Figure 1.25 Time Rings

Sustainable Urban Design, Goa, India

The urban design fl owed seamlessly from the ecosystem and landscape design, integrating natural systems, heritage elements, and the existing settlement fabric of Goa into a new condensed structure. Instead of settlements colonizing the landscape, settlements become compact islands in a sea of biodiversity. . . .

The settlements themselves are also planned based on these principles, guided by slope and contour, water fl ow lines, and linkages to water and transport networks. They are interwoven with surrounding agriculture, horticulture, and forestry areas, with green fi ngers penetrating in to the settlements.

Source: Revi and others (2006: 64).

Like people, cities function most effi ciently if they have good bones, the strong structural elements that are able to provide the proper context for the shorter-lived elements. Within an urban region, the sequence typically progresses from slow-moving elements such as local ecologies and natural assets, land use patterns (including rights-of-way), and building stocks to the more rapidly moving elements such as management policies and consumer behavior.

The longer-lasting elements are given priority because they may be changed only slowly and at great cost and will constrain the possibilities in other sectors. If signifi cant opportunities for integration at this level are missed, it may take a long time to rearrange and correct problems.

Figure 1.25 provides a rough guide for sequencing integration opportunities during the diagnostics stage of a project. Moving from the outside in, we see how specifi c integration opportunities tend to line up. Harmonizing infrastructure with the surrounding ecology and resource base is a good fi rst step. Integration with urban form and land use is next. Demand reduction is next. All this is common sense. There is no point in investing in large remote supply or processing systems if a similar in-

Figure 1.25 Time Rings

Source: Author elaboration (Sebastian Moffatt). Note: Time rings help to sequence investments for optimum returns. A strategic approach to infrastructure planning examines all opportunities for integration, but moves in sequence from the most slowly changing elements (such as the integration of infrastructure with natural systems and land use plans), to the most rapidly changing (such as integrating management systems, providing incentives for consumers, or monitoring and adaptation).

vestment in local ecologies, or smart growth, or demand reduction is able to provide a more sustainable solution.

Enabling: Develop policies that enable implementation of the diff erent types of integration strategies Despite the best intentions, cities often stumble in the attempt to implement sustainable infrastructure and land use. Outdated polices prevent new approaches and artifi cially freeze the technology. Policies developed for one goal inadvertently infl uence design solutions in unforeseen areas. Any developer who has tried to apply ecological design will have plenty of such stories. Consider a proposal for a new underground onsite sewage treatment system for Dockside in Victoria, Canada’s premier example of sustainable mixed use development. Although the system was eventually built and is now working

well, the developer fi rst had to deal with months of diffi cult negotiations. The city did not like the idea of on-site sewage treatment, despite the fact that the whole city was dumping its sewage untreated into the ocean. The developer’s plans were rejected initially because the city had regulations against treatment plants in residential areas. Other regulations of the health department forbade any use of reclaimed water for toilet fl ushing and gardening, making the advanced technology in the new Dockside neighborhood much less ecological. How could they benefi t from reusing wastewater? Yet another obstacle was the city’s property tax structure, which forced the residents in Dockside to pay a share of the city’s upcoming sewage system, although they would not be using it.

The reality is that every city has many policies that confl ict with a new one-system planning framework and the ecological design and management of new projects. One of the most important outcomes of an Eco2 catalyst project is the exposure of such policy confl icts. A collaborative framework may help quickly resolve such issues in catalyst projects and lead to new policy in the process.

In general, enabling policies have impacts well beyond confl ict resolution. Ideally, the policy environment that evolves in a city reinforces the goal-oriented framework and stipulates performance requirements rather than prescribing specifi c solutions. While the city needs to articulate constraints and targets clearly for the community, the most creative design solutions are likely to be achieved at the most local scale, such as the building, parcel, or neighborhood. Primary responsibility needs to remain with local actors and decision makers. They are the fi rst to explore design options and, thus, have the greatest freedom to innovate. Only those service or performance requirements that cannot be successfully satisfi ed locally because of technical, economic, or other practical reasons should be passed on to the scale above. At the regional level, there may be less need for policy or investment in infrastructure, except as required for regional integration (such as in regionwide transportation systems). From this ideal perspective, implementation policies in the city may begin to emulate the self-organizing and self-reliant properties of natural ecologies.

Coordination: Off er instruments in at least fi ve fl avors Local governments have many policy tools for the implementation of a one-system approach. Too often, the focus is exclusively on legislation and enforcement. An integrated approach to implementation requires that cities take full advantage of all instruments available to the city and to the stakeholders who collaborate with the city. Every Eco2 project benefi ts from the integration of at least fi ve diff erent categories of instruments. Financial instruments may include incentives, subsidies, pricing, taxing policies, fee structures, market reforms, purchasing policies, and much more. Special planning initiatives may include new plans, new institutions, institutional restructuring, special reporting, and special events. Research and demonstration may focus on innovative technology applications, tours, fact-fi nding missions, surveys and assessments, conferences, policy research centers, and forecasting. Education and inspiration may include professional training, visioning exercises, cotraining, communities of practice, curriculum reform, special publications, communications, social networking, and investments in social capital. Legislation and enforcement may include a wide variety of regulations, codes and standards, specifi c fi nes, and policing policies.

In some cases, the capacity of a city to apply particular policies will be restricted by national governments and by statute. However, through collaborative working groups composed of senior government offi cials and stakeholders, such limitations may be overcome. The best approach to implementation is always the

application of the full set of instruments in concert as time and resources allow.

For instance, if a city wants to reduce water consumption at the lowest cost, it might explore an integrated approach on a collaborative basis. This might involve (1) using a public awareness and education campaign to convince households and businesses of the need for and benefi ts of water savings and to seek their support in designing tariff increases (stakeholder engagement); (2) adjusting the structure of water tariff s, fees, and pricing (a policy and regulatory issue and demand management); (3) promoting the use of water-saving faucets and toilets (a regulation and building code issue and public awareness); (4) designing guidelines and standards for new residences and businesses to encourage investment in the best performing water-saving faucets and toilets and procurement policies for private sector suppliers so that the best technology is supplied at highvolume market prices (engagement with private sector stakeholders); (5) providing incentives for capturing rainwater and reusing treated wastewater (resource management and market reform); (6) reducing peak load demand by creating incentives for distributing use across time or by integrating water storage into the delivery system in areas where capacity is at its peak; and (7) reducing water leaks by upgrading the system.

All these measures reduce water consumption; the energy requirements for pumping; and the load-bearing requirements (and, therefore, design specifi cations) of pipes and pumps, a major component of water system costs. On the supply side, if water system investments are being planned, then the design and layout of the pipes and distribution network and the location of the treatment plant should be undertaken with a view to energy and spatial effi ciency. (For instance, topography and its relationship to the location of demand are often examined to foster the effi cient use of gravity in water and wastewater networks.) Collaboration: Synchronize policies among all the stakeholders The best approach is to help everyone row in the same direction. All stakeholders and project partners bring a unique combination of policy tools based on their mandates, skills, and resources. Part of the challenge in cities implementing new projects is ensuring that all stakeholders have aligned their existing policies and programs and are using their particular strengths to support the project goals and strategies. By collaborating with senior levels of government, local utilities, private sector corporations, and nongovernmental organizations, one creates the potential for a broad and diverse suite of policy tools. A collaborative process may be able to identify potential actions for the public at large and for individuals with special talents or interests.

Alignment: Develop consistent policies aligned with goals and strategies in the planning framework All new policy should be based on the relevant goals and strategies identifi ed in the long-term planning framework and should use them as a rationale. The appropriate references may be included directly in the policy document. Sometimes, policy changes must occur within the natural rhythm of policy review, and this may result in delays. However, proposed changes may be worked out earlier in the cycle and placed in queue in the review process. For an increase in alignment, institutional reform may also be necessary, especially if patterns of development are locked in to networks of public and private groups (see chapter 2).

We have seen that the shape of urban spatial form is signifi cant. The interaction of government action (transportation investments, land and tenure regulations, and taxation) and market forces is complex, and this interaction shapes cities spatially. Table 1.2 represents an attempt to summarize the complex interaction between government action and the shape of a city. Of course, much depends on the specifi cs of a par-