Vol 2. Issue 2, Nov 2019
MARK AND FOCUS MAGAZINE
VOL 02/01 MARCH 2018
Intelligent urban design Resilient cities Circular water economy
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Mark and Focus, Vol 2, Issue 2
Mark and Focus M a r k a nd Fo c u s cover s bo th th e r is k s a n d o p po r tu nities th e wo r l d ’s m ega -tren ds prov ide.
I N T R O DU C T I ON In the 21st Century, the world faces a wide array of mega-trends including climate change and rapid population and economic growth. With resources becoming scarce global economic and social stability is threatened. Mark and Focus covers both the risks and opportunities these mega-trends provide to business, governance, and society.
CO N TAC T M E LINKEDIN : Robert Brears TWITTER : @Markandfocus FACEBOOK : @markandfocus
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PA G E O F C O N T E N T S
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I nte ll i ge nt u r ba n design
Adaptive urban futures
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R e s i li e nt Zwo l l e
U r ba n green equit y
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Circular water tech
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Intelligent urban design: Preparing for the next revolution B y Gra nt D uc k wo r th
Large-scale cities are complex adaptive systems in which a vast
sive economic growth, the movement as a whole is still in the
spectrum of governance opportunities and challenges are gener-
experimental stage. As these technologies become more user-
ated. When properly managed, urban centres function as global
friendly and cost-effective to administer, urban planners will gain
drivers of sustainable prosperity and collective security. Con-
a better understanding of the dynamic interplay of seemingly
versely, when poorly designed cities can compromise sustainable
unrelated risk factors while citizen journalists and independent
development and human security on a regional or even a global
researchers may be able to by-pass traditional information “gate-
scale. This distinction is important because infrastructure trajec-
keepers.”
tories and demographic forecasts suggest that thousands of new cities in rapidly developing countries like China, India, and Nigeria
“Beta” City Governance
may have to constructed in the coming decades.
Contemporary urban technologies connect more ideas, people, and places than at any time in history, but much of urban
Cities as Algorithms
governance is still characterized by short-term thinking, siloed
Cities are “algorithms” that all countries need in facilitating the
mandates, and linear planning processes. Municipal officials
transition to a more promising stage of economic and social de-
working in close collaboration with higher levels of government
velopment. To accelerate their local productivity and global com-
are duty-bound to deliver lasting social and economic value in
petitiveness, megacities and large-scale cities are banking on the
the context of rising public demand for innovative policy solu-
promise of “smart” technology and knowledge-driven develop-
tions to seemingly intractable demographic, mobility, security,
ment strategies. An estimated 1,000 “smart-city” projects have
and environmental problems. In 2015, the strategic leadership
been launched globally. While targeted investments in urban
of municipal leaders was formally recognized in the UN Sustain-
technologies such as data analytics and visualization software
able Development Goals (SDG), the first time an international
serve as a critical enabler of innovation, productivity, and inclu-
accord acknowledged municipal and national leaders as equals.
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I NTELLI GE NT URBAN DES IGN To accommodate these converging governance demands, urban centres must do their best to create multidisciplinary learning environments that remain conducive to knowledge “spill-overs” and which enable the development of sophisticated cognitive, behavioral, and institutional capabilities. City-to-city partnerships aimed at growing institutional learning capacity, curating flexible and inclusive planning structures, and scaling distributed knowledge systems can be a vital source of innovation excellence. The world’s most sustainable cities often combine a differentiated portfolio of human-centred designs and a multi-layered knowledge mobilization infrastucture that supports both efficient and effective decision-making. However, for many global cities, the learning curve is likely to be very sharp as advanced urban technologies and social infrastructures are functionally integrated with legacy systems designed for an earlier and more predictable era. The openness and interconnectedness of urban space means that even minor changes to the physical infrastructure can have a capacious effect on the long-term adaptability and resilience of a city, including adjacent regions. In such a dynamic situation, local governments will have to be realistic about their ability to function independently as “green islands.” For that reason, learning how to access non-local sources of strategic intelligence may be equally important as the ability to create new sources of social and economic value (ie., in partnership with connector or “gamma” cities). Sustainable Prosperity Pathways There are many pathways to urban sustainability deriving from the fact that each city has a unique unique combination of historic, economic, demographic, geographic, and cultural resources. Several authoritative studies including the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) report highlight the urgency of mitigating climate change impacts. Contemporary views of sustainability and resilience are shaped by the complex interrelationship between human and ecological processes. Thoughtful urban policy development is contingent on an in-depth understanding of how context-specific drivers such as geographic location, knowledge diffusion, and social learning interface with broad-based technical, geopolitical, and economic disruptions. For example, among the world’s coastal cities that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, special consideration will need to be given to the intelligent design of distributed knowledge systems capable of connecting local scientists, data analysts, emergency responders, and community leaders with military-like precision. In these situations, strategy usually trumps data collection and analytics. As complex adaptive systems, “smart” cities and innovation corridors are most productive when supported by a robust social infrastructure. Research shows that in a global knowledge economy productivity gains are more a function of human capital development than capital investments. Ironically, the rapid proliferation of advanced information and communication technologies has amplified, not diminished, the significance of geographic proximity and human intelligence. Intelligent Design Principles Although there are no ready-made solutions for contemporary urban governance challenges, this non-exchaustive list of design principles may help to provide conceptual clarity and a strategic focus. • Cities are Complex Algorithms - Cities endowed with a unique combination of historic, economic, demographic, geographic, and cultural resources serve as a source of identity, attraction, capability, adaptability, and sustainability. • Strategy Trumps Data - Developing policy solutions for complex socio-economic problems often requires more insight, interpretation, and critical thinking - not necessarily more data. In fact, a well-designed strategy is often more important than data collection and analytics. • Form and Function Are One - Urban economic innovation generates enduring value when human-centred design principles, mixed land-use practices, civic technology and prototyping, multi-modal transportation networks, and community engagement processes are functionally integrated.
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• Cultivate Anticipatory Learning - Incorporating foresight analysis at the beginning of the annual planning cycle will provide municipal leaders and community planners with critical insights about the future performance of their core assumptions under different conditions of uncertainty. Conclusion Contemporary urban governance challenges require a strategic rethink. A successful transition to a qualitatively different stage of economic and social development will have to prioritize more integrated ways of seeing, thinking, and acting. While the scale and scope of near-term urban development around the world presents a formidable challenge, we can better prepare ourselves for the uncertainties ahead with the right mix of intelligent design principles and integrated learning solutions. Grant Duckworth is the founder of Vancouver Strategic and Integrated Research (VSIR), a management consultancy specializing in knowledge mobilization, urban economic innovation, and foresight analysis. Grant has an MA in (Human) Geography from the Universty of British Columbia (UBC) and he also completed professional development training at four other Canadian universities. Notes 1. Robert Muggah, “These are the Most Fragile Cities - and This is What We’ve Learned from Them,” World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (12 January 2017). https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/these-are-the-most-fragile-cities-in-the-world-and-this-iswhat-we-ve-learned-from-them/. 2. United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals, “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” (2015). https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld. 3. Tim Campbell, Beyond Smart Cities: How Cities Network, Learn, and Innovate (2012). New York: Taylor and Francis. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Summary for Policy Makers” (October 2018). https://report.ipcc.ch/sr15/pdf/sr15_ spm_final.pdf. 4. Robert Muggah, “Are Smart Cities a Bright Idea for the Global South?” OpenCanada, Centre for International Governance, Waterloo, Ontario (20 November 2014). https://www.opencanada.org/features/are-smart-cities-a-bright-idea-for-the-global-south/. 5. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), The Knowledge-based Economy (1996). Paris, France, https:// www.oecd.org/sti/sci-tech/1913021.pdf; Sibusiso Manzini, Human Capital Development in the Knowledge Economy,” Human Capital Review (2016). http://www.humancapitalreview.org/content/default.asp?Article_ID=156; “Elena Pelinescu, “The Impact of Human Capital on Economic Growth,” Procedia Economics and Finance, Volume 22 (2015). http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S2212567115002580.
Be Part of the Future
www.ourfuturewater.com 11
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To c r e a t e m o r e r e s i l i e n t cities, we need to embrace experiential futures: Strategy and design for adaptive urban futures
B y J oh a n n a H o ffm a n
Given the explosive pace of climate change, one of the most
by the narrative of the vision at hand. But stories can also be
important questions we can ask is what makes for a resilient
used to create more democratic development. Rather than
city. Yet responding to the impacts of hurricanes, floods and
simply enforcing a top-down agenda, storytelling can engen-
firestorms requires more than better power grids. It demands
der more dynamic forms of change, weaving co-creation into
stronger social ties between the people that call a city home.
urban planning and more diversity into urban settings. To do
Research has shown that when the unexpected strikes, we co-
that, however, more groups have to be at the planning and
operate better and act quicker when we foster strong connec-
development tables, sharing their perspectives and forging
tions with the folks, from neighbors to government officials,
more representative visions of city space.
who share our landscapes.[1] Experiential futures – immersive stories that invite us to inhabit what future conditions
This more open, equitable planning process creates stronger
might be like -- are powerful tools to cultivate those ties.
ties between residents, through the act of planning itself as well as through its results. Collaborative planning demands
The underlying value of stories in the ways we plan and build
more patience and empathy between participants, a process
our cities is no secret. As many researchers have noted over
that by necessity cultivates greater degrees of trust. Areas
the years, planning is at its heart a storytelling process.[2]
designed to reflect more diverse needs and priorities provide
Traditional city plans are constructed to be cohesive narra-
space for more robust community interactions and connec-
tives that invite ranges of people to share in a common vision.
tion. Developing trust and living in more inclusive spaces cre-
This is the kind of storytelling that most of us are familiar with
ate the stronger social ties that lead to more resilience.
– a plan is coming and the powers that be tell us to get on board. Planning this way is a kind of showmanship, supported
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ADAPT I V E URBAN FUTURE S There are many ways to craft these more dynamic planning narratives, but experiential futures is a particularly important approach. Ongoing resilience depends on strengthening social ties both now and in the future. As such, real resilience demands engaging with the potential shifts that future decades are likely to bring, as well as seeing those potential futures as plural, diverse spaces. Stories are essential in this process because thinking ten, twenty thirty years into the future is hard. As a human species, we aren’t designed to do it. We need help. To identify what could happen in New York City in 2050, for instance, we have to think about what historical attitudes might stay the same, what kinds of economic conditions could change, what climatic impacts are most likely to occur. That doing so is incredibly hard is exactly why experiential futures are so powerful. To grapple with what the future might bring and reflect on how we can thoughtfully plan for those changes, people need high resolution, relatable experiences about what the future could be like. Just citing some research that says ‘the future will be hotter’ isn’t enough. In order to create systems and spaces that can adapt to future change, we have to understand how those hotter temperatures might affect us, our families, our daily lives. Effective experiential futures spark people’s own thinking, encouraging them to reflect on their values and beliefs. When done well, an immersive story about what might happen thirty years in the future makes a viewer feel real emotion – they could be energized, excited, alarmed or angry. The goal is to collapse the distance between our lives as they exist now and the particular time span in the future for which we’re trying to plan. Strong, immersive storytelling about a potential future scenario – ie, an experiential future -- can help shrink the space between the decisions we make today and the trajectories those decisions might take us on in decades to come. We can’t physically go into the future ourselves, but we can create an experience that helps us close the gap. There’s no one way to make them. Sometimes they’re digital. Biidaaban: First light is an interactive VR time-jump into an intensely different vision of how Toronto might transform in coming years. It’s an alternative future Toronto shaped by an Indigenous female perspective, with streetscapes, building orientations and plant life all reflecting a fundamentally different set of development values and priorities than what currently exists. Hawai’i’s 2050 Sustainability Plan took a more analog approach, creating four different versions of how the island state could operate by the middle of this century. To invite stakeholder feedback, the project team rented out a convention center and created in-person immersive spaces, inviting participants to visit, experience and reflect on different versions of how their communities might change. But integrating experiential futures into actionable plans for urban resilience calls for more than just the experience of the story itself. Speculative designers and futurists like Stuart Candy insist that the work incorporate two essential steps. The first is the story -- the creation of experiences that help participants connect to future periods in relatable, personal ways. The second comes from having high quality conversations about the experience,[3] in which people have the space and time to reflect on what they were alarmed or excited by. These reflections become lessons about what we’d alternatively like to avoid or work towards, providing a context to identify the actions we can take in the present to begin to create that preferred future trajectory. When experiential futures become more embedded in the planning process in these ways, citymaking starts to shift. It becomes less about providing all-knowing guidance and more a process for communities to collectively conceive and plan urban fabrics that reflect their lived experiences. [4] This weaving is the root of the kind of co-creative planning that leads to deeper interpersonal ties and roots for lasting resilience. Creating the context for this kind of co-creation is the gift that better storytelling in planning can give. Experiential futures and the immersive stories that bring them to life are methods that can help us create the more resilient cities we need, together. [1] Kauffman, 2011 [2] Mager and Matthey, 2015 [3] Facilitation is a huge part of the picture. Facilitating effective stakeholder-based collaboration can also help enhance resilience through collaborative storytelling, since good facilitation can promote trust and empathy, an understanding of interdependencies, and capacity for individual and social learning (Kaufman, 2011). [4] More projects are taking recognizing and harnessing this power. The 2007 LA River Revitalization Master Plan effort worked
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with local radio station to collect people’s personal stories about the river. The initiative raised public involvement in the project and created a deeper sense of shared ownership and appreciation for the river. A recent nation-wide effort to create a Fire Learning Network used structured planning exercises to guide participants through scenario storytelling sequences. Partners had to place themselves in a fictional narrative with its own arc of conflict, crisis, and resolution (Goldstein & Butler, 2010). References Goldstein et al. 2014. Narrating Resilience: Transforming Urban Systems Through Collaborative Storytelling. Urban Studies, Florida State University Libraries. Goldstein, B and W H Butler. 2010. The US Fire Learning Network: Providing a narrative framework for restoring ecosystems, professions, institutions. Society and Natural Resource 23 (10): 1-17. Kaufman, S. 2011. Complex systems, anticipation, and collaborative planning for resilience. In B. E. Goldstein (Ed.), Collaborative Resilience: Moving Through Crisis to Opportunity(pp. 61-98). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Lejano, R and R Wessells. Community and economic development: seeking ground in discourse and in practice. Urban Studies 43 (9): 1469-1489. Mager, C and L Matthey. 2015. Tales of the City: Storytelling as a contemporary tools of urban planning and design. Journal of Urban Research (7). Meadows, M and M Kouw. 2017. Future-Making: Inclusive Design and Smart Cities. Interactions: 52.
Covering both the risks and opportunities mega-trends provide to business, governance, and society https://medium.com/mark-and-focus
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XX PALGRAVE STUDIES IN CLIMATE RESILIENT SOCIETIES Series Editor: Robert C. Brears
• • •
Systematically reviews policy innovations to develop the circular water economy Illustrates how leading locations from around the world have developed the circular water economy to increase resilience to climate change while reducing emissions Provides ‘best practices’ for other locations around the world aiming to implement the circular water economy
Robert C. Brears is the author of Urban Water Security, The Green Economy and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus, Blue and Green Cities, Natural Resource Management and the Circular Economy, and Climate Resilient Water Resources Management. Robert is the founder of Our Future Water, Mark and Focus, and Mitidaption.
ISBN 978-3-030-32574-9
9 783030 325749
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Robert C. Brears
This book presents new research on policy innovations that promote the development of the circular water economy. In contrast to the linear economy, the circular water economy promotes the reduction of water consumption, reuse of water, and recovery of resources from wastewater to not only increase resilience to climate change but also to reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the provision of water and wastewater-related services. Providing a series of in-depth case studies of important locations in differing climates around the globe that have implemented a variety of policy innovations to develop the circular water economy, this book is a valuable resource for water and resource conservation managers, policymakers, international companies and organisations interested in the circular economy, environmental NGOs, researchers, as well as graduate and undergraduate students.
Mark and Focus, Vol 2, Issue 1
PALGRAVE STUDIES IN CLIMATE RESILIENT SOCIETIES SERIES EDITOR: ROBERT C. BREARS
Developing the Circular Water Economy
Developing the Circular Water Economy
Robert C. Brears
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Adaptation Strategy for Zwolle – towards a liveable and attractive blue-green city
B y N a n co D o l m a n
In July 2019, the city of Zwolle presented its Adaptation Strat-
dike reinforcement, in conjunction with the “new standards
egy. The process to develop this strategy was supported by
for regional defences”, (b) increase of discharge capacity, e.g.
the Zwolle climate team and divided in 4 constructive phases:
pump stations and weirs, (c) temporarily store water in over-
(0) development approach plan, (1) assessment of climate
flow areas, and (d) water-robust and climate resilient urban
vulnerabilities: climate stress test, (2) risk dialogues and
design.
strategy development, and (3) implementation agenda vision 2050. Besides a comprehensive set of deliverables (in Dutch),
Assessment of climate vulnerabilities (stress test)
I’m pleased to share some of the Zwolle Adaptation Strategy
A climate vulnerability assessment or stress test has been per-
(ZAS) key highlights in English.
formed. The different vulnerabilities to climate change, like pluvial floods, heat stress, droughts and fluvial floods were
Zwolle delta city
placed in mutual perspective, and in relation to water quality,
Zwolle is a real delta city with water on all sides. The KNMI’14
vital infrastructure, mobility and building programme, which
(national) climate scenario’s show that Zwolle must also be
focusses on reconstruction.
prepared for even more water and for longer dry and warm periods. Together with the two regional partners (water
Following a light-version of the stress test based on the Cli-
board of Drents Overijsselse Delta “WDODelta” and the prov-
mate Atlas of WDODelta (December 2016), Zwolle conducted
ince of Overijssel), the municipality of Zwolle explores the
more in-depth stress tests. Different situations, including
possibilities for the future to make the regional and urban
9 rainfall events (pluvial flooding), different regional fluvial
water systems more robust, in line with the primary water
flooding scenarios (regional water courses) and two heat sce-
system. Possible solutions are found in a combination of: (a)
narios (tropical day and warm nights) were investigated. Vari-
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R ESI LI ENT ZWOL LE ous analyses and filters were then applied to this. This has provided tailored insight into the level of specific urban land use, like buildings and infrastructure. More info can be found in the geo-portal Climate Atlas Zwolle for professionals as well as in the public version of the Climate Atlas. Not all districts and neighbourhoods in the city face the same climate stress challenges. For this Zwolle is divided into 55 subareas based on water sheds in the (storm) water system, elevation of the surface levels and urban typologies. The climate stress effects (pluvial floods, heat stress, droughts and fluvial floods) are translated into these subareas in the following climate hot-spot maps.
In delta city of Zwolle water comes from 5 sides: (1) wind/ storm, (2) rain, (3) rivers, (4), regional watercourses, (5) groundwater (image by courtesy of City of Zwolle) Follow-up research is needed, especially into the risks in the built-up area in Zwolle due to increasing drought and heat stress. For the time being, drought does not seem like a major issue in Zwolle. The groundwater levels are almost the same as the water levels in the city canals. During the dry summer of 2018, the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management and the Dutch association of Water Boards presented a drought monitor that outlined a national picture of water shortages. It’s considered to develop such a drought monitor for the Zwolle region and / or to make it specific to the built environment
Hot-spot maps of climate change effects (from left to right and top to down): pluvial floods, heat stress, droughts, and fluvial floods (maps by Royal HaskoningDHV)
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Mark and Focus, Vol 2, Issue 2
Dialogues on climate risks and spatial adaptation measure The Zwolle Adaptation Strategy (ZAS) isn’t a generic campaign. Zwolle opts for a targeted strategy in which actors are actively involved, to solve specific challenges and co-create opportunities. And the municipality of Zwolle cannot implement climate adaptation alone. Measures must also be taken by owners on private property. The municipality is therefore seeking explicit cooperation with private parties and residents. For this various city talks, multiple actor meetings with joined interests, urban design ateliers and climate risk dialogue workshops have been organized. To accelerate implementation of climate adaptation projects in Zwolle and in the IJssel-Vechtdelta region the Climate Campus partnership for professionals has been established in 2018. And to help private parties and residents, the municipality of Zwolle has appointed a so-called “climate proof” acceleration team. This team provides (internal) road shows about the role of the municipality, facilitates, inspires and motivates action in climate adaptation. In addition, new regulations are needed to get the sponsorship done. Parts of Zwolle are largely paved with little space for blue and green infrastructure, especially in the areas in and around the historical city centre. Moreover, the drainage capacity around the city centre (outside the dikes) is limited. Zwolle is actively working in the focus areas with little surface water and a lot of paving. Following the risk dialogues, Zwolle takes the initiative to draw up so-called “blue-green solution maps” in collaboration with interested parties and residents. Design principles for a blue-green city Working towards a liveable and attractive green-blue city, is at the forefront of the Zwolle Adaptation Strategy. By strengthening green infrastructure and giving water more space in both the public and private domain, Zwolle has the potential to grow into the blue-green city of the Netherlands. Zwolle is therefore focusing on a green-blue design based on the following three principles: Blue-Green design principle
Spatial scale
Who?
1. Sufficient urban “sponges” for detaining (using), retaining or delaying rainwater.
Buildings, streets and neighbourhoods.
Municipality of Zwolle together with its residents and actors.
2. Blue-green city network on which “sponges” can drain excess water and in which discharge and storage takes place.
Neighbourhoods, districts and city.
Municipality of Zwolle together with water board of WDODelta.
3. Emergency valves for the blue-green network and overflow areas where water can temporarily go in extreme situations.
City, region and delta.
City of Zwolle together with water board of WDODelta, province of Overijssel and neighbouring municipalities.
Implementation agenda vision 2050 The Adaptation Strategy for Zwolle encourages a new way of working, a “new normal” in which climate effects are structurally and naturally considered in all tasks of the municipality of Zwolle and the water board of WDODelta. The adaptation strategy is flexibly constructed based on the following sub-documents: (a) spatial elaboration in a ‘blue-green’ city, (b) the ‘new normal’ for professionals, (c) private action perspective, (d) financing, (e) regulations and (f) monitoring & navigation. The ZAS provides a product environment for professionals, actors and residents of Zwolle. The public version consists of the city website, brochure, climate atlas and video. For professionals, the ZAS consists of the full strategy document, geo-portal climate atlas for professionals, the aforementioned sub-documents and an implementation agenda 2019-2023.
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R ESI LI ENT ZWOL LE
Urban planners, landscape designers and water management engineers, both from the municipality of Zwolle and the water board of WDODelta, working together on a liveable and attractive blue-green city of the future (photo by Royal HaskoningDHV)
Conceptual design of a blue-green city of Zwolle in 2050, projected on the existing water systems and green infrastructure (map by city of Zwolle and Royal HaskoningDHV)
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Mark and Focus, Vol 2, Issue 2
This Zwolle implementation agenda captures the first steps in the transition towards a liveable and attractive blue-green Zwolle. The monitoring & navigation section of the adaptation strategy illustrates pathways for achieving the long-term goals. While the national Delta Plan on Spatial Adaption has set spatial adaptation goals for 2050, the Zwolle Adaptation Strategy also anticipates on a broader evolution of the city and its water system after 2050. This broader ambition is captured in the transition to a Water Sensitive Zwolle by ensuring resilience through higher-order services such as social amenity and environmental protection, provide reliable water services under constrained resources, and ensure inter-generational equity and resilience to climate change. For this Zwolle participates as one of 7 pilot cities in the EU-funded Interreg CATCH-project: ‘water sensitive Cities: the Answer To CHallenges of extreme weather events’.
The adaptation strategy for Zwolle is flexibly constructed based on the following sub-documents (from left to right and top to down): (a) spatial elaboration in a ‘blue-green’ city, (b) the ‘new normal’ for professionals, (c) private action perspective, (d) financing, (e) regulations and (f) monitoring & navigation (image:city of Zwolle, Stadsstromen and Royal HaskoningD)
Working on a blue-gree city of Zwolle contributes to spatial quality, living environment, health, biodiversity, property value, etc. In the combination of three blue-green design priciples, the city is robust and has sufficient resilience to cope with the effects of climate change (pluvial floods, heat stress, drought and fluvial floods). *Nanco Dolman is Leading Professional in Water Resilient Cities at Royal HaskoningDHV
Museum de Fundatie along city canal in Zwolle (photo by courtesy of City of Zwolle)
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palgrave.com Environment : Environmental Management Brears, Robert C., Mitidaption, Christchurch, New Zealand
The Green Economy and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Presents a series of case studies that illustrate how cities, states, nations and regions of differing climates, lifestyles and income-levels have implemented policies to reduce water-energy-food nexus pressures Discusses the components of the food-water-energy nexus and the pressures it faces from rapid economic growth and climate change Provides a review of the various fiscal and non-fiscal tools available for reducing the global demand on the water, energy and food sectors This book argues that a variety of policies will be required to create synergies between the
Palgrave Macmillan 1st edition
1st ed. 2018, XIV, 423 p.
water-energy-food nexus sectors while reducing trade-offs in the development of a green economy. Despite rising demand for water, energy and food globally, the governance of waterenergy-food sectors has generally remained separate with limited attention placed on the interactions that exist between them. Brears provides readers with a series of in-depth case studies of leading cities, states, nations and regions of differing climates, lifestyles and incomelevels from around the world that have implemented a variety of policy innovations to reduce
Printed book Hardcover
water-energy-food nexus pressures and achieve green growth. The Green Economy and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus will be of interest to town and regional planners, resource conservation managers, policymakers, international companies and organisations interested in
Printed book
reducing water-energy-food nexus pressures, environmental NGOs, researchers, graduate and
Hardcover
undergraduate students.
ISBN 978-1-137-58364-2
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ISBN 978-1-137-58364-2 / BIC: RNF / SPRINGER NATURE: SCU17009
Part of
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How communities are contesting green inequities
B y M a del ein e Wa h l un d
In many cities like Chicago, Barcelona or New York, green
sive planning. In some, cases, these strategies are combined
urban development schemes have been shown to produce
with tactics to avoid gentrification and risk of displacement.
inequalities. These inequalities may materialize as displaced communities as a result of new green spaces, their exclusion
Resistance against (green) gentrification
in the planning and design of green amenities, or simply a
Protests and direct denunciations are one articulation of such
lack of investment in green spaces in marginalized neigh-
resistance. In Valencia, the Parc Central is a public-private
borhoods. In response, community groups and civic society
partnership consisting of a 230,000 m2 park designed to con-
actors are increasingly mobilizing in support of low-income
nect several neighborhoods by burying the railway tracks cur-
and minority communities that have unequal access to urban
rently dividing the area. The redevelopment has resulted in
green space and infrastructure – and subsequently to healthy
the construction of four skyscrapers, luxury homes, shopping
urban environments.
centers and hotels. Facing the risk of rising property prices and gentrification, residents from the surrounding low-in-
As part of our GreenLULUs research in 40 cities across the US,
come neighborhoods have organized to protect existing trees
Canada, and Europe, we have started to examine community
from demolition, having provided refuge to many during the
activism in defense of urban green equity. A deeper look at
civil war and possessing a significant symbolic value for long-
these movements reveals four major trends in how commu-
term residents. Organized under the social platform “Salvem
nities strategically organize in favor of policies where urban
el Parc Central,� these residents also reject the construction
green amenities can become a true value for all. These trends
of more skyscrapers in a city that already hosts dozens of
involve strategies of community-led redevelopments, self-
empty buildings.
management of green spaces and demands for socially inclu-
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U RB AN GREE N E QUIT Y In the US, similar movements frame direct concerns about the appropriation of green spaces by whiter, more affluent communities and the creation of enclaves of green privilege. In Boston, for instance, environmental groups warn of the risk of appropriation and exclusive use over time of new green resilient parks in the neighborhoods of East Boston and South Boston, and eventually, the risk of new climate and home insecurities for long term residents. Community-driven greening Green space improvements such as tree planting, community gardens and park clean-up are also growing as a grassroots effort to improve access to food security, recreational opportunities, and urban nature. Examples of this include the successful development of community gardens in disadvantaged black and Latino neighborhoods in Oakland and communal green spaces that support citizens suffering from health problems related to environmental hazards or inadequate access to healthy food. However, as many of these community gardens are being co-opted as a branding mechanism to sell a “greener” neighborhood to more affluent newcomers, original residents face the threat of displacement. In an interview for the New Yorker in 2014, a community activist described the gentrification that followed: “Our work wasn’t the cause of gentrification, but our programs and our aesthetics were being used to sell land and help displace people”. This, in turn, has led to the adoption of anti-displacement strategies. In some cases, larger green neighbourhood developments are initiated by communities themselves. In response to the risk of gentrification, Community Land Trusts (CLT) and the provision of affordable housing by housing co-operatives or community development corporations are becoming common strategies to secure access to affordable houses in low-income communities undergoing green development. One of the CLTs is currently being developed in Anacostia, Washington DC, in an attempt to address gentrification from the construction of a 11th Street Bridge Park. Inclusive green development Urban green equity claims are largely interrelated with demands for participatory policy-making and planning processes. This can be achieved through formal channels and alliances with the local government, or involve more unconventional strategies such as squatting. Often a combination of the two have been necessary, as is the case of Dublin’s historical working-class neighborhood, The Liberties, where residents squatted and developed community gardens on vacant land previously designated for private development. By building alliances with other civil society groups, the network of activists was able to achieve the development of a skate park through a participatory process. Protection of green spaces in historically neglected areas Civic organizations and community mobilizations also participate to maintain communal green spaces in historically neglected areas—many of them under threat of redevelopment. While many of these movements relate to issues of social and racial justice and form part of a broader alliance actively engaged with ecological restoration and public health, others participate in municipal sponsored programs aimed at restoring green spaces in cities. As municipal programs are often initiated due to budget cuts and insufficient governmental spending to maintain green spaces, these programs have become a way for communities to build alliances with local governments around green space. In conclusion, local activists and communities are increasingly contesting and resisting unjust processes and outcomes through a variety of strategies, laying the groundwork for cities that are both green and equitable. As common strategies are developing among these movements, they also articulate clear demands for policies that can ensure green and healthy environments for all. *Madeleine researches green gentrification and strategies for social mobilization in Europe and North America for the GREENLULUs project as an affiliated researcher at BCNUEJ. This article was first published at: http://www.bcnuej.org/2019/05/10/how-communities-are-contesting-green-inequities/
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Mark and Focus, Vol 2, Issue 2
Re-connecting with the water cycle: circular technologies optimise our most precious
resource
B y N ex t G en Water, Al e c Wa l k er-Love a n d Steve G il l m a n
Appetite for water use continues to grow – from industrial
Alec Walker-Love and Steve Gillman tell us about the context,
processes and agriculture to intensity of urban demand. By
challenges and experts making this a reality at project test
2030, according to the UN, total global water demand is ex-
beds in The Netherlands and United Kingdom.
pected to exceed supply by 40% and approximately half of the world’s population will suffer from water stress.
Dutch aquifers bank rainwater to help farmers avoid going bust
The world needs to move away from a systematic ‘take-make-
Harvesting heat and clean energy from water gives northern
consume-dispose’ behaviour. This linear model assumes that
Europe sustainable edge
resources are abundant, available, and cheap to dispose of. By embracing ‘circular economy’ principles and technologi-
Climate change is increasing the risk of water shortages
cal innovation, we can preserve natural capital, optimise re-
across Europe, but researchers in the Netherlands are hop-
sources and improve system efficiency to boost sustainability
ing to ease pressure by generating a steady supply of clean
and bring new market dynamics throughout the water cycle.
water and heat from deep underground reservoirs known as
A flagship European project with 10 demonstration cases for
aquifers.
circular economy solutions is trying to do just this for the water sector. NextGen aims to challenge embedded thinking and
In the west of the Netherlands there is a sea of greenhouses
boost sustainability and bring new market dynamics through-
covering 4,500 hectares. Known as the Westland, this indoor
out the water cycle. Their work includes social acceptability
farming hub is home to 670 horticulture companies growing
testing, policy and regulation support and development of a
a wide variety of crops, from aubergines and tomatoes to cu-
future European Roadmap for Water in Circular Economy.
cumbers. Water is crucial to growing these plants inside, but
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C I R CULAR WATER TE CH despite being in a country famous for rivers and canals the region still faces shortages. “We had a very dry summer,” said Klaasjan Raat, a water resource management expert at KWR, a Dutch sustainable water institute. “We had a lack of groundwater which not only poses a risk to farmers - but also damages nature.” Westland pioneers a lot of sustainable water technology and researchers will now trial a new concept known as water banking, which deposits precipitation collected over the area during wetter periods and stores it in aquifers for a not-so-rainy day. The project is led by Raat who says this approach could help Westland balance demand in a climate change future where less rainfall is expected. “If pumping is balanced over time, and over an area, you maintain the quality and amount of water in that aquifer,” he said, but points out that Westland is currently “over-drafting”, meaning it withdraws more water from ground reserves than what is put back in. This is a long-term liability for the greenhouse farmers, warns Raat, but water banking could help them break-even; or even make a profit. “Rainwater that falls on the greenhouses [periodically] is not sufficient, but on average in the whole area [of Westland] over the year it is,” he said. Raat will recruit a group of farmers over 100 hectares and incentive them to pump their excess rainwater into the ground reserve. He is developing a pricing mechanism that will financially reward the farmers who deposit water into the aquifer and charge those who withdraw too much. He hopes it will be a self-containing system that finances itself. Aquifers are helping farmers elsewhere in Westland too, but this time in supplying a cleaner source of heat. Industry at the nearby port of Rotterdam produces waste heat that is used to warm water in large pipes before it is pumped into even deeper underground reservoirs, which act like a thermal energy battery. A geothermal energy ‘heat roundabout’ By 2020, these pipes will send the stored heat to 350,000 households as well as 1,000 hectares of greenhouses. Martin Bloemendal, a geothermal energy expert at Delft University of Technology, is working on this ‘heat roundabout’ and says it is a crucial component for these greenhouses because they also need higher temperatures to grow their crops. “We have different sources of heat that are readily available during the warmer periods, like solar heat,” he said. “But in winter there is not enough so they [greenhouses] need additional heating.” Winter means peak heat demand and if greenhouses don’t have a renewable source then fossil fuels often fill the gap, but storing waste heat diminishes this need because it gives access to thermal energy throughout the year. Unfortunately, not everywhere has the aquifers and infrastructure that the Netherlands do, and the rest of EU will need other solutions to make the most of every drop since 100 million people in the Europe are already facing water stress.
Harvesting energy and water from sewage gives northern Europe a sustainable edge A new wastewater treatment plant in England will trial an approach that could help more European countries reuse higher amounts of water and generate cleaner energy too In Redditch, England, a new wastewater treatment plant will use a combination of micro-filters and bacteria to turn sewage into reusable water and generate methane from the separated waste. The recovered methane could then be used to power the entire process.
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Mark and Focus, Vol 2, Issue 2
Peter Vale, technical lead of the plant at Severn Trent Water, a water utilities company in the England, said: “It fundamentally changes the energy balance of sewage treatment – we switch from being energy-intensive to maybe energy-neutral or even energy-positive.” The technology that makes this possible has existed for a few years, but it hasn’t been applied to northern Europe because the bacteria do not like the colder climate. But by recreating their ideal environment within the process, colder countries could soon utilise the technology. The new wastewater treatment plant will be built in the coming year and will treat 500,000 litres of sewage a day, which Vale says is equal to a couple thousands of households. The plant will also be used as a demonstration site showing other northern European regions how to better harvest energy from wastewater. “It does open up the possibility of more use of the treated effluent [wastewater] because you use the membrane [of microfilters] and that effectively disinfects it,” said Vale. The clean water these plants create could be used for agriculture, industrial use or human consumption which translates into less water needed from the environment and less demand on reservoirs. But greater uptake of reuse technology in Europe, and beyond, requires a change in how wastewater and its by-products are perceived. Vale says clean energy helps spur interest, but scaling such solutions need better legislation which reframes treatment plants as a source of new materials rather than waste by-products. For instance, government subsidising materials like treated water and recovered fertilisers could see them become greener alternatives to conventional options. But for this, standards on water quality need to be implemented so the public and businesses feel confident that products coming from treatment plants can be applied, for example, in growing our food. Clogged policies According to Sergiy Moroz, senior policy officer for water at the European Environmental Bureau, an NGO based in Brussels, the standards required for reclaimed water are clear because it is laid out in EU policy, but it is now just about implementing these regulations at a national level to help remove any obstacles to entry. Each year 40,000 million cubic metres of wastewater is treated, but only 964 million cubic metres is reused. “We’ve had legislation on the books for a number of years,” he said, warning the delay of implementation at a national level is adding pressure to Europe’s existing supplies. “Only 40% of our rivers, lakes and groundwater are at good status – they are facing both pollution problems and over extraction problems as well.” Climate change will see droughts become more frequent and exasperate the situation further, which Moroz says makes it imperative that member start to “prepare and adapt” to deal with the complex and interlinked issues the environment faces. Supporting water reuse is key in this challenge, but Moroz says we cannot focus just on efficiency, it needs to be part of a wider management plan that protects where our water comes from.
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Mark and Focus, Vol 2, Issue 2
Developing the circular water economy B y R o ber t C. Brea r s
Water utilities are beginning to promote the circular water
charge’ strategy. In this strategy, water is ‘withdrawn’ from
economy to not only mitigate greenhouse gas emissions but
streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, oceans, and groundwater
also enhance resilience to climate change.
reservoirs as well as harvested directly as rainwater. Water is then ‘used’ by municipalities, industries, agriculture, the
In our current economic model, manufactured capital, human
environment, etc. within the water cycle, including for con-
capital, and natural capital all contribute to human welfare by
sumptive and non-consumptive uses. Non-consumptive used
supporting the production of goods and services in the eco-
water is ‘returned’ to the river basin directly or via a munici-
nomic process, where natural capital — the world’s stock of
pal treatment facility. Depending on the location within the
natural resources (provided by nature before their extraction
basin this returned water could then be used downstream or
or processing by humans) — is typically used for material and
lost to the basin.
energy inputs into production and acts as a ‘sink’ for waste from the economic process. This economic model can be best
While the current linear economic model has generated an
described as ‘linear’ which typically involves economic actors
unprecedented level of growth, the model has led to con-
(people or organisations) harvesting and extracting natural
straints on the availability of natural resources in addition to
resources, using them to manufacture a product, and selling
the generation of waste and environmental degradation. In
a product to other economic actors, who then discard it when
response to climate change, increasing resource scarcity, and
it no longer serves its purpose.
environmental degradation, governments around the world are implementing a variety of policies to encourage the tran-
In the linear economy, following this ‘Take-Make-Dispose’
sition towards the ‘circular economy’ that focuses on reduc-
model, the water sector typically employs the ‘Take-Use-Dis-
ing material consumption, reusing materials, and recovering
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C I R CULAR WATE R ECONO M Y materials from waste. The Circular Water Economy In the context of water resources management, water utilities are beginning to promote the circular water economy that reduces water consumption, reuses and recycles water and wastewater, and recovers materials, including heat and minerals, from water and wastewater to not only mitigate greenhouse gas emissions but also enhance resilience to climate change. Reducing Water Usage with Smart Meters in Singapore To meet future demand for water with today’s technologies, Singapore’s Public Utilities Board’s (PUB) energy footprint will need to quadruple from the current 1,000GWh/year to 4,000GWh/year. To reduce this demand, PUB is trialling a smart water network that will collect detailed data on household water consumption to build customer consumption profiles and identify consumption patterns and trends. The data will then be analysed and provided to customers enabling them to monitor their water usage patterns and better manage water consumption. PUB will also enable customers to set water-saving goals and track their performance. This is part of an experiment to see if game playing is more effective at engaging and motivating customers to conserve water rather than increasing water prices. Reusing Water in New York City New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection has launched its On-Site Water Reuse Grant Pilot Program to provide commercial, mixed-use, and multi-family residential property owners with incentives to install water reuse systems. Grants are available for water reuse systems at the individual building and district level, with district-scale projects involving two or more parcels of land such as a housing development, where the project reduces demand in the shared distribution system. Individual building-scale projects can receive up to $250,000 in reimbursement for a system designed to save at least 32,000 gallons per day (gpd), and district-scale projects are eligible to receive up to $500,000 in reimbursement for a system designed to save at least 94,000 gpd. The NYC Construction Code regulates two types of on-site water reuse systems that can be installed: wastewater reuse systems (black water, greywater, rainwater) for non-potable uses including flushing of toilets and urinals, laundry, and subsurface drip irrigation systems and rainwater reuse systems for non-potable uses including subsurface drip irrigation. Recovering Biogas in Stockholm In Stockholm, the two sewage treatment plants, Henriksdal and Bromma, serve more than one million people and industries in the city plus surrounding municipalities. Rather than viewing the city’s wastewater as waste, it is being turned into a resource. During the sewage treatment process, the organic material is separated in the form of sludge from the water. In total, the two plants produce around a million tons of sludge per year. When the sludge is digested biogas is formed, providing a steady stream of vehicle fuel: currently, around 17 million cubic meters of crude gas is produced which is sold to Scandinavian Biogas, who then transform the raw gas into vehicle gas. The gas that is not converted to vehicle gas is used for heating and electricity generation. Most of the gas produced at Henriksdal is used by SL’s inner-city buses. Meanwhile, vehicle gas from Bromma is sold, partly from a tank outside the plant and partly at other filling stations in the city, to taxis, private cars, buses, and waste trucks. Overall, the biogas mitigates more than 22,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Concluding thought In conclusion, a range of innovative technologies is available to close the loop and create a circular water economy.
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Palgrave Studies in Climate Resilient Societies
CALL FOR PROPOSALS SERIES EDITOR Robert C. Brears is the founder of Our Future Water, Mitidaption, Mark and Focus, and is a Director on the International Board of the Indo Global Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture.
ABOUT THE SERIES The Palgrave Studies in Climate Resilient Societies series provides readers with an understanding of what the terms resilience and climate resilient societies mean; the best practices and lessons learnt from various governments, in both nonOECD and OECD countries, implementing climate resilience policies (in other words what is ‘desirable’ or ‘undesirable’ when building climate resilient societies); an understanding of what a resilient society potentially looks like; knowledge of when resilience building requires slow transitions or rapid transformations; and knowledge on how governments can create coherent, forwardlooking and flexible policy innovations to build climate resilient societies that: support the conservation of ecosystems; promote the sustainable use of natural resources; encourage sustainable practices and management systems; develop resilient and inclusive communities; ensure economic growth; and protect health and livelihoods from climatic extremes.
CONTACT FOR PROPOSALS We welcome proposals from both academics and practitioners working in this highly interdisciplinary field. For further information about the series or if you would like to discuss a proposal please contact: Rachael Ballard, Publisher | Geography, Environment and Sustainability | rachael.ballard@palgrave.com Robert C. Brears, Series Editor | rcb.chc@hotmail.com
Learn more at palgrave.com A43039
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M&F MAGAZINE
