Rob Roggema

As it becomes clear that climate change is not easily within the boundaries of the 1990’s, society needs to be prepared and needs to anticipate future changes due to the uncertain changes in climate. So far, extensive research has been carried out on several issues including the coastal defence or shifting ecozones. However, the role spatial design and planning can play in adapting to climate change has not yet been focused on. This book illuminates the way adaptation to climate change is tackled in water management, ecology, coastal defence, the urban environment and energy. The question posed is how each sector can anticipate climate change by creating spatial designs and plans. The main message of this book is that spatial design and planning are a very useful tool in adapting to climate change. It offers an integral view on the issue, it is capable in dealing with uncertainties and it opens the way to creative and anticipative solutions. Dealing with adaptation to climate change requires a shift in mindset; from a technical rational way of thinking towards an integral proactive one. A new era in spatial design and planning looms on the horizon.

Adaptation to Climate Change: A Spatial Challenge

This book discusses the way that a nature-driven approach to urbanism can be applied at each of the urban scales; architectural design, urban design of neighborhoods, city planning and landscape architecture, and at the city and regional scales. At all levels nature-driven approaches to design and planning add to the quality of the built structure and furthermore to the quality of life experienced by people living in these environments. To include nature and greening to built structures is a good starting point and can add much value. The chapter authors have fiducia in giving nature a fundamental role as an integrated network in city design, or to make nature the entrance point of the design process, and base the design on the needs and qualities of nature itself. The highest existence of nature is a permanent ecosystem which endures stressors and circumstances for a prolonged period. In an urban context this is not always possible and temporality is an interesting concept explored when nature is not a permanent feature. The ecological contribution to the environment, and indirect dispersion of species, from a temporary location will, overall add biodiversity to the entire system.

Nature Driven Urbanism

Anouk Roggema

This book brings together the papers presented at the Smart and Sustainable Built Environments Conference, 2018 (SASBE).This latest research falls into two tracks: smart and sustainable design and planning cities; and the technicalities of smart and sustainable buildings. The growth of smart cities is evident, but not always linked to sustainability. This book gives an overview of the latest academic developments in increasing the smartness and sustainability of our cities and buildings. Aspects such as inclusivity, smart cities, place and space, the resilient city, urbanity and urban ecology are prominently featured in the design and planning part of the book; while energy, educational buildings, comfort, building design, construction and performance form the sub-themes of the technical part of the book. This book will appeal to urban designers, architects, urban planners, smart city designers and sustainable building experts.

Smart and Sustainable Cities and Buildings

One important change in the Brazilian policies is the Pacification. In recent years the government has invested in creating safer and more livable favelas. This generally starts with creating a UPP, a police post at a central location, from where the safety is maintained. Once this has been established the PAC, the government organisation for accelerating urban development in the favelas, starts to make plans to improve the quality of life in the favela: drinking water, electricity, sewage system and other basic systems. It is essential to include the growth of food in their policies. Secondly, the discourse in urban agriculture shifts from the early stage in which every initiative is interesting, food production is a social activity and an estimated contribution to sustainability, towards the question how much food is actually produced within the city boundaries. Analyses show that the amount produced is very little. The follow-up question is how more food could be produced in the city? This is obviously also a matter of space. Current urban concepts do not offer enough space for food production and this implies new concepts need to be found. In the context of the favelas these new spaces need to be found on roofs.

The Pavao-Pavaozinho and Cantagalo Case Study

Food Roofs of Rio de Janeiro

This book discusses a spectrum of approaches to designing the food-energy-water nexus at different spatial-urban scales. The book offers a framework for working on the FEW-nexus in a design-led context and integrates the design of urban neighbourhoods and regions with methodologies how to simultaneously engaging residents and stakeholders and evaluating the propositions in a FEW-print, measuring the environmental impact of the different designs. The examples are derived from on the ground practices in Sydney, Tokyo, Detroit, Amsterdam and Belfast.

TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization

Peter Bishop

Lesley Williams

Alona Martinez Perez

The green belt has been one of the UK’s most consistent and successful planning policies. Over the past century, it has limited urban sprawl and preserved the countryside around our cities, but is it still fit for purpose in a world of unprecedented urban growth and potentially catastrophic climate change? Repurposing the Green Belt in the 21st Century examines the history of the green belt in the UK and how it has influenced planning regimes in other countries. Despite its undoubted achievements, it is time to review the green belt as an instrument of urban planning and landscape design. The problem of the ecological impact of cities and the mitigation measures of major climate changes are at the top of the urban agenda across the world. Urban agriculture, blue and green infrastructures, and forestation are the new ecological design imperatives driving urban policymaking.

Repurposing the Green Belt in the 21st Century

This book shows that the problem of climate adaptation, which is described in social planning terms as ‘wicked,’ is at odds with the contemporary practice of spatial planning. The author proposes a new adjusted framework which is more adaptable to unpredictable, wicked, dynamic and non-linear processes. The inspiration for this new method is the behaviour of swarms: bees, ants, birds and fish are capable of self-organization, which enables the system to become less vulnerable to sudden environmental changes. The framework proposed in Swarm Planning consists of these four elements: Two levels of complexity, the first being the whole system and the second its individual components. Each of these has different attributes for adapting to change. Five layers, consisting of networks, focal points, unplanned space, natural resources and emerging occupation patterns. Each layer has its own spatial dynamic, and each is connected to a spatial scale. Non-linear processes, which emerge in different parts of the framework and include emerging patterns, connectedness and tipping points among others. Two planning processes; the first, ‘from small to large’ works upward from the slowest changing elements to more rapidly-changing ones. The second, ‘on the list of partners’ addresses each layer from networks through emerging occupation patterns. Swarm Planning applies this framework to a series of pilot studies, and appraises its performance using criteria for an adaptive landscape. The results show that the use of the Swarm Planning Framework reduces the vulnerability of landscapes as well as the impact of climate hazards and disasters, improves response to unexpected hazards and contains adaptation strategies. “This book is a must for planners in government and the private sector as it outlines the concept, strategies and techniques for swarm planning. It is also an important guide for policymakers looking to engage communities in a dialogue about the adaptation planning process.” Professor John Martin, La Trobe University “The ultimate value of the book lies in encouraging the planning community to consider options that go far beyond those offered by business-as-usual planning methodologies developed for a set of operating conditions that are fast becoming obsolete. As such it makes an important and much needed contribution to the field.” Assistant Professor Dr. Chrisna du Plessis, University of Pretoria

Rob Roggema

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