are
evaluated in the following sections:

1. Mobility / Location / Reachability (30%)

2. Emissions / Immissions (10%)
3. Microclimate (5%)
4. Ground & Area (new) Use (20%)
5. Nature (Flora & Fauna) (15%)
6. Water (10%)
7. Energy (5%)
8. Overall Appearance of the Townscape and Scenery (5%)

The evaluation of the individual sections creates grades for the criteria together that describe the
entire section. Click on the following items: first on the evaluation field (beginning with green) of
the appropriate planning area and then on the plus (+) or minus (-) buttons to adjust the grade.

1. Mobility/Location/Reachability
Mobility influences the environment in significant ways, especially the use of motorized individual
transport (generally automobiles). They contribute significantly to CO2 production and in this way
influence global climate change. The avoidance of auto use is an important binding element to city

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development that is environmentally conscious and climate friendly. This section receives a 30
percent weight (the highest weighting of all sections) in the overall grade.

Location of the area/Reachability

Weight: 9.0%
The Plan area is located…
(1,0) in a neighborhood center
(2,0) inside the residential area near the neighborhood (or city district) center / reachable by bicycle
or transit within 15 minutes; by auto is comparable
(2,3) inside the residential area near the neighborhood (or city district) center / reachable by bicycle
or transit within 15 minutes; by auto is faster
(3,0) in an inconvenient location to the neighborhood (or city district) center / reachable by bicycle
or public transit within 30 minutes; by auto is comparable
(4,0) distant from the neighborhood (or city district) center outside the residential area/ reachable
with good public transit connections more easily by car
(4,3) in an inconvenient location to the neighborhood (or city district) / reachable by bicycle or
public transit within 30 minutes; by auto is faster
(5,0) distant from the neighborhood (or city district) center outside the residential area/ poor public
transit connections /reachable only by car within 30 minutes

Public Transportation Connections (25%)

Weight: 7.5%
Rate public transit according to how well it competes with auto travel, considering the following
factors:
• type of transit
• frequency
• proximity to the station or stop
• other stops along the line(s)
• regional and trans-regional connections.

Suitability for bicycle transportation (15%)

(1,0) The plan area accommodates bicycles well (appropriate ground surfaces, connections between
neighborhoods, a bicycle network safe from traffic and that reaches practical goals such as a
neighborhood center or nature trails)

(2,3) The plan area has a limited ability to accommodate bicycles; however, no high potential
endangerment for bicyclists is noticeable

(5,0) The plan area is inappropriate for bicycles, comparatively high potential endangerment for
bicyclists (due to higher traffic, a lack of bicycle lanes or paths, cobblestones, or bad connections to
important goals such as a neighborhood center)

Availability of daily needed goods (15%)

Shopping for daily needs can have traffic-causing effects. Therefore, the plan rates if and to what
extend suitable daily needs are located nearby. In the evaluation, the following nearby services
should be influential – groceries, supermarket, bakery, stationary store, book store, newspaper, post
office, hairdresser, bank – or other commonly demanded daily needs…

Daily needs are…

(1,0) available within walking distance
(2,0) easily reachable by bicycle or public transit (within 5 minutes)

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(3,0) reasonably reachable by bicycle or public transit (within 10 minutes)
(4,3) farther away, and are more convenient to reach by car than by transit

Reachability of Social Infrastructure (5%)

Especially for families with small children and people with limited mobility, a day care, school,
other public services, general doctor or medical care facility are…
(1,0) quickly and easily reachable without an auto
(3,0) not well reachable but transit is not inferior time-wise to driving
(4,0) not well reachable but transit is inferior time-wise to driving
(5,0) poor and easier to reach by auto than by transit

Recreational Options
Count the recreational options (suitable for the neighborhood) available, such as: usable green
space, playgrounds, river bank or sea coast, beach, water sports or other sports:
(1,0) there are at least two recreational options in the neighborhood
(2,0) in the nearby area (10 minutes by eco-mobility) there are suitable recreational options
(4,7) the way to the closest suitable recreational possibilities can only by reached by auto

Proximity to Cultural Offerings

Cultural and entertainment offerings (theater, museum, etc.) suitable for the neighborhood are…
(1,0) quickly reachable (and without an auto)
(3,0) not well reachable but eco-mobility is not inferior time-wise to driving
(4,0) not well reachable but eco-mobility is inferior time-wise to driving
(5,0) poor and easier to reach by auto than by eco-mobility

2. Emissions / Immissions
This section – despite its importance for city planning – will have a lesser proportion weight of 10
percent. However, this section is partly based on the component ‘traffic noise,’ which is also
indirectly rated in the first section, “Mobility / Location / Reachability.”

Traffic Effects on the Local Area

In the nearby area, traffic noise from the new use will have…
(1,0) no negative effects
(2,0) only minimal negative effects
(4,0) negative and disruptive effect yet without significantly exceeding the respective noise limits
(6,0) significant negative effects / the respective noise limits would be significantly exceeded

Other Negative Effects on the Local Area

Due to the new use, the potential consequence of other new emissions (such as odor, light, poor air)
that affect the nearby environment result in…
(1,0) no negative effects
(2,0) only minimal negative effects
(4,0) negative and disruptive effect yet without significantly exceeding the respective noise limits
(6,0) significant negative effects / the respective noise limits would be significantly exceeded
Immissions from the Plan Area
The plan will…
(1,0) not expose the environment to any polluting emissions
(2,3) not expose the environment to any disruptive polluting emissions
(4,0) expose the environment to disruptive polluting emissions only at specific times or places
(5,0) expose the environment to significant polluting emissions / a health hazard can be avoided by
suitable protection measures

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(6,0) expose the environment to significant polluting emissions / a health hazard is feared / suitable
protection measures are possible only with at high cost or are not possible

3. Microclimate
The block, “microclimate” is weighted at a percentage of 5 percent. For the location decision, the
block cannot have a great significance since there are many possibilities to mitigate negative
microclimate effects through greening actions. The result of these counterbalancing effects can
compensate for location.

Microclimate
For the microclimate for the plan area and surrounding environment, the plan implementation
would …
(1,0) have positive effects
(2,0) have no effects
(3,0) have only minimal negative effects
(3,7) have measurably higher temperatures as a result
(4,0) partly compromise the fresh air currents that are important for the adjacent neighborhood
(5,0) eliminate the fresh air currents that are important for the adjacent neighborhood

4. Ground and Space (new) Use

For the section “ground and space (new) use” the influence on the ground and soil is evaluated. To
this goal, the Assessment Matrix has 21 different biotope type options. For plan areas with one
biotope, the score must be weighed based on the ratio of each to the total area so the weight of each
area correctly influences the overall final grade. In Criteria 2, Before-After Evaluation, the first line
determines the extent of the alteration of prior biotopes. The future density is rated by the last
criteria, so that a meaningful contribution of the land to ecological quality can be achieved. This
section is weighted at 20 percent of the total score.

Rating of Existing Land Use by Biotope

Rate the plan area by which biotope type exists. For area with more than one biotope, weight each
grade by its percentage of overall land.
(1,0)
• Completely built-up or entirely sealed space
• Contaminated area
• Garbage, construction waste, other waste
• Military special development area
• Docks, Airport
(1,3)
• Storage space
(2,0)
• Sport place, mainly impervious surface (ex.: artificial turf)
(3,3)
• Rail tracks, lower amount of ruderal vegetation
• Camping place
• City field land
(3,7)
• Sport place (mainly grass area)
• Play place
(4,0)
• Rail tracks, higher amount of ruderal vegetation with some older trees
• Small garden area

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 • Cemetery/ Church land
(5,0)
• Park area, green space
• Rented garden on public land
• Other natural, unaltered green space
(6,0)
• Other natural, unaltered green space with many old groves of trees
• Forest
• Environmentally protected areas

Before – After Evaluation

(1,0) Use results in a noticeable removal of impervious surface (unsealing) with positive effects on
the protected land / remediation of serious negative influences (inherited waste, seriously impaired
waters, contaminated ground, etc.) would be completed.
(2,0) Use results in no additional impervious surface (to 10% of total requirements) / minor
negative influences (non-toxic pollutants from waters and non-toxic old waste deposits) would be
remediated.
(3,0) Use requires additional area impervious surface in a small to medium extent (to 10 - 50% of
total impervious) of ground that had more intensive use (i.e. agriculture).
(4,0) Use requires additional area impervious surface in a small to medium extent (to 10 - 50% of
total impervious) of ground that had less intensive use (i.e. wetlands).
(5,0) Use requires additional area impervious surface to a higher extent (over 50% of total
impervious) of ground that had more intensive use (i.e. agriculture).
(6,0) Use requires additional area impervious surface to a higher extent (over 50% of total
impervious) of ground that had less intensive use (i.e. wetlands).

Density Projection Based on Surrounding Area (20%)

A potential location as a realistic density that can be implemented based on the surrounding context.

For a residential area, the density is between:

(2,0) Lot coverage ratio: 0.6 and FAR: 1.8 and more
(3,0) Lot coverage ratio: 0.4 and FAR: 0.4 – 1.2
(4,0) Lot coverage ratio: 0.2 and FAR: 0.2 – 0.4
(5,0) Lot coverage ratio: 0.1 and FAR: 0.1 – 0.2

For a mixed-use area, the density is between:

(2,0) Lot coverage ratio: 0.8 and FAR: 2.4 and more
(2,7) Lot coverage ratio: 0.6 and FAR: 1.8 and more
(3,3) Lot coverage ratio: 0.5 and FAR: 1.5 and more
(4,0) Lot coverage ratio: 0.5 and FAR: 1.0 or less

5. Nature (Flora/Fauna)
According to German Protected Natural Areas laws, nature and landscape are to be protected due to
their own value as the basis of human life and also with responsibility to future generations within
the settled and unsettled places in such a way to protect, to maintain, to develop and to the extent
necessary, to restore that: (1) in the long term the performance and function of the ecosystem are
secured, (2) the regenerative ability and the lasting use of natural goods, (3) the animal and plant
world including their living places and habitats, and (4) the variety, characteristics and beauty as
well as the recreational value of nature and landscape. In the context of this, the Assessment Matrix
– in the overall view – it depends particularly on the protection and maintenance of important
existing natural and landscape features. On this level, legally protected areas as well as – from what

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is known – protected areas or areas that should be protected must be considered. In a further step,
the general effects of planning on flora and fauna are also evaluated. This section is weighted at 15
percent.

Protected areas (40%)

Through the plan, legally protected areas will be…
(1,0) positively influenced
(2,0) not affected / no protected areas here
(3,0) altered, but the protected area’s goals are not affected
(6,0) negatively impacted and their goals will probably also be impacted

Biotope Protection (40%)

For the entire area, important or protected biotopes will be…
(1,0) positively influenced
(2,0) not affected / no protected areas here
(3,0) only affected to a small extent
(6,0) negatively affected to a considerable extent

Flora and Fauna (20%)

The potential area has…
(1,0) a positive influence on the nearby flora and fauna
(2,0) no damage to any flora and fauna
(3,0) only a little damage to any flora and fauna
(6,0) significant damage to the quality of flora and fauna

6. Water
Water is becoming a scarce resource. Within the water framework guidelines, there are high goals
to maintain and increase the cleanliness of groundwater and water bodies: all the countries of the
European Union have to have their water bodies and groundwater in good condition by at least
2015. The improvement of the condition of water bodies will become more important in the
coming years and decades. The use of water bodies as a public area for recreation is also
considered, however far more important is their role n the maintenance and/or re-establishment of a
healthy water circulation and ecological system. This section is weighted at 10 percent.

Groundwater (70%)
(1,0) Through development and ground cleanup, more accumulated rainwater will be able to be
absorbed by the ground from a larger area.
(2,0) Through development, more accumulated rainwater will be able to be absorbed by the ground
from a larger area.
(3,0) The rainwater absorption would be the same as the current condition
(4,0) The rainwater absorption would be somewhat less than the current condition
(6,0) The rainwater absorption would be significantly less than the current condition

Water Bodies (30%)

Through the plan implementation, the nearby water bodies will
(1,0) be improved
(2,0) not be changed
(4,0) be adversely affected
(6,0) be severely adversely affected

7. Energy

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In principle, the section “energy” is a lesser concern during the location decision part of the urban
planning process. It becomes more important that the energy balance is considered when the plan is
implemented. However, it is worth questioning whether the plan area is suitable for renewable
energy and whether there are connection possibilities that exist from an ecological view of energy
networks. This section is weighted at 5 percent.

Use of Regenerative and Climate-friendly Energy Forms

(1,0) The plan area is extremely well-suited for renewable energy forms (i.e. solar energy,
geothermal, hydropower, etc…).
(2,0) The plan area is suitable for the use of renewable energy or the application of cogeneration
facilities.
(5,0) A connection to the central energy supply network is provided.

8. Overall Appearance of the Townscape and Scenery

The last section deals with the effects on the nearby environment and the existing overall
appearance of the cityscape or townscape and scenery, since the preservation and/or the value of the
existing environment is an indication of the quality of town construction. This section does not
have a direct influence on the ecological quality. However, successful cityscapes or townscapes
and scenery develop an indentifying impression with the result that the city space is positively
perceived and accepted. This section is weighted at 5 percent.

Overall Appearance of the Townscape and Scenery

(1,0) The new use will increase the image of the city(town)scape and scenery
(2,0) The valuable city(town)scape and scenery stay in place
(3,0) The city(town)scape and scenery without specific qualities will not be negatively influenced
(4,7) Through the new use, the city(town)scape and scenery will be substantially disturbed.

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 Plan Implementation for Smart Growth

The U.S. Standard Climate Change Enabling Act

Lora A. Lucero, AICP, Esq.

Editor, Planning & Environmental Law
American Planning Association
122 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 1600
Chicago, IL 60603
(505) 247-0844
LoraLucero@aol.com

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 ABSTRACT
The connection between the built environment and climate change is clearly established; addressing
that link in our communities’ land use plans is growing. The challenge lies less with planning and
more with the implementation of those plans. We can plan for smart growth to reduce our carbon
footprint, but the majority of states in the U.S. are laboring beneath antiquated planning and land
use laws drafted in the early 1920s. A Standard Climate Change Enabling Act is needed for land use
and development decisions that support smart growth and implementation of the community’s land
use plan.

Disclaimer: The opinions, recommendations and conclusions contained in this paper are solely the
author’s.

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 The transportation sector contributes approximately one-third of greenhouse gas emissions
in the United States. (Gerrard 2007) Sprawling development which segregates land uses and
requires people to drive everywhere is a big culprit. (Ewing 2008) Effective and efficient transit
options are the exception, not the rule, in most communities. Walking from home to school, work or
shopping is nearly unimaginable.
In the 1920s, Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce and later the 31st President of the
United States, led a blue-ribbon committee to draft the model enabling laws which have guided
community growth and development for the past eighty years. (Meck 2000) In large measure, the
form and function of American communities today may be attributed directly to the work of Hoover
and his colleagues. The Standard State Zoning Enabling Act (SZEA) in 1926, followed by the
Standard City Planning Enabling Act (SCPEA) in 1928, served as the foundation for the land use
laws enacted in more than three-quarters of the states.
The goal was to provide a legal framework to support the increasingly popular zoning
ordinances that communities were adopting around the country, beginning with New York City in
1916. The SZEA provided the regulatory tool – zoning – while the SCPEA provided the policy
backdrop – community plans. Zoning had a simple purpose; it was designed to avoid locating
nuisances (such as industry and smokestacks) in residential neighborhoods. One of the unintended
consequences of separating land uses, however, was to require people to travel further distances to
work and shop, ultimately locating the ‘peaceful’ suburbs away from the noise and grit of the city.
Despite the words of caution from the early drafters of the SZEA and the SCPEA that
zoning ordinances should be prepared “in accordance with a comprehensive plan,” (SZEA, Section
3), a number of preeminent land use law commentators have pointed out that the connection
between the two was called into question right from the very beginning. (Haar 1955a, Larsen &
Siemon 1979, Mandelker 1976) This zoning-planning enigma might have resulted from the
unfortunate fact that the authority to zone contained in the SZEA preceded the authority to plan in
the SCPEA by two years. Many communities enacted zoning ordinances before they ever prepared
and adopted a comprehensive plan, creating the analytical disconnect which has spawned a large
body of litigation and corresponding commentary and analysis on the question of regulatory
consistency. (Delaney 2008, Haar 1955b, Netter 1981, Sullivan 2000) This unfortunate disconnect
has created a situation in many communities throughout the United States where they prepare
comprehensive plans but fail to implement them. They have elevated the importance of their zoning
and land use regulations above their comprehensive plans; their short-term decision-making over
long-term goals and policies. The zoning-planning disconnect has serious consequences for
addressing climate change successfully.
Would Herbert Hoover (1874 – 1964), if he were alive today, recognize the cities and
metropolitan regions sprawling across the American landscape? Would he appreciate the traffic
jams on an Interstate Highway System that wasn’t even on the drawing boards in the early years of
the Twentieth Century? Would he fathom the connection between how and where we build our
communities today and the dangerous warming of the planet? Most certainly he would not; but the
zoning and planning laws he helped to create nearly a century ago are the basis for most land use
regulations guiding the growth and development in communities throughout the United States
today.
In all fairness to Secretary, then President Hoover, we would be hard-pressed to envision the
landscapes and communities of 2100 and draft land use and planning laws for our great-great
grandchildren. With dogged determination, or perhaps a mere reluctance to upset the applecart,
most states are holding on to Hoover’s SZEA and SCPEA despite the growing recognition that
these model acts are ill-suited for addressing the challenges of climate change.
There is reason for hope, however, as some states begin to experiment with new enabling
laws. Oregon, Maryland, California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Washington, Colorado, Connecticut,
Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Arizona and Wisconsin have each stepped into the Twenty-
First Century with “smart growth” legislation. (Salkin 2007) Recent trends include: benchmarking
and measuring progress (lack of progress) in implementing smart growth goals, statewide

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coordination of smart growth programs, intermunicipal and regional planning, new urbanism
principles incorporated into local zoning codes, using the state’s purse-strings to encourage local
governments to implement sustainability goals, linking transportation and land use decisions, and
the vast number of energy and climate change initiatives. (Salkin 2007)
As one recent example, California’s Senate Bill 375, introduced in August 2008, uses a mix
of incentives – such as priority for transportation funds and better-defined environmental reviews –
to reduce sprawl, provide affordable housing, shorten commutes and curb greenhouse gas emissions
linked to global warming. If adopted, SB 375 will require local governments to adopt zoning rules
to implement state-required housing elements and tighten some parts of CEQA (California’s
environmental review law) to make it more difficult for opponents to derail housing projects that
are consistent with the basic density and other requirements spelled out in local zoning ordinances.
There’s a very big carrot to help promote that goal – the $5 billion in state transportation funds will
be redirected to first help communities which comply with the bill’s “smart growth” objectives.
Unlike the SZEA and SCPEA, designed as a national model for the states to adopt, the current
experimentation is bubbling up from the states.
The American Planning Association (APA) advocates “smart growth” using comprehensive
planning to guide, design, develop, revitalize and build communities that:
* have a unique sense of community and place;
* preserve and enhance valuable natural and cultural resources;
* equitably distribute the costs and benefits of development;
* expand the range of transportation, employment and housing choices in a fiscally
responsible manner;
* value long-range, regional considerations of sustainability over short term incremental
geographically isolated actions; and
* promote public health and healthy communities. (APA 2002)

Clearly, the SZEA and SCPEA were never meant to accomplish “smart growth,” but rather
to avoid nuisances. In addition to the definition of “smart growth,” the APA adopted thirteen core
principles of “smart growth” that include the following:
* recognition that all levels of government, and the non-profit and private sectors, play an
important role in creating and implementing policies that support smart growth;
* state and federal policies and programs that support urban investment, compact
development, and land conservation;
* planning processes and regulations at multiple levels that promote diversity, equity
and smart growth principles;
* increased citizen participation in all aspects of the planning process and at every level of
government;
* a balanced, multi-modal transportation system that plans for increased transportation
choice;
* a regional view of community;
* one size doesn’t fit all – a wide variety of approaches to accomplish smart growth;
* efficient use of land and infrastructure;
* central city vitality;
* vital small towns and rural areas;
* a greater mix of uses and housing choices in neighborhoods and communities focused
around human-scale, mixed-use centers accessible by multiple transportation modes;
* conservation and enhancement of environmental and cultural resources; and
* creation or preservation of a “sense of place.” (APA 2002)

Professor Patricia E. Salkin warns that that “the United States will lose the war on
sustainability” and, by implication, the battle to mitigate the impacts of climate change, unless the
States continue to innovate and refine the programs they have adopted.

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“States should encourage local governments to conduct local and regional smart growth audits,
engage public support for improved intergovernmental coordination, develop programs for more
effective review of local and regional comprehensive plans, provide incentives or funding to
municipalities to update zoning ordinances, provide statutory authority for the use of more flexible
land use regulatory tools, incentivize the adoption and implementation of local land preservation
programs, and engage in public education programs about sustainable development and smart
growth. Among the range of incentives states can offer municipalities to engage in smarter growth
are: grant opportunities, the promise of indemnification by the state from certain legal challenges
arising from appropriately adopted smart growth strategies, awarding of added points on existing
competitive funding opportunities, state recognition of local plans adopted consistent with regional
and/or state plans, and special revenue raising authority including tying of impact fees and other
fiscal tools to smart growth strategies. Governors could also implement no-cost awards programs,
recognizing local smart growth initiatives with media attention. And, most important, states should
follow the Maryland lead and use the power of state budget funding priorities to only invest in
programs that promote the smart growth agenda.” (Salkin 2007)

The American Planning Association’s Policy Guide on Planning and Climate Change echo
many of Salkin’s “smart growth” recommendations. (APA 2008) However, the SZEA and SCPEA
are unproductive detritus from an earlier era which must be cast aside now in favor of a more
progressive enabling law that facilitates and encourages this innovation at the state and local levels.
There are stark differences between the challenges of the 1920s and 2010. There is a more
significant intergovernmental dimension to planning and land use decision-making today. There are
different societal attitudes about land today – it is not merely a commodity to be bought and sold.
There is a more engaged and active citizenry concerned about sustainability issues and climate
change. There is certainly a more challenging legal environment. (Meck 2002) And finally, the
impacts of local land use decision-making on global climate change could not possibly have been
comprehended in 1920. A new generation of land use and planning enabling acts in the United
States are needed to support sustainable growth and development which effectively address the
serious challenges presented by climate change.
Standard Climate Change Enabling Act – A Proposal:
One of the first priorities of the new Administration in Washington should be the
appointment of a blue ribbon commission to prepare the Standard Climate Change Enabling Act
(SCCEA). Unlike the commission under Herbert Hoover’s leadership, this new blue ribbon
commission should engage the public and leaders from state and local governments in mini-
conferences across the country designed to address various aspects of sustainability. The
commission should be tasked with the responsibility of synthesizing all of the information flowing
up to the federal level from these mini-conferences to recommend a new 2020 Vision plan for the
country. There is a wealth of information and lessons learned from all of the experimentation that
has been occurring in the states to address climate change. (Callies, Nolon, Salkin, Ziegler 2008)
Although land use control is jealously guarded at the local level, the federal government
must show leadership, as it did in the 1920s. There are examples where Congress has determined a
strong federal role is necessary to address perceived problems at the local level which implicate
land use control. The Highway Beautification Act (23 U.S.C. 131), the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C.
3601), the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 2000cc), and the
Telecommunications Act (P.L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56 (1996)) are four such examples. The 2020
Vision plan would not stifle local innovation or replace the initiatives occurring at the state level,
but it would help coordinate federal actions across many different agencies and departments and
lead the country towards a sustainable future by providing fiscal incentives for states, regional
planning agencies, local communities, and the American people to make decisions consistent with
the 2020 Vision. (Callies, Nolon, Salkin, Ziegler 2008) Global warming and the devastating impacts
of climate change warrant a strong federal role in developing a 2020 Vision plan first and then a
Standard Climate Change Enabling Act (SCCEA) to replace the SZEA and SCPEA.

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 There is a fatal flaw in the SZEA and the SCPEA that is rarely mentioned, but should not be
overlooked in the preparation of the new SCCEA. Although local governments have the authority to
prepare and adopt a comprehensive plan for land use and growth, in the majority of states today
they are not required to follow their own plan, much less a regional or state plan. Current
development decisions, the budget and infrastructure priorities are often not in sync with the goals
contained in the comprehensive plan to foster sustainability. This disconnect between planning and
action is pervasive and seriously undermines all of the good intentions to mitigate climate change.
The SCCEA must not make the same mistake.
The origins of this disconnect, as discussed above, originated with the “in accordance with a
plan” language and the inverse order in which the SZEA and SCPEA were published. Although the
majority of states today still consider the community’s plan as merely advisory in nature, the
national trend appears to be moving towards establishing a stronger link between land use decisions
and the plan. This trend can be seen in many state legislatures,dddd and the courts,eeee and even state
agenciesffff across the country. The cornerstone of the SCCEA must be mending this disconnect
between plans and actions.
In the abstract, it certainly seems rational to require communities to link their decisions and
actions to their adopted plans. Otherwise, why plan?
In a democratic society, the residents of the community express their goals for the future in
two ways – by participating in a public planning process which culminates in an adopted plan, and
by electing representatives to implement that plan. Local officials implement the community’s plan
day-by-day when they, among other things, approve the local government’s capital infrastructure
budget, when they adopt land use regulations such as zoning and subdivision ordinances, and when
they approve or reject development applications. Connecting development and land use decisions to
the adopted plan is the best way to achieve the community’s goals, or at least to increase the odds
that the community’s goals will be achieved. (Lucero 2008a)
The consequences of failing to plan or failing to implement the community’s comprehensive
plan can be serious. Professor John R. Nolon notes that in just 35 years,
… the nation’s population will grow by 100 million people: an increase of 33%. The
private sector will produce for these new Americans over 70 million homes and over
100 billion square feet of offices, stores, factories, institutions, hotels, and resorts.
Researchers predict that two-thirds of the structures in existence in 2050 will be built
between now and then.

This growth cannot proceed randomly without great cost to the economy,
environment, and public health. This is neither an ideological nor a political issue.
The consequences of haphazard development are not popular with the vast majority
of Americans. They complain about the results of current growth patterns: an
increase of asthma and obesity among the young, traffic congestion that stalls
commuters, insufficient housing for the workforce and the elderly, the decline of
dddd
See eg., Arizona [Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 9-462.01 (1999)], California [Cal. Gov’t Code § 65860 (1997)], Delaware
[Del. Code tit. 9 §§ 2653, 2656 (1999)], Kentucky [Ky. Rev. Stat. § 101.213 (1997)], Maine [Me.Rev. Stat. tit. 30A §§
23-114.03 (1999)], Nebraska [Neb. Rev. Stat. § 23-114.03 (1999)], Oregon [Or. Rev. Stat. § 197.010(1) (1997)], Rhode
Island [R.I. Gen. Laws §§45-24-31, -34 (1998)], Washington [Wash. Rev. Code § 36.70A.040(1) and § 35.63.125
(1999)], and Wisconsin [Wis. Stat. § 66.0295 (1999)].
eeee
Although the United States Supreme Court has not directly considered this issue, Justice Stephens in his
majority opinion in Kelo v. City of New London, acknowledged the important role of the planning process and the
adopted plan to sustain his conclusion that the power of eminent domain had been properly exercised in the City of New
London. 545 U.S. 469, 125 S.Ct. 2655 (2005).
ffff
On September 10, 2007, the New Mexico Development Council, a part of the Department of Finance and
Administration, adopted new rules for awarding Community Development Block Grants to local communities which
includes a requirement that the local comprehensive plan be adopted by ordinance in order to elevate the plan as a
regulatory mechanism. TITLE 2 – PUBLIC FINANCE; CHAPTER 110- LOCAL GOVERNMENT GRANTS; PART 2 – SMALL
CITIES COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT.

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 cities as economic and cultural centers, threats to drinking water quality and
quantity, reduced habitats and wetlands, higher incidences of flooding, rampant
fossil fuel consumption, and an ever larger carbon footprint. (Callies, Nolon, Salkin,
Ziegler 2008)

The new blue ribbon commission should consider the following elements when they draft the
SCCEA:
1. Plans must be mandatory, not optional. If a community chooses not to engage in a planning
process or adopt a comprehensive plan, then the land use authority should rise to the next level of
government that has adopted a plan.
2. Substantive elements or requirements should be spelled out for plans. APA’s Growing
SmartSM Legislative Guidebook includes recommendations for substantive elements for both state
plans and local comprehensive plans. (Meck 2002) The required elements that APA recommends be
included in every comprehensive plan include:
a) Issues and Opportunities Element
b) Land-Use Element
c) Transportation Element
d) Community Facilities Element, including a Telecommunications
component
e) Housing Element
f) Economic Development Element
g) Critical and Sensitive Areas Element
h) Natural Hazards Element
i) Program of Implementation

Optional elements and subplans include:

a) Agriculture, Forest, and Scenic Preservation Element
b) Human Services Element
c) Community Design Element
d) Historic Preservation Element
e) Neighborhoods Plans
f) Transit-Oriented Development Plans
g) Redevelopment Area Plans

Climate change impacts and mitigation measures should be woven throughout each element of any
community’s comprehensive plan.
3. Require land use regulations be consistent with the plan. To mend the disconnect between
the adopted plan and the community’s land use regulations (such as zoning, subdivision, and impact
fees), there should be an explicit requirement of consistency.
4. Require land use decisions be consistent with the plans. After the comprehensive plan and
land use regulations are determined to be consistent, it is critical that decision-makers conform their
actions to the plans as well. The SCCEA should require such a link.
5. Require plans be reviewed and updated regularly. Too many plans today are sitting on the
shelf for many years. They must be relevant and current to be an effective guide for decision-
makers. Benchmarking and a report card to the public about progress or lack or progress in
implementing the comprehensive plan is also worthy of consideration by the blue ribbon
commission.
6. States must reclaim some of the planning powers. Although local land use authority is
optimal, there are circumstances when local officials cannot act in the public’s interest because the
affected public includes the region. In this era of growing understanding about climate change and
its impacts, the affected public is now global. Planning and land use authority in the U.S. is
ultimately delegated from the various States to the local governments. Under certain circumstances,

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States should reexamine their role in building sustainable communities and reclaim some of that
authority when necessary.
The Consistency Doctrine:
The consistency doctrine is the cornerstone of the future SCCEA. Why is the consistency
doctrine important? The answer in a single word is – “implementation.” (DiMento 1980, Lincoln
1996) There are a number of reasons why the community’s comprehensive plan must be
successfully implemented.
• Serious challenges – such as climate change – require that we take a longer view.
Implementing the goals and policies in the comprehensive plan provides better odds that our
community leaders are taking the longer view and not merely responding to short-term exigencies.
• In a democratic society, the public participates in setting the goals for the future. A
comprehensive plan that is preceded by a meaningful public planning process presumably
represents the desires of the community’s residents and the inevitable competing interests have been
heard and reconciled in that process.
• Successful implementation of the provisions of the comprehensive plan engenders greater
public trust and confidence in the local decision-making process. “One of the greatest failings of
contemporary zoning law,” a land use law commentator notes, “has been the vulnerability of the
system to influence by politically powerful individuals, a vulnerability that can only be overcome
by establishing a procedural and substantive framework for individual decisions ---- planning.”
(Siemon 1987)
• The general public, property owners, and developers have a desire for stability and
predictability in the land use regulatory regime. Connecting development and land use decisions to
the adopted plan not only implements the plan, but also provides a measure of stability to the zoning
game and helps avoid ad hoc decision-making disconnected from the plan. (Babcock 1966)
• Planning is a process by which we evaluate and weigh alternatives, and then select the best
given our understanding today. The information available to us may change, and the plan may need
to be amended, but the planning process is very different from the development review process. Too
often, local officials either ignore the plan or amend the plan on the fly in order to conform to a
development application – blurring the lines between these two distinct processes.
• And perhaps most importantly from the perspective of the local government, connecting its
land use decisions to the comprehensive plan provides further evidence that the decisions are
rational and reasonable. The consistency doctrine is a way of getting at substantive due process via
statute, as a way of shoring up the constitutional argument that the decision is neither arbitrary nor
capricious and advances legitimate interests.
Professor Nolon points out that “[t]he development called for by the next 100 million
Americans will largely be reviewed and approved by local officials applying locally adopted land
use standards. Our historical approach to influencing human settlement patterns and the use and
conservation of the land has relied on private-sector forces and we have delegated the principal
authority to regulate those forces to the local level of government through the adoption of land use
plans and regulations.” (Callies, Nolon, Salkin, Ziegler 2008)
Fortunately, there are concrete examples of the consistency doctrine in the planning and land
use regime. In August 2008, the American Bar Association adopted a Model Statute on Local Land
Use Process which requires consistency between the land use decisions and the comprehensive
plan. (ABA 2008)
(a) A local government may approve or deny a development permit application, or
may approve an application subject to conditions. Any approval, denial, or
conditions attached to a development permit approval shall be based on and
implement the land development regulations, and goals, policies, and guidelines of
the local comprehensive plan.

(b) Any decision on a development permit application shall be based upon and
accompanied by a written statement that:

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 1. states the land development regulations and goals, policies, and guidelines of the
local comprehensive plan relevant to the decision;

2. states the facts relied upon in making the decision;

3. is consistent with the land development regulations, the goals, policies, and
guidelines of the local comprehensive plan.

4. responds to all relevant issues raised by documents and materials submitted to the
administrative review; and

5. states the conditions that apply to the development permit, the conditions that
must be satisfied before a certificate of compliance can issue, and the conditions that
are continuing requirements and apply after a certificate of compliance is issued.
(ABA)

The Model Statute on Local Land Use Process defines consistency as:
“Consistent with the Comprehensive Plan” means that development regulations, a
proposed amendment to existing land development regulations, or a proposed land-
use action is consistent with the local comprehensive plan when the regulations,
amendment, or action:
(a) furthers, or at least does not interfere with, the goals and policies contained in the
local comprehensive plan;
(b) is compatible with the proposed future land uses and densities and/or intensities
contained in the local comprehensive plan; and
(c) carries out, as applicable, any specific proposals for community facilities,
including transportation facilities, other specific public actions, or actions proposed
by nonprofit and for-profit organizations that are contained in the local
comprehensive plan.
In determining whether the regulations, amendment, or action satisfies the
requirements of subparagraph (a) above, the local planning agency may take into
account any relevant guidelines contained in the local comprehensive plan.

The APA’s Growing SmartSM Legislative Guidebook also recommends that States reform
their planning statutes by including a consistency requirement, and notes that a number of States
have done exactly that in recent years. (Meck 2002 at 8-33 – 8-38). The Blue Ribbon Commission
must ensure that the consistency doctrine is firmly rooted in the new SCCEA and encourage all
states to adopt such a requirement. The consistency doctrine should be the rule, not the exception, if
communities are going to successfully implement their comprehensive plans and effectively address
the serious impacts of climate change.
The City of New Orleans, a community devastated by climate change and Hurricane Katrina
in 2005, is providing the most recent leadership on the consistency doctrine. An important proposal
to amend the city charter has been forwarded by the New Orleans City Council to the citizens for a
vote in November 2008. (See Appendix) If approved, the city’s charter will require that “all land
use actions by any governmental body shall be consistency with the Plan” and that “all land use
actions not consistent with the Master Plan … shall be null and void.” The zoning ordinance, capital
improvement plan, and the capital budget will also be consistent with the Master Plan.
Perhaps it is fitting that the City of New Orleans is providing, by example, the leadership for
a new SCCEA, and recognizing the importance of including the consistency doctrine in its city
charter. Global warming is the ultimate public nuisance. All levels of government must plan for
climate change mitigation and adaptation, but plans without implementation are not going to

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effectively address this challenge. A new climate change enabling statute is needed to replace the
SZEA and SCPEA of the 1920s, and the consistency doctrine must be its cornerstone.

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 Appendix

A Citizen’s Guide to Land Use Reform: Summary of Smart Growth

Amendments to Home Rule Charter of New Orleans
(emphasis added)

City Council given legislative authority to adopt or amend the Master Plan and the Comprehensive
Zoning ordinance. Art. III, Sec. 3-112(5)(c).

City Planning Commission shall consist of nine members to serve for terms of four years.
Two members of the Planning Commission shall be nominated by the Mayor, two by the Council
members at large, and five by each Council district member. All Commission members shall be
confirmed by ordinance of the City Council and can serve no more than two terms. Art. V, Chap. 4,
Sec. 5-401.

City Planning Commission required to prepare a 20-year Master Plan for the physical development
of the city. Elements of the Master Plan are defined. Id. Sec. 5-402(1). The Land Use Element of
the Master Plan shall consist of text and a map setting forth categories of allowable land use issues
and density for each of the city’s thirteen Planning Districts. Id.

The Land Use Element of the Master Plan provides the city with the authority to do form based
zoning – traditional neighborhood development, transit oriented development,
smartcodes, etc. Id. Sec. 5-402(3)(c).

City Planning Commission shall prepare and recommend to the City Council a zoning ordinance
and zoning map for the purpose of implementing the Master Plan. Both the ordinance and the map
are required to be consistent with the Plan. Id.

The city’s capital improvement plan and its capital budget shall be consistent with the Master Plan.
Id. Sec. 5-402(4).

In preparing the Master Plan, the City Planning Commission must hold at least one public hearing
in each of the 13 Planning District to solicit the opinions of citizens that live and work in that
District and a public hearing to solicit the opinion of citizens from throughout the community. Id.
Sec. 5-404(1).

The City Planning Commission shall forward the Master Plan to the City Council for adoption. Any
modifications of the Plan by the Council before adoption shall be referred back to the Planning
Commission for a public hearing and comment. Id.

Following the adoption of the Master Plan, all land use actions by any government body shall be
consistent with the Plan, as well as amendments to the Plan. Id. Sec. 5-404(3)(a).

The Land Use Element of the Master Plan and the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance shall each
contain a table or matrix specifying which zoning districts in the Zoning Ordinance are consistent
with each of the land use categories in the Land Use Element of the Master Plan. Id. Sec. 5-
404(3)(b).

All land use actions not consistent with the Master Plan, or amendments to the Plan, shall be null
and void. Id. Sec. 5-404(3)(d).

At least every five years, but not more often than two years, the City Planning

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Commission shall comprehensively review the Master Plan and shall determine whether the Plan
requires amendment or comprehensive revision. If it is determined that amendment or
comprehensive revision is required, the Planning Commission may take appropriate action. Id. Sec.
504(4).

The City Planning Commission may amend the Master Plan, including the Land Use
Element and Land Use Map, following application effecting a particular parcel or parcels of
property, provided all such amendments shall be considered on a regular schedule which shall allow
all such amendments to be considered at one time and no more than twice per calendar year. The
City Planning Commission shall hold at least one public hearing in the Planning District where the
effected parcel or parcels of property are located to solicit the opinion of citizens that work or live
in that district and a public hearing to solicit the opinions of citizens from throughout the
community. Id. Sec. 504
(5).

Any zoning ordinance, or amendment to the zoning ordinance, that is adopted by the City
Council that is not consistent with the Master Plan shall be null and void. Id. Sec. 5-406
(1).

Simultaneous with any amendment to the Master Plan, the City Planning Commission shall review
the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, after one or more public hearings, to determine whether the
ordinance requires revision and amendment. Id. Sec. 5-406(2).

The City Planning Commission shall hear and decide all applications for conditional uses
authorized by the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. Id. Sec. 5-406(3).

The Board of Zoning Adjustments shall consist of five members who shall serve for terms of four
years. The Board members shall be nominated by each Council District member and confirmed by
ordinance of the City Council and shall serve no more than two terms. Id. Sec. 5-408(1).

City is required to create and support a system for organized and effective neighborhood
participation in land use decisions and other issues that effect quality of life. Art. V, Chap. 10, Sec.
10-101.

City Planning Commission shall identify and map the number, boundaries, and names of each
neighborhood in the city, listing each neighborhood in its respective Planning District or Districts.
Id. Sec. 10-102.

City is required to establish a Neighborhood Participation Office under the supervision of the City
Planning Commission. Id. Sec. 10-103.

Neighborhood Participation Office shall provide technical assistance and guidance to citizens and
neighborhood organizations so that they will be in a better position to participate in government
decisions in their respective Planning Districts. Id. Sec. 10-103
(2).

Neighborhood Participation Office authorized to make recommendations concerning a particular

action, policy, or other matters to any city agency on any topic affecting the livability, safety, and
economic vitality of neighborhoods. Id. Sec. 10-104(1).

Neighborhood Planning Office authorized to make recommendations to the City Planning

Commission in the formulation, revision, or amendment of the Master Plan. Id. Sec. 10-104(3).

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Neighborhood Planning Office authorized to make recommendations to the City Planning
Commission concerning District, neighborhood, and target recovery plans that could be adopted by
the Planning Commission as part of the Master Plan. Id. Sec. 10-104(4).

For the purposes of clarifying Articles, Chapters and Sections of the Home Rule Charter
amendments, eight terms relating to land use planning were added and defined. Art. V, Chap. 11.

348
 References

Advisory Comm. on City Planning & Zoning, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, A Standard State Zoning
Enabling Act (rev. ed. 1926)

Advisory Comm. on City Planning & Zoning, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, A Standard City Planning
Enabling Act (1928)

American Bar Association, Model Statute on Local Land Use Process, prepared by a Joint Task
Force of the State and Local Government and Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice
Sections of the American Bar Association; adopted by the House of Delegates August 2008.
(available at http://www.abanet.org/statelocal/docs/ModelLandUseCode.pdf )

American Planning Association, Policy Guide on Smart Growth (2002), available at

http://www.planning.org/policy/guides/pdf/SmartGrowth.pdf

American Planning Association, Policy Guide on Planning and Climate Change, (April 27, 2008),
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Arnold, Anthony (Tony) Craig, 2007. The Structure of the Land Use Regulatory System in the
United States. 22 J. LAND USE & ENVTL. L. 441.

Babcock, Richard, 1966. The Zoning Game: Municipal Practices and Policies, 120-21.

Barnett, J., Ed., 2007. Smart Growth in a Changing World. Chicago: American Planning
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Callies, D., Nolon, J., Salkin, P., and Ziegler, E., 2008. A Land Use and Planning Agenda for the
Next President, PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, Vol. 60, No. 1, Chicago: American
Planning Association.

Delaney, John J., Charles M. Haar, and Theodore C. Taub. 2008. “Maryland’s Highest Court
Opines on the Relationship Between Plans and Development Decisions.” PLANNING &
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, July.

DiMento, Joseph F., 1980. The Consistency Doctrine and the Limits of Planning (Cambridge,
Mass.: Oelgeschlager, Gunn, and Hain)

Ewing, R., Bartholomew, K., Winkelman, S., Walters, J., and Chen, D., 2008. Growing Cooler –
The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change. Washington DC: Urban Land
Institute.

Freilich, Robert H., Mark S. White and K.F. Murray, 2008. 21st Century Land Development Code.
Chicago: American Planning Association.

Gerrard, Michael B., Ed., 2007. Global Climate Change and U.S. Law. Chicago: American Bar
Association.

Haar, Charles M., 1955a. “In Accordance with a Comprehensive Plan,”

68 HARV. L. REV. 1154

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Haar, Charles M., 1955b. “The Master Plan: An Impermanent Constitution,”
20 LAW & CONTEMP. PROBS. 353

Larsen & Siemon, 1979. “In Accordance With A Comprehensive Plan – The Myth Revisited,” 1979
INSTITUTE ON PLANNING, ZONING AND EMINENT DOMAIN 105

Lewyn, Michael, 2003. Twenty-First Century Planning and the Constitution. 74 U. COLO. L. REV.
651.

Lincoln, Robert, 1996. “Implementing the Consistency Doctrine,” The Growing Smart Working
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Lucero, Lora A., 2008a. “The Consistency Doctrine: Merging Intentions with Actions,” Zoning
Practice, August.

Lucero, Lora A., 2008b. “Climate Change Litigation and Policy – A Rapidly Changing Landscape,”
PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, August.

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TOPIC 6:  New Curricula 

Proposals on China’s City Planning Education and Climate Change

GUO Jian
Lector of city planning and architecture, College of Architecture of Wuhan University of Technology, China
(e-mail: guosay@yahoo.com.cn)

Postal address:
GUO Jian ( ' ' in Chinese)
The Department of Architecture
The College of Civil Engineering and Architecture
Wuhan University of Technology
The South Luoshi Road, Wuchang District
Wuhan City
Hubei Province
China

Abstract
China has proclaimed China’s National Climate Change Programme in June 2007. As an important
support system, city planning has not been specially brought forward in the Programme. City
planning education of China should be modified in order to enhance the awareness and knowledge
of city planners on Climate Change. Four modifications of city planning education are put forward
in the article. Increasing awareness, adding to knowledge system about climate change and
corresponding technology, adding to investigation practice education about urban disaster reduction
in professional education and building major orientation of city planning research about climate
change. The article concludes with several points about the necessary climate change research on
the China’s future city planning education and the connection between city planning and China’s
National Climate Change Programme.

Introduction

The global climate change brought much influence to the whole world. Climate change has become
one of the most important problems in the process of policy making and economy development,
especially in China. Climate change has been paid great attention to by the governments, but also
has been concerned much about by the scientific field. Human are faced with how to slow down the
climate warming process and how to adapt to the influence that climate change brings to the
agriculture, industry, energy security, water resource, coastal belt and ecology environment. In
addition, to prevent and mitigate the climate disasters are also important. All these are the hotspots
in science field now. Taking one with another, the researches in climate change are involved with
kinds of important aspects of global ecology system. With great efforts in slowing down the climate
change, China has established urban climate disaster reduction system, and proclaimed China's
National Climate Change Programme in 2007[1], which decides the directions of the climate
change research and policy and measures making. As an important support system, city planning
has not been specially brought forward in the Programme. As is known, city planning has great
influence on city economy, energy exchange, city life and city morphology and etc. Some
researchers have worked on this field for long time and some achievements have been used in the
city construction and development. China has encountered a big snow disaster this year. The snow
disaster last several weeks and brought great loss to China. The governments make great efforts in
the disaster succor, but we could find many problems in urban disaster reduction system, especially
in city planning and construction. The urban disaster reduction system didn’t respond well to the

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climate disaster. Traffic transport, urban energy supply, food supply and city life were influenced
greatly. Some cities almost fell into unprecedented critical conditions. If the local governments have
set down climate change tackling strategy in city planning, many problems wouldn’t be serious, and
even some problems wouldn’t come into being. Through several years of study, Chinese local
government officials know that climate change is a crucial problem in local strategy and city
planning is the important for local development, but they seldom emphasize climate change in city
planning. for urban climate disaster reduction system and energy efficiency. And they don’t know
where and how they should begin with city planning climate change.Indeed, the ignorance of the
climate change in city planning has great relation to city planning education. So in order to enhance
the awareness and knowledge of city planners on Climate Change, China’s city planning education
should be modified according to the research achievement and government policy macroscopically.
So four modifications of city planning education are put forward in the article. The first point is to
increase awareness of climate change in professional education. The second point is to add to
knowledge system about climate change and corresponding technology in professional education.
The third point is to add to investigation practice education about urban disaster reduction, which is
most important to increase awareness of participators in climate change. And the last point is to
build major orientation of city planning research about city disaster reduction in Climate Change.

The article concludes with several points about the necessary climate change research on the
China’s future city planning education and the connection between city planning and China’s
National Climate Change Programme.

Disadvantages in china’s city planning education system and climate change

There are some disadvantages in China’s city planning education system, which make against the
prevalence of the climate change programme. China’s city planning education system is not open
enough and pay more attention to the planning formulation education.
The first disadvantage is that China’s city planning education system is not an open system. Most of the students
out of the system know the environment and society superficially. They have little knowledge about the climate change,
which is a hotspot in the world now. So the city planning that they attend or leading would ignore much of climate
change and may not adapt to the new problems more and more that the urbanism, global ecology balance and climate
warming brought to the city development. Climate change is an dynamic development process and the knowledge of it
cover many of fields and becomes complicated always. Climate change brought many negative influences to the world,
and some of them would break out suddenly and some would take out gradually. But the China’s city planning
education knowledge system always keeps steady, seldom update knowledge and methods. For example, some of the
main teaching materials are often used for more than 10 years without update and teachers teach the same knowledge by
the same method. This kind mode of city planning education concerned less about the contemporary society and the
new problems of the cities. As an hotspot problem, Climate change couldn’t be concerned about deeply and be updated
in city planning education. As is well known, China is stepping into a great power with high-speed economy
development and urbanism. It’s so strange that China’s city planning education doesn’t keep update to the city and
society development. It indicates that China’s city planning is lack of enough interactivity with the city and society
development. This is a serious shortage. When new climate problems come to the city planners, there should be
something to be done to speed up the spread of climate change knowledge between the planners. So it is necessary to
establish a kind of mechanism to enhance China’s city planning education system more open. It would also do great
contribution to policy making and make the policy efficient.

The second disadvantage is that China’s city planning education system pay more attention to the planning formulation
education than the conception and consciousness education. Students concerned less about the reality and don’t know
enough about the urbanism and society development nowadays. They prefer to study more techniques about the
planning formulation. This is the result of the city planning mode of government. Of course this kind of the condition is
changing better gradually. Conception and consciousness education is becoming an important part in city planning
education.

The two disadvantages have negative effect on the development of climate change education in city planning education
system. In order to combine city planning with climate change better, four particular modification are put forward.

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Four proposal s of modifications for city planning education

Four modifications of city planning education in china are put forward in the article.

The first point is to increase awareness of climate change in professional education. Climate change
is important in national policy, but it hasn’t form a real education system in city planning education.
And the efficiency of the national policy about climate change would drop.

There are some knowledge about climate change in city planning education, which focus mainly on
the techniques. No matter how advanced the techniques are, the awareness education is the first
important thing in city planning education. Students should know what climate change is and what
it would bring to the world, and they should know the basic knowledge about the climate change
and could find some of the influences in the real society and the city development. It is necessary
for them to study urban disaster prevention and reduction and energy efficiency strategy. They
should know where and how they get more information about climate change. They have to be
provided with basic awareness of the climate change. This kind of awareness education of Climate
change includes students and city planners. The improvement of awareness of climate change could
promote the efficiency of the climate change policy.

The second point is to add to knowledge system about climate change and corresponding
technology in professional education. Increasing awareness of the climate change in China’s city
planning is necessary, meanwhile the main technology and methods of slowing down climate
change in city planning should be taught to the students. Some other technology need to know
about. The students should know what the newest technology about climate change is and what the
technology would bring to the climate change and city planning. Through the combination of
technology and reality in climate change and city planning, students may have more Sense of
urgency and know more about the reality of the city and society. It is necessary to be taught to
students that the reason and forming process of climate change, the framework of climate change
programme in China, the main points of the city planning and architecture, the basic operation
principle of urban disaster prevention and reduction system and the city planning of reconstruction
after disaster and etc. The knowledge system includes principles, technology methods, and
framework of technology system. Teachers and students should know about these basic frameworks
of knowledge of climate change and city planning.

The snow disaster brought huge loss to China. People found some important faults in the disaster
prevention and reduction system, but the report of the snow disaster hasn’t been conveyed to the
city planning education field. With no correct and integrative reports about the snow disaster, the
city planning education won’t improve the technology rapidly in the climate change and urban
disaster prevention and reduction. It doesn’t do good to the self-reflection of the city planning and
climate change. So integration of the climate change technology and city planning education need
to be update according to the development of the technology of the climate change reduction in city
planning and to the disadvantages that were revealed in the climate disaster .

The third point is to add to investigation practice education about urban disaster prevention and
reduction, which is most important and easier to increase awareness of participators in climate
change. China has frequent climate disasters. The investigation practice may be arranged in the
season with frequent climate disasters. The investigation practice place could be the place that
climate disasters often take place or is easy damaged by the climate disasters. In addition, the old
town or historical districts with weak power in the disaster prevention and reduction are good
choices in the investigation practice. The participators should track record the process of the climate
disasters, the loss of the city in the climate disasters and what the people could do and have done in
the disaster succor and so on. The participators should pay attention to the influence that the climate
disaster brought to the city planning and to what have to be done with the city planning in the
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reconstruction of the city. Then they are asked to make assessment of the climate disaster
prevention and reduction ability in city planning. The snow disaster in China could be a good
opportunity to exhibit the influence of climate change and the operation process and effect of urban
disaster prevention and reduction system and the city planning. Climate disasters investigation
practice would give the investigation participators the climate change education and awareness
increasing face to face, which would bring a better effect than the TV and books. After investigation
practice, investigation participators should be encouraged to give their own opinions of resolving
the problems in the city planning against climate change. Through the investigation practice, the
students have more reflection on the relationship between climate change and city planning. And
they may change their design mode and conception of the city planning. With higher awareness of
climate change, they would have better technology and creativity and higher social responsibility.
The investigation practice could also bring a lot of concerned data and information to the research
in the climate change in city planning. The investigation practice gives the city planning education
update information.

The last point is to build major orientation of city planning research about city disaster prevention
and reduction in climate change. In the long run, China need to setup orientation of research about
urban disaster prevention and reduction in climate change in city planning, which including city
development and layout strategy with energy efficiency, energy efficiency in city planning, urban
disaster prevention and reduction planning, city planning and reconstruction after disaster. In order
to improve the education level in city planning and climate change, it is necessary to improve the
research level.At present, the research about the technology and strategy of climate change in city
planning field is in a good way. Many western researchers put forwards their advice about the
climate change on the city planning. But China’s systemic city planning strategy for climate change
have not come into being yet. It’s urgent to begin the setup of the research system. This give China
opportunities and challenge. In china, at least four research orientation in city planning should be
setup at first.

The first one is the strategy research of city planning in climate change. It includes the mode
research of city development, the research of city residential and commercial layout, and new type
of compact city in China. This is the basic research for city planning in China.

The second one the is the research of China’s energy efficiency in city planning. It includes energy
efficiency research in land use, traffic system and city dynamic connection, greenbelt and landscape
system, and public facilities. China’s cities is in high speed of urbanism and need to do so many
city plannings. Whether the city planning is energy efficient decides basic amount of energy
consumption of a city. So it’s important to establish the research orientation as early as possible.

The third one is the research of climate disaster prevention and reduction system in city planning. It
include the research of climate disaster prevention and reduction planning, the disaster succor
planning, emergency traffic and supply system planning and control, and reconstruction planning
after the disaster. In fact, some of them could be put together with the other kinds of the disaster
prevention and reduction system.

The last one is the research of climate change adaptation in residential community layout and public
traffic transportation. As is well known, China has the largest population in the world. The total
amount of energy consumption of the buildings is so huge. The research about residential layout
and the community relation is realistic and urgent. The research of the public traffic transportation
in China is emphasized by the institutions and university now. Although it began early in China, but
researchers are faced to many difficulties.

Case study to increase awareness and skills about climate change in city planning education

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The old towns and historical districts have many natural advantages in the community development.
But it is so weak in front of the climate change nowadays. Through particular consideration, the
historic district in the old city wall of Hanyang was chosen to do a investigation practice in
education experiment. Hanyang is one of the three towns in Wuhan. Wuhan is divided by the two
rivers into 3 towns, named Hankow, Hanyang and Wuchang. The students were assigned a project
about the conception city planning of protection and development of the old Hanyang. In the
investigation practice, an evaluation report about the influence of climate change and the ability of
disaster prevention and reduction of the old Hanyang was required.The students were asked to
collect information by questionnaire surveys and literature surveys. They collect the climate disaster
history of the old Hanyang, the snow disaster loss and the city planning information this year, the
status of the buildings and traffic transportation in the disaster. When they got all of the data, they
began to analyzed the city planning and climate change, and thought over the new type of the city
development and make protection and development planning. They gained much from the
investigations, especially the relation between climate change and city planning. They know exactly
the importance of the climate change, and have the primary awareness and knowledge to analyze
the influence that climate change brings to the cities.

This is a simply investigation practice. But the effect of the investigation practice is very good. It is
better than ten hours’ lecture. In order to improve the planning skill with climate influence, the next
step is to do some practices with a quantitative survey of long term. It gives the education more
veracity, and bring the students better way to improve skills and awareness, which could also bring
much information to the research.

conclusions

The proposals for China’s city planning about climate change contain the macroscopical and
microcosmic modification advice in city planning education system. And the proposals are feasible
and realistic. Climate change is so important to the development of China and the global life. City
planning have to be modified gradually. China’s reality decides the way of climate change
education in city planning. Whether the proposals are accepted depends on the reformation of
directions of the government. The disadvantages have to be decreased through the efforts of the
government and education institutions and lectors. But the reality is urgent, the university of China
should begin their establishment of the climate change research and education in city planning now.

In China's National Climate Change Programme, the strategy of the city planning have not been
point out yet, there may be many problems hard to solve. with the research about climate change
and city planning improving, the programme would add to the strategy of the city planning early or
late. However, the city planning education is easier to begin than the strategy of city planning to
proclaim. It is urgent to for China to modify the city planning education in front of the frequent
climate disasters.
Notes and references
[1] National Development and Reform Commission of People’s Republic of China, China’s National Climate Change Programme,
2007.

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DESIGNING FOR CHANGE: A STUDIO MODEL
Associate Professor Penny Allan
Victoria University of Wellington

While there is a growing body of literature on the mitigation of climate change through legislation and policy,
there is a shortage of research relating to design as a strategy for enhancing a city’s adaptive responses to
change that is already happening. In this context, the design studio model, with its holistic, problem-based
approach and ‘what if…’ propositions has proven to be a valuable research tool because it provides an
opportunity to propose and test multiple and complex ideas quickly.

In 2007, two Australasian landscape architecture programs (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology RMIT,
Australia and Victoria University of Wellington VUW, New Zealand) collaborated with a wide range of
disciplines and government bodies in a design studio project to address these issues. The studio posed the
following questions: how will sea level rise affect the low lying areas of both cities within the next 50-100
years? And how can design affect the capacity of cities, traditionally designed for efficiency, to cope with
change?

The approach of each studio reflected quite different local concerns. While RMIT’s focus was on the design
of new types of urban spaces, in response to the inundation of terrain and major drainage infrastructure,
VUW investigated resilience as a conceptual framework for design with strategies including scenario
planning, new techniques for mapping change over time and staged processes of ‘managed retreat’.

Both studios interpreted the threat of inundation as an opportunity to address intractable social and
environmental urban issues. Both reflected the inherent capacity of the design process to encourage
integrative thinking.

This ongoing research highlights the importance of an effective integrative, multidisciplinary process to
resolve complex climate change issues, suggests ways that design propositions might inform climate change
policy and establishes design studio as an important vehicle for the creation and rapid testing of strategies
for resilient responsive urban environments.

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INTRODUCTION
Global warming has delivered the prospect of rising sea levels, droughts, floods and a variety of other
catastrophes. Pictures of a partially submerged Manhattan, San Francisco and other great cities have been
widely broadcast. However the pictures only tell part of the story. A portion of the surface elements are
submerged, but more importantly a complexity of natural, cultural, social, historic and infrastructural systems
are seriously affected, revealing just how fragile our systems of urbanity are.

In 2007 Cath Stutterheim from RMIT and I conducted parallel climate change design studios to assess the
threat and implications of sea level rise in two very different cities; Wellington, New Zealand and Melbourne,
Australia. The studios produced quite different responses but both saw the sea level rise scenario as an
opportunity to deal with a wide range of social and environmental urban problems.

This paper discusses a design studio undertaken in 2007 and the subsequent testing of student work against
two frameworks: resilience and scenario planning (both concepts from ecological sciences via other
disciplines) which resulted in a descriptive glossary which might be used to describe and design for change
and complexity in the urban environment.

The studio has generated a body of research at the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) into climate
change and urbanism which then inspired 2008 curriculum. A book, Moved to Design documents this
process, discussing student work and proposing specific strategies for response through design, both in
teaching and in practice.

THE 2007 STUDIO

It’s a little odd to propose a sea level rise studio in Wellington because we are actually due for a massive
earthquake which would probably cancel out the effects of any sea level rise. During the last earthquake in
1855 (measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale), the ground rose by 6m in some places and a shelf of land, which
now supports important coastal infrastructure, rose out of the sea. But the point of the studio was not to
predict the future. It was
1. to encourage a new way of looking at urban form and infrastructure and their capacity to respond to
change
2. to experiment with design methodologies that not only accommodated but were reliant on the idea of
flux and uncertainty

The Brief
We chose four low lying coastal sites in the Wellington city area, each with a specific set of qualities and
problems; e.g. low lying pipes, contamination, ageing infrastructure.

Then we proposed four stages:

Part 1: Develop a ‘hunch’ based on thorough reading of the site.
Part 2: Design a protective structure
Part 3: Plan a managed retreat.
Part 4: Based on the previous two tests, develop an appropriate strategy

Then we developed 2 ‘change’ frameworks together with associated vocabularies against which to test the
student work.

THE FIRST FRAMEWORK: RESILIENCE

There are two quite different definitions of ecological resilience. The first considers resilience to be a
measure of how quickly a system returns to an equilibrium state after a disturbancegggg. The second, is
defined by C.S. Holling as ‘the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing
change, so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks.hhhh’
The first definition is about speed and efficiency; the second focuses on the processes of change, describing
the mechanisms of any open system that allow it to change in response to change while remaining relatively
stable. Holling provides us with 4 variables that facilitate that processiiii:

gggg
Holling, C 1998 ‘Two Cultures of Ecology,’ Conservation Ecology. 2(2): 4 [online] viewed 27 August 2007
http://www.consecol.org/vol2/iss2/art4/, p2
hhhh
Ibid
iiii Holling, C 2004 ‘Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability in Social-Ecological Systems’, Ecology and Society 9(2): 5 [online]
viewed 27 August 2007
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss2/art5 4, p3

358
Latitude
The maximum amount a system can be changed before losing its ability to recover.

Resistance
The ease or difficulty of changing the system.

Precariousness
How close the current state of the system is to a limit or “threshold.”

Panarchy
Influences from states and dynamics at scales above and below. For example, external oppressive politics,
invasions, market shifts, or global climate change.

How does this relate to urban design? If a city can be described as a system, we obviously want it to still act
like a city (i.e. ‘retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks’) while experiencing the
impacts change associated with, say, climate change. If as designers we can identify these variables and
influence them, theoretically we should be able to design for, or retrofit resilient cities.

Tonle Sap: A Resilient Settlement

The villages at Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia might be regarded as resilient settlements. The lake levels rise
and fall by about 12m during the wet and dry seasons. In terms of urban form, the locals have employed two
types of house construction: one that responds to lake level rise by floating, the other is built on 12m high
stilts. One type of house floats and rises and falls with the level of the lake. The others are on 12m high stilts,
becoming waterfront properties when the lake is full. Both have different amounts of latitude built into their
systems. The first is ‘precarious’ if the lake levels start to rise above 12m, the second, if the lake levels dry
up all together. The aim of both types of structure is to allow the settlement to ‘stay in the game’jjjj the ‘game’
being a settlement which retains its physical, economic and social structure regardless of lake levels.

THE SECOND FRAMEWORK: SCENARIO PLANNING

Another strategy that supports ‘staying in the game’ is scenario planning, a strategy developed by futures
planner Pierre Wack at Shell Oil in the 60s. According to Wack, the point of scenario planning is that if you’re
unprepared because you’re focusing on something else, you could precipitate system collapse. The
resilience vocabulary helps to shed light on the relevance of this strategy. For example, it might be said that
scenario planning encourages resilience by developing a range of likely futures based on the intensive
analysis of a number of key drivers of change. Being prepared on a number of fronts encourages latitude
and planning for a preferred scenario builds resistance to system collapse. Finally, Wack noted that
scenarios need to operate in association with a point of reference; at Shell Oil it was the manager’s vision for
the company; ‘you should have a clear, structured view of what you want your company to be, which
precedes your view of what you want your company to do’. kkkk

Scenario based learning

Scenario Planning is a useful teaching tool because it develops an understanding of the complexity and
interaction of systems. An example is the current fashion in medical school curricula around the world which
focuses on teaching by case study rather than anatomical system. Students start with a scenario and are
asked to determine the factors contributing to it rather focusing on a system and its pathologies in isolation
(think of the way cases are presented on the television program ‘House’). In both urban design and medical
school curricula, scenarios encourage integrative, holistic thinking.

THE GLOSSARY
During the course of our framework assessment, we established a glossary, drawn from a variety of
disciplines to help us better understand the ‘change frameworks’. By reviewing more closely how other
disciplines have described and dealt with change and testing this against the 2007 studio student work we
were able to come closer to developing a specific design methodology for dealing with change.

Homeostasis

jjjj
Pickett, S 2003 ‘Resilient Cities: Meaning, Models, and Metaphor for Integrating the Ecological, Socio-economic, and Planning
Realms,’ Landscape and Urban Planning 69(4), pp369-384
kkkk
Wack, P 1985 ‘Scenarios. Shooting the Rapids’, Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec., p. 147

359
Homeostasis describes how it’s possible to talk about change and relative stability at the same time. The
human body offers some clues. At one scale the body is relatively stable, but to achieve that stability in the
face of a constantly changing external environment it needs to undergo millions of minute, internal changes
at a different scale. The relative stability of the body’s system depends on its capacity to change in response
to a changing environment. In a similar way, city systems operate at a variety of scales. At Tonle Sap, for
example, the continually changing relationship at the scale of the land/ house/water interface allows for a
relative stability at the scale of the community.

Feedback mechanisms
The body uses a series of feedback mechanisms to achieve a core internal temperature of approximately
36-37 degrees centigrade. It manages changes generated by the body and the external environment in
order to maintain that temperature through a series of feedback mechanisms (e.g. shivering and sweating).
These feedback mechanisms enhance the body’s resistance, making it less vulnerable and keeping it away
from dangerous thresholds. The mechanisms are so powerful that they make the body’s position less
precarious, helping it to achieve relative stability or homeostasis.
A road network is another example of the way feedback mechanisms work. The size of a road determines
the amount of traffic it will take. Too much traffic, too many jams and people will stop using it, returning it to
its optimum state.

Latency
Stanford Anderson in his preface to the book ‘On Streets’ discusses the latency of the physical environment;
the capacity of a designed environment to support a change in functionllll. Latency in the urban environment
is like Holling’s latitude, or room to move. This is easy to achieve with a ‘loose fit’ often described as
‘robustness’. But what’s really interesting, and useful for this discussion, is that even with a ‘tight fit’, you can
find latency in unexpected places.
For example, Parc Trinitat, designed by Roig and Battle in 1997 exploits the latent potential of something (a
freeway) that Anderson would have described as a ‘machine’, his definition of a space with no potential for
latency, and yet 25 years later someone has managed to graft a sports park onto a freeway intersection.

STUDENT WORK
Student work was produced without any reference to either resilience or scenario planning and yet the best
work exhibited elements of both. This, in fact, is what prompted us to investigate these ideas more closely for
their usefulness as teaching tools and also their effectiveness in practice.

Resilience and XYT

Rongotai has been subjected to a number of changes in its short history. It rose out of the sea during the
1855 earthquake then settled into a relatively stable state of shifting dunes and wetlands. New urban
infrastructure has been constructed to allow for occupation but in doing so has affected the environment’s
capacity to respond to change. For example:

The sea wall, constructed to protect the suburb and Highway One from storm surge has fixed the coastal
edge in place preventing the active response of the dunes to sea level rise while the scouring action of the
waves against the wall causes erosion of the beach sand during storm periods. Raising the level of the wall
will merely exacerbate scouring of the sand and cut the town off from the beach. Sea level rise will
precipitate failure of the stormwater system, widespread flooding, loss of the beach and collapse of the
Highway.

XYT identifies ways to maintain the relative stability of Rongotai at one scale (the scale of the suburb) by
identifying interventions that would allow vulnerable systems to respond to change.

Referring again to the model, the project proposes to introduce latitude into each system by identifying back-
ups: for stormwater by exploiting the latent storage potential in the open space network, for traffic and
housing, by rerouting Highway One and decanting the residential strip to a new medium density
development on higher ground and for the coastal edge by removing the wall and allowing the dunes to re-
establish.

XYT proposes to do this in stages, calibrated to the occurrence of impacts. A graph shows the relative
vulnerability of these systems over time to sea level rise, where the x axis relates to relative sea level rise
and the y to the proposed interventions. Change is initiated when and only when it’s necessary.

llll
Anderson, S 1978, ‘People in the Physical Environment: The Urban Ecology of Streets,’ On Streets, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.,
p7

360
Not only are all of the systems less vulnerable because they have latitude or a back up system, their
resistance is strengthened by the presence of a feedback mechanism (the adaptive manager). In this way
the suburb is able to achieve a new, homeostatic state.

The final defence, the sea-wall, is demolished once the other system’s capacity for response has been
established.

The demolished wall and houses are buried as a way of trapping sand to stimulate dune regeneration.
Remnant carports and chimneys become elements in a new type of recreational landscape and the remnant
houses are gradually subsumed beneath the dunes.

Scenario Planning: Salt, Disturbing Suburbia and Over and Out

Students Matt Pepper, Yanos Fill-Dryden and Simon Stantiall developed and tested sea level rise scenarios
for their chosen sites that suggested new ways of thinking about the future. They created utopian visions for
a new community based on the sustainable use of its local resources (as in the case of the Salt community),
converted the ‘threat’ of sea-level rise from a local authority issue, to a household issue, into neighbourhood
issue and in doing so raised the insular community of Seatoun out of its torpor (in the case of Disturbing
Suburbia) and assessed the positive implications of building a massive retaining wall in Wellington harbour
to hold the sea back (in Over and Out).

CONCLUSION
The 2007 design studio process has been extremely fruitful, suggesting ways how design can encourage us
to be proactive rather than reactive to change. Some of the most interesting avenues for research include
the following;

1. The sea level rise scenario facilitated the teaching of climate change and landscape and urban
design in four dimensions. The extent of impacts and the implications of design moves need to be
mapped in both space and time. For example, relative levels need to be thoroughly understood
because even small changes in sea level rise have spatial implications; walls can be constructed to
protect infrastructure at the water’s edge but the invert levels of pipes threaded in an interconnected
maze through the city are more difficult to fix.
2. In contrast with natural ecologies, in an urban environment systems tend to be isolated;
responsibility for the teaching, planning, design and management of infrastructural systems are
typically kept separate. The scenario based studio reintegrates these systems. It encourages
students to see the city as a set of interconnected systems, to understand the implications of their
design strategies on the whole city and to propose solutions that produce multiple benefits.
3. The scenario based studio, with its rapid testing of multiple scenarios, collaborative processes,
integrated outcomes and powerful 2D and 3D visualisation can be an important tool assisting
governments and communities to respond proactively to the challenges of climate change. The most
effective outcomes are those based on the establishment of a close working partnership between
academia and relevant stakeholders.

Design studio is perhaps undervalued as a tool for innovation, but the model described in this paper has all
the necessary ingredients to generate new ways to think about climate change. Part scientific, part
speculative, part creative, and fully hypothetical, it stimulates ideas by encouraging integrative thinking, and
has the capacity to generate and test a wide variety of multi facetted economic, social and environmental
scenarios thus ensuring that not only students but also local governments and communities are well
equipped to understand the and respond to the complexities associated with climate change in the urban
environment.

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TOPIC 7:  Best Practice Case Studies 

RESILIENT URBAN DESIGN MODELS

Abstract

This paper translates ecosystem frameworks in science - watersheds, patch

dynamics, and the Human Ecosystem Framework- to resilient models for urban
design. In a context of global urbanization and rapid climate change, these new
frameworks and models challenge conventional thinking about, urban design and
sustainability. These urban design models are multi-scalar and temporal as well as
material and digital. Given that ecosystem change now happens in a lifetime;
monitoring, feedback loops and calibration are critical components. Resilient
models therefore offer the ability to not only recognize and absorb change but
also to apply knowledge toward effective engagement with ecosystem
complexity in the future.

Introduction

To situate design within expanded disciplinary and geographic fields means

broadening its analytical framework to consider the interrelations between these
flows of natural processes, society and media at multiple scales of localities and
networks. This paper uses the ecological frameworks of watersheds, patch
dynamics, and the Human Ecosystem Framework through which ecology and
design can intersect to create resilient models for urban design. Based on the idea
that the essential quality of urban life is the production of difference, these
frameworks give meaning to inhabiting our complex forest of symbols on an
urbanized planet.

In her essay, “City life and Difference” Iris Marion Young (1990) argued that the
ideal of community tends to value and enforce homogeneity and that appeals to
community are often anti-urban. Young proposes to construct a model of city life
as an alternative to both the ideal of community and the individualism it criticizes
as asocial. City life is a form of social relations defined by the being together of
strangers. City life is the milieu in which psychological, social and natural
differentiation actively produces knew forms of creative imagination and spatial
relations, beginning with the rich experience of the city. City life as the production
of difference is therefore key.

Resilience and Psyche- Reflective and Responsive approaches to Ecology and

Urban Design

According to Walker and Salt, (2006) the first step toward Resilience Thinking is
considering a systems perspective of how the world works; We are all part of linked
systems of human and nature (also described as socio-ecological systems); These
systems are complex adaptive systems; Resilience is the key to the sustainability in

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these systems. The second step is to develop and understanding of the two central
themes that underpin resilience thinking:

The first theme is thresholds for example; socio-ecological systems can exist
in more than one kind of stable state. If a system changes too much it
crosses a threshold and begins behaving in a different way, with feedback
between its component parts and a different structure. It is said to have
undergone a ‘regime shift.’ The second theme is adaptive cycles: How
socio-ecological systems change over time - system dynamics. Socio-
ecological systems are always changing. A useful way to think about this is
to conceive of the system moving through four phases; rapid growth,
conservation, release, and reorganization – usually but not always in that
sequence. This is known as the adaptive cycle and these cycles operate
over many different scales of time and space.

In a similar mode of rethinking method and this time using the word ecology as a
metaphor, Guattari offers ‘Three Ecologies’ for resilient thinking: environment,
social relations and the human psyche.

It is estimated that the world population doubled in the 40 years between 1959
and 1999 from 3 billion in to 6 billion and is projected to grow from to 9 billion by
2042. The UN Information Service () reports that the world’s urban population is
estimated at 3 billion and is expected to rise to 5 billion by 2030. For the first time in
human history, half of the world’s population now lives in cities. By 2030 the urban
population will double to six million climbing to 61% of the world’s population.
Clearly we are testing the resilience of the Earth to support urban life.

While older industrialized economies – and more recently China and the Middle
East - rely on the logistics of the oil economy, our cities are currently reflecting in
their reliance on fossil fuels, mechanical systems and top-down planning and
thinking. At the same time participatory democracy is often stalled in debate. In
contrast, South Asia, Latin America, and Africa have a much lower use of energy
and resources per capita. If they don’t copy the older industrialized economies
urban models they may be far more “developed” and better prepared for
demands of the 21st century.

Early landscape planning models such as Geddes, Garden Cities() , McHargs

suitability gradient () and Foremans tetradedron of types () leant heavily on a faith
in top-down planning. Even emergent–based models such as Alexanders () have
been translated to smart-codes that need to be strictly enforced by planning. In
recent residencies in Delhi, Mumbia, Beijing and Shanghai with the New School’s
India China Institute, it is clear - to quote Vikram Seth, () – that neither India with its
“halting, hypocritical and hopeless democracy” and China with its “huge
governmental octopus whose one tentacle doesn’t know what the other seven
are doing” are currently equipped to address the challenges of this rapid growth.

Shifting from questions of environmental resilience toward social resiliency and

psychological resilience, how can social relations respond in this enormous
ecosystem regime shift that is accompanying what Ulrich Beck (1992) calls the
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“second modernity”. The first modernity was marked by industrialization, which
created “goods’ without regard to the “bads” that resulted. Resilient models for
urban design engages in radically new scales of thinking and modes of
collaboration in order to creatively face the “bads” of the second modernity
because of its unique ability to engage the human imagination towards
ecosystem change.

Current collective ideas of Nature offer responsive modes that either privilege
humans needs or view Nature as energy accounting. No single mode is correct or
incorrect, rather the complexity of perceptions needs to be appreciated and new
perceptions allowed to emerge. Humans’ Nature also described as conservation,
where nature is managed by the state for human life is now being updated with
bio-mimicry and biophillia. In these modes humans learn from natural processes for
technological knowledge (a new-industrial revolution) or believe in an infinitely
forgiving nature that can offer measurable restorative healthcare services.
Another force in this family of ideas is love. The critique of permanent capitalist
expansion is located in the law of thermodynamics that in turn gives a view of the
need for limits. In this mode boundaries and shared measures are important for
example, conservation zones, carbon footprints, ecological modernization and
sustainable development.

Bateson argues that a sociological phenomenon based on conscious purpose of

human adaptation has arisen in the last 100 years which perhaps threatens to
isolate conscious purpose from many corrective processes which might come out
of less conscious parts of the mind. These ‘self-maximizing entities’ encourage a
type of dehumanizing in order to maximize their interests. Matter, according to
Bergson, is made up of ‘modifications, perturbations, changes of tension or of
energy and nothing else. For resilient urban design models, this matter-flux is a new
type of perception of Nature that aims to facilitate less conscious corrective
processes that are multiple, immersed, sensory, and durational.

The global shift in urban economies from centers of industrial production towards
multi-scaled networks of symbolic processing has created new forms of capital
accumulation, migration patterns and communication technologies. (Castells, )
Dramatic and rapid physical changes covering vast urban regions have outpaced
biological and social evolutionary time frames. We have consciously tried, but
cannot keep up with the ecosystem changes that have been unleashed. The
earth’s biosphere, human societies and minds are complex adaptive systems, yet
psycho-socio-natural processes lag behind the accelerating spatial
reconfigurations, revealing stress points, crises and vulnerabilities in human health
and well being. The late 20th century bureaucratic city, with its top-down
management systems legislated by master planning, land use and zoning can no
longer efficiently operate within this vast new dispersed network of housing, work,
leisure, agricultural and goods production, distribution and consumption.

Baltimore Ecosystem Study

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In 2002, following a surprisingly large and diverse reception to this on-line model, I
received a call from Morgan Grove, a social ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
It seems they were modeling the patch dynamic behavior of urban ecosystems
which closely paralleled the way I was modeling skyscrapers. I was invited to
participate in the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, a Long Term Ecological Research
Project funded by the National Science Foundation. The Baltimore Ecosystem
Study includes about fifty scientists from various disciplines working collaboratively
to understand how urban ecosystems work. Patch dynamics is the overarching
concept linking all the research and design work in the BES.

The BES uses three frameworks are used to test the patch dynamic theory in the
interrelations between social behavior, hydrology and plant ecology: the human
ecosystem and the small watershed frameworks and the HERCULES land cover
classification system.

1. The human ecosystem framework analyzes the human social system in

relation to critical resources at multiple scales. Social scientists at the BES use
lifestyle clusters to analyze consumer patterns of behavior. Prizm is a
geodemographic system which analyzes neighborhood lifestyle segmentations. It
is based on the simple theory that people choose to live in neighborhoods that
offer affordable advantages and compatible lifestyles. These neighborhoods can
be grouped into clusters that exhibit similar demographic and behavioral
characteristics. Geodemographics are relatively stable and reliable because the
characteristics that define a neighborhood change slowly. However, adaptability
and change is a fundamental characteristic of neighborhood self organization
and self perpetuation. Prizm, like HEF looks at the interrelations of tangible things
such as property regimes, housing stock, transportation networks, commercial
infrastructure, schools and land values combined with perceived forces and assets
such as economic opportunities, race and ethnicity, local politics, language,
culture, and ambiance. Changes that most often cause people to move include
leaving the nest, graduating from college, getting married, having children,
getting promoted, emptying the nest, and retiring. Through the human ecosystem
framework we are beginning to understand the relation between individual
mobility and neighborhoods changes such as new construction, regional
economic adjustments, transition to empty nests or to new families, rezoning, and
rising land values. (Claritas, )

Humans

The Human Ecosystem Framework provides a way to work with the diverse life
styles and aspirations of various stakeholders to provide bottom up and emergent
design strategies. By maximizing hands on socio-natural creativity rather than
delegated or formulated models we allow for unexpected healthy ecosystems to
emerge. The goal is for neighborhoods that afford healthy lifestyles with plentiful
resources.

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2. The small watershed framework uses water chemistry monitoring to analyze how
changes in behavior, construction or land cover in small upstream catchments
effect downstream environments. This methodology was invented and continues
to operate in the Hubbard Brook experimental forest. Here ecosystem science
moved from the bounded framework of island ecologies, to monitoring forest and
water chemistry interaction in small stream catchments in the Granite State. Fifty
years of data combined with recent discoveries reveals that what is learned in the
small branches of the watershed can be scaled up to the entire Hubbord Brook
basin itself. This knowledge is fundamental to the structuring of the BES work around
Baltimore’s open stream watersheds. (Likens and Bormann, 1995)

Watersheds

Environmental regulations require buffer zones between developments and

waterfronts. This approach, while well intentioned, has produced thin band-aid
esplanades with massive developments abruptly behind. Zigzag and point cloud
approaches mixes built, natural and social systems in order to promote
stewardship of entire watershed catchments rather than just waterfronts

3. HERCULES - High Resolution Classification for Urban Landscapers and

Environmental Systems - is a novel land cover classification system that puts patch
theory into operation. (Cadenasso, 2007) The HERCULES system consists of five
types of land cover and classifies neighborhoods according to different
combinations of coarse and fine grain vegetation, bare soil, pavement or
buildings. When arrayed, the recombinations of land cover types produces
thousands of possible patches. Every city has a patch signature based on the
presence of a certain number of patch types in a particular configuration.

Patches

High resolution aerial infrared imagery can be used to define land cover patches
based on the percent of mixtures of five different kinds of surface: building,
pavement, bare soil, fine and coarse vegetation. Designers and plant ecologist in
the Baltimore Ecosystem Study classified an entire regional watershed in Baltimore,
Maryland. This system is used, as the basis for understanding the distinctive qualities
of individual neighborhoods, and the entire watershed.

Together these three frameworks allow us to examine how altered everyday

practices, actions and rituals ingrained in material existence create new forms of
civic imagination and social capital, which consequently trigger environmental
change. Our three frameworks serve as both tools for scientific research and
inspiration for open ended designs developed for various indeterminate
perceptual sensibilities within dynamic patterns of change.

Creative Uncertainty

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Our goal requires inventing a method of creative uncertainty which involve new
processes, ways of thinking, working and building that are collaborative,
improvisational, experimental and self-reflective. (Genosko, 2003) We search for
resilient forms and processes - working through dispersed agents that encompass
heterogeneity, spontaneity, vitality, and equity. Plant ecologists Steward Pickett
and Mary Cadenasso have challenged us with the deceptively straightforward
question: How can urban designs themselves become working models of
ecosystems? (McGrath, et. al. 2008) For us Pickett and Cadenasso’s vision
challenges prevailing limits of both avant-garde and conservation/restoration?
approaches to design and suggests the creation of a new field between design
and ecology. Old paradigms and models from both design and ecology remain
inadequate in analytically describing or achieving sensibility within the vast,
complex and interconnected ecosystems which constitutes the contemporary
city.

Nature and Cities can no longer be seen as separate systems, and therefore, the
mutual interrelations and feed-back loops between bio-physical, socio-ecological
and built environment processes are the subjects and objects of our work and
research. Pickett and Cadenasso urge us to explicitly incorporate the patch
dynamic framework as a constraint and driver of urban design, making designs
themselves experimental models “…as vehicles to test the assumptions and
processes of patch dynamics in the arena of built spaces.” Urban Design modeling
is therefore conceived as a collaborative activity in this new field between design
and ecology, taking place in three arenas:

1. simulations in computers,
2. testing and monitoring of urban ecosystems
3. and as experimental participatory design proposals in diverse social contexts.

Patch dynamic theory proposes a design practice based on the premise that we
must reach beyond the limits our training professionals. We aim to put into
operation the designer as system modeler and change initiator through renewing
haptic sensibility in daily life. Incremental, micro design changes can trigger the
regeneration of the global environment through feed back loops between local
actors and the physical environment. These loops produce difference through
circuits of repetition, therefore an urban ecosystem design perspective draws
equally from both design and ecology in order to link human existence, social
behavior, and cultural meaning with larger ecosystem patterns and processes.

Patch dynamics provides a framework to understand cites as intelligent patterns of

change and flows at an array of interrelated scales. Designed urban patches
produce heterogeneity, modularity, adjustability, flexibility and resilience that
begin with the human ability to interpret, reconstruct and symbolically
communicate patterns in a complex world. Contemporary designers have been
very successful symbolic processors, adept at grabbing public attention and
engaging the individual human psyche, while green design approaches are
laudable in their social values and goals, but it is in designed urban patch
dynamics that cultural circuits of architectural perception can be directed

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towards creating feedback loops by intelligently linking urban ecosystems in
broad, distributive, open, creative and inclusive ways.

Monroe Megalopolitan Patch

The U.S. East Coast Megalopolis is inhabited by 30,000,000 people inhabiting a

huge hardwood forest structured by watersheds. Monroe Center is located in
Hoboken, in the heart of the New Jersey Urban Complex - a large, densely
populated conurbation stretching along and under the long ridge of the Palisades
across the Hudson River from Manhattan. The Gwynns Falls Watershed, q 65 square
mile sub watershed which meets the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay near
downtown Baltimore, Maryland, is the home of 250,000 people and 24 distinct
commercial centers.

The inhabited hardwood forest of the American East Coast Megalopolis connects
the Hoboken, New Jersey Urban Complex and the Baltimore, Gwynns Falls
Watershed. Gwynns Falls, the study area for the Baltimore Ecosystem Study,
stretches from dense enclaves surrounded by highways and farms to partially
vacated urban neighborhoods. A vast strip parallels the Gwynns Falls Stream
Valley crossing the old city boundary, the ring road, and new exurban spurs. The
New Jersey Urban Complex follows a narrow ridgeline parallel to Manhattan
draining into the New Jersey Meadowlands and the Hackensack River to the west
and the Hudson River Estuary to the east. These two kinds of urban landscape
transects – ridge and valley – are repeated countless along the Atlantic seaboard,
and their design and management are dictating how the one hundred million
inhabitants of the Megalopolis manage the new challenges of the 21st century.

Monroe Center for the Arts is a mixed-use, market-driven real estate development
project in Hoboken, New Jersey. It offers an urban design model for neighborhood
change that actively cultivates ecosystem stewards through design with water
and a measure of success called creative uncertainty. Water, which is not
currently a positive presence in the neighborhood, is repositioned as an attractor.
The meaning of this new water is intentionally immediate, multiple, ephemeral and
ambiguous.

Creative uncertainty as introduced by Guattari (1.) is a mode of activism that aims

to engage ‘how interrelations between living systems, social structures and
psychical processes are conceived.’ This is not a goal towards fixity and control
but rather, toward the production of difference and heterogeneity. What is fore
grounded at Monroe Center for the Arts therefore is not the conservation of
environment, but rather the conservation of the view that environment is a living
and changing system continually influenced by living and changing ideas. This is
our commons and we wish for it to be continuously produced and recreated.

A five acre development, Monroe Center for the Arts currently hosts 70 artists and
50 businesses. Starting in 2008 the population density and level of use will increase
by the addition of three new buildings, a public space with two fountains, and roof

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gardens. To communicate the design intent of Monroe Center, this text introduces
the project as fully built, although it is still currently in construction.

The structure of this essay mimics the pathway of rainwater through the project; by
describing water-human networkings in everyday scenarios starting from far above
the ground, to on the ground surface, and finally into the ground’s subsurface. In
addition the legal, financial and environmental mechanisms of this project are
shared to make legible the way in which this hydrology design process was started
by the developers 14 years ago, has been taken up by the landscape architect,
and will be handed over to the new residents. The intent of this essay structure is to
communicate our belief that new natural resources can be produced by humans.
The traditional understanding of a natural resource is therefore being expanded to
include human and societal mechanisms for caretaking.

Design: TILLING

Water in the west edge of Hoboken is the substance that lingers in the street after
a storm. Close observation reveals that this water is sometimes a rainwater pond
and other times a brackish spring. This is because the composition of the water
depends on the confluence of a local rain event and the Atlantic Ocean-Hudson
River high tide. In these co-incidental events water forms a discontinuous surface,
temporarily marking the ancient wetland river edge. It is an enigmatic urban actor
and it is the inspiration for a flexible and adaptive public space network at Monroe
Center for the Arts.

The existing and new neighborhood artists, residents and users act in multiple ways
to generate and share knowledge about their watershed. In a crisis scenario,
excess water is considered a liability, such as a harmful flood. Conversely, in the
context of this new development, excess water offers an opportunity for the
opening of previously closed higher surfaces for recreation, relaxation and
exchange. People here appropriate their various public surfaces in innovative and
playful ways.

Starting from the highest elevation, the new residents in the condominium towers
are the high-rise caretakers of the watershed. They protect the headwaters of the
condominium tower catchment with their balcony rainwater filtration gardens and
management of patio surfaces with non-toxic cleaning products. This water is
stored in a basement tank and is used to irrigate the roof garden. In addition
balcony gardens provide extended habitats for birds and bugs migrating across
the street from the Palisades cliff. Given their broad horizon, the high-rise tenants
also serve as benefic surveyors, monitoring the neighborhood roof garden terrain.

The Palisades cliff, an ancient geologic fault marks the boundary between
Hoboken and Jersey City. Extending from Jersey City to far upstream on the
Hudson River, the Palisades is a linear forest inhabited by plants, animals and
people. Due to its topography, it is difficult to navigate, however a carefully
constructed trail has begun which will eventually offer an urban hike to Bear
Mountain, 50 miles to the north. Physically traversing this slope provides a
performed measure of the river and its watershed. The trailhead is located at
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Monroe Center and is being created by an overlapping network of stewardship
organizations.

The next watershed caretakers are the rooftop garden users. Encouraged to
appropriate the roof as their own yard, they continuously invent practices and
adapt their lifestyle on top of its thin absorptive section and in its gentle
microclimate. Paved, grassy, sand and gravel surfaces afford typical programs
such as reading, walking or play, however as an extension of the Monroe Center
for the Arts the same surface can function as a yoga studio, art class, ballroom,
gallery or whatever the creative users imagine. Two mobile barbeque carts and a
cabana provide a cooking and washing surface for a roof top brunch, wedding or
even a mini-restaurant.

Accessed from the fifth floor via a public elevator and the fourth floor via the
resident corridors, the roof garden has three distinct levels. The fourth floor terraces
are like outdoor rooms, one with grass and the second with sand and toy boxes for
play. Ramps and a stair allow access to the four and a half floor wet garden and
the fifth floor dry garden. Like an elongated zigzag the circulation system is
designed for both evening neighborhood strolls as well as a place to be still.

The roof garden functions to mitigate ground-level flooding as well as to offer a

higher ground refuge during surge events. Located over a parking garage and
residential apartments it is on average one foot thick with multiple waterproofing
membranes. An extensive green roof system acts as a sponge absorbing water
and releasing it slowly. Hot water, created via a heat exchange with the warmer
temperature in the earth is released into a fountain. This geothermal fountain also
functions as an informal bathing pool. Adjacent are two hot tubs and a shower
nook. Hot and cool water are therefore used to entice extended fall and spring
season use, and a mobile fire pit is available for year round use.

The street level stewards are the commuters, shoppers, tenants, restaurant patrons,
retail owners and workers. The rhythm of joining the breakfast crowd, lunchtime
crowd, dinner crowd or the after-hours crowd affords essential, long term,
everyday, distracted watershed observation. Two plaza fountains hold and
circulate stored rainwater. Like large clocks they evaporate slowly, measuring the
moisture changes through subtle shifts in the splash of a mini-waterfall and the
bubbles in a pool.

The plaza consists of two levels, an upper and a lower and the boundary between
them is the ancient Hoboken Island shoreline. Like an amphitheater, the upper
level is designed to offer a place to observe people and natural processes on the
lower level. When the tide comes in, the water becomes the performer filling the
lower plaza. In another scenario, stored rainwater used for irrigation, allows the
plaza vegetation to sustain periods of drought. The Monroe Center for the Arts,
therefore, manages heat and water stress that would otherwise negatively affect
vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, and natural resources, such as street
trees and gardens.

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Below the plaza level, under the built-up and sealed surfaces and into the
groundwater, there is another natural process occurring and being followed by
the residents. Monitoring wells on top of the clay layer at 20 feet below grade and
at bedrock (around 100 feet below grade) are regularly checked for the presence
and absence of water and contaminants. Given the industrial legacy of the area,
there is a slowly migrating flow of contaminants across property boundaries. On a
regular basis environmental consultants sample the wells and report their findings
to the residents and public agencies. This aquatic uncertainty is therefore made
transparent and allows for precaution and feedback.

An example of ecosystem feedback has already occurred. During the

construction of one of the residential towers, elevated levels of trichloroethylene
(TCE) were detected in the sub-surface water; TCE, a degreaser component, is
unhealthy for human contact. After multiple attempts to neutralize the TCE and its
derivative products, a cut-off wall was built below one of the buildings. Most of
the water that was perched on top of the impervious clay layer within the cut-off
wall was pumped out.

Development: METHOD

The Monroe Center for the Arts site was formerly the Levelor Blinds factory. With its
two mill buildings and the surrounding four acres of land, it was blighted and slated
by the local municipality for eventual demolition and construction of luxury
housing. The owners of the site, with the support of the existing artist community in
the buildings, proposed a mixed-use development that would be anchored by
artists and the arts. This entailed preserving the arts community and constructing
affordable work/ live spaces for artists as well as taking the arts out into a public
plaza and roof garden.

Environmental remediation was primarily funded through a combination of the

Brownfield Reimbursement Program (BRP) and the New Jersey Environmental
Infrastructure Trust Financing Program (EIT). The BRP (a State of New Jersey
program) permits the reimbursement of 75% of the sales taxes generated on the
site for 75% of the remediation costs. The EIT is largely funded by the EPA’s Clean
Water State Revolving Fund, which provides “seed money” for the state agency.
New Jersey has used these funds to provide low-interest loans for twenty years.
Until recently, the EIT funds were primarily used for municipal utility projects; since
2004 the program has been expanded to include Brownfields and non-municipal
water-cleansing projects.

In order to compensate for the development of the affordable units and the
public space, the owners requested and received Payment in Lieu of Taxes
(PILOT). Under the PILOT, the property tax burden (consisting of municipal, county
and school taxes) is reduced by eliminating the school tax and substantially
reducing the county tax. Overall this new development generated substantially
higher tax revenues for the city in absolute numbers. The public space and the
rooftop gardens in turn created the opportunity for the fountains, the design of
which would cleanse the water and therefore qualified for funding under the EIT.

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The fountains and the arts, both in the public plaza and roof gardens and within
the buildings are attractive to the retailers and the market-rate home buyers and
renters. The retailers started generating the sales taxes for reimbursement under
the BRP. The market-rate housing generated the property taxes for the PILOT,
which can be used for an upfront bond issuance for infrastructure as well as
payment of the EIT loan. Thanks to municipal, state and federal funding programs,
support of the local neighborhood, and nesting of the various funding programs
and programming of the overall development, local artists, market rate home
owners and renters, over 2,000 residents of a nearby public housing complex and
visitors enjoy water and its myriad manifestations.

This project is designed with an understanding of health that is informed by

contemporary ecosystem science where urban ecosystems are viewed in a non-
equilibrium paradigm (2). That is, they are resilient, complex, socio-natural,
adaptive systems rather than one self regulating system. In contrast to a
conservation strategy of protecting remnant or restoring degraded water or plant
systems this is a mode of working that is more projective toward yet-to-be
imagined futures and inclusive of social and economic forces. We ask of our work,
can healthy urban ecosystems be designed with monitoring, knowledge and
feedback, as well as continuous planning, invention, adaptation and wonder? The
role of design is therefore shared and does not lie in the hands of one professional
at one point in time. However we do believe that a compelling urban design
made at one moment in time can function as a long-term ecosystem
management tool by actors in everyday life.

Water is a material that triggers creative uncertainty and therefore it offers the
critical ecosystem process of multiplicity. By this we mean:

‘not the H20 produced by burning gases nor the liquid that is metered and
distributed by the authorities. The water we seek is the fluid that drenches the inner
and outer spaces of the imagination. More tangible than space, it is hheven more
elusive for two reasons: first, because this water has a nearly unlimited ability to
carry metaphors and second, because water, even more subtly than space,
always possesses two sides... water remains a chaos until a creative story interprets
its seeming equivocation as being the quivering ambiguity of life. Most myths of
creation have as one of their main tasks the conjuring of water. This conjuring
always seems to be a division.’(3)/

Ecologists, Steward Pickett and Mary Cadenasso write about the role of meaning,
model and metaphor to communicate science concepts to ‘the public, to
specialists in other disciplines, and even to schools of ecology beyond those which
generally use it.’ (4) At Monroe Center, our notion of the commons references this
three part thinking: the meaning we seek is to design public spaces that keep
open the ‘window’ of creative uncertainty for the users; circuits and feedback
loops of everyday life offer an urban design model for adaptive ecosystem
management; and finally water is the material that brings forth competing and
collective metaphors toward building communication, trust and co-operation.

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In the future it is planned that this multi-dimensional model of development will be
translated to other sites. While every landscape has water, this does not necessarily
mean that it should always be the organizing element. Other attractors could
include for example, nitrogen or carbon. While not as charismatic as water, the
role of design in these landscapes would need to work harder, requiring more
fantastic and spontaneous scenarios of our possible urban lives. In addition, new
ways of making such as the integration of science models into design models and
therefore seeing designs as working models of a small part of an urban ecological
system offer ways to approach important but previously complex ecosystem
processes in spatially based and meaningful ways.

Global exchange: inhabiting the forest of symbols

We are all familiar with the estimates that the world population doubled in the 40
years 1959 and 1999 from 3 billion in to 6 billion. The world population is projected
to grow from to 9 billion by 2042. The UN Information Service reports that the
world’s urban population is estimated at 3 billion and is expected to rise to 5 billion
by 2030. This year, for the first time in human history, half of the world’s population
now lives in cities. The proportion of the world population that is urban is expected
to rise to 61 per cent by 2030 and the world’s urban population will double to six
million in 38 years. Population growth will be particularly rapid in the urban areas of
industrializing regions, averaging 2.3 per cent per year during 2000-2030. Clearly
we are testing the capacity of the Earth to support human life.

The intent of the patch framework is to approach an understanding of the

relations and trends accompanying the global shift in urban economies from
centers of industrial production towards multi-scaled networks of symbolic
processing. New forms of capital accumulation, migration patterns and
communication technologies have unleashed rapid physical changes throughout
vast urban regions outpacing biological and social evolutionary time frames. The
earth’s biosphere and human societies are complex adaptive systems, yet both
natural and social processes lag behind the accelerating spatial reconfigurations,
revealing stress points, crises and vulnerabilities in human health and well being.
The bureaucratic welfare city, with its top-down management systems legislated
by master planning, land use and zoning can no longer efficiently operate within
this vast new dispersed networked environment for housing, work, leisure and
consumption. New architectural and urban design models and practices as well
as emergent design and management systems must be developed to address
these and other pressing issues such as climate change.

Burch,

While older industrialized economies – and more recently China and the Middle
East - rely on the logistics and technologies of the oil economy, these urban
templates are currently backward and unsustainable in their reliance on fossil fuels,
mechanical systems and linear thinking. South Asia, Latin America, and Africa
have a much lower use of energy and resources per capita, and are therefore,
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are far more “developed” and prepared for the 21st century’s requirements for
sustainable planning and design. Almost all the growth of the world’s population
between 2000 and 2030 is expected to be absorbed by the urban areas of these
developing regions. How can we prevent the cities of the south from copying
current development models? The realities of the world’s resource constraints
require design, planning and management which continually re-examine raw
material availability, and minimum run or load requirements, as well as
components of social organizational capacity critical for high performance. How
can architects participate in this enormous paradigm shift and change of
modalities that will accompany what Ulrich Beck calls the second modernity? I
would argue that architects must engage in radically new scales of thinking and
modes of collaboration.

Bangkok: spectacular feedback

Carved Gold-leaf wooden shutters frame scenes of paddy rice farming, grazing
water buffalo and lotus gardens floating within an encrusted background of
miniature diamond shaped mirrors. These reflective surfaces evoking a bucolic,
water based life are framed within the raised colonnaded ambulatory of the
ubosot housing Wat Pathumwanaram’s main Buddha image in the heart of
Bangkok. When saffron-robed mendicants circle the temple, the glimmering
surfaces mirror the sky, trees, lotus gardens and worshipers in a kaleidoscopic
mosaic of shifting reflections. Recently, the mirrored shutters also reflected a new
urban panorama beyond the temple precinct: cranes and scaffolding of two vast
construction sites surround the temple just outside the new Siam Central Station,
the main junction point between Bangkok Transit System’s first two mass transit
Skytrain lines, converging just outside the monastery walls.

The temple was constructed in the early 19th century by King Rama 4, as part of a
royal enclave of villas along the canal Khlong San Saeb built by his predecessor.
With the expansion of the Kingdom of Siam and growing commercial contacts
with Europe, the Grand Palace at the center of Bangkok grew over crowded the
Thai elite began to experiment with the architecture, landscapes, dress codes and
decorum of colonial Europe, while simultaneously rediscovering rituals and
pleasures from the rediscovered historical capitals of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya.
Today, this kilometer long stretch of Rama 1 Road, parallel with the canal is the
setting for new mass consumer desires marketed through a potpourri of historical
and contemporary references. The monastery complex now shares this long bock
with four major shopping mall/mixed-use commercial complexes comprising the
Central Shopping District of Bangkok. Surprisingly, the recent profusion of reflective
and transparent architectural skins and surfaces come to resemble, more and
more, the aesthetic dematerialization - if not spiritual dimensions - of Wat
Pathumwanaram’s glimmering illusionary shutters. Digital screen printing as well as
new glass and LED technologies create new luminescent images and reflections
back to city inhabitants wandering through the malls or gliding above the city on
the elevated Skytrain.

Thailand – 50% urban, 50% rural, provides a working analytical model of the
disujunctive space of flows that constitute the cultural dimensions of globalization
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mentioned in the introduction. Following the shock of the Thai economic crisis of
1997, thousand of people were out of work, many fortunes lost, bankruptcies were
rampant, and hundreds of halted construction sites across Bangkok were stark
reminders of the end of the “Asian Miracle Economy.” With the crisis came a
period of widespread self evaluation, especially when the economic remedies
instituted with assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank only worsened the crisis. King Bhumibol Adjulyadej introduced the concept of
the “Sufficiency Economy” in the year following the collapsed, based on the
Buddhist principle of the “middle path” a guiding principle for all people pursuing
their livelihood. “Sufficiency means moderation, reasonableness, and the need for
self-immunity for sufficient protection from impact arising from internal and external
changes.” (Thai Embassy, 2007)

Sufficiency economy is both a philosophy and a basis for policy making that
operates in three arenas of application. For individuals and households application
of the philosophy asks for reasonable behavior in investment and consumption. For
the corporate sector, it recommends risk awareness as well as good corporate
governance and responsibility, and for government economic policy makers it
outlines the need for fiscal discipline, sustainable growth, fair competition and
distribution, immunization against global risk and strengthening impoverished rural
communities. “The effective application of the sufficiency economy requires a
holistic perspective, encompassing the environmental, cultural, and social
dimensions.” (Thai Embassy, 2007)

Thaksin Shinawatra was elected Prime Minister in 2001, on a platform that rejected
Thailand’s dependence on IMF loans and requirements. He headed a political
party called “Thai love Thai.” “Thaksinomics” represents a distinct break the past
and the demise of the neoliberal economy of “The Washington Consensus” and
led to a growth rate for the Thai economy that increased from 1.9 percent in 2001
to 6.5 percent in 2003 The wider availablitily of credit and government stimulus
produced for the first time in Thailand a mass consumer society completely at
odds with the dictates of the Sufficiency Eocnomy. Thaksin was the first Thai Prime
Minister to complete a full term, and was re-elected by an overwhelming mandate
of the rural poor in 2005. It was during those years that the emergence of
Bangkok’s Central Shopping District became a both symbol of Thansinomics and
its basis in consumer spending, and the site of Thaksin’s ultimate political demise.
Ironically, these largest and most exuberant of these new consumer palaces are
located on Crown Property. Almost immediately after Thanksin’s reelection, his
consolidation of power and signs of corruption brought the Bangkok middle class
to front door of Parliament House the great square at the end of Ratchadammeon
Road.

After months of growing protests, the protesters gathered in Rama I Road, in the
shadow of the Skytrain, and brought Bangkok’s CSD to a halt, forcing Thaksin to
resign. Thaksin regained power as caretaker Prime Minister, but on September 19,
2006, a coup d’etat placed Surayud Chulanont as Premier with a mandate to
institute the Sufficiency philosophy. Elections in December 2007 replaced the
interim government with the People’s Power Party led by Samak Sundaravej based

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on a platform which allied itself with Thaksin and the banned “Thai love Thai”
political party.

Bangkok’s CSD is not just a shopping district, but a symbol of all the conflicts
inherent in the global city of disjunctive flows. Various disjunctive flows which pass
through any urban context. These include the ecological fluxes of water, materials,
nutrients and organisms, but also the mechanical flows which convey these
materials as well as people, information and ideas through cites. The informational
and media flows which constitute the semiotic flux of contemporary life is a
continual sound and visual track which compliments the material and human
flows. It is the intersections and interstices between these flows which constitute the
object of our schizoanalytical modeling of design. Human perception and social
organization occurs also at the intersection of these flows, and schizoanalytical
modeling can begin to capture the relationship between human subjectivity and
the mechanics of flows. Design captures the transformational capacity of
redirecting these flows in relationship to human agency and social life.

Attentive circuits

Early in the morning, Wat Pathumwanaram remains a meditative retreat within the
heart of Bangkok. The temple, originally built as a forest monastery outside the city,
was established as a meditation training center. You can find area residents and
workers sitting on the floor under the frescoes of past meditation experts. Glancing
up, the attic frescoes depict the royal barges floating on all four walls. They remind
viewers of the King’s annual procession to bring robes to temple monks during
Buddhist Lent. The painted images seem to circle around the space, but the sound
of the Skytrain can be heard through the temple walls. Outside, a monk crosses
the eight lanes of Rama 1 Road in order to accept food offerings from area
residents along the small nearby lanes leading to the canal. Ice is stored at night in
a shop house cooling sleepers above. Crushed ice is delivered by samlor to fill soft
drinks consumed at the many area fast food outlets.

Urban ecosystem studies require long term, attentive research and observation.
Concepts on the contemporary city based on globe trotting can only remain
superficial impressions. More in-depth transnational and transdisciplinary urban
research tools must be developed. Walter Benjamin has described architecture as
experienced in a state of distraction. However, according to Bergson’s concepts
of automatic and attentive recognition, when we consciously reflect on an object,
we summon up a remembered image and superimpose it on the perceived
object.

Bergson carefully analyzed the connection between recognition and attention. To

recognize an object is to revive a past memory of it and note its resemblance and
presupposes a reflection, an external projection of an actively created image
onto an object. Attentive vs. automatic recognition do not differ qualitatively, in
both we summon up a memory image and project it onto the object. In attentive
recognition, the object and each memory-image we summon up together form a
circuit. As we pay closer attention to the object, we summon up memory-images
from broader and more distant past contexts. Deeper, reflective attention
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represents a higher expansion of memory and deeper layers of reality. (Bergson, )
A design understanding of circuits of recognition, attention, reflection and memory
is evident in the great monastery architecture and planning of Siamese cities.

No greater evidence of architecture built to create distraction exists in

contemporary themed commercial space. Bangkok seems poised in between
these two conditions of distracted and attentive reflection. The question Bangkok
poses is how can designers make contemporary sensate environments in a world
that is more and more mobile, fast-paced and mediated? Contemporary
architecture provides a wide array of attention grabbing forms as well as new
materials and technologies. The question ecosystem science poses for
contemporary designers, is how can this newly attentive urban citizen be directed
to larger systems and process to create new urban models based in new urban
experience. The opportunity to connect these worlds, these ecologies is ever
present. In the heart of Bangkok it is the water gardens of Wat Pathumwanaram
and Khlong San Saeb beside and behind giant shopping malls which deploy water
and media as themes and signs.

Urban designs as models of patch dynamics, while benefiting from global thinking,
are first enacted locally. Bottom-up and distributed decision making integrates
economic and ecological models of complex adaptive and emergent systems
using local designs as nodes in feedback loops. Rather than depending on
normative urban design models’ systems of control and regulation at two scales,
feedback can influence the total environment at multiple scales. It is the subtle
interplay of processes along continuum of scales that is important. Watersheds,
from small sub-catchments to regional, river and estuary systems, serve as one
continuum type scaling device. Human ecosystem feedback is another continuum
type scale from daily life to long term intergenerational cycles.

The research presented tonight imagines how designers might begin to

incorporate patch dynamic theory in order to radically redirect practice into a
new field between ecology and design. The call to make urban designs models of
patch dynamics resonates both institutionally and publicly: it demands new ways
of teaching and thinking in the university, as well as challenges urban society to
create new resilient city models as scientific and cultural eco-aesthetic
experiments. We believe, that while our sprawling fragmentary urban systems may
reflect our democratic society, consumerist values, and desires for individuality,
freedom and mobility, we need to search for tools to re-imagine cities as the
symbolic order of human existence (Perez-Gomez, 1986).Resilient cities will not be
achieved through greater technical or scientific knowledge alone; designs are
needed to put the meaning of ecological theory into cultural practice.
Contemporary architecture has successfully taken the human psyche as one of its
primary sites of interest. Making urban designs models of patch dynamics is part of
a fuller urban eco-aesthetic approach.

Conclusion

Urban designs as models of patch dynamics, while benefiting from global thinking,
are first enacted locally. Bottom-up decision making integrates economic and
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ecological models of complex adaptive and emergent systems using local designs
as nodes in feedback loops. Feedback can influence the total environment at
multiple scales, but the subtle interplay between ecological and evolutionary
events represents the integration of processes along a continuum of scales rather
than a dialogue between two sharply distinguished ones. Watersheds, from small
sub-catchments to regional river and estuary systems, serve as a precise scaling
device. Human ecosystem feedback emerges within multiple time scales from
daily life to long term intergenerational cycles. Urban ecosystem logic is situated
within the rings of phase space at the intersection of economic, ecological and
human patch dynamics. An urban design perspective located within that four-
dimensional space is a powerful tool empowering local actors and agents rather
than depending on normative urban design model’s systems of control and
regulation.

The research presented imagines how architects might begin to incorporate patch
dynamic theory in order to radically redirect architecture and urban design
practice in a new field between ecology and design. The call to make urban
designs models of patch dynamics resonates both institutionally and publicly: it
demands new ways of teaching and thinking in the university, as well as
challenges urban society to create new resilient city models as scientific and
cultural eco-aesthetic experiments. While our sprawling fragmentary urban systems
may reflect our democratic society, consumerist values, and desires for
individuality, freedom and mobility, we need to search for tools to re-imagine cities
as the symbolic order of human existence (Perez-Gomez, 1986).

Resilient cities will not be achieved through greater technical or scientific

knowledge alone; urban designs are needed to put the meaning of ecological
theory into cultural practice. Contemporary architecture has successfully taken
the human psyche as one of its primary sites of interest. Making urban designs
models of patch dynamics is part of fuller urban eco-aesthetic approach. It fosters
new forms of being in the world, by extending ecology and architecture to
embrace a renewal of social life and the environment in addition to the individual
psyche. The projects presented here share an interest and optimism in the innate
human ability to adjust to complex change, given the right access to education
and information.

Cinemerics – simultopia - urban design not planning or even landscape

planning
perception preferences: or vectors?
(liquid/crystalline/anaerobic)

McGrath (hanks) Siam – Cosmology + Watershed

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holly whyte

Three ecologies within a framework of

Sensate human perception
Social experience
Material existence
Three ecologies as design models
Environmental
Social
Psychic
Ecological frameworks
Watershed
Human ecosystem
Patch dynamics

Simultopia also dreams of inventing new paradigms for city production (urban
design?), ones which neither transcend nor simulate place but inhabit space as
different layers of reality. Furthermore simultopia embraces a philosophy of the
new and the now, understanding a world of changing perceptions and
experience, rather than symbolically fixed representations and signs of place.

For Bergson, time and memory are not inside us, but it is the interiority that we are
in, in which we move, live, and change. The actual and the virtual, physical and
mental, present and past, are inseparable ongoing coexistences.

Resilience notes (Walker and Salt)

Ecological modernization notes:

Cradle to cradle
Hybrid cars
Political modernization by including the environmental movement

Critics argue that ecological modernization will fail to conserve the environment
and does nothing to alter the impulses within the capitalist economic mode of
production that inevitably lead to environmental degradation (Foster, 2002)

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The mixed-use urban block-
A fundamental brick for an economic and sustainable urban development
Stadtbaurat Michael Stojan
City of Garbsen, Germany

The inner city block with its typical variety of functions, as developed over thousands of years
continuously until the beginning of the 20th century, is the basic element of cities worldwide. Either
in the typical irregular form of the European town or in the monotonic grid of many planned cities-
the single blocks have always been divided in small sections and mixed used for retail, services,
gastronomy, commerce and habitation for all social levels.
And they shaped varied sequences of street and square spaces, which invited the public to remain
and communicate. The explosion of inhabitants during the industrialisation in the 19th century
discredited this over hundreds of years well proven system.
City expansions were planned exclusively in monotonous chess grids without urban space or green
space qualities. The originally green interior yards became speculatively densified. The notorious
backyards emerged. After the housing shortage died down responsible planners started to re-
establish humane housing conditions at the beginning of the 20th century.
At that time reform efforts of famous planners like Tessenow, Stübben, Unwin, Saarinen, Sitte,
Henrici, Fischer or Schumacher decided in favour of the traditional block as basic for their
concepts. From 1900 until the 30s numerous of the best quarters were built which nowadays still
belong to the best addresses of the cities.
The reform of the block was the most important topic of the international urban planning exhibition
in Berlin 1910.
The modernists threw out the baby with the bath and used the discredit of the Berlin speculation
blocks to spread their message of the new town for the new mankind:
“Tuez la rue corridor” was Le Corbusier`s battle cry and the flowing, green and car friendly city
landscape became the most important objective of town planning. Multi storey solitaire slab, row or
point became the basic elements of modern town planning until today.
The annulment of the traditional perimeter blocks development lead to a multiplication of the
energy demand. The fragmentation of the urban space by highways, the zoning of city functions,
drafty public spaces without human scale and so on lead to a permanent necessity to use private
transport. In addition the modern ideology leads to a loss of the hierarchy of public, semi-public and
private spaces and so we lost social usability. There is no difference between (private) back and
(public) front anymore. Urban space is just for traffic use.

Looking back we are horrified, how this ideology disfigured our cities and villages. Psychologists
speak of visual pollution.
Since the middle of the seventies we lived to see a strong revival of the block as result of the
massive critics about modern urbanism. With the international building exhibition Berlin 1988 the
southern Friedrichstadt had a complete renaissance of the perimeter block structure. At that time the
extreme adaptability and its qualities for inner city living it proved again successful. Surprisingly
these ideas were oppressed by the regaining strength of the modern ideology at the beginning of the
90s.

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Facing climate change at the beginning of the 21st century how can we achieve the principals of the
ecological and energy saving city? We simply have to install a best practice process! Which urban
design proved successful in the last 150 years and which not?
Following the results of my researches the only way to an ecological and sustainable urbanism is
the consequent renaissance of the principals of the traditional city in all our new planning and urban
renewal projects:
The subdivided mixed-use block as basic brick for liveable urban townscape.

Which reason led to this decision?

1. The prevention of “loss surface urbanism” as Prof. Moewes is calling it.

Most of the energy gets lost through the external wall surface.
That is why the major energy sin is less architectural, and more urban and social in nature: the
extremely high proportion of external wall, and hence a poor area/volume ratio. These are the
detached single-family houses, the enormous unused flat roofs of supermarkets and commercial
estates and especially the far too many vacant lots and spaces between existing buildings. Each of
these gaps wastes the heating requirement of a whole apartment per floor. All this was following the
functionalistic ideology of the free standing building - of point and line. Le Corbusier even
managed to give his buildings a 6th surface by up righting them. This enlarged the energy demand
and created inhospitable and drafty entrance areas.
Additionally the storeys missing above the enormous single-storey flat roofs we come across again
in the landscape around the city. Even the zero energy passive single family house is not ecological,
because it wastes landscape, increases fuel demand for driving to work, shopping or leisure.
Scientific researches showed, that 64 single family houses need three times more energy than 64
flats of the same dimension in low rise high density developments and that the block has the lowest
proportion of external walls.
Furthermore the compactness causes the lowest cooling effects by wind, too.
The first step must be to close these gaps to reduce massive energy demand.

2. Using the instrument of townscape repair in existing structures in connection with the
consequent renaissance of the block structure also on brownfield developments, it is possible to
create attractive urban square, green and street spaces we all like to live in.
The typical mixed use within the block sides and levels together with attractive green spaces in the
quiet yards is an additional effect for reducing the demand for car movements.

3. Within the block we have to create neighbourhoods that cater for various socio-economic groups
by having a mix of housing tenure. This includes providing social and privately rented
accommodation, shared ownership properties and houses for outright sale. Flat-sharing
communities are more and more successful in Germany for the senior generation.

The main focus of future development will not be the green field planning, but the embellishment of
the city. Demographic change and increasing fuel prices will lead to a movement back to the cities.
The customer’s choice will be those cities that keep or develop their attractive urban atmosphere.

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Today Richard Rogers is “demanding the renaissance of the city as conurbation.
Energy demand is low where density is high. That’s why we need density; we need multi-storey
buildings which enable human friendly living in the height.” (Dpa 22.8.2008)
But is “Obelix” really the attractive future for our cities? Isn´t it our duty to prevent our children
from these dead and desert areas of modern townplanning?

I am convinced that urban planning according to the antetype of the classical block structure is
fulfilling all preconditions for an energy saving sustainable quality of living in our cities:

- Compact block buildings with reduced external wall surface minimize energy demand
- Mixed-use of ground floor level or other block parts creates urbanity and avoids car use
- Arranging blocks to attractive urban spaces in terms of the classic European town makes
places you like to live in
- The differentiation between public and private spaces gives back social usability

With the mixed-use block as fundamental brick for an urban development we can kill two birds
with one stone:
1. Make our cities more liveable
2. Make a big contribution to reduce carbon dioxide emissions

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Title:
Adaptive urban design

Authors:
Prof. Arch. Benno Albrecht, Arch. Mauro Frate

Address:

Prof. Arch. Benno Albrecht, Arch. Mauro Frate

University IUAV, Venice, Italy, Faculty of Architecture.

Cotonificio Veneziano, Dorsoduro 2196, I-30123 Venezia VE ITALY. www.iuav.it

Tel: +3941 2571942 Mobil +393356828324 fax +39415246296

E-Mail: albrecht@iuav.it E-Mail albrecht@bennoalbrecht.it.

Affiliation details:

Benno Albrecht is architect and professor of Architectural and Urban Design at Venice IUAV
University, Faculty of Architecture. He is the Coordinator of the Graduate Degree of Architecture
and Sustainability. He is member of the Professors Board of the PHD in Architectural Design at
University IUAV, Venice. He is currently member of the Scientific Committee for the Global
Award For Sustainable Architecture.

Mauro Frate is architect and visiting professor at the Graduate Degree of Architecture and
Sustainability, at Venice IUAV University, Faculty of Architecture.

(Translation of text by Luca Siragusa)

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Adaptive urban design
Abstract

The author presents a description of the latest research works and plans developed at Venice IUAV
University, Faculty of Architecture, Graduate Degree of Architecture and Sustainability.
The operative verification, we propose, is to inquire – in the fields of advanced education, of
research and practice – if the paradigm of sustainability and the attention to climatic changes exerts
an adequate influence on the developments of urban structures design, of settlements and of
building design.
We propose a research programme involving a strategy of adaptive urban design. Our research finds
examples of new strategies of design and adaptive metamorphosis of real towns before climatic
changes.

Introduction
The operative proposition that we propose is to inquire – in the field of education, in the field of
research and in practice28 – if the paradigm of sustainability and the attention to climatic changes
exert a suitable influence on the developments of urban structures design, of settlements and of
building design.
- We are sure that putting inside a context reading the climatic environmental data, the worries
about climatic changes of the planet, and putting strategy of architectonic and urban design
intervention into a more extensive outline, which is tied to saving resources and to controlling of
natural, physical and human waste, allows to define a new reference system, that will be able to lead
to different design solutions and different formal results.
- We are sure that a sustainable urban drawing, with a knowledge of the use and of the
transformation of physical resources, is a new boundary of design. Today it is possible to renew our
baggage of knowledge and to adapt ourselves to the new emergencies and needs.
- We are sure that it’s not possible to define an urban or architectonic design without a general
theoretic framing, in the etymological sense of the term, and so look at and take part to events
sincerely.

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Scientific research in architectural field aims to determine adaptive strategies for the solution of
problems: a large range of physical, environmental and human problems.
The civic-political discussion about contemporary architecture is a concise comparison between
space models and development models that are to replace the current predominant models that
produce physical, environmental and human transformations, consistent with the seriousness of
territorial, climatic and social problems, that now come out dramatically. The tension and the
importance of this comparison is tied to the entity of the economic and social concernings that are
discussed by possible adoption of new techniques of territory transformation.
We have in front of us a not loaded future by the sense of progress and a not linear future, but where
it is possible to develop the capacity to stabilize the relationship between human being and nature,
to think and to live in the cyclic steadiness of a dynamic well-balanced environment.
Contemporary design thought must produce a suitable conceptual system to anticipate outline
strategies of a future town in a urbanized world completely.

Today in Europe it’s necessary a strategy of improvement and a strategy of metamorphosis of the
existing. It’s a project into a discipline not for social reformers or for active politicians. It is a
political project because it concerns the town29.
Today every project of us puts in straight connection with the past and with the future. We know
that the present town is worse than that of the past, and that every day we are outlining, as
designers, the towns of tomorrow. The answer is not only to increase the efficiency of a single
component, but to think about the current urban structure. Also a better building for performances –
zero emission and consumption – without critical mass to change if it is in a not sustainable urban
context, degraded and not connected. The towns that we are realizing, are negative and we are
accustoming to idea that their future will be inexorable and negative too. New geography,
determined by current climatic changes, and economy of scale and of localization will form a
complex branched system determined by force lines for attraction of means, communications, men.
A continuous grid of interconnections, that preludes a completely urbanized planet, takes on a
shape.
Today unusual and no understandable dimensions of world metropolitan town perhaps can become
a starting-point to turn towards a new capacity of life. The world metropolitan town is perhaps
inevitable, but her probable wrongness can be avoided. The sustainable urban drawing can play an
important role to contribute to reduce emissions, to stabilize (mitigations of effects) climatic
changes and to consider already up to now the inevitable consequences that these symptoms will
cause in the future (adaptation to effects).
Forecast of spatial localization of human activity is one of the necessary capacities – and to grow
and to reinforce – that can allows an effective answer to climatic changes in act.
It deals with a sustainable urban project that permits to reduce CO2 emissions or zero emissions and
that has, as fundamental value, an high capacity of adaptation to transformations of the
environmental context.
So a sincere and proposals comparison of architectonic culture must take place not about exterior
shapes, but about deep structures that determine the forms.

A strategy of adaptive project - Adaptive urban design

The adaptation capacity consists in settling a thing to another through a principle of convenience
and through a parameter of proportion.

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Our operative proposal is the research of a strategy of adaptive urban design.
The proposal of a adaptive strategy of urban project begins from some considerations:
1. current climatic conditions are in continuous variation and they will continue to change;
2. demographic and social conditions will continue to change. In Europe in particular they will
alter as consequence of the pressure of migrations caused by climatic changes;
3. West societies have not a political force for vertical projects of great breath: not positive – from
the top towards the bottom –. Because of this inherent condition and consequence of participant
democracy new decisional and operative processes are necessary in the choice field of
transformations of territory, from the bottom towards the top;
4. in Europe current occupied territory is superabundant and excessive considering our needs;
5. it’s necessary an optimization of extant city;
6. it’s necessary an urban politics able to reduce and to optimize the new climatic context that is
produced by climatic changes in act.

Because of this:
a. it’s necessary to set out politics of new urban definition through a sustainable key that could apt
to these changes and that exploits new possibilities and that is not a victim.
b. It’s necessary to think again about current models of space organization that imply a waste of
physical, environmental and human resources.
c. It’s necessary to configure again the extant city in view of climatic changes in act.

Process and ethical principles

Every formal result comes from a process, as the art of XX century has taught us. It’s the process
and not his result that it’s important and that determines coherence of steps to accomplish into a
conceptual way30; way that always starts from a disputable point where “every thing floats in the
mass of money with the same specific weight”.
Today this point of starting has ethical collective value.
Today matters in question are different for temporal and dimensional scale and for importance.
They are not tied, as it was in the past and recent times, to behaviour between man and man, but to
relation of interdependence between human being and nature.
From ethic based on interpersonal relations and so short living, it’s necessary to pass, today in the
époque of omnipotent technique, to a conception of acting that assumes an ethical collective value
because of proportions of changes that are possible to induce to biosphere and that need to be set by
new space and temporal extensions.
In this global setting architecture is configured as the discipline depositary of the responsibility
about care of physical world, his defence and of understanding results and causes of transformation
phenomenons.
Architecture assumes (or reassumes) an ethical value and it is responsible of different fiduciary
relation between human actions and nature31.
This responsibility is explained by a temporal beginning of long duration. In this sense care has a
value today that must be assumed for “future generations” as a basic theme for politics of
sustainability. The task of architecture, considered in the sense expressed by William Morris, -
“Architecture means the moulding and altering to human needs of the very face of the earth
itself….”32- includes the nature in the global sense.

The place of decisions – urban environment

The great challenges of the human future are developing in urban environment.

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Our task is to glimpse new futures that can be travelled over and that will be sustainable. The
physical, climatic, energetic and social improvement of the cities and of their environment is an
urgent theme not only as cultural and ethical point of view, but above all because it’s tied to
physical survival of our species. The possibility, that we have in front of us, is attempting to lead
this relentless urban growth towards direction of a sustainable urban development.
The 2007 is a key moment and crucial in the story of human presence on this planet33.
From this year forward more than half of world population will live in urban agglomerate.
Urban revolution, begun 5000 yeas ago, has had a conclusion.
The design of urban space is essential to give course to politics that are aimed at sustainable
development. Territory is the bearing frame where to put every political-civic strategy. In a world
where the city has become global, its plan becomes fundamental for the future of humanity itself.
It is an acquisition of involuntary value – not for merit, but for demerit – but it’s necessary to have
the conscience of responsibility that lie heavily on administrators, technicians, designers who must
prepare now strategies of project that are able to realize a multilateral approach.
Between all the project choices, about sustainability of possible transformations to put in act, first of
all is to pay attention to climatic changes, caused by chemic reactions that human being has
produced and poured again in the atmosphere and that risk to put in a deep discussion the planetary
ecosystem, we know it today.
The sustainability of built up area is sized by life process, his metabolism, use of energy, recovery
of wastes and social cohesion.

Perhaps therefore it’s necessary we compare ourselves with a strategy of growth and transformation
– adaptive metamorphosis – of built-up area. The mechanisms, that start processes and rules of
evolution of the same process, become so of prime importance.
These rules are “organic” to sustainable transformation of extant structures and they does not stress
on formal final result that a growth process involves.
It’s a question of urban plan not obsessed by form, but that searches for dynamic balances between
man and environment where formal and technical result is a mean and not the end34.

Today we realize that our towns are no longer suitable to compare themselves with current climatic-
environmental.
It deals with determination of adaptation strategies, of primer of urban transformations and of
possible rules that these transformations can assume according to modifications that environment
will suffer because of social, physical and environmental symptoms, caused by changes in act and
by politics of attenuation and adaptation to these changes, in an environmental context in
modification or not to modify.

Process and evolution

The form in a biological process comes evolution and adaptation and it’s in continuous change in
order to answer imposed needs of surrounding environment.
Physical form which we realize, is that of today, in this moment, but yesterday it was already
different and so tomorrow it will be. It’s a process tied not only to single individual, but of
evolution together – a species does not evolves herself independently from the others with which it
shares the same ecological community, but in a enlarged ambit – and in our case between man, his
manufactures and environment (between biotic and abiotic factors).
A form, a body, an organic individual is not sustainable since it exists and it is not overwhelmed by
environment it lives in.
"Organisms are surviving because they are adapted, and they are adapted because they are
surviving" (A. Burnett-T.Eisner).

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Overwhelming can be determined by “collapse” of own environment, caused by increase,
exponential, of pressure that is exercised on this.

Metamorphosis

In Ovidio’s poem – Metamorphosis35 – penetration of Gods, men and nature does not involve an
univocal hierarchic order, but a system of interrelations where every level can influence the others,
in different and mutable measure too. It’s evident that presumed unit and relationship of every thing
that exists in the world: nature, things and alive being. This world is tied by a common and intricate
destiny, dark relations, non evident relations, reciprocal transmutations and transformations. Today
we have realized that outline pointed out by Ovidio, is extremely true: a common destiny ties men
and their life to nature, confined as they are in a little planet from limited resources.
Sustainability is the capacity of control of metamorphosis of physical and biological agents that are
transformed and transfigured into materials and objects for the use of Men, into a general unitary
outline – the earth –.
Sustainability in field of urban design is the capacity to start and regulate a process of adaptive
metamorphosis of extant city to drive towards a new sustainable city that is able to have an high
degree of resilience to climatic changes and that exploits these changes into an energetic key.

Biological evolution

One of the properties of living organisms is to have a genetic program that has the possibility to
modify in the time and in the space: this property is at the basis of biological evolution.
Genetic modifications are expressed into three different levels: an adaptive level, a micro
evolutionary level and a macro evolutionary level.
The first, defined as adaptive evolution or converged, involves the adaptation to the environment as
consequence of natural selection. The second involves the specialization and the formation of new
species, the third is a level of macro changes – extinctions or origin of principal taxa, phyla and
animals36. The adaptation process can also require very long time, but his manifestations are very
sophisticated and are reflected in animal architecture37, are “natural” forms taken always as an
example in the story of design: the aerodynamic form of birds, hydrodynamics of fishes, climatic
adaptation made with consistent dimensions and adequate furs for the climate, mimesis as maximal
expressions of congruence between alive being and environment. Adaptation regards also
demographic strategies of increase or diminution of fertility. The modality of adaptation passes
through several experiments and attempts until structuring a complete and effective adaptive
strategy.

Adaptive metamorphosis

An adaptive strategy cannot have immutable rules, but these must modify in the course of the time
and of observation of results to implement the pertinence of result or the necessary time for
reaching a satisfactory result. We introduce a scale concept – of ratio between different largeness –
between different variables in order to reach a result and the choice of adequate scale – Of
resolution as in the use of definition of pixels into a screen.

A visual angle from which aim to the possible adaptation is that of sustainability of territory’s
transformations and adequacy of result is measured by this point of view. Certainly it is one of the
various possibilities that can be pursued – the renouncing of totality of points of view is peculiar of

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contemporary science – but it has value in that it’s adequate – true, that it has validity – as regards
that point of view38.
A work method is configured for successive approximations, without a grid of certainty on which to
confide, but that it pursues partial truth with bravery and determination.
This method recognizes and outdistance from the heritage of praxis of Modern Movements (at
obviously plural).

Strategies of adaptive metamorphosis, similes and differences as regards tradition of Modern

Today the more progressive experiences of urban design – sustainable urban design – take load of
these experiences – and of structural and conceptual heritage of modern movement – and set
themselves as the advanced point of scientific research in architecture.

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The evidence setting of similes introduces the will to recognize a tradition and continuity of a
thought that presuppose the possibility for architecture to adopt a work method conceived to aim the
difference between an objective approach, dictated by scientific method, and a subjective approach
that is characteristic of artistic work. The differences sign a separation from unaware positions of
global repercussions which every design movement involves. The differences concern new space
relations dictated by sustainability and they are explicit in the research of a right measure to give to
contemporary city where every project is a prefiguration of a possible future, but it is not configured
as an utopia or as a forecast system of new events, but a critical technique of the present that show
futures that can be travelled over. New possibilities given to sustainable urban design – adaptive –
consist in giving Form and Performances to the city of dispersion.

New design standards and new rules

Today the conceptual presuppositions of Modern Movements, that saw in the research of New
Design Standards, are still operative. The definition of new standard has been at the basis of
researches between two wars where attention of the house leaned historically on two point of view:
welfare and comfort.
1. welfare establishes minimum requirements
2. comfort regards the relation between body and environment
Today it’s necessary to add a parameter of global sustainability.

Today this process is translated in formulation of new rules. The norm has to do with architecture –
norm is the square to measure right angles – and with rules of construction; the norm is necessary to
regulate – the rule – living together in the narrow spaces of the city where opposite properties and
interests whether public or private gather.
The norm is an evident and deliberated reduction of complexity, but the norm is loaded by the
tensions of a society and tries to translate them in a shared system of behaviours aimed to new
results (aesthetic, hygienic, about saving of resources, of living together). The process of implement
of norms is part of a scientific research that wants to establish parameters of comparison among the
different experiences of transformation of territory. It’s not increasing the norms, but determining
new “sustainable rules” of shared cohabitation.

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The spread need of sustainability in urban ambit is leading some administrations to have urbanistic
innovative instruments, lines guide, addresses and building regulations that are particular
sensitiveness to environmental context. It’s necessary to exceed logic of standard as quality
guaranty and to address of interventions of new building or those of restructure, through politics of
incentive, towards a “energetic and sustainable environmentally” design. It’s necessary to be able to
control formal (morphogenetic) effects of normative choices being connected with tradition of
historical Italian town and it’s necessary to interpret these themes to hypothesize, through solutions
that are able to join effectiveness of instrumentation and social sharing, normative simplicity and
economical sustainability.

Our research can be exemplified by six projects:

- design of new regulations and line guide that have a morphogenetic character (form-based codes)
so as to implement a strategy of Urbanism from the bottom (lines guide of building regulations of
province of Brescia);
- predisposition of new instruments of control and of design – energetic sun chart;
- design about control of morphogenetic transformation of city tied to use of energetic passive
devices – sun glass house;
- research about optimization of solar shields and their formal configuration;
- definition about energetic optimization of interventions of architectonic infill in urban
consolidated context.

Landscape scale – the role of empty spaces in mechanisms of adaptive metamorphosis

Another conceptual presupposition that is still operative and can be travelled over, is the research of
design methods on Great landscape Scale. In Modern Movement it is tried to explore the
potentiality let from the interrupted history of late eighteenth-century town where new design
techniques tied to the great dimension, begun to be explored. Also for us it’s necessary to intend the
town as an equipped park with inside all the functions of urban life, the park-town. Town and
country realize and create only a system of space relations.
It’s a revisitation of the system of interconnected Green Grid thought by Olmested, Claudie Nicolas
Forestier, Saarineen.
The landscape garden become a design of a possible and sustainable city and today for this reason
we underline the stress on the necessity of a global Naturalization of extant city.
A design of empty spaces in the city of dispersion assumes a renewed strategic role for realization
of a Green City where green architecture becomes an usual operative strategy.
Spaces that are not built yet, must constitute the loom of connection of the different built parts and
they must be thought and designed for this aim.
It’s necessary to consider ground as a resource to be used in a more efficient possible way, through
the use of discharged lands and of not built properties that are inside the urban area, so as to avoid a
wild urban expansion; it’s necessary to prefer always to intervene sooner on brown-fields than on
virgin grounds (greenfield).
The green lands assume an important role for activation of processes of ecologic-environmental
balance inside and outside of the cities; the empty in the town is a precious, rare and not saleable
property.
It’s necessary guarantee the presence of an adequate “green structure” to optimize ecological
quality of urban lands, the microclimate and the pollution of air, safeguarding the bio-differences.
It’s necessary the drawing of green infrastructures, considering the open space as an instrument of
urban integration.

Our research is exemplified by five projects:

- Green belt and ecological corridor supported from systems of new rural-urban building;

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- New inhabited parks with high density of building, dense vertical towns;
- New parks with great hypogeous public equipment;
- Environmental redrawing of industrial contexts with mechanisms of deindustrialization;
- Geographic scale projects of urban drawing adapting to climatic changes and to raising of sea
level.

Urban metamorphosis – the role of constructed spaces in mechanisms of adaptive

metamorphosis

Today the difference between conservation and innovation is filtered by the conceptual figure that
mediates the two hypothesis: the urban metamorphosis. Today the end of metamorphosis – that we
feel not only as aesthetic necessity, but also as an ethical need – is increasing the grade of
sustainability of the extant city.
In the processes of adaptive metamorphosis of the extant city, in its sustainable transformation,
public property of grounds is no longer imperative, because the projects of modification of great
importance or directed vertically by public operator, are not practicable.
This simplification involves the definition of new techniques of primer – of departure, of reaction to
transformation, of urban metamorphosis – of urban transformations that now are delegated to a
direct relation between public and private. The public supplies normative, technical instruments to
give the start to the metamorphosis and it’s in the desirability and in the convenience of the
operation, that allows private people to increase and to follow the strategies of transformation.
Today the public private boundary must be intended as a space of mediation of interests and not of
contraposition of these. The negation of rue-corridor is not today important, on the contrary it
means to reinterpret complex cases, characteristic of historical town, where public and private
spaces, the presence together of noble and popular houses, the multiplicity of centres determined
multifarious solutions and mediations of relation between public and private spaces.
It’s necessary to define new standards of density which to address urban extant structures. The built
density and the intensity of the use become strategies of intervention in already realized building.
It’s necessary politics of densification of after war town and of redistribution of density and of
installed intensity.
Favourableness towards the densification and the redistribution of urban density, apart from
encouraging an intensity of activities, permits also that public services, as for instance the transport,
can be more efficient and maintain a high quality of environment in the same time.

Our research is exemplified by seven projects:

- Urban infill and densification of town after the war;
- Green Belt and densification of countries with little dimensions;
- Determination of maximal building volumetries in a process of densification that considers solar
passive contribution;
- Densification in historical context;

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- System of underground intervention through the use of local resources;
- City as a O2 factory;
- Schemes of sustainable redesign of urban sprawl.

Conclusion

Our research identifies examples of new strategies of design and operative strategies of adaptive
metamorphosis of the extant city in relation to climatic changes.
Today sustainability in architecture can be the line of resistance of critic and climatic regionalism in
front of globalization of urban images. Sustainability is the line of resistance towards the
homologation of results. The place assumes a scientific value and determines the form and the
technique of design.
I have to remember you Sir Winston Churchill ‘s speech at the Joint Session of Congress, in
Washington, on December 26th 1941, asking the intervention of the USA in the IIWW:
“We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire...Give us the tools and we will finish the
job”.

Prof. Arch. Benno Albrecht

Arch. Mauro Frate
IUAV University - Venezia, Italia, 28 12 2007

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 THE DRAMATIC INCREASE OF CAR TRAFFIC IN AND AROUND ROMANIAN
CITIES AFTER 1990
THE CASE OF TIMIŞOARA

Prof. arch. Smaranda Maria Bica, Ph.D.

Ass. Prof. arch. Liliana Lucia Roşiu, Ph.D.

Smaranda Maria Bica

Universitatea “Politehnica” din Timişoara, Facultatea de Arhitectură
Str. Traian Lalescu 2A, 300223 Timişoara, Romania
smaranda.bica@arh.upt.ro

Liliana Lucia Roşiu

Universitatea “Politehnica” din Timişoara, Facultatea de Arhitectură
Str. Traian Lalescu 2A, 300223 Timişoara, Romania
liliana.rosiu@arh.upt.ro

Abstract
Romania is today one of the countries with the fastest growing number of cars in Europe and, with a
growth of 30 % per year, the country with the biggest increase in construction activities. Both these
fields are big carbon dioxide producers. On the other hand one can speak about the lack of a
coherent policy, both in the field of urban development and land use and in the field of public
transport in and around the cities.
Around the main cities of Romania, important surfaces of land originally destined to agriculture
where divided in plots and sold for the construction of new family houses. This kind of
development revive the problems of the “villes dortoirs” of the ‘60-ties and ‘70-ties. The paper
presents a critical overview of the situation of the new districts around the city of Timisoara, but
also of the relation to the villages around the city and to the public transport system in the city itself.

Introduction
Romania, with its 22,000,000 inhabitants, is one of the latest EU members, and, as a matter of fact,
one of the least developed. Although with a weak and not yet sufficiently well established economy,
the Romanian gross production is very dynamic. Since the entrance in the EU in 2007, the
economic growth reached 5,7%, and it rose to 7.5% per year in the first four months of 2008 (Ziarul
Financiar, May 13th 2008).
One of the most dynamic fields is the building sector. “In December 2007, Romania had the highest
annual growth pace for construction works (30.9 pct) in the European Union (UE27), far above the
second ranked Poland (12.6 pct) and third ranked Sweden (10.9 pct), reveals Eurostat (…).
Statistical data from Romania released by the National Statistic Institute (INS) reveals that the

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amount of construction works increased 33.6 pct in 2007 (…) and residential buildings (went up)
29.3 pct.” (Financial Times, February 2008).
The building sector is polluting itself but if, as it happens in Romania, the tendency of cities and
towns is towards an extensive territorial sprawl, the transport problems and traffic growth resulting
as a consequence of this phenomenon are at least equally damaging for the environment and
causing increased CO2 emissions, especially as the number of cars in Romania grew in 2007,
compared to 2006, by 27% (Romanian state television, April 2008).
To balance the increased CO2 emission, the urban green surfaces should also increase. On the
contrary one can assist in Romanian cities to a gradual decay and a continuous aggression of the
urban parks in the last two decades.
The chosen study subject is the city of Timişoara. Timişoara had a dynamic economy for some
years now and, being placed on flat land, offers conditions for sprawl. With about 350 000
inhabitants it is a city of second rate dimension in Romania (Bucharest, with about 2,400,000
inhabitants vastly surpasses all other Romanian cities). Placed in the western part of the country, it
is the main city of an economically well developed county and one of the most dynamic centres of
the DKMT Euro region (Fig. 1) (called after the names of local rivers, Danube, Kriş, Mureş and
Tisa) including the south-eastern part of Hungary, the northern part of Serbia and the south-western
part of Romania. With one of the lowest unemployment rates in EU ( in April the unemployment
reached 0.8% for the city and 1.3% for the county, Adevărul, May 5th 2008), the citizens of the
region are naturally tempted to build houses and buy cars for themselves.

Habitat tendencies in Romania after 1990 - the case of Timişoara

The very restrictive kind of lodgings the communist regime permitted, combined after 1980 with
massive expropriations and the demolition of many districts with family houses in order to offer
land for the new apartments block houses, triggered an opposition and a prejudiced point of view
against the collective habitat. The struggle to obtain a plot on which to build a family house came
up against the lack of urban areas intended for this aim. In this climate, some enterprising pioneers
acquired some of the rare agricultural land surfaces having been regained by former owners and,
after a painful and tiresome struggle to obtain the changing of destination, divided the surface in
house plots to be sold. Each of these isolated developments was designed independently of the
surroundings, with its own access from the main road and its interior narrow streets (4.50 m width,
without sidewalks). The area was often surrounded by agricultural land and lacked utilities (water
supply, sewage, garbage gathering etc.) and social facilities (shops, medical aid, schools and
kindergarten, green areas etc.). The inhabitants of the new developments worked in town and
relayed exclusively on the facilities the town offered.
Between 2000 and 2007 the described sequence of actions multiplies, triggered by several factors:
• more and more of the before the war land owners are put into land possession
• the benefit for those acquiring this land and dividing it in plots reach incredible levels
(even exceeding 1,000%)
• the families financial means did increase consistently, so that more of them can consider
building the desired family house.
The sprawl of the newly inhabited areas on free land is a chaotic patchwork (Fig. 2), being designed
for one single purpose: maximum profit for the seller (Fig. 3). The characteristic features of the new
developments are (Fig. 4):
• access to the area is completely dependent of the existing main roads
• a surface having been divided in plots and with several houses already build is
surrounded by bare land or by cultivated fields
• no general plan exists for a zone
• each divided surface has its own pattern, depending on its form, its access possibilities
and on the situation at the moment the plotting was made
• no links between the interior streets of two neighbouring developments are foreseen.

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After 2007, after the admission of Romania in the European Community, the new developments
should comply with European rules (“The Action Program from Lille”, The Rotterdam Urban
Acquits”, “The Bristol Agreement”, “The Leipzig Charter” etc.), all these stressing on the quality of
life, the sustainable development, the environment protection, the participation to the decisional
process etc. For the new districts, the rules are very clear concerning surfaces destined to the
different urban functions:
• 17% for roads of minimum 12 m width
• 5-7% for green areas
• 5-7% for social activities etc.
But in fact these European rules come after most of the area in the immediate vicinity of the city has
already been occupied by the new system of plots. And even for these newly divided in plots zones,
the surfaces intended for green areas and for social facilities remain as intentions on the project,
being rarely, if ever effectively realised.
The new developments are dependent of the respective rural administrations. The village town halls
have no means and no interest in solving the problems of the inhabitants of the new areas, and these
do not participate to the rural community life. They generally leave in the morning and come back
by night. Children go to kindergarten and school in the city. Adults work, purchase the needed
supplies and participate to the cultural life of the city. All are depending on the communication
means with the urban centre.
The magnitude of the phenomenon is given by the number of new plots appearing. But not all the
new plots are to be built in the near future. Some of them were purchased as investment, the price of
the land increasing steadily. Other are waiting for the owner to have sufficient money to built.
Anyway, no centralised data concerning the number of plots around Timişoara exist. At the county
administration’s urbanism department, the higher body intended to supervise the development of
villages and towns, only general plans, without the detailed plotting, have to be approved. Every
local administration has data about their own areas, and thus inevitably incomplete.
This paper is focusing on the developments appearing at the north of Timişoara, between the city
and the village Dumbrăviţa. It is one of the first new districts appearing around Timişoara. The
village itself, with a grid of orthogonal streets, is situated at a distance of about 1,1 km from
Timişoara (measured on the road from the limits of the city to the limit of the village; the distance
from the city centre to centre of the village is not relevant for the purpose of this study). The road to
the neighbouring town of Lipova is passing through the village centre. According to arch. Alin
Hancheş, the former chief architect of Dumbrăviţa, the number of plots divided on the agricultural
land administrated by the village reached 9,500 - 10,000, and the number of houses build on these
plots is about 3,500 - 3,800. In order to be able to divide in plots agricultural land, the county
administration accepted the surface of the village itself to spread over the field, but two third of the
zones divided in plots exceed even these extended limits.

Lack of transport facilities

Dumbrăviţa is not related to the railroad system. The only public transport possibility is by bus. In
week days the schedule offers an average of one bus pro hour, between 5.00 and 23.00. The lapses
between buses vary, and departure hours are difficult to remember (5.00, 5.50, 6.30, 7.10, 7.50, 9.15
etc.). Saturday the interval between bus departure hours exceeds 120 minutes, and the last bus is
about 20.00 hours. Sunday the schedule is even poorer, with 4 bus rides, at intervals of 2 to 5 hours.
Furthermore, the terminal bus stop at the northern limit of the city centre, in an area were few public
transport lines are passing, being scarcely linked to the urban net. Even if the transport by bus is
quite cheap (less than 1 Euro), because of the inconvenience, most of the inhabitants of the new
districts prefer to travel by car, on a road with only two lanes (one for each direction). Most families
have at least two cars, one for each mature member, in order to maintain the independence of
movement. The number of vehicles on the two lane road between Timişoara and Dumbrăviţa is of
17,430 automobiles and 4,848 trucks in the time interval from 7.00 AM to 9.00 PM (a total of
22,278 vehicles), with a flow of about 10% during rush hours. Before Dumbrăviţa, on the same
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road, the traffic is less than a third, with 5,112 cars and 1,976 trucks, meaning a total of 7,088
vehicles. (these figures are issued from the studies of the Veltona SRL office of Timişoara, Road
Traffic Engineers). This traffic passes through the village centre and enters Timişoara on a road
bordered by block houses with apartments. Studies concerning the level of CO2 emissions are rare
and punctual.
On the roads linking Timişoara to the neighbouring villages there are no bicycle tracks. To go by
bicycle is dangerous even in the city. On the road, alongside with trucks, it is practically impossible.
The new plots bordering at a small distance the road, left little place for broadening the road, and no
place for a proper, pollution protected bicycle track.

The green areas of Timişoara

Timişoara is known as “the city of parks” (although the 16 sm. of green surface per inhabitant is
under both the Romanian and European standards). Where does that name then come from?
Timişoara was completely reshaped as urban structure after the Austrian conquest of 1716. Green
areas had no place in the project for the Baroque city, an important strategic fortress and advanced
garrison of the Empire. After the de-fortification and demolition of the powerful Vauban
fortification, the free land obtained around the city was difficult to use for construction because of
the soil low resistance (the fortification foundations remaind under ground and the the water ditch
was simply filled with sand). Later urban plans foresaw parks at the south of the city centre. A line
of linked public gardens along the Bega canal have been designed and realised in the 19th and 20th
centuries. This green belt became an important factor in the way the city is perceived (Fig. 5). These
gardens are conspicuous due to their continuity and to their central position.
Without these green areas along the stream, the river itself would loose its importance and become
less present in the urban context. In opposition to the 18th and 19th centuries conceptions, during
which water was seen as a necessary element for industry and transport and as canal recipient,
towns turning their most hideous face towards streams and shores, Timişoara became since the 19th
century the beneficiary of a recreation green area along the river.
But today’s city is confronted with a difficult situation:
• the traditional central green areas are subjected to neglect (Fig. 6) and different aggressions:
brutal cuttings (Fig. 7), lack of interest of the authorities permitting the green areas to be
degraded (Fig. 8) and, most damaging of all, the tendency to use this very valuable central land
for building (Fig. 9, 10 and 11)
• new green areas to mach the urban growth are scarce and often lacking character and interest
• the new developments appearing after 1990 and described formerly lack green areas, and the
land surfaces designed for this purpose are not planned and planted
• the bad use of land resulting from the predilection to build big isolated houses on comparatively
small plots leads to diminished garden surfaces
• the new developments isolate the city from free land without green fingers, preventing the
central parks of Timisoara to become viable ecosystems.
As a conclusion no project for an ecological answer to the urban growth and to the increasing
pollution due to the increasing number of cars and to the traffic growth is coherently put into place.

The possible response

The first problem is the lack of collaboration. Every administration is focused on its local interests
and does not aim for more general targets. The lack of a body to have as object the harmonisation of
the interests and development intentions in the area is most damaging. Although the town hall of
Timişoara has initiated a plan of development of the so called metropolitan zone (Fig. 12), for the
moment it remains at the level of project and intentions, without a more detailed plan of action. And
this is in part because of the lack of a structure not dependent of local interests and co-ordinating the
whole process. A formal Consultative Council of the Metropolitan Zone of Timişoara, in which 19
villages and the city are represented, has no authority and thus is redundant. A new body of

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professional should issue the plans for a more harmonious development, and these should be backed
by the authorities.
Alternative transport means should be encouraged. The RATT (the municipal transport company of
Timişoara) is not aloud to pass over the limits of the city. The bus services are unattractive and
difficult to use. Considering the small distance between the city and the villages, as seen concerning
Dumbrăviţa, any public transport could be put in place. A tramway or local train would be less
polluting than cars and would not increase the traffic in inhabited areas. Co-ordination is again the
best alternative. Instead, a project has been lounged to broaden the existing road on the same
location as the existing one (through the village centre and through a densely inhabited district of
the city).
Because of the small distances and because of the flat plain in which Timişoara lies, transport by
bicycle should be encouraged. A bicycle path is most welcome.
The green area (5% of every zone) are scattered and not planted. Green fingers should be designed.
For that purpose, the land owners should associate, in order to initiate more general plans.

References
Bica, S., 2004, Despre specificul oraşului Timişoara (About the character of the city of Timişoara),
Zilele Academice Timişene, Ed. Mirton, Timişoara
Bica, S., 2004, Restaurarea grădinilor şi parcurilor Timişoarei; necesităţi versus posibilităţi (The
restauration of the parks of Timişoara; necessities versus possibilities), Zilele Academice Timişene,
Ed. Mirton, Timişoara
Bica, S., Radoslav, R., 2007, The chaotic development of new districts appearing around
Romanian cities after 1990 - The case of Timişoara, International Conference “ Housing and work
places”, Universita degli Studi di Salerno
Opriş, M., 1987, Timişoara, Mică monografie urbanistică (Timişoara. A small urban monogrphie),
Ed. Tehnică, Bucureşti

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THE ROLE OF LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY APPLIED TO URBAN REALMS IN CLIMATE
CHANGES MITIGATION
Roberto Bio
Architect and Urban Designer
Via Gioia 11
10040 Rivalta di Torino
Italy
rbio78@gmail.com
+39-0119046356
+39-3382817175

Abstract:
This paper analyzes the necessity of a new environmental view for
designing cities, which can have a positive impact on climate
changes, maintaining the social vitality typical of a city. Assuming
today climate troubles as global, Urban Design must look at the
larger territory in which cities are laid out; as such the contribute of
Landscape Ecology results unequivocal. Landscape Ecological
principles cannot be applied in an urban realm a priori. A specific
level of integration is required and the determination of the benefits
and opportunities that can rise must become the goal of the designer.

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to

us. When we see land as a community which we belong, we may
begin to use it with love and respect”
Aldo Leopold (1949)
INTRODUCTION
As supported by a large scientific consensus and a growing body of literature, evidences of climate alterations
are today visible all over the world at different scales. As clearly pointed out by the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and former
U.S. Vice-president Al Gore (Gore, 1992 and 2006), often larger phenomena generate chain-effects reflecting on an
unprepared, often dreadfully planned, built environment.
Supports of a list that could run for pages are phenomena such as: the increase of flooding events due to
stronger storms - derived by the oceans’ heating - and to blind methodologies of planning; and the lost of natural
habitats as a result of changes in local ecosystems, attributable to the increasing temperatures, to the relocation of
precipitation and to the never-ending urbanization.
As a matter of fact we are creating less healthy cities exploiting large amount of primary resources, unable to
deal with the quantity of wastes they produce and whose life is totally dependable on the consumption of cheap energy.
Occurrences as the Urban Heat Island, the plummet of air quality, soil erosion and the reduction of reliable fresh water
supplies are only part of the by-product of the late 20th Ce. planning theories and of the western lifestyle, which would
cause dramatic consequences whether applied to a global scale.
Today the challenge, for every professional dealing with urban transformations, stand, not only in the
recognition of such concerns, but by in large, in a search for active solutions able to improve the quality of the urban
environment.
As identified by several scholars the presence of nature and, by extension, landscape design are critical for the
quality of an urban environment. Landscape is not merely an addition, but should become the basis to create places. It is
not only parks, trees, and flowers, but, as shown by Charles Eliot in the 1902 plan for the Metropolitan Boston (Spirn
1985), by the studies of Warren Manning (Zube 1986, Miller 1999) and later by McHarg (1976), a more complex
reality regulates by its own, ecological variables, which has to be considered as a central part of any development
activity. Landscape is therefore, a fundamental element of the design process, even the point of departure when
qualitative, ecological features are involved.
To create a balanced coexistence between city and nature has been the matter of studies since classical times.
Greeks saw the natural environments as the sphere of activity of the gods (Glacken 1967, Hughes 1967, Worster 1977),
consequently human activities affecting the environment involved their interest and reaction. Temples are a clear
example. They had specific location and orientation, which were dictated by topography and by the visual and spatial
relationships with the surroundings, which transformed them from architectural objects into dynamic realms interacting
with the landscape (Bacon 1976). Vitruvius took a further step, identifying how cities should have been built close to
water on dry, healthy sites, following an orientation and a shape that allowed to avoid and to control the wind.

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 The primary role of the urban areas is (or should be) to provide the main locations for human settlement. They
are places where people live, work and interact, living entities, characterized by fixed scenarios (buildings and
infrastructures) and by constantly moving flows of people, information and vehicles.
Urban Design considers the city as a living system, as a whole of different interrelating tissues. It deals with its
bio-physical form, but simultaneously, it faces all that political, economic and sociological issues relating to city’s
alteration (Lynch 1981, Barnett 1982, Lang 1994, Feoli 2002). Those concerns, often, transform urban design problems
in something else to decipher with some economically-convenient-politically-correct solution that frequently disregards
the center of any urban design consideration: the human being.
As a result:

“Everywhere new weekend ‘villas’ are rising, a good many of them, as the locals say, ‘architects
designed’. In fact ‘architecture’ is everywhere. But as yet there is no promise of an attractive
community to come. Indeed each year brings along with its rash of daring and individual houses, an
increasing sense of bleak ugliness. There are no new villages being built, only agglomeration of
unrelated object of every shape and design, pockmaking a once lovely land. [...]We make very few
successful places, only thing. [...] We and our environment are losing a great battle against ourselves.”
Robertson (1982)

“[...] over the past fifty years we have reduced a complex and diverse landscape into an asphalt
network stitched together from coast to coast out of a dozen or so crude design “templates”, […]
standardized solutions that require enormous expenditures of energy and resources to implement”
Van Der Ryn (1996)

When referred to cities environment, the notion of sustainability becomes fairly vague, due to the dimension of
the subject. Sustainability is a matter of an object performance. When the debate shifts to the urban environment it is
clear how the entire concept becomes the result of the performances of all the systems within the metropolitan area. As
such a quantitative analysis would be impossible to develop due to the quantity of issues and to the complexity of their
cycles and systems. Solutions have to be sought at larger scale, considering cities as part of a larger environment ruled
by own regulations, and exceeding the idea of the landscape surrounding urban developments as places for further
future development or to escape from urban life.
“Yet Urban Landscape Design continues to operate on the premise that ecological processes are either
non-existent in cities, or have little relevance to design process and form.
[...]
It is necessary to rediscover, through the insight that ecology provides, the nature of the familiar places
we live in [...] an environmental view of the city is an essential component of urban design that has
long been ignored”
Hough (1984)

The following discussion asserts that multiple benefits both for human beings and their environment may be
developed by a better integration of the city within its regional environment. In order to deal with modern climate
changes and to create beneficial effects for human being life an integration city-region is a necessity; consequently
deeper relationships have to be developed between urban developments and environmental characters of the region.
The term ‘urban ecology’, as intended in this essay, merges two specific disciplines as Landscape Ecology and
Urban Design. In order to define possible solutions to the actual climatic crisis, the following paragraphs are intended to
provide for an introductory description of the complexities of both disciplines and for illustrate the necessity of their
association.
1.1. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY
The science that studies natural phenomena is Ecology (from the Greek oikos, meaning “house” or “place to
live”), the study of the relation of organisms, or group of them, to their environment (Odum 1956, Worster 1977). The
part of the ecology that studies macro-ecology is Landscape Ecology (Forman and Gordon 1986, Likens 1992). It
analyzes how a structure of diverse ecosystems – a relatively homogeneous area of organisms interacting with their
environment (Forman and Gordon 1986) – is created and evolves, focusing on the dynamics and parameters that
characterize them, such as the distribution of their elements, their flows - of plants and animals (biomass), mineral
nutrient, water – and their change along time. As Dramstad (1996):
“It explicitly integrates nature and humans. Its principles work in any landscape, form urban to
pastureland and desert to tundra”

The term landscape refers to a spatially repeatable cluster of ecosystems having repeatable,
recognizable interactions, similar geomorphology and similar set of disturbance regimes throughout
their area. Every landscape is identifiable by a structure (size, shapes, number and configuration of
ecosystem), by functions (interactions among ecosystems) and by their changes over time (Forman
and Gordon 1986, Dramstad 1996).

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 Ecosystems transform energy through their living organisms. Each living organism occupies
a specific place in the transformation structure. According to thermodynamic principles the more
complex is the (eco) system the less amount of energy is lost during every transformation the better
the energetic rendering. Therefore the more (bio) diverse is the ecosystem the better works
(McHarg 1969).
Assuming that the natural order of the ecosystem is the one that provides the better
performances, it is easily recognizable how every modification to its structure alters this
equilibrium, producing a new, and temporary un-balanced, status characterized by significant
energetic losses. The ecosystem will adapt to this change, but the natural process of adaptation will
take long time (Odum 1975).
According to Landscape Ecology the basic landscape structure is composed of three
elements: Patches, Corridors and an overall Matrix.
a) Patches, nonlinear surface difference in appearing from its surroundings, are
distinguished in relation to their formative mechanisms and are characterizable in term of size,
shape, location, number and typology. Although rigid boundaries do not exist, every patch can be
further divided in two different sections, with significantly different features: the edge - the outer
portion - and the core. Clear differences between edge and inner areas of a patch are readable in
terms of typology of vegetation and populations. The edges house higher populations and generally
more opportunistic species, while the inner areas are characterized by more sensitive ones
(Dramstad 1996).
Vegetation ensures, through photosynthesis, the basic production of organic substances
provides oxygen and regulates water’s and carbon’s cycles. Through carbon dioxide assumption
vegetation controls the greenhouse effect. It is essential for soil protection, because it diminishes
soil erosion, and it’s the first ring of the trophic chain and a habitat for animals. Therefore is the
indispensable component in maintaining the global richness of species and ecological processes
(biodiversity) (Forman and Gordon 1986). Vegetation varies through natural or anthropic gradients.
The urban exploitation of the territory interferes with the natural distribution of the patches, giving
them a scattered, mosaic structures and creating sharp, qualitative and quantitative changes in
vegetation (Battisti 2001). Patches’ fragmentation, along with the large number of existing species,
asks for an ecosystem approach and a landscape/regional view, when the goal of the planning is the
preservation of biodiversity. In order to save local habitats, Franklin (1993) indicates the
development of an appropriate system of habitat preserves with greatly expanded attention to
conditions in the landscape matrix.
b) Corridors are narrow strips of land which differ from their surroundings. They provide connection to different
landscape elements on the territory and could differ in origin, dimension, width, typology (roads, hedgerows, streams)
and whether they tend to form a net with other corridors. They could act as barrier or as a filter to species movement
and are generally characterized by edge species (Forman and Gordon 1986, Dramstad 1996). Particular importance has
to be attributed to riparian corridors, which represent the most diverse, dynamic, complex and sensitive biophysical
habitats on the terrestrial portion of the Earth. According to Naiman, Decamps and Pollock (1993) the reasons of this
richness are:
1. the intensity and frequency of floods
2. variations in soils and topography
3. climatic variations as streams flow from high to low altitudes
4. the disturbances regime imposes on the corridor by the upland environment
5. the migration of plants.
These variables show a non-equilibrium system, characterized by multiple habitats and consequently extremely
diverse. The richness in diversity helps the riparian corridor managing dissolved substances and improving water
quality through plant stems and roots, litter and clay. Riparian corridors are constituted by the river’s bed, the banks and
the upland territories defined by the flooding areas. To allow a better circulation of species and a better response to
flooding, parts of the upland areas, whose width is related to the category of the stream, should be maintained free from
building and face the least amount of anthropic disturbances possible (McHarg 1969, Forman and Gordon 1986,
L.Leopold 1997). Riparian corridors are, probably, the most important type of corridor. As shown by multiple

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researches, they have an important role in the reduction of the environmental fragmentation, through what is known as
an ecological network.
Simultaneously another network of corridors, manmade (road and railroad), tends to be completely connected
creating barriers within patches, which cause species isolation and specific processes of evolution in the population of
the disturbance patch (Dramstad 1996, Glennon 2002).
c) The matrix is the most extensive and most connected landscape element type that includes other typologies of
landscape elements. It is a very large, fragmented area, which plays the leading role in organizing the functions that
distinguish a landscape. It is characterized by the shape of its boundaries and by the simultaneous presence of multiple
patches and corridors, which define its own porosity and mesh size (Forman and Gordon 1986, Dramstad 1996).
An understanding of ecological principles becomes necessary, to minimize harms attributable to poor planning and
city design. Professional designers, usually, interact with ecosystems. History shows how this interaction has been
made, mainly, abruptly, without any consideration of ecological processes. To minimize the impacts of environmental
changes professionals must work synergistically with the landscape, understanding from its settings the more suitable
solution. Hough (1990) suggests
“[...] the development of a design philosophy that recognizes diversity and the differences between
places is central to the maintenance and enhancement of social and environmental health”

Therefore, fundamental patterns able to drive the design process can be defined, identifying the bio-physical principles
which regulate the region and shape it.

1.2. URBAN DESIGN

“[...] problems in the larger landscape have their roots in cities and solutions must, therefore, also be
sought here”
Hough (1984)
“[...] Today the term ‘urban design’ is used to describe almost any design that takes place in any city
setting […]”
Lang (1984)

Although the term Urban Design was introduced in 1956 at a Conference at Harvard University39, city’s realm
has been matter of study since classical times, as proven by the studies about Greek and Roman theories and
development. The Greek’s Polis, for instance, was more than a physical entity; it transcended this status to reach a more
compound condition, where people became an integral part of the city, of its economical, intellectual and political life
(Vitruvius 1914tr, Kitto 1956, Glacken 1967, Bacon 1976, Benevolo 1976, Morris 1984).
The evolution of the society and the technological discoveries along the centuries, however, have slowly
deviated these concepts towards an understanding of the city regulates mostly by economical principles, where the
emphasis is put mainly on the infrastructural patterns and land uses, rather then on that social contract necessary to
create a vibrant city (Hough 1984, 1990, Spirn 1984, Rykwert 1988, Nassauer 1994, Scandurra 1995, Van der Ryn
1996, Geddes 1997). The design professions followed the line. Professional responsibilities are identified by
Madanipour (1996), and Solomon (1989), who criticizes both designers – “[…] it is hard to find anyone who would
like to live in the town they are building” – and the modern society’s quests for private comfort and automobile,
epitomes of a society able to enjoy the economic improvements of an urban complexity but not its disadvantages.
“[...] the New World provided the first actual large-scale opportunity to realize the ancient dream of
achieving genuine harmony between humankind and nature […] in ‘a middle landscape’, a via media
neither urban, nor wild that combines the best feature of each […]”
Marx (1991).
Marx’s words are helpful to delineate the modern quest for an urban life closer to a natural environment typical
of most western societies us a useful interpretation of the American landscape, basis of today’s climate threats.
Studies of several authors Lynch’s (1961 a, b, and 1981), Barnett’s (1982) Lang (1994) show the elements
used with which Urban Design shapes the city’s landscape. They also illustrates the necessity of a discipline able to
mediate among the others operating in the city ground. As a consequence Urban Design appears as a field of studies
expanding its boundaries among the designing disciplines, with the purpose to coordinate all that flows involved in the
urban environment
The physical representation of connection is the infrastructural system. It is defined mainly by a network of
connected paths. Their development along with the mass production and distribution of the private automobile (and the
following sensation of ease of movement) and the aspiration to realize an urban life close to the nature, gave a further
push to the horizontal spreading of the built environment40 and to the deterioration of a large part of the western
landscape. Moreover, the trends followed by the Western society since the 1950s of an economic expansion based on
extensive goods production, sustained by population growth and granted by cheap fossil fuel has generated considerably
increases in carbon dioxide production and the consequent issues of global warming (Gore 1992, 2006). A significant
objective for contemporary City Designer has to be the research for alternative patterns of development able to merge

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the needs of population and the environmental constraints. As advocates by this essay opportunities can be identified
by.
Today, human being survival is increasingly becoming a matter of coexistence with the environment. A deeper
knowledge and respect of the ecological laws regulating the larger environment will illustrate a series of opportunities
to facilitate the achievement of a balance between the man and his environment, consequently reducing global
warming’s threats.

2. CASE STUDIES
This section, through the critical analysis of significant case studies, aims to investigate whether new strategies
able to merge both disciplines are implemented and what degree of integration is required in order to create cities closer
to the meaning of sustainability.
Considering the variety of global warming threats and the complexities of the urban environment, the case
studies selected, regard mainly with waterfronts. As previously clarified, although human alterations severely took part
in the past, waterfronts still maintain a deep ecological role, representing, also, the most significant territorial feature,
where biophysical phenomena are still having a role in the city-landscape shaping.

2.1 ARIZONA’S CHALLENGES

Since prehistoric times (Philips, Comus 1999) Arizona’s history has been signed by constant examples of
interaction with scarcity of water. Although today almost all Arizona’s rivers are dry (Image 01), the State, Countries
and Cities are trying to deal with them, in order to minimize flood hazards and to create more civic spaces.
2.1.1. TUCSON
Although known as ‘desert city’, Tucson lays in a basin significantly rich of water, which has guaranteed its
biophysical birth and constant development. The main watercourses within Tucson are the Santa Cruz and Rillito rivers.
Extensive groundwater pumping has strongly affected Tucson’s watercourses environment, lowering the level
of the watertable (Gelt 1999) and converting once lush, riparian corridors into dry, sandy rivers, irremediably altering
an extremely sensitive ecosystem.
Human alterations of Tucson’s watercourses became significant since the arrival of the railroad in 1880
(Sheridan 1995 and Logan 2002) but until the 40s a general balance between withdrawals and recharge remained.
Increases in consumption, due to new increases in the population, definitely inverted the situation. The disappearance of
the water was followed by the use of parts of the river bed as landfills, first, and as sand and gravel mining, later (Logan
2002). These processes, along with the channelization of the banks to prevent from floods and the loss of vegetation on
the river banks, lead to a process of disconnection between the city and its waterfronts.
Identifying the rivers system as a potential asset, since the last decades of the 20th century, the City of Tucson
and the Pima County have undertaken several efforts to revitalize and restore the numerous watersheds within the
Tucson Basin41 and are implementing programs to encourage the population in save-water attempts.
Recognizing the ecological importance of the connectivity between riparian corridors, over 23 miles of parks
have been established along parts of the Santa Cruz River, Rillito Creek and Tucson Diversion Channel, allowing desert
vegetation re-growth in the uplands (Image 02). Currently the city is undertaking plans to increment the park system
linking it to the Juan Bautista the Anza National Trail that runs to San Francisco. Several plans have been promoted
during the years to transform the urban part of the sandy riverbeds in paradigms of what the river were. Although
appreciable, they have not been implemented due to the large quantities of water, and financing, required to nourish a
riparian vegetation that do not belong to these type of river anymore.
The role of a dry riparian corridor in an urban environment is extensively related to the city. How a city
approaches to its river determines the quality of the riparian environment. Currently, Tucson’s connections with its
corridors can be seen as a movement away, rather than towards the rivers. Tucson development patterns show how the
city considers them as a backside rather than a vibrant riverfront.
New design strategies to improve the riparian corridors along the city of Tucson are necessary42. They should
start by recognizing the critical role of ecology in providing the quality of the urban environment. The residual ecology
of Tucson’s rivers continued its natural processes, through the meandering within the channels creating areas where
scattered vegetation exist (sandbars). However, the creation of river parks cannot be by itself a catalyst for changing the
role of the riparian corridor in the urban fabric. Clusters of complementary activities should be placed on the uplands in
order to intensify the relationships between the city and the river, creating an active, civic riverfront.

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 Thus, the keystone to improving the quality of both the urban and natural ecosystem has to be found in what
role the river plays in the civic life. Consequently, the interface of the river-urban edge should become the place where
the urban and riparian ecosystems weave together into a new space neither completely urban nor completely riparian. A
buffer zone that creates an integrated boundary, reinforcing the ecological role of the river corridor and the civic value
of the riverfront (Bio 2007).

2.1.2. SALT RIVER’S PROJECTS:

RIO SALADO’S BEYOND THE BANKS PLAN, Phoenix, AZ
TEMPE TOWN LAKE, Tempe, AZ

The Salt River interventions in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area show two approaches in dealing with a dry
river, both aiming to link ecological results with recreational and development goals.
The Salt River dried out in the early 20th century due to the construction of a series of upstream dams,
becoming a site for extensive sand and gravel mining. In the 60s the College of Architecture at Arizona State University
developed studies that proposed to restore life on the riverbed, bringing water back through a flood control channel on
its bottom. The studies ended in the 1985 Masterplan that was not implemented. Since 1996 the future of the river
within the Phoenix Metro Area has been split. Tempe implemented what is known as “the Town Lake”, while Phoenix
developed “the Rio Salado Beyond the Banks” plan.
Tempe Town Lake (Image 03) is a 220 acre, 2 miles long artificial lake, with an average width of 1,000 feet,
an average depth of 12.5 feet and a capacity of about 1,000 gallons of water. Along its north-south borders lie 2 parks, a
parkway, a center for arts, a marina and several real estate buildings. On the east-west sides 8 bladders contain the
water, which comes from the CAP43 and groundwater pumping. The lake/river-bed is made of sand, resting on a clay
layer; a discharge control system below the clay layer, recovers water that percolates, recharging it into the lake.
“[…] a seepage recovery system recovers almost 100 percent of the water that seeps into the ground.
Water is recaptured by 10 wells around the eastern portion of the lake and pumped back into the lake
[…]”
http://www.tempe.gov/lake/askqst.htm

Tempe Town Lake’s purposes are mainly recreational and economical, even if along the side of the lake the
Corps of Engineers is trying to re-insert native vegetation.

Five miles west, the City of Phoenix has established the Rio Salado Beyond the Banks project. A 5.8 mile long
plan, between Interstate Highway 10 and 19th Avenue that, according to the Planning Department, tries to restore the
dry Salt River to his natural state, provides for flood control benefits, habitat restoration and opportunities for
development (Image 04). It aspires to bring enough water into the river to restore native grasslands, trees and wildlife,
preserving the river’s flow capacity and providing trails for hiking, biking and horse-riding. The City of Phoenix crosses
the river via a bridge with two Gateways Parks at the base of which two pools act as a run-off collector and urban
wetlands (Image 08). Water reaches a very porous riverbed as a permanent small stream, through a low flow channel.
Then it is brought through pipes to mid-level terraces where the majority of the efforts to re-establish native vegetation
are concentrated. Along the terraces and the over banks, bike and pedestrian paths were developed.
Rio Salado Plan aims to face floods replicating, to the extent possible, the natural systems that protect desert
riparian areas during flood events.

Tempe Town Lake is mostly an economical investment, whose plan among its multiplicity of objectives has
also ecological aspirations. It has been able to favour the rapid development of the water-front land and the buildings on
the surrounding areas. To suit cultural goals a program for leisure recreation and cultural buildings was built, but the
existing lack of recreational facilities limits their use. Ecological targets led only to the re-introduction of native species
on the east-west borders of the lake on two hypothetical ecological corridors. But what the lake really does, is, to break
the continuity of the larger riparian corridor and create a lotic environment in what is supposed to be a lentic one,
modifying soil, vegetation and wildlife characteristics. Moreover, in a land where the water is extremely scarce, it
dissipates constantly water by evaporation and establishes a series of hard pavement surfaces that increases the heat
island and limit water percolation44.
Rio Salado Beyond the Banks seeks for a slower development of the surrounding areas, basing on the principle
that the re-vegetation of the river and its banks could provide in the short period flood-protection and recreation, and in
the longer one real-estate and economic development. It tries to give back to the River its ecological corridor role,
creating a continuous path that shall be extended east to the Gila River and west to Tempe. Water is utilized mostly to
maintain vegetation45. Losses for ground percolation are accepted and seen as part of the larger process of aquifer

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recharge. Although uses of the River are promoted through a system of trails on overbanks and terraces, the Phoenix
Park Department imposes a strict regulation of the activities, in order to preserve vegetation species and protect
wildlife; other limitations to the pedestrian utilization are in the deficiency of an adequate amount of facilities.

“[…] it was recognized that re-creation of the Salt River corridor in its previous form was not possible
nor completely desirable. Many changes have occurred and current condition would not support
complete replication. The objective became the creation of a synthetic – natural - landscape that
accommodates the functions of a natural river regime and uses the elasticity of a balanced ecosystem to
accommodate human activity”
Charles Cook (1991 b.)

Cook’s words underline how, in the process of river restoration, the re-creation of the previous, natural state of the
River is impracticable. Hence, a solution should be found in a landscape able to merge ecological, recreational and
socio-economical aspects.
In the Salt River’s projects prevention of flood has been seen as an opportunity to grant restoration of the river
ecology and to facilitate development along its banks. While Tempe Lake aims to almost instantaneous revenues, while
Rio Salado Plan sets its agenda to a longer period in order to reach a more gradual and ecologically balanced vision.

2.2. GUADALUPE RIVER PARK MASTERPLAN – San José, Ca

The Guadalupe River Park Masterplan aimed to promote the ecology of the river and extend the city and the
urban life to and across the river.
Over time large floods have caused great damage to property along the river and since the 1950s industrial
outflow drained wastes into it. The Guadalupe River Park Masterplan intended first to grant protection from 100-yr
flood events and restore about 5 miles of riparian habitat within the city, providing a comfortable environment for man
and animal species, and then to connect the river to the city and the city to the region through a network of pedestrian
trails.

From north to south the plan is split in 4 parts (Image 06):

1. Between Highway 880 and Coleman Street, wide terraces with gentle, vegetated slopes, an upstream
flood-gate and a secondary channel try to accommodate high flows, maintaining the natural
movement of sediments (Image 07);
2. Between Coleman street and Santa Clara street, a 17x64ft bypass system diverts water from the main
channel during flood events, allowing the vegetative cover along the river to remain intact; on the east
bank improvements consist of a retaining wall with graphical representation of the river and concrete
stairs planted with vegetation (Image 08);
3. Between Santa Clara and Highway 280, the focus is on streambed improvements. In order to maintain
a) the passage for fish on low water level and b) cool water temperatures through small weirs and a
low-flow channel;
4. South of Highway 280, concrete stairs and retaining crib walls act as bank reinforcement,
providing flood protection, and create another bypass, to, mostly, agricultural fields.

The Masterplan demonstrates a clever integration between civic interests and ecological goals along the
Guadalupe River. To prevent floods and reduce erosion the main technique followed, is to divert water from the river
main channel through a series of concrete underground bypasses. Water then flows back to the river just passed
downtown. Erosion is also controlled with a concrete low-flow channel and 35 small concrete weirs, which create drops
in grade of about 1 foot. The weirs trap coarse sediment and create small pools able to provide instream fish habitat and
to favour the oxygenation of the water.
Additionally, the construction of the low-flow channel and the bypass system led to the interception of
groundwater, which, after been cleared by a local treatment plant, was recharged to the river. The control of floods
allows opportunities to increase public access and the utilization of the river through recreational facilities and
pedestrian trails on both banks (image 15). In order to increase the cultural experience of the Guadalupe, design
guidelines favor the dialogue between the river and the city, extending the river in the urban fabric through features
such as open spaces oriented to the river (courtyards, arcades, overlooks, terraces), wide pedestrian vegetated terraces,
and the use of landscaping as integrant part of the buildings.
The landscaping of the uplands allows the interception of urban run-off water, which could affect the
biological condition of the River. Furthermore it creates upland vegetated banks that offer suitable habitat for fish,
wildlife and riparian plant species. Using the bypasses and the upstream dams, the plan aims to maintain a continuous
flow of water with a depth of at least 1.2 ft even in dry season. The permanent run of the water nourishes plant on the
bottom of the river and on the banks; along with the restoration of 21 acre of vegetation on the uplands, it provides
shade and reduction of the heat-island effect maintaining low temperature and oxygenating the water.

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 The Guadalupe River Park Masterplan illustrates a plan able to restore a riparian corridor within an urban
context. Although its primary goal, it seeks solutions that are able to increase the ecological performances of the
ecosystem, establishing upland buffer areas that simultaneously allow different urban experiences and mitigate the local
temperature, while stressing the River’s relevance in the urban fabric.

SAN ANTONIO RIVER IMPROVEMENT PLAN

The San Antonio River Improvement Plan (SARIP) shows how an ecological design can be achieved within
the city borders, creating an asset capable to generate market revenue while improving the environment.
The San Antonio River dried up early in the 20th century due to groundwater pumping. Since 1911 to maintain
its flow, the city has pumped water from the Edward Aquifer into the river (Glennon 2002). Six large floods between
1913 and 1921 led then to the engineering of the river through a flat concrete riverbed and soil-cemented banks. In the
90s the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) started to search for different treated water sources to discharge into the
river and today water comes mostly from four wastewater plants.46
The main goal of the SARIP is to transform a sterile and unappealing flood control channel into the River
people have used for centuries (Hammatt 2002). It calls for the re-establishment of the natural flows of the river, the
replacement of the concrete channel with cobblestone (to increase the aquatic fauna) and the introduction of more native
vegetation on the banks and the uplands. It is a 13 mile project that seeks to improve flood control capabilities through
ecological techniques and enhance opportunities for development.
It is composed of three parts:
1. The Central Reach corresponds mainly to the River Walk and the Alamo, where a dam to control the
water floods within the RW is planned.
2. North of the River Walk, the river runs for 4 miles to the Museum Reach (Image 09) where the plan is
to re-establish the natural flow of the River through the substitution of the concrete walls with crib
walls or with natural slopes wherever possible. Further control of the water level is provided by
another flood-gate.
3. South of the River Walk (Image 10), in the Historic Mission, the River flows through rural and
agricultural lands for about 9 miles connecting the adjacent historical Spanish missions. A secondary
channel, a dam and less steep, vegetated banks accommodate flow, while small weirs provide for
grade control and small falls where water can drop, aerating and diminishing the erosion on the
bottom of the river.
To create ecosystem restoration, re-introduction of native vegetation47 on the riparian corridor is gradual in
time.
“Rivers are natural flood-control components, but that is not their only role, a river should also be a
natural system with habitats, and a place for people to use and enjoy. They should enhance the quality of
life and community rather than being purely functional”
Nancy Fleming, ASLA

To provide integration with the urban area 9.7 miles of bike paths, shading pavilions, pedestrian bridges,
benches, picnic tables and drinking fountains are planned. Real estate along the river is allowed, but it must follow strict
design guidelines.
The reclamation of the San Antonio River to a more natural condition and to provide flood control through a
more naturalistic system, are the main intents of the SARIP. Let the River goes is the basic principle which forms the
design. Allowing the River to cover its floodplains, re-establishing its natural meandering, rather than enclosing it in a
concrete channel (Image 11) assumes significant importance from an ecological perspective. An increase of the edge
abruptness would lead to an increase of animal and plant species movement, and of the general number of species.
Thus, a dynamic balance typical of riparian ecosystems is therefore the objective. Additionally, larger edges can
guarantee better protection both for the River, diminishing run-off and acting as filter from urban disturbances, and for
the uplands, reducing the hazard of flooding.
The cultural dimension of the project is provided by the importance that the River has already reached in the
San Antonio civic life. The attempt to connect the significant, historical landmarks of the southern reach with the
cultural ones of the northern reach, passing through the commercial heart of the city, wants to create a continuous, eco-
cultural experience.
To maintain the connection with San Antonio’s urban fabric, continuous linkages are provided by strict
ordinances that regulate the type of activities along the river and include a series of scenic open spaces (view towers and
multiple terraces), and buildings48 and multiple pedestrian paths with clear connections to the street level.
Technology applied to the River follows the principle of the less the better substituting the extensive use of
concrete with more appropriate materials such as cobblestone and boulder. In order to maintain an adequate micro-
climate, type and quantity of vegetation, solar access and paved surfaces are regulated by the San Antonio River
Authority. Although water comes from treatment plants, water quality parameters show an adequate quality.
SARIP utilizes the San Antonio River with a dual approach: 1) recognizing the ecological importance of the
River, as a historical route, seeks for a more natural design composition; 2) simultaneously, the River is identified as a
cultural corridor that can connect significant landmarks on the territory.

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2.4. TURIA RIVER, Valencia, Spain

“The history of Valencia has always been linked to its dual condition of fluvial and maritime city. With
this site we would like to reveal and stress the importance that the Turia River has had in the urban and
cultural development of the city. A river that has conformed, more than any other circumstance, the real
essence of the city. And a river bed currently transformed into a town cultural park, which still remains
the central axis of Valencian life.”
Rita Barberà Nolla - Mayor

“El Ilit del Turia es nostre i el volem verd”

“The Turia Riverbed is ours and we want it green”
Slogan used by neighbors association in 1976

After a massive flood which devastated the city in 1957, the City Government through the Plan Sur decided,
in order to protect the City from future floods, to divert the River from its arrival to the city. The diversion took place in
the early 60s and left Valencia with an 8km dry corridor dissecting throughout the entire city perimeter. The destiny of
the River became the major topic of the local debates and politics for several years. In 1966 the Plan of Urban
Arrangement projected to transform it into a highway, but the protest of the Valencians, which envisioned the riverbed
as a big garden, ended it. Finally in 1976 after the approval of the Public Construction Ministry, the King signed the
free concession to the City Council of the land of the dry river, reserving for the State 1/10 of the total towards the
mouth of the River.
Since 1976 Valencia transforms the Turia old watercourse in a vibrant place able to become the catalyst of the
real estate development on the banks and the backbone of the social life of the city. The Masterplan for the entire area
was completed in 1982 by Ricardo Boil. The original plan changed progressively along the years, but the intention of
re-design the riverbed into a pedestrian amenity remained intact. Today it is continuous open space corridor featuring a
diversity of recreational activities and facilities. Along the riverbed there are gardens, playgrounds, sports fields and
museums. A series of new bridges and landmarks has been built; the city is constantly interacting with its dry-
waterfront (Image 12,13).
Although the protection of the city from floods is the goal that brought to the diversion of the Turia River,
Valencia has been able to pick up the opportunity of providing spaces for the civic life that characterizes a vibrant city.
The River re-direction provided the chance to replace the riparian axis around which the city has been developed since
the X century, with a continuous pedestrian infrastructure.
The extension of the area allow the creation of spaces for multiple activities, providing for a diversity of
experiences that concur in making the Turia Riverbed a place for a larger number of users. Being already the Turia
watercourse an important part of the city, the connection with the urban fabric has been facilitated, but the amount of
new development created along the waterfront since 1970 shows how the [new] river has acted as spark for the growth
of the city.
The approach utilized is, quite radical and even if successful from an urban design point of view, it should
pointed out how considerations about the ecology of the river have not been taken in consideration. The diversion that
provides protection from floods could have sensibly altered the riparian ecosystem. In addition, the Turia river meet the
Mediterranean Sea just pass the city limits, in what could have been considered as an important ecotone, so far probably
disappeared.

2.5 OLYMPIC SCULPTURE PARK, Seattle, WA

“SAM’s Olympic Sculpture Park will help to bolster our reputation nationally and internationally as a
leader in urban environment stewardship and a pioneer of public art”
Greg Nickels - Mayor

As R.Geddes (2002) the City of Seattle, along with Portland, OR and Vancouver, has pionereed in planning
for environmental protection and the provision of “greenspace” as parts of the urban fabric.
The relatively homogeneous population and the isolation, on the US north-western corner, have contributed to
create a regional culture and set environmental priorities shared by the most; in addition, the diverse and attractive
landscape has always seen as a fundamental asset for the economy of the region and for the well being of his
inhabitants.
The Olympic Sculpture Park (Weiss-Manfredi) has been an opportunity to merge visual arts, urban re-
qualification and environmental protection. It is part of a larger scheme of interventions that since the 90s transformed
Seattle waterfronts removing the Alaskan Highway and establishing strong linkages between the urban fabric and the
Puget Sound.
In 1999, the Seattle Art Museum purchased downtown Seattle’s largest and last undeveloped waterfront
property from UNOCAL (Union Oil Company of California). The site, used for fuel transfer and distribution from
1900s to 1975, contained numerous oil storage tanks and an assortment of petroleum hydrocarbon products which

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hardly contamined soil and groundwater. Between 1999 and 2005 a series of intervention allowed the cleaning of the
site. In 2000 the Seattle Art Museum established a design competition to define a new civic open space [able to]
promote outdoor sculpture as an important visual art form and contribute to Seattle’s already notable collection of
public art.
The winning proposal (Image 14), by the NY based firm Weiss-Manfredi, suggests a Z form, open space
museum able to interact with the current infrastructure system exploiting the favorable topography and to improve
micro-climate condition through environmental remediation. A series of sloping terraces houses local plant species,
allowing a mitigation of the local micro-climate both from the sea breezes and from the higher city’s temperatures,
along with positive effects on the soil quality and the sensation of insertion in a larger landscape. The Z-park extends
then the park into the bay with plants and grasses intended to ameliorate water condition and create favorable habitat for
fish.

2.6. CASE STUDIES SUMMARY

Tucson investigation illustrates the necessity of innovative design strategies to deal with riparian corridor in an
environment where climate changes are experienced prior. Uses of a riparian corridor must respect the ecological
significance of the river in order to make the river a significant part of the urban fabric even when it is dry.
The Salt River’s projects demonstrate how different approaches within the same metropolitan area, create
contentious results. Tempe Town Lake wanted to create an urban point of attraction, while Rio Salado Plan to establish
a green lung in an extremely built-oriented urbanity. Both of them reach some of their initial objectives, but both of
them fail in mitigating adverse micro-climate conditions (Tempe) or in establishing a vibrant civic space (Phoenix).
The Guadalupe River Park and the San Antonio River Improvement Plan, conscious of the importance of the
river for their territory, both as ecological, economical and economic asset, represent successful efforts to insert the
regional landscape within an urban realm. They clearly illustrate how, when wise design strategies are pursued,
landscape ecological principles can be successfully applied to improve local climate condition within an urban
environment, and consequently help in mitigate global warming menaces.
The Turia River case study points out the importance that a riverfront can have from and for a civic
environment. Even if it changed radically the natural river run, it has been able to create multiple open spaces enjoyed
by Valencia’s population and possibly could have had a positive impact on reducing the principal causes of global
warming (i.e. air conditioning and automobiles utilization). Furthermore it allows questioning the main assumption
stated by this essay.
Seattle Olympic Sculpture Park shows the possibility of design to merge art, environmental constraints and
urban design considerations, and the necessity for environmental design to consider the contribute of multiple
disciplines in order to achieve goals of sustainability.

3. CONCLUSION

A five minute walk from the Olympic Park would bring a Seattle’s visitor to the Seattle Freeway Park. An
extensive park that, running for miles, covers an intricate underground street system, mitigating through plant species
automobiles’ fumes and noise. The Halprin’s park is just an example of the multiple fields of inquiry that further
research could investigate to advocate the role of urban ecology in climate changes mitigation. Topics such as green
roofs, the role of large waste and water treatment plants or the integration between new technologies and park system
could provide for further matter of discussions.
Climate changes have multiple effects and diverse causes. Although difficult to determine in terms of
performances, the brief case study research purposed, clearly illustrates how wise design strategies can improve local
climatic condition while creating active civic spaces. Efforts to make stronger the presence of landscape features within
an urban environment could bring to multiple benefits, both in reducing fossil fuels consumption and in the creation of
new ‘edge’ spaces, neither completely urban nor natural where different activities can be arranged.
Design strategies to face today climate changes cannot be defined a priori. Cities are by their very nature under
continuous cycles of transformations. Professionals, at whatever scale are working, have to identify the principal
landscape settings – the Genius Loci- of the site, identify the main ecological principles in action and seek for solutions
in according with them. Often economical and political interests would drive towards different solutions; a basic role of
today’s designer will be to show the positive impacts that environmentally aware solutions can have in shaping better
places.

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 Assessing the Incorporation of Watershed Protective Techniques
in New Urban Development Site Plans: What are the Implications
for Mitigating Climate Change?
Joseph A. MacDonald, Ph.D., AICP
Program Development Senior Associate
American Planning Association
1776 Massachusetts Avenue NW #400
Washington DC 20036
jmacdonald@planning.org

Philip R. Berke, Ph.D.

Professor
Department of City & Regional Planning
Campus Box #3140
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
pberke@email.unc.edu

ABSTRACT
Polluted stormwater runoff degrades water resources in the United States. The primary
contributor has been the increase in sprawling, low-density, automobile-oriented development that
became widespread after World War II. Although low-density development continues today, the
new urbanism, or neo-traditional development, offers a high-density, mixed-use, pedestrian- and
transit-oriented design alternative. New urbanists have made broad claims that new urbanism will
remedy the negative environmental impacts of conventional, low density development. While such
claims are still being researched, there is some evidence that new urbanism may provide more
opportunities within development sites for water resource protection. The design features of new
urbanism that offer more opportunities for watershed protection (i.e. high densities, mixed uses,
pedestrian-orientation, transit and open space) may also offer potential for reducing other negative
environmental impacts of urban development, such as climate change.
This study examines how new urban development site plans have incorporated techniques to
protect water resources. Six case studies were conducted to explore how new urbanism may live up
to claims that new urbanism is more protective of the environment than conventional low-density
development. The key finding is that new urban development site plan successfully incorporates
water resource protection techniques through new urban design principles. The best examples
successfully compact development in less hydrologically-sensitive areas by reducing
imperviousness; protected hydrologically-sensitive green spaces provide opportunities for natural
stormwater runoff management. Compact development within strategic green space networks also
has the potential to lower carbon dioxide emissions by simultaneously encouraging less driving to
reduce emissions and providing more areas of natural vegetation to absorb emissions. By
incorporating more techniques to protect water resources, new urban development sites may
potentially mitigate global climate change.

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INTRODUCTION
Water resources in the United States are suffering. According to the National Water Quality
Assessment Report (USEPA, 2006), 47% of streams; 60% of lakes and 61% of bays and estuaries
are impaired. Pollution is primarily from urban & agricultural stormwater runoff (non-point source
pollution).mmmm Runoff is particularly widespread in areas dominated by impervious cover.
Examples of impervious cover include rooftops, roadways, parking lots and compacted soils).
Impervious cover is typically associated with the buildings and pavement of urban development.
Urban development has been spreading rapidly across the United States since World War II.
Between 1950 and 2000, urbanized land areannnn increased by 466%, while urbanized land
population increased just 178% (U.S. Census Bureau, 1953; 2002). The difference is attributable to
an increase in low-density urban development. Furthermore, during the same period, the central city
population in the United States decreased from 33% to 30%, while the suburban population
increased from 23% to 50% (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). At the close of the 20th century, the United
States was a nation of sprawling, lower-density suburbs (Otterstrom, 2003).
New urban development offers considerable promise to slow the tide of low-density
suburban development across the United States. Through higher densities, mixed land uses and
pedestrian- & transit-orientation, new urbanism offers more compact developments with potentially
less impervious cover and more open space. Reduced impervious cover and increased open space
may potentially mitigate water resource degradation and other negative environmental impacts,
such as climate change.
How can new urbanism provide opportunities for water resource protection? What evidence
exists to support claims that new urban developments actually provide these opportunities? In order
to examine these questions, findings from case studies of new urban developments approved and
built in the southeastern United States are analyzed. Drawing on this evidence, reasons are
suggested why new urban developments have successfully provided opportunities for water
resource protection. Actions are recommended for future development site plans to incorporate new
urban site design techniques to mitigate urban development’s negative environmental impacts.

NEW URBANISM THEORY AND EXPERIENCE

New urbanism is arguably one of the most significant urban planning and design initiatives
of the 20th century. In the twenty years since the first new urban development of Seaside, Florida,
more than 500 new urban developments have been planned, approved and built in the United States
and Canada (Steuteville, 2008). New urbanism has reinvigorated the discussion about development
site design in terms of urban form, public spaces and place-making. The anticipated demand for
tens of millions of new homes in the coming decades of the 21st century only heightens the
mmmm
Nonpoint source pollution, unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants, comes from many
diffuse sources. Nonpoint source pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the
ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing
them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water (USEPA,
1994).
nnnn
As defined for the first time in the 1950 Census, an urbanized area is an area that includes at least one city with
50,000 inhabitants or more and also the surrounding areas that meet the following criteria: 1) Incorporated places with
2,500 inhabitants or more; 2) Incorporated places with fewer than 2,500 inhabitants with a population density of at least
500 dwelling units per square mile (approximately 2,000 persons per square mile); 3) Unincorporated territory with at
least 500 dwelling units per square mile; and 4) Territory devoted to commercial, industrial, transportation, recreation,
and other purposes functionally related to the central city.

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importance of new urbanism and other forms of development site design for planners (Nelson,
2006).
New urbanism is the fusion of two complementary but different development site design
theories that arose in the late 1980s and early 1990s: Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), by
Peter Calthorpe of California (1993) and Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND), by Andres
Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of Florida (1991). Both TOD and TND were responses to
conventional low-density suburban development, the dominant form of development site design in
the United States since World War II. While TODs focused more on land use arrangements, and
TNDs focused more on architectural design of individual structures, both emphasize higher
densities, mixed-land uses (residential, commercial, office, industrial, civic, and recreational) and
alternative transportation to the private automobile (walking, bicycling, buses and trains).
In 1993, Duany, Plater-Zyberk, Calthorpe, and other influential architects and urban designers
convened to form the Congress for the New Urbanism (Katz, 1994). In 1996, the Congress for the
New Urbanism produced its Charter – 27 principles that define new urbanism as a response to the
problems of disinvestment in central cities, the spread of low-density suburban sprawl, increasing
separation by race and income, environmental deterioration, loss of agricultural lands and open
space and erosion of society’s built heritage (Kelbaugh, 1997; Congress for the New Urbanism,
2000; Duany et. al., 2000; Calthorpe & Fulton, 2001; Duany & Talen, 2002). The Charter
principles advocate a return to traditional town planning and design through more carefully
delineated open space, better mixing of uses in compact forms, and stronger transportation networks
which improve livability at the metropolitan, neighborhood, and block levels. According to new
urbanists, “these principles are not new; they are simply a return to the timeless goals of urbanism,
in its best sense” (Calthorpe, 1993, p. 43).
With the groundbreaking of new urban developments nearly two decades ago, the literature
has begun to explore the alleged contrasts between new urbanism and conventional low-density
suburban development. These studies have found that there appear to be differences in the impact
of each design approach on a variety of issues, including consumer preference (Handy et. al, 2008;
Levine & Frank, 2007); walkability (Saelens & Handy, 2008; Rodriguez et. al., 2006; Heath et. al.,
2006; Southworth, 1997); psychological well-being (Brown & Cropper, 2001); and the environment
((USEPA, 2006; Brander et. al., 2004; Girling et. al., 2000; South Carolina Coastal Conservation
League, 1995).
Although research that evaluates the comparative impacts of new urbanism versus
conventional low-density development is in the early stages, there is an emerging consensus about
specific design features used to examine these impacts. Prior research suggests that three design
features can be used as a common conceptual basis to assess the claims of new urban developments:
density (high versus low); land use (mixed/integrated versus segregated) and transportation
(pedestrian- & transit-orientation versus automobile-orientation) (Berke et. al., 2003; Southworth,
1997; Crane, 1996; Brown & Cropper, 2001).
New urbanists claim that high-density, mixed-use and pedestrian-oriented development
successfully mitigates environmental problems such as the impact of urban development on water
resources (Calthorpe & Fulton, 2001; Duany et. al., 2000; Congress for New Urbanism, 2000;
Morrish, 2001; Pollard, 2001). However, many questions have been raised about the validity of
these claims due to the lack of empirical evidence to support them (Spirn, 2001; Berke, 2002;
Pollard, 2001). Since most new urban developments have only been planned, approved and built
since the 1990s, there is now tremendous opportunity for empirical research about how new urban
developments incorporate environmental impact mitigation strategies.
Water resource experts assert that a good way to mitigate the degradation of water resources
by urban development is to incorporate watershed protection techniques into the individual
development site plans by which neighborhoods, stores, offices and factories get built (Schueler,
1995; Brady, 1996; Center for Watershed Protection, 2000).Water resource protection techniques
generally fall into one of three categories to mitigate stormwater runoff and non-point source
pollution: 1) reduce impervious cover; 2) protect hydrologically-sensitive areas (e.g., steep slopes,

411
porous soils, forests, wetlands, stream buffers); and 3) provide natural stormwater runoff
management (Schueler, 1995; Center for Watershed Protection, 2000).oooo
The principles of new urban design suggest new urban developments may potentially mitigate
the impacts of urban developments on water resources. New urban developments have the potential
to reduce impervious cover because new urban development is compact. The compact nature of
new urban development can reduce site imperviousness by 10 to 50 percent, depending on lot size
and street network.pppp Compact new urban developments also have the potential to protect
hydrologically-sensitive areas and provide opportunities for natural stormwater runoff management
because larger portions of the development site may be protected as open space. Duany et. al.
(2000) describe the new urban framework for open space:
Preserves, greenways, parks, plazas, squares and promenades represent a regional to local
hierarchy of open-space types that serve a variety of uses: nature conservation and continuity,
active recreation, playgrounds for the youngest, strolling ground for the oldest and so on. It is
only by providing this full range of specific open spaces that planning authorities can ensure
citizens the quality of life that their codes were originally intended to provide (p.32).

Several studies have employed models to simulate impacts of new urban and conventional
low-density suburban developments on water resources (Brander et. al., 2004; South Carolina
Coastal Conservation League, 1995; Girling et. al., 2000; Zheng & Baetz, 1999; Bosch et. al.,
2003). While these studies offer some illustration of new urbanism’s potential to mitigate the
impact of urban development on water resources, more empirical research on actual built new urban
developments is necessary to understand how the site design characteristics of new urbanism create
opportunities for watershed protective techniques.

OVERVIEW OF WATERSHED PROTECTION IN SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

In order to investigate how new urban developments might incorporate watershed protective
techniques through site design, case studies of approved new urban development sites were selected
from a study area that encompasses five states in the southeastern United States: Georgia,
Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. These states reflect the range of
environmental regulatory provisions governing land use and watershed protection found across the
nation.
State Environmental and Watershed Protective Planning Mandates
While Maryland is widely recognized as a leading state based on enactment of statewide
smart growth legislation in 1997 (Godschalk, 2000), it is even more significant that the portions of
both Maryland and Virginia within the Chesapeake Bay watershed have stringent nutrient reduction
strategies requiring local jurisdictions to protect sensitive areas. The strategies intended to improve
watershed and bay water quality are essentially mandated under the Chesapeake Bay Agreements of
1987 (Maryland Department of the Environment, 1995; Virginia Department of Environmental
Quality, 1996) and 2000 so that the Environmental Protection Agency will remove the Chesapeake
Bay from “impaired waters” status. Periodic assessments reveal that while progress has been made,
local jurisdictions continue to fall short of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requirements
oooo
These site planning techniques reflect the state of practice defined by the Center for Watershed Protection, the
Cooperative Centre for Catchment Hydrology (Australia), the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American
Water Resources Association, the nearly 40 agencies and associations that comprised a national site planning
roundtable between 1997 and 1999 (Center for Watershed Protection, 2000)oooooooo and the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (2004; 2005).
pppp
Schuler (1994) compared imperviousness of cluster developments with low-density sprawl developments. The study
results have validity when considering new urban developments since new urban developments reflect the basic
compact design features of cluster developments.

412
(U.S. EPA, 2008). If EPA standards are not ultimately met, the federal government will enforce its
own strategies over local authority.
Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina do not contain widespread areas under such
pressure from the Environmental Protection Agency to mandate improved water quality. North
Carolina’s coastal planning mandate of 1974 requires sensitive area regulations and local plans
(Berke & French, 1994). However, the mandate only covers coastal jurisdictions, none of which
contain new urban development sites included in this study. Georgia passed its state growth
management act in 1989, but environmental protection requirements in both Georgia and South
Carolina are generally weak.qqqq
Case Study Selection
The case studies were designed to build on the quantitative analysis of findings from a survey
of local planners for 50 approved new urban development site plans within the study area, reported
in Berke et. al. (2003) and MacDonald (2005). The purpose of selecting six local case studies of
new urban developments was to provide a richer and more detailed understanding of how their site
design elements provided the opportunity for mitigating water resource impacts. Three primary
sources of data were gathered to examine how well new urban development sites integrated
watershed protection techniques: personal interviews, evidentiary documentation and field
observations. Site visits occurred over three-day periods in 2001, with follow-up visits in 2003 and
2008. Table 1 lists the personnel interviewed and field visit dates for each case site.

TABLE 1. Persons interviewed and the dates of field visit for each case site

Case Sites and Dates of Field Visita

Birkdale Pleasant View Southern
King Farm Port Royal Riverside
Village Gardens Village
10/29/2001, 10/31/2001,
Interviewees 10/25/2001 2/2/2003 12/20/2003 11/7/2001 10/22/2001 6/11/2001
Engineer x x x x x x
Planner x x x x x
Developer x x x x x x
Site Landscape Designer x x x x x x
Site Stormwater Designer x x x x x
Architect x x x
Political Leader (s) x
Project Manager x x x x x
County Stormwater Designer x x
Permitting Officer x
Erosion Control Officer x
a
Follow-up field visits to all sites were conducted in July 2008

Face-to-face interviews were conducted with professional personnel familiar with the design,
development, approval, construction, and maintenance of the site in the context of water resource
impacts. Key players included town engineers, town planners, stormwater consultants, engineering
consultants, developers and site designers. The interviews were guided by a case study protocol,
qqqq
The approved development site plans in the survey include projects located in inland areas of North Carolina, but
none under the coastal planning mandate. All projects from Maryland and Virginia surveyed are in the Chesapeake Bay
Watershed and therefore under the auspices of the 2000 Chesapeake Bay Agreement.

413
which contained questions focused on six critical issues: 1) the interviewee’s role; 2) site context; 3)
points of contention; 4) points of opportunity; 5) positive design elements to retain; and 6) negative
design elements to change.
Second, evidentiary documentation was collected before, during, and after the field visit. The
types of documents included maps of the project site design, stormwater input studies and
management plans and key local government land use planning documents and ordinances.
Third, visits to each development site were conducted. Guided by a checklist of features from
the protocol, various water resource management features were assessed, including storm drains,
swales and ditches, stormwater retention areas, streams, stream buffers, open space, landscaping,
impervious surfaces, automobile and pedestrian circulation, and stormwater management practices.
Digital photography, field notes and maps helped record observations.
The multiple sources of data used for each case study facilitates the identification of patterns
of new urban site design and water resource protection techniques. The logic of pattern matching is
to compare an empirically-based pattern with a hypothesized, or predicted, pattern (Trochim, 1989;
Campbell, 1969; 1975 in Yin, 2003). The empirical patterns identified in the case studies can be
related, or matched, to the hypothesized pattern that new urban development site designs
successfully incorporate watershed protection techniques. The predicted pattern is confirmed or
rejected based on how well the predicted pattern matches the empirical pattern.
Six sites were chosen for case study from an initial list of 54 new urban development site
plans. The initial list was developed in early 2001 from new urban-oriented web sites, the New
Urban News, published new urban case studies and interviews with local planners.rrrr Surveys were
administered to the primary plan reviewers for each site plan; responses were received for 50 plans.
The survey results were used to rank the plans in order of the number of reported watershed
protective techniques. The plans were separated into six groups based on the number of techniques
(Very High, High, Somewhat High, Somewhat Low, Low, and Very Low) and one development
was chosen from each group for case study (see Figure 1).ssss
rrrr
New urban development site plans smaller than 10 acres, without mixed-land uses or without final approval were not
considered.
ssss
Each case study represents a different level of incorporated watershed protective techniques. Furthermore, each
selected case site was at least 50% built; topographic diversity (coast vs. piedmont vs. foothills) and metropolitan
location diversity (central city vs. suburb vs. small town) were also considered.

414
 MARYLAND

King Farm
Rockville, MD

Pleasant View
Gardens
Baltimore, MD

VIRGINIA

Birkdale Village NORTH CAROLINA

Huntersville, NC
Southern Village
Chapel Hill, NC

Riverside
Atlanta, GA
SOUTH
CAROLINA

Village at Port Royal

Port Royal, SC
GEORGIA

Source: Adapted from Facts on File, Inc. (1997); note that shading a byproduct of map – not significant

FIGURE 1. Case site locations

Case Study Locales
Table 2 illustrates the diversity of the jurisdictions that contain the new urban development
sites selected for case study. Population ranges from 10,000 in Port Royal, South Carolina to more
than a half-million in the cities of Atlanta and Baltimore. Baltimore has actually lost 13% of its
population since 1990, while Huntersville, North Carolina has increased over 1300%. Rockville, in
suburban Washington, DC, and Chapel Hill, home of the University of North Carolina and nearby
415
Research Triangle Park, have median housing values double that of Port Royal and about triple that
of Baltimore.

TABLE 2. Case community characteristics

Chapel Hill, Port Royal, Huntersville, Baltimore,

Rockville, Atlanta, North Carolina South Carolina North Carolina Maryland
Characteristic Maryland Georgia (Southern (Village at Port (Birkdale (Pleasant View
Variables (King Farm) (Riverside) Village) Royal) Village) Gardens)
Population
58,706 519,145 51,574 10,212 42,579 637,455
(2007)
Population
Growth (1990- 31% 32% 33% 242% 1313% -13%
2007)
Median
Housing Value $198,700 $130,600 $229,100 $91,200 $182,800 $69,100
(1999)
Community
suburb central city small town small town suburb central city
Type

Topography piedmont foothills piedmont coastal plain piedmont coastal plain

Table 3 details the characteristics of each new urban development case site. Net residential
density ranges from moderate (7 units/acre) to high (22 units/acre); it makes sense that densest sites,
Riverside and Pleasant View Gardens, are also in central city locations. The sites generally offer a
broad land use mix, including commercial retail, office, residential, civic and recreational uses. An
exception is Pleasant View Gardens, a HOPE VI public housing development where retail was
originally planned but never materialized. Transit availability varies dramatically among the case
sites. Riverside and Birkdale Village offer no on-site transit service. Southern Village, Port Royal
and Pleasant View Gardens offer municipal bus service, but no rail. Only King Farm offers a
complete menu of transit options: subway rail, commuter shuttles and municipal buses. Except for
Pleasant View Gardens, the case study developments are expensive. Condominiums may cost
$750,000 in King Farm and single-family homes can surpass $1.5 million in Southern Village.
Riverside rentals may exceed $6300/month.
Watershed Protective Techniques in the New Urban Development Case Sites
For the case studies, watershed protective techniques were defined in terms of specific
design elements actually observed in the approved new urban development sites. Three categories,
or dimensions, of watershed protective techniques were assessed: techniques intended to reduce
impervious surface cover, protect hydrologically sensitive areas and provide natural stormwater
runoff management.
The six case studies employed a range of very high to very low levels of watershed
protective techniques in each category. Techniques for reducing impervious surface cover range
from multi-story buildings and parking decks to pervious alleys. Efforts to protect hydrologically
sensitive areas run from designating more than half the development site as a zone of no-
disturbance to maximizing density in urban areas to absorb growth pressure from the suburbs.
Natural stormwater management techniques include public education programs to teach residents to
permit natural vegetation. Table 4 contains summary characteristics of each site’s techniques.

TABLE 3. Case site characteristics

416
 Characteristic Southern Village at Port Birkdale Pleasant View
Variables King Farm Riverside Village Royal2 Village Gardens

Size (acres) 435 85 312 50 52 18

Units 3200 527 1150 151 320 338

Net Density
(residential) 13.5 17.5 7.5 6.7 17.3 22.6
(units/acre)

Year Approved 1996 1999 1996 1995 2001 1998

C: $357-750K; C: $177-275K; C: $138-589K; subsidized

1 H: $579-915K; H: $480- H: $145- rental (28 units
Price/Rent R: $900-$6300 R: $700-$2200
R: $1400- $1550K; R: $1,300K; R: owner-
$3900 $1000-$2300 $700-$2000 occupied)

several new
125,000 square 65,000 square independent 300,000 square
Retail Use town square na3
feet feet retailers in feet
town

several new
day care
3,200,000 225,000 square 140,000 square office tenants 200,000 square
Office Use facility, senior
square feet feet feet along main feet
housing office
street
new town hall,
public square, senior center, community
Civic Use public square public square elementary police/fire public square center/ public
school, church stations, post health center
office, school
playgrounds, bike path, town swim club,
parks, play pocket parks
neighborhood square playfield,
Parks/Open areas, town un-developable with
parks/ fountain/ pocket park/
Space beach, tidal floodplain playground
protected protected river stream
creek marsh equipment
valleys buffer greenways
rail, bus,
Public Transit bus adjacent bus within bus within bus adjacent bus within
shuttle
1
Retrieved July 17, 2008 from www.realtor.com (listing prices for (C)condominiums/townhouses; (H)single-
family detached homes & (R)monthly payments for rental units)
2
Port Royal prices reflect all of "Old Village of Port Royal," or the area included in Victor Dover's Master
Plan and not just The Village at Port Royal (focus of original case study)
3
Commercial retail originally planned, but July 2008 visit revealed none materialized

As reported by primary plan reviewers in the survey and observed through interviews,
collected documents and field visits, the level of watershed protection techniques implemented in
each case study varied considerably. King Farm offers a balance of high-density, mixed-use
development served by bus and rail transit while protecting stream valleys in an undisturbed state.
Riverside’s undisturbed open space covers more than half the site, yet lacks transit and pedestrian
connections to adjacent neighborhoods. Southern Village provides open space but not very high

417
densities. Port Royal’s early projects lacked both density and open space but new developments are
more intense to protect wetlands and marshes. Birkdale Village sacrificed open space for parking
lots and Pleasant View Gardens lacks natural open space to protect.
While each case site exhibits unique efforts to integrate watershed protective techniques
through new urban development site design, some additional general statements can be made. First,
successful watershed protective new urban developments “nest” high-density, mixed-use
development areas within an open space network. This is the case in King Farm, Riverside and
Southern Village; it is starting to manifest itself in Port Royal as well. A pre-development
dedication of open space provides a framework for compact development clusters.
Second, new urban developments that successfully integrate watershed protection
techniques deliberately designate at least a portion of open space as no-disturb areas. This feature
distinguishes moderately protective projects, such as Southern Village, from highly protective
projects, such as King Farm. Both developments protect at least 25% land area, but King Farm goes
an extra step by specifying the intended purpose of its open spaces. Its stream valleys are kept
undisturbed with the specific intent to clean stormwater runoff and mitigate on-site and downstream
impacts. Southern Village limits development near its streams, but its stream valleys are mowed and
cleared for recreational use, landscaping and man-made ponds.
Third, watershed protective new urban developments limit imperviousness due to parking.
Birkdale Village offers an example not to follow. While the development itself contains a high-
density, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly core enclosed by several acres of parking lots. In contrast,
King Farm’s streets were privatized to provide parking without lots. Riverside accommodates
parking in decks or on the street to protect green space. Port Royal uses pervious materials for
alleys and some parking areas.
The paper now turns to the individual case studies for the details of new urban development
site design and integration of watershed protective techniques.

TABLE 4. Watershed protective techniques in new urban development case sites

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 Categories of Watershed Protective Techniques
# of Protect Hydrologically Sensitive Natural Stormwater Runoff
Techniques Reduce Impervious Surfaces Areas Management
King Farm compact development (13.5 109 of 435 acres (25%) protected stream valleys kept undisturbed
(Very High) units/acre net density); reduced as open space; hydrologically through "No Mow" program;
off-street surface parking; sensitive stream valleys & runoff drains to natural vegetation
extensive transit service; no wetlands kept undisturbed filters sediments and pollutants,
paved walkways in protected slows stream flow and stabilizes
stream valleys stream banks

Riverside compact development (17.5
(High) units/acre net density) with
decked parking; lack of transit &
connectivity to surrounding
neighborhoods forces automobile
dependence.
49 of 85 acres (58%) protected as
open space; riparian corridor and
springhead areas along
Chattahoochee River kept
undisturbed; additional open
space traded for higher density
zone of non-disturbance offers
bio-filtration; stormwater runoff
flows through protected areas
before reaching Chattahoochee
River; open space allowed
creation of wetlands and swales

Southern somewhat compact development
Village (7.5 units/acre net density); more
(Somewhat suburban design and more
High) pavement both on-site (street-
facing garages; surface parking
lots) and off-site
104 of 312 acres (33%) reserved
as open space, but only partial
protection from disturbance.
Many sensitive areas cleared for
aesthetics and include paved
walkways and parks
Open space areas provide some
natural stormwater runoff
management, but not in mowed or
park areas; man-made ponds used
for stormwater detention in
mowed area along streams

Village at early development not very
Port Royal compact (6.7 units/acre net
(Somewhat density); recent development
Low) more than double net density
(16.6 units/acre); also pervious
alleys and parking areas.
No initial formal open space
protection at first, but recent plan
protects 266 of 317 acres (89%)
as undisturbed tidal marsh;
wetlands network also protected.
natural drainage through
wetlands, swales and marshes;
growing town has increasing
revenue sources to direct water to
natural drainage networks

Birkdale compact development (17.3
Village units/acre net density); developer
(Low) exceeded new urban parking
standards with several additional
acres of parking lots
none protected; there is a no-build future rain gardens or other
portion of the site within the 100- natural drainage may be possible
year floodplain of McDowell in parking lots through under new
Creek; remainder of potential town ordinance but only
open space paved for parking lots floodplain has been kept as open
space.

Pleasant very compact development (22.6
View units/acre net density); Very
Gardens impervious but does not
(Very Low) accommodate same density as
earlier project (50% reduction);
may spur suburban growth
no hydrologically sensitive areas
to protect (site redeveloped many
times); lost opportunity to protect
outlying sensitive areas by
absorbing higher-density
development
Central city neighborhood heavily
paved with compact soils; best
opportunity for natural filtration
and bio-treatment in suburbs if
city absorbs high density growth

King Farm (Rockville, Maryland)

King Farm is defined by high-density, mixed-used, transit-oriented development framed by
protected stream valleys. Headwater stream valleys like those found in King Farm are very sensitive
to urban development; intense development could seriously degrade water resources. However, a
county-level environmental analysis identified stream valleys for protection, providing the
opportunity for the developer to implement the King Farm Open Space Network Plan. The open
space plan protected stream valleys, providing opportunities for King Farm to provide natural
stormwater runoff by the “Growing, Not Mowing” re-vegetation program along stream banks and
419
limit imperviousness by shifting parking from lots to private streets.
King Farm exemplifies new urban design through high density, mixed land uses and strong
pedestrian orientation and transit access. Net residential densitytttt is 13.5 units/acre; King Farm
includes 3200 units on 435 acres, including 109 acres of open space and 42 acres of exclusively
non-residential development. An extensive street grid with sidewalks on both sides provides strong
intra-connectivity (See Figure KF.1). Close proximity of King Farm to Shady Grove Station on
Washington METRO’s Red Line and connecting shuttles provide strong inter-connectivity (See
Figure KF.2). King Farm includes detached houses, townhouses, condos, and apartments, 3.2
million square feet of office space and 125,000 square feet of retail (supermarket, bank, restaurants,
hair salons, dry cleaners, etc.). The success of King Farm was recognized by the Congress of New
Urbanism, one of only 15 development plans (out of 208) that received an inaugural Charter Award
(Czarnecki, 2001).

Source: Loiederman Soltesz Associates (1996)

FIGURE KF.1 King Farm development master plan

tttt
Net residential density is defined as the number of dwelling units per acre in residential or mixed use, while gross
residential density includes the land area plus infrastructure, open spaces, and exclusively non-residential land uses
(Berke et al. 2006; and Calthorpe, 1993). According to Calthorpe (1993, p. 59), net densities are roughly 20% higher
than gross densities, once streets and other infrastructure improvements are considered.

420
 Source: Adapted from aerial photograph on Mapquest (2003)

FIGURE KF.2 King Farm’s proximity to Shady Grove Station

The framework for watershed protective techniques in King Farm was established by the
1990 Montgomery County Environmental Analysis for the Shady Grove Area, including King
Farm, The groundwork for the 1990 plan was originally laid in 1977 to protect the site’s stream
valleys, wetlands, and floodplains. The authors were very conscientious of the environmental
characteristics of the area (shallow soils, steep slopes, wetlands, floodplains, and surface water
bodies) and targeted those features for protection from development impacts (see Figure KF.3).

421
 Source: Adapted from Montgomery County (1990)

FIGURE KF.3 1990 Environmental analysis to identify sensitive

areas for protection from urban development in Shady Grove area
The developers of King Farm created an Open Space Network Plan in 1996 to implement
the environmental protection framework established by Montgomery County. King Farm’s open
space network includes hydrologically-sensitive areas, such as headwater stream valleys, along with
parks for recreation and landscaping for aesthetic purposes. Approximately 25% of the King Farm
site is included (see Table KF.1 and Figures KF.4 & KF.5).

TABLE KF.1 Components of King Farm open space network

422
 Type of Open Space Acres
Public Open Space (includes stream valleys and stormwater management) 47.7
Park (possible future middle school site) 28.0
Park (possible future elementary school site) 12.0
Landscape Buffer 5.1
Neighborhood Park 5.0
King Farm Boulevard Promenade 3.2
Community Center Green 3.1
Neighborhood Open Space 2.0
Private Recreational Center (includes community buildings) 1.8
Retail Center Green 0.5
Office Center Green 0.5
TOTAL 108.9
Source: Loiederman Soltesz Associates (1996)

Source: Loiederman Soltesz Associates (1996)

FIGURE KF.4 King Farm open space network

423
 Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE KF.5 Protected headwater stream valley in King Farm

The King Farm Open Space Network Plan supported the City of Rockville’s Natural
Resource Inventory, including a Forest Stand Delineation to ensure King Farm met Rockville’s
20% forest cover requirement. Re-vegetation of the stream valleys, wetlands and floodplains was
necessary. Residents initially resisted; they wanted sidewalks and landscaping. In response, the
City of Rockville educated the public about the benefit of bio-filtration for water quality through a
public awareness campaign called “Growing, Not Mowing (see Figure KF.6).” The city posted
signs & educational placards throughout King Farm’s protected areas; residents and business
owners now fully embrace their stream valleys and no-disturb areas (see Figure KF.7).

Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

424
 FIGURE KF.6 Growing, not mowing

Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE KF.7 Educational placard at Watkins Pond in King Farm

King Farm’s Open Space Network Plan further supported by the unique approach of
developer’s to the City of Rockville’s residential parking requirement. It was impossible to provide
two off-street parking spaces per residential unit for a dense development like King Farm without
sacrificing open space for parking lots. Therefore, the developers designated many streets as private
so that street parking could satisfy parking needs without increasing impervious cover and
impinging on protected areas in the Open Space Network (see Figure KF.8).

425
 So
urce: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE KF.8 King Farm on-street parking

Riverside (Atlanta, Georgia)

Riverside is defined by high-density, mixed-use development somewhat isolated from the rest
of Atlanta. A majority of the site is protected as undisturbed green space through the Atlanta
Regional Commission’s Chattahoochee River Corridor Study and Metropolitan River Protection
Act. However, the lack of transit and pedestrian connectivity to surrounding areas fosters greater car
dependence and potentially more pavement elsewhere. Still, Riverside was awarded the Atlanta
Regional Commission’s Inaugural 1999 Development of Excellence Award as a direct response to
Atlanta’s infamous sprawl and federal sanctions against highway funding for metropolitan Atlanta
due to poor air quality.
The developed portion of the Riverside site is high-density, mixed-use and pedestrian-
oriented. Net residential density is 17.5 units/acre; Riverside has 527 residential units on 36 acres
surrounded by 49 acres (58% of 85-acre site) of open space dedicated to protect the Chattahoochee
River (see Figure R.1). Riverside resembles something of an island of development surrounded by
green space; only an isthmus of entrance road provides access to the rest of Atlanta. There is one
off-site bus stop, but no pedestrian access (see Figure R.2). Internally, half of Riverside is gated
and accessible only to residents. The walkable town square offers mixed-use buildings of
apartments, 225,000 square feet of office space and 25,000 square feet of retail space with decked
parking behind buildings (See Figure R.3).

426
 Source: Adapted from Planners and Engineers Collaborative (1996)

FIGURE R.1 Riverside: Zone of non-disturbance

Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE R.2 View from bus stop toward Riverside (entrance not on right; not visible)

427
 Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald and Michael Holmes (2001)

FIGURE R.3 Riverside town square

The 1973 Metropolitan River Protection Act required extensive conservation on the Riverside
site to protect the Chattahoochee River watershed. The Act implemented the Atlanta Regional
Commission’s 1972 Chattahoochee Corridor Study, a land suitability analysis that rated land within
a 1,000-foot riparian corridor according to its vulnerability to urban development impact. Due to
high vulnerability, the first 500 feet from the riverbank were designated a non-disturbance zone,
while the zone 500-1,000 feet from the riverbank was designated a conditional development zone.
The land suitability analysis assigned vulnerability grades within the conditional development
zone (Atlanta Regional Commission, 1972). Grades ranged from A (least vulnerable) to F (most
vulnerable) (see Figure R.4). Based on grade, areas were capped with maximum percentage of site
disturbance (A=90%; F=10%) and maximum percentage of site imperviousness (A=75%; F=2%).
Developers who did not utilize maximum site disturbance and maximum imperviousness in more
vulnerable areas could trade for more intense development in less vulnerable areas.uuuu
Riverside does not represent new urban pedestrian orientation and transit access, but the
development was embraced as a necessary shift away from conventional, low-density suburban
sprawl. The 1972 Clean Air Act established National Ambient Air Quality Standards for a number
of different pollutants, including ozone.vvvv Thirteen counties in metropolitan Atlanta were labeled
“Serious Non-Attainment” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the mid-1990s and
required to submit a State Implementation Plan (see Figure R.7). Unfortunately, the Georgia
Environment Protection Division was unable to comply by deadline (a “conformity lapse”), so the
uuuu
Though local jurisdictions initially had the power to override ARC authority, the Duluth Amendment to Georgia
State Code in the 1980's curtailed the power of local jurisdictions in favor of greater power for the Atlanta Regional
Commisison. Thus, the Atlanta Regional Commission review of a project is the key forum for development intensity
negotiations.
vvvv
Ozone is a highly reactive compound formed when nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds are emitted from
automobile exhaust and other industrial and manufacturing operations, and then react with direct sunlight. Ozone
pollution tends to be greatest during months when the weather is hot and sunny with little or no wind. These conditions
are typical during the summer months in Atlanta.

428
Environmental Protection Agency applied federal highway funding sanctions against the 13 non-
attainment counties for 1998-2000 (Shrouds, 2000). The sanctions catalyzed the region to embrace
high density, mixed-use urban core developments like Riverside.wwww

Source: Adapted from Atlanta Regional Commission (1972)

FIGURE R.6 Riverside site vulnerability

wwww
As a result of an infill building boom that continues unabated, the City of Atlanta’s population grew from 393,929
in 1990 to 519,145 in 2007, an increase of more than 125,000 residents or 32% (U.S. Census Bureau 1992; 2008).
Fulton County, in which Atlanta is located, grew from 648,776 in 1990 to 992,137 in 2007, an increase of nearly
345,000 residents or 53% (U.S. Census Bureau 1992; 2008). Thus, metropolitan Atlanta has witnessed a resurgence of
urban core population growth since the Environmental Protection Agency cut highway funding to the area. Although
highway funding was restored shortly after 2000 and the 13 counties reached attainment status in 2005 for the one-hour
ozone standard (USEPA, 2005), 20 metropolitan Atlanta counties remain non-attainment for both the 8-hour ozone
standard and the fine particulate matter standard (PM-2.5) and two additional metropolitan Atlanta counties are in non-
attainment for just the fine particular matter standard (retrieved July 26, 2008 from
http://www.epa.gov/air/oaqps/greenbk/qncl3.html). There is concern that if a new policy plan is not developed to meet
standards by 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency may again revoke highway funds (Grode, 2006).

429
 Source: Adapted from U.S. Census Bureau (1999)

FIGURE R.7 Thirteen non-attainment counties of Atlanta

Metropolitan Statistical Area (AMSA)

Southern Village (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

Southern Village is defined by relatively low densities, mixed land uses, bus transit service
and a network of open space. Planners originally designated the Southern Village site to absorb
future growth from surrounding areas to protect Jordan Lake. The 1992 small area plan for the
southern portions of Chapel Hill, including the future Southern Village site, included a land
suitability analysis identifying hydrologically sensitive areas. Town planners negotiated with
developers and community leaders to “upzone” the Southern Village site to higher density and
“downzone” surrounding parcels to lower density. However, nearly 1,000 residential units of
anticipated growth were not transferred to Southern Village, potentially increasing development
pressures elsewhere in the Jordan Lake watershed.
Southern Village has lower, suburban density, strong mixed-land use and walkability with
good bus transit service. Net residential density is 7.5 units/acre; Southern Village contains 1150
dwelling units on 312 acres, including 104 acres of open space and 24 acres of exclusively non-
residential use. Southern Village’s site plan facilitates walking and biking through an extensive
street grid (see Figure SV.1), sidewalks and recreational paths. Porches reach out to tree-lined
sidewalks and narrower streets slow traffic (Padgett, 1999). Chapel Hill Transit provides bus
access. Lower-density residential districts cluster around a core of higher-density residential, retail,
office and civic uses; a neighborhood grocery, a four-screen theater, an elementary school and a
church are features (see Figure SV.2).
Chapel Hill’s Small Area Plan: Southern Area significantly affected the impact of Southern
Village on the Jordan Lake Watershed. In 1989, town planners and the town council wanted to
corral spreading urban development in mainly rural southern areas. Rather than react to
development proposals, town planners and political leaders collaborated with the public to assess
the southern area’s suitability for conservation versus development. The Town Council adopted the

430
Small Area Plan: Southern Area in 1992 (see Figure SV.3). Town planners elected a site (future
Southern Village) as a compact, mixed-use development to absorb anticipated future growth. The
site would be “upzoned” to higher densities; surrounding parcels “downzoned” to lower densities
(see Figure SV.4).

Source: Bryan Properties (1996)

FIGURE SV.1 Southern Village master plan

431
Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)
FIGURE SV.2 Mary Scroggs Elementary School

Source: Town of Chapel Hill (1992)

FIGURE SV.3 Chapel Hill Small Area Plan: Southern Area

432
 Source: Adapted from Town of Chapel Hill (1992)

FIGURE SV.4 Overlay of up-zoning (Southern Village) and down-zoning

However, Southern Village did not absorb all of the residential units “downzoned” out of
surrounding areas. The Small Area Plan called for 2,760 residential units in the Southern Area (both
Southern Village and surrounding parcels), compared with 3,748 residential units prior to the Small
Area Plan. 988 potential units were now shifted outside the Southern Area. Strong population
growth and development pressure in Chapel Hill may translate to those units being built in other
parts of the Jordan Lake watershed, against the intended purpose of the Small Area Plan.
The developers of Southern Village could have absorbed 988 additional residential units
through efficient application of new urban design principles. Southern Village was approved for
1150 residential units on 184 residential acres. An additional 988 residential units would raise the
net residential density from 7.5 to 14.5 units/acre. This density would be similar to King Farm in
Rockville, Maryland. Developers could have avoided conventional suburban features like street-
front garages, storefront parking lots and mowed open space (see Figures SV.5-7).

433
Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)
FIGURE SV.5 Street-front garages in Southern Village

Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE SV.6 Storefront parking lot in Southern Village

434
 Source: Photograph by Joseph A. MacDonald (2008)
FIGURE SV.7 Mowed open space in Southern Village

Old Village at Port Royal (Port Royal, South Carolina)xxxx

Port Royal is defined by increasingly more dense, mixed-use developments in an emerging
pedestrian-oriented community that remains sensitive to its environment. Port Royal officials seek
to become a vibrant, compact community without compromising the ecological role played by local
wetlands and tidal marshes. Town officials incorporated watershed protective techniques in three
ways: 1) pervious alleys and off-street parking areas; 2) native wetland preservation; and 3)
protected open spaces through the town’s most recent development project: The 2006 Port of Port
Royal Planned Unit Development (PUD) & Regulating Plan.
Port Royal is redeveloping according to new urban tenets of high density, mixed land use
and pedestrian-orientation through its 1995 Master Plan and 1999 Traditional Town Overlay
District. One of the first projects, Village at Port Royal, included 151 single-family homes on 3.7
acres (net density of 6.7 units/acre) (see Figure PR.1). The most recent development, the Port of
Port Royal PUD calls for a net density of 16.6 units/acre; 480 residential units on 317 acres,
including 266 acres of protected tidal marsh and 15 acres of public squares and commons). The Port
plan also includes 90,000 square feet of commercial development. To encourage walkable, mixed-
use development, the Town of Port Royal established public buildings with on-street parking and
sidewalks along Paris Avenue, the town’s main street (see Figure PR.2).

xxxx
The original case study focused on a 151-unit, 3.7-acre development within the town’s traditional core know as the
“Village at Port Royal.” However, the present discussion is broadened to include all of the area within the scope of the
town’s new urban master plan, known as “Old Village of Port Royal,” which includes “Village at Port Royal.”

435
 Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE PR.1 Village at Port Royal homes (moderate density)

Source: Andrews Engineering Company (1995); Town of Port Royal (2001)

FIGURE PR.2 Port Royal civic buildingsyyyy

yyyy
Since the civic buildings were photographed, the configuration of the intersection of Paris Avenue with Ribault
Road has changed. To calm traffic and encourage more pedestrian and bicycle activity, the Town of Port Royal

436
 Port Royal officials require pervious alleys and off-street parking areas to protect water
quality (see Figure PR.3). The Director of Planning crafted a strategic plan to secure pervious
alleys, narrow streets and connect sidewalks for reduced cost. The town gives eight feet of road
right-of-way per lot to a property owner developing in the Traditional Town Overlay District. The
owner reciprocates by paying for half the cost of the mandated sidewalk and shifting their structure
eight feet toward street centerline. However, when the entire block is built, the rear eight feet of
each lot is then yielded back to the town for a 16-foot alley of pervious crushed shell.

Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE PR.3 Pervious alley in Port Royal

The Town of Port Royal, with money saved from sidewalks & pervious pavement, will
further mitigate development impact on water resources by protecting and reconnecting a system of
cypress wetlands to receive stormwater runoff for bio-filtration (see Figure PR.4). “The project
would use underground pipes to link isolated islands of wetlands, including cypress wetlands on
Richmond Avenue, that were once part of a continuous system that flowed into the Beaufort River
before the areas was developed, said town manager Van Willis” (Garrobo, 2008). The wetlands also
serve as a rookery and home to indigenous flora & fauna (see Figure PR.5).

successfully made the intersection of the East “branch” of Paris Avenue cross Ribault Road at a right angle. The town’s
fire and police stations are actually near the new intersection (Route 802 symbol on the map).

437
 Source: Adapted from Dover, Kohl, & Partners (1995)

FIGURE PR.4 Port Royal wetlands system in master plan

Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE PR.5 Cypress wetland for stormwater bio-filtration & habitat

Port Royal also secured protection of its tidal marshes through the 2006 Port of Port Royal
Planned Unit Development (PUD) & Regulating Plan, approved by the State Ports Authority (see
Figure PR.6). 266 of 317 acres will be protected as undisturbed tidal marsh (see Figure PR.7) and
15 acres will be designated as civic open space, 89% of the total site.

438
 Source: Wood+Partners, Inc. (2006)

FIGURE PR.8 Regulating Plan: Port of Port Royal Planned Unit Development

Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE PR.7 Tidal marsh protected under port redevelopment regulating plan

Birkdale Village (Huntersville, North Carolina)

Birkdale Village is defined by a compact, mixed-use core surrounded by parking lots. An
excess of surface parking, permitted by the Town of Huntersville Parking Ordinance, stifles
Birkdale Village’s potential to incorporate watershed protective techniques. The ordinance created
an opportunity for the developer to greatly exceed new urban parking standards and exaggerate
439
imperviousness rather than protect hydrologically sensitive areas. The ordinance did not require the
developer to: 1) cap total parking spaces; 2) tuck parking spaces behind buildings; and 3) provide
parking spaces in structures versus surface lots. However, natural stormwater runoff management
for Birkdale Village parking lots may be possible under the town’s new Water Quality Ordinance &
Design Manual.
Birkdale Village is distinguished by a high density, mixed-use pedestrian-friendly core
encircled by strip retail and parking lots. Net residential density is 17.3 units/acre; Birkdale Village
includes 320 residential units on 52 acres. There are 450,000 square feet of office and retail use (see
Figure BV.1). Birkdale Village has good pedestrian connectivity within the village core and to the
adjacent Greens at Birkdale new urbanist neighborhood, but no on-site transit service (see Figures
BV.2 & BV.3).

Source: Pappas Properties (2001)

FIGURE BV.1 Birkdale Village master plan

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 Source: Adapted from Pappas Properties (2001) and Forest City Enterprises (2001)

FIGURE BV.2 Birkdale communities

The developers justify the amount of parking at Birkdale Village by retailer demands, the
central location of the site within Huntersville, its proximity to an interstate highway and the rapid
growth of the entire area (Huntersville’s population increased from 3,000 in 1990 to nearly 43,000
by 2007; see Table 4). Developers also justify extra parking due to delay of commuter rail and
connecting bus service in Huntersville until 2012.zzzz The developers were given the opportunity to
supply plentiful parking by the Town of Huntersville’s Parking Ordinance.

TABLE BV.1 Birkdale Village parking spaces

Birkdale Village Parking Spaces
New Urban
a
Type Town of Huntersville Minimum Maximumb Number Builtc
Residential 480 320 600
Non-Residential 900 1,125 1,504
TOTAL 1,380 1,445 2,104
a
Town of Huntersville (2001)
b
Duany & Plater-Zyberk (2008)
c
Shook Design Group (2001)

The developers provided parking for 320 residential units and 450,000 square feet of non-
zzzz
Frequently Answered Questions about the 2030 Transit Corridor Plan, approved through Charlotte Area Transit
System in 2006 (retrieved August 1, 2008 from
http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/CATS/Rapid+Transit+Planning/North+Corridor/North+Corridor+-+FAQ.htm).

441
residential use.aaaaa Table BV.1 shows the developer exceeded ordinance requirements by 120
residential spaces and 604 non-residential spaces; the developer exceeded new urban SmartCode
9.2 requirements by 280 residential spaces and 379 non-residential spaces. The new urban
SmartCode 9.2 (Duany et. al., 2008) recommends one space per residential unit, two spaces per
1,000 square feet of office and three spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail for the urban mixed-use
sectors of the transect (T5/T6). Thus, SmartCode 9.2 prescribes 320 residential spaces and 1,125
non-residential spaces for a development like Birkdale Village.bbbbb
Birkdale Village parking differs sharply between the village core and the periphery. Village
core blocks contain 785 spaces and no parking lots; peripheral blocks contain 1,319 spaces, nearly
all in parking lots (see Figure BV.3). Excess parking in peripheral lots created excess
imperviousness in Birkdale Village (see Figure BV.4). Developers could have followed SmartCode
9.2 guidelines and removed 659 spaces in parking lots (shift 280 spaces to the structures for non-
residential use and eliminate 379 spaces in parking lots altogether). 659 excess surface parking
spaces, at 300-400 square feet of imperviousness per space,ccccc translate to 197,700 – 263,600
square feet (4.5-6.1) acres of excess imperviousness. Furthermore, developers could have
structured the remaining surface parking (1,319-659=660 spaces) into two-level decks to save an
additional 330 spaces (2.3-3.0 acres) of excess imperviousness. By the SmartCode 9.2, Birkdale
Village would have 7-9 fewer impervious acres (13-18% site).ddddd

aaaaa
The developers of Birkdale Village temporarily scaled back the project in the October 2001 master plan to include
450,000 square feet of commercial space (retail and office). This was 50,000 square feet less than the previous master
plan which the Town planner referenced when he responded to the research team’s survey about the site parameters.
The new information was learned upon a revisit to both the site and the Town of Huntersville to calculate the amount
and distribution of parking in April 2002.
bbbbb
450,000 of mixed-use square footage would require 2.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet (assuming equal amounts of
office and retail space).
ccccc
A typical parking stall is 9.5 feet wide and 19 feet long, or 180.5 square feet (Center for Watershed Protection,
1995). A typical parking space includes the stall but also the concrete overhang at the edge of the stall, a narrow six-
inch curb, the parking aisle, or module that allows access to the stall, and the stall’s share of the common parking lot
imperviousness (such as fire lanes, entrances, internal circulation, and other features). Thus, the average impervious
area created by a parking space is about 300-400 square feet (Shoup, 2005; Litman, 2008).
ddddd
Developers argue legitimately that parking decks are much more expensive to build than surface parking lots –
$12,000 per deck space versus $1,500 per surface lot space (Duany, Plater-Zyberk, & Speck, 2000, p. 207); other
estimates of cost per parking space added beyond surface range from $22,500 to $61,000 (Shoup, 2005). However,
developers could use some of the relinquished space to construct new buildings. Increased revenue from rent would
have offset at least some of the cost for more parking decks and buildings would conceal new decks from the street.

442
 Source: Adapted from Shook Design Group (2001)

FIGURE BV.3 Birkdale Village parking plan

Source: Pappas Properties (2001)

FIGURE BV.4 Aerial photo of Birkdale Village parking lots around village core

The Town of Huntersville’s 2003 Water Quality Ordinance and 2007 Post-Construction
Stormwater Ordinance may offer opportunity for creating some natural stormwater runoff
management for Birkdale Village’s parking lots. The new regulations include a Water Quality
Ordinance Design Manual that demonstrates best management practices for developers.
Huntersville’s Northcross Shopping Center has already implemented the new guidelines through

443
rain gardens installed in its parking lots (see Figure BV.5).

Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE BV.5 Northcross Shopping Center parking lot rain garden

Pleasant View Gardens (Baltimore, Maryland)

Pleasant View Gardens is defined as an inner-city, HOPE VI redevelopment of public
housing and community service centers. The primary objective of the HOPE VI Urban
Revitalization Demonstration Program is to reduce the concentration of low-income residents in
distressed neighborhoods. Pleasant View Gardens was developed as a lower-density replacement
for the 18-acre Lafayette Courts; total residential units were dropped from 723 to 338 for a net
residential density reduction from 48.2 units/acre to 22.6 units/acre. No commercial retail was
included. Reducing development intensity in the core to deconcentrate poverty may contribute to
out-migration of residents and add development pressure to sensitive suburban watersheds.
Pleasant View Gardens is very dense by suburban standards but dramatically less dense than
its predecessor, Lafayette Courts. Net residential density is 22.6 units/acre; Pleasant View Gardens
includes 338 units of rental rowhouses, senior apartments and affordable owner-occupied units on
18 acres. There is strong pedestrian connectivity in the form of sidewalks, narrow streets,
playgrounds and a public square (see Figure PVG.1). There are adjacent bus stops, but few
commercial destinations for pedestrians within the neighborhood. There is an initiative by the City
of Baltimore to redevelop Oldtown Mall north of the site (see Figure PVG.2), but current planning
is only conceptual.eeeee

eeeee
Personal correspondence with Laurie Feinberg, Division Chief, Comprehensive Planning, Baltimore City
Department of Planning (7.30.2008).

444
Source: A&R/Harkins Joint Venture V (2000)
FIGURE PVG.1 Pleasant View Gardens master plan

Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE PVG.2 Oldtown Mall area of Baltimore

445
 The community building and design principles promoted by the Housing Authority of
Baltimore City through the HOPE VI Urban Revitalization Demonstration Program reduced
Pleasant View Gardens’ capacity to absorb growth in the urban core. The program’s underlying
premise is that public housing should reflect existing community housing types (O’Neill, 1996).
HOPE VI replaced large, high-rise buildings with smaller buildings designed to fit the surrounding
urban fabric (see Figure PVG.3). Although HOPE VI program funds should ultimately provide
significantly more residential units than those demolished,fffff many site redevelopments such as
Pleasant View Gardens shrank in terms of total units built.

Source: Photograph by Joseph MacDonald (2008)

FIGURE PVG.3 Pleasant View Gardens townhouses & commons

Although HOPE VI did not target changes across the entire City of Baltimore, success of the
program was hoped to have a positive citywide ripple effect (Naparstek et. al., 2000).ggggg However,
preliminary research suggests the Pleasant View Gardens redevelopment has effected only minor
positive changes and some unanticipated negative outcomes on proximal neighborhoods (Newman
et. al., 2003).hhhhh A reduction of 385 residential units (53% of original) in Pleasant View Gardens
has contributed to neighborhood population decline and potentially encouraged movement of
displaced residents to other neighborhoods or suburbs. Table PVG.1 presents the 1980-2000
population counts for the Pleasant View Gardens census tract (neighborhood) and surrounding areas
fffff
160,061 housing units will replace the 88,469 units that have been or will be demolished under the HOPE VI
Revitalization grant program, plus additional units demolished under the HOPE VI Demolition-only grant program.
This is a net gain of 71,592 housing units (June 20, 2007 testimony from Orlando Cabrera, Assistant Secretary for
Public & Indian Housing, HUD to Congressional Subcommittee on Housing & Transportation; retrieved July 31, 2008
from http://www.hud.gov/offices/cir/test062007.cfm).
ggggg
HOPE VI incorporates the principles of community building that evolved from a report of the Cleveland
Foundation Commission on Poverty (1990). Their report promoted approaches that were comprehensive, asset-driven,
and guided by individual public housing authorities, residents, and their neighbors.
hhhhh
Consensus exists that Pleasant View Gardens itself is doing well. However, negative impacts include displacement
of Lafayette Courts residents into nearby Douglass Homes, loss of customers at Oldtown Mall and Charles Carroll of
Carrollton Elementary School closing (declining enrollment).

446
(see Figure PVG.4).
TABLE PVG.1 Population and population change of Pleasant View Gardens
neighborhood, outer city, inner suburbs and outer suburbs of metropolitan
Baltimore

Population Population Change (%)

Spatial Unit 1980 1990 2000 1980-2000
Neighborhood 4,349 3,828 2,611 -40.0
Outer City 782,426 732,186 648,543 -17.1
Inner Suburbs 655,615 692,134 754,292 15.1
Outer Suburbs 757,141 954,024 1,147,548 51.6
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (1982; 1992; 2002)

Source: Adapted from U.S. Census Bureau (1999)

FIGURE PVG.4 Map of Pleasant View Gardens

neighborhood, outer city, inner suburbs and outer suburbs
of Baltimore

Table PVG.1 shows population has decreased most rapidly in the core of Baltimore and has
increased most rapidly in outlying areas. Between 1990 and 2000, when redevelopment occurred,
the population of the neighborhood decreased by 1,217 (-32%), nearly three times the rate of
population decline in the surrounding city (-11%). Population loss in the Pleasant View Gardens
neighborhood has important implications for the protection of hydrologically sensitive areas in the
outer suburbs. The 18-acre redevelopment site for Pleasant View Gardens is very impervious with
compacted, urban soils; it lacks the hydrological significance of pristine wetlands, woodlands and

447
riparian corridors on the fringe. Urban sites such as Pleasant View Gardens should absorb
maximum development; there are other ways to deconcentrate poverty (i.e. infusing affordable units
into higher density mixed-income, mixed use developments).
How New Urban Site Design Create Opportunities for Watershed Protective Techniques
Despite variations in implementation of new urban site design elements and watershed
protective techniques, a common set of factors appears to explain how new urban site design
elements create opportunities for watershed protective techniques: 1) proactively establishing a
network of open space to frame a mix of land uses; increasing density in less vulnerable areas to
decrease growth pressures in more vulnerable areas; and promoting walkable, transit-oriented
development to reduce imperviousness from parking.
First, new urban developments create opportunities for watershed protective techniques by
incorporating a balanced mix of land uses within a framework of proactively planned open space.
King Farm, the case site with the most watershed protective techniques, has its Open Space
Network Plan. A countywide environmental analysis identified portions of the site most vulnerable
to development. The plan was then created to protect hydrologically sensitive stream valleys from
disturbance and the developers wove a tapestry of condominiums, homes, apartments, stores,
offices and parks around them. Riverside is another good example. An analysis of site vulnerability
to development impacts created the opportunity for developers to cluster residential, commercial
and office space around a compact town square. The buildings were wrapped in a 49-acre nest of
hydrologically sensitive open space that naturally filtered stormwater runoff before it reached the
Chattahoochee River.
Second, new urban developments create opportunities for watershed protective techniques
through increased density to decrease growth pressures elsewhere. Southern Village falls short; at
7.5 units/acre it is not dense enough. Southern Village could have accommodated several hundred
more residential units to reach a higher density like King Farm (13.5 units/acre) and avoided using
its hydrologically sensitive areas for recreation and landscaping. Pleasant View Gardens also falls
short. As a neighborhood in the urban core it should maximize its density to potential suburban
growth. Instead, site redevelopment density was cut in half.
Third, new urban developments create opportunities for watershed protection techniques
through walkable, transit-oriented development to reduce parking imperviousness. King Farm
developers accommodated parking needs on its streets to preserve stream valleys. On the other
hand, Birkdale Village is characterized by conventional, suburban parking lots that consumed
several acres of potential open space to protect hydrologically sensitive areas.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MITIGATING DEVELOPMENT

IMPACTS ON WATER RESOURCES THROUGH NEW URBAN SITE DESIGN

This paper has examined how new urban development site design creates opportunities for
watershed protective techniques. In six case studies of new urban developments with varying
degrees of watershed protective techniques, the new urban site design elements of high density,
mixed land-use and pedestrian- and transit-orientation successfully reduce impervious cover,
protect hydrologically-sensitive areas and provide open space for natural stormwater runoff
management. The developments stumbled where new urban design elements were not fully
implemented. Even though all six case studies were identified as new urban, there were examples of
lower density development, suburban-style parking lots in front of retail stores, nonexistent transit
service, poor connection to surrounding neighborhoods and lack of commercial businesses. Lapses
in new urban site design led to excess pavement, nonexistent or compromised open space and lack
of natural stormwater management.
It is possible to increase opportunities for watershed protective techniques through a
planning framework that promotes stronger adherence to new urban site design principles.
Specifically, we recommend: an analysis for land suitability/vulnerability be conducted prior to
development site design; adherence to new urban parking standards and the use of structures or

448
streets to accommodate parking; and integrating water resource protection with other environmental
goals, such as climate change mitigation.
Conduct an analysis for land suitability/vulnerability prior to development site design
Hydrologically-sensitive open space was protected in our case studies where there was
initially a broader land use suitability or environmental vulnerability analysis conducted by a
municipal, county or regional planning agency. A land use suitability analysis identifies which areas
of the region are most sensitive to disturbance. Information about sensitive lands creates the
opportunity for both planners and the developer to establish a site design framed by a network of
open space with high-density development concentrated in less vulnerable locations. The planning
agency may even develop a cap-and-trade or density-bonus strategy, such as that employed by the
Atlanta Regional Commission for Riverside, where developers are rewarded with the option of
more intense development in less sensitive locations if they protect elsewhere.
Adhere to new urban standards and use structures or streets for parking
Surface parking lots should be eliminated, or at least minimized. The new urban SmartCode
9.2 offers parking prescriptions for compact-mixed use developments, although developments
incorporate a broad mix of land uses with transit service to reduce the automobile dependence.
Where parking is required, every effort should be made to accommodate parking in structures or on
the street. Parking lots create acres of excess imperviousness that prevent the opportunity for
hydrologically sensitive area protection and natural stormwater runoff management. Parking lots
could also absorb potential growth from surrounding areas.
Integrate water resource protection and climate change mitigation goals
The benefits of new urban site design for water resource protection may also translate to
other environmental impacts caused by urbanization, such as climate change. A planning
framework that promotes multiple environmental goals through regional land suitability analysis
and new urban site design may receive greater political and public support. Recent literature
suggests compact development styles, such as new urbanism, may be an effective way to mitigate
the impact of urban development on climate change in two ways.
First, new urban developments with high densities, mixed land use and pedestrian and
transit orientation offer opportunities for people to utilize alternative modes of transportation to
driving (Frank et. al., 2007; Bartholomew, 2007; Cervero & Duncan, 2006). Current global
warming trends, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007), are driven by
greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2). Passenger vehicles are responsible for more than
one-fifth of all United States CO2 emissions and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) doubled between
1980 and 2006 (Federal Highway Administration, 2007). Ewing et. al. (2008) advocate that climate
stabilization may be achieved if Americans drive less.
Second, watershed protective new urban development sites are girded by a framework of
hydrologically-sensitive open space protected from development disturbance. The literature has
recently advocated for more diligent protection of open space as part of sustainable urban
development design (Farr, 2008; U.S. Green Building Council, 2007). Such open space networks,
usually delineated through a regional land suitability analysis, are not only important for watershed
protection, but also CO2 absorption and air pollution reduction.

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from 1990 to 2000;” “GCT-PH1: Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2000.”
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TOPIC 8:  Aesthetics, Biophilia and Evidence‐Based Design 

Thermal comfort and psychological adaptation as a guide for designing urban spaces  
Marialena Nikolopouloua  and Koen Steemersb 
a  Centre for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES),  b The Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, 
University of Cambridge 
 
Abstract 
 
Investigating thermal comfort conditions in outdoor urban spaces, has thrown some light 
on the complexity of the issues involved, demonstrating that a quantitative approach is 
insufficient in describing comfort conditions outdoors. It revealed that although 
microclimatic parameters strongly influence thermal sensation, they cannot fully account 
for the wide variation between objective and subjective comfort evaluation, whereas, 
psychological adaptation seems to becoming increasingly important. This paper 
concentrates on the issue of psychological adaptation: naturalness, expectations, 
experience (short‐/long‐term), time of exposure, perceived control and environmental 
stimulation, and presents an attempt to try and evaluate the relative impact of each of 
these parameters. Understanding the interrelationship between the different parameters of 
psychological adaptation would be of interest in order to compare their relative 
significance, and to assess their design role, that is whether design considerations would 
influence these parameters, or vice versa, whether they could influence design decisions. 
An awareness of these issues would be valuable to architects, planners and urban 
designers, not by the way of limiting possible solutions, rather by enriching the design 
possibilities. 
 

456
 
View from a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery 
Roger S. Ulrich, 1984 
 
Records on recovery after cholecystectomy of patients in a suburban Pennsylvania 
hospital between 1972 and 1981 were examined to determine whether assignment to a 
room with a window view of a natural setting might have restorative influences. Twenty‐
three surgical patients assigned to rooms with windows looking out on a natural scene 
had shorter postoperative hospital stays, received fewer negative evaluative comments in 
nursesʹ notes, and took fewer potent analgesics than 23 matched patients in similar rooms 
with windows facing a brick wall. 
 
 
 
Urban Design Aesthetics: 
The Evaluative Qualities of Building Exteriors 
 
Jack L. Nasar 
Ohio State University in Columbus. 
 
Abstract 
Design reviewers make judgments based on their opinion of how physical features 
influence the evaluative quality of the building and its surroundings. What features evoke 
favorable evaluative responses? Although some people may view aesthetics as qualitative 
and idiosyncratic, researchers have continued in their search for general principles. This 
article reviews that research, with particular attention to building exteriors. The article 
defines and examines three kinds of aesthetic variables‐formal, symbolic, and schemas. It 
highlights the importance of enclosure, complexity, and order as formal variables, of style 
as a symbolic variable, and of atypicality in relation to schemas. It discusses the 
relationship of these variables to evaluative response. As different kinds of evaluative 
responses may be appropriate and desirable for different kinds of places, this article 
considers the dimensions of evaluative response. The analysis suggests that design review 
seeking pleasantness should encourage order, moderate complexity, and elements of 
ʺpopularʺ styles; design review seeking excitement should encourage high complexity, 
atypicality, and low order; and design review seeking calmness should encourage high 
order and naturalness. Acknowledging potential variability across contexts, this article 
offers aesthetic programming and evaluation as alternate ways to develop and refine 
guidelines for design review. 

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Excerpt from Aesthetics, Well‐Being and Health:  Abstracts on theoretical and empirical research 
within environmental aesthetics, by Birgit Cold. Formskrift, Oslo (1998). Courtesy the author. 
 
Selected findings summarized into six points  
(Very briefly, without reference to the studies individually) 
  
1. The roots to aesthetic preferences originate from surviving in nature  
 
The roots to our aesthetic preferences originate in our common sensory perception 
developed during thousands of years of survival in natural environments. This close 
contact with natural elements necessary for our survival has apparently created ʺa 
preferandaʺ influencing our aesthetic preferences. These are further shaped by cultural 
norms in close contact with the social and built environment, and finally influenced by 
each personʹs knowledge structure and emotional experience. 
 
2.  Nature and natural elements have a positive impact on our well‐being and health 
  
Realizing that we are part of nature with early manʹs environmental experiences deep in 
our minds and bodies and even with modern man’s apparent distance from ʺsurvival in 
and by natureʺ, it appears to be difficult to disregard the significance of nature as “healer”.  
Nature and natural elements and even simulations and symbolic images of nature appear 
to have a positive impact on people’s well‐being and health. Built environments with 
natural elements such as trees and greenery are generally preferred and better 
remembered than pure built environments. An increasing number of human materials 
such as electricity poles, advertisements, displays and road constructions in the natural 
environment causes a proportionally decreasing evaluation of the overall quality. 
  
Daylight is one of the natural factors which appears to be crucial for our well‐being and 
health. Daylight in the interior, especially combined with a pleasant view of nature and 
aesthetically attractive environments which ʺlureʺ people to stay outdoors in the daylight, 
has a positive effect on our physiological health and psychological we1l‐being. 
  
Bearing the need for scientific evidence in mind, however, it is necessary to implement 
physiological and neuro‐physiological experiments, making conceptual links to 
psychological health and stress studies. This is a challenge for current research, even if we 
agree on the potential healing effects of nature and daylight.  
 
3. Environmental coherence is essential for understanding the environment, and 
environmental complexity for the desire to explore and learn more about the 
environment  
 
Culture, evolution and individual knowledge and experience influence our aesthetic 
preferences on an unconscious and conscious level. Individually experienced 
environmental familiarity involving aesthetic perception, cultural meaning and emotional 

458
interest appears to have a deep impact on our individual day‐to‐day functioning and 
hence our well‐being. However, it seems possible to also point out some general 
perceptual and cognitive factors which interact positively with certain environmental 
qualities. Understanding the environment and being able to ʺreadʺ it and to feel secure is 
supported by environmental coherence. This is perceived when things are ordered and ʺfit 
togetherʺ somehow. At the same time there is a human affinity towards experiencing 
environments of a certain richness which cause arousal and positive stimulation and 
towards exploring such environments. Curiosity and an explorative desire are stimulated 
by environmental complexity and a certain ʺmysteryʺ which promise exciting or new 
experiences ʺaround the next cornerʺ. In the early days of man, an exploring nomadic 
behaviour was absolutely necessary in order to survive. Today this exploring behaviour 
has become part of our cu1rural desire to learn more about the surroundings and the 
outside world. 
  
4. Pleasant, exciting and calm environments make us feel well. 
  
People do not prefer one style of architecture, but feel attracted to qualities such as a high 
degree of coherence, low contrast, medium complexity and high order. The balance 
between familiarity and novelty may be described as enough novelty to satisfy the 
curiosity drive, but sufficient familiarity to prevent overload. Certain qualities in the built 
environment appear to be generally preferred independently of peopleʹs knowledge 
structure, emotional baggage, interests and the category of buildings and places. These 
qualities are found to be pleasantness, excitement and calmness. In other studies they are 
called coherence or harmony and balance, originality or authenticity, place adaptation or 
fittingness, and ʺcultivated simplicityʺ or good craftsmanship. 
  
When focussing more on single buildings and features, experts and laypeople have 
different aesthetic preferences. Experts favour complexity, asymmetric design, new and 
interesting forms and attributes known from modernism and ʺnew isms”. The public 
prefer simplicity, symmetry and popular attributes known from traditional architecture. 
Their environmental and professional roles are different and consequently experts should 
know more about public preferences and what they are based on, and the public more 
about environmental aesthetics, in order to communicate and cooperate in planning and 
designing the environment. The challenge is to understand the background of aesthetic 
preferences and human needs and within the available resource framework transform 
these into artistic and functional wholes.  
 
5. There is a need for “real life” studies. 
 
The studies are often based on simulations concentrating on single environmental 
elements and peopleʹs aesthetic preferences. They do not help much in offering design 
criteria or a better understanding of the complex interaction of people and the 
environment. To build up comprehensive views on the subject, however, they appear to be 

459
necessary when placed side by side in a puzzle. Still there is a great need for real life 
studies to take into account the complexity of the people‐environment interaction.  
Each situation and place has to be investigated as ʺnewʺ or different, and thus no physical 
or architectural solution can automatically be repeated. Environmental decision makers 
need to unveil their own and the usersʹ environmental roles and assessments of places. 
The significance of these role structures and different assessments over time is also a 
strong reason for pursuing “real lifeʺ research, and is a criticism of simulated ʺno placeʺ or 
laboratory research within environmental psychology because this type of research 
excludes many of the elements which influence environmental evaluations. 
  
6. Many unanswered questions on the effects of environmental aesthetics  
 
There are still many questions to ask and relatively few and novel answers to be found. 
Perhaps we should accept that it is not always possible to give clear and fresh answers, 
and that being aware of the unanswered questions may be more important than obtaining 
short‐lived or deterministic answers. The danger is rather if we believe that we have found 
the one and only answer to a complex question. 
 
Studying and discussing the influence of environmental aesthetics on our well‐being and 
health appears to be very interesting and important for people and for experts within the 
aesthetic, social and psychological fields. The desire to explore this subject and learn more 
appears to be growing both generally and within these particular fields. This demands, 
however, an interdisciplinary approach and willingness to ʺbridge the gapʺ between them.  
 
 

460
TOPIC 9:  Social and Economic Factors 

Protect and Grow

Ogunlande Davidson
Dean, Post-Graduate Studies
University of Sierra Leone
CO-Chair, Working Group III
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

From “Our Planet, the Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme”
http://www.unep.org/pdf/ourplanet/op_english_17v2.pdf

The world’s poorest people have benefited least from the economic activities which have caused
greenhouse gases to build up in the atmosphere. Yet they will suffer the most from the
consequences, due to their weak resilience to global shocks. Nowhere is this more true than in
Africa.

Scientific records indicate that Africa is warming at a rate of 0.5 degrees Celsius a century, and
there has been significant decline in precipitation, especially since
the mid 1970s. Climate models show, furthermore, that the northern part of the continent may
become 5°C (and southern areas 7°C) warmer by the middle of this century and beyond, while its
eastern and western regions may receive increased rainfall. More extreme and more intense
droughts and floods are predicted to increase, along with a greater probability of persistent and
intense El Niño — Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
effects. The variable rainfall in the Sahel and the south of the continent will result in
more persistent droughts than at present.

Global warming
Over 80 per cent of Africa’s people now depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. But it is
predicted that by the 2080s major losses in cereal production will affect over 40 per cent of its
countries. There will also be a significant impact on livestock and marine resources, as their
wellbeing is strongly linked to rainfall. Vector-borne diseases such as malaria and cholera, which
are closely related to climatic changes, are forecast to worsen.

Climate change can also have a disastrous effect on what is an already economically deficient
continent, especially by affecting coastal areas which — as in the west and east of Africa — make a
profound contribution to their countries’ economies. However, Africa’s greatest problem lies more
in its weak capacity to respond adequately to climate
variability and extremes than in responding to global warming per se. This is compounded by its
equally weak response and poor resilience to other global shocks.
Africa is the most vulnerable continent to the problems caused by the build-up of greenhouse gases.
But it has accounted for less than 3 per cent of it so far,
and still contributes less than 4 per cent of the annual addition (3.6 per cent in 2002) Most
countries – the Seychelles, South Africa and Libya are exceptions – contribute less than 0.5 tonnes
per capita, as opposed to the EU’s 12 tonnes and the USA’s
almost 20 tonnes. The continent has an enormous capacity to be a net carbon sink.

Economic gains
All countries need to take collective and individual action to tackle this problem, and Africa must
contribute by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions per unit of economic output and developing to
cope with the likely impacts. Unfortunately, most of Africa’s vulnerability to climate change is due

461
to its infrastructure deficiencies and high dependence on natural systems. This was clearly
demonstrated, for example, in the 2000 Mozambique floods which affected 4.5 million people —
causing 700 deaths
and economic losses estimated at $500 million and cutting the GDP growth rate from 10 per cent to
2 per cent — and in the repeated Ethiopian droughts of 1968, 1994 and 2005.

The continent’s food production increased 2.8 fold between 1961 and 2002, but
with a minimal impact on hunger because population increased by similar amount. About 40 per
cent of the harvest is lost either on and off the farm, and reducing this
with known storage and delivery systems can lead to tremendous economic benefits and hunger
reduction. Similarly improved water storage and delivery, with well-known technologies, can save
up to 40 per cent of water resources: using saved water for
irrigation and a more rational distribution system can lead to substantial economic gains and reduce
vulnerability to climatic change. Improving public health systems — such as with more rationalized
health delivery and distribution mechanisms — can similarly reduce vulnerability to vector-borne
diseases. All this requires funds, and a greater role for governments in mapping future growth
strategies. So a two-pronged approach is needed: intensifying the more common approaches
towards climate change adaptation and mitigation while achieving an aggressive growth of wealth
creating activities.

Regional effort
Existing activities to build up human and institutional capacities to tackle climate change
constraints, though welcome, should be strengthened to maximize gains from such actions as
national communication and training programmes. Countries and institutions should be encouraged
to learn from each other, while instituting schemes to retain human resources. Climate change
research and development continues, but mostly outside the
continent: the relatively little in Africa is uncoordinated, reducing its impact. The international
attention the Gleneagles agreement gave to this should be exploited, along with regional and
national efforts in a co-ordinated framework. This could lead to
promising environmentally-sound and climate-friendly technologies being developed and
implemented, producing major economic gains. Using suitable research and development to
integrate traditional knowledge with modern systems will be valuable; agriculture
provides a rich base for this.

Wealth creation
African countries must be involved in major wealth creating activities, while coping with the
demands from climate change mitigation and adaptation: growing poverty remains the greatest
obstacle to Africa’s development. The UN Department of Economic and
Social Affairs estimates that the number of people living on less than $1 per day rose from 288
million in 1980 to 516 million in 2001. Some positive economic growth has been recorded since
2000, but it needs to be strengthened. An even greater problem is the rising inequalities (in income,
human capabilities, access to infrastructure, and decision-making) in several countries, as these can
lead to civil conflicts and strife. Sierra Leone provides an example: just before the 1989 war the
richest 20 per cent of its people accounted for more than 63 per cent of all spending: the bottom 40
per cent for just 3.1 per cent. Poverty and inequality can only exacerbate stresses from climate
anomalies as the continent’s response will be severely weakened.

Developing energy, industrializing agriculture and mining sustainably are three promising areas for
wealth creation. Africa will be unable to cope with climate mitigation and adaptation demands
without substantially increasing its use of its indigenous modern energy resources. It is the smallest
consumer of modern energy services, though the ratio of its production of all fossil fuels to its
reserves is above the world’s average, and it is richly endowed with renewable energy resources.

462
Similarly its vulnerability to climate change will only worsen, unless there is a significant increase
in the use of fertilisers, irrigation and agricultural mechanization. Africa contains over 40 per cent
of the world’s
as yet unexploited mineral resources but, unfortunately, only first stage low-value mining activities
are being carried out: the high-value processing stages remain outside the continent. Using more
sustainable mining methods is crucial if it is adequately to respond to such global shocks as climate
instability.

Scientific uncertainties and economic risks can no longer be used to justify inaction in preventing
further major man-made interference with the global climate system. Countries should fully exploit
the current growing international attention to climate change and development in Africa — as in the
Gleneagles agreement — despite declining aid to the continent. Africa’s capacity adequately to
respond to the challenges of climate instability will be expanded by improving overall resilience,
integrating climate change goals into sustainable development strategies, increasing the use of
modern energy systems with reduced carbon intensity, and strengthening international initiatives.

Developmental aspirations
There are obstacles, however. Only five of the 210 Clean Development Mechanism projects
registered as of June, 2006, were in Africa: most were India, China and Brazil.
Special considerations are needed for African countries plagued with infrastructural deficiencies.
Governments need to take a greater role in addressing this: the private sector involvement
advocated by donor and international agencies can assist but only in an adequately regulated and
competitive environment.

Africa’s challenge is to develop a framework and policies that ensure that resources are used
efficiently and equitably, to maintain economic and developmental aspirations, and
to protect the weak in responding to changes in the climate n

Professor Ogunlade R. Davidson is Dean, Post-Graduate Studies, at the University of Sierra Leone
and Co- Chair of Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

463
Climate Change and Land Use: The Social, Political and
Economic Choices Before Us
A Policy White Paper

Introduction

As of mid-2008 we can make two confident assertions about climate change. The first is that there
is overwhelming scientific consensus that the phenomenon is occurring, and that urgent action is
needed to avoid - or in some cases to adapt to – large-scale disruptions. The second is that climate
change is certainly not the only challenge we must deal with if we are to ensure a prosperous and
livable human environment.

In that light it would seem unwise to regard climate change as an isolated crisis of the moment. It is
more accurately described as one egregious example of a wider set of interrelated environmental
and social challengesiiiii. Thus the more alarming aspects of climate change may serve as a timely
wake-up call to mitigate less immediate but equally critical long-term issues that we have neglected
in the past, because we have been unable, until now, to marshal the political will or technical skills
to do so.

The wider challenge before us is, undoubtedly, to greatly reduce our negative impact upon the
natural systems upon which we ultimately depend; but more accurately, it is to improve the ratio of
human benefit to environmental cost. That is surely the essence of sustainability: not merely to
limit our impact, but to create healthy, livable communities that do not over-consume the resources
on which their residents depend. This ratio of benefit to cost can be called settlement efficiency.

A low settlement efficiency is the production of relatively little human benefit over time, in
comparison to the cost in resources. By contrast, a high settlement efficiency produces such
benefits at a higher rate, over a longer period of time. It is what we may describe in the popular
parlance of the day as “sustainable prosperity.”

An extremely high settlement efficiency is routinely observed in natural ecosystems, where species
are often able to thrive for millions of years. The opposite condition is also occasionally seen in
nature: a quick over-consumption of resources for immediate benefit, followed by a period of
distress and deprivation, or worse. Numerous examples of this kind of condition can be seen in our
own human history, in a number of past civilizations that offer us cautionary lessons today.

What the science is showing us today, and what this paper will summarize, is that settlement
efficiency is measurable, analyzable, and closely related to particular kinds of settlement patterns --
and to the choices that produce them. In particular, it has a direct and significant effect upon
carbon emissions, and the buildup of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The opportunity to increase
settlement efficiency also presents an opportunity to reduce GHGs.

While individual building efficiency is a major part of the equation - indeed, representing some one-
third of all energy use - so is the larger arrangement of buildings, transportation and daily activities,
accounting for another roughly one-third. (The remainder represents industrial and other activities.)
A disordered, diffuse pattern that is heavily dependent on high-energy transport systems like
automobiles – what is commonly called “sprawl” – is a highly inefficient pattern in comparison to
iiiii
Among these we might include such well-recognized modern phenomena as pollution, resource depletion, habitat
destruction, environmental illnesses (including “lifestyle” diseases related to obesity), social isolation, and
psychological stress. There is a growing body of literature on the real and growing costs of these phenomena, and their
unsustainable consequences; see the appendix for references.

464
others available, and its sustainability is therefore in considerable doubt. Its relative increase in
contribution to greenhouse gases can be measured. We will summarize these findings here.

Furthermore, the science is beginning to show us much more clearly that certain kinds of decisions
– economic, political, legal – over time produce certain kinds of settlement patterns, with direct
implications for carbon emissions and other negative impacts. We are beginning to understand
how particular decisions lead to particular forms – sometimes unexpectedly so -- with implications
for emissions and other factors.

The policy implications are becoming equally clear: if we want to address carbon emissions, we
will have to address these other issues of urban form and urban process as well. We can do so, it
appears, through certain kinds of rules and codes, including a promising new set of alternative
codes and mechanisms. We will discuss these new alternatives briefly here also.

The Science: What We Know About Urban Form and Carbon Emissions

A growing body of recent peer-reviewed studies shows

compelling correlations between urban form and
greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from vehicle
travel. For example, a recent study by the Bay area
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (2006) shows a
dramatic disparity in CO2 vehicular emissions per
household between high-density urban communities such
as San Francisco, and surrounding low-density suburban
areas – amounting to as much as a tripling of emissions
per household on average. (See chart at left.) Other
studies show similar dramatic ranges.

In the quest to identify opportunities to significantly

reduce greenhouse gases, this finding is certainly
attention-getting. But it is not so simple to unpack the
actual factors that account for the disparity. Among
them density is one major factor, but also to be accounted
for are
income
disparities, variations in household size,
availability of public transit, diversity and
proximity of uses, neighborhood
walkability, and other factors.

Nonetheless, evidence does point to the

individual significance of a number of these factors,
particularly factors that can be varied by design.
We can summarize the correlations as
follows. (Detailed citations are given in the
appendix.)

Density. There is a well-established close

correlation between residential density and
average daily automobile driving distance per
person or “Vehicle Miles Traveled”

465
(abbreviated “VMT”. This in turn has a strong correlation with carbon emissions. There is a
comparatively modest variation from other factors such as the fuel efficiency of vehicles. This
makes sense intuitively, as more things packed more closely together would seem to require shorter
trips between them.

Location Efficiency. There is a less well understood, but still compelling, correlation between the
distribution of daily needs, and average automobile driving per person. Roughly, a more evenly
mixed pattern of employment, shopping and other needs correlates to lower VMT, and to lower
emissions. This too makes intuitive sense: if the distribution of your job, shopping and other daily
needs is well-mixed, you will not need to drive as far on average to access them, and in some cases
you may be able to walk, bike or use more efficient public transportation. A number of new
measures of location efficiency have been developed, and in some cases have been used as the basis
for reduced-qualification mortgages, or so-called “Location-Efficient Mortgages” (since the buyers
will save on their commuting cost on average, hereby qualifying for a larger monthly mortgage).

Street Network. A “dendritic” street system, based upon a hierarchy of arterials, collectors and
local streets, has been shown to require longer trips on average than a more interconnected street
grid. This is because a trip between two random points generally only has one path within a
hierarchy -- up and down the hierarchy -- whereas it will have a number of possible paths in the
network. One of these is likely to be shorter, and may also be suited to walking, biking or other
transit modes.

Walkability. It would seem intuitively obvious that an environment that is hostile to walking, even
where location efficiency is high, will see on average less walking, more driving, and an increase in
carbon emissions. Yet many jurisdictions do not have a comprehensive policy to promote a
walkable network, and any breaks or degradations in the network can result in a non-functioning
system. The elements that promote a more walkable network are not well-documented in research,
nor is the overall potential contribution to reduction of greenhouse gases, and more research here
would be beneficial. But it is clear enough that such pedestrian networks benefit from
neighborhood compactness, efficient layout of daily needs, pedestrian amenities, perception of
safety, and a visually appealing streetscape. Healthy pedestrian networks are damaged by high-
speed streets, hierarchical street systems (which are both longer on average and require navigating
high-speed arterials),

Bikability. Similar issues apply to bicycle networks. Dendritic systems that force bikers onto busy,
high-speed arterials are not as beneficial as networks, where quieter and more efficient paths can be
customized for each trip. Safe paths and appealing streetscapes promote biking, as do relatively
high locational efficiencies. Once again, more research in this area would be beneficial, as its
potential contribution to reduced emissions (particularly in favorable climates) has likely been
underestimated.

The Economics: Limits and Corrections to the Rationality of Markets

Active policy lobbyists within the US frequently advocate a radical laissez-faire approach to
development policy, and related issues such as climate change. Markets, they argue, are far more
efficient mechanisms than government regulations for allocating costs through pricing, and creating
disincentives from the costs of environmental damage.

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Markets are indeed sophisticated self-organizing and allocating systems. But Nobel Prize-winning
work in economics has also clearly demonstrated a sobering “bounded rationality” in market
processes. In particular, future costs are often under-represented, or not represented at all, in
current prices. This can result in disastrous consequences, of the sort that public and scientific
institutions were designed precisely to avert.

When scientific institutions identify likely future costs – as is happening, imperfectly but
convincingly, in the science of climate change – the responsibility must fall on regulatory
institutions to represent those costs, and to work with market mechanisms to allocate them most
efficiently. This may represent an optimum combination of the efficiency of markets and the
collective intelligence of scientific and other human institutions.

For example, a cap-and-trade scheme creates a shared regulatory standard for overall emissions
limits, and exploits a market process to allocate those limits efficiently, preserving incentives and
economic opportunities. Similar mechanisms are already used in the development process, as for
example with Tradable Development Rights (TDRs). A promising area of exploration is whether a
similar cap-and-trade system could be established for developments, allowing the trading of VMT
values, or other capped credits.

Another market incentive mechanism is the use of certification systems which can become the basis
of buyer incentives, such as the environmental standard LEED. (Leadership Excellence in
Environmental Design). The new LEED-ND standard (“ND” refers to “Neighborhood Design”)
has been created to rate the “green” design quality of neighborhoods, with a close correlation to
settlement efficiency. Other similar certification systems are also in development.

Lastly, we cannot afford to overlook more direct pricing mechanisms on high-emissions activities,
and credits for low-emission activities. For example, parking at dense urban employment sites
often carries a cost, creating an incentive to use public transit. Yet current Internal Revenue Service
rules work against this incentive and tend to encourage employees to drive to work, by allowing a
deduction for jobsite parking costs. Models and empirical studies have convincingly shown that the
elimination of such a deduction, coupled with additional pricing mechanisms on automobile
commuting (for example, through congestion pricing or tolls) can significantly reduce VMTs.

Indeed, transportation modeling tends to show that dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions
are possible, up to 30%, through a strategic combination of land use changes and pricing strategies.
For example, Robert A. Johnston at UC Davis has surveyed European modeling research literature,
and combined these findings with his own modeling, to draw the following conclusions (Johnson,
2006):

1. Expanding road capacity increases auto travel and emissions, compared to doing nothing.
New HOV lanes on radial freeways increase travel and emissions. They also increase
sprawl. Congestion generally becomes worse, in spite of adding highway capacity.

2. Expanding transit only decreases emissions about 1%, compared to doing nothing. It
decreases travel costs for lower-income households. It can increase sprawl somewhat,
due to the outer rail stations.

3. Expanding transit only and supporting it with land use intensification around Light
Rail stations decreases emissions about 5%. It decreases travel costs for lower income
households.

4. Expanding transit only and supporting it with land use intensification around Light
Rail stations and with urban growth boundaries decreases emissions about 10%. It

467
 decreases travel costs and travel delays for all households.

5. Expanding transit only and supporting it with higher fuel taxes and with workplace
parking charges (refunded in higher wages as cash-in-lieu-of-parking incentives)
and shopping parking charges (refunded through lower costs for goods and
services) lowers emissions about 10%. It greatly increases economic benefits to all
travelers, due to better transit and faster freeways. This scenario reduces
congestion significantly.

6. Expanding transit only and supporting it with land use intensification and urban
limit lines and with fuel taxes and parking charges, as above, lowers emissions about
15-30%. This scenario maximizes economic welfare for the region and reduces
congestion the most.

The Politics: Broader Issues of Livability, Community and Participation

Beyond the market mechanisms, we face a civic question of how we will jointly manage our
“commons” – not only our shared environmental resources, but also our shared public realm: our
streets, walkways and public spaces. It is becoming much clearer that this public realm has
important implications for public health, environmental impact, economic prosperity, and long-term
sustainability. It is in the public realm that “settlement efficiency” expresses itself, in a well-
organized, well-connected urban system of streets, public spaces and buildings.

The aim of greater settlement efficiency requires a well-functioning political process – one that
cannot be derailed by scattered NIMBY opposition, or mired in bureaucratic stalemate. Yet that is
the regrettable state of too much of the public process in modern planning.

On the one hand, local and individual decision-makers are best able to judge local issues, and best
able to determine their own local needs free of external obstructions. But on the other hand, an
aggregation of local actions does not necessarily add up to a larger whole.

Neither is it sufficient to impose a restrictive top-down scheme, or a one-size-fits-all solution. But

all too often the public process is mired between these two poles: onerous top-down restrictions,
and chaotic bottom-up congestion.

What is needed is a new approach to the public process, integrating local information and
knowledge of needs into a wider regional process.

A number of promising approaches exist, including the community charrette and related processes.
Such processes have been used successfully across the US, and in particular in the recovery of the
Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. [Laura – you could amplify here?]

The Law: Reforming the “Rules of the Game” – and the Rules for Making Rules

Even the most laissez-faire economy operates within a strong legal framework. In the case of the
US, and California in particular, that legal and regulatory framework is, by virtually all accounts, a
particularly vast and complex one. Many of these mechanisms are the means by which political
decisions are implemented, including the decisions made at successful community charrettes. Even
the most Byzantine laws and regulations have evolved in response to very real conditions and
needs, and for that reason their importance should not be dismissed.

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Yet over time such regulatory mechanisms can become overly complex and confusing. Various
added provisions conflict with one another in unforeseen ways, and over time, emergent outcomes
can produce unintended consequences. The IRS deduction for employee parking is a case in point:
meant to encourage worker productivity and economic development, it has the unintended
consequence of increasing driving and, it follows, greenhouse gas emissions.

A particular challenge comes from the legal structures that govern planning, and in particular the
zoning ordinances that regulate new and infill development. In many cases these ordinances
originally reflected the belief that conflicts between uses could best be resolved through segregation
– much as a mother might deal with fighting siblings by separating them. If cities experienced
overcrowding, then new zoning would move residents to low-density, segregated subdivisions,
connected by the new automobile. Of course the eventual system-wide consequences of this
scheme, with its increasing sprawl and congestion, were not foreseen.

Today we recognize that settlement efficiency requires not segregation, but a higher degree of
integration, through careful design. Buildings can include a mix of uses, for example, so long as
their partitions are designed to deal with issues of fire safety, noise, privacy and other issues. A
new generation of mixed-use codes and regulations is coming on line, supplanting the older
accretion of segregationist rules and ordinances.

Similarly, new legal mechanisms are being developed to allow condominium and other more
flexible forms of co-development. Legal structures are also allowing new kinds of tradable
financial instruments and incentives, which we believe will prove very important in the effort to
reduce greenhouse gases.

Lastly, we believe that the reduction of greenhouse gases warrants legislation to effect large-scale
pricing schemes, to transmit the future cost of settlement inefficiency to the present, and thereby to
reward high-efficiency behavior. We stress that this is a market-based pricing mechanism, designed
to have a net neutral effect on economic activity. It only requires a legal enabling ordinance,
established through a public process. We believe that as such – and assuming it is designed to be
flexible and adaptive -- this is an entirely proper public response to a threat to the commonwealth.

Conclusion: A New “Operating System” for Growth

In computer science, an “operating system” is a set of processes, codes and rules that allow specific
programs to function efficiently. The design of the operating system governs what can happen
within the system, and broadly defines its characteristics. The comparison has proven useful in a
number of fields where similar rules operate to produce complex and often unintended
consequences.

The analogy is a particularly useful one in the world of urban growth. The laws, economic
processes, political processes and others protocols, all function together in what amounts to an
“operating system for growth”. The features of that operating system, more than the intentions of
clever designers or policy makers, often define and limit the features of the development that
results.

Our old operating system – the one that specifies single-use zoning, wide streets, large setbacks,
economic monocultures and economies of scale – has shown itself incapable of producing the
necessary settlement efficiency required in today’s environment. In an age of climate change and
related challenges, we can not bear this cost indefinitely. We need a new operating system.

469
In that light, following are the policy elements we recommend:

Policy Recommendation One: Reform the old zoning and traffic codes. Replace them with a new
generation of form-based codes such as the SmartCode, and new standards of street design
reflecting networked, pedestrian- and bike-friendly layouts.

Policy Recommendation Two: Reform the participatory processes that involve the community in
planning decisions. Require greater accountability on the part of citizen participants, to be involved
throughout the process. Encourage true representative participation, and not mere self-selection of
a vocal minority. Consider a number of useful processes such as the Community Design Charrette.

Policy Recommendation Three: Overhaul the contradictory patchwork of State and Federal
requirements, which often operate at cross purposes. (For example, we mentioned the IRS
deduction for work parking costs.) Create a new, coherent criterion of GHG reduction, and require
policy to adapt to that criterion.

Policy Recommendation Four: Create new incentives to encourage brownfield, infill and
preservation work, in areas of existing high settlement efficiency. Develop additional tax credits
and public financing mechanisms. Develop public-private models where private-sector entities can
assess market dynamics and develop successful responses. Coordinate with the participatory
processes to ensure successful neighborhood participation.

Policy Recommendation Five: Consider new economic mechanisms and pricing signals, integrated
with the development and construction process. Consider an emissions credit trading scheme.
Consider automobile travel pricing schemes tied to credits for offsetting activities. Develop
strategies to maintain revenue neutrality and avoid regressive penalties.

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SOCIAL HOUSING IN LATIN AMERICA: A METHODOLOGY TO UTILIZE PROCESSES OF
SELF-ORGANIZATION.
Nikos A. Salingaros, David Brain, Andrés M. Duany,
Michael W. Mehaffy & Ernesto Philibert-Petit
ESRG — Environmental Structure Research Group

We offer here a set of evidence-based optimal practices for social housing, applicable
in general situations. Varying examples are discussed in a Latin American context.
Adaptive solutions work towards long-term sustainability and help to attach residents to
their built environment. We draw upon new insights in complexity science, and in
particular the work of Christopher Alexander on how to successfully evolve urban form.
By applying the conceptual tools of “Pattern Languages” and “Generative Codes”, these
principles support previous solutions derived by others, which were never taken forward
in a viable form. New methodologies presented here offer a promising alternative to the
failures of the standard social housing typologies favored by governments around the
world, which have proven to be dehumanizing and ultimately unsustainable.

SECTIONS 1-4: BACKGROUND AND CRITICISM.

1. Introduction.
This Chapter outlines promising new solutions for the future of social housing. It has
been prepared as a comprehensive report by one of the authors (NAS) for Brazil, and is
generally applicable to all of Latin America. One of us (AMD) is designing social
housing in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean. Two of the authors (AMD & MWM)
are directly involved with the reconstruction after the hurricane Katrina devastation in the
Southern United States, which faces similar, though not identical, realities. Another
author (EPP) has researched the pedestrian connectivity of the urban fabric, and is
involved in providing government-assisted housing solutions on a massive scale in
Mexico. The remaining author (DB) has long studied the influence of urban form on
social wellbeing and community sustainability, a crucial factor in our discussion.
The challenge of social housing is a major component of world urban growth, and we
wish to present here a comprehensive methodology for radically improving its
performance. Success will be measured in human terms: i.e., the physical and emotional
wellbeing of the resident. We consider a project to be successful if it is maintained and
loved by its residents, and also if the urban fabric joins in a healthy and interactive way to
the rest of the city. On the other hand, we consider as unsuccessful (and hence
unsustainable) a project that is hated by its residents for a number of different reasons,
wastes resources in initial construction and upkeep, contributes to social degradation,
isolates its residents from society, or decays physically in a short period of time.
The essence of the approach presented here is to apply a sustainable PROCESS rather
than a specific IMAGE to design and building. The way it was done in the recent past is
to build according to a prepared image of what the buildings ought to look like, and how
they should be arranged. By contrast, no image of our project exists at the beginning: it
emerges from the process itself, and is clear only after everything is finished.

We can move toward a more thorough and satisfying solution by drawing upon
Christopher Alexander’s work — one of several pioneers who proposed that urban fabric
should follow an organic paradigm — and can include theoretical and practical work that
for various reasons is not widely applied. What we offer is supported by the evidence
from many examples of traditional practice over centuries. Governments instead choose
to impose schemes and typologies that ultimately generate hostility for the fabric of
social housing from its occupants. We will analyze the reasons for this hostility in order

475
to prevent it in the future. The relatively simple solutions presented here are generic.
Therefore, though geared to Latin America, they can be adopted by the rest of the world
with only minor modifications. This study outlines ideas that are general enough to apply
to countries where local conditions that produce housing might be very different.
We can learn from innovative approaches to government-sponsored housing,
developed by independent groups in many different settings and conditions. Out of many
projects built over several decades, very few can be judged to be truly successful using
our criteria of the residents’ physical and emotional wellbeing. Those few excellent
solutions tend to be neglected because they fail to satisfy certain iconic properties (which
we discuss in detail later in this Chapter). Perhaps surprisingly, we also draw upon
successful typologies developed for sustainable upper-income communities.

This Chapter combines two mutually complementary approaches (and will contrast
these with existing methods). On the one hand, we will give some explicit practical rules
for building social housing. Any group or agency wishing to get started immediately may
implement these — with appropriate local modifications — on actual projects. On the
other hand, we will present a general philosophical and scientific background for social
housing and its cultural implications. The aim of this theoretical material is to “give
permission” for common-sense arguments; to create the conditions that will safely allow
and support what in effect comes naturally. People, acting as intelligent local agents, may
then apply methods that evolved during millennia of successfully performing owner-built
housing — as part of the production of healthy resident-built communities.

This methodology recognizes and incorporates the self-organizing features of the most
robust human settlements throughout history, by utilizing a “complexity-managing”
approach, rather than a linear, “top-down” approach. We propose channeling the design
talent and building energy of the people themselves, acting as local agents, within a
system that we manage only to help generate and guide its evolving complexity. In such
an approach, “bottom-up” processes are allowed to develop organically, though within
constraints based upon prior experience. On the other hand, “top-down” interventions
must be done experimentally and carefully (i.e., with feedback), allowing more
interaction with smaller-scale “bottom-up” processes.

Our proposal goes beyond housing that is literally owner-built in the sense that owners
hammer nails and pour concrete. It is important that they experience the process of design
and building as THEIR process. It’s all about establishing connection and engagement.
The key point is a process that accommodates real engagement, that is agile enough to be
responsive to adaptive processes, and that can engage without being driven by the social
dynamics of inequality into unfortunate directions. Most important, the process can take
advantages of both technology and expertise. We are proposing something far more than
letting the poor fend for themselves — we wish to empower them with the latest tools
and a highly sophisticated understanding of urban form.

As many authors have described previously (e.g. Alexander et. al. (1977), Jacobs
(1961), Turner (1976)), established planning practice has tended to follow an outmoded
early industrial model. That model arose in the 1920s, and was widely adopted in the
period following World War II. It was based upon a hierarchical “top-down” command-and-control
paradigm, leading to predict-and-provide planning. Research amply
demonstrates that this model does not sufficiently reflect the kind of scientific problem a
city poses, because the model ignores the tremendous physical and social complexity of
successful urban fabric. Incredibly, it does not even address human interactions with the
built environment. The resulting failures and unintended consequences are well

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documented. As science develops more fine-grained and more accurate research tools for
the analytical study of such self-organizing phenomena (which include cities), it is
necessary now to propose a radical new urbanism. We wish to empower people with the
authority of a new methodology, grounded in recent urban research.

The problem isn’t just the lack of physical complexity. The key to urban place making
is really the relationship between the complexity of spatial form and the complexity of
social process. If it were just a matter of physical complexity, one might imagine that a
top-down process could be created to simulate that complexity — say, a computer
algorithm. The crucial point is that this physical complexity embodies and expresses
social life. It is, in certain respects, social relations by other means (e.g., artifacts and
built spaces). To some extent, the answer begins by re-conceiving the built environment
itself as social process, not just as product or container. This becomes important later
when we talk about maintenance, since the processual character of this kind of ownership
merely begins when residents move in.

This Chapter is very complex and deals with many issues, so we need to map out its
exposition. The first four sections provide background and criticize current practices.
Section 2 introduces the competition between owner-built settlements and government-built social
housing. Section 3 reviews the standard practices and typologies of top-down
social housing programs, and recommends replacing them (or at least complementing
them) with a bottom-up procedure. Section 4 pinpoints how a “geometry of control” ruins
even the best-intentioned schemes by making them inhuman.

The next six sections offer specific tools for design. Section 5 turns to mechanisms for
establishing emotional connections with the built environment. Biophilia, or the need to
connect directly to plant life, is a crucial component. We also discuss sacred spaces and
their role towards establishing community. Section 6 reviews the work of Christopher
Alexander, especially his recent work on generative codes. Section 7 argues against the
fixed master plan approach, suggesting instead an iterative back-and-forth planning
process. Section 8 reviews Alexandrine patterns and outlines their transition to generative
codes. Section 9 gives, in the broadest possible terms, our methodology for planning a
settlement. We suggest getting building permission for a process rather than for a design
on paper. Section 10 contains an explicit set of codes describing the armature of services
in a social housing project. Section 11 introduces the complementary design tools by
describing the generative codes needed for such a project.

The next four sections continue with practical suggestions for making projects work.
Section 12 suggests appointing a project manager to direct the application of generative
codes. Section 13 argues for using appropriate materials: cheap but permanent; durable
but flexible enough to shape; solid but friendly to sight and touch. We also discuss the
proper use of industrial modules such as a plumbing box. Section 14 broaches the topic of
funding a project, recommending the involvement of a non-governmental organization
that focuses on the small scale. Section 15 is political, delving into how one can best
cooperate with existing systems geared to producing social housing that follow very
different, industrial typologies. Section 16 offers strategies for getting residents to
maintain their settlements after they are built.

The final four sections identify some of the problems. Section 17 faces the difficult
problem of retrofitting the favela to make it an acceptable part of urban fabric.

Sometimes it cannot be done. We discuss a reinforcement strategy for when it is feasible

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to do so. Section 18 analyzes some failures to understand the life of a squatter, such as
their economic need for proximity to the city. This makes new social housing built far
outside the city unattractive. We also warn against grand schemes that can turn into
economic disasters. Section 19 blames architects for imposing modernist forms on social
housing. That geometry makes them hostile for residents. Section 20 blames the residents
themselves for rejecting adaptive housing and urban typologies, wanting instead the
sterile images of modernism. Section 21 reviews how conditions are different today from
the past several decades, and offers optimism for a broad acceptance of adaptive housing.
The Appendix contains an explicit generative sequence for social housing on a
greenfield or open brownfield.

2. The Ecosystem Analogy.

Here is a basic incompatibility: organic urban fabric is an extension of human biology,
whereas planned construction is an artificial vision of the world imposed by the human
mind on nature. The former is full of life but can be poor and unsanitary, whereas the
latter is often clean and efficient but sterile. One of these two contrasting urban
morphologies can win out over the other, or they could both reach some sort of
equilibrium coexistence (as has occurred in most of Latin America). In the movement for
“self-construction”, the government accepts that owners will build their own houses, and
provides materials and training to help establish the networks of electricity, water, and
sewerage.

“Social housing” is usually understood as a project for housing the poor, built and
financed by a government or non-governmental organization. Occupants could purchase
their units, but a usual practice is to rent them at low subsidized rents, or even to provide
them for free. In the latter instances, the residents live there by courtesy of (and are
subject to varying degrees of control by) the owning entity. A “squatter settlement”, on
the other hand, is a self-built development on land that is not owned by the residents, and
which is frequently occupied without permission. Since squatter settlements are illegal,
the government generally refuses to provide the means of legally purchasing individual
plots of land. In most cases, it also refuses to connect those residences to the utility grid
(electricity, water, and sewerage) of the rest of the city. As a result, living conditions
there are the worst among peacetime settlements.

Social housing and squatter settlements are regions where more than one billion of the
world’s very poor live. We are going to discuss these two urban phenomena side-by-side,
and offer to resolve the ideological and spatial competition between the two. As a basic
starting point, housing for the poor represents the lowest level of the world’s urban
ecosystem. Different forces within human society generate both types of urban system:
either government-sponsored social housing, or squatter settlements. Christopher
Alexander (2005), Hassan Fathy (1973), N. J. Habraken (1972), John F. C. Turner
(1976), and others recognized this competition before us, and proposed an
accommodation of the two systems. Turner helped to build several projects in Peru and
Mexico, and advised others on implementing such ideas worldwide.

The ecosystem analogy also explains and to a certain extent justifies the vigilance by
which governments prevent squatter settlements from invading the rest of the city. If not
restrained by law and direct intervention, squatters move into private and public land. We
are describing a species competition for the same available space. Each species (urban
typology) wants to displace all the others. Squatter settlements can take over the entire
city if allowed to do so (for example, in Cairo, they have taken over the flat roofs of
commercial buildings; in the USA people build temporary shelters in public parks and

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under highway overpasses). The government, in turn, would like to clear all squatter
settlements. Governments the world over assume that they must construct planned
housing to replace owner-built housing. That is too expensive to be feasible.
Like all truly organic systems, cities are better off without central control.

Accommodating competing urban systems never became standard practice, however.

Although the basic ideas about traditional settlements were in place, several key elements
of understanding were previously missing. We are now offering expertise in housing as a
DYNAMIC process (by combining pattern languages with generative codes: see later
sections). Interventions are needed, starting from scratch in new housing projects. The
same dynamic process can also be applied to already built environments, in seeking to
adapt a large number of informal unplanned housing projects (favelas or others) by
bringing them up to acceptable living conditions.

Competition occurs among all economic strata (“species”) that either use urban land, or
profit from it. In Latin American cities, urban land speculation leaves a large amount of
undeveloped land with all the services already in place wasted. The poorest population
then has to find plots on the outskirts, and pay steep prices for water and other services,
without having the benefit of living close to their main source of income (the central
city). This creates a severe problem for the government. Rather than characterizing the
practice as “unfair” (which does not lead to any change), we point out its tremendous
cumulative costs for the future.

Throughout all the various schemes for social housing tried over the years, it is widely
accepted (with only a few exceptions) that the unplanned owner-built favela is
embarrassing to the government, and has to be bulldozed as soon as possible. Yet that
assumption is wrong. Very few in a position of authority seem to consider the urban and
economic advantages of existing shantytowns. The geometry of buildings, lots, and street
patterns has for the most part developed (evolved) organically, and we will argue here
that this self-organization affords a number of very desirable features. With all its grave
faults, the favela offers an instructive spontaneous demonstration of economic, efficient,
and rapid processes of housing people.

The favelas’ disadvantages are not inherent in the urban system itself. Their organic
geometry is perfectly sound, yet it is precisely that aspect which is vehemently rejected. It
simply doesn’t fit into the stereotyped (and scientifically outmoded) image of what a
progressive urban fabric ought to resemble — neat, smooth, rectangular, modular, and
sterile. A favela’s organic geometry is linked with the illegal act of squatting, and with a
pervasive lawlessness. The geometry itself represents “an enemy to progress” for an
administration. We cannot build living urban fabric (or save existing portions) until we
get past that prejudice. The favela has a self-healing mechanism absent from most top-down social
housing schemes. Organic growth also repairs urban fabric in a natural
process, something entirely absent from geometrically rigid housing projects.

Ironically, the organic geometry of the favela is typically at odds with the imperatives
of both the Left and the Right in a modern state, given its interest in responding to social
issues in a manner that is appropriately controlled. Some of that interest in control has to
do with a literal interest in the kind of rational administrative order that is tied to social
control. Nevertheless, much of it may reflect either the state’s need to legitimate its
interventions by demonstrating its rationality, or its need to maintain the bureaucratic
rituals of accountability when distributing public resources, or its respect for the
conventions of private property. It could also be a sincere reformist concern for elevating

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the living standards of the poor in a way that is both efficient and procedurally fair, in a
manner motivated by democratic principles.

An ordered geometry gives the impression of control invested in the entity that builds.
Whether this is intentional (to display the authority of the state) or subconscious (copying
images from architecture books), governments and non-governmental organizations
prefer to see such an expression of their own “rationality” through building. Departure
from this set of typologies is felt to be a relaxation of authority; or it raises possible
questions regarding the legitimacy of distributions of resources that aren’t subject to
careful bureaucratic accounting procedures. Both of these are avoided because they tend
to erode the authority of the state, particularly under regimes where the rights of private
property are an important part of the legal and regulatory systems. Morphologically
complex squatter settlements are usually outside the government’s control altogether.
One way of asserting control is to move their residents to housing built by the
government. In a sad and catastrophic confirmation of our ideas, various governments in
Africa have periodically bulldozed owner-built dwellings, driving their residents to live
out in the open.

3. Antipatterns of Social Housing.

Let us summarize some of the current beliefs and typologies that drive social housing
today, so that we can replace them with an entirely different framework. We will suggest
using solutions that we feel work best as the more enlightened alternative. Much of our
criticism focuses on top-down control. That approach leads to simplification in the
planning process. However, one cannot design and build complex urban fabric using top-down
tools. There is more to criticize in the specific images people have of modernity.
That concerns both architects, who carry with them a false set of desirable images; and
residents, who are invariably influenced by those same images through the media.

1. Existing public housing projects are conceptualized and built as cheap dormitories,
and thus follow a military/industrial planning philosophy: build as many units as
possible, as cheaply and efficiently as possible. We should abandon this mindset and
build urban quarters instead. Building an urban quarter is a much more complex
undertaking, and one that requires complex engagement beyond the small circles of
policy-making and professional elites.

2. To erect a housing project most efficiently, the directing entity wants to have
maximal control over the geometry and building process. This practical requirement
means that user participation is excluded.

3. The very name “social housing” implies that only a dormitory is built, and not an
urban quarter. Following World War II, monofunctional zoning became the established
criterion by which governmental interventions were carried out. Those ideas were in
place before the War, but post-war reconstruction and expansion gave the opportunity to
apply them on a much larger scale.

4. The industrial building typology relegates plants and the natural environment to a
purely decorative role, or eliminates them altogether. Nevertheless, human health is
possible only if we connect to plants and nature in our immediate surroundings: the
“Biophilia Hypothesis” (Kellert, 2005).

5. An urban quarter is comprised of complex social networks, and requires the

appropriate urban morphology of a network. It is never monofunctional, and it is not

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homogeneous. It cannot be built in a top-down fashion by central government. Individual
villages (Pueblos in Latin America) have been evolving far longer than 500 years; they
possess a rich inheritance of a mixture of many cultures that comes from the deep past,
e.g. indigenous cultures such as Toltec, Mayan, Incan, Carib and incoming cultures such
as Spanish, Portuguese, African, Islamic and so on. There are many lessons that we can
learn from this evolution.

6. A conventional social housing project is seldom concerned about social accessibility

to the urban network, since it is usually built in disconnected (many times rural) areas.
All too often, the issue is understood only as a matter of “housing”, with measures of
success typically in terms of quantities of “units” and immediate impact on individuals,
rather than the quality (or sustainability) of the community life that results.

7. The typical location of social housing projects in rural areas has to do with a
powerful economic reason: the land owners have managed to get a change of land use
and have obtained for themselves an extraordinary surplus value. This is part of the
sprawl-oriented development in our cities. Furthermore, the project itself, the
government, and the users seldom benefit in any way from this surplus value.

8. A typical social housing project conceived as a disconnected “urban island” has an

awful impact on the environment. It is disconnected from local and from global economic
cycles.

9. The geometry of a conventional social housing project and the configuration of its
constituent units give few or no ways to affect further development. They present a
number of geometrical obstacles for its evolution over time. This impediment frustrates
the inhabitants’ hopes, and suppresses their prospects for social and economic
improvement.

10. Architects, government officials, and future residents all carry within their minds
an “image of modernity”. This set of ingrained images generates a building typology that
is hostile in actual use, and presents one of the greatest obstacles to adaptive social
housing.

Governments are still stuck in the mindset of social housing serving jobs in a particular
place. The reality is different: healthy urban quarters connect into an urban
conglomeration, and people work wherever they can find jobs. By contrast, unhealthy
urban regions are isolated, disconnecting people from each other and from employment
opportunities. Despite strong social and economic forces leading to isolation, our aim is
not to codify this isolation in the buildings and urban form. To do that is to compound the
problem. We should instead use the urban geometry to counteract social isolation.
The above list of typologies and practices leads to unhealthy housing projects, creating
unsustainable social conditions. To achieve a more adaptive approach, those typologies
must be reversed, and the forces that lead us to repeat the same mistakes over and over
again should be redirected. Some errors arise simply out of inertia: copying failed
solutions because it has become a habit to do so, and not identifying viable alternatives.
Those errors are very easy to resolve once the situation is better understood. There is
another class of errors, however, which arise because the same forces lead to similar
expressions in practical applications. Those conditions cannot be changed, and must
instead be redirected. Failure to understand the difference between the two problems
means that we will never be able to improve the current situation.

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One principle becomes clear: there is no point of designing “social housing” as such.
We need to design and build complex, mixed-use urban fabric, and to make sure it fits
into existing complex mixed-use urban fabric. Social housing, and housing in general,
need to be part of a healthy (and socially inclusive) process of urbanism. The very notion
of monofunctional housing is obsolete, discredited because it never worked to connect
residents to their environment. All of the planning measures we reject — originally well
intentioned — were adopted as a means to improve efficiency in facing a serious urban
challenge.

The underlying reasons for their failure have never been officially admitted, however.
As a result, there has been a tendency for the debate to focus on problems with the design
of social housing as buildings: as if it were merely a matter of coming up with a better
design idea to be imposed with more or less the same apparatus of top-down control.
Usually nowadays, an architect’s idea of a good design is impersonal and oppressive to
the actual users. Some more recent public housing initiatives in the USA (such as the
HOPE VI program) have made an effort to incorporate resident participation in the
process, but relatively superficially and with very mixed success. Our key point is that the
process of producing living places that incorporate social housing has to be changed at its
root. It must accommodate more fundamental and meaningful engagement, grounding the
generation of urban form in a process that adequately respects the organized complexity
distinctive to the nature of cities.

There is a need to mix social classes for a healthier social fabric. The mix can occur
naturally through the process of upgrading. It is also important that people who have a
choice remain in the neighborhood. The comprehensive approach to creating a village
would seem to make sense in places like Latin America where whole settlements of
previously rural people create shanty towns and squatter settlements on the periphery of
big cities. In that context, there may be no option but to catalyze the generation of whole
urban quarters built by the residents, with help by us. Generally, we would want to be
cautious about building urban quarters specifically for the poor. Healthy urban fabric is
not monofunctional, and neither does it strictly contain one income level. We are aware
of the tremendous social difficulties of encouraging mixed-income housing, because of
the perception that no one would ever want to live next to people even slightly poorer
than they are. However, we can find encouraging examples of social mixture in historic
towns and historic city centers all around Latin America (the Centro Histórico of
Querétaro is a good example). The difference lies in the perception of community (which
can overcome income differences) versus perceiving a house strictly as real estate. Mixed
income communities are not only possible, but are more resilient.

It is not just a question here of physically separated urban quarters on the urban
periphery. How does one create a unique pattern-generating process for these urban
quarters, without creating enclaves that stand out dramatically from the rest of the city?
In other words, how does one plan for low-income buildings without creating “projects”,
barrios, and ghettos? It seems to us that it is crucial that this rethinking of “social
housing” has to be a rethinking of everybody’s housing — i.e., of urbanism — such that
“social housing” is subsumed by a more general process of creating a city of healthy
networks (Salingaros, 2005). Connecting to the global networks of the city: major streets,
the public transportation system, political and social networks, etc., is of the greatest
importance.

Part of the mindset of government is that “social housing” has to follow a specific set
of policies directed at a specific problem, and administered in and through specific sites.

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We have super block projects (which are dehumanizing but easy to administer), or we
have something like the Section 8 voucher system in the USA, which subsidizes rent for
low-income residents. In the case of the latter, social housing becomes an abstract
category — defined only in terms of the pathologies of individuals who need assistance,
and addressed in the form of payments to property owners. In the latter case, the “site” is
a category of individuals, severed from community connections.

Typically, the poor already have complex social networks upon which they rely heavily
for survival. At the same time, however, the relative isolation of these networks is a
serious problem. Although often very densely connected in a “peer group society”, the
poor tend to have limited connections outside those circles, and are isolated in their own
villages. They are bound into small networks, but have no sense of themselves
categorically as residents of a neighborhood. They also tend to distrust people from
outside their networks. Essentially, they have no capacity to identify with or care about
the neighborhood as a neighborhood. The problem from a network point of view becomes
how to strengthen the pattern of weak ties in such a way that one can incorporate low-income
populations into civic life. Moreover, this has to be done without disrupting the
strong networks of mutual assistance on which those residents rely. The solution requires
organizing these local networks into a network that works on a larger scale.

4. A Geometry of Control.
The psychological process of control influences urban form and the shape of social
housing to a remarkable extent. Control may be manifested in architectural geometry and
also in urban layout. A rigid, mechanical geometry dictates the shape of individual
buildings and urban spaces, while the geometry of their layout determines the
relationship among separate buildings and the shape of the street network. There are
many opportunities to express control in urban and architectural terms, and we find them
all in government-built social housing.

Examples of organic/bottom-up generated urban structures are found along a universal

timeline starting with the first cities registered in the Neolithic period, through modern
times. The mechanical/top-down fabricated urban structure is found in our timeline ever
since patterns of colonization first appeared in history. Thus, we have models of this
mechanical structure dating from the imperial periods of Greece, Rome, or China until
today. In the 20th Century, an exacerbated mechanical structure was imposed on cities by
the machine culture of modernist thoughts and values. This last period has been decisive
in configuring the structure of present day cities, and is set to dominate those of coming
years. In the near future, spatial fragmentation could become the ultimate consequence of
the recent past. Alternatively, we may enter the period when the emerging paradigm of
networks could be wisely used to connect our spatial structures and patterns again,
working instead against fragmentation.

There exists a clearly recognizable “geometry of power” (Alexander, 2005; Salingaros,

2006). It is most clearly expressed in military and Fascist architecture of the Second
World War (and long before that), but has been adopted by governments and institutions
of all political persuasions (from the most progressive, to the most repressive). Such
buildings are shaped as oversized rectangular blocks and are placed in strictly repetitive
rectangular grids. High-rise blocks give the impression of control of their occupants, who
are forced into a military/industrial typology that is obviously the opposite of the free
urban geometry of the favela. We have two contrasting geometries: housing units massed
into one or more blocks, versus having them spread out irregularly. The psychological
impression of control follows the possibility of ACTUAL control, as the entrance to a

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high-rise housing block can be easily sealed off by the police, something that is
impossible in a rambling cluster of individual houses.

Government officials and developers share these views about control, and this in turn
tends to eliminate any other approach. The local government would prefer to have better
access to the site through regularly shaped blocks. Administrators are fooled by the
notion that simplistic geometric shapes are the only typology we can use to create
efficient new dwellings.

An administration can build many smaller units rather than high-rise blocks, but rigidly
fixed to a military/industrial grid on the ground. Individual housing units are exact copies
of a single prototype. Control here is exercised by not allowing individual variations. One
modular house is repeated to cover the entire region, with careful attention paid to strict
rectangular alignment. Complexity and variation are perceived as losing overall control
— not only of building typology, but also of the way decisions are made — and are thus
avoided.

Several factors provide powerful motivations for standardization and relatively rigid
regulations: administrative efficiency, accountability, maintenance of standards on which
the success of the administration will be assessed, and the requirements of both
transparency and procedural fairness. The efficiency of modular production, falsely tied
to economic progress, is used as an excuse for the military/industrial geometry. Building
variability is perceived as a threat, and is countered by arguments about excessive
production costs. Those arguments support the belief that central planning is an economic
and social necessity. Yet, such arguments have been shown again and again to be invalid.
It is once more the industrial, mechanical paradigm of linear production (and linear
thinking) that does not allow developers of social housing to consider variability,
heterogeneity, and complexity as essential features in their projects.

In a manner similar to the application of new technology to factory production, a

justification is often presented in terms of cost and efficiency, but the underlying logic is
a logic of control. In the context of the modern state, it is often more crucial to maintain
standards, transparency, and accountability than to reduce cost in absolute terms. As a
result, it has become all too common for the structures of bureaucratic administration
(with the best of intentions, and regardless of ideological leanings of Left or Right) to
impose standards that disrupt the very thing they hope to accomplish.

Adaptability to individual needs requires design freedom so that every unit could be
different, with its shape and position decided in large part by its future residents. It is
indeed possible to do that. Nevertheless, both sides of the political spectrum strongly
oppose design freedom. The Right considers poor people not to deserve such attention,
and that a custom-made house is the exclusive privilege of the wealthy class. The Left, on
the other hand, stands firmly behind its belief of fundamental equality, which it
misinterprets as forbidding houses in a social development from being in any way
different from each other. Institutions such as banks, construction companies, and land
surveyors get frightened by the prospect of having to deal with individual variations.
Control is exerted in other, more subtle ways as a result of standardization. A cheaply
produced building module available in the marketplace, if it is large enough, replaces
other, better alternatives. Modular components restrict design freedom, because they
influence the final product resulting from their assembly (Alexander, 2005; Salingaros,
2006). Governments that sponsor social housing do like to promote industrial modules
and components, and to discourage construction that is shaped individually. Nevertheless,

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local production could be achieved more cheaply, and solves part of the unemployment
problem. An industrial geometry embodied in architectural and urban typologies is
eventually reflected in the built environment.

The natural environment becomes one more casualty of the geometry of control.
Nature and life are visually “messy”. Topographical features such as rocks, hills, and
streams; as well as trees and plant life, pose challenges to a flat, rectangular geometry,
and are thus usually eliminated. Local governments put in effort to eradicate organic
elements from the “ideal” sterile environment. Sometimes (but not always), this act of
aggression against nature is mollified after the fact by planting a few non-native trees in
strict geometrical alignment and making up a phony rock landscape as a visual sculpture.
Existing native plant species are regarded as unwelcome, and only an artificial-looking
lawn is acceptable (because it is sleek and does not grow unevenly like other plants). In
low-income housing, even that is considered an unaffordable luxury, so in the end, the
project acquires an unnatural, lifeless character, totally lacking in connections to plant
growth.

SECTIONS 5-11: SPECIFIC TOOLS FOR DESIGN THAT HELPS ESTABLISH

INTELLECTUAL OWNERSHIP.

5. Biophilia, Connectivity, and Spirituality.

The notion of “biophilic architecture” establishes that human health and wellbeing
strongly depend on the geometry of the environment, as expressed in particular
configurations, surfaces, materials, details, light, and accessibility to plants and other
forms of life (Kellert, 2005). All of these factors contribute to the success of any building,
and to social housing in particular. Evidence-based design is based on knowing how a
human being is affected by his/her environment.

The appropriate geometry that promotes human wellbeing is unsurprisingly the

opposite of the geometry of power described in the preceding section. A living geometry
is loose, complex, and highly interconnective. It is the geometry of the owner-built
favela, and also the natural geometry of a river, a tree, or a lung. Without any imposed
constraints, human beings will build according to this natural geometry (Alexander,
2005; Salingaros, 2006). Note that many self-built projects do not entirely follow this
generative geometry, because the government defines a rectangular grid of plots before
giving the land over to individual builders. Thus, it already imposes an industrial grid that
is impossible to change. We will discuss later how this restrictive practice can be
avoided.

Geometry and surface qualities either help or hinder an emotional connection with the
human beings who use them. We should balance the study of structure with the study of
form and pattern. In the study of structure, we measure and weigh things. Patterns of
interaction cannot be measured or weighed, however: they must be mapped, and they
have to do more with quality. To understand a pattern we must map a configuration of
relationships. We believe in the concept of the city as an organism, not only in the sense
that it tries to develop an organic structure, but also because of the complex relationship
this structure establishes with the organizational patterns of its users. Here is a list of
some key concepts that we need to work with:

1. People become psychologically sick and hostile in an environment devoid of nature.

Biophilia is innate in our genes. Urban quarters need to blend with and not replace natural
habitats.

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2. We connect to plants through their geometrical structure, thus some geometries are
more connective to the human spirit than others. We feel comfortable with a built
environment that incorporates complex natural geometry showing an ordered hierarchy of
subdivisions.

3. Residents should love their homes and neighborhoods. That means that the form of
the immediate built environment must be spiritual and not industrial.

4. Industrial materials and typologies generate hatred for the built environment. We
grow hostile to surfaces and forms that do not nourish us spiritually, because we feel their
rejection of our humanity. If not hatred, they often generate a kind of indifference that
might actually be worse for human communities. The use of these materials and
typologies has commonly been presented as dictated by the nature of building technology
and the economic realities of the day. The result is that people often take for granted the
unavoidable alien character of a built environment that delivers quantity without
meaningful qualities.

5. The sacred character of traditional villages and urban quarters cannot be dismissed
as outmoded nonsense (as is done nowadays). This is the only quality that connects a
village on the large scale to people, hence indirectly to each other. We need to build it
into the urban quarter.

It is not easy to identify the sacred structure of any settlement, let alone plan for it in a
new one. We need to look at the patterns of human activity in traditional settlements, and
ask which activity nodes are valued above all others. Usually, it is where local residents
come together to interact. Those nodes (if they are present at all) could be interior, but
very often they are elements of urban space (Gehl, 1996). People can connect to plants
and to other people at the same time in properly designed (configured) urban spaces.
Those places are then responsible for the societal cohesion of the neighborhood.

Something is “sacred” if we attribute to it a value above and beyond its material

structure. A good rule is to ask if we are willing to fight to protect it from damage or
destruction. Do many persons, some necessarily strangers, feel the same way about this?
Do we consider a place to have meaning for the community as a whole so that a group of
people will actually come together to protect this particular object or site? In ancient
societies, an old tree, a large rock, prominent high ground, a particular stream or spring
could be considered sacred (in the deepest religious sense), and thus protected from
damage. Those societies built towns around sacred spaces, and endowed parts of what
they built with a sacred meaning. Today, that quality is unfortunately dismissed as
anachronistic.

For example, the oldest social nodes are a water source (community tap or well), place
of worship (Church or Temple), gathering place (cafe/bar for men), children’s
playground, etc. In the case of a Church, we do have a genuinely sacred structure, and it
is most often built in the original geographic center of a settlement. It serves the cohesive
function of community: “ecclesia” is the gathering together of common worshippers,
which is just as much a cohesive social act as it is a purely religious act. It is no
coincidence that the non-religious gathering place, the coffeehouse, is often situated in
front of the Church in a traditional village. The coffeehouse substitutes as an alternative
gathering place for those who do not subscribe to the sacred meaning of the local
religion.

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Another node of the sacred structure is the central plaza or open square, which, in
temperate climates, accommodates social life in the evenings. The Latin tradition of the
evening walk around the central square establishes a value for the plaza in the social
cohesion of the community. What we refer to as “sacred structure” in this Chapter refers
to ALL of these cohesive functions. We see cohesion as a natural device, and interpret its
various manifestations as simply differing degrees of connectivity on overlapping
channels. A central square is a place for social cohesion, whereas a church connects its
worshippers to the highest level, which is their creator.

Non-religious societies in some cases successfully substituted secular “sacred spaces”

to hold their societies together. For example, communist countries built the “House of the
People” or “Workers Club”, which took the role of a gathering place for at least part of
the community. In upper-income suburbs (for example, in gated communities) the same
forces apply, but are unresolved because of total automobile dependence. There is no
sacred space, no common meeting point and place of social interaction. Contrary to the
intent of developers who build them, a clubhouse and community swimming pool in
high-income suburban clusters do not serve this function. The urban geometry never
establishes a common social value among the residents, hence leads to a serious lack of
socialization.

The sacred place that we are describing is absent from contemporary urban
construction (Duany et. al., 2000). We see superficial copies created without any
understanding of their deep cultural meaning. Consequently, a dramatic decline in the
sense of community leads to a dramatic increase in social alienation. Certainly both the
Right and the Left have never recognized the need for spirituality in the fabric of social
housing. Nevertheless, a sense of the sacred is inherent in all traditional housing (in some
places more, in some places less) independently of their origin. By contrast,
military/industrial dormitories are not only rejected by their inhabitants, but are hated
because no one can connect with their form and image. A human being cannot truly
belong to those buildings, nor can the image of such a building belong emotionally to a
human being, and thus people turn to hating them and eventually destroying them.
Buildings of this type, built in the 1960s with the very best of intentions, abound around
the world. They do not catalyze an emotional attachment to the large scale. Schemes to
have “shopping streets” and kindergartens (as a substitute for sacred space) on the fifth
floor of high-rise block housing proved ridiculous. Hard concrete plazas tend to be
disconnecting and hostile, generating a feeling of anger instead of connectivity.

Christopher Alexander and his collaborators built social housing in Mexicali, Mexico
(Alexander et. al., 1985). A prototype house cluster was built around a builder’s yard that
served the construction needs of the neighborhood. That could have served as the sacred
space. Whereas the houses themselves were a tremendous success (and survive with their
original owners years afterwards), the builder’s yard was not. The government failed to
maintain it, yet did not give it over to another community or private use. It was
abandoned, and its connections to the individual houses sealed off by the owners. The
government never helped it to become a gathering place. No effort was made to endow a
sacred value to the builder’s yard.

The category of “the sacred” is being defined broadly enough to encompass the
normative order of civic spaces, and it is important to include the full spectrum of social
relations from the private, to the communal (parochial), to the public (civic). Traditional
villages rise to the level of the communal, but NOT to the level of civic culture.

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Gathering places are important, not simply because they encourage communal cohesion
(which tends to be based on homogeneity), but because the range of different types of
gathering places allows for a range of different kinds of social relations. Relations in
public have as much to do with defining social distance as with cohesion. Often, the
cohesion associated with urbanism is mediated only by the sharing of a common sense of
place. Places are, in a sense, an embodiment of what we call “social capital”. They ARE
social relationships, not just containers or facilitators of social relationships.

There may be a problem with emphasizing the sacred in this discussion. In the third
world even more than in places like the USA, the constituencies for social housing are
often caught up in some form or another of democratization movement. Particularly in
the global cities of the world, we don’t wish to make it sound as if we are promoting a
return to the condition of a kind of tribalism (which is the way traditional villages can
seem). Places do require materialization of the “sacred”, but not in the common usage of
the word. Gathering places are important, but their structure (and their relationship to the
social structure) is more complex than just acting as the containers or opportunities for
people to bond. We need to look at the patterns of interaction in traditional cities as well
as tribal villages and settlements that are homogeneous by class. Those patterns of
interaction are structurally varied and are not simply about communal cohesion.

In conclusion, a settlement must, above all else, establish a sacred structure by some
means, so as to connect emotionally with its residents. Sacred structure also helps people
to connect to a higher order. This higher order encompasses three functional features: (a)
it is used as a cohesive means to form community; (b) it is constructed upon the
cooperation of the discourses of a group of people and is not the unilateral decision of an
individual; and (c) it is loaded with a powerful meaning for the community. If most or all
residents connect with the physical sacred structure, then they connect indirectly with
each other. This simple principle establishes a sense of community, which survives the
difficult conditions of life. It keeps forces oriented towards maintaining the physical
structure of the community, instead of turning them against the physical structure in those
cases when it is not valued.

6. Utilizing the Work of Christopher Alexander.

Many times during his long career as architect and urbanist, Christopher Alexander
was asked to plan and construct social housing. In every case, and often in opposition to
the brief provided by the government agency that hired him, he insisted on user
participation. He clearly saw that this was the only way to produce built forms that are
“loved” by their occupants (Alexander, 2005; Alexander et. al., 1985). Each of his
projects began with the essential framework of involving future users in planning their
living space, and shaping the configuration of streets and common areas. In some cases,
this led to the support being withdrawn by the sponsoring government, which surmised
that such a scheme would severely weaken its control over the geometry of the project.

We believe that Alexander was entirely right in insisting on participation as a basic

principle. He correctly predicted that housing built by someone not involved in the world
and daily realities of the resident would lack certain essential qualities. As a result, its
inhabitants could never love the place. Even if the houses were all built following exactly
the same modular typology, participation in the planning or building process guarantees
that the eventual users have a personal stake in the final product. Most people could not
care less about a design’s formal virtues: they just want something they can truly consider
their own.

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Alexander’s most recent work (Alexander, 2005) establishes a temporal ordering for
any construction if it is to be adaptive to human needs. That is, it matters enormously
what is designed and built before, and what comes after in the sequence of
design/construction. This practice was followed since ancient times in the Near East and
was codified in Byzantine and Islamic urbanism, which influenced all regions affected by
these civilizations (Hakim, 2003). Its scientific foundation as part of the general
processes by which a complex system is evolved is a new contribution, and has been
theoretically shown to be crucial to the success of any project. It is now possible to
outline the correct order in which components of a housing development can be built to
ensure sustainability.

For example, Alexander reveals the steps in designing healthy urban fabric. These of
course depend very much on scale. Since one priority is how a settlement connects to the
rest of the city, an area of up to 1 km2 will usually be tangent to one of the main streets,
whereas areas larger than that will probably need a major street that goes through them.

1. Major circulation routes are determined as part of the integrative core of the city and
the adjacent urban area.

2. Major public spaces are identified to tie in with topography, natural features, and
major lines of movement.

3. Secondary street alignments are laid out making 60-150 meter intersections with
major streets and spaces.

4. Pedestrian space is defined by the building fronts, and is accessed by, but physically
protected from vehicles.

5. Buildings are situated so their front walls define the urban space as coherently as
possible — no setbacks, and few gaps.

6. Roads arise as the consequence of linearizing and connecting segments of welldefined

urban space. If the living form of the place is to be respected, roads CANNOT be
built first, especially if their perceived functional requirements are then allowed to dictate
the form, scale, and quality of urban spaces.

Failure to follow this sequence inevitably leads to dead urban fabric. The correct
application of this sequence can only come about after convincing the authorities to
implement a different construction practice than is usual nowadays. Nevertheless, there
are overwhelming theoretical reasons for insisting on this sequence. The steps were
followed in countless traditional settlements, forming towns and urban quarters before the
era of industrialization. When the main mode of transport is still pedestrian and lowspeed
traffic (animals, carts, only a few jitney buses and pick-up trucks, etc.) it is easy to
give priority to space and buildings. Once the automobile takes over, however, it begins
to dictate a new priority, which reverses the above sequence. The planner then sacrifices
traditional urban fabric to fast transversal movement, and this ultimately leads to a
dysfunctional and unsustainable design.

Alexander has applied these principles in several projects of social housing, including
Santa Rosa de Cabal, Colombia (Alexander, 2005: Book 3, pages 398-408) and Guasare
New Town, Venezuela (planned but not built) (Alexander, 2005: Book 3, pages 340-
348). Another successful recent example is Poundbury, England, by Léon Krier (1998).

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Interestingly, the latter is an upper-income development, in which a significant fraction
(over 20%) of subsidized residents are included; those are financed by the Guinness
Trust, a non-governmental organization. We are going to extract working rules from
those examples, and present them in this Chapter.

7. Iterative Design and the Emergence of Form.

A new community cannot simply be inserted into cleared land (it could, but then it is
not adaptive, and does not form a community). We envision step-wise growth rather than
building everything all at once. The design must be allowed to evolve, and cannot be
decided at the beginning. A master plan — in the sense of deciding exactly where future
construction is to be placed, and exactly what form it will take — is too restrictive and
thus highly incomplete. Social housing that follows this mindset by being planned on
paper, and then constructed according to plan fails to form a living environment.

Following Alexander, we advocate a process in which every future step is influenced by

what exists at that point.

Careful consideration of the topographic features, the existing vegetation, the entry
points, etc. should indicate a loose morphology for the entire settlement at the beginning
of the planning process. After getting a very rough idea of the placement of buildings and
main access road, then individual lots can be envisioned along the roads, which are
themselves still not completely specified. Nothing is yet built, and major decisions take
place by using wooden stakes and other markers in the ground. In order to guarantee
morphological coherence, what is built is influenced by its environment. This interaction
is experimentally determined and cannot be worked out on paper or anticipated, due to
the complexity of all the mechanisms involved. In a partially built development, the next
house or street segment to be built has to adapt its geometry to what was built previously.
Any decisions made at the beginning of the project must be regarded as
recommendations, and not as rigid dictates (unlike those in a master plan). As the project
develops in time, decisions made at the beginning for unbuilt areas will now seem
incorrect, no longer relevant, so we need the possibility of changing the design
continuously as more building takes place. This is exactly what occurred in historical
communities built over a time span of centuries. This adaptive procedure (adapting to
human sensibilities about the emerging forms and spaces) generated extremely coherent
complex geometries in traditional villages and towns, and that coherence cannot
mathematically be achieved all at once.

An iterative process goes back and forth between steps, improving each one in turn.
That’s what we are describing in adaptive planning and design: first form the conceptual
idea on the ground, then introduce the position and size of future built elements without
yet building them, then go back to refine the urban spaces, and so on. It is only in this
way that the interaction of all the components with each other, and with their
surroundings, can effectively take place. Once components begin to be built, then they
become part of the surroundings, and in turn influence all future built elements.
Healthy urban fabric is an extremely complex system, and it cannot be designed and
built in a strictly top-down fashion. Some components could be accomplished top down,
by someone who understands the required complexity. The ordering has to be emergent
from the process, and not simply an imagined outcome imposed by regulatory fiat. There
has to be adaptive capacity that is distributed and pervasive in a process that is inclusive.
Cities and neighborhoods are “things that people do together”, where a community
exercises its territoriality in a positive manner. Any top-down intervention has to be
oriented to facilitating that collaboration, not dictating its terms or forcing it into an

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overly rationalized container.

8. Examples of Patterns and Generative Codes.

Patterns summarize discovered design solutions that make people most comfortable in
experiencing and using built form. Their relative merit is that they were decided on a firm
(in many cases scientifically valid) basis, rather than being just another opinion. The use
of patterns and pattern languages is described in the readily available literature
(Alexander et. al., 1977). We now describe some patterns for those who may not have
seen them before. Mainstream urbanism has neglected the tremendous potential offered
by pattern-based design, chiefly for ideological reasons. Pattern-based design liberates
the individual but restrains some of the most profitable (though inhuman) aspects of the
building industry.

In building dense urban fabric, one pattern imposes a four-storey height limit for
residences (Pattern 21: FOUR-STORY LIMIT). Above that height, a resident feels
disconnected from the ground, and from any societal functions, which always take place
on the ground. This pattern immediately invalidates high-rise apartment blocks, which
are simply a failed social experiment on a vast scale, driven by iconic symbolism.
Another pattern requires access to trees (Pattern 171: TREE PLACES). Trees are
necessary for a human environment, and their planting has to be carefully thought out to
cooperate with nearby buildings and define a coherent urban space (Gehl, 1996;
Salingaros, 2005). Alternatively, existing large trees must be saved, and buildings
introduced in the same careful and flexible manner (and not according to some arbitrary
grid), so that the buildings and trees cooperate to create an urban space. The trees
combine with the path geometry and external walls to define a usable urban space, whose
dimensions and path structure invite use.

The point we are making (summarized in this particular pattern) is to use trees and
buildings together to define a sacred place. This is far removed philosophically from
planting trees simply as visual “decoration”, which simply reinforces the geometry of
power. There is a pragmatic reason for this. Unless a tree is protected by forming part of
a sacred place, it will soon be cut down and used as building material, or as fuel for
heating and cooking. This idea follows the same principle of protecting cows necessary
for plowing by making them sacred animals. Then, the cows are not eaten during a
famine, so they can be used for agriculture the following season.

In practice, one chooses several different patterns from Alexander’s “A Pattern

Language” (Alexander et. al., 1977), and begins to design the settlement. As work
progresses, one has to go back and work with more patterns as different design needs
arise. Another set of patterns helps to guide the street layout. Alexander originally used
patterns in 1969 to design social housing in Peru (Alexander, 2005: Book 2, page 352).
The way that different patterns have to combine together is outlined in (Salingaros, 2005:
Chapters 8 & 9). Some architects characterized patterns as an incomplete method,
because they could not successfully combine them. Nevertheless, patterns are only one
component of a system of design, and their combination has to follow other principles not
contained in the patterns themselves. Work by Alexander and others (including the
authors) continues to develop the applicability of pattern languages in architecture.
Particular insights are being gained from the dramatic success of pattern languages in
computer software design.

A far more serious factor that has worked against the adoption of patterns for design is
that architecture and urbanism have, for several decades, rested on a philosophical basis

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of qualitative relativism. This claims that all judgments in architecture are matters of
opinion and taste, and architecture is therefore little more than an act of personal
expression. Such relativism is in marked contrast to the insights of science, where
discovered facts about the structure of reality are found to underlie matters of apparently
individual opinion. Architects and urbanists inculcated in the relativist tradition disregard
observable structural effects and evolved solutions. They consider patterns as just another
opinion, and one that can be safely ignored (especially as patterns directly contradict the
military/industrial typology). But patterns are observable clusters of recurrent
configurations of response to recurrent design problems, which constitute a discoverable
form of “collective intelligence” in human life and civilization. Note that this collective
intelligence has to do with the way we operate in the context of the relationship between
built form and our values, aspirations, social practices, etc.

In the age of professional specialization, the built environment has been increasingly
subjected to a proliferating array of experts who each bring their discipline to particular
kinds of problems. This is often at the expense of the ability to see (much less address)
the overall challenge of creating living, beautiful, or sustainable places. The notion of a
collective intelligence embodied in patterns should not be understood as a claim to have
discovered a final truth, but rather as recognition of the importance of a living process. It
re-establishes the cultural capacity to engage in place making as a collaborative social
process. Success is not measured in abstract terms, but rather by the local experience of
continuous improvement in the quality and sustainability of human settlements. The use
of patterns in design provides a necessary foundation for a collaborative method that is
adaptive and particular to a place (i.e., the constraints of the moment), yet is also capable
of responding to human aspirations for something better.

Even when patterns are used for design, the designer must make sure that the project is
worked out and built in the correct sequence. This new approach to planning is based on
the realization that the emergence of an adaptive form has to follow a specific sequence
of steps. Adaptive design requires a “generative process”. A living design is never
imposed: it is generated by a sequence in which each step depends upon all the previous
steps. The patterns themselves tell you nothing about the proper sequence, however. For
this, one has to go to Alexander’s most recent work (Alexander, 2005). Others support
the need for a generative process. Besim Hakim reached this conclusion through the
overwhelming evidence available from his research on traditional towns (Hakim, 2003).

9. Construction Strategy.
Both pattern languages and generative processes and codes (either explicit or implicit)
have been around for millennia. Pattern languages were codified into practical form thirty
years ago. Codes have been used in traditional architecture, and fixed (non-generative)
codes widely implemented by one of the authors (Duany & Plater-Zyberk, 2005). Fixed
codes are form-based and tell you exactly how to structure the geometry of an urban
environment. Generative codes are more recent, and have the additional capability of
evolving the form with the project. They tell you the sequence of steps but leave the form
of the end product unspecified. They also distinguish between an adaptive and a nonadaptive set of
codes (i.e. those that either generate, or prevent living urban fabric).
Even though a particular project will require careful adjustment to local conditions,
these two methods acting together will serve for most cases. We can begin their
immediate application using published material, with on-site experience leading to
further refinements in the process. In very broad terms, here is how one can follow our
suggestions:

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1. Use pattern languages to plan the transportation network long before any building
takes place. This is essential for generating village and neighborhood centers. Rigid grids
favored by central government do not create the necessary nodal connectivity of the
urban quarter.

2. Use pattern languages (and develop new ones appropriate to the locality) to construct
a urban quarter for a complex society consisting of children, adults, seniors; and
including housing, stores, retail, schools, informal spaces, transportation hubs, etc.

3. Existing simplistic (and consequently antihuman) monofunctional zoning must be

rescinded by central government. Without that step, all planning schemes preclude urban
life from the beginning, regardless of what they might look like.

4. Encourage construction systems (controlled from the top down) to work with local
future residents (working from the bottom up) so as to generate low-cost, higher-quality
dwellings.

5. Use pattern languages to rehabilitate existing low-income owner-occupied houses,

and to convert current rental units to owner-occupied. This requires an infusion of
money, but it also generates construction work.

6. Use pattern languages and the notion of the city as a network to orient interventions
globally. Larger-scale and longer-term processes will insure that in addition to building
housing, projects are conceived and implemented to complete a sustainable
neighborhood, well connected in a larger urban setting.

The process starts with identifying the right land. A major problem is that much
informal housing is pushed to marginal and problematic land, on which it can be
impossible to upgrade. It is necessary that the architect/planner in charge of the project be
knowledgeable in pattern languages and their application. Since most architect/planners
today are not, we recommend that, at least for the next several years, governments rely on
someone familiar with this material to oversee construction projects. A number of
professionals are available with this knowledge, though not enough to satisfy the demand.
Hopefully, enough young architects can be trained in the following decades to direct new
projects.

One important point concerns building permissions. Because of the organic variability
of different components of the project, it is prohibitive in both resources and time to
prepare final drawings and get each one of them approved. Planning permission is
nowadays usually given for an explicit documented plan specifying every detail of the
design, instead of a general process that can produce similar but individual designs.
Alexander solved this problem by getting government permission for a specific building
process (a set of building operations, within clearly-defined parameters) that generates
similar but distinct results. All products of that process were thus automatically approved
without further need for individual permissions (Alexander et. al., 1985). It is important
to get approval from the authorities for the PROCESS rather than for a set of final
drawings. If this is not possible, then it is best to get approval for a generally suitable
structure that can then be modified under this process.

10. Layout Strategy I: Armature of Services.

Following is a rule-based layout strategy that one of us (AMD) has observed working
in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It offers a template that planners can work with:

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a simple but effective armature on which a sanitary and humane settlement may selforganize.

What follows are guidelines for the MINIMUM income favela. There are more rules
for the next step up in income, including the accommodation of cars. But anything less
than this set of rules tends not to work, so they form a core upon which other rules are
added.

1. The government must plat lots and grant ownership with paper and recorded deeds.
These can begin with “notional” lots that can be defined later through a “generative”
process, and surveyed and recorded afterward.

2. Lots should be within blocks defined by a network of street reservations. Each block
must have a pedestrian alley reservation at the rear of all the lots. Lots may vary in size
and shape but should not be less that 6 m wide and 20 m deep.

3. The government must grade the land within the block so that it drains to the street.
The streets must in turn be graded to drain away from the inhabited area.

4. The government must build concrete sidewalks on both sides of the street
reservation (but not necessarily pave the streets). The channel formed between the
sidewalks will contain the draining rainwater. The streets also provide firebreaks.

5. At a minimum of one place on the alley, there must be a tall pole with electrical
supply from which the residents can connect themselves and freely use the electricity. Do
the same with a couple of clean water spigots. There should be one large latrine (with
gender separation) per block. One can start taxing collectively for these services once
construction is well under way.

6. The lots, as they are built out, should retain a clear passage from alley to street. This
encourages rooms with windows and also allows the lot and the block to drain to the
street.

7. The residents will construct their buildings themselves, at their own rate; but they
must build at the edge of the sidewalk first. The rear comes later. One can require that the
frontage wall be concrete block. Their roofs must not drain to a neighboring lot.

8. Corner lots are reserved for shops. All lots can be live/work units.

9. Non-criminal commercial initiatives and private transit operations must not be

prohibited (even better to actively encourage them).

10. The various government and resident responsibilities listed above are established
by a simple contract: “The government will do this … the resident will do this …”

11. It is possible to ask the residents to pay for the lots, after construction is done, a
small quantity at a time.

In addition, there are many social control issues that we are not going to deal with here,
but which need to be empirically observed. This is only a physical code, and thus only
part of the whole solution that will make the project livable. The establishment of legal
boundaries is a government function. But it should not be assumed that we propose to do
this first, as a top-down act. Laying out the plots involves preliminary owner

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participation. The really remarkable thing about the morphology of owner-planned places
is the power of their self-organization, which is the process that Alexander’s generative
codes are trying to exploit.

11. Layout Strategy II: Generative Code.

Alexander (2005: Book 3) has applied more advanced “generative codes” to projects,
and we summarize here part of his procedure. This is a more incremental version of the
“armature of services” layout methodology described previously.

Alexander observed the self-organizing processes that have created many informal
settlements throughout human history, and sought to develop rule-based “generative
codes” to exploit these processes. Their natural geometry is so strong that in looking at an
aerial view of Querétaro, Mexico, for example (where one of us conducts research), the
urban morphology of the informal settlements looks very much like widely admired
villages of Provence in France or Tuscany in Italy. They all have subtleties of adaptation
to terrain, view, differentiation of commercial functions, and other autopoietic (self-organizing)
features.

The challenge is not to build on a tabula rasa (i.e., by first wiping everything clean) a
structure based on a template in advance, but to get plumbing and other humane elements
into these already-complex and sophisticated “medieval cities”. We want the organic
complexity and adaptive character of “bottom-up” activity, with some of the standards
and conditions of social equity that have typically relied on “top-down’ interventions.
There is a way to lay these out sequentially, iteratively, according to a simple series of
rules, as the generative codes propose to do. After that is accomplished, then the result is
surveyed and the boundaries are recorded for legal purposes.

A generative layout, including streets, establishes the plots according to topography,

existing natural features, and the psychological perception of optimal flow as determined
by walking the ground. Then the platting process follows — not the reverse. That would
be the Alexandrian approach to “medieval cities with plumbing”. Although it could all
occur in advance, as part of a “generative code” process by the community, it just has to
be stepwise. Layout should not be template-based or designed to look nice from an
airplane. To get the emergent complexity of a living neighborhood, it has to be iterative,
and determined on-site. You have to really be sure the organic unfolding can happen,
which is not easy in a rigidly codified world. We have the challenge of conjuring good
processes out of circumstances that present many constraints and obstacles.

This of course reflects the medieval pattern of laying out streets and lots. It also
follows Léon Krier’s dictum that the buildings and social spaces come first, then the
streets (Krier, 1998). In medieval cities, the process was highly regulated. A grid-based
city can also be well ordered: our point is to use the most adaptive grid for the location,
which grows from the terrain. The practical implementation of even a radical generative
process is not as difficult as one might think. One gets around the legal problems posed
by conventional subdivision law by creating rough “plug” lots that are then laid out in
detail according to the generative process; then the plat is made final with a series of lot-line
adjustments and right-of-way dedications. There is usually some way to override the
conventional processes to achieve this kind of thing, but the government must be
supportive and not block the process because it departs from established practice.

Getting into more detail about the layout, the main street has to be laid out
approximately based on the topography and connection to the outside. Next, decide on

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the urban spaces, envisioned as pedestrian nodes of activity connected by streets. Next,
side streets that feed the main street are decided — even though streets are still only
indicated using stakes in the ground. Next, define the house positions (not yet the lot; just
the building) using stakes in the ground, so that the front wall reinforces the urban spaces.
Each family now decides the total plan of its house so as to enclose a patio and garden in
the back. This process is constrained by adjoining streets, alleys, neighbors, and is meant
to make the eventual patio and garden spaces as coherent as possible — semi-open spaces
that feel comfortable to be in and work in, and not just leftover space. This finally fixes
the lot, which is then recorded. Plans are drawn from stakes in the ground.

As lot lines begin to be decided, then the streets can begin to form more definitely in
plan (but not yet built). Streets are meant to connect and feed segments of urban space,
which themselves are defined by house fronts. (Note that this is the opposite of
positioning the houses to follow an existing street). Flexibility in the street design will be
retained until houses are actually built. Clearly, you are not going to see many straight
streets running across all the development (to the shock of government bureaucrats),
because they have not been dawn on the plan at the beginning. Nor do streets need to
have a uniform width: they open up to urban spaces. Streets evolve as the whole
development evolves. Now begin construction. First build the sidewalks, then the houses,
and pave the streets last — if at all.

A more detailed layout sequence in included in the Appendix.

SECTIONS 12-16: PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR MAKING PROJECTS

WORK.

12. The Role of the Architect/Coordinator.

Our experience with construction projects leads us to propose an administrative rule.
That is to make a single individual responsible for achieving the “humanity” of an
individual project. The government or non-governmental agency funding the project will
appoint this person, who will oversee the design and construction, and will coordinate
user participation. We suggest that this task not be delegated to an existing employee of
the government bureaucracy, or to an employee of a construction company, for the
simple reason that such persons don’t have the necessary expertise in the design process
we are advocating. Ideally, it should be a person who has a professional understanding of
these issues, and who has an independent professional sense of responsibility to oversee
their proper implementation.

This architect/project manager will be responsible for making the difference between
creating a military/industrial appearance, versus a human, living feeling in the final
project as built. Again, this is not a matter of aesthetics (which would be immediately
dismissed by the funding agency as irrelevant to poor people) but of basic survival. A
project perceived by its inhabitants as hostile will eventually be destroyed by them, and
in the meantime destroys their own sense of self. As much as we believe in collaboration,
it has been shown that people in need of social housing don’t always have the
organizational capacity to work together to get the project done. Their input is absolutely
necessary in the planning stages, but here we are talking about someone on the “outside”
who will be responsible to the residents, and who will carry the responsibility of insuring
their wellbeing when pressured to cut costs and streamline the construction process.
A crucial part of the role of the project manager has to be defined in terms of multilayered
facilitation of the process. The project manager will often need not only to
encourage engagement, but also to teach it to people who are not used to it, and who may

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lack the habits and skills of effective participatory action. Participants may come to the
process with a deep distrust of any method that relies on the efforts of others. Part of the
challenge in a new settlement, therefore, will be to create an orderly, reliable, and
effective collaborative process that can engage a population — but such people may well
be traumatized as the result of prior dislocations and social upheavals. One cannot
assume that a pre-existing community will have already established the necessary norms
and commitments required for such engagement. The project manager’s role will
inevitably involve a certain amount of what is commonly called “community building”,
organizing, and leadership training.

When the project is complete, the architect/project manager should get a fee for his/her
job, adjusted to the degree that it is well done. Resident feedback rather than declarations
by architectural critics should be used as a basis for judging this success. It is not unlikely
that a project will prove to be sustainable and successful for decades to come, but will be
condemned by narrow-minded ideologues as looking “old-fashioned”, or as resembling a
favela too closely for political comfort. Many people in power have fixed visual notions
of what a “clean, industrial, modern” city ought to look like — based on outmoded and
irrelevant scientific concepts — and refer back to those utopian images when judging a
living environment.

We are in fact advocating a bottom-up social approach with a strictly top-down

intermediate administrative level. Unless a clear responsibility and autonomous
administrative system is laid down, what we wish to see accomplished will never get
done. The impersonal government bureaucracy will never take the trouble to make a
place human and livable; it can more easily just follow uncreative rules of modularity and
mechanical combination. The construction group is not responsible: it wants to finish its
job in the minimum time and make the least number of adjustments. The residents are not
politically powerful to guarantee a livable environment. Within the realities of
construction, a project requires an advocate with the power to coordinate all of these
forces.

13. The Need for Adaptable Materials.

A major though neglected factor behind the choice of materials is their emotional
attractiveness to the user. Wealthy people pay a lot for “friendly” materials so that their
surroundings give back emotional nourishment. Self-built housing follows the same
unconscious principles, using inexpensive and discarded materials in imaginative ways to
create an emotionally satisfying environment (arrogantly dismissed as merely “primitive”
artistic expression). Contrast this with the hostile surfaces regularly chosen for social
housing in an effort to make those structures more durable. Such “hard” materials and
surfaces give the impression of dominance and rejection. It is possible to create durable
yet friendly surfaces, even though planners have not thought it worthwhile to take the
trouble to do that for social housing.

To complicate things further, the issue of desired building materials runs straight into
hidden prejudices and images of self-esteem, often culturally specific and perhaps even
locally particular. Controlling agencies in some cases ban what they consider to be “low
status” building materials, such as Adobe (whose surface is both “friendly” and easily
shaped, unlike concrete). But in many cases, it is the owner/builders themselves who
shun those adaptable materials in regions where they are used in traditional construction.
Hassan Fathy simply could not get poor people to accept living in traditional mud houses
(Fathy, 1973). This is a major problem worldwide. It’s the image — representing the
despised past instead of the promised utopian future.

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The ultimate solution to this problem must be cultural. Citizens must rediscover pride
in their own heritage and building traditions, and the great value and pleasure they afford.
At the same time, the myth of a utopian technological approach must be exposed for what
it is — a marketing image meant for the gullible public — while the real benefits of
modernity are shown to be entirely compatible with traditional practices (e.g. plumbing,
electricity, appliances, etc). In this way, we can regenerate the “collective intelligence”
embodied in cultural traditions, and infuse it with the best new adaptations.

As the author Jorge Luis Borges put it: “between the traditional and the new, or
between order and adventure, there is no real opposition; and what we call tradition
today is a knitwork of centuries of adventure”.

When a government builds social housing, it wants to solve two problems at once: to
house people who lack the means to house themselves, and to use up industrial materials
so as to stimulate the economy. There is a very good reason for the latter, as the
government is plugged into the largest manufacturers of industrial building materials. It is
in the interest of the economy to consume these materials in sponsored projects.
Nevertheless, that may not be the best solution for the housing. There are two reasons for
this: one having to do with economics, and the other with emotional connection.
An owner-built favela uses cheap, disposable materials such as wood, cardboard,
corrugated metal sheets, rocks, plastic, left-over concrete blocks, etc. While there is an
obvious deficiency with the impermanence of such materials (which turns catastrophic
during storms or flooding), their tremendous advantage is their adaptability.

Owner-builders have an enormous freedom of determining the shape and details of their
dwellings. They utilize that design freedom to adapt the built structure to human
sensibilities. That is not possible when a government builds house modules out of a much
more durable material such as reinforced concrete. People must be able to make changes
as a matter of principle. Here we have the opposition between permanence/rigidity and
impermanence/freedom, which influences the form of buildings.

Social housing should be made of permanent materials, whereas cheap, fragile

buildings are a disservice to people. Favelas built out of sticks and cardboard are
unacceptable models to follow. Nevertheless, we wish to preserve as much as possible
the DESIGN FREEDOM inherent in using more impermanent materials. That is essential
to guarantee the design adjustments that will generate a living geometry. In the best self-built
houses, every scrap of material is utilized in a very precise manner so as to create
living urban fabric — a sophisticated process that compares with the greatest
architectural achievements anywhere. The only solution we see to this conflict is for the
government to provide appropriate materials (permanent, but also easy to arrange, cut,
and shape) that the users can then employ in constructing or modifying their own homes.
We always come back to the competition between permanence and adaptability.

Adaptive changes to form are akin to repair and self-healing in an organism, but are often
misinterpreted as a degradation of the project. In fact, the geometry is trying to heal itself
(through human action) after the imposition of unnatural, alien forms. This is a natural
organic evolution, and should not be discouraged simply because it contradicts an
architect’s “pure” vision of how people SHOULD live. We most emphatically condemn
as inhuman the present practice of forbidding any modifications to social housing by their
residents. Tied in to our suggestions for ownership, we uphold the fundamental right for
an owner/resident to modify his/her dwelling to any extent without impinging on the

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rights of neighbors or the public space.

While the original intent of legislation forbidding changes to one’s dwelling was
sound, it never achieved its goal. Its aim was to legally prevent the destruction of
buildings that the government had invested money in. This has never worked, however.
Buildings that are hated by their residents (because of their hostile geometry and
surfaces) have been systematically vandalized and destroyed, and no legislation has been
able to prevent this. The ever-escalating use of hard materials only led to fortress-like
housing units, but their residents hate them even more and eventually destroy them.
Oppressive surfaces and spaces damage one’s sense of wellbeing, thus provoking a
hostile reaction. The solution lies in a different direction altogether: make housing units
that are loved by their residents, who will then maintain them instead of destroying them.
In his project in Mexicali, Mexico, Alexander introduced an innovative method of
creating bricks on site using a hand-operated press and local earth (Alexander et. al.,
1985). He emphasized this as a crucial aspect of the project, even though concrete blocks
were readily available. One reason was to establish a local supply for all future residents.
Concrete blocks are not expensive, but they still set up a financial threshold. Another
reason is that they also narrow the design possibilities. Standard concrete blocks lead to
standard structural configurations, ruling out some of the adaptive shapes and processes
that Alexander wished to introduce.

There are opportunities for the building industry to participate through government
directed efforts in these new social housing projects, by providing industrialized elements
that can be included with versatility in many cases. One of the authors (EPP) has
developed a model for self-construction using cheap and ubiquitously available materials
such as rammed earth for the perimeters, together with the introduction of low-cost
industrialized sanitary modules that include water storage, toilet, sink and shower along
with a filter for gray-water treatment for recycling. The proposed modules may also have
structural uses, and include solar cells for electricity and solar panels for water heating
and even cooking. These industrialized modules can be massively produced, lowering
costs and providing technology, while at the same time allowing the necessary flexibility
and freedom of design and evolution of the units.

One of us (AMD) has investigated this concept more recently for a project in Kingston,
Jamaica. This “wet appliance” cost-effectively delivers the sanitary and mechanical
cores, the most expensive elements of a home, while combining the ability of
homeowners to build their own well-adapted dwelling.

We should mention a case where such industrial modules were reduced in complexity
so that the building could be initially more adaptive to social needs. Alexander in 1980
worked on building social housing in India, and considered using a prefabricated concrete
box containing plumbing for bath, toilet, and kitchen (Alexander, 2005: Book 2, page
320). This solution followed successful earlier projects by Balkrishna V. Doshi. It soon
became clear, however, that building a solid plinth (a platform representing a traditional
pattern) for each house was actually more important in the building sequence (because it
was a priority for the residents) than having the plumbing box. So Alexander decided to
spend the limited available money on the terrace, leaving a groove for future plumbing
additions. Residents were able to use communal water and toilets until they could build
their own facilities. The platform was more vital to the family’s life than the plumbing
box.

14. Funding Strategy Concentrates on the Small Scale.

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Social housing construction cannot be financed entirely by the residents, thus a
government or non-governmental entity has to step in and shoulder the costs. In itself,
this simple dependence raises issues that affect the shape of the construction. Involving
future residents in building their own houses will reduce the initial monetary outlay. The
more money invested by an external agency in social housing, however, the more control
it will wish to exert over the final product. This natural consequence inevitably leads to
the subconscious adoption of a geometry of control, as was outlined in a previous section.
We can offer a few alternatives:

1. Funding sources now determine social housing morphology. Central government,

wanting to build in the most efficient manner, reverts to a highly prescriptive approach,
and is willing to sacrifice complexity of form. That attitude cannot generate an urban
quarter. We need to develop a flexible, performance-based standard for morphology. We
also need to identify alternative sources of funding to break the prescriptive monopoly,
and thereby to break out of this antipattern.

2. Raise funds from various sources in order to ensure that homes are affordable to
neighborhood residents. A private-public partnership is the most effective way of using
the market economy to generate an urban quarter, instead of a monolithic monster
favored by government bureaucracy.

3. Involvement with non-governmental organizations will keep a suspicious central

government from sabotaging the use of pattern languages in building an urban quarter, or
in converting an existing dysfunctional project into an urban quarter.
We are sadly aware of numerous projects of social housing that do not serve the poor,
but are simply investment opportunities for the builder or landowner to siphon money
from the government. If the government subsidizes rents, then the opportunity does exist
for speculative building that will recover initial construction investments (with interest)
from rents alone. In such cases, the physical condition of the residents is of little
importance. Moreover, the maintenance and future condition of the built fabric is not a
part of the profit equation, since there is no expectation of recovering investment from
the building structures themselves. It is usually expected that the buildings will decay,
thus encouraging non-permanent construction from the very beginning. Clearly,
subsidized rents can work against humane social housing, contradicting the intention of
the original legislation.

Often, feasible, sustainable, and affordable solutions are rejected for reasons of
excessive greed. Good affordable housing has the disadvantage that profit margins are
always low (unless the market is manipulated to create an artificial scarcity). If the
government or the developers fail to see opportunities to get rich in the process, they may
decide to withdraw support from a project, even if they have pledged their support
initially. You need a profit to encourage participation, but that has to be balanced with the
payback from solving a serious societal problem.

Involvement with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) requires that housing

authorities build not only public-private partnerships for redevelopment, but also
elaborate networks of local partners. All of these benefit from the allocated money.
However, one of the weaknesses here is that, while agencies have been good at getting
the local social service providers and city agencies to cooperate, they have not been so
good at engaging the support of the tenants. Most social service providers are still
operating according to the old model of service provision, rather than the newer emerging
models of “community based” solutions to a wide variety of problems. The old social

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service model engages people in networks based on their particular pathologies (and there
is a whole service industry that depends on what people lack). The new model engages
people based on their gifts and what they bring to the network (and not what they
“need”). This new model, based on the idea of asset-based community development, has
had wide application in public health, and more generally in community organizing.
We also face a problem with funding sources that wish to minimize the administrative
burden by concentrating on the large scale. It is far easier to give out money in one large
sum than to track the same amount divided and distributed out to many different
borrowers. Reducing the number of transactions takes precedence over other systems
based upon supply and demand. Nevertheless, it is crucial to have exactly this microfunding
flexibility for the people to be able to build their own houses. Repair of an
existing neighborhood requires a vast number of small interventions. Promising work has
been done in developing effective management systems to permit such micro-loans (e.g.
the Grameen Bank). Again, this is actually a more sophisticated and more advanced
financial model, as it is more highly differentiated.

Earlier in this Chapter, we mentioned the obstacle posed by ingrained geometrical

images of control. Those are also tied to a deep prejudice against the small scale. A
government project takes a certain overhead to administer, which is independent of the
size of the project. Naturally, bureaucrats wish to minimize the total number of projects,
which leads them to approve a few very large projects. For example, faced with building
a new urban quarter, they wish to build it as large as possible, and all at the same time, so
as to economize on the bureaucratic overhead. That approach contradicts our suggestions
of building an urban quarter one small piece at a time, and iterating back and forth
between the design steps.

15. Working Within the Existing System.

The planning and building system as it exists today creates and perpetuates a
dependence that is difficult — and in most cases, impossible — to break. By raising
building standards beyond the point that can be reasonably satisfied by self-builders, it
shifts the whole housing industry from being local and small-scale, to being large-scale.
Building-code standards have evolved in response to real and serious threats to health and
safety. Like many such technological systems, however, their unintended consequences
are not trivial, and can be disastrous. This is happening today in the rebuilding of the
American Gulf region after Hurricane Katrina.

The system in place works to benefit both government bureaucrats and larger
contractors, who are often tied by mutual support. But what is seen as a benefit to a
commercial/government system can spell disaster for another, major segment of society.
One of us (AMD) has argued for a reconstruction of the Katrina devastation, using a
strategy that allows the same social processes to flourish as before (Duany, 2007). That
strategy faces daunting challenges because of the building, financing, and regulatory
system now in place.

Many of the houses destroyed in the hurricane, particularly those in lower-income

neighborhoods, were self-built and did not meet current code or financing standards. The
urban fabric was the product of a relaxed process of self-building over generations, with
the advantage that it was not based on debt. This was a society of debt-free homeowners,
whose lives could be structured around activities of their choice (Duany, 2007). Those
houses were outside the system, because their non-conforming construction made them
impossible to mortgage. The system now requires a contract of debt, since the new
building standards cannot be met without commercial intervention. In most cases, this

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means that the government has to step in and build social housing, solving a problem that
it itself has created (Duany, 2007). The cycle of unintended consequences goes on.

To quote from Duany (2007): “The hurdle of drawings, permitting, contractors,

inspections — the professionalism of it all — eliminates self-building. Somehow there
must be a process whereupon people can build simple, functional houses for themselves,
either by themselves or by barter with professionals. There must be free house designs
that can be built in small stages and that do not require an architect, complicated
permits, or inspections; there must be common-sense technical standards. Without this
there will be the pall of debt for everyone. And debt in the Caribbean doesn’t mean just
owing money — it is the elimination of the culture that arises from leisure.”

While this may be “leisure” by today’s middle-class standards, it represents a hard life
for a thriving and vibrant cultural fabric that is simply neglected by (even though it is a
direct part of) the conventional economy. Inhabitants of the modern middle-class the
world over take a debt-driven system for granted: much of their working life is spent just
to pay off the house mortgage. In fact, the system works to preclude other options for
putting a roof over one’s head. The middle class attains liberation from the financial
system only after retirement, when the 30-year mortgage has been finally paid off. Self-built
housing erected by cash and barter is an escape from this system, and is viewed by
the government and big contractors as a threat to their hegemony. It’s a structural
problem, not one of malevolent intent. Debt is key, but is just one variable of an
interlocking system.

It is not easy to implement such innovations, because most countries and regions
already have a well-established system that produces rigidly inhuman social housing (but
which it believes, on the contrary, to be an enlightened and progressive solution). Many
times in our projects, the first thing that we had to do is to begin studying the existing
housing delivery systems so that we can override them. Those systems are created by
interlocked bureaucracies, specialists, financial institutions, political entities, etc. You can
build on the physical tangibles, but not on the systems. There is much that must be
bypassed first — and they will resist their own dismissal.

We (the team of urbanists) cannot get directly involved in these strategies, which are
the responsibility of the client and supporting organizations. The local entities have to
solve procedural problems and forge alliances that will sustain the project, with us acting
as a catalyst for change. One small section, or various independent units within the
government could be promoting our project, while facing opposition from the rest of the
bureaucracy. Most of the time, the problems with innovative social housing solutions are
not technical, social, or even financial: they are almost always political.

You can try to force changes in design approach, and some good might come of it, but
that only gets you so far. A project tends to become a power struggle, taking time and
effort away from building. Alternatively, we can try to cooperate with the system,
bringing stakeholders and facilitators together in unexpected ways. But this requires that
we recognize working with an existing system as a different kind of problem — not
linear, but multi-variable, and “cultural”. It is necessary to be more embedded into the
local operating system (a strong existing culture) in order to solve those problems, to
have any chance of seeing where the levers are (so we can pull them to affect changes),
and to see how decisions are made at various levels.

In most cases, a successful strategy will combine aspects of “working within the

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system” and reforming the system from the outside. In making an assessment, the first
crucial step is to lay out the critical limitations we find in an existing system of
production. Then we should work to negotiate a “workaround” that addresses those
limitations from the beginning, before attempting to dismantle the existing system
entirely. It may indeed be necessary to radically transform the existing system, but that is
a separate problem from the design and building of urban fabric, and we don’t want to
spend all our energies on fighting the system. On the other hand, if workarounds are not
possible, there may be little alternative but to press for systemic reform.

Alexander (2005: Volume 2, page 536) shares his own experience with this struggle. In
generating projects over a thirty-year period, he realized that a major shortcoming was
that their implementation demanded too much. “In our early experiments, we often went
to almost unbelievable lengths to get some new process to be implemented, and to get it
to work. But the amount of effort we had to make to get it to work — the very source of
our success — was also the weakness of what we achieved. In too many cases, the
magnitude of special effort that had to be made to shore up a new process was massive —
too great, to be easily or reasonably copied.”

Alexander in each case succeeded by replacing an existing system combining

procedure, process, attitude, and working rules with an entirely different system. But the
effort required to change the entire system, even in cases where it succeeded, was not
easily repeatable. He concludes that here, like in a scientific experiment, it is the
REPEATABILITY that is important, not the unique occurrence. If the process is not
easily repeatable, then ultimately it is not as useful. Therefore, if a production method has
too many components that are totally different from the previously working system, then
it is not easily accommodated within the old method. It cannot be copied widely in
regions where the old methodology still applies.

A genetic analogy, proposed by Alexander, suggests ways of achieving success in the

long term. A process presented as a complete, complex system (like the genetic code for
a whole organism), requires that its implementation must be either all or none. In that
case, the existing system of implementation must change so as to allow the project to be
built. If, on the other hand, our process is presented (and understood) as a collection of
semi-independent pieces, each of which can be implemented rather easily, then there is a
greater chance that one of more of those pieces will catch on. Small groups of
practitioners, moreover, could apply each piece of the process, without requiring the
support of the system. It is Alexander’s hope that easily copied pieces of the
methodology will spread independently, and that eventually this diffusion process will
lead to an entire new “operating system” over time.

16. Maintenance Strategy Concentrates on the User.

Unless provisions are made at the beginning for the continued maintenance of the built
environment, it will turn dysfunctional. Favelas and social housing projects can have very
serious problems, but some are clearly less successful in a social sense than others, and
their physical deterioration is seen to increase with time. This idea is in keeping with the
organic conception of the urban fabric. All living entities require continual upkeep and
repair: it is part of being alive. Here we may distinguish the two main components of life
itself as separated into genetic and metabolic mechanisms. Genetic processes build the
organism in the first place, whereas metabolic processes keep it running and also repair it
continuously.

The same processes, or their close analogues, apply to the urban fabric as an organic

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entity. Once built, it has to incorporate within itself the mechanisms for its maintenance.
Maintenance does not come from a top-down process. We are disappointed at the
widespread neglect of the forces responsible for the temporal evolution of urban fabric,
and what is required to maintain it in healthy order. Many people somehow have an
unrealistic, static conception of urban form. The organic model leads to several
recommendations:

1. Encourage and support tenants to maintain their dwellings, by ensuring an emotional

connection from the very beginning. The traditional subsidized rental solution has been
disastrous. It is unlikely for a tenant to value a faceless material structure owned by
someone else. It is possible, however, to establish a sense of collective ownership and
responsibility. In a rental situation, it is all the more important to create conditions for
effective and meaningful collective control and self-management. Literal ownership isn’t
always necessary. A stakeholder, in the usual sense, can also be somebody with a sense
of ownership in the process.

2. Make it possible to own an affordable home, even if it is the most primitive type of
dwelling. Encourage government financial underwriting, seen as a sound future
investment that prevents social housing from being destroyed by its tenants.

3. Establish a strict legislated code of responsibility for the residents. The key to the
success of such a code is that the residents must have a sense of ownership of the code. It
is crucial that they participate in its formulation, and be part of its enforcement. Owners
can be held accountable for maintaining their environment, whereas this is more difficult
to achieve with renters. Since supply can never meet demand, owners can be made to
care for their dwellings.

4. An observed rule of urbanism is that the level of provided services is proportional to

the level of regulations and restrictions. Favelas get no services, and also have no
regulations. At the other extreme, high-income gated communities get many services, but
are also highly regulated.

The ability of tenants to maintain their dwellings cannot be achieved by requiring them
to put in work time organized by a central authority (with the ability to evict them for
noncompliance). “Maintenance” has to be connected to “governance.” In the
redevelopment of Columbia Point, Boston, the development company signed an
agreement that split the management responsibilities with the residents — 50/50 control.
The traditional problem with public housing has been that people would maintain the
inside of their dwellings, but there was no collective capacity to take responsibility for
the outside. The “defensible space” solution was to privatize or do away with public areas
as much as possible — a step expressed in the project’s geometry. That, however, led to
increasing isolation and a fundamental change towards an introverted society.

The better solution is simply a pattern of well-defined distinctions between public and
private realms, PLUS a collective capacity to take responsibility for the public space.
Some of that capacity has to do with design that facilitates “eyes on the street” (front
porches, windows, etc.) but the eyes on the street only matter if they are backed up by
conditions of trust, reciprocity, and collective efficacy. People often forget that Jane
Jacobs’ neighborhood worked not only because people could watch the street, but also
because people had a sense of obligation as members of a certain kind of community
(Jacobs, 1961). She described a characteristic of social environments that is now talked
about in terms of “social capital”. This is how one creates an effective “code of

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responsibility”. If you try to impose it (as the housing authorities often do), then you get
widespread noncompliance in the face of which no enforcement mechanism (no matter
how intrusive) will work.

Ownership of homes does seem to be a good thing to encourage, from all the evidence.
However, it is not true that renters can’t be held accountable for maintaining their
environment. Owners can be held accountable in so far as they have equity in their house,
which means that they are motivated by concern for the exchange value embodied in their
property. Renters can also have a stake in a place, but only if the social relationships
involved are not reduced to the cold cash nexus — that is, a certain amount of square
footage for a certain monthly fee. It is possible (and often happens) that renters can build
up their “investment” in the use value of a place, depending on the extent to which they
benefit from the specific networks of social relations that define the neighborhood.
(Notice that Jane Jacobs’ neighborhood wasn’t a neighborhood of owners.)

It is also important to include a mix of rental and home ownership opportunities. Not
everybody wants to encumber themselves with the responsibilities of home ownership,
and not everybody can afford to maintain a house. One of the things accomplished in
“social housing” should be that the everyday costs of housing are socialized, and not just
the purchase price. Think about the way the co-housing movement has done the same
thing. Some of the ideas from the co-housing movement might be incorporated in helping
to insure maintenance.

(For those unfamiliar with this term, co-housing refers to a cluster of houses around
shared common land, which usually includes a shared building for meetings and common
meals — see Pattern 37: HOUSE CLUSTER in Alexander et. al. (1977). In our
experience, the pattern works best when middle-class residents are strongly linked by
common religious belief, as in Israeli Kibbutzim or some Christian sects. On the other
hand, having poverty in common is not by itself a sufficient unifying factor!)

SECTIONS 17-21: SOME OF THE PROBLEMS FACING US.

17. Retrofitting and Sanitizing the Favela: Problems and Solutions.

Although this Chapter analyzes the process of constructing NEW social settlements,
our approach could be adjusted to retrofit the favela. In ecological terms, we embrace and
learn from our competition (the “species” in the lowest ecological stratum of urbanism)
instead of trying to exterminate it. Governments wish that favelas would simply
disappear (refusing even to draw them on city maps), and their residents spontaneously
move to the countryside, but powerful global economic forces ensure that this is not
going to happen. We, as urbanists concerned with housing the poor, must accept favelas
as a social and urban phenomenon, and try to make the best of an existing situation.

It is not always possible or even desirable to accept an existing favela and make it into
a better place to live. First, it is often the case that squatter settlements have grown on
polluted or toxic ground, on unstable soil, on steep slopes, or in a flood area. Periodically,
their inhabitants are killed by natural disasters, and there is little that can be done to
retrofit a settlement on dangerous ground in order to make it safer. Second, squatter
settlements invade natural preserves that are necessary for regenerating oxygen needed
for the entire city. These are the “lungs” of an urban population, and they must be
preserved from encroachment and destruction. Third, squatter settlements produce
pollution and human waste that damages the rest of the city. This problem cannot be
ignored. Even if the government does not wish to legitimize a particular favela, helping it

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to treat its waste benefits the whole city.

Let us assume for the moment that social problems (which are particularly rampant in a
favela) can be tackled independently of problems arising from urban and architectural
form. One can easily go into an existing settlement and try to repair it, with the help of its
current residents. John F. C. Turner (1976) did exactly that, setting a precedent for
several successful interventions in Latin America, especially in Colombia. The only
obstacle — and it is a profound one — is the philosophical conviction that the favela’s
geometry is out of place in a modern society. Under that mind set, any “repair” turns into
annihilation and replacement. We need to truly understand the process of repair and self-healing of
urban fabric, uninfluenced by current preconceptions.

Disagreeing with conventional planning beliefs, we accept the geometry of the favela,
and point out its main deficiencies: a lack of services, sanitation, and natural features. In
most cases the urban fabric is perfectly adapted to the topography and natural features of
the landscape (simply because the owner-builders didn’t have access to bulldozers and
dynamite). What is usually lacking, however, is space for trees and green. The sad truth is
that most trees are cut down and used as building materials. Vegetation competes with
people for space. The poverty of the favela often includes poverty in plant life: it is a
luxury here because of the extreme living conditions. Even so, many residents will try to
maintain a little garden if that’s at all possible.

Our method is highly flexible, and its principles remain valid even if the situation
changes. A series of steps, taken a few at a time (and therefore very economical) can
repair the favela’s complex urban fabric. More than anything, we advocate a process of
REINFORCEMENT, adopting much of the evolved geometry where it appears to work,
and intervening to replace pathological structures. Plumbing and sanitary facilities are
essential. Sidewalks are most important, and are sorely needed in a favela, which is
primarily a pedestrian realm. Having real sidewalks raises the favela to a more
permanent, “higher-class” urban typology. The existing building fronts determine exactly
where the sidewalks should be built. Streets in a favela are usually of poor quality, if they
are even paved, so electricity, sewerage, and water networks could be introduced under
the streets. After many buildings are reinforced, one might finally pave the street.

Taking some straightforward sanitary measures can minimize filth and disease. One
does not have to bulldoze a favela to get a healthier neighborhood. Doing that will
certainly not raise the income level of its residents, nor improve their social condition.
Putting the same people into concrete bunker apartments may look good in a photo, but
actually cuts their societal connections, ultimately making their situation worse. We
know that when poor people are forcibly moved from a human-scaled neighborhood into
high-rise blocks, their social cohesion worsens catastrophically. On the other hand, many
social problems are simply not solvable by urban morphology alone.

A favela is usually built of flimsy, impermanent materials. The government can help its
residents to gradually rebuild their houses using more permanent materials. We don’t
imply here replacing the typology of their house, but replacing say, the unstable roof or
the walls (taking this opportunity to insert plumbing and electricity). A house made of
cardboard and corrugated tin can be reconstructed in a very similar form using bricks,
concrete blocks, and more solid panels provided cheaply by the government. Sometimes,
the residents are only waiting until they get a legal deed to the land they live on; then they
rebuild their homes using more permanent materials and financed by their accumulated
savings. Otherwise, they are reluctant to invest anything more than the barest minimum

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in the structure.

Some readers will object to our accepting the overcrowding that is usual in a slum, and
may even be outraged that we suggest maintaining this high density. Here we need to
study high-density upper-income settlements in the same society, to decide how much
density can be easily tolerated. It’s not the high density by itself that is objectionable; it is
the difficult living conditions that result from such density. It turns out that portions of
high-density urban fabric can be maintained when it is made more sanitary.

Unfortunately, such suggestions have been planning anathema up until now.

In some places, accepting the favela and legalizing its plots has come under sharp
criticism from social activists who see this as a facile solution for a government to take.
The accusation is that by simply legitimizing an unhealthy slum, the government
abnegates its responsibility of building more permanent social housing. In our opinion,
the magnitude of the social housing problem is so vast as to be near insoluble. The simple
economics put a comprehensive solution out of reach. Our approach proceeds with one
step at a time, retrofitting those portions of favelas that can be made healthy, while at the
same time building new housing following an organic paradigm. If these steps succeed,
then they can be repeated indefinitely, progressing towards a long-term amelioration.
Banks, governments, and building companies are captivated by economies of scale,
and are less sensitive to economies of place and of differentiation needed to repair a
neighborhood. Wielding a blunt and relatively primitive economic instrument, they
would prefer to wipe out the neighborhood and build it all over again. It is much less
trouble, and less costly in crude monetary terms, to do this. But of course, the
unsustainability of this lopsided economic model (and its terrible cost to society) is
becoming painfully evident.

Governments are reluctant to bother with small-scale urban interventions, but instead
sponsor only large-scale ones since it saves them accounting costs (Salingaros, 2005:
Chapter 3). And yet, living urban fabric has to be maintained by an enormous number of
small-scale interventions, which is an essential part of the process of organic repair.
Institutions such as banks (with an exception noted earlier, micro-financing by the
Grameen Bank) are generally unwilling to bother with small loans meant for small-scale
building in poor neighborhoods. All banks, however, operate also on a small scale
administering small accounts and loans. They possess the technical ability to service
small loans, doing it routinely with credit cards, car loans, and personal lines of credit.
Technology has evolved in the direction of differentiation and customization, aided in
part by revolutions in software technology. Those innovations have yet to be applied in
the realm of social housing, which still tends to follow the inflexible old institutional
formats.

On a more positive note, many groups have discovered small-scale solutions of

tremendous value. For example, in recent years concepts such as micro-financing, micro
energy generation, mother centers, technology centers, urban farming, composting toilets,
and other ideas have been successfully implemented. These small-scale processes can
eventually make a hugely positive difference to both favelas and social housing. They are
all in keeping with our insistence on the small scale as a mechanism for self-help in such
communities, and also in establishing a sense of community in a dysfunctional population
(Habitatjam, 2006). These small-scale solutions, representing resource independence,
offer a healthy alternative to the forces trying to impose central control.

18. Uncomfortable Realities: Soaring Land Prices, Grand Schemes, and National

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Destabilization.
We would like to foresee some of the problems that could arise in an imperfect system
(such as the real estate environment), in order to handle the hard realities of the market.
The decision on whether to destroy, help to reinforce, or just ignore a favela is up to the
government. We are faced with uncomfortable decisions, which affect the lives of many
people already in a desperate situation. There is no simple solution, and no universal
method can be applied in all cases. The best we can suggest is a cautious approach,
without ideological prejudice, that will benefit the entire population as a whole. So often,
anonymous but meaningful settlements have been destroyed in the name of “rational”
design, which is nothing more than a tool to preserve the status quo.

Squatters require proximity to the city, which is why they move there in the first place.
Proximity is essential for them, more so than for the more mobile middle class.
Presenting poor people with well-built residences far away from town is not an automatic
gift. Transferring the poor to government-built social housing outside the city may plunge
them even deeper into destitution, as they then have to spend a greater portion of their
earnings for transportation. Our own recommendation of establishing ownership
contributes to undo the envisioned solutions, since well-built housing is often re-sold to
middle-class residents, while the poor return to squatter settlements (either to their
original one, or they build a new one). They prefer to use the profit from selling their new
government-sponsored dwelling. In the rental economy, a system of sub-renting
substitutes middle-class residents for the very poor.

As soon as a piece of real estate is legally registered, the transferable land title becomes
a tradable commodity, and enters the free market (which could be an illegal submarket).
Even if a plot is located in the middle of a slum, or in a not-so-desirable social housing
project, its price could soar. Opportunities for gain can drive the consolidation of these
land parcels into a few hands, not those of the original residents. This has in fact
happened in many countries around the world, leading to a corrupt after-market in slum
real estate. Ironically, adding infrastructure to a favela raises its value, which can drive its
original settlers out. In anticipation of such a process, speculation can run wild on unbuilt
land.

A pervasive system linking corrupt officials with criminal organizations finds ways of
profiteering from both slums and social housing. Despite the apparently insoluble socio-legal nature
of this problem, we believe that our method actually helps in the long term.
Firstly, establishing a tighter ownership of the urban fabric (in both social and emotional
terms) reduces the opportunities for exploitation by trading it away. Secondly, much of
the exploitation centers on offering services that the government refuses to provide to
slum dwellers — it is simply supplying to demand, although at exorbitant prices.
A very different concern comes with our recommendation for engaging Non-
Governmental Organizations. While they may be a better choice than an inflexible
government bureaucracy, we face a potential problem with grave consequences. The
largest NGOs often promote technological “development” in the form of very large
projects such as electrification, infrastructure, and building. They see the picture in large-scale
terms, and would like to see major construction contracts awarded to foreign
companies that have the necessary proven experience in undertaking complex projects of
this type. The problem is that many countries cannot afford large-scale interventions.

Despite this reality, a government often gets seduced into entering such a contract,
which it ultimately cannot repay. A developing country is counting upon its natural
resources to pay the bill for rapid modernization. Nevertheless, economic fluctuations

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and unexpected events are usually enough to trip the fragile stability of such a deal. The
result is that the country gets plunged into debt. By becoming a debtor nation, the nation
can only be stabilized by help from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Economic restructuring via Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) imposes harsh
economic conditions that worsen the lives of the poorer sectors of society. Not only does
the country lose part of its sovereignty, but also from that point on, it is in no position to
help its poor in any way.

The lesson to be learned from this — a lesson that many nations have unfortunately
failed to learn — is the need to work on the small scale. A vast and costly new project is
feasible for the wealthy nations, but very risky for the developing nations. (Large-scale
projects are most always based on unsustainable processes that waste vast amounts of
energy and resources). Social housing should grow from the bottom up, applying local
solutions to small-scale projects. If those solutions work, they can be repeated
indefinitely. There are many independent NGOs who can help, and foreign experts who
offer knowledge and expertise for free. It is better to rely as much as possible on local
financial capital, know-how, and resources. A long-term solution, based on the adaptive
evolution of housing patterns and construction, is more sustainable than a technological
quick fix.

19. Architects Contribute to Make Existing Projects Alienating.

A number of projects built in Latin America have solved the myriad problems of how
to deal with government bureaucracy, having come to terms with practical factors and
with the existing political structure. Groups have involved private construction
companies with non-governmental organizations and local government to construct and
finance social housing. Nevertheless, there is still a distance between techniques for
implementation, and how the final product actually feels. As noted before, the scientific
evidence suggests this is not a matter of “mere personal taste”, but rather there are broad
areas of consensus in human assessments, rooted in universal processes of perception and
human biology. These areas of consensus can be established through “consensus
methodologies”, of the sort that we use routinely in our collaborative design processes.
On this point we are less enthusiastic about what has been achieved so far in Latin
America. Despite all the best intentions and an enormous amount of work invested, we
see many projects having a qualitative character that is, in a widely shared assessment,
impersonal and industrial. Of course, they don’t all have the “deadly” feeling of
totalitarian high-rise housing blocks, but the ambience of the built environment ranges
from dreary to neutral. In our judgment, the form and layout fail to connect emotionally
to the users. It’s interesting to search for the reasons why these solutions were not carried
through all the adaptive design steps.

Our explanation is as follows: those projects are directed by architects, who still carry
their intellectual baggage of industrial design typologies and relativity of personal tastes,
even as they try to help people in a personal way. The architect’s language is influenced
by his/her design ideology and is not universal. Very few architects have escaped from
the modernist aesthetic that formed a pivotal part of their training (a tradition in
architecture schools now going on for several decades). It is extremely difficult to rid
oneself of those ingrained architectural images — to break out of the fundamentalist
typologies of cubes, horizontal windows, modular blocks, etc., and the logic of abstracted
functionalism that often serves as the ideological justification for self-aggrandizing
aesthetic posturing (Alexander, 2005; Salingaros, 2006). Especially in Latin America,
modernist architectural typologies are adopted as part of the national architectural style,
popularly though erroneously linked to progressive political beliefs.

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Making some of our criticisms explicit helps readers know what we are talking about.
We find modest human-scaled buildings (which is good), but they are arranged on a strict
rectangular grid that has no other purpose than to express the “clarity of the conception”.
The plan looks perfectly regular from the air (being planned for such unperceivable
symmetry), and expresses modularity instead of variation. The mathematically precise
arrangement is arbitrary as far as human circulation and perception of space are
concerned, hence it does not contribute to urban coherence. On the scale of individual
buildings, we see the usual obsessively flat walls without surface articulation; strict
rectangularity; flat roofs; doors and windows without frames; slit windows; houses raised
on pilotis; useless building setbacks; no curves in places where they would reinforce the
tectonic structure but curved walls put in for aesthetic effect; fractured or oversized urban
space; etc.

These are the identifying characteristics of the 1920s’ modernist typology. An

underlying assumption behind imposing this formal vocabulary on people’s homes is that
an ordinary person without training is incapable of shaping form and space, and only an
architect (acting as the “expert”) is capable of doing so. It all goes back to the arrogance
openly expressed by modernist architects, who showed their contempt for organic urban
fabric. Contrary to the habits of much of modernist design and planning, physical and
psychological needs have to be understood not in terms of abstracted quantities, but in
terms of a capacity for local, adaptive responses to needs and desires. Living individuals
experience them as part of particular living communities. The alternative process
proposed here can be applied generally to arrive at non-standardized and living design
solutions — living because they are connected, locally rooted, and inhabited with the
spirit as well as the body.

It is very easy to recognize the difference between organic and industrial morphologies,
based on their perceived complexity. Here are three criteria that anyone can use: (a) Is the
geometry on all scales, from the size of the entire project down to the size of 2 mm
details, complex (unique, varied), or simplistic (empty, repetitive)? (b) Are there
generally regular transitions from larger to smaller scales, with no abrupt gaps? Or, if
there are abrupt transitions, are they terminated with even more complex geometries at
the next scale? (c) If the geometry is visually complex, does the form grow out of and
adapt to human physical and psychological needs, or is it an arbitrary imposed “high
design” complexity? These three criteria distinguish living urban fabric from dead
industrial forms (the third criterion is more difficult to apply without some experience).
Paradoxically, the segment of society (i.e., progressive intellectuals and activists
promoting social causes) most interested in helping poor people is also that which, for
political and ideological reasons, naively assumes that the solutions must conform to the
technological “image of modernity”. They cannot think outside the seductive images of
the 20th century military/industrial paradigm. They sincerely believe the promises of
liberation made by modernist ideologues, but fail to see that such forms and geometries
are basically inhuman. By contrast, those privileged individuals who can afford to create
a warm, responsive living environment (and know how to implement it) do so mainly for
themselves, remaining in general unconcerned with the plight of the poor.

20. People’s Unreal Image of a Desirable Home.

There is another point that we have yet to discuss, and which can sabotage the best
intentions of humane social housing. That is the image a potential resident has of “the
most wonderful home in the world”. People carry within themselves images of
desirability, often the opposite of what they truly require. Advertising works by

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convincing people to consume what they don’t need; to spend their money on frivolous or
noxious things instead of healthy food, medicine, and education. In the same way, our
culture propagates artificial images of “beautiful” houses in the minds of the urban poor
and even the most isolated rural farmers. When an individual migrates to a town, he/she
will work to achieve the housing that corresponds to the image in his/her dreams. It is
certainly the case that this image will clash with adaptive housing typologies.

As architects and urbanists, we are constantly competing in a universe of images and

ideas that are validated by iconic properties rather than any contribution to adaptive
living environments (Alexander, 2005; Salingaros, 2006). Human perception of built
space is governed by unstated values and subtleties. It is a frustrating battle, because
people are distracted from consideration of what is good or healthy. Wonderfully
adaptive vernacular architecture is identified with a heritage from which poor people are
trying to escape. They are fleeing their past with its misery. People originally from the
countryside shun traditional rural building typologies: they are abandoning symbols of
the countryside with all its restrictions and fleeing to the “liberating” city. A new house in
that style would trigger a deep disappointment. Providing humane housing therefore
conflicts with maintaining the “image of modernity”.

A peasant who moves from the countryside into a favela, or someone born there will
not wish to see it repaired: he/she desperately wants to move out as soon as possible to a
middle-class apartment. The favela doesn’t represent the widely accepted “image of
modernity”, but instead carries a social stigma. Escaping poverty, in the mind of the
favela’s resident, means escaping from the favela’s geometry. That idea is reinforced by
the drastic transformation in geometry that one sees in houses for the middle class.
Middle class residences tend to be either dreary modernist apartment complexes, or
isolated pseudo-traditional houses with a lawn and fence. Those insipid images of
modernity dominate the thinking of poor people, who ingest them from television
programs and other marketing outlets.

A new project of social housing that is successful in our terms will inevitably resemble
traditional local urban and architectural typologies, simply because those have evolved to
be the most adaptive to human needs. That resemblance, however, condemns its image as
not progressive. Many residents expect to see their new houses built in the “image of
modernity”, as defined by the homes of the rich and famous the world over. Houses and
offices in a high-tech modernist style are constantly shown on films and television
together with their rich residents. The poor aspire to this dream. On the other hand,
wealthy aristocrats living and working in colonial mansions are no longer embraced as
models to emulate, because of their association with the pre-modernist past and a
conservative political order. That is a pity, because 19th Century building typologies often contain
much of a country’s architectural heritage, and offer adaptive solutions that have nothing to do with
any social or political class. (People forget that the technocratic style now represents global
economic dominance by a powerful elite).

As noted previously, we believe the problem is inescapably cultural in nature. It seems

to us that the crux of the issue is valuation — how the community values its options, and
then makes decisions accordingly. Or, more properly, it is a question of whether a truly
intelligent (i.e. self-correcting and learning) system of collective decision making is in
place. So our task is not just to offer choices, but also to offer a framework (or choice of
frameworks) in which to make those choices over time.

If residents choose “wealth” as defined in reduced simple terms by monetary markets,

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then they will logically conclude that the optimal course is to scrape the site flat and put
up a single high-rise building with a Big-Box-Mart next door. If they have a longer-term
definition of “value” — which includes more subtle but no less vital notions of “quality
of life” — then they have a basis for assessing and modifying their built environment in a
way that is more complex, more inter-related, and more “organic”. This of course is what
a traditional culture is and does, by definition.

That simple notion of “wealth” in reduced monetary market terms cannot distinguish
between the subtle processes of life. For this reason, it cannot combine the “top-down”
resources like bringing “wet appliances” (concrete boxes containing a bathroom and a
kitchen counter with sink), or trucks full of building materials appearing at the edge of
the site, with “bottom-up” resources like people working on their own houses, small-scale
local economies, or following adaptable generative codes.

Combining top-down and bottom-up methods is the crux of the problem, which will
require a complex integrative approach, rather than a linear application of resources and
single-variable solutions. It is a complex, multi-variable problem of self-organization and
of organized complexity, and requires a different set of tools from those people are used
to working with.

How then do we take seriously people’s aspirations, without necessarily enabling what
may be a manipulated desire of theirs, one that encourages the trading away of
irreplaceable long-term value for perishable short-term gain? As we have seen, in a
modern economic context, traditional cultures are unfortunately very vulnerable to this
kind of bad-deal tradeoff. As professional advisers we have a duty to take their
aspirations seriously, but also to take seriously their long-term needs, even if they are not
really considering them. We should not act in their place — that would be arrogant — but
instead have a kind of conversation with them, where we as professionals point out the
options before them in a more complete and more connected kind of way.

What is obvious to us isn’t necessarily considered positively by the broader population.

Such a thing would make sense, and avoids the dangers, if it came out of a collaborative
process that was very much in the hands of the locals. It needs to be their vernacular
tradition. Otherwise, there is a real danger of such an effort coming across as
presumptuous and condescending. There is a very delicate balance in there between
respect for the local culture that is very much a culture of poverty — the everyday
urbanism, in a sense — and a recognition of the aspirations even within that culture (and
in the individuals) for something they imagine to be better.

Often people need to learn to appreciate what they already have (i.e., the capacities, the
wealth, and beauty of their particular cultural adaptations to circumstances). This is all
the more urgent since we have a global culture that is mostly dedicated to giving people a
hunger for goods they don’t have. For example, we are well aware of the tendencies for
low-income communities to be big backers of Big-Box-Marts. If we try to expose all the
serious problems created by Big-Box-Marts as a result of the building form and the
business model, people may well accuse us of racism: “So why don’t you want us to have
what the rest of you already have?”. It’s a very delicate thing when one is working with
people in poverty — how does one both give respect where respect is due, and yet
recognize where things could be better without being insulting? It requires a process that
will engage the creative energy and the self-reliance of the local culture.

21. Is a Changed World Ready to Accept Humane Social Housing?

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Projects all over the world were built following the organic paradigm, using owner
participation. We observe a cyclic phenomenon: both governments and nongovernmental
organizations support parts of what we (and others before us) propose, then
it falls out of favor and is replaced with inhuman modernist typologies, then it sometimes
makes a comeback as elected officials and agency directors change. This temporal
fluctuation reflects the model of species competition, where one competing species
displaces another (but does not drive it to extinction). When conditions change, that
species makes a modest comeback.

The organic urban paradigm has always been only marginally accepted by the powers-that-be, even
though it represents the vast majority of currently built urban fabric. In the
ecological analogy, unplanned owner-built housing is actually the dominant species,
whereas in the minds of most people (in blatant contradiction of fact), it is assumed to be
the minority species. The world’s urban population explosion has occurred in the poorest
strata of society, one minor part housed by top-down mechanisms of social housing,
while the other major part had to emerge as favelas (irregular settlements). It is this
imbalance — between overwhelming forces generating the world’s irregular urban
morphology, and ineffective attempts to impose order — that we wish to correct with this
Chapter. We depend upon three hopeful strategies: (a) Readers will see that some of the
old prejudices against owner-built housing are outdated, and are economically and
socially wasteful. (b) People will recognize the roots of this conflict as ideological, and
not as exclusively legal. (c) We finally have very powerful tools for efficient design and
repair, which were not available in the past.

The New Urbanism movement (spearheaded by one of the authors (AMD)) has helped
to awaken the world to the value of traditional urbanism, and to the need of preserving
existing portions of living urban fabric. Our approach tries to channel the natural human
need for a nourishing and sustainable living environment, which has been the case during
several millennia of human existence. Several extremely successful New Urbanist
developments have been built in a traditional character, showing that it can be done
today. Planning is no longer biased towards the modernist vision. There exists a new
awareness, at least in the most economically developed countries. Whereas in the 1960s
healthy middle-class neighborhoods were destroyed with impunity (an act
euphemistically labeled “urban renewal” (Jacobs, 1961)), such urban aggression is less
likely to succeed today. Still, that does not prevent die-hard modernists from trying to
publicly discredit the New Urbanism by labeling it as fit only for the very rich. The
present Chapter is one of many proofs (if any were needed) that the same techniques
apply to house the poor of the world.

People have always had an INSTINCTIVE knowledge of how to build, but all that was
casually dismissed by modernist typologies falsely claiming an exclusively rational
“scientific” validity. With the recent entry of trained scientists into architecture and
urbanism, that misunderstanding has finally been dispelled, and we can separate genuine
method from image-driven dogma. Our courageous predecessors who built living urban
fabric were all stymied by an architectural establishment convinced of the absolute
correctness of the early 20th Century industrial design paradigm. Again and again,
projects and ideas were marginalized, and had to be re-invented elsewhere and at another
time. We believe that our age is finally ready to accept living urban fabric as part of life
itself, and that this idea can assume its proper central place in our consciousness.

22. Conclusion.
Twentieth-century practices in constructing social housing may have been well

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intentioned, but are ultimately misguided. They do not help to connect the residents to
their environment. So much urban fabric all over the world could have been made healthy
and sustaining for the same cost, but instead exerts a deadening effect on its residents,
and ultimately becomes unsustainable. Unfortunately, government planners were
determined to impose an ill-conceived social experiment as part of a utopian program of
industrialization. We outline here, on the other hand, practical and sensitive solutions that
can be applied immediately to any context, with only minor modifications to fit the local
conditions.

The authors make these recommendations based upon considerable experience in

practical projects. We will be the first to urge making compromises and needed
adaptations in implementing our methodology to any particular project, in the spirit of
incremental adaptation. It is far better to compromise and get something built, rather than
to insist on following every component of our suggested process but have the project
rejected. In this way, we can effect a steady transition to a more robust, more lifesupporting, and
more sustainable kind of housing for the future.

APPENDIX: Generative Code for Social Housing on a Greenfield or Open

Brownfield.
The body of this Chapter really outlines a method of methods, which can be used to
format an infinite number of different approaches. All the approaches arising from our
recommendations share a common adaptivity to human sensibilities. In this essential
quality, however, they differ markedly from other methods currently in use. Evidently, a
planner has to make up a new method that best suits local conditions and exigencies. For
readers who wish to implement our method with the least delay, we outline here a
procedure that can produce housing on vacant land. A slightly different approach is
needed to work on a site that has existing buildings, and yet another to reconfigure an
existing settlement. Please remember that this represents only ONE of an infinite number
of related methods satisfying our criteria, and should not be adopted as a universal set of
rules.

We assume that a team of planners will work with some or all of potential future
residents in all steps of the layout. This is crucial to get a “reading” of the necessary
human factors that must be addressed. Actual building is divided into two components:
those that are the funding agency’s responsibility, and those that are to be done by the
owner/resident. A rough division of labor is for the government to undertake all
construction on public space, whereas the owner/resident builds his/her own house; but
these responsibilities can overlap either way according to the specific situation. Even if
the owners/residents are going to do all the building work on their house, the planning
team is prepared to support them and guide them through the process. References below
are to individual patterns in A Pattern Language (Alexander et. al., 1977).

It is extremely important to make an initial statement that we have here a different type
of approach to social housing, and planning in general. The novelty of this approach is
evident in three of our procedures. First, we begin with laying out the ground and street
network with active user participation, not as a pre-conceived plan drawn somewhere
else. The second unusual element is to allow (in fact, actively encourage) the users to
ornament the sidewalk in front of their house, before the house is even built. The third
unusual element is to build the urban space before any of the houses have been
completed. The urban space is going to define the character of the settlement as a whole
— its spatial quality and identity on the large scale — more than any other built object. It

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is going to play a major role in whether the residents feel they own the place emotionally.
We recommend the following steps, where we have emphasized the unusual aspects of
our method, while leaving more obvious construction details up to the local team:

1. Walk the land to diagnose its condition, strengths, weaknesses, exceptional

opportunities, areas needing repair, etc. Identify any candidates for a sacred space: e.g.,
high ground, prominent rocks, large trees, etc. These are going to be protected and later
incorporated into urban space.

2. In many cases, the settlement will have an existing boundary that determines street
connections. Where this is not so (i.e. in the countryside) the neighborhood’s outline must
be fixed, as it will have an impact on the overall street pattern (Pattern 15:
NEIGHBORHOOD BOUNDARY of Alexander et. al. (1977)).

3. Walk the land to determine the main street and the main cross street from the natural
pedestrian flow according to the topography and features. These are going to represent
the Roman Cardo and Decumanus, but will be neither necessarily straight, nor orthogonal
to each other. Mark them with poles in the ground carrying red flags. Allow room for
street plus sidewalks on both sides.

4. Walk the land once more to visualize where the urban spaces ought to lie (decided
by the spots that feel the best to stand in; somehow focusing all the region’s positive
signals). These are going to be bulges in the main streets near the center, and ought to
contain any sacred spaces, if possible. Apply the principle of tangential flow around an
urban space (i.e., the street goes alongside an urban space, not through its middle). Urban
spaces can be as long as necessary, but not much wider than 20 m (Pattern 61: SMALL
PUBLIC SQUARES). Mark the boundaries of the urban spaces with red flags.

5. Decide on the footprint of houses to partially surround and reinforce the urban
spaces. Front walls, with no setback, are going to define the urban space boundaries.

6. Now some major layout decisions must be taken. One possible typology is to use
building blocks of two houses deep, not necessarily straight, each with dimension roughly
40-60 m wide and 110-150 m long. Building blocks begin at the edge of the urban space
and main streets. The direction of each building block is determined by the flow of the
land. Their boundaries will define the secondary roads, which are marked with red flags.
Secondary streets form T-junctions (Pattern 50: T JUNCTIONS) at the intersections, and
do not cross a main street. Secondary streets are narrower than the main streets.

7. At the same time, questions of water drainage are settled, because street direction
has to accommodate water flow. Decide where runoff water will drain to outside the
settlement so as to avoid flooding. Note if any street has to be graded.

8. Shaping the land begins only now, with the government grading the building ground
so that it slopes towards the street on each side for drainage. The streets must be graded
where necessary to facilitate wastewater flow as decided beforehand.

9. Participating future residents can lay out their house dimensions, using blue flags.
Houses have to come up to the sidewalk, and occupy the full frontage. Other than this,
there is complete freedom in the house plan. If a courtyard is included, define it by using
the house volume to partially surround it (Pattern 115: COURTYARDS WHICH LIVE).
Individual variation is essential to guarantee southern exposure; otherwise the courtyard

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will not be used after it’s built (Pattern 105: SOUTH FACING OUTDOORS). First,
define the buildings around the main urban spaces and at the main entrances.

10. Once a sufficient number of house outlines have been marked, complete the lot
boundaries by using yellow flags. Each plot should be not less than 20 m deep and 6 m
wide. Plots are separated by an alley at the back and by a footpath on each side. Plots are
recorded and deeds awarded. The remarkable thing is that this is the first time the
settlement is drawn on paper (up until now, we have been working only with flags in the
ground).

11. The government puts in any infrastructure it is going to provide: electrical utility
poles in the alleys, either a water system or a regular distribution of public water spigots,
sewerage pipes or a few common gender-separated latrines, etc.

12. The first act of actual building is putting down a concrete sidewalk along the
position of all marked house fronts. The government does this along all deeded plots, but
not in parts of the settlement that have not yet been planned. It is convenient to complete
one housing block at a time. The sidewalk itself should be very wide, and raised from the
street (1.5 m wide sidewalks are useless for forming a neighborhood; see Pattern 55:
RAISED WALK).

13. The residents prepare designs using colored bits of scrap material not thicker than 1
cm (pebbles, tile fragments, etc.), and push them into the wet concrete as soon as the
sidewalk is poured and smoothed. Anything can be used as long as it doesn’t compromise
the structural integrity of the concrete. Expansion joints are incorporated as part of the
design. This act personalizes one’s own bit of sidewalk, and establishes the priority of
human expression over industrial forms.

14. House building can begin, carried out by the residents themselves, with the front
façade going up first at the edge of the sidewalk. In this way, the urban spaces, rather
than the houses themselves, are the first spatial elements to be physically constructed
(Pattern 106: POSITIVE OUTDOOR SPACE).

15. The entrance (or entrances) to the settlement should be clearly defined by more
prominent buildings so they are obvious points of transition (Pattern 53: MAIN
GATEWAYS).

16. The government can solidify the urban space by building a large kiosk there — a
roofed open room (Pattern 69: PUBLIC OUTDOOR ROOM). Make sure it has steps that
are comfortable to sit on (Pattern 125: STAIR SEATS). This element can catalyze the use
of the urban space, and enhances sacred elements such as a large tree.

17. Owners complete their individual houses, at their own pace. They have complete
freedom in the floor plan within their original markings. If it is appropriate to the culture,
build a low sitting wall or ledge integral with the front wall next to the entrance (Pattern
160: BUILDING EDGE and Pattern 242: FRONT DOOR BENCH). This, in turn, might
influence the roof overhang.

18. The description of the building sequence depends on local materials availability,
delivery systems, and the most economical alternatives. Decisions such as whether to
pour a floor slab at the same time as the concrete sidewalk; if there is plumbing available
that needs to go under the slab; whether to fill upright hollow drain pipes with concrete to

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make a house’s corner columns; what material to use for the load-bearing walls; whether
to drop in a prefabricated toilet module; the shape of the roof and how it is to be built, are
all best taken by the local consultants.

19. The consultants can advise the owner/builders on how to form the house entrance
and windows. A main entrance should have drastically thickened edges to represent the
transition from outside to inside (Pattern 225: FRAMES AS THICKENED EDGES).
Encourage people to build a transition space, however modest (Pattern 112: ENTRANCE
TRANSITION). This emphasizes entry as a process, the opposite of a front door
designed as an image of a minimal discontinuity in the flat wall.

20. The same principle also applies to windows: help the owner/builders to create
windows with deep reveals and a very thick frame (Pattern 223: DEEP REVEALS).

21. Perhaps the single most important rule to creating rooms in a building is that they
must have natural light from two sides (Pattern 159: LIGHT ON TWO SIDES OF
EVERY ROOM).

22. As the house fronts near completion, the government offers a monetary prize for
the most artistic ornamentation, preferably using traditional motifs chosen entirely by the
owners, and supplies paints and materials for that purpose (Pattern 249: ORNAMENT).
Ornamentation should be more detailed, and more intense, at eye level and at those places
where a user can touch the building.

The above proposal may appear interesting, perhaps extraordinary to conventional

planners. Some will doubtlessly criticize it, even though it is supported by the most
important document of Latin American planning: the “Laws of the Indies”. (Las Leyes de
Indias explicitly direct that a settlement be planned around its central urban space, which
has to be established first). We believe our suggestions to be applicable and we ought to
try and implement them to any degree possible. It is not necessary for the builders to have
access to the full description of each pattern mentioned here; a simple outline and
diagram are sufficient. We list the patterns only for reference purposes. The goal of
ornamentation is NOT to add something “pretty” so as to distract from the otherwise
difficult living conditions. In fact, it serves to connect the residents in a deeper sense to
their environment, by giving them intellectual ownership of the physical structure. For
this reason, it is absolutely necessary that the residents themselves generate all the
ornament and create it with their own hands.

REFERENCES
Alexander, Christopher (1965) “A City is Not a Tree”, Architectural Forum, Vol. 122
No. 1, pages 58-61 and No. 2, pages 58-62. Reprinted in: John Thackara, Editor (1988)
Design After Modernism (Thames and Hudson, London), pages 67-84. Available online
from <http://www.patternlanguage.com/archives/alexander1.htm>
Alexander, Christopher (2005) The Nature of Order: Books One to Four (The Center
for Environmental Structure, Berkeley, California).
Alexander, Christopher, Howard Davis, Julio Martinez & Donald Corner (1985) The
Production of Houses (Oxford University Press, New York).
Alexander, Christopher, S. Ishikawa, M. Silverstein, M. Jacobson, I. Fiksdahl-King &
S. Angel (1977) A Pattern Language (Oxford University Press, New York).
Blake, Peter (1974) Form Follows Fiasco: Why Modern Architecture Hasn’t Worked
(Little, Brown & Company, Boston).
Charles, Prince of Wales (1989) A Vision of Britain: A Personal View of Architecture

517
(Doubleday, New York).
Crawford, Joel H. (2000) Carfree Cities (International Books, Utrecht, Holland).
Darton, Eric (2000) Divided We Stand: A Biography of New York’s World Trade
Center (Basic Books, New York).
Darton, Eric (2001) “The Janus Face of Architectural Terrorism: Minoru Yamasaki,
Mohammad Atta and their World Trade Center”, Open Democracy
<www.opendemocracy.net>, 8 November 2001, approximately 4 pages.
Andrés Duany (2007) “How do we save the Crescent City? Recreate the unique
building culture that spawned it”, Metropolis, February 14, <www.metropolismag.com>.
Duany, Andrés, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk & Jeff Speck (2000) Suburban Nation (North
Point Press, New York).
Duany, Andrés & Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (2005) Smart Code (<www.dpz.com>,
Miami, Florida).
ECTP — The European Council of Town Planners (2003) The New Charter of Athens
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org/e/athens>.
Fathy, Hassan (1973) Architecture for the Poor (University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
Illinois).
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Habitatjam (2006) World Urban Forum Website <http://www.habitatjam.com>.
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Hakim, Besim (2003) “Byzantine and Islamic Codes from the Mediterranean”, in:
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Costs and Risks”, Real Estate Issues, Summer 2003, pages 28-35.
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Human-Nature Connection (Island Press, Washington, DC).
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Theory of Architecture (Umbau-Verlag, Solingen, Germany, 2006).
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Confusión del Urbanismo: Ciudad Pública Versus Ciudad Doméstica (Cie Ediciones
Editoriales Dossat, Madrid, 2005). English version, Confusion in Urban Design: The
Public City Versus the Domestic City (Techne Press, Amsterdam, 2007).
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University Press, Baltimore, Maryland).
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Amsterdam, 2005).
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Holland).
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DO NOT INCLUDE THIS PAGE OR BEYOND!

1 leading those promoting materials resource efficiency, for instance to try and find ways of expressing the benefits in carbon terms
2 Although Prof. Watson, the chief scientific adviser to the UK Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DeFRA) now recommends we
should prepare to adapt to a 4 degree rise, heralding dangerous climate change, given the unlikelihood of mitigation efforts achieving the level of
reductions needed to avoid this (Randerson, August 7th 2008).
3 Brent for instance, published its last LA21 Action Plan and subsequently decided to re-orientate its efforts internally to corporate issues, although

a small fund for local community group projects was maintained.

4 The Nottingham declaration is a voluntary pledge to address climate change issues. It represents a high-level, commitment that a council can

make to its own community. It was first launched in October 2000 in Nottingham with 200 leaders, chief executives and senior managers of UK
local government: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/housingbuildings/localauthorities/NottinghamDeclaration/who-has-signed/
5The ICE Demolition Protocol is a robust materials resource efficiency methodology for demolition and construction developed for the UK Institute
of Civil Engineers (ICE) by EnviroCentre & London Remade
6 An example was the 2003 report; ‘Building Sustainably: How to Plan & Construct New housing for the 21st Century’, by the Sustainable Housing

Forum, led by the TCPA (Town & Country Planning Association)/WWF and 9 other organisations including Brent Council. It reviewed relevant
sustainability issues, Borough Council and other initiatives and identified the gaps in Government policy. It also advocated a range of national,
regional and local policy measures such as changes to the Building Regulations and a new Planning Policy Statement on Climate Change amongst
other measures – many of which have now been taken on board by Government.
7 The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) has been tasked with advising the Government on whether this 60% target should be
increased to 80%
8 Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) are replacing the former, Unitary development Plans (UDPs)
9 Further examples include the Energy White Paper, draft Sustainable Construction Strategy and Site Waste Management Plan Regulations 2008
10 It represents 100% CO2 reduction in relation to the 2006 Building Regulations, which only covers (heating, hot water, lighting and ventilation) not

all energy use

11 represents a 25% CO2 reduction beyond the maximum emission rate allowed by the 2006 Building Regulations
12Professor Mayhew’s demographic study 2007 for Brent Council
13 UK Office of National Statistics, 2006
14
Due to the slower than expected progress on hydrogen fuel cells, they are once again beginning to launch electric cars. Currently, the only model
available in the UK is the ‘G-Whiz’ a franchise of the Indian RIVA electric which filled the gap left by the major manufacturers.
15 defined as 10 or more dwellings, or 1,000 square metres or more, of commercial or other floorspace)
16amended extract from Brent’s Annual Monitoring Report (AMR 2000-2004), built-environment chapter –from information provided by Chris
Barrons & Lawrence Underwood
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 ‘Building For Life’ standard recently produced is intended to assess housing design (but again treats sustainability as an afterthought).

20 Ibid. It was decided to merge an initially proposed Landscape Design Guidance document with the existing urban design Guidance to better
integrate these issues. This is still in production.
21 EcoHomes and BREEAM are the nationally recognised, sustainability assessment methodologies for homes and non-residential schemes

produced by the Building Research Establishment (BRE)

22 amended extract from Brent’s Annual Monitoring Report (AMR 2006-7), Planning Obligations chapter –from information provided by Zayd Al-

Jawad.

23 Such a renewables template has since been developed in draft form, by Creative Energy Networks (a non-profit organisation) and has been
piloted by about 4-6 Boroughs, the resources needed to refine and launch it (with no funding).
24 With the assistance of Laura Jenkinson, planning policy officer, London Borough of Brent
25Paper given at 4th vision for London lecture, 19th Nov. 1996 –cited in London Planning Advisory Committee (LPAC) & London Arts Board (1997)
‘Values Added: How Emerging Values Could Influence the Development of London’ study by Ben Jupp & George Lawson of Demos.
25

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28 The faculty of architecture of University IUAV of Venice is the only one that has introduced into the teaching order a

Graduate Degree in Architecture for Sustainability that involves about 35 teachers and 200 students every year. At the

moment there are many research works and operative conventions with organizations and Italian and foreign Institution.
29 politikè, it is that concerns about town.
30 Filiberto Menna, la linea analitica dell’arte moderna, ed. Giulio Einaudi, Torino, 2001.
31 Critics to positions of Hans Jonas are in the introduction about “responsibility principle” by Pier Paolo Portinaro, p.

XXII.
32
William Morris, The prospects of architecture in Civilisation, conferenza al London Institution, Finsbury Circus,
London, 10 Marzo 1880
33 Freely draw from UN-HABITAT’s State of the World’s Cities Report 2006/7 - SOWC/06/07/B/Urb1.

34 Michael Neuman, The Compact City Fallacy, Journal of Planning Education and Research 25:11-26.
35 Publio Ovidio Nasone, Metamorfosi, con una introduzione di Italo Calvino, ed. Giulio Einaudi, Torino, 1994.
36 http://www.veterinaria.uniba.it/biologia/dispense/adatt.html
37 D'Arcy W. Thompson, Crescita e forma, ed. Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 1992.
38 Fortunato Tito Arecchi, “Complessità, cognizione e corporeità”, in Studium n. 3-4, 2000, pp. 619-640.
39
According to Barnett (1982), the first academic curriculum in the United States was the University of Pennsylvania’s Civic Design

Program in 1957

40 Between 1950 and 1970 in the United States, the population of the central cities grew by ten million, that of suburbs by eighty-five million

(Marx 1991)
41
Significant projects are: the creation of a natural preserve along a 12 mile reach of the Cienega Creek; the re-establishment of native

vegetation on the Pantano River (Pantano Jungle); the restoration of a higher water table along the Rillito Creek; the development of

wetlands and a riparian habitat in the Ajo flood control basin; the restoration of native vegetation through effluent water upstream the

Santa Cruz River; the creation of a 124acre riparian habitat in proximity of the Avra Valley re-charge plants; the construction of flood

control basins upstream on the Arroyo Chico; the restoration of a 600-ft wide riparian woodland along the Rincon Creek and the attempt to

recharge the aquifer with raw CAP water in the Canada Del Oro.
42
The College of Architecture of The University of Arizona, Tucson, is promoting theses, research and studios that provide for suggestions

of changes
43
CAP – The Central Arizona Project is the mean through which gallons of water are brought from the Colorado River to the City of Tucson

and Phoenix
44
In the Phoenix area water evaporates at about 6.2 acre-feet (2 million gallons) per year for each acre of surface area. Considering the area
of the Lake (220 acre) it means 1.2 million of gallons per day lost just for evaporation (City of Phoenix Water Department website).

45
According to the Phoenix Water Department 6 million of gallons of water per day are necessary to support vegetation

46
According to Glennon with 140,000 acre-feet per year of water coming from effluent S.Antonio is one of the largest reusers of water in the
United States. Additionally the 2005 Water Resource Plan indicates that the city of S.Antonio is currently looking to several projects to
diminish the charge on the Edwards Aquifer. Among them particularly interesting are the ALCOA project in which the city purchases
water from lignite deposits, and the Lower Guadalupe Water Supply project that would divert water from the Guadalupe River to San
Antonio. After use, the water would be released in the San Antonio River flowing back into the Guadalupe and the Gulf of Mexico.
47
The plan aims to plant 24,000 native trees, 56 acres of native grasses, 350 acres of riparian habitat, 113 acres if aquatic habitat

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48
Buildings must respect strict guidelines regarding heights, dimensions, forms, entrances and materials. When facing the River directly,
they should provide for middle-spaces such as arcades, courtyards or canopies structures that allows vegetation to connect the River and
the City

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