The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration And Sustainability

The Sustainable City IV Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

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FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON URBAN REGENERATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

THE SUSTAINABLE CITY IV CONFERENCE CHAIRMEN Ü. Mander

University of Tartu, Estonia C. A. Brebbia Wessex Institute of Technology, UK E. Tiezzi University of Siena, Italy INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE I. Antoniou E. Brabec J. L. R. Chandler A. Ebel B. Fath F. Gomez Lopera M. Hartnett S. E. Jorgensen H. Kawashima B. Kazimee

T. Kitahara N. Marchettini R. Pulselli M. Ruth L. Serra W. Timmermans J. A. Turegano A. Van Nes G. M. Veca L. Wadhwa

Organised by Wessex Institute of Technology, UK Tartu University, Estonia University of Siena, Italy Sponsored by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment The International Journal of Ecodynamics

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment Transactions Editor Carlos Brebbia Wessex Institute of Technology Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst Southampton SO40 7AA, UK Email: [email protected]

Editorial Board Y N Abousleiman University of Oklahoma USA D Almorza Gomar University of Cadiz Spain M Andretta Montecatini Italy J G Bartzis Institute of Nuclear Technology Greece J Boarder Cartref Consulting Systems UK H Boileau ESIGEC France A H-D Cheng University of Mississippi USA A Cieslak Technical University of Lodz Poland M da Conceicao Cunha University of Coimbra Portugal A B de Almeida Instituto Superior Tecnico Portugal C Dowlen South Bank University UK J P du Plessis University of Stellenbosch South Africa D Elms University of Canterbury New Zealand

A Aldama IMTA Mexico A M Amer Cairo University Egypt J M Baldasano Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya Spain A Bejan Duke University USA B Bobee Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique Canada C A Borrego University of Aveiro Portugal C-L Chiu University of Pittsburgh USA W Czyczula Krakow University of Technology Poland M Davis Temple University USA K Dorow Pacific Northwest National Laboratory USA R Duffell University of Hertfordshire UK A Ebel University of Cologne Germany D M Elsom Oxford Brookes University UK

D Emmanouloudis Technological Educational Institute of Kavala Greece R A Falconer Cardiff University UK G Gambolati Universita di Padova Italy F Gomez Universidad Politecnica de Valencia Spain W E Grant Texas A & M University USA A H Hendrickx Free University of Brussels Belgium I Hideaki Nagoya University Japan W Hutchinson Edith Cowan University Australia K L Katsifarakis Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece B A Kazimee Washington State University USA D Koga Saga University Japan B S Larsen Technical University of Denmark Denmark D Lewis Mississippi State University USA J W S Longhurst University of the West of England UK Ü Mander University of Tartu Estonia J D M Marsh Griffith University Australia K McManis University of New Orleans USA M B Neace Mercer University USA

J W Everett Rowan University USA D M Fraser University of Cape Town South Africa N Georgantzis Universitat Jaume I Spain K G Goulias Pennsylvania State University USA C Hanke Danish Technical University Denmark S Heslop University of Bristol UK W F Huebner Southwest Research Institute USA D Kaliampakos National Technical University of Athens Greece H Kawashima The University of Tokyo Japan D Kirkland Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners Ltd UK J G Kretzschmar VITO Belgium A Lebedev Moscow State University Russia K-C Lin University of New Brunswick Canada T Lyons Murdoch University Australia N Marchettini University of Siena Italy J F Martin-Duque Universidad Complutense Spain C A Mitchell The University of Sydney Australia R Olsen Camp Dresser & McKee Inc. USA

R O’Neill Oak Ridge National Laboratory USA J Park Seoul National University Korea B C Patten University of Georgia USA V Popov Wessex Institute of Technology UK M R I Purvis University of Portsmouth UK A D Rey McGill University Canada R Rosset Laboratoire d’Aerologie France S G Saad American University in Cairo Egypt J J Sharp Memorial University of Newfoundland Canada I V Stangeeva St Petersburg University Russia T Tirabassi Institute FISBAT-CNR Italy J-L Uso Universitat Jaume I Spain A Viguri Universitat Jaume I Spain G Walters University of Exeter UK

K Onishi Ibaraki University Japan G Passerini Universita delle Marche Italy M F Platzer Naval Postgraduate School USA H Power University of Nottingham UK Y A Pykh Russian Academy of Sciences Russia A C Rodrigues Universidade Nova de Lisboa Portugal J L Rubio Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificacion Spain R San Jose Technical University of Madrid Spain H Sozer Illinois Institute of Technology USA E Tiezzi University of Siena Italy S G Tushinski Moscow State University Russia R van Duin Delft University of Technology Netherlands Y Villacampa Esteve Universidad de Alicante Spain

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The Sustainable City IV Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Editors Ü. Mander

University of Tartu, Estonia C. A. Brebbia Wessex Institute of Technology, UK E. Tiezzi University of Siena, Italy

Ü. Mander University of Tartu, Estonia

E. Tiezzi University of Siena, Italy

C. A. Brebbia Wessex Institute of Technology, UK Published by WIT Press Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst, Southampton, SO40 7AA, UK Tel: 44 (0) 238 029 3223; Fax: 44 (0) 238 029 2853 E-Mail: [email protected] http://www.witpress.com For USA, Canada and Mexico Computational Mechanics Inc 25 Bridge Street, Billerica, MA 01821, USA Tel: 978 667 5841; Fax: 978 667 7582 E-Mail: [email protected] http://www.witpress.com British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 1-84564-040-3 ISSN: 1746-448X (print) ISSN: 1743-3541 (online) The texts of the papers in this volume were set individually by the authors or under their supervision. Only minor corrections to the text may have been carried out by the publisher. No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher, the Editors and Authors for any injury and/ or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. © WIT Press 2006 Printed in Great Britain by Athenaeum Press Ltd., Gateshead. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publisher.

Preface This book contains most of the papers presented at the 4th International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability (The Sustainable City) which took place in Tallin, Estonia in 2006. The meeting was organised by Tartu University, the Wessex Institute of Technology and the University of Siena, and follows three very successful meetings held in Rio, Brazil (2000); Segovia, Spain (2002); and Siena, Italy (2004). The Honorary Chairman of the Conference is the late Nobel Prize Winner, Ilya Prigogine, who passed away in 2003. Prigogine’s work on ecological systems was the inspiration behind many of the papers contained in this book and the motive behind the launching of the International Journal of Ecodynamics, another byproduct of the Sustainably City conferences. It was deemed appropriate in the circumstances to establish a prize in honour of Professor Prigogine, consisting of a medal and award. The first prize (2004) was awarded to Professor Sven Jorgensen of the Pharmaceutical University of Denmark for his pioneering work on the modelling of ecological systems. The second was given to Professor Enzo Tiezzi of the University of Siena in 2005, whose novel work in evolutionary thermodynamics has focused on finding satisfactory solutions for sustainable development. The third medal was awarded to Professor Bernard Patten of the University of Georgia, who has contributed to the better understanding of ecological systems with his Environs theory. Urban areas produce a series of environmental problems arising from the consumption of natural resources and the consequent generation of waste and pollution. These problems contribute to the development of social and economic imbalances. All these problems which continue to grow in our society require new solutions. The contents of this book address the many inter-related aspects of the urban environment from transport and mobility to social exclusion and crime prevention. The sections of this book deal with the following topics: Architectural issues; Cultural heritage; Planning issues; Planning, development and management; Strategy and development; Land use and management; Environmental management; Energy resources; Sustainable transportation and transport integration; Traffic and transportation; The community and the city; Socio-economic issues, and Public safety.

The Editors are indebted to the University of Tartu for hosting this important event, particularly the Prigogine Award Ceremony. They also wish to express their gratitude to all authors for their contributions and to the members of the International Scientific Advisory Committee for their help in promoting the Meeting and producing this volume. The Editors Tallinn, 2006

Contents Section 1: Architectural issues The use of greenrooves for the mitigation of environmental problems in urban areas A. Teemusk & Ü. Mander......................................................................................3 Urban architecture for the advancement of small-scale township enterprises: relevance of the scholarship G. P. Setshedi ......................................................................................................19 International assessment of the environmental performance of housing, and prospects for sustainable cities R. Horne ..............................................................................................................29 Thermal characterisation of bio-based building materials S. Costanzo, A. Cusumano, C. Giaconia & G. Giaconia....................................39 Section 2: Cultural heritage Sustainable reconstruction and planning strategies for Afghan cities: conservation in cultural and environmental heritage B. A. Kazimee ......................................................................................................49 History integrated urban transformation W. van der Toorn Vrijthoff ..................................................................................61 Historical centers: sustainable economic spaces, management for sustainable projects R. Jordán, J. Plaut, G. Carlo Magnoli, R. M. Pulselli & E. Tiezzi.....................71

Section 3: Planning issues Sustainability in cities: the green areas and climatic comfort as fundamental parameters F. Gómez, V. Sifre, L. Montero, V. De Vicente & L. Gil.....................................83 Speed in the sustainable city P. Yıldız ...............................................................................................................95 Sustainable regional development and provincial development planning: the case of Bolu O. Özbek............................................................................................................105 Valuing the effects of urban road-network projects: a methodological proposal A. Granà............................................................................................................115 Mobile positioning in sustainability studies: the social positioning method in studying commuter’s activity spaces in Tallinn R. Ahas, Ü. Mark, O. Järv & M. Nuga..............................................................127 Planning with PlaceMaker: complex indices for sustainable projects M. Sepe..............................................................................................................137 Green-switch: reducing the conflict between the industrial and the residential interface A. Sharma..........................................................................................................147 Section 4: Planning, development and management KiwiGrowTM: a community and environmental health framework for sustainable development P. G. Luckman...................................................................................................155 On the way to Gigapolises: can global urban development become sustainable? M. Keiner & W. A. Schmid................................................................................169 Seeking a unified urban systems theory D. Coelho & M. Ruth ........................................................................................179 What the “new Istanbul” shaped by capital makes one think… S. Turgut............................................................................................................189

Use of atmospheric modelling for the territorial planning of technological structures G. Genon, E. Brizio & M. Poggio .....................................................................199 Urban regeneration of historic towns: regeneration strategies for Pauni, India P. Parlewar & Y. Fukukawa .............................................................................209 Environmental policy integration in urban spatial planning: the approach of Rotterdam V. Simeonova.....................................................................................................219 How many light globes does it take to change a footprint? M. Lenzen & P. Maganov .................................................................................229 Spatial-temporal changes of regional sustainability: an empirical study in Taiwan Y.-T. Hung & K.-W. Tsou..................................................................................239 A critical analysis of regional planning in South Africa in the 21st century J. Lodi................................................................................................................251 Section 5: Strategy and development Entropy and the city N. Marchettini, F. M. Pulselli & E. Tiezzi ........................................................263 IRMA: a European project for a sustainable City Concept I. G. Sánchez & E. K. Lauritzen........................................................................273 When does stacking become vertical sprawl? I. S. Y. Hwang....................................................................................................283 Can elevated pedestrian walkways be sustainable? J. Rotmeyer........................................................................................................293 Structuring the World down to cities and sustainable air sharing H. H. Kleizen .....................................................................................................303 Strategic (spatial) planning approach in Turkey: new expectations P. Ozden ............................................................................................................313 Anthropocentrism and sustainable development: oxymoron or symbiosis? C. Speed ............................................................................................................323

Strategic urban design from a sustainable tourism perspective: a case study from the city of Guangzhou, China X. Wang, J. Wang & R. Wennersten .................................................................333 Section 6: Land use and management The ecological footprint of building construction S. Bastianoni, A. Galli, V. Niccolucci & R. M. Pulselli ....................................345 From Brownfield to blue sky: Sydney Harbour’s renaissance S. Bargwanna ....................................................................................................357 A study on the future of urban models in the third millennium: a sustainable urban model for Kırıkkale, Turkey K. Özcan & F. Eren...........................................................................................367 Section 7: Environmental management Characterization of particulate matter from urban, industrial and rural environments N. Quaranta, M. Caligaris, M. Unsen & G. Pelozo..........................................379 Life cycle guarantors of sustainability R. Paluoja & S. Moore......................................................................................389 Environmental management and numerical models: examples from long-term ecological research on a real case study C. Solidoro, G. Cossarini & D. Melaku Canu ..................................................399 Recycling programs in partnership with scavenger associations as a sustainability factor in Metropolitan São Paulo, Brazil H. Ribeiro, G. R. Besen, W. R. Günther, P. Jacobi & J. Demajorovic .............409 On energy requirements and potential energy savings in Italian hospital buildings G. Bizzarri .........................................................................................................419 Wind and environmental effects on overhead high voltage transmission lines A. F. Abdel-Gawad & A.-S. A. Zoklot ...............................................................433 Capacity building for effective municipal environmental management in South Africa T. C. Meyer & E. le Roux ..................................................................................445

Minimization of adverse environmental effects of a sports complex through implementation of green management M. Abbaspour, A. R. Karbasi & S. Khadivi ......................................................457 Strategic spatial planning and environmental management: the impact of Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme in Rio de Janeiro V. A. Carneiro da Silva & G. Ribeiro ...............................................................467 Rational environmental goals and sustainable planning K. Edvardsson ...................................................................................................477 Section 8: Energy resources Environmental accounting of buildings: outcomes from the emergy analysis F. M. Pulselli, R. M. Pulselli & E. Simoncini ...................................................489 The emergy synthesis for the Province of Pescara (Italy) and strategic choices for a sustainable development M. Di Donato, A. Galli & F. M. Pulselli...........................................................499 Sustainability of energy use in Estonian settlements and regions H. Hallemaa, H. Vitsur, T. Oja & Ü. Mander...................................................509 Emergy approach for the environmental sustainability assessment of the urban water system of Genoa (NW Italy) P. Vassallo, C. Paoli, N. Bazzurro, C. Masciulli & M. Fabiano ......................521 Hydrogen city C. Jefferson & J. Skinner ..................................................................................531 Final architecture diploma projects in the analysis of the UPC buildings energy performance M. Bosch, I. R. Cantalapiedra, F. López & G. Ruiz .........................................541 Section 9: Sustainable transportation and transport integration Making liveable and sustainable major urban streets: the case of Begin Road in Tel-Aviv – Jaffa Y. Rofè, R. Shliselberg, M. Szeinuk, R. Adiv & R. Ishaq ...................................551 Development of sustainable traffic planning: analysis of Danish planning visions 2005 and 2015 S. L. Jeppesen & S. Leleur ................................................................................561

The ethics of mobility: a framework for assessing mobility paradigms T. Shannon ........................................................................................................569 Relevant aspects of automobile user behaviour: a study under the sustainable consumption concept in the transportation sector L. A. Noriega & J. Waisman .............................................................................579 Effects of a non-motorized transport infrastructure development in the Bucharest metropolitan area M. Popa, S. Raicu, D. Costescu & F. Rusca .....................................................589 Is the pedestrian city relevant to the sustainable city? Mobility, urbanization and health K. Maikov & M. Pihlak .....................................................................................599 Evaluating walking promotion policies with regard to mobility representations, appropriations and practices in public space S. Lavadinho......................................................................................................607 Section 10: Traffic and transportation Suburbanisation and commuting modes in the Tallinn metropolitan area K. Leetmaa, P. Metspalu & T. Tammaru ..........................................................621 Assessment of the sustainability of the street network in Kaunas city A. Guzys, J. Ilgakojyte-Bazariene & J. Sapragonas .........................................631 Analysis of transport modes in the urban environment: an application for a sustainable mobility system F. M. M. Cirianni & G. Leonardi .....................................................................637 First study on mobility for a medium size town: Ciudad Real, a Spanish experience B. Guirao & D. Briceño ....................................................................................647 Sustainable urban transport development: a modelling approach M. H. P. Zuidgeest & M. F. A. M. van Maarseveen..........................................659 Section 11: The community and the city The burglar as a space explorer in his own neighborhood A. van Nes .........................................................................................................671

New Urbanism and Chicago N. M. Truog .......................................................................................................681 Community-based quality of life indicators for urban areas as derived in Galway City, Ireland F. Fahy & M. Ó Cinnéide .................................................................................691 Space for community – the study of resident involvement in neighbourhood space management P. Castell ...........................................................................................................703 The neighbourhood imperative in the sustainable city W. Humber & T. Soomet ...................................................................................713 Linking perceptions of health to neighbourhood environment in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Portugal H. Nogueira, P. Santana & R. Santos ...............................................................723 Community in the city? Social exclusion in neighbourhoods in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada J. Eyles, K. Wilson, S. Keller-Olaman & S. Elliott ...........................................733 Sustainability knowledge, attitude and practices of Malaysians M. S. Aini, P. Laily, Y. Nurizan, H. Sharifah Azizah, J. Zuroni & S. Norhasmah ................................................................................................743 Community participation in urban renewal projects: experiences and challenges of the case of Johannesburg, South Africa W. Didibhuku Thwala .......................................................................................753 Section 12: Socio-economic issues Small and medium-sized enterprises, employment generation and regional development in Estonia U. Venesaar & Ü. Marksoo...............................................................................765 Sustainable Scotland: putting environmental justice at the heart of the policy agenda? E. McDowell & C. McWilliams.........................................................................775 Urban environmental quality: perceptions and measures in three UK cities G. Moore, B. Croxford, M. Adams, M. Refaee, T. Cox & S. Sharples..............785

Section 13: Public safety Pedestrian safety at urban crossings in Estonia D. Antov, T. Rõivas, H. Rõuk & Ü. Mander......................................................797 Towards an integral accessible public area in the city E. De Winne ......................................................................................................807 The survey of drinking water supply in Estonia from the point of view of public health E. Indermitte, A. Saava & A. Kull .....................................................................817 Author index ....................................................................................................827

Section 1 Architectural issues

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The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

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The use of greenroofs for the mitigation of environmental problems in urban areas A. Teemusk & Ü. Mander Institute of Geography, University of Tartu, Estonia

Abstract Greenroofs are new technology that can be applied in areas such as present-day cities, where less and less green space is available. Greenroofs have many benefits: they make buildings more thermally efficient, prolong the life of a roof, ameliorate extremes of temperature and humidity, reduce surface water runoff, help to reduce the urban heat island effect, air pollution and noise, and provide green space for people and wildlife. Greenroofs have been studied in many countries, from the point of view of thermal performance, protection of the roof membrane, stormwater retention and runoff quality. Although the results are sitespecific, it is necessary to review these studies. Greenroofs were found to be effective in helping to keep buildings cool in summer and also to reduce building energy consumption. Research showed that planted roofs reduce the temperature fluctuation in the roof membrane. Greenroofs delay rainfall runoff and reduce runoff rate and volume. The results of greenroof runoff water quality showed that they behave as a sink or as source of contaminants in runoff water. The results of the investigation of Light Weight Aggregates (LWA)-based greenroofs in Estonia showed that an extensive greenroof is sufficiently capable of protecting the layers of the base roof from extreme temperatures. Typically, light rain is retained, whereas heavy rain penetrates the greenroof media. The quality of the runoff water varies depending on runoff character and the pollutants accumulated on the roof. Keywords: energy saving, evapotranspiration, greenroof, rooftop garden, runoff quality, thermal performance, water retention.

1

Introduction

The main objective of this study is to give a sufficient review of the results of research that has been performed to find out how greenroofs work in reality. We also present the results of the first research into greenroofs in Estonia. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060011

4 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 1.1 Greenroof term and types Greenroofs or rooftop gardens are a specialized roofing system that supports vegetation growth on rooftops. ‘Greenroof’ is the most common term, but other terms such as ‘planted roof’, ‘vegetated roof’, ‘grassed roof’ or ‘eco-roof’ are also used. Greenroofs are not a new concept. They have a long history, but today it is rapidly advancing technology that has the potential to improve the quality of urban life. Greenroofs are usually divided into two general categories: extensive and intensive, although mixed types and natural sod roofs [1] are also possible. ‘Extensive greenroofs’ have a thin substrate layer, low weight, low capital cost and can be installed over the flat roofs of existing buildings. This roof type is not usually designed to be accessible, except for maintenance. Vegetation normally consists of sedums, mosses, succulents, herbs or grasses and is selfsustaining. The thickness of an extensive greenroof’s substrate is <50–200 mm, and its weight can be <50–220 kg/m2. ‘Intensive roof gardens’ have a deep soil layer and because of their great weight, need a stronger building structure. They are usually accessible, and may include lawns, shrubs and tree plantings. The roof garden needs regular maintenance including irrigation, fertilizing and weeding, and is very expensive to build and maintain. The thickness of an intensive roof garden’s soil layer is >200 mm, and its weight can be 200–1000 kg/m2. 1.2 Greenroof construction Greenroof systems are established mainly on top of an existing roof structure, and consist of certain specific layers [1, 2]: – waterproofing membrane, typically made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), high-density polypropylene or bituminous fabrics. If waterproof materials are not root resistant, they must be protected from root penetration; – a drainage layer is needed to remove excess water from the growing medium and also to retain some water for irrigating the plants; a purpose-made fibrous plastic mat or a layer of gravel is often used for this; – a filter membrane prevents fine particles in the substrate layer from clogging the drainage layer, which is usually a geo-textile filter fabric; – a substrate layer (growing medium) is selected on the basis of water retention, water permeability, suitability for root growth and plant anchoring properties; the substrate layer usually consists of a mixture of soil, sand, gravel, organic matter and crushed brick; in Estonia a Light Weight Aggregate (LWA), which is lightweight, well-drained and silt-free, is mostly used in the substrate layer; if the roof’s slope is more than 20 degrees, supporting baffles are needed; – plants must be resistant to extreme temperatures, solar exposure, scarce water, as well as an excess of water and stronger winds; plants for extensive greenroofs must be low-growing and shallow-rooted.

2

Materials and methods

In addition to a review of studies that have been performed throughout the world, this paper also briefly describes how an LWA-based greenroof works in the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Estonian climate, as the result of observing an existing greenroof in Tartu. The task was to assess the thermal performance, stormwater retention potential and runoff water quality of a greenroof, and to compare those with modified bituminous membrane roofs (roofs had the same area – 120 m2). The studied greenroof consists of the following layers: modified bituminous base roof, plastic wave drainage layer (8 mm), rock wool for rainwater retention (80 mm) and substrate layer (100 mm) with LWA (66%), humus (30%) and clay (4%). The most common plant species are Sedum acre, Thymus serpyllum, Dianthus carthusianorum and Cerastium tomentosium. The temperature was measured using sensors (Pt1000TG8/E) after every 15 minutes, and recorded with a data logger produced by Comet System. The measuring time was June 2004 to April 2005. As the bituminous membrane of the base roof was inaccessible, the temperature was measured on the surface of both the roof and above the roof at 1 m, and also at the depth of 50 and 100 mm in the substrate layer. Because the surface of the greenroof was mainly covered by LWA (plant cover was 45%), the surface temperature expresses the temperature of the LWA. It must also be noted that plant cover was thicker on one side of the roof than the other side, which influenced rainwater runoff results. Stormwater runoff was manually measured on an hourly basis with 20litres canisters, or more frequently when necessary. The greenroof had two outflows, and there was one outflow for the reference roof. Runoff water samples were analyzed for pH, BOD7, COD, totalN, NO3-, NH4+, totalP, PO43-, SO42-, Ca2+ and Mg2+ by AS Tartu Veevärk (Water Works of Tartu).

3

Mitigation of environmental problems in urban areas

3.1 Protection of roof membrane An exposed roof membrane absorbs solar radiation during the day and its temperature rises, while in the evening its surface temperature drops. Daily temperature fluctuations create thermal stresses in the membrane and reduce its durability. The greenroof blocks the solar radiation from reaching the membrane, thus lowering its temperature and also minimizing temperature fluctuations. The life span of the membrane of a conventional roof is usually 20–25 years, but it is believed that a greenroof membrane may last twice as long. During the 22-month observation period (660 days) in Ottawa, Canada, Liu [3] found that the membrane temperature of the reference bituminous roof exceeded 30°C for 342 days, was above 50°C for 219 days and above 60°C for89 days. In comparison, the membrane under the greenroof only exceeded 30°C for 18 days, and never reached 40°C. The temperature fluctuation in the exposed membrane of the reference roof had a median of 42–47°C. The greenroof reduced the temperature fluctuation in the roof membrane to a median fluctuation of 5–7°C throughout the year. Wong et al [4] found that surface temperatures measured under different kinds of vegetation were much lower than

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

6 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability those measured on hard surfaces. The maximum temperature of the hard surface and under all kinds of plants was 57°C and 36°C respectively. The Estonian study produced the following main results. In the summer months, from June to August, the LWA’s surface heats and cools faster (amplitude 4.7°C to 54.8°C) on the sunny days than the surface of the bituminous roof (6.1°C to 52.7°C), remaining coolest at night. The temperature fluctuation at a depth of 100 mm was only 23.9°C (10.3°C to 34.2°C), and soil temperature was also more stable. Therefore the greenroof’s substrate layer reduced summer temperature fluctuations by 22.7°C. The number of days on which the temperature exceeded 30°C was 63 for the bituminous roof, but only 9 at a depth of 100 mm of the greenroof’s soil. Although LWA surface heating in the daytime and cooling in the evening involves corresponding changes in soil temperature, the latter fluctuates notably less, and thus the base roof is protected from large temperature fluctuations. The temperature at a depth of 100 mm rises slowly until afternoon, and then begins to fall just as slowly. At a depth of 50 mm the temperature runs in the same way, but is higher before noon and lower after noon. Since in summer the LWA’s temperature fluctuates even a little more than the temperature of the bituminous membrane, the immediate establishment of vegetation is recommended. In the autumn months (September–November), temperatures did not change much, due to cool and cloudy weather. In winter (December–March) temperatures were low both on the surface of the greenroof (min –13.6°C) and in the soil (min –9.8°C), because the snow cover was thin due to ablation by snowstorms. The reference roof was covered by a 200 mm thick snow layer, which kept the surface temperature relatively stable (min –8°C). In the winter days, the insulating effect of the snow cover is apparent. In spite of the equal thickness of the snow cover, the greenroof’s soil temperature is several degrees higher than the temperature of the surface of the reference roof. In spring the temperatures of roof surfaces fluctuated considerably due to daily sunshine and night frosts, whereas soil temperature was more stable. When the daytime sun heats and the night freezes it, the amplitude of the soil temperature (1.3°C) is remarkably less than that of the surface (20.1°C). 3.2 Reducing heat flow and energy cost Greenroofs are recognized as providing thermal performance and roof insulation for buildings. Of the total solar radiation absorbed by the planted roof, 27% is reflected by the plants, 60% is absorbed by the plants and the soil, and 13% is transmitted into the soil [5]. Many researches [5–9] have demonstrated that greenroofs reduce diurnal temperature variations in buildings by blocking solar radiation, which contributes to energy conservation. The greenroof acted as a thermal mass that effectively dampened the thermal fluctuations going through the roofing system. In the summer period a greenroof’s cooling effect is higher due to the evapotranspiration from plants and the evaporation of retained moisture from the soil. In the winter period a greenroof can help to reduce heat loss from buildings that act as an insulation membrane (Table 1). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

The key results and conclusions of the studies of thermal performance of greenroofs.

Study and location

Monitoring method

Results and conclusions

Palomo Del Barrio [6] and Theodosiou [7]; Mediterranean region

Mathematical model / combined computer model

Takakura et al [10]; Tokyo, Japan

Field measurements and computer simulation

Niachou et al [8]; Athens, Greece

Field measurements and mathematical approach

Onmura et al [11]; Japan

Field measurements and wind tunnel experiment

Greenroofs act as insulation, reducing the heat flux through the roof. The main characteristics are: foliage density (the leaf area index), foliage height, soil layer thickness (apparent density and moisture content), canopy evapotranspiration, green roof type, insulation layer thickness, relative humidity and wind speed. Greenroof plants must have a large foliage development and/or mainly horizontal leaf distribution. Measured results showed that the maximum difference between room air temperatures beneath the bare concrete roof and the ivy-covered roof was around 15°C. The simulation showed that for the soil covered, turf-covered and ivy-covered roofs, the heat flow was mostly from inside to outside, while for the bare concrete roof the heat flow was mostly from outside to inside. The surface temperatures of the outdoor spaces on the insulated buildings, both with and without the greenroof, was 26–40°C. For non-insulated buildings, temperatures vary between 28–40°C and 42–48°C respectively. Greenroofs have a significant thermal performance above non-insulated roofs, but for the well-insulated roofs, the role of the greenroof is almost inconsiderable. The evaporative cooling effect of a rooftop lawn garden yielded a 50% reduction in heat flux in the rooms below the garden. The evaporative component is an important role in reducing heat flux. Evaporation depended on the moisture content in the lawn. In closed spaces with planted roofs, the air temperature beneath the plants is nearly 4–5°C lower than that of the air above.

The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

Table 1:

7

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Liu [3]; Canada

Ottawa,

Field measurements

Continued.

The greenroof reduced the heat flow through the roofing system by over 75% in spring and summer. During the observation period (22 months), the greenroof reduced 95% of the heat gain and 26% of the heat loss as compared to the reference roof. In the autumn and early winter the growing medium acted as an insulation layer. On the other hand, as the growing medium froze, its insulation value was greatly diminished, but then snow coverage provided insulation to the roofing system. The greenroof effectively improved the energy efficiency of the roofing system in spring and summer. The average daily energy demand for space conditioning due to the heat flow through the reference bituminous roof was 6.0−7.5 kWh/day, and the greenroof reduced it to less than 1.5 kWh/day. The installation of a rooftop garden on a five-story commercial building can result in a 0.6– 14.5% saving in annual energy consumption. A rooftop garden with shrubs (300 mm thick soil and shrubs) was found to be most effective in reducing building energy consumption.

Wong et al [9]; Singapore

Energy simulation program

Wong et al [4]; Singapore

Field measurements

Heat transfer through the bare roof was greater than that through planted roofs, and much less heat gain was observed on planted roofs. Both the soil layer and planted vegetation play a role in the thermal benefits of the greenroof. Wet soil can provide an additional insulation effect to the roof. The ‘cooling effect’ of plants lasted from afternoon to sunrise the next day.

Kumar and Kaushik [12]; India

Mathematical model

Liu and Baskaran [13]; Toronto, Canada

Field measurements

A greenroof combined with solar thermal shading reduced averaged indoor air temperature by 5.1°C, from the average indoor air temperature for the bare roof. The greenroof provided a cooling potential of 3.02 kWh/day to maintain an average room air temperature of 25.7°C. A larger leaf area index reduces the canopy air temperature, stabilizing the fluctuating values and reducing the penetrating flux by nearly 4 W/m2. Greenroofs reduced heat flow by 70–90% in summer and 10-30% in winter. The potential energy saving was 19–26 kWh/m2/year. The deeper growing medium (225 mm) provided a 10% potential energy savings in the winter and <5% in the summer than the shallow growing medium (175 mm). The moisture availability for evapotranspiration was likely to be more important than the depth of the growing medium.

8 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Table 1:

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9

3.3 Reducing the urban heat island effect The ‘urban heat island effect’ (UHI) is the difference in temperature between urban areas and the surrounding undeveloped areas. It is caused by changes in the natural water and energy balance. Cities have large areas of dark materials such as roofs that absorb solar radiation and reflect this heat back into the atmosphere at night. The result of the UHI effect is that urban areas have higher air temperatures and lower air humidity than in the surrounding undeveloped areas. The intensity of a UHI depends on many factors, such as the size of the city and its energy consumption, geographical location, heat emission, absence of green space, month or season, time of day, and synoptic weather conditions [14]. Greenroofs can reduce UHI effect by increasing evapotranspiration, which creates a cooling effect, thereby reducing the temperature of the surroundings. But this effect is only more noticeable when numerous greenroofs are established side by side. Gomez et al [15] found that there was a heat difference of over 5°C between the city centre and the rural areas. The difference in temperatures between the city and the rural areas was 1.3°C. In green areas the temperature was about 2.5°C below the city’s maximum temperature. Using the Mesoscale Compressible Community Model, Liu and Bass [16] showed that urban irrigation reduced average urban temperatures by 1°C. The addition of irrigated greenroofs located in the downtown area increased the cooling effect to 2°C and extended the 1°C cooling region over a larger geographic area. The simulation showed that with sufficient moisture for evapotranspiration, greenroofs can reduce the UHI effect. 3.4 Reducing rainwater runoff problems Rainfall in urban areas is typically more problematic than in rural areas, because of impervious surfaces such as roofs, parking-lots and roads. These collect the flow and direct it into the urban drainage system, causing rapid runoff and higher peak flows. Greenroofs reduce rainwater runoff and thereby mitigate this problem. The reduction consists in delaying the initial time of runoff due to the absorption of water in the greenroof, reducing the total runoff by retaining part of the rainfall and distributing the runoff over a long time period through a relatively slow release of the excess water that is stored in the substrate layer [17]. The amount retained depends on many factors such as the volume and intensity of rainfall, the amount of time since the previous rainfall event, the depth and wetting scale of the growing medium and the roof slope. The main results and conclusions are presented in table 2. The mean process by which a greenroof reduces a roof’s runoff is evapotranspiration. Kolb [18] studied the evapotranspiration ability of greenroof plots (growing medium 50–140 mm) in Veitshöchheim, Germany, and found that, with an average monthly rainfall of 47 mm, evaporation was 21 mm (45%) during the year. Between May and August almost all rainfall evaporated, and between November and February evaporation was insignificant.

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Study location Liesecke Liesecke Germany

and [20], [21];

Kolb [22]; Veitshöchheim, Germany Kolb [23]; Veitshöchheim, Germany

The key results and conclusions of the studies of greenroofs’ rainwater retention capability.

Depth of the substrate 20−40 mm with mosses and Sedum sp.; 100−150 mm with Sedum sp., grasses and herbs. 100 mm.

100 and 300 mm.

Liptan [24]; Portland, Oregon, USA Liu [3]; Ottawa, Canada

150 mm with grass.

Rainfall retain results

Conclusions

Shallow substrate 40−45% of the annual rainfall, deeper substrate up to 60% of the annual rainfall. In warm weather a shallow substrate can retain 11% and a deeper substrate 20% more rainwater.

A greenroof can retain more rainwater in warm weather than it does during cold weather.

15 minutes after simulated rainfall of 27.2 l/m2 greenroofs with slopes 1.4°…40° showed very similar runoff results. Comparing the gravel roof and the greenroofs with 100 mm and 300 mm of growing medium 15 min after simulated rainfall of 30 l/m2 in summer, the roofs’ runoffs were 24 l/m2 (80%), 7.5 (25%) and <1 l/m2, respectively. 69% of the total rainfall in the 15-month monitoring period; between April and November rainfall retention was 92%, between December and March it was 59%. 54% of the total rainfall during Apr.−Sept. During a light rain (19 mm in 6.5 h) the greenroof delayed the runoff by 95 min, during a heavy rain (21 mm in 21 min) the greenroof delayed the runoff by only 4 min.

The influence of the slope of a greenroof on runoff rate and volume is almost insignificant.

A greenroof can retain more rainwater in warm weather than it does during cold weather. A greenroof cannot delay a heavy rain runoff. If rain falls steadily, the growing medium will become saturated with water and will not have enough time to dry out between rainfalls.

10 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

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Table 2:

Table 2: 50−100 mm with Sedum sp.

Rowe et al [26]; Michigan, USA

25−60 mm 2−6.5% slope.

Connelly and Liu [27]; Vancouver, Canada

75 mm with mainly Sedum sp.

DeNardo et al [28]; Pennsylvania, USA

89 mm with Sedum sp.

Villarreal and Bengtsson [29]; Lund, Sweden

40 mm with Sedum sp.

at

Three following rain events in April: the retained amount decreased 75% in the first event to 32% in the last event. Three separate rain events in May: on all occasions, an average of 90% of rainwater was retained. On average, 69−74% of the total rainfall during light rain events (< 2 mm daily) up to 98% and heavy rain events (> 6 mm) 50% of rainfall was retained.

67% of the total rainfall during 30 days in October. 95% of the first rainfall event (12.2 mm), 44% and 52% of the two medium events; 17% and 20% of two long duration events (27.7 mm in 16.2 h and 10.4 mm in 18.17 h respectively). An average 45% (range 19−98%) of 7 rains during Oct. and Nov. The greenroof delayed the start of runoff by an average of 5.7 h and delayed the peak runoff by 2 h. For roof slopes of 2°, 8°, and 14°, the retention of the total precipitation for a rainfall with an intensity of 0.4 mm/min was respectively 62, 43, and 39%; for a rainfall of 0.8 mm/min it was 54, 30, and 21%; and for a rainfall of 1.3 mm/min 21 and 10% were retained for 2° and 14° slopes, all for dry initial conditions.

The capability of greenroof retention is dependent on the time between rain events and the volume and intensity of rainfall. A greenroof can retain rainfall more effectively during light rain events than during heavy rain events; a shallower substrate depth and steeper roof slope caused greater runoff. The growing medium of the greenroof will be fully saturated with rainwater if rain events occur too soon after one another.

Retention depended to a great extent on rainfall intensity and the slope of the greenroof; the lower the intensity and slope, the greater the retention.

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Moran et al [25]; North Carolina, USA

Continued.

11

12 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Mentens et al [19] studied in Belgium how evaporation is influenced by orientation of the slope. They found that there is a significant interaction with period, day and orientation. Evaporation is significantly different between all orientations except for east and west, being bigger in south-facing slopes than north-facing ones. Mentens et al [17] offers a review of the investigations of greenroof runoff retention capability, which were mainly performed in Germany. For annual runoff, they found that runoff is mainly determined by the roof type, and may be as low as 15% for an intensive greenroof and as high as 91% for a traditional non-greened roof. For seasonal runoff, the results showed that greenroof runoff was significantly higher during winter (80%) than during summer (52%). For three seasons runoff is 30% for the warm, 51% for the cool and 67% for the cold season; substrate depth was significantly important for the warm season. The water retention capability results of the Estonian study are similar to the results of the studies presented in Table 2. In the Estonian study three rain events were investigated. Two light rains were measured: rainfall of 2.1 mm (2.08.04) and rainfall of 2.6 mm (1.4 + 1.2 mm; 14.–15.09.04). The greenroof retained these rainfalls well – runoff was 32.6 and 19.3 l respectively, while the runoff from the reference roof was 290 and 340 l respectively. For the first rainfall, runoff from the greenroof ceased 10 hours later than runoff from the reference roof. Therefore the retention was 88.8 and 94.3% respectively. Exceptionally in the course of 4 days, a 18.2 mm rainfall took place (31.08.04–06.09.04). 12.1 mm fell during the first 5 hours. It appeared that in the case of a heavy rainstorm, a greenroof can delay the runoff for up to half an hour, but cannot fully retain it. From both roofs an estimated 2850 l water ran off during those days. 1240 l ran off from the first outflow of the greenroof (gr1), which collected water from the more heavily plant-covered side, and 1650 l ran off from the second (gr2), less plant-covered side. Gr1 runoff finished later than the others, but still 40 hours after the other outflows. The melting of the snow cover with an average thickness of 220 mm of the greenroof was also observed over 17 days (22.03.05–07.04.05). It was to be expected that water came off less and more slowly from the more plant-covered side of the greenroof, and more rapidly from the less plant-covered side (by 995 l). When the snow on the greenroof melted within one day, the runoff was about to cease, but started again after a couple of days, as the lower part of the substrate layer only began to melt then. The total runoff from the greenroof was 3195 l, and 4066 l from the reference roof, because of the thicker layer (average thickness 290 mm) of snow. 3.5 Reducing urban rainwater runoff quality problems Greenroofs may reduce the pollution of urban rainwater runoff by absorbing and filtering the pollutants, but they can also potentially contribute to pollutants released into water from the soil, plants and fertilizers. The runoff quality from a greenroof depends on the type of the roof (the thickness of the growing medium, its composition, vegetation and the type of drainage), the age of the roof, its maintenance; and also on the type of the surrounding area and the local pollution WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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sources [30]. For the majority of roof runoff water components, the results differ depending on the different greenroof systems and the composition of the growing medium. The main results and conclusions are presented in Table 3. Table 3:

The key results and conclusions of the studies of greenroofs’ runoff water quality.

Study and location Kolb [31]; Bayern, Germany

Köhler and Schmidt [32]; Berlin, Germany

Liptan and Strecker [33]; Portland, Oregon, USA Moran et al [25]; NorthCarolina, USA Berndtsson et al [30]; Malmö and Lund, Sweden

Results and conclusions Metal roofs with greenery cover reduced copper and zinc concentrations in roof runoff. For three year measurements, the copper concentration in the percolating water of a non-greened copper-sheet roof increased from 0.9 to 2 g, and in a greened roof it only increased from 0.8 to 1.1 g. The zinc concentration in percolating water of non-greened zinc-sheet roof increased from 3.5 to 4.8 g, whereas in greened roof it decreased from 5 to 1.9 g. The tested greenroof substrates cause a rise in pH: in rainfall, median pH was 6.2, in the runoff of the conventional roof it was 4.6, and in the runoff of substrates it was up to 7.5. Greenroof plots retained 94.7% of lead, 87.6% of cadmium, 80.2% of nitrates and 67.5% of phosphates over a three-year period. The efficiency of phosphate retention increased after the establishment of the vegetation from 26% in the first year to 80% in the fourth year. There was a decreasing trend in the total phosphorous concentrations measured in greenroof runoff. Phosphorous concentrations varied between 0.24–1.11 mg/l. The copper concentration in greenroof runoff was 4.8–10.5 µg/l, caused by the materials to be used on the roof, for example drainage materials. However, the copper loading would be much reduced in comparison to a traditional roof. The results showed that compost in the growing medium may cause high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in greenroof runoff. Total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations in four greenroof runoff samples was 2.1–5.4 mg/l and 1.2–1.5 mg/l, and in rainfall 0.3–0.7 mg/l and 0.05 mg/l respectively. The studied greenroofs behave as a sink of nitrate nitrogen; they reduced ammonium nitrogen and total nitrogen. They are sources of potassium, phosphate phosphorus and total phosphorus. Young greenroofs behave as a source of total nitrogen, more than others. All of the heavy metals measured (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Zn) were usually the same or lower than in the precipitation and reference roof runoff. Some studied greenroofs contributed lead, manganese and iron to runoff. However, greenroofs behave as a sink for copper and zinc. It should be noted that metals that are first retained by the roof can potentially be released from it when the roof ages.

In Estonia, water quality was studied at three runoff events. When the rain and runoff were moderate, concentrations of COD, BOD7, TN and TP were WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

14 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability higher on the bituminous roof; pH on both roofs increased by more than 2 units. In samples taken in case of a heavy rainstorm, the components were less concentrated, as the rain washed more phosphates and nitrates out of the greenroof. In snowmelt, the water concentrations of all components were greater on the greenroof, because the greenroof contained more wintertime pollutants. In addition, the greenroof runoff always contained more sulphates and Ca-Mg-salt because of their presence in the LWA-material. In the Estonian study, the concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus were much lower than that in the Moran et al [25] or Liptan and Strecker [33] studies, because the Estonian greenroof did not contain compost like the others. Therefore, in the Estonian study total phosphorous concentration was 0.03–0.09 mg/l, and total nitrogen concentration 1–2.1 mg/l. Thus the composition of the growing medium should be taken into consideration in selecting the soil mix. 3.6 Other greenroof benefits In addition to the above-mentioned benefits, greenroofs also improve air quality, by catching a number of polluting air particles and gases, as well as smog. The evaporation and oxygen producing effect of vegetated roofs can contribute to the improvement of the microclimate. Greenroofs can also mitigate noise pollution. The substrate layer blocks lower sound frequencies and the plants block higher frequencies. In a standard test, an unvegetated roof reduced sound by 33dB. The greenroof reduced sound by 41dB when dry, and 51dB when wet [1]. In city centres, where access to green space is negligible, greenroofs create space where people can rest and interact with friends or business colleagues. Greenroofs provide a psychological benefit because of their appearance, which differs greatly from the ordinary. Therefore, aesthetic value is the most apparent benefit of greenroofs. Planted roofs also provide food, habitat and a safe place for many kinds of plants, animals and invertebrates.

4

Conclusion

This study showed that greenroofs can be effectively used in the mitigation of environmental problems in urban areas. Greenroofs are effective in helping to keep the building cool in summer and also to reduce building energy consumption. Their ability to effectively reduce the effect of urban heat islands was not sufficiently investigated, but it surely may be concluded that greenroofs are well able to do that. We may confirm that vegetated roofs reduce the temperature fluctuation in the roof membrane and prolong its lifespan. Greenroofs delay effectively rainfall runoff rate and volume, more in warm and less in cold period. The greenroofs’ runoff water quality was not as good as may be expected. Further investigations of the benefits of greenroofs will definitely be necessary in order to obtain more exact results on all of these topics and to confirm their ability to reduce environmental problems.

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Acknowledgement This study was supported by Target Funding Project No. 0182534s03 of the Ministry of Education and Science of Estonia.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

[9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

[14]

Grant, G., Engelback, L. & Nicholson, B., Green roofs: their existing status and potential for conserving biodiversity in urban areas. English Nature Research Report number 498, EcoSchemes Ltd, 2003. England, E., Morgan, B., Usrey, L., Greiner, M. & Bleckmann, C., Vegetated roofing technology: an evaluation. 4th International Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Management Conference, 11–24th July, 2004. Liu, K., Engineering performance of rooftop gardens through field evaluation. RCI 18th International Convention and Trade Show, Tampa, Florida, 13–18th March, pp. 1–15, 2003. Wong, N.H., Chen, Y., Ong, C.L. & Sia, A., Investigation of thermal benefits of rooftop garden in the tropical environment. Build. Environ., 38, pp. 261–270, 2003. Eumorfopoulou, E. & Aravantinos, D., The contribution of a planted roof to the thermal protection of buildings in Greece. Energ. Buildings, 27, pp. 29–36, 1998. Palomo Del Barrio, E., Analysis of the green roofs cooling potential in buildings. Energ. Buildings, 27, pp. 179–193, 1998. Theodosiou, T.G., Summer period analysis of the performance of a planted roof as a passive cooling technique. Energ. Buildings, 35, pp. 909–917, 2003. Niachou, A., Papakonstantinou, K., Santamouris, M., Tsangrassoulis, A. & Mihalakakou, G., Analysis of the green roof thermal properties and investigation of its energy performance. Energ. Buildings, 33, pp. 719– 729, 2001. Wong, N.H., Cheong, D.K.W., Yan, H., Soh, J., Ong, C.L. & Sia, A., The effects of rooftop gardens on energy consumption of a commercial building in Singapore. Energ. Buildings, 35, pp. 353–364, 2003. Takakura, T., Kitade, S. & Goto, E., Cooling effect of greenery cover over a building. Energ. Buildings, 31, pp. 1–6, 2000. Onmura, S., Matsumoto, M. & Hokoi, S., Study of evaporative cooling effect of roof lawn gardens. Energ. Buildings, 33, pp. 653–666, 2001. Kumar, R. & Kaushik, S.C., Performance evaluation of green roof and shading for thermal protection of buildings. Build. Environ., 40(11), pp. 1505–1511, 2005. Liu, K. & Baskaran, B., Green roof infrastructure − technology demonstration, monitoring and market expansion project. Part 1: field monitoring and technical analysis: May 2002 – June 2003. NRC–IRC, Report no B-1054.1., 2005. Oke, T.R., Boundary layer climates. Wiley and Sons, 372 pp., 1987. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

16 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

[20] [21] [22] [23] [24]

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Gomez, F., Gaja, E. & Reig, A., Vegetation and climatic changes in a city. Ecol. Eng., 10, pp. 355–360, 1998. Liu, K. & Bass, B., Performance of green roof systems. Cool Roofing Symposium, Atlanta, USA, 12–13th May, pp. 1–18, 2005. Mentens, J., Raes, D. & Hermy, M., Green roofs as a tool for solving the rainwater runoff problem in the urbanized 21st century? Landscape Urban Plann., in press, available online since 13 May 2005. Kolb, W., Gute Gründe für die Dachbegrünung – Gründach und Regenwasser. Dach + Grün, 1, pp. 4–9, 2002. Mentens, J., Raes, D. & Hermy, M., Effect of orientation on the water balance of greenroofs. In Proc. of 1st North American Green Roof Conference: Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities, Chicago, 29–30th May, The Cardinal Group, Toronto, pp. 363–371, 2003. Liesecke, H., Wasserrückhaltung bei Extensive Dachbegrünungen. Deutscher Gartenbau, 47(34), pp. 2142–2147, 1993. Liesecke, H., Das Retentionsvermögen von Dachbegrünungen. Stadt und Grün, 47, pp. 46–53, 1998. Kolb, W., Einfluss der Oberflächhenneigung auf die Abflussverhältnisse von enlighten Dächern. Dachbegrünung – Veitshöchheimer Berichte, 66, pp. 101–106, 2002. Kolb, W., Wasserrückhalt der Dachbegrünung. Rasen-Turf-Gazon, 2, pp. 36–41, 2003. Liptan, T., Planning, zoning and financial incentives for ecoroofs in Portland, Oregon. In Proc. of 1st North American Green Roof Conference: Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities, Chicago, 29–30th May, The Cardinal Group, Toronto, pp. 113–120, 2003. Moran, A., Hunt, B. & Jennings, G., A North Carolina field study to evaluate greenroof runoff quantity, runoff quality, and plant growth. ASAE Annual International Meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 27–30th July, Paper No. 032303, 2003. Rowe, D., Rugh, C., VanWoert, N., Monterusso, M. & Russell, D., Green roof slope, substrate depth, and vegetation influence runoff. In Proc. of 1st North American Green Roof Conference: Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities, Chicago, 29–30th May, The Cardinal Group, Toronto, pp. 354–362, 2003. Connelly, M. & Liu, K., Green roof research in British Columbia – an over-view. 3rd North American Green Roof Conference: Greening rooftops for Sustainable Communities, Washington, D.C., 5–6th May, pp. 1–17, 2005. DeNardo, J.C., Jarrett, A.R., Manbeck, H.B., Beattie, D.J. & Berghage, R.D., Stormwater mitigation and surface temperature reduction by green roofs. Transactions of the ASAE, 48(5), pp. 1491–1496, 2005. Villarreal, E.L. & Bengtsson, L., Response of a Sedum green-roof to individual rain events. Ecol. Eng., 25, pp. 1–7, 2005.

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[30] [31] [32] [33]

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Berndtsson, J.C., Emilsson, T. & Bengtsson, L., The influence of extensive vegetated roofs on runoff water quality. Sci. Total Environ., 355(1–3), pp. 48–63, 2006. Kolb, W., Metalleindeckung für Gründächer. Grün Forum LA, 12, pp. 20– 22, 2002. Köhler, M. & Schmidt, M., Study of extensive green roofs in Berlin. Available online at: http://www.roofmeadow.com/waterquality.html, 2003. Liptan, T. & Strecker, E., EcoRoofs (Greenroofs) – a more sustainable infrastructure. National Conference on Urban Stormwater: Enhancing Programs at the Local Level, 17–20th February, 2003.

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Urban architecture for the advancement of small-scale township enterprises: relevance of the scholarship G. P. Setshedi Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract This paper reviews recent scholarship about strategies of urban architecture designed for the enhancement of small-scale home-based and non home-based township enterprises and establishes its relevance to the situation on the ground. Arguments in this paper are substantiated by architectural surveys conducted in government subsidised low-income houses in Ga-Rankuwa, a formerly black township or “location” located on the periphery of Pretoria, South Africa. The surveys focused on the architecture (modifications) of small-scale enterprises and characteristics of the built environment emerging as a result of pressures towards sustainable establishment of local small-scale enterprises. The sampled scholarship is reviewed in terms of research context, methodology, findings, strengths, weaknesses and ultimately relevance. Keywords: urban design, architecture, housing, SMME, township enterprises, RDP.

1

Introduction

Townships, like Ga-Rankuwa with over (fig. 3), in South Africa evolved from the “locations”, or otherwise the slum yards, which were used as reserves for black labourers or non-whites (i.e. ‘redundant natives’ or rather “Bantu of greater backwardness’ as stated by Wepener [1] in Native Housing) at that time regarded as not worthy of sharing urban privileges. Such derogatory establishments were initiated decades preceding apartheid through legislation (Native Urban Act of 1923, Land Act of 1913, Slums Acts) but glorified and concretized by the apartheid regime. They were built on the urban periphery and linked to the cities through railway and road systems. Their planning, architecture and infrastructure WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060021

20 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability were of sub-minimum standard. The architectural manifestations that were, during the era of segregation in South Africa, used as material demonstration to subject black people to counterproductive and inhumane living conditions continue to haunt the current urban fabric under the democratic dispensation. The pressing needs for appropriate housing and infrastructure development were never addressed resulting in degradation and creation of squatter camps. Townships resembled concentration camps bearing no promise for further urban development and economic sustainability. Negative features common to formerly black South African townships are: high crime rate; the HIV-AIDS pandemic; slums and squatters settlements- which all induce a significant decline in urban development and investment. Most townships, to date, are yet to experience proper infrastructure development and systems considering the urban and population growth and inherent socio-economic difficulties. Today, they stand as enormous challenges of urban regeneration. Moreover, the current socio-spatial patterns and emerging urban architecture in townships require scientific acknowledgement for their contribution as far as urban livelihood is concerned. Most townships in South Africa have growth potential comprising a substantial mass of capable labour force needed for increasing economic activity and productivity. As a result of high unemployment, a slow economic growth and a growing need for a highly skilled labour force, most people are forced to establish own businesses around their neighbourhood. These are classified as home and non-home based small-scale enterprises and constitute a significant feature of township livelihood. They are usually small informal economic units created and run by families for self-employment. So far, they have been tolerated by authorities and recognised for their contribution to the national economy, particularly considering the orthodox macroeconomic policies in South Africa, which have so far struggled to address the country’s unemployment [2]. Though small-scale enterprises form an integral part of both the formal and informal sectors, this paper focuses only on the small-scale home-based businesses in the informal sector involved in, among others, light manufacturing, provision of services, retailing and construction related activities. As observed by Tipple [3] in 1996 and still today, the architecture of housing extension in economically and socially depressed areas is yet to be adequately investigated. Urban architecture accommodating small-scale enterprises in lowincome areas is yet to be adequately and scientifically documented. For the kind of services they provide, their floor areas are relatively small. When these enterprises are part of the household, a need for extension arises, which are usually constructed from temporary or recycled materials (i.e. metal containers, corrugated iron, timber and brick). Even though most small-scale proprietors try to build and maintain add-ons of an acceptable standard, a lack of proper infrastructure and knowledge about architecture hold them back. This is as a result of a number of factors (i.e. inefficient local development strategies, infrastructure developments, delivery mechanisms, partnerships and participation strategies) but also exacerbated by the fact that professions in architecture were and continue to be unpopular among non-whites in South Africa. Moreover, the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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current breed of architectural designers struggles to comprehend such challenges and hence irrelevant solutions continue to occur. Most solutions lack context and diversity and ignore contemporary environmental issues because most people conducting research in townships are non-residents or lack appropriate knowledge about local vibes. Until recently architecture in South Africa has been considered a euro-centric discipline associated with the wealthy. Architects in South Africa have done well in commercial and domestic architecture, but not in social design [4]. The current government is placing emphasis and investment in the development of social and economic infrastructure induced by the country’s needs and formalised by the South African Constitution and Bill of Rights. This is enough reason and incentive for architects to begin to seek for a new socially acceptable role. When small-scale enterprises are introduced, their survival is hampered by inadequate infrastructure and lack of intellectual support (financial, management and technological know-how). For their accommodation, Yankson [5] states that one needs to understand how within the urban environment and space economy small-scale enterprises choose site of operation, characteristics of the selected site, operational aspects and the effect on the immediate environment, which all affect the nature of their architecture and urban space. According to Perera in Yankson [5], lack of suitable space for production and inefficient marketing inhibit the growth of small-scale businesses.

2

Architecture of home-based enterprises

The aim of this section is to begin to comprehend the sophistication and the impact of the architecture of extensions on the environment and attempt to establish the extent to which they are beneficial to the users and the urban environment in general. A representative sample of peculiar modifications from Ga-Rankuwa, formerly black Township established early in the 1960’s on the periphery of Pretoria about 25km away [6], is discussed. Ga-Rankuwa has around 69000 inhabitants and is divided into old and new zones (the former provided under the previous apartheid regime while the latter following the democratic dispensation). From the old zones (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,15 and 16) houses on all streets were observed with particular emphasis on those comprising of business activity that require architectural extensions and in the new units (Ga-Rankuwa View) Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) houses were observed with most modifications recorded but with particular emphasis on those comprising home-based enterprises. 2.1 Old zones Before the democratic dispensation in 1994 in South Africa the design of houses for the majority of the so-called “urbanised Natives or Bantu” was exclusively a (white) government affair [7–9]. Houses in the old zones represent another depressing mass housing schemes of the famous apartheid sub-economic house types NE51/6 and NE51/9 (fig. 1) (non-European version 6 & 9 of 1951) WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

22 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability introduced in 1951 by the National Building Research Institute (NBRI) [10]. These houses stand today as cultural and historical artifacts, a reminder of how evil and racism could subdue minds and hearts of those perceived at the time to be intellects or professors in architecture and the built environment. Today, most of these buildings have been extended and modified in such a way that their contribution to the field of (grounded) architecture needs be accorded credit. In accommodating small-scale enterprises, most of the houses appear to be awkwardly placed on site such that they inhibit rather than encourage extensions. Most of the original, if not all, NE51/6 or NE51/9 house types were placed in the center of the plot making it extremely difficult to extent substantially to any direction (fig. 2). Defying all odds, inhabitants of these houses appear determined to turn the spell cast on them by these architecturally inappropriate structures and urban spaces.

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

House Type NE 51/6 & 51/9 (NBRI [10]).

NE51/6 house type with car workshop on street façade (photo by author).

2.2 New zone This section presents results from an architectural documentation process conducted on 1300 government-provided 30m² RDP houses in Ga-Rankuwa WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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(fig. 3). According to the South African National Department of Housing [11], since the initiation of the RDP program in South Africa following the democratic election in 1994 over 1,793,124 houses were completed or under construction. RDP houses in Ga-Rankuwa, like many others throughout the country, were built on a one-site-one-house concept with plot sizes averaging 250m² (12.5 x 20m) arranged on a grid. They comprise of just one room plus a 1.8 x 1.8m bathroom. The survey was warranted by the fact that since the inception of the RDP in 1994, many occupants or beneficiaries continue to complain about the state of the houses resulting in plethora of ‘illegal’ and undocumented architectural modifications. From the documentation survey, focusing on the quality of urban and architectural spaces, constructions integrity and functionality of the houses, it becomes apparent that the various patterns of modifications and additions signify an inevitable trend towards sustainable settlements. The initial RDP houses in Ga-Rankuwa were built on a one-site-one-house concept with plot sizes averaging 250m² (12.5 x 20m) arranged on a grid. These houses comprise of only one room plus 1.8 x 1.8m bathroom with bath, hand basin and WC. Most were placed on sites haphazardly as the grid dictated. Among peculiar construction features of these buildings are: 140mm external walls from maxi bricks (140x90x290mm) with one coat of cemcrete to external walls and another of bagwash to internal walls with no plaster. Roofs were built from lipped channel rafters, covered with cranked 0.45mm galvanised corrugated iron roof sheets at 9.5° pitch resting. No bargeboards, facias, ceilings or skirtings have been installed. Electricity was installed approximately a year after initial occupation.

Figure 3:

General view of Ga-Rankuwa View (RDP Settlement) (photo by author).

2.3 Observations Approximately four years after completion and occupation, most houses show signs of decay such as oxidation in bricks; structural cracks from (shifting) rafters and unstable lintels and disintegrating abutments; and unstable WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

24 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability foundations; etc. Most additions were created to provide much needed private spaces and for commercial purposes such as entertainment outlets (shebeens) and spaza (kiosk) shops (fig. 4).

Figure 4:

Extended RDP house plus carpenter’s workshop (photo by author).

Extended houses were observed to determine: whether extensions are temporary or permanent determined mainly by the types of building materials; whether extensions are attached or separated from the original RDP house; position of the house in relation to north and side of extensions; and the size (large, smaller or approximately equal) of the extension in relation to the original. Of the 1300 RDP houses, 135 (10.4%) have been extended signifying the degree at which residents are despondent at the architecture and size of government-subsidised houses. While less than 7% of the extended houses were still under construction, the majority had roofs. As a result of the residents not employing architects (usually too expensive to consult for this low-income group) or draftsmen for extensions nor inform local authorities, the quality of construction in many instances is of inferior quality though the understanding and creation of architectural spaces is of a peculiar nature. 122 (90%) of the 135 extended houses have been built as permanent structures (using brick for walls and corrugated irons on timber for roofing) while the remaining are built mainly from recycled materials such as corrugated sheets, timber and bricks. The size and degree at which extensions are carried out depends on a number of factors but limited by finances and location of the original house on plot. About 45 (33%) of additions have a total area smaller (far less than 15m²) than the original RDP house while 29 (21%) are of the same size. The majority of the additions (about 62 or 46%) are relatively larger than the original house. In most cases the integration of additions is executed in such a manner that one can still identify the original (fig. 4). Citing the unfortunate regarding the above data, the rate at which houses in this settlement are extended renders statistics in this research irrelevant a few months subsequent to the survey. Recalling Yankson’s discussions about site selection and location of such small-scale enterprises, it is apparent that home-based enterprises in this settlement depend largely on other means such as mouth-to-mouth advertisement or explicit modifications of the house to market products. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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3 Scholarship review Literature relating directly to the establishment of informal architecture and especially for informal enterprises is evidently lacking. This section offers a critical interpretation and interrogation of empirical research and scholarship pertaining to the development of a sustainable urban architecture for the enhancement of small-scale township enterprises. The relevance of the reviewed scholarship is selected and their relevance evaluated against the architecture on the ground (or survey above). 3.1 Small-scale home and non-home based enterprises In the journal issue Cities, Kigochie [12] explores the impact of rehabilitation programmes on home-based enterprises in squatter settlements in the Mathare 4A, Nairobi. The article is concerned about the efficacy of rehabilitation projects in squatter settlements and affordability. The research methodology employed in the article appears to have produced anticipated outcomes regardless of underlying authenticity concerns. It discovered that: proprietors agreed that new structures are much better built, organised and identifiable, with subsequent increases in sales; reduction of operation costs; improved private and distinguishable operation spaces; and security of tenure contributed significantly to the modifications and improvements of homes (contradicting the study by Yankson below). New structures created jobs and fostered a diverse economy even though proprietors experienced expansion problems, probably because of inflexible architectural designs and increased competition. This is among the crucial points observed during the survey in Ga-Rankuwa even though lack of finances became apparent as an important inhibit factor. Also, in both the Ga-Rankuwa survey and Kigochie’s study, the architectural designs were not flexible enough to cater for future natural family and business growth. The period of survey of Kigochie’s study was unfortunately short and need to be enriched by a longitudinal or cross-sectional study. Yankson [13] conducted a survey concerned with the unmonitored rapid growth and unsuitable location of the informal small-scale production and service enterprises in the metropolitan area in Accra, Ghana and discovered that: The location characteristics and factors influencing the site selection of the enterprises include: appropriateness of enterprise to the area; high percentage ran businesses from in or around the house; availability of customers (mainly pedestrian) who could easily reach the outlet; majority of enterprise operators were tenants household heads and family members of the landlords; and a high percentage of enterprises were located along the main roads of the city. It is emphasised that enterprises based in houses and neighbourhoods could not migrate to desired and more productive locations, due to a lack of alternative sites. Another positive of home-based enterprises is that women could combine their business activities with household duties. Lastly, it was discovered that small-scale production and service enterprises do not follow the normative models of industrial locations and that the site selection is not determined, as WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

26 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability thought by municipal authorities and some academics, by security of tenure, customer-entrepreneur relationship and the price of work spaces. But also, the working environment of the small-scale economic enterprises was characterised by: (1) lack of extendable workshop spaces in home-based enterprises, compared to those outside residential neighbourhoods; and (2) more than half of the enterprises had electricity, water, and paved roads but were poorly served with sanitation. Services to enterprises outside residential areas were the worst. Environmental effects of the enterprises were severe when considering air pollution from processing and production of different products, and the generation of solid and water waste. 3.2 Urban design and architecture Hubbard [14] acknowledges the significance of urban design in providing quality built environments and good designs derived from local context and relevance, but raises concerns about the process of urban design, driven towards a pictorial mode rather than as a setting of everyday life. The socio-economic context manifesting itself is unique in every setting. The urban built environment must meet the needs of local inhabitants and promote their normative social interactions, cultural norms and environmental aspects [15]. Mahmud [16] explores the way women create and transform domestic spaces for various economic activities in Dhaka bustees (illegal or unauthorised housing for the poor or low-income groups). According to Pacione in Mahmud [16], the use of home spaces as work place saves time and money, which is absolutely necessary for the smooth running of a business. Mahmud confirms that accessibility of market centres, access to urban services, relative spatial control and home tenure contribute significantly to the success of entrepreneurship. In conclusion, Mahmud discovered that: the degree of changing domestic spaces or alteration indicates freedom of living and the security of tenure; the type of home-based production is recommended depending to a certain degree on the flexibility of spaces; most bustee spaces allow accommodation for production, consumption and rental (housing); proprietors in government-owned properties are more advantaged than those in private properties because they pay no rentals and need not apply for permission to modify inhabited structures; and that the increase of home-based enterprises trickles down towards the improvement and investment in the urban physical space.

4

Conclusion

So far the reviewed scholarship provides no clear indication as to the best practice that may lead to the betterment of the subject. One may comfortably suggest frameworks through which further research may be undertaken to further comprehend the subject. As a result, this paper suggests a systematic synthesis of the highlighted areas of the assessed literature above to be researched further otherwise local development initiatives, especially in Third World countries, are prone to fail. Among the closely related articles on the subject, Yankson appears WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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to provide a more comprehensive approach as far as site selection and accommodation of local enterprises in the urban areas are concerned. An important distinction in Yankson’s research to is that the research is conducted in a densely populated area in the metropolitan area of Accra, Ghana and likewise a similar survey methodology could be used to understand and compare the accommodation characteristics and criteria of enterprises in relatively lowdensity and dislocated peri-urban townships in South Africa. In addition Mahmud’s research on the architectural qualities of bustees in Dhaka provides an insight about the documentation process of architectural spaces of home and non-home based enterprises, which forms a sound basis for a similar and slightly advanced research on local enterprises. The application of these methodologies in township enterprises may further reveal the environmental, technological, scientific, social and artistic considerations crucial for establishing a locally derived urban design strategy. So far there has never been a satisfactory urban design technique or architecture that is capable of addressing problems of accommodation of the informal sector in an urban environment in Third World countries. Therefore, this paper recommends a bottom-up approach, which develops urban design and architectural strategies informed by the local conceptions of space, culturally diverse and environmental context, and locally justified research findings supported by relevant international scholarship. This socially driven design process can be complemented by Hamdi’s [17] housing strategic methods of: flexibility (adaptability of the design to growth and change); participation (user participation in decision-making); and enablement (cultivate an environment in which habitation is constantly enhanced).

References [1]

[2] [3] [4] [5]

[6]

Wepener, F.J., Psychological Approach (Part II). Native Housing, eds. P.H. Connell, C. Irvine-Smith, K. Jonas, R. Kantorowich, & F.P. Wepener, Johannesburg. Witwatersrand University Press. pp. 50-86, 1939. Bond, P., Basic infrastructure for socio-economic development, environmental protection and geographical desegregation: South Africa's unmet challenge. Geoforum, 30(1), pp. 43-59, 1999. Tipple, A. G., Housing extensions as sustainable development. Habitat International, 20(3), pp. 367-376, 1996. Uduku, N. O., Architecture and the community- African perspectives. Architecture SA, 25(2), pp. 23-26, 1995. Yankson, W. E., Accommodating the informal economic units in the urban built environment: petty commodity enterprises in Accra metropolitan area. Third World Planning Review, 22(3), pp. 313-334, 2000. Chipkin, C.M., Preparing for Apartheid: Pretoria and Johannesburg (Chapter 7). Architecture of the Transvaal, eds. R.C. Fisher, S. Le Roux & E. Maré, Pretoria: University of South Africa, pp. 149-174, 1998. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

28 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [7] [8] [9] [10]

[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

Connell, P.H., Irvine-Smith, C., Jonas, K., Kantorowich, R. & Wepener, F.P., (eds.) Native Housing, Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1939. Calderwood, D. M., Principles of mass housing, Pretoria: CSIR, 1964. Chipkin, C.M., Preparing for Apartheid: Pretoria and Johannesburg (Chapter 7). Architecture of the Transvaal, eds. R.C. Fisher, S. Le Roux & E. Maré, Pretoria: University of South Africa, pp. 149-174, 1998. Calderwood, D.M.& Connell, P.H., Minimum standards of accommodation for the housing of non-Europeans in South Africa (Appediture B). Research studies on the cost of urban Bantu housing, eds. National Building Research Institute (South Africa) & South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, 1954. South African National Department of Housing, www.housing.gov.za. Kigochie, P.W., Squatter rehabilitation projects that support home-based enterprises create jobs and housing. Cities, 18(4), pp. 223-233, 2001. Yankson, W.E., Accommodating the informal economic units in the urban built environment: petty commodity enterprises in Accra metropolitan area. Third World Planning Review, 22(3), pp. 313-334, 2000. Hubbard, P., Urban design and local economic development. Cities, 12(4), pp. 243-251, 1995. Saleh, M.A.E., The evaluation of planning & urban theory from the perspective of vernacular design: MOMRA initiatives in improving Saudi Arabian neighbourhoods. Land Use Policy, 18(3), pp. 179-190, 2001. Mahmud, S., Women and the transformation of domestic spaces for income generation in Dhaka bustees. Cities, 20(5), pp. 321-329, 2003. Hamdi, N., Housing without houses, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991.

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International assessment of the environmental performance of housing, and prospects for sustainable cities R. Horne Centre for Design, RMIT University, Australia

Abstract Ecologically sustainable development (ESD) principles are widely accepted as important components of building standards, urban planning and development. From the incorporation of energy modelling performance into building regulations, to the concepts and principles of Transit Oriented Development, sustainability terminology now litters both international and national policy environments. The logic of aspiring to sustainable urban systems implies that we can define and measure such systems. This paper focuses on the progress to date in housing environmental performance assessment, and compares the energy performance of Australian housing with that in the UK, United States and Canada. The comparison is based on energy ratings of over fifty house designs currently being used which comply with regulatory requirements in the host countries. Issues in design of both the buildings and the assessment tool used are highlighted, and the results of this large Australian Government-funded study are presented. Analysis allows conclusions to be drawn on the reasons for wide variations in house energy (and environmental) performance, and the implications for sustainable cities. A review of design guides and assessment tools aimed at the building and urban scales is also undertaken, including the prospects for new Australian building assessment tools such as AccuRate, BASIX and the Australian Green Building Council’s ‘Green Star’ suite of tools. International comparisons are drawn, and critical analysis is undertaken of the limitations of such tools. Prospects for the incorporation of ESD principles into the planning and design of sustainable cities are presented. Keywords: sustainability, energy, buildings, urban design, environmental assessment. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060031

30 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

Sustainable cities are a bold and necessary aspiration. To make them a reality, the term must be defined and the political strength gathered to provide and deliver appropriate policies. While much progress has been made (and remains to be made) in both regards, there is also an important step within the definitionpolicy process which requires considerable further development; assessment. Even given a consensual definition of the sustainable city, which is not a trivial matter in itself, the determination of how sustainable the constituent parts of the city are is clearly an important one. Indeed, the logic of aspiring to sustainable urban systems implies that we can define and measure such systems. Any assessment of sustainability is necessarily complex and, while this paper focuses on the environmental sustainability aspects of housing, thus constraining the problem, there nevertheless remain a range of issues to be overcome. These issues can be split into three categories; definitions of outcomes; establishment of the appropriate metrics and benchmarks; and factors in regional and international comparability. Definitions required include what constitutes a sustainable house. This and related sustainable city concepts are discussed in section 2. Establishing the appropriate metrics and benchmarks is clearly related to definitions, although it raises further questions, which are addressed in section 3. While some metrics may be demonstrably measurable and significant, such as heating and cooling loads (in most climates), others may be less well determined, or less measurable. Clearly, it is important to be able to achieve some relative performance measure, but it is equally important not to confuse things that are countable with things that count. Questions of selecting metrics introduce the issue of regional and international comparability. For example, an Australian housing environmental performance tool emphasises water efficiency, with an overall weighting of 40%, applied as it is to a water vulnerable region, whereas equivalent tools in the UK and the USA provide equivalent ratings of 7% and 14% respectively (Horne et al [1]). The extent to which international comparability or standardisation is achievable or desirable in the context of achieving sustainable cities is discussed in section 4, and the results of a comparative study of energy in housing comprises section 5. The aim of this paper is to assess developments in the assessment of the environmental performance of new housing and present results of recent studies comparing this performance. The perspective for this paper is Australian, while the context is the development of assessment frameworks and metrics to inform policy processes in the drive towards sustainable cities.

2

Defining outcomes

Sustainable cities have been variously defined and, in common with preceding terms such as ‘sustainable development’ and ‘sustainability’, not without controversy. Since the origin of the term ‘sustainable development’ in the World Conservation Strategy, published in 1980, there has been a focus within WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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definitions on the conservation of living resources (Baker et al. [2]). The strategy demonstrated that "conservation is entirely compatible with the growing demand for people centred development" which could be achieved by maintaining ecological processes, preserving genetic diversity and through the sustainable development of species and ecosystems (Adams [3]). The Bruntland report, published in 1987 [4] then attempted to provide a more practical context, and developed the now widely quoted definition of sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to met their own needs”. Three concepts embedded within the Bruntland report have been carried through to discourse on sustainable cities. Firstly, needs, which are socially and culturally determined; secondly, limits, which are imposed by the natural environment, technology and social organisation (Kirkby et al. [5]) and thirdly, that there is no blueprint for sustainability, as economic, social and ecological conditions vary temporally and spatially. Over almost two decades, post-Bruntland debate has contested definitions; Mawhinney [6] presents 17 varying definitions of sustainable development from significant sources to illustrate this diversity in the theory, demonstrating that ‘sustainable development’ appears to be an over-used and misunderstood phrase. Despite the controversy, sustainable city and development concepts are wellestablished both in collective consciousness and in policy mechanisms, and the challenge is to provide the means for their practical application. As a starting point for this, Giradet [7] modifies the Bruntland definition: “A ‘sustainable city’ enables all its citizens to meet their own needs and to enhance their well-being, without degrading the natural world or the lives of other people, now or in the future.” Newman and Kenworthy [8], note that this can be achieved by reducing resource inputs (land, energy, water and materials) and waste outputs (gaseous, liquid and solid waste) while simultaneously improving liveability of citizens (such as health, employment, income, housing, leisure activities, accessibility, public space, and well-being). In implementing our sustainable cities, it is critical to note that cities are dynamic systems, and sustainability should be viewed as a process rather than an endpoint. 2.1 Practical application to housing The development and application of ecologically sustainable development (ESD) principles to housing gained ground during the 1990s, with a range of ‘ecohome’ demonstration projects (for example, see Low et al [9]). There is general consensus that a sustainable house, developed using ESD principles, will perform well in conserving water and energy and use low-impact materials, compared to an ‘average’ house. Invariably, links to ecological carrying capacity are not drawn explicitly in guiding specific performance criteria. One way to approach this in practical terms is to use Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methods, using which, a sustainable house built today should satisfy the following general requirements [1]:

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32 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability • • • • • •

High thermal comfort; Maintain and enhance the health and wellbeing of building users; Consumption of minimal non-renewable energy; Cost-effective design, minimising life cycle operating costs; Low life cycle environmental impact; and Eco-design measures incorporated (location, orientation, passive design, appropriate materials and construction techniques, efficient appliances). While this list of requirements does address Bruntland’s concepts and provides a basis for practical application, clearly, more detail is required before houses can be assessed against such a list of criteria. Terms such as ‘minimal’ and ‘low’ require definition, for example, in terms of environmental carrying capacity or what is deemed achievable in performance terms, while ‘cost-effective’ and ‘comfort’ are more related to human capacities and needs. Regarding the latter, clearly, house environmental performance is also related to the knowledge and behaviour of the occupants. Therefore, while the list above provides a basis for identifying the main metrics of housing environmental performance measurement, explicit assumptions must be made about occupant knowledge and behaviour when developing these metrics in detail. Table 1:

Potential environmental burdens of an urban residential building.

Burden factor

Construction

Operation

Renovation and end-oflife

Non-renewable energy (climate change and fossil fuel depletion)

Embodied energy in building materials and site water. Energy used on site and in transport of materials and labour. Potable use, stormwater runoff. Non-renewable building materials resource depletion. Worker OHS on site and in mining, processing and manufacturing phases of materials, water and energy service provision. Communities subject to pollutants as above.

Heating and cooling. Lighting and appliances.

Direct energy in renovation or deconstruction (and embodied energy in new materials associated with the former).

Water and materials

Pollution and toxicity – humans

Pollution and toxicity environment

Garden water use and strormwater flows. Potable use and foulwater discharge (including appliances). Use of non-renewable materials. Indoor environment quality – a result of building materials offgassing and use of toxic substances in the home. Worker OHS in mining, processing and manufacturing phases of materials, water and energy service provision. Communities subject to pollutants as above, and noise. Garden and house pesticides, Ecosystems subject to change from site use and leachate from landfilled wastes, in mining, processing and lighting, and ecosystems change manufacturing phases of from mining, processing and manufacturing phases of materials, water and energy service provision. materials, water and energy service provision.

Potable use, stormwater runoff during works. Nonrenewable building materials resource depletion (renovations). Worker OHS on site and, for renovations; in mining, processing and manufacturing phases of materials, water and energy service provision. Communities subject to pollutants as above. Non-recovered waste to landfill. For renovations; ecosystems subject to change from site use and in mining, processing and manufacturing phases of materials, water and energy service provision.

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33

The main metrics

Viewing the house as a system with a life cycle, we can identify the constituent parts of the life cycle and subsequent environmental burdens as indicated in Table 1. This shows that key input-related environmental factors include energy, water and materials depletion, and the related environmental impacts of mining, processing and supply of each. Output factors include pollution and climate change, foul and stormwater discharge, and toxicity effects on humans and ecosystems. All factors vary across the building life cycle.

4

International benchmarking

Questions of selecting metrics introduce the third issue, of regional and international comparability. From a theoretical carrying capacity perspective, it is logical that housing performance requirements should vary according to environmental impact. Therefore, in countries or regions where reticulated water supply and treatment is more environmentally vulnerable, for example, in areas where the demand outstrips environmentally sustainable supply, water use performance level should be more stringent than elsewhere. In other words, site specific factors need to be considered in any effort to establish international benchmarking. Notwithstanding, many factors are inter-regional or global in nature. Non-renewable energy use creates fossil fuel depletion and global climate change – both are clearly global impacts, and so it is logical to benchmark performance internationally (see section 5). 4.1 Building rating tools and comparisons Having posited the main metrics from a theoretical basis, as far as is currently possible, it is now appropriate to assess the extent to which these are addressed in existing building environmental performance assessment tools internationally. Many building rating tools now exist with differing scope and objectives. Indeed, the author has counted over 35 such tools, including individual tools within groups, although a number of these are targeted at commercial buildings. All such tools are performance-based rather than carrying capacity based, so they take as their performance benchmarks targets that are likely to improve performance from the present, rather than a required level of performance based on environmental sustainability endpoints; logically, given their (often) voluntary, market-based origins (Cole et al [11]). Invariably, they set performance for criteria such as operational energy and water use, materials environmental performance and indoor air quality separately, although most also incorporate a points weighting for individual elements. Recent developments in Australian tools include AccuRate, BASIX and the Australian Green Building Council’s (AGBC) ‘Green Star’ suite of tools. AccuRate is the second generation successor of the NatHERS operational heating and cooling load energy modelling software, with a more advanced ventilation model, which allows buildings to cool down faster via. open windows WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

34 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability and doors, therefore reducing the cooling loads. It also allows the user to select the colour of the external and internal walls, and change the thermostat settings. The total amount of energy required to heat and cool the house is estimated in MJ/m²/yr, and the software estimates a value for total energy usage and then provides the associated 'star' rating (0-10 stars), which is calibrated for different climatic zones. BASIX is the Building Sustainability Index, a planning development controlbased assessment tool developed following the New South Wales Government’s positive experiences in “greening” the Sydney Olympic Games. Since July 2004 (Sydney) and July 2005 (NSW), all proposals for new residential development must be submitted with a BASIX Certificate, which indicates that it satisfies the requirements of the online BASIX, meeting performances indices for energy, indoor thermal comfort, water and stormwater (landscape, waste, materials, transport and social indices have been identified as future additions). Apart from building design, evaluation points are attributed for appliances, and optimum reduction technologies include gas hydronic heating, ceiling fan cooling, gas boosted solar hot water, and standard or compact fluorescent lighting with natural lighting to kitchen and bathroom. Water consumption is a major BASIX component, and is location-sensitive according to drought conditions, and evaluation points focus on water efficient showerhead, toilet and tap fittings. AGBC currently has a range of commercial Greenstar ratings tools. While a residential tool has not yet emerged, the commercial tools can provide some indication of the likely focus of a future residential tool. Eight categories are impact weighted and include (from highest to lowest ranking); Indoor Environment Quality, energy, materials, emissions, water, management, transport and land use and ecology. This suite of categories, along with those of BASIX, can be compared to the main categories and weightings used in equivalent tools in the USA, UK, Canada and an international tool, the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (IISBE). Such a comparison shows that the majority of the tools’ scope are captured within five main areas; materials; Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ); greenhouse gas and energy; water use; and stormwater management. As indicated in Table 2, it can be inferred from the weightings that the main impact burdens of concern are greenhouse gas and energy use (operational), followed by operational water use, then materials selection and IEQ. The latter two categories broadly reflect output-related pollution and toxicity factors in Table 2, while the former reflect operational inputs. The main materials issues in these tools are house size, durability, local sources of materials, timber certification, eco-preferable materials selection, and reuse and use of recycled materials. The main IEQ issues are ventilation (including in garages), daylighting and sky views, and emission standards, such as of volatile organochlorides. The main GHG and energy issues are seals and ‘tight’ construction, insulation, windows specifications, equipment type, and passive solar and ESD features. The main water conservation issues include appliances and fittings specifications, garden design and water reuse.

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Table 2:

35

Summary of rating tool weightings (adapted from Horne et al [1]). Tool

LEED (USA) BREEAM Ecohome (UK) GREEN GLOBES (Canada) IISBE (global) BASIX (NSW, Australia) Summed weighting

Materials

IEQ

GHG and energy

Water use

SWM

18%

15%

28%

14%

4%

38%

9% *

22%

7%

2%

5.5%

17%

38%

8.5%

2%

6%

6%**

15%

6% ***

0%

0%

25%

40%

In process

67.5

47

128

75.5

8

Notes: *’ health and wellbeing’: **Q1 – air quality and ventilation: ***R3 – consumption of potable water IEQ= Indoor Environment Quality: GHG= greenhouse gas: SWM=stormwater management

Differences highlighted by this comparison include the UK emphasis on materials and the Australian emphasis on water use. Also, while such differences may be explained in regional impact terms, given the global nature of the energy and GHG impact category, there is a logical argument that weightings should be more similar internationally for this category. Notwithstanding that, from a sustainability perspective, links between environmental carrying capacity and weightings are insufficiently clear at present, this summary comparison provides critical information regarding the theoretical gaps (vis a vis Table 1) and the areas of emphasis and variation across tools internationally.

5

International comparisons of energy use

As discussed above, energy is the most logical candidate for direct international comparisons of housing sustainability performance, because both fossil energy depletion and resultant global climate change impacts are clearly global in nature. This section summarises a study undertaken for the Australian Federal Government Department of Environment and Heritage, Australian Greenhouse Office (Horne et al [12]; the author wishes to acknowledge the co-authors and sponsors of the study). Energy ratings of new houses in Australia are compared with those currently being built overseas, using AccuRate software (see section 4.1). Overseas locations in the UK, Canada and the USA, are mapped across to similar climate zones in Australia, and 51 house plans designed to comply with relevant local building codes are rated using AccuRate. A review and analysis of the local ‘deemed to satisfy’ building codes is also undertaken as an aide to explaining any significant differences in house energy performance between different countries and locations. The backdrop to the study is the proposed introduction of a 5-star minimum performance requirement for new Australian housing. Results are presented in WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

36 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 3 showing a mean score of 6.843. This indicates that the overseas equivalent housing is significantly out-performing the proposed Australian 5-star national requirements. Within each climate zone, there are variations, although all mean climate zone comparison performance levels are above 5 stars and there is no significant pattern of performance according to warmer or cooler climates, or dry or humid climates. Generally, apartments and townhouses perform better than detached houses, and the higher performing climate zones reflect comparison localities with more stringent local building codes. Table 3:

Summary analysis of international house energy performance AccuRate results (after Horne et al [12]).

Florida

6

6-8.5

6.5-7

7

Zone 2 Brisbane

Texas

5

4.5-9

5

6

Zone 3 Longreach

N. Carolina

5

4.56.5

5.5

5.4

Zone 4 Dubbo

Arizona

4

6.57.5

7

7

Zone 5 Perth

California (Bakersfield)

3

7-8

7.5

7.5

Zone 6 Melbourne

California (SF Bay)

4

6-9

7.5-8

7.6

Zone 7 Hobart

UK: Canada

16

6.58.5

8

7.2

Zone 8 Thredbo

Pennsylvania: Mass.

8

4.59.5

6.5

6.8

ALL ZONES

-

51

4.59.5

7.5

6.8

AccuRate stars Mean

AccuRate stars median

Zone 1 Darwin

Total number of plans rated

AccuRate stars Range

Australian equivalent Comparison location climate zone

The house designs obtained from the UK and Canada indicate that, in these countries, substantial houses are built to relatively very high standards, in compliance with relatively stringent building code requirements. The more typical format of lightweight construction on slab seen in current new housing in Australia is also seen in the USA. Neither country insists on sustainable design principles outside of high performance building elements. However, according to the Deemed to Satisfy requirements in the building codes, houses in the USA are insulated to (on average) R2.5 in the walls, R5.5 in the ceilings, and have double or double low E glazing. Some houses in Texas have single glazing, but otherwise all are double or double low E glazed. In addition, the USA uses vinyl frames (PVC) with benefits in the energy ratings, despite raising questions over WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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37

other environmental impacts. Typically, from the USA designs used in this study and previous experience of the authors in rating Australian house designs, USA glass to floor area ratios are significantly lower than those in Australia. On the basis of the comparisons in this study, the main exception within the USA is the building control regime in California. This has a long history, and current standards are significantly advanced when compared to the other states, and to Australia. The two climate zones which provide Californian comparisons in this study (Australian zones 5 and 6) show clear differences in the performance results from having more stringent building codes, adding further weight to the general conclusions that the higher performing climate zones reflect comparison localities with more stringent local building codes.

6

Conclusions

Within the context of policy and regulatory development in the drive to more sustainable cities, there is a need to establish international consensus over housing environmental performance and its assessment. In pursuing the aim of this paper, examples of recent developments and studies which can contribute to meeting this need have been presented. In conclusion, while clear theoretical links can be drawn between sustainability definitions, environmental carrying capacity, and potential metrics for assessing housing performance, it is clear that the tools currently in use are works in progress, and only partially satisfy theoretical requirements. Specifically, pollution and toxicity issues, and the identification of appropriate environmental carrying capacity based limits on environmental burdens arising from housing require significant further research effort. Only then will we know we are approaching housing sustainability along the appropriate route. Also, amongst tools currently in use internationally, there are differences in emphasis which can only partly be explained in theoretical environmental terms. This is unsurprising given that they are generally performance-based, and have been developed within different policy dynamics and contexts. The extent to which international comparability or standardisation is achievable is clear: where impacts are global, responses should logically also be globally co-ordinated, whereas, where impacts are local, local responses can be made, preferably with global co-ordination. Just as the polluter pays, so, all those who are polluted should have a say in how pollution control is achieved. The clearest candidate for international comparison and standardisation is energy use, and the study of modelled operational heating and cooling loads in new housing shows that there are significant variations in performance internationally. The fact that such information is now available provides a basis for the transformation of hitherto piecemeal policy and practice development in housing sustainability, into a more long term, internationally co-ordinated approach, ensuring both intergenerational and international equity. Only then will we know we are approaching housing sustainability consistently, globally, and at the appropriate velocity.

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38 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

References [1]

Horne, R.E., Hes, D., Jacobs, M., Terry, A., Wakefield, R. & WalkerMorison, A., Holistic residential building performance indicators, benchmarks & standards. Discussion paper for the Building Commission of Victoria, Australia. 2005. [2] Baker S., Kousis M., Richardson R., & Young S. (Eds). The Politics of Sustainable Development: theory, policy, and practice within the European Union. Routledge, 1997. [3] Adams, W. M., Green Development Environment and Sustainability in the Third World. Routledge, 1990. [4] WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development), Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, 1987. [5] Kirkby, J, O Keefe, P & Timberlake L (Eds). The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Development. Earthscan Publications Ltd, 1995. [6] Mawhinney, M., Sustainable Development: Understanding the green debate., Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2002. [7] Girardet, H., Cities People Planet. Wiley-Academy, Chichester, 2004. [8] Newman, P. & Kenworthy, J., Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence. Island Press, Washington, D.C., 1999. [9] Low, N., Gleeson, B., Green, R. & Radovic, D, The Green City: Sustainable Homes, Sustainable Suburbs. Routledge, 2005. [10] Opray, L. Horne, R. E., & Grant, T. Life cycle and embodied energy impacts of housing options. Discussion paper for the Building Commission of Victoria, Australia, 2005. [11] Cole, R. J., Howard, N., Ikaga, T., & Nibel, S, Building Environmental Assessment Tools: Current and Future Roles. World Sustainable Building Conference. Tokyo, Sept. 2005. [12] Horne, R. E., Hayles, C., Hes, D., Jensen, C., Opray, L., Wakefield, R., and Wasiluk, K., International comparison of building energy performance standards. Report to Australian Greenhouse Office, Department of Environment and Heritage, 2005.

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39

Thermal characterisation of bio-based building materials S. Costanzo1, A. Cusumano1, C. Giaconia1 & G. Giaconia2 1

Department of Energetics and Environmental Researches, University of Palermo, Italy 2 Department of Civil Engineering, University of Messina, Italy

Abstract The characterisation of indigenous renewable biomass sources applicable for making bio-based building (BBB) materials is crucial as it can significantly affect the cost of production and the quality of material. Nowadays in any specific area, wide ranges of biomass sources are usually available but only a few sources may be suitable for making BBB material. Therefore the suited sources should be determined. In this paper, the use of BBB materials is focused on Insulation Materials which are widely used in the buildings. Compared with currently used materials, these materials are bio-degradable. Insulation material with a good energy-adsorbing property and binder material have been developed as a mixture of renewable biomass and concrete under certain of reaction conditions. In detail, the BBB material can contribute to energy saving in terms of consumption of low energy during its production process, as well as of degradability. The experimental assessment of non steady-state thermal characteristics of a BBB material is presented here. The results will be useful to develop a database of the physical properties available for the building industry. Keywords: bio-based materials, sustainable materials, thermal properties.

1

Introduction

Studies concerning the revaluation and use of human and natural resources and their contribution to social economy and ecology are of paramount importance in modern urban planning. Bio-based materials are an important natural resource

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060041

40 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability for construction purposes and they are more and more taken into account for alternative sustainable components. Studies about sustainable architectural solutions and construction techniques are still in progress at the Department of Energetics and Environmental Researches (DREAM) of the Palermo University, both by using natural raw materials and by finding new derived products and mixed systems (comprising preservation treatments, combinations with different kinds of lightweight concrete, with raw earth and other bio-materials, etc.). Design of building products and components made of bio-based materials produced in humid climate Countries is presently addressed to possible European markets and in Far East market as well. In this context, besides the characterization of building products and components made of bio-based materials, physical analysis and characterisation of thermal performances of the bio-based materials can be carried out using a Test facility available at the DREAM. The Bio Based Building Materials are based on natural resources and are environmental friendly during the manufacturing process as well as in the wasting phase at the end of its life cycle. They are characterized by: - Low cost of the raw material (waste matters) - Low production cost (can be manufactured by the end user) - Low handling cost (can be manufactured on the spot) - Low dumping cost at the life end (can be recycled) Nowadays only a small amount of civil infrastructures in developed countries make us of BBBMs because of the high handling and production costs. They, instead, shall be widely used in developing countries where the cost of labour is very low and the production and using points are very close. Research programs upon composite materials made of biological components aimed to the building application are already in progress all over the world [1–3]. An in-depth study of Lamy and Baley [4] deals with the stiffness of epoxy panels filled with flax fibres. A comparative analysis upon the improvement of the mechanical characteristics of polyester resins filled with natural fibres of various kind was carried out by De Albuquerque et al [5]. Studies on polymers strengthened with natural fibres were also carried out by Mohanty et al [6] and by Williams and Wool [7]. More recent papers deal with Bio-Composites sustainability [8–11]. Whereas the mechanical and physical properties of the BBBMs are widely known, we can’t say the same for the thermal ones. An in-depth knowledge of the thermal properties of the building materials is indeed crucial for the assessment of its energy balance and thermal performances and the studies ought to be carried out through ever more accurate computer programs for the simulation of non-steady state thermal behaviour of buildings. It is evident that a sophisticated computer program needs as much exact coefficients, but precise values of the thermal capacity as well as of the thermal effusivity and diffusivity are not available for all type of materials. This problem is more evident for materials which are innovative or made by mixing diverse percentages of diverse materials. In this paper, the experimental assessment of the thermo-physical properties of a particular BBBM, carried out by the authors within the laboratories of the DREAM is presented. This BBB material has been produced by the School of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Environment Science & Technology, Tian Jin University, Popular Republic of China, within the International project “Toward a Better Environment: Implementation of Energy-Saving Buildings in China”, Asia Pro Eco (ENER-C)”.

2

Measurement methodology

The BBB materials examined in this paper are made by mixing ordinary concrete with wastes of rice manufacturing which are widely available in China at very low cost. The physical characteristics of the materials used in this study are reported in table 1. For each sample three specimens have been obtained. The physical quantities reported in the tables have to be considered as mean values over three measures. Table 1: Physical characteristics of the materials. Sample Code

Weight [gr]

X [mm]

Y [mm]

Z [mm]

Density [kg/m3]

1-3 4-1 11-3 2-1 3-2 12-1

512,822 243,600 227,722 206,948 176,131 170,050

39,3 39,5 39,5 39,5 39,5 39,7

40,0 40,0 40,0 39,5 40,0 39,5

160,0 160,0 159,0 160,0 160,0 160,0

2038,89 963,61 906,46 828,99 696,72 677,75

Samples were dried up for two hours in oven and stabilized in dry ambient for two hours

The sketch in Figure 1 shows the layout of one half of the test equipment used by the authors for measuring the thermal characteristics of the BBB samples provided by the Tianjin University.

Legend: P = Equalizer Plate & Guard Ring R = Main Heater RA = Heated Guard Ring C = Sample T = Thermoelectric Heat Pump D = Cooler

Figure 1: Layout of the measuring equipment. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

42 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The equivalent circuit of one half of the measuring equipment schematized in fig. 1 is reported in fig. 2.

Heater Tr Rc

Sample

Qc

Heat Flux Meter Tc (Ic #Vc)

Thermoelectric Heat Pump Th

Legend: Heaters = THERMOFOIL elements Mod. HR5179R MINCO Products Heat Flux Meter = TNO model 50-01-12 Thermoelectric Heat Pumps = Array of 25 MELCOR Mod. CP 1.4-127-10L thermoelements Cooler = electronic controlled fan

Heat Flux Meter

Cooler + Fan Re

Qh

Tamb

Figure 2: Equivalent circuit of the measuring equipment. Fig. 3 depicts the overall assembly of the measuring instrumentation. It is possible to single out four power supplies, two of them used for the main heaters and for the guard rings, the others used for feeding a constant current into the thermoelements. Power supplies are controlled by a Desktop Computer through an IEEE 488 interface and a standard RS232 serial interface. The computer, via a proprietary interface, is capable of acquire all the relevant data (referring to the thermal and electrical quantities) and, using a BASIC program specifically designed and implemented, carries out the control of the thermoelements. The measures of thermal conductivity were carried out in accordance with the following protocol: the thermoelectric refrigerator was set on and regulated for the minimum possible rate, waiting for the steady state condition; when all the temperatures have been stabilized for a period of almost one hour, the heating plate was energized. After a transient period a new steady state conditions were reached and maintained for almost half an hour.

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The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Heaters

43

Guard ring

Power supplies

Desktop Computer

Thermoelements

Controller IEEE 488 Power supplies Thermocouples Fluxmeters

Scanner

Controller RS 232

Figure 3: The measuring instrumentation. From the knowledge of the temperature difference between the two faces and of the thermal flux through the sample, the thermal conductivity of the material was calculated

Φ S

=

χ s

∆T

[ Watt / m 2 ]

(1)

Looking at fig. 4 it is possible to note the transferring time delay of the thermal flux between the faces of the sample.

Figure 4: Example of a test run. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

44 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability This time lag is tied to the heath transmission velocity through a medium having thermal resistance and thermal capacity, quantities that one can resume in the thermal diffusivity parameter, say α (2):

α = χ/γcp

[m2/sec]

(2)

The results of thermal conductivity measurements carried out on the six types of samples are reported in table 2. Table 2: Thermo-physical characteristics of the samples in steady state. Sample Code 1-3 4-1 11-3 2-1 3-2 12-1

Standard % χ BBBM [Watt/mK] Deviation 0.51282 0.000252 2038.89 40 0.5384 0.02118 0.24360 0.000253 963.61 60 0.2125 0.02310 0.22772 0.000251 906.46 65 0.2115 0.01679 0.20695 0.000250 828.99 70 0.1810 0.01975 0.17613 0.000253 696.72 75 0.1725 0.01879 0.17005 0.000251 677.75 80 0.1390 0.00369 Weight [Kg]

Volume [m3]

Density [kg/m3]

While the density γ [kg/m3] and the thermal conductivity χ [Watt/m K] of a given material are easy to obtain through simple measures, the thermal capacity cp [Joule/kg K] is instead a little more complex to measure. The theoretical/experimental procedure used there for the determination of the thermal capacity cp of the BBBM samples, is based on a trial and error method, and makes use of a computer program for the simulation of the thermal behaviour of a wall in non steady state by means of a finite-difference calculation. Using this simulation program, it is possible to calculate, for each sample, the time course of the output thermal flux by using the time courses of the temperature over the faces and the time course of the input flux, all data being acquired by the computer during the test aimed to the identification of the thermal conductivity as described above. Starting from an attempt value of cp, comparing at any instant the time course of the output thermal flux with the experimental one using the mean square deviation as a comparison parameter, the best suited cp value can be obtained.

3

Results and conclusions

Figure 5 reports, as an example, the results obtained with the theoretical/experimental method discussed above for one specimen of BBBM material, while the table 3 resumes the mean thermo-physical characteristics of all the samples.

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Figure 5: Test n.3 on the specimen (B) of the sample 2-1. Table 3: Thermo-physical characteristics of the samples in dynamical state. Sample Code

% BBBM

1-3 4-1 11-3 2-1 3-2 12-1

40 60 65 70 75 80

Thermal conductivity [Watt/mK] 0.5384 0.2125 0.2115 0.1810 0.1725 0.1390

Thermal capacity [J/kgK] 1013.45 1139.71 1154.80 1178.59 1231.42 1240.69

α *10-7

[m2/sec] 2.6058 1.93492 2.02048 1.85254 2.0106 1.65303

The table 3 reports the thermal characteristics of all the samples (mean values over three specimens for each sample) utilized in this study and useful for the assessment of the thermal behaviour of the material in non-steady-state conditions. Bio Based components made by using natural fibres are emerging as a realistic alternative to non bio-degradable plastic-reinforced composites, in fact they can deliver the same performances in thermal insulation and thermal capacity at lower weight and lower cost. Moreover, when used in building industry, they exhibit excellent sound absorption efficiency.

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46 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

[6]

[7] [8]

[9]

[10] [11]

Chawla, K.K. & Bastos, A.C., The mechanical properties of jute fibre and polyester/jute composites. Mechanical Behaviour of Materials, 3, pp. 191196, 1979. Bolton, A.J., Natural fibers for plastic reinforcement. Materials Technology, 9, pp. 12-20, 1994. Mohanty, A.K. & Misra, M., Studies on Jute composites - a literature review. Polymer Plastics Technology and Engineering, 34, pp. 729-792, 1995. Lamy, B. & Baley, C., Stiffness prediction of flax fibres/epoxy composite materials. Journal of Materials Science Letters, 19, pp. 979-980, 2000. De Albuquerque, A. C., Kuruvilla, J., de Carvalho, L.H. & d'Almeida, J.R.M., Effect of wettability and ageing conditions on the physical and mechanical properties of uniaxially oriented jute-roving-reinforced polyester composites. Composites Science and Technology, 60(6) pp. 833844, 2000. Mohanty, A.K., Khan, Mubarak, A., Sahoo, S. & Hinrichsen, G., Effect of chemical modification on the performance of biodegradable jute yarnBiopol composites. Journal of Materials Science, 35, pp.2589- 2595, 2000. Williams, G. I. & Wool, R. P., Composites from natural fibres and soy oil resins. Applied Composite Materials, 7, pp. 421-432, 2000. Mohanty, A. K., Misra, M. & Drzal, L. T., Sustainable Bio-Composites from Renewable Resources: Opportunities and Challenges in the Green Materials World. Journal of Polymers and the Environment, 10(1), pp. 1926, 2002 Joshi, S.V., Drzal, L.T., Mohanty, A.K. & Arora, S., Are natural fiber composites environmentally superior to glass fiber reinforced composites?. Applied Science and Manufacturing (Incorporating Composites and Composites Manufacturing), 35(3), pp. 371-376, 2004. O'Donnell, A., Dweib, M.A. & Wool, R.P., Natural fiber composites with plant oil-based resin. Composites Science and Technology, 64(9), pp. 1135-1145, 2004. Huda, M. S., Mohanty, A. K., Drzal, L. T., Schut, E. & Misra, M., Green composites from recycled cellulose and poly(lactic acid): Physicomechanical and morphological properties evaluation. Journal of Materials Science, 40(16), pp. 4221-4229, 2005.

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Section 2 Cultural heritage

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Sustainable reconstruction and planning strategies for Afghan cities: conservation in cultural and environmental heritage B. A. Kazimee School of Architecture and Construction Management, Washington State University, USA

Abstract The reconstruction process of Afghan cities demands a sustainable course of development so that once again they can resurrect their once vital and attractive human-environmental capacities. In this paper effort has been made to present strategies and explore processes whose intent is to point to a rediscovery of the art and science of designing a sustainable course of development. It seeks to synthesize the principles of sustainability into an agenda for the design of towns and cities. These strategies serve as indicators to sustainable development; they should be used to define inherent qualities, carrying capacities and required ecological footprints of a place. Furthermore they are established to allow designers to model, measure and program sustainable standards as well as monitor the regenerative process of cities.

1

Introduction

The post war reconstruction of Afghan cities poses critical questions to the Afghan professionals who along with the world community, now struggle to shape the built environment of this 25 years war stricken country. A deadly war which was imposed on Afghanistan, first by the hegemonies of Soviet Union in 1978 which lingered for 14 years and then the calamity of civil war and the avaricious contest of warlords for power and regional control, suffocated the course of any progress and development to this day. The calamity of war not only resulted in the tragic loss of a million lives and into mass exodus of its indigenous population, but even more tragic was the complete destruction of its built environments, including those of the Afghan hinterland, leaving behind utter chaos and destruction. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060051

50 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The prewar cities held the capacity of conscious interaction between its people and the natural environment. Here, the living quarters were composed of intimately bonded communities joined by a rich tapestry of culture and social rituals. The evolution of cities and towns took their sustainable course and evolved out of necessity, being in tune with the ecology and regional fit. The natural environment was preserved with religious fervor and respect. In the words of Edward Secler; “one of the many sad consequences of the recent war years is that public attention stayed riveted to the topical political events and largely failed to take cognizance of the tremendous cultural wealth that was destroyed in fighting or is still threatened with destruction owing to the introduction of changing ways of life.” [2] The design guidelines for sustainable and affordable development discussed below are organized under five primary variables. They are Human ecology, Energy conservation, Land and resource conservation, and Water quality.

2

Human ecology: the way people interrelate and use the environment

2.1 Regional design strategies It is necessary to provide a balance opportunity between critical human activities and those of environmental interchanges in the region. This can be achieved by providing and enhancing greenbelts and water ways systems to improve and balance the air quality and water cycles. The greenbelt moderates climate extremes, increases recreational opportunities and bio-diversity. These green programs should use primarily indigenous landscaping which conserve water, reduces maintenance and celebrates the unique qualities of region. Family farming should also be encouraged in allotment gardens in the green belt. Conservation of farm land, natural forests and water ways in the rural zones around the cities are already a resourceful environmental capital to be restored and their ecological integrity should be enhanced. Spring water runoff should be retained in balancing lakes (artificial/ natural retention ponds and reservoirs) which supplements dry seasons, reduces spring flooding, filters eroded soils, improves water quality, provide and recreation potentials [3]. Trees are critical for human comfort and balancing the carbon to oxygen cycle (CO2 ¥ O2). Cities need to balance this critical oxygen producing cycle by planting more trees. Green areas increase the desirability of residential areas. Saving wetlands and creating urban forest, can enhance recreation, livability and sustainability. Trees absorb toxins from the air, create oxygen, shade and cool the environment through evaporative transpiration, and add to the ambient humidity of indoor and outdoor spaces. 2.2 City design strategies Afghan cities throughout history played a conscious role in catering to the needs of commerce and cultural activities of not only its own population, but to the life-line of the merchants and trade in the whole region. Their ancient importance WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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has been prominent and described by intensity of commerce, cultural and administrative vitality. The cities have had some of the richest economic and cultural resources that influenced its underlying urban fabric. Cities were built on a pedestrian scale and provided an extremely dense townscape, showing a high degree of complexity. The urban structure was intertwined with many ancient bazaars, commercial series and religious establishments. It is most vital to make careful analysis of all existing and old fragments of the city and carefully integrate them into a coherent overall structure. This effort should attend to a variety of existing developments, as well as, historic references on the site, to produce an urban core with strong identity. The new development should integrate the old centers, in order to rejuvenate and restore the status and prestige of the old districts [4]. The city center and its historic character in many respects represent the symbolic heart of the city and should be reanimated to facilitate an ideal, centralized geographic position. The core of the city should be supported by an effective infrastructure emphasizing public transit and pedestrianization. This infrastructure should be expressed in community greenways and the clustering of activities which will increase pedestrian enjoyment and accessibility [5]. The center should exhibit the main focus of city activities and the main public transportation destination that will provide quick access to facilities and interchange between destinations. It will also be the hub of the pedestrian activities, since the higher density housing will be concentrated in the center. In the structure of the urban fabric, priority should be given to the clear definition of well-marked territories and spaces for various private and public uses. 2.3 Community and neighborhood: enhance a sense of community Effort should be made to preserve and restore the important site historical and cultural characteristics and qualities throughout the neighborhood. A cohesive urban village quality with strong neighborhood identity is critical to a healthy, safe and sustainable community. It has been observed, that the underlying forces and internal structural process that shaped the Afghan pattern of community and city, are deeply rooted living traditions, together with religious and social philosophies, that constitute the real agents of physical developments. Therefore it is necessary for planning and design team to make a thorough analysis of these cultural sensitivities and introduce design strategies that conform to these implicit qualities [6]. The new pattern of development should emphasize a pedestrian quality environment, and the residents of the community should have convenient pedestrian accessibility to neighborhood schools, shopping, daycare and mosques, which are the activity centers of the neighborhood. The central location of neighborhood schools is critical to a walking environment. Similarly, provide physical solutions for social, recreational and religious centers, and integrate them within unified neighborhood concept. These important neighborhood nodal activities in the area, should be connected to major pathways/ greenways, and should interweave with wetlands, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

52 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability wildlife habitat, parks, views and etc. to reprise a conscious ecological, as well as, a rich cultural experiences for the community. Between residential developments and neighborhood amenities and services, the bike and walkways are critical to enhancing a more personal/pedestrian sense of community. These walkways should connect to convenient transit stops and should have continuous pavement patterns across driveways and streets. Provide ample bike parking on the site. Reduce auto services to a minimum 6-8 meters wide residential roadways. Design for effective land use and density. Increased land use efficiency reduces infrastructure costs. Provide densities of at least 50 to 80 dwelling units per hectare and encourage pedestrian focus and safety. 2.4 Cluster/subdivision development Preserving the integrity and identity of residential fabric are the most sensitive component of the neighborhood design and therefore, should be treated and designed compatible with the Afghan lifestyles and cultural traditions, which is strengthened through family privacy and sense of community. Cluster housing, with families of similar cultural character and life styles, shared social amenities and open spaces, can form an identifiable residential unit. Several housing prototypes (25-35 units), including row houses, low-rise apartments and in particular courtyard houses that are a traditional prototype and familiar housing form, can be grouped around defined clusters of semi-private spaces that provide a meaningful communal shared areas for the families. This model can be successful in this culture because it clearly recognizes traditional values associated with family privacy, and offer the necessary security (Figs 1 and 2) The cluster arrangement can enhance communication between the members of the community, especially the need for private areas for the neighboring female population to meet and communicate which otherwise, could not occur in the public spaces. Define for user control and responsibility, at least 60-70% of the property in the cluster and contain the territorial character of the cluster by the peripheral housing masses. This allows users to personalize residential areas and provide valuable contact between the families. Each specific realm should retain its spatial character, while interacting with neighboring units through distinct architectural features, such as intermediate gateways, and privacy buffers. The maintenance and cleaning responsibility of these areas would become the responsibility of the families in the cluster, in order to reduce cost. The families are entitled to the legal ownership of this space, provided that it is maintained as a shared domain and could not physically be encroached upon by the owners. In the neighborhoods where car ownership is prevalent, care should be given to minimize the impact of parking in the residential development. When feasible, distribute parking behind housing or in small, landscaped lots (8-12 cars), and provide parking for compact cars (3 x 5 m). Shade parking spaces with canopies of trees or trellises. For rental units, lease parking spaces so households with one or no cars do not subsidize the parking for others.

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Figure 1:

A residential square, Old City, Kabul.

Figure 2:

53

A residential segment, of courtyards, Old city, Kabul.

Figure 3: A proposed cluster of residential courtyards with shared semi-private space for contemporary application (Samizay and Kazimee [6]).

Figure 4:

A cross section of a proposed residential model for contemporary application (Samizay and Kazimee [6]).

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54 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 2.5 Dwelling unit Traditional Afghan architecture conceived the building as a living architectural entity in its own right, shaped according to the distinct needs of social and cultural requirements. The housing prototype that perfectly matches these cultural requirements is the introverted courtyard house. With many variations the courtyard houses are instrumental in producing the required density and an interwoven urban fabric which is typical of Afghan traditional cities (Figs 3 and 4). Each individual courtyard incorporates the necessary open space and the required access system within its respective boundaries (Fig. 5). Therefore it constituted an integral and autonomous entity with its own source of air, light, and open space, independent of the street. The introverted order of this integrated architecture container creates a sense of place that celebrates the center and provides security, peace and delight [7]. The new building practices should take into consideration the use of local technologies and local materials. The local materials are less costly and easily available, compared to imported industrial products. They are readily accessible to most of the population who are capable to build their houses through self-help (Fig. 6). Size is generally proportional to costs. Small, Efficient homes are far more affordable (both initial and long-term operating costs). Courtyards and row houses are an excellent housing prototype for effective quality living. The common wall construction can conserve up to 50% of energy and maintenance costs of a single, detached house.

Figure 5:

Traditional courtyard houses are adoptive to the cultural and environmental conditions of Afghan cities (Kazimee [8]).

2.6 Housing availability and affordability The reality of assuring that every one is provided with adequate housing is most challenging task for any developing society. There is no evidence that in the cities of developing economy, the need for shelter, will fade away altogether. Squatter and slum settlements will continue to present the reality of shelter for WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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the majority of people in the cities. This is so, because squatters use the traditional and vernacular ways to built their shelters. They take advantage of self-help process and participatory mechanisms that is most economical and within their means of affordability. Building with local materials and doing so incrementally to improve their houses and accommodate their growing families [8].

Figure 6:

Traditional methods of construction and use of local materials are effective and affordable housing solutions (Kazimee [8]).

It is clear that governments must recognize the inevitable results of slum housing and mass migration to cities and take appropriate steps, such as those suggested below: Land ownership. Make land available with low rent for the migrants with possibility of purchase to those who are employed in a given area. Award ownership and legalize land titles to squatters who are already settled and using the site. Infrastructure and services. Provide an infrastructure of services (sewers, water supply, electricity and schools) before or while the settlements are being developed. This also requires an incremental process of development of these facilities in stages as funds and resources become available in time. Affordable financing. Assist in small financing schemes over long period of time to squatters, secured by the dwelling and land values itself. Housing cooperatives and lending organizations that are secured by the government guarantees, can be more effective in providing financial help for small self help projects, and lending to individuals to improve their dwellings rather than constructing large public housing projects. Participatory methods. The tradition of user participation in the planning and building process is just beginning to be appreciated and used in many societies. Offer encouragement to the self-help labor force and recognize the energies and resource that already exist in the skill and determination of people. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

56 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Set up a self-help building advisory service to encourage higher standards of construction. Site and service projects. Make provisions and allocate appropriate sites for low income migrants in the city. Provide these sites with minimum infrastructure of roads, water, sewer and necessary services that can be improved and expanded progressively. Starter shell. Provide if possible a small room or shell with minimum space and facility on a small lot for the immediate needs of a migrant family in order to secure the first settlement process, with the goals that the room can be expanded and improved in future.

3

Energy use and conservation

The new building activities should recognize the natural energy systems that are at play in the built environment and aspire a symbiotic relationship with it. Learning and improving on the vernacular building principles that provided sustainable solutions to their energy needs for many generations can be a good starting point. In the hot-arid region of south and west Afghanistan, courtyard houses proved to be excellent examples of employing passive cooling strategies. Courtyards played a conscious role in the moderation of the climate in hot summer seasons and provided comfortable living conditions for the families. The central courtyard acts as a light well, as well as, an air shaft, bringing both daylight and air circulation into the rooms around it. Taking advantage of the diurnal range of temperature during the summer, at night the cool air descends into the courtyard and fills the surrounding rooms and spaces with cool air, which stays cool and comfortable throughout the day [9]. The use of wind catchers; badgir, maximize additional air circulation into the interior rooms and provide natural cross ventilation. These unique wind towers; badgers, are elaborately designed to accentuate the architectural character of the city and provide rich visual and aesthetic urban quality (Fig. 7). In the cold and mountainous climate of the north and east regions, houses are provided with elaborate under the floor heating system; tawakhana. The heat source is exhausted from a clay oven; tandur, located in the kitchen. While cooking, the auxiliary heat is circulated through continuous heating tunnels constructed under the room floors. When the worm air reaches the end of the circulation tunnels, it escapes through an outlet located on the opposite wall (Fig. 8). The potential of vernacular solutions that are simple principles in themselves, can be a recipe for complex set of design requirements in new construction practices, to make the sustainable building energy conscious. Conservation should be a strategy in all new building activities. Quality construction, good southern/solar exposure and efficient lighting equipment and appliances are important facts for conserving energy. Significant savings can be achieved by careful design of the dwellings. Take full advantage of passive solar strategies by providing increased windows, sun space/greenhouses and gardens on the south side of dwellings. Shade them to increase summer comfort by overhangs, trellises and or deciduous plants. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Figure 7:

Badgir; traditional way of facilitating cross ventilation.

Figure 8:

57

Tawakhana; an under the floor heating system.

Consider passive cooling methods such as clerestory (stacked) or attic ventilation, traditional wind-catcher; badgir, drawing replacement air from the cooler north side. Advancements in active systems are being made at exponential rates. The sustainable energy budget should emphasize the use of regional hydro electric power, solar and photovoltaics and wind farms in the greenbelt and rural hinterland.

4

Land and resource conservation: critical resources for a sustainable future

Practice the 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Provide incentives and facilities to conserve material and monetary resources. In the core of each neighborhood, provide for a recycling center and convenient recycling and composting bins in the residential cluster. Recycling is an important strategy for reducing our consumption. Encourage only the purchase of products with recycled or recyclable content by individual, corporate or community preference or policy [10]. Design with permaculture for landscaping various open spaces and community areas. Permaculture is landscaping which is edible and perennial (fruit trees, grapevines, berry bushes, etc.). Permaculture provided beauty, low maintenance, shade and food, which can be harvested by families or community groups and sold locally for various site improvements or projects. Use Xeriscape, with indigenous landscape which requires little, additional water. Xeriscape requires less maintenance and resources [11].

5

Water conservation: a fundamental need for human health

Develop water impoundment areas and enhance wetlands throughout the site. Retain all water on the site as long as possible. This allows water to percolate into the ground, water landscaping, reduce downstream flooding, and increase water quality and bio-diversity. This can enhance the unique qualities of each site and provide for recreation and education opportunities. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

58 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Use water conservation appliances. Water conservation fixtures and appliances in the home can save up to 30 – 70% of water use (low flush toilets, low flow faucets, water and energy efficient appliances, etc.) [12]. Harvest the rain and gray water from the house and other structures. Develop gray water storage cistern for use in landscaping and toilet flushing. Develop artificial wetland on the site. Wetlands are economical for brown/black water treatment. This strategy applies to large and small-scale developments and is far more economical than traditional engineered water treatment facilities. Use traditional water conservation methods where possible. The traditional method of underground cover canal: kariz, and cover cistern; hauze, proved to be effective methods of conserving and storing water for the use in dry seasons. The use of underground canals as a source for irrigation reduces the factor of evaporation in hot sunny environment.

6

Conclusion

The sustainable design guidelines for Afghan cities can be effective tool for demonstrating the theory, quality and application of sustainable design to urban or rural communities. These integrated design strategies permeate various defining levels of communities, integrating its natural amenities with its neighborhood context, residential, cluster and dwelling units. The strategies are inherently a powerful research, educational and marketing tool for sustainable community planning and development. They can be used as a guide for developing a comprehensive sustainable urban program. Specific policies and strategies will vary with local conditions, but the methods for demonstrating human- environmental interchanges and benefits are universally applicable to any environment. Adopting these recommendations in a systematic manner will provide significant long term resource and monetary savings for the communities. These savings can be retained in the communities instead of exporting to pay for imported resources and energy. This way of planning and building fosters a sustainable economy. The implementation of sustainable program will require collaboration with government, civic organizations and private individuals. All decisions should be brought into a democratic discussion with community leaders and negotiated politically with the users. Clear definitions and realistic measures by the governments and policymakers can determine the effectiveness of these programs. The process should be enhanced by grass root effort, demonstration projects and presenting and lobbying of governmental and community leaders.

References [1]

Bartuska, T.; Kazimee, B. and Owen, M. 1995. "Envisioning a Sustainable Community," Universe, Washington State University, WA.1995. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

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Szabo, A & Barfield, T. “Afghanistan: An Atlas of Indigenous Domestic Architecture",” University of Texas Press, Austin TX. 1991. Bartuska, T.; Kazimee, B. and Owen, M. 1995. "Envisioning a Sustainable Community," Universe, Washington State University, WA. 1995. Bianca, Stefano. “Urban Form in the Arab World,” Thames & Hudson, UK, 2000. Bartuska, T.; Kazimee, B. and Owen, M. 1995. "Envisioning a Sustainable Community," Universe, Washington State University, WA. 1995. Samizay, R. & Kazimee, B. "Life In Between the Residential Walls in Islamic Cities,” Housing Design, Research, Education, pp. 221-238, Bulos, M. and Teymur, N. Avebury Ashgate Publishing Limited, UK, 1993. Bianca, Stefano. “Urban Form in the Arab World,” Thames & Hudson, UK, 2000. Kazimee, B. "Quest for Shelter: Squatters and Urbanization Throughout the World,” in The Built Environment, Bartuska, T. and Young, G. coeditors, Crisp Publication, Inc., Menlo Park, California 1993. Talib, K. “Shelter in Saudi Arabia,” Academy Edition, St Martin’s Press, UK, 1984. Bartuska, T.; Kazimee, B. and Owen, M. 1995. "Envisioning a Sustainable Community," Universe, Washington State University, WA. 1995. Vieria, 1993. "A Checklist for Sustainable Developments,” Building Connections: Livable, Sustainable Communities, American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C. Mollison, B., 1990. Permaculture: A Practical Guide for a Sustainable Future, Washington, D.C.

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History integrated urban transformation W. van der Toorn Vrijthoff Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Real Estate and Project Management, Delft, The Netherlands

Abstract The economic growth and the growth of the European urban area was at a particularly high level in the second half of the twentieth century. The public and economic functions, traditionally located in the inner cities, needed more and more space during that period and were re-located. They moved to bigger buildings on more reachable sites, outside the inner cities. At the same time the mobility of people improved steadily and cities increasingly had to compete for the favour of the consumer. “City branding” became a common term in those days. With this in mind, the specific identity of the city is of crucial importance. The area of the old inner city is essential in that context, but in the way it was and not the way it has become. The historic embedded identity forms the counterpoint for the dominant influence of a levelling global culture. The faster society is changing, the more attention for the stability of history, the more popular is the preservation of cultural heritage. On the basis of that, in many European cities plans are made or carried out to restore and maintain cultural heritage in combination with renewal, all integrated in transformation plans for parts of the inner city. The decision process about inner city transformations is based on the economic interests of private as well as local public participants. The costs of restoration of cultural heritage are covered by public and private funds. The historic inner city has gained a unique status and “cultural heritage became business”. This research goes explores how and why cultural heritage has gained importance for any city in Europe and considers how that importance can be integrated in profit based urban transformation projects, projects in which the private sector becomes more and more important. Keywords: urban transformation, cultural heritage, historic inner city, authenticity, conservation, preservation.

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1

The historic inner city, definition and specification

The historic inner city is a territorial concept, in contrast with the city centre which is defined in a functional sense. Two definitions of the historic inner city tell the same story: “The city area that already was there before the period of urban growth in the second half of the nineteenth century and for the most of it bounded by canals”. (van Duren 1995) “That part of the city that was situated within the last constructed defensive wall, which wall was demolished during the nineteenth century, in order to facilitate the strongly increased city population and enable the necessary urban growth”. (Schuiling, e.a., Functionele vernieuwing van Binnensteden 1960-1990). About 2% of the actual urban area is taken by the area that we see as the historic inner city. Historic Inner city City centre Phase difference

City centre

City centre Small historic cities Little growth

Historic Inner city

(fe. Visby on Gotland)

Historic Inner city

Urban area

Figure 1:

Historic inner city, city center and urban area.

Any discussion of the historic inner city is inevitably also a discussion about cultural heritage. The definition for cultural heritage of Turnbridge is attractive because it is simple. “Heritage is that which we have inherited from the past.” [6, page 236] That definition refers to heritage and not specifically to cultural heritage. However, any heritage always has cultural roots. If we use the definition of Turnbridge for cultural heritage then there is no selection criterion. European societies definitely make a selection in their judgment of what part of our heritage should be seen as cultural and what should not. For example, the Dutch government is using the following criteria:

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• Rarity • Undamaged • Representative. This criteria leads to the result that the historic inner cities of Europe become the places to be careful with, because of the fact that it is there that most of our urban cultural heritage is to be found

2

Position and profile of the historic inner city: past and present

The Industrial Revolution triggered off a considerable increase of urban areas in Europe. After the Second World War, this development changed at an accelerating pace. The postwar baby boom was followed by a growing trend towards smaller family sizes and an increase in the use of space by individuals. The precondition for these developments was the steady economic growth in Europe. Growth took place in all sectors, bringing with it an increase in spatial scale. Consumer spending continued to grow within the framework of favorable economic developments. These developments were accompanied with a need for space for which the historic city centre did not have sufficient potential. As a result, functions moved to other premises. More space and better accessibility were the key motives for choosing locations other than the historic centre. The finely woven spatial structure of the historic centre combined with a wide differentiation in types of ownership makes it either difficult or impossible to fit in large-scale functions without affecting the centers spatial quality. The first reaction to the exodus of commercial activity concentrated on modifying the spatial structures with the aim of adapting the historic centre to the requirements of the time. The changes were particularly rigorous in the United States. Jane Jacobs reacted to that development, noting that the unique qualities of old city centres were being rapidly effaced. Europe was following the example of America with a certain delay and, fortunately, not quite as comprehensively. It soon became clear that the suburbanization of economic life could not be stopped by a metamorphosis of the urban spatial structures. A separation of economic interests took place, and the historic centre changed from being a place of production into a place of consumption. A repetition of this process is now imminent. For years, the geographical centre of gravity for consumer expenditure has been located in the city centre. This is now changing because the growth of consumer expenditure is accompanied by a substantial increase in spatial requirements. A self-evident, but not sensible, reaction to this trend is a far-reaching reorganization of the city centre so as to create more space (figure 2) The probability of destroying the unique spatial quality of the old centre is high, and the centre is likely to become a poor alternative to more accessible and more spacious locations. The relative market positions of individual distinct urban areas are subject to constant change. The evolving market position of the historic city centre can be ascribed to the following developments and aspects: WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

64 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Figure 2:

The map of Amsterdam 17th century and a view on some old attractive houses.

The original users are transferring their activities to other locations, while new users present themselves. The motives of those departing are related to aspects such as accessibility, spatial capacity and price. • Relative functional obsolescence: technology is developing quickly and continually generates new ‘tools’ for industry and consumers. Developments in ICT illustrate this trend well. The historic city centre adapts with much greater difficulty to the demands of present times (particularly when large-scale modifications are involved) compared to other city areas. • Demographic developments: population growth induces expansion within existing cities. The territory and population size of the city as a whole increase, while the land area of the historic centre remains constant and thus ‘shrinks’ in relative terms. • The technical ageing of buildings, due to among other things intensive use. • The increasing ‘rarity value’ of the historic inner city, which exerts a positive effect on its attractiveness and market position. • The growing action radius of companies and consumers. The number of locations which may be considered in the selection process by companies and individuals has undergone tremendous growth. Companies are becoming increasingly global in outlook, and the European scale is becoming an everyday reality for individual consumers. In Europe we have been through a lengthy period – to be expressed in centuries – during which progressive urbanization has been the norm. The industrial period, in particular, saw unprecedented growth in the size of cities. During Europe’s post-war development phase, the main basic assumption was one of continuing urbanization, with the result that the level of urbanization currently stands at 80%. Relatively speaking, the old centre has been shrinking continually. This development will continue in the coming years. Changes attuned to creating WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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more space will prove insufficient. The status and market position of the centre will change nonetheless. Within the service economy, the historic city centre is regaining a position in the focus of social developments. In “The future of the center: The core City in the new economy” by Joel Kotkin [3], the author sketches future economic developments, with the historic centre playing a key part in them. “Even under the best of circumstances, center cities are unlikely to ever emerge as the geographically dominant centers of their metropolitan regions as they were in the industrial era. Instead, the new urban core resembles more that of the renaissance city- relatively smaller, and built around classical urban functions such as arts, cross-cultural trade, and highly specialized small-scale production” “Ultimately, the revival of the urban core, whether in the traditional city or the more dispersed model common to the sunbelt agglomerations, stems from a search for a sense of place and history amidst a society in which the barriers of time and space are under constant assault. As centres of arts and culture, repositories of our past history and architecture, the core retains a powerful tug of consciousness. It reminds us not only who we are but also what we have been”.

3

Strategies for modifications

The continually fluctuating market position of individual city areas is reflected in changes to their status and function. These changes are in turn a spur to spatial modifications. It is more complex to modify an existing urban area than to develop a greenfield site, because the developers cannot start from a ‘virgin ground’ situation. The kind of areas referred to here are those whose potential exceeds the level of current use. This means that there is scope for investments aimed at improving the physical environment – changes that contribute to a balance between the market position of the location, the urban area, and the function and status of the properties located there. If the discrepancy between the present use and the changed situation is only a small one, it will often suffice to adapt the existing buildings only. In other cases, the market situation gives greater leeway, making it possible to consider alternatives such as demolition and construction of new buildings. This kind of development is often accompanied by an expansion of the overall building volume and an increased building density. In its most extreme form, the urban structure may itself be modified. The general rule that changing function and status are followed by spatial changes does not apply to the historic inner city. The spatial characteristics of the centre are stable in character. This is largely related to the complexity of the spatial changes. Changes in other urban areas and extensions to the total city area are vastly simpler to carry out; investments in outer areas carry less risk and are therefore more attractive to developers. The high level of risk puts a brake on improvements to inner city locations. The relative market position of the historic centre is changing rapidly precisely because, from a spatial viewpoint, much stays the same. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

66 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Urban places

Redevelopment sites transformation centre areas

Adaptation to economic and social developments by:

railway station locations

restructuring post war housing shopping centres

complete renewal harbour areas former industry

Restructuring Redevelopment Transformation Revitalisation Conservation

Existing locations (within city territory)

Core zone 20/40 zone 45/75 zone 75/00

focus on function

Historic core, a conservation site with the focus on form

Figure 3:

The historic core, a conservation site.

The spatial stability of the city centre is not only a result of the complexity of change. The urban structure and the buildings within that structure were realized in an era when the building industry was organized into guilds. The patrons who ordered the construction of many of the buildings in the historic centre were church communities or wealthy burghers. The levels of craftsmanship achieved would be almost impossible to match today. These qualities have resulted in a unique spatial ensemble which imposes restraint on anyone planning to initiate spatial improvements. If a similar spatial inertia prevailed in another part of the city, its market position would deteriorate rapidly. It would run the risk of decay and impoverishment. Changes in the functional demands placed on the buildings and the urban environment in these areas have to be followed closely by spatial and technical adaptations. The historic centre forms an exception to this rule. The historic structures and buildings are a communal good which is not open to discussion. Both companies and individuals are keen to take advantage of the available spatial facilities. As Joel Kotkin [3] points out, the companies concerned are mainly small-scale enterprises which are offshoots of the new economy. This trend is largely explained by the specific identity of the historic centre. ‘Identity’, according to Paul Meurs [1, page 269], is that quality that transforms an arbitrary location into a specific place. He cites the anonymous suburbs as exemplifying places where there is a total lack of identity. He is partly correct. However, those who grow up in suburbs, which others see as monotonous, do perceive a local identity. It is made up of personal experiences that have a direct relationship to the location – not so much objective spatial characteristics as individual experiences evoked by the place. The increasing mobility of the native European population and the increasing number of non-native Europeans has caused a dislocation between spatial identity and the individual experience. Yet there is a primary need for spatial landmarks within the experiential world. The city centre has an important function in this respect. It serves as an emblem for the modern city that has WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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developed around it. The modern, dislocated European seeks terra firma in the historic inner city. The monotony of the urban expansion areas of the last century, particularly those dating from the period following the Second World War, engenders psychological disorientation. The historic city centre thus has an important communal function. The extent to which that function can be adequately fulfilled in the future depends strongly on how the renewals, which must inevitably take place, will be implemented. The worst mistake – one that can be fatal to the qualities of the historic centre – is to approach the inner city with the same strategy as other urban areas. The spatial modifications in the historic inner city have to be made with respect for the smallness of scale of buildings and the “finely woven” urban structure. During the execution of any modification made, the historic inner city stays in function, and that makes it complicated. It is like tinkering on a running engine. The spatial modifications can be related to preservation, restoration and renewal applied to parts of buildings, buildings, public space and urban infrastructure. Decision making implicating the balance between preservation, restoration and renewal (preservation and innovation) can be structured by the following questions: • Why save it, why modify it? • What to save or modify? • How to do it, regarding the aspect of authenticity. Those questions can be approached from different points of view like: • Philosophical approach • Economical approach • Social • Functional. In the following paragraphs the accent will be laid on the philosophical approach.

4

Why save it, why change it?

“In western society people live longer and because of growing mobility they remain seldom surrounded by the things and the house they grew up with. Therefore they stick to the last remaining recognizable things; the changing surroundings is compensated by an increased interest for history.” [4] The same message as Lowenthal is given, nearly twenty years later, in a policy document of the central government of the Netherlands [7]. The following statement is made in that document: “The need for historical embedded identity, for slow movement in time, for distinction ability, for nuances, familiar situations and variety, can also be seen as the counter point for the dominant influence of the levelling global culture. Handling the cultural heritage with respect guarantees the historical continuity and opens up possibilities to preserve the cultural identity of a village, city, region and even the whole country.” [7, page 11]

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68 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Statements such as this are becoming more and more popular and can be condensed to: The faster society is changing, the more attention for the stability of history, the more popular preservation of cultural heritage.

A philosophic point of view Based on Nietsche, F., The Use and Abuse of History (1874)

Methods for practioning of history

Related to historical movements

As an active and striving person

monumental

Historicism

As a person who preserves and admires

antiquarian

Romanticism

As a suffering person and in need of emancipation

critical

Rationalism

Belonging of history to the living person in the following three respects:

Figure 4:

A philosophic point of view, based on Nietsche [2].

In the present situation the antiquarian point of view is dominant. It is a time in which it becomes clear that the post war building production is not of a qualitative high level. Fast growth and high quality do not go together well. In the short period after the Second World War the rational point of view was dominant, related to urban development in Europe. Europe was aiming for a quantitative high building production, cities had to adapt to a growing mobility and a growing consumption. The transformation of many inner cities was initiated. Large scale traffic passages and the implementation of, for those days, large-scale retail concentrations were planned. Small scale and “a finely woven urban structure” were not valued then in the same way they are valued now. The reflection of our urban history was partly wiped out. Instead a reflection of recent history was created. The judgment of the present generation about those post-war interventions is not positive. According to Lowenthal [4], an explanation can at least partly be found in a common human characteristic. “Any following generation is inclined to condemn the deeds of her immediate predecessors and at the same time honour the reputation of a past further back.” [4] The psychological need to preserve the past is concentrated, in the present societal context, on a bygone period that at least dates from before the Second World War. The urban remains of that time are to be found in the historic inner city. Those remains are part of a collection of historic fragments. The historic inner city in its present form represents not a specific, strictly bounded, historical period. The fragments represent the complete history of our urban development. A history book you can walk through. The most recent chapters in that book are considered not very interesting and even blameworthy. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Conservation

Matter liable to decline

Stabalize the present situation

Copy accept decline wish to preserve

conservation

If restoration is no longer possible then making a copy is to consider

Restoration In restoration the concept of authenticity is essential

copy restoration

material authenticity contextual authenticity conceptual authenticity a-historic authenticity historic authenticity

Figure 5:

Figure 6:

5

Forms of authenticity [5].

A new landmark in history and a look alike authentical.

What to save, what to change?

A large part of the historic inner cities of Europe have a protected status. The question “What to save?” is already answered by our predecessors. There is a strong trend with a broadly public support for preservation of historic values and cultural heritage. But what is cultural heritage? The whole of our man made habitat belongs to our cultural heritage. If preservation is the only goal then any innovation is blocked. Selection is necessary. The old inner city area is different from other city areas particularly on the point of small scale, finely woven urban structure and a high level of differentiation. That differentiation is expressed in a differentiated façade picture WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

70 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability which demonstrates that the urban structure is a compilation of individual buildings. That differentiation is expressed in a strong mix of functions. Houses are mixed with different kind of business oriented buildings, or there is even a mix in the same building. You can read a long historic background by looking at the buildings. The maintenance activities and the modifications and innovations over time, have a differentiation in the technical state and the functionality as a result. The entrance and front door of all the buildings are different. The different floors are all different in height. The windows of the one floor are different from the windows of another floor. The subsidence of each building has given each window its own unique deviation of the straight position. These were a few examples of aspects on which differentiation can be specified. It also demonstrates that there is a high “differentiation density” in the historic inner cities. The message therefore is: stick to the smallness of scale, do not destroy the finely woven urban structure that was made taking into account the pedestrian and the barrow.

6

How to save it, how to change it?

Even if we stick to smallness of scale and to the finely woven urban structure, the renovation of urban elements will be necessary every now and then. We then can make a choice between preservation, restoration, to copy or to create a modern urban element. In creating a new urban element there are again choices to make. Do we choose a modern product of this time and make a new landmark in history. Or do we choose for a “look alike authentical”. Figure 6 contains an example of both: two new buildings in the old urban structure. One a design of Gehry for the office of Nationale Nederlanden in Prague, the other a design for a house of Buro de Binnenstad in Amsterdam. One is an example of a new landmark in history, the other an example of a look alike authentica.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Meurs, P., 2000, De moderne historische stad, Rotterdam, Nai uitgevers. Nietsche,F., 1874, Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie fur das Leben, Eng. Editie, The Use and Abuse of History, 1957, Indianapolis, BobbsMerill. Kotkin, Joel, 1999, The future of the center: The core city in the new economy, Policy study no 264. Lowenthal, D., 1985, The past as a foreign country, London, Cambridge University Press. Ex,N., 1993, Zo goed als oud, De achterkant van het restaureren Amsterdam, Amber, ISBN 90 5093 238 X. Graham, B., Modern Europe, place, culture and identity, Oxford university press, 2002. Nota Belvedere, 1999, Ministerie VROM, ISBN 90 322 7615 8.

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Historical centers: sustainable economic spaces, management for sustainable projects R. Jordán1, J. Plaut1, G. Carlo Magnoli2,3, R. M. Pulselli3,4 & E. Tiezzi4 1

Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division, United Nations ECLAC, Chile 2 European Union P.R.I.S.M.A. Project on Sustainable Built Environment, Italy 3 M.I.T, Cambridge, USA 4 Department of Chemical and Biosystems Sciences, University of Siena, Italy Abstract Historical centers have the potential to unite: different cultures, architectonic and intangible patrimony, goods and services formally and informally produced, financial capitals, different levels of salaries and rents, real estate investment and patrimonial renovation projects, amongst others. This paper studies, in the context of equity and sustainability objectives of city management, the degree of economic “factor” insertion in diverse areas and activities in historical centers. Methodologically, it presents the main factors and issues that constitute challenges for sustainable urban management and proposes a necessary strategy for public policy coordination and investment in city centers. The main objective is to delineate a sustainable city urban management in terms of its elements, parameters and instruments. This strategy responds to public sector demands regarding management options that could balance the growth and equity in the historical centers of cities. Some questions that arise in this context are: is there a relation between the economic dimension of historical centers and the social equity and inclusiveness in urban society in the framework of sustainability? Is the search for equity in Latin America and the Caribbean cities the economic management approach in historical centers? In management terms, how do institutions deal with the concepts of center and centrality? The discussion and analysis of the economic dimension of historical centers in Latin America and the Caribbean and their corresponding potential for urban development and equity will be synthesized based on tendencies, and will build a framework for sustainable urban projects for historical centers in this region. Keywords: historical center, strategic and sustainable urban management, regional sustainable urban agenda, Latin America and the Caribbean. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060071

72 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

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Economic functions in historical centers

As stated in recent ECLAC documents prepared for the Thirteenth Meeting of Ministers and High-level Authorities of the Housing and Urban Development Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, the region is the most urbanized region in the developing world, with an urbanization level rivaling that of many industrialized countries. The region’s urbanization level rose from 71% in 1990 to 75% in 2000, at which time its urban population amounted to 380 million, in contrast to 127 million rural inhabitants (ECLAC, 2001a). Moreover, a large proportion of the urban population in the region lives in large cities. The most common type of population movement in the region is migration between cities. Rural to- urban migration, which has declined in absolute terms, is taking on new forms, particularly involving more educated young adults of working age and in situations of widespread civil conflict. The region is also starting to become a source of outward migration to other countries, primarily the United States, and to a much lesser degree Canada, Europe and Oceania. According to ECLAC estimates, by the beginning of the 2000s the region’s urban poor amounted to over 138 million people, of whom 46 million were indigent. While poverty is proportionally lower in cities than in rural areas, the region’s high level of urbanization has concentrated most of the population in urban centers, with the result that two out of every three poor people in the region are city dwellers. Urban poverty takes the form of low earnings related to precarious employment, a shortage of educational capital and patrimonial assets, and shows gender-related inequalities. Households headed by women, apart from being over represented among poor households, tend to be more economically and socially vulnerable because of the lower number of workers per household, which makes them more likely to fall below the poverty line in times of crisis. While economic growth and increased social spending in all the countries have enabled them to make progress in reducing the percentage of people living in poverty, national inequality indices have remained high or deteriorated outright. ECLAC analyses show that wealth factors affect inequity as well as poverty. Average growth in most countries of the region, has been insufficient to overcome problems of poverty. Low growth rates have had negative effects on employment and the creation of new jobs. The sharp decline in the labor absorption capacity of manufacturing and the public sector, in a context of rapid technology absorption and fiscal adjustment, has had at least three effects: (i) the reduction in the number of low-skilled jobs, with a consequent rise in unemployment and informal employment; (ii) a widening of the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers; and (iii) a downturn in the proportion of secure, stable jobs, particularly low-skill jobs, and greater disparity between skilled and unskilled workers in terms of rights at work [1]. Although urbanization processes have slowed during the past decade, serious challenges continue to exist in the region’s urban settlements: a scarcity of public services, marked social inequalities in living conditions, social and spatial segregation, inequality, poverty, unemployment and increased economic vulnerability, environmental degradation, complexities in governance structures WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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for urban environmental service provision, pollution, and vulnerability to technological and natural disasters. The convergence in the urban sphere of economic efficiency constraints (financing issues), social equity concerns (habitability, investment in capitals, employment), the need to internalize environmental costs (management, governance) and to improve urban functionality with respect to regional integration and globalization tensions, present great challenges to urban policy makers on regional, national, sub-national and local levels. In meeting urban challenges, the most effective institutions and policy initiatives will exploit the opportunities globalization and localization present; globalization can provide the impetus for economic growth, while successful localization can empower communities to act as agents of change and give rise to mechanisms to promote transparency and accountability in public sector decision-making. The discussion and analysis of the economic dimension of Latin American and Caribbean historical centers and their corresponding potential, implies framing the current dynamics of these city areas in relation to globalization tendencies. It is necessary to recognize that traditional economic functions of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services, from the most sophisticated to the simplest, have a very important place in Latin American and the Caribbean cities. The urbanization level increases to 75%. The level and type of economic insertion of groups and individuals in the “economy of the city” and especially in the historical centers determines the level of access to urban goods and servicestangible and intangible – that are produced in the context of global interchangeable economy [2]. These social and economic asymmetries (various types of insertions) are reflected by important city centers contrasts: social groups that live in them; cultural, architectonic and intangible patrimony; goods and services that are produced, distributed and commercialized formally and informally; wages and rents that are perceived; real estate investment and patrimonial recovery; access to infrastructure and basic services among others. In city centers, groups and individuals reflect their demands. From the supply side it is organized (spatially and economically) to satisfy different demands and interests. It indicates the strong relationship between the economic dimension of historical centers and access to goods and services (as a measure of equity) considering urban society as a whole. For that reason, economic and social inclusiveness is in our understanding the approach to economic management dimension of historical centers [3]. As a second aspect to be considered, we need to focus our attention in the center– centrality relation in historical centers. In other words, what are the historical center-centrality functions? Could these centrality functions be “allocated” through a strategic urban management sustainability approach applied to city historical centers? The center-centrality relationship reveals the tendencies towards institutional, commercial and political appropriation of “values” that hold the historical center and that allows us to differentiate these tendencies from other urban areas. In WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

74 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability these central areas, the historical center, is “… the place of the difference… the place of sense, the main urban factor of citizen integration.” [4]. This shows the constant valuation and appropriation of individuals, groups and institutions of its qualities, especially those of a commercial nature and those of an institutional and political type. The main objective that is pursued in this appropriation is the best return or gain. In city centers, the best place is sought for sales, distribution and purchase of goods and services; locating a regional or main branch of a transnational company; where institutions of national government are located; obtaining a desirable level of impact in the institutions by citizenship through social manifestations indistinct the specific reclamations. In other words, firms and companies search to appropriate this urban area that allows them better access to levels of tangible and intangible returns and gains; either from an economic-commercial perspective or as from a politicalinstitutional objective. The historical urban centers offer these conditions. These concepts refer to the dynamics of historical centers; these conditions reveal the importance of urban intervention in historical centers themselves, through a strategic management of the historical city centers; in this sense, seeking to put in place a particular management for these areas in the debate and practice on urban public policies. Nevertheless, it would not be possible without an analysis and evaluation of the functionality of historical centers. In other words, which would be the best management approach? A search through strategic measures, the recreation of traditional conditions so that these central areas gain once again a “classic functionality”, and/or rather create the conditions necessary to give the area a “new functionality”, that is, appearing in the context of globalization dynamics. The debate in this sense indicates the idea of not introducing a management that “freezes” the conditions and characteristics that historical centers have (from an architectural and patrimony perspective), but rather introduces (in the proposals) transformations, changes, expanding and accumulating tangible and social capital. It can be done through preserving the identity through historical patrimony preservation. In this sense, the latter is more an instrument than an objective. More specifically what is accumulated in an historical center and who accumulates it? The economic dimension of historical centers, with its traditional economic functions and appropriation tendencies, by commercial and political institutions, tie together other factors referring necessarily to the matter of accumulation of a varied range of “capitals” in historical centers. At least three types of capitals can be distinguished: social, physical and political-institutional. In this sense, is essential the analysis of economic appropriation, in terms of who wants and needs to have access to the “center” to achieve appropriation of a part of these capitals, looking for a best possible return and gains. A specific analysis (based on Latin America and European experience) leads us to the conviction of the appearance of a “new functionality”. It arises from a WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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profound transformation of economic and social functions in historical centers. The objectives and interest of individuals, firms, and social groups has not changed much but the type of goods and services and capitals to be provided is mostly different. At a micro-center level (part of a historical center), “new functions” arise to a large extent, as multiple effects of the financial economic globalization that has been experienced for decades. One of these multiple effects that have immediate expression in the center refers to a new order in terms of economic agents in the manifold and varied activities that are localized in these areas; and to a “new logic” in economic dynamics that result. For this, it is necessary to recognize the distinctions between urban centers and historical centers, as two types of centralities in Latin American cases (Carrión, 2003:134). In these, the consolidation of economic activities of sub contract services that support and are functional to other economic activities related to transnational companies of great spread or great impact in the context of globalization productive and financial dynamics have been noticed. These “new arrangements” have also been identified and researched in urban centers of developed countries in depth (Sassen, 2003). It would be possible to state that nowadays the historical centers functionally contribute to the national urban economy – and to the transnational economy - through “global chaining”; an activity that previously did not exist or it was not so evident. At the same time, spatially this strengthens other functional dimensions of historical centers, creating a process of strong “microeconomic urban clusters” [5]. From a social point of view, globalization has introduced a new dimension of urban poverty to city centers; economic informality finds its place in commercial activities in urban centers. The informal sector uses public spaces guided by high accessibility in these areas. It is perceiving the necessity – and in a way the opportunity – that exists “to act on time” through public-private management. Guided by governments, with the participation of poor social groups, management of urban city center upgrades will have to solve the problems in run-down urban areas but with a great potential of performing centrality functions. Systematic and participative management could solve the problems of poverty, precariousness and urban marginality in these areas. For example initiatives of social and economic urban renovation in the Santiago CBD, that can also be seen in Rome, Paris or Berlin, together with “meso urban projects”, have achieved a strong position on the Urban Reform agenda that the Chilean Government is carrying out [6]. Another relevant aspect from this new functionality of historical centers is what happens with expansion and spatial growth in these central areas. In effect, central city dynamics are influenced by growth dynamics in peripheral zones. New centers and centralities are created, especially in metropolitan cities as a result of a “frog leap” form of metropolitan spatial growth. “…in Latin America there are cases of new urban centralities that are registered in the logics of globalization and that tend to produce a “wash out” effect of historical centers which in turn are “peripherized…”[7]. Old centers become a “periphery” of new centers. For example, in the Metropolitan Area of Santiago de Chile, the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

76 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability city traditional center has lost some attributes and conditions of an urban center – but not the historical center – to other areas in the periphery that nowadays are characterized by their significant dynamism.

2

Strategic management of historical urban centers: a regional agenda for sustainable urban development

The logic of historical center dynamics and their functionality leads to the need for developing a strategic urban management agenda, not only at a debate level but also at a practical one. In this sense, this discussion first of all needs to emphasize not only the objectives of urban management, but also the strategic action axes that have been set up for Latin America and the Caribbean by the United Nations in collaboration with different sectorial regional and international Forums and Conferences. There are four main objectives of strategic urban management: to improve urban sustainability in economic, social and environmental aspects; to improve habitability and urban functionality standards; to improve urban governance standards and to overcome urban poverty with economic and social development. These objectives and the strategic management that result from its operation in cities and territories, conforms to a Regional Agenda for Sustainable Urban Development. In Latin America and the Caribbean regional context, there are different initiatives for urban reforms that include regulatory aspects as well management proposals (for example in the cases of Chile and Brazil) for a better level of territorial competitiveness. The Regional Agenda for Sustainable Urban Development focuses the attention on five main aspects: public spaces, public services, employment and income, land and housing; which are controlled by three main instrumental aspects: finance, governance - participation and institutionalism - norms. These arise not only from the analysis and evaluation of management conditions in Latin American and Caribbean urban areas, but at the same time, due to the entailment of strengths and potentialities of these areas. The concern for public spaces appears from the potential to generate social capital that allows improvements not only in citizenship but in the involvement of individuals and groups for sustainable economic and social improvement in these areas. Policies creating jobs and increasing wages combat this problem by decreasing critical unemployment levels to some extent. Public services are approached not only from the perspective of a defecit in the network but also in the quality of services. Land use policy analyzes innovative alternatives for access, effectively legally entitling the sectors to use fewer resources. At the same time, this activates management mechanisms, which improve efficiency in the use of urban resources. Housing policies seek to promote forms of intervention that improve standards, in terms of quality and quantity using integral methodological and managerial approaches to slum upgrading. Every

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one of the aspects focuses on its most basic contribution in order to overcome poverty and urban precariousness in the region. Objectives of urban management as well as aspects of urban intervention at a regional level outline a strong entailment with actions that can be generated within historical centers. It considers potentialities of an integral intervention that “mixes” the programmatic and instrumental axes of the agenda, bearing in mind that all are needed in historical center management strategies.

3

Sustainable strategic management of historical centers

Historical center crisis can be understood as a true opportunity where a complex mixture of initiatives of individuals and groups that have their own nature, experience and dynamics through time can be capitalized upon. Some historical centers of the Region are experiencing real uncertainty and physical, economic and socio-cultural degradation with former administration and management schemes that do not guarantee their future sustainability and present a nonefficient institutional performance. At the same time, in some Latin American cities that have faced varied and intense problems, it has been possible replace historical center management with innovative mechanisms for the recovery and valuation of these areas. Mexico City is a good example, where private capital has introduced forms of financial management schemes in order to “rescue” the city center. Quito (Ecuador) shows how international credit can build up a “management machinery” under the coordination of the local government with enterprise logic and citizenship participation. In the city of Cordoba (Argentina) a strong process of central city decentralization has been developed in the context of the creation of a public-private developed agency for the city. Considering the statement that the “…universe highly differentiated of historical centers expresses wealth and it demands analytical creativity…” [7] and taking into account that there is not a “unique model” that can generate “successful results”, it is necessary to remember what elements are necessary for developing a strategic urban management in historical centers. Consequently the following proposed factors are set out as “reminders” for policy and strategic management design, which have arisen out of the experience and projects of ECLAC and European Organizations, which are capitalized throughout time. 3.1 Patrimonial scanner: individuals and groups Replacing sustainable strategic management in historical centers first of all requires an initial diagnosis and analysis that identifies and reports two central factors in historical centers, which will be fundamental for policy proposals. The first step is to identify who will be affected by the intervention; who can be involved according to rights and obligations and who will be needed to negotiate in order to articulate and redirect actions, efforts and resources. It is here that the “patrimonial individuals or groups in the development of historical centers” or “patrimonial actors” are defined. It is essential to notice some main parties: public sector, enterprise private sector, citizen institutions and NGO’s, amongst WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

78 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability others. It is important to analyze the different levels of their capacity to innovate and to manage such strategies, and their functions and rights in the historical centers. It is also necessary to recognize their perception of the historical center’s development. In other words, it is necessary to be able to easily report the attitudes that these individuals and groups demonstrate and at the same time, and most important, their suitability, due to their insertion and adaptability for acquiring new roles in the processes and projects that are the base of strategic management in urban centers. This is important in order to analyze the degree of sustainability that can be achieved with this strategy considering these groups of participants and for evaluating the possibility of attracting new strategic partners. The second step is to identify the relationship between these parties and the economic activities that are recognized as specific to historical center and that are located in it. The identification of economic dynamics can be ascertained by “scanning” the parties interested in the historical center, in the sense of their activities, functions and relations. Considering, for example: levels and types of economic activity; supply and demand for recreational, cultural and commercial activities; dynamics of the informal sector and the impacts on the quality of life of inhabitants in city centers; the presence of transnational companies and sub contract economic “chains", amongst others. An analysis that emphasizes the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats to city center dynamics and a study of the potential for economic activities are essential for achieving a high level of sustainability. 3.2 Co-management equation A “co-management equation” results from the analysis and evaluation of the economic dimension of historical centers. It is based on the consolidation of “new functions” and dynamics that city centers have experienced. This can lead management institutions to distinguish two types of target objectives. They become the “nucleus” of the processes and projects that include the developments that are part of the management strategy for historical centers. They become the main “actors” in the co-management process. Within enterprise management logic, the relationship between private and public sector identifies two types of management targets: “commercial-institutional targets”, and “social targets”. The challenge is to identify some “base line activities” as an input for a negotiated strategy to develop economic dynamics in the historical centers. From the public sector point of view, it is important to emphasize needs and demands from individuals and groups with a territorial scope as social targets. They must become a part of the commercial institutional and economic strategy of the city center as a whole. The role of the public sector is to guarantee economic sustainability not only for firms and enterprises that operate in city centers but also for poor individuals and groups who live in the area. In relation to the social target, these individuals and groups linked to the economic management strategy at the same time present openings and vulnerabilities. The openings must be understood with regard to the programmatic and instrumental axes of the Regional Agenda for Sustainable Urban Development previously noted and specifically related to the economic WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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dimension that these centers present in order to promote employment and income increase. It is also realistic to note that the same target displays its correspondent vulnerability in economic, financial, legal, and social terms; especially because of urban poverty and precariousness within city centers. Potentiality and vulnerability, which are parts of the social target, justifies special attention from the government. In this sense, public policy has the possibility of undertaking and harnessing plans, policies, programs and projects that are oriented in an integral approach to the promotion and production of tangible and intangible goods and services in the historical centers. The analysis implicit in the “co-management equation” allows us, among other aspects, to: work on the basis of a realistic approach that optimizes the potential of functions of individuals and groups in historical center development through an evaluation of its specific functions; incorporate citizenship as a true reasonable input to generate commitment and attitudes; generate a process that is based not only on an altruistic approach but on “economic and social responsibility” in the private sector, with direct and concrete benefits in the quality of life in historical centers.

4

Final considerations

Some aspects of the potential of actual economic dynamics in historical centers from the perspective of a strategic sustainable management have been outlined. The “new functionality” that has arisen from changes in dynamics and functions that experience these areas (nodes) in the cities in Latin America and the Caribbean, demands to center the analysis and the corresponding proposals in those precise context conditions (enabling framework) that requires a strong compromise from different government institutions in the framework of a city center strategic sustainable management operations. One of the most important arguments in these sense, and one of great relevance, is the strong relationship that historical centers development as economic spaces has with equity and inclusiveness in city social and economic development. Equity at different levels: as a basis for new standards for urban habitability and functionality; equity and inclusiveness in relation to social challenges for the environmental and for social and economic sustainability. In other words, through strategic management of historical centers, it will be possible to overcome poverty and precariousness and at the same time, acquire high levels of economic growth. The strategy proposed “uses” city center development as an instrument for urban development. This management has the potential to introduce an economically productive “gravitational weight” of historical centers for urban development. Efficient management will contribute to the development of sustainable projects based on a strategic management in historical centers. Finally, and in relation to what has been stated, ECLAC and European organizations’ experiences assign a special attention and importance to the aspects concerning proper management instruments (finance, governance -

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80 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability participation and institutionalism - norm), before an exhaustive development of recurrent agendas in relation to strategic planning in historical centers.

References [1] Kaztman, R., ”La dimensión espacial en las políticas de superación de la pobreza urbana”, Serie Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo N° 59, División de Desarrollo Sostenible y Asentamientos Humanos, CEPAL, Santiago, 2003. [2] Jordán, R. y Simioni, D., “Guía de gestión urbana”, División de Desarrollo Sostenible y Asentamientos Humanos, Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y Cooperazione Italiana, Santiago, 2003. [3] Arízaga G., D., “Recuperación de las áreas centrales”, en Jordán R. y Simioni D. comp. “Gestión urbana para el Desarrollo Sostenible en América Latina y el Caribe”, División de Desarrollo Sostenible y Asentamientos Humanos, Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y Cooperazione Italiana, Santiago, 2003. [4] Borja, J., “ Ciudad y planificación: La urbanística para las ciudades de América Latina”, en Balbo, M., Jordán, R., Simioni, D., “La ciudad inclusiva”, División de Desarrollo Sostenible y Asentamientos Humanos, Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y Cooperazione Italiana, Santiago, 2003. [5] Sassen, S., “Los Espectros de la Globalización”, Fondo de Cultura Económica de Argentina, Buenos Aires, 2003. [6] Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo – MINVU, “Anillo Interior de Santiago: un desafío de gestión urbana estratégica”, Santiago, 2003. [7] Carrión, F. “Ciudad y Centros Históricos: Centros Históricos y actores patrimoniales”, en Balbo, M., Jordán, R., Simioni, D., “La ciudad inclusiva”, División de Desarrollo Sostenible y Asentamientos Humanos, Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y Cooperazione Italiana, Santiago, 2003.

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Section 3 Planning issues

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Sustainability in cities: the green areas and climatic comfort as fundamental parameters F. Gómez, V. Sifre, L. Montero, V. De Vicente & L. Gil Department of Architectonics Construction, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

Abstract This paper describes the methodology developed by the authors to analyze the influence of “green areas” on the urban comfort of the city of Valencia, taken as the prototype of Mediterranean cities. Based on the analysis of its climatologic conditions, different “comfort indices” are used to study several characteristic districts of the city of Valencia which globally define the urban behaviour of this city. Some of these comfort indices have been formulated in terms of the existing green areas; the results obtained permit one to estimate the amount of the green area required in each district to be considered theoretically comfortable. This methodology can be very useful to urban planners in the design and distribution of green areas in cities. The study has been completed with a simultaneous survey on human perception of thermal control. The main conclusion is that green zones play an important role in the thermal comfort of the city and therefore they can be considered one of the most important aspects to take into account in the analysis of urban sustainability. Keywords: urban climate, green zones, urban planning, urban comfort, sustainability, human perception, Valencia (Spain).

1

Introduction

Most of the world’s population lives in big cities. Man’s activities have dramatically changed the environmental and climatic characteristics of the urban areas. This particular phenomenon has been extensively studied in the literature and many works have been developed to analyze the factors that affect human comfort in big cities [1]. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060081

84 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Solar radiation is one of the most important sources of heat for the human body, in particular when the body is directly exposed to the long wavelength reradiation emitted by surrounding objects; therefore solar radiation is considered as an essential magnitude to calculate the energy balance of the human body in the analysis of human comfort. On the other hand, green spaces in cities alter some climatic characteristics, acting as correctors or moderators of the environmental variables and improving the conditions of human comfort. Many studies have proved that green zones not only have ornamental or landscaping functions, but they also play an important role in creating human comfort [2] by improving climatic conditions, acting as coolers and regulators of the air and temperature exchange. One of the first attempts to accurately define climatic comfort was the work by Max Sorre (1934), who related human comfort with urban microclimate and with the alterations in the climatic conditions resulting from human activities. Since then, many researchers have developed different models and methods in an attempt to calculate in an objective way the human perception of thermal comfort; that is, not only the climatic parameters of air temperature and relative humidity, but also the actual human perception of the climatic parameters and people’s thermal sensation have been used to determine the relationship between thermal environment and behavioural patterns. The quantification of human thermal comfort is a complex task as any model developed for that end must find a balance between the physiological and biological characteristics of human body and the environmental and climatic variables. In practice, all these variables act together on the organism, each one modifying the effects of the others, and not independently, as reflected by conventional models. The heat balance of the human body consists of maintaining the body temperature between 36.5 and 37ºC; higher or lower temperatures cause discomfort; at temperatures higher than 40ºC blood circulation problems start appearing, and over 41-42ºC coma or total collapse may occur. To maintain this balance the following equation has to be satisfied: where:

0 = M ± R ± Cv ± Cd - E

(1)

M Metabolic heat R Heat exchange through radiation. Cv Heat exchange through convection. Cd Heat exchange through conduction. E Loss of heat through evaporation. Bioclimatologic studies analyze human thermal sensation trying to find scalable parameters for the quantification of human comfort and human response to certain specific climatic conditions. In this sense, different comfort indices have been developed for the quantification of human comfort that include different biological, physical and environmental parameters. In this work the following indices have been used: WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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ID = 0.4 (Ts + Th) + 4.8 (2) WBGT = 0.7Th + 0.2Tg + 0.1Ts (3) PE = 0.57 V0.42 (36.5 - Ts) 36 (4) where: ID Discomfort index [3]. WBGT Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature [4]. PE Vinje’s cooling power [5]. Ts Dry bulb temperature (º C) Th Wet-bulb temperature (º C) Tg Dark-bulb or globe temperature (º C) V Wind speed (m.s-1) The aim of this work was to calculate the value of the meteorological variables using the comfort indices mentioned above. And then to verify the performance of each of these comfort indices in the city of Valencia. For this second aim, the results were compared with a real characterisation of the city, taken as a prototype of the cities of the Mediterranean area. Finally, we present a modified version of the comfort indices developed by other authors [6, 7] in which we have included some objectively quantifiable parameters relative to the effects of green spaces on thermal comfort in cities. The model has been applied to the city of Valencia and results are presented in the second part of this paper. For that end, we have developed a bioclimatic characterization of the city including all the parameters that may affect human thermal sensation. Finally we analyze the results of perceived thermal comfort obtained using the modified version of the comfort indices. Basically, the comfort values were formulated using the comfort zones of Olgyay’s Chart, [8] taking into account the modifications made to the original by Asharae-Ksu [9]; and the modifications introduced by us for the city of Valencia [10]. The need to assess thermal comfort as a function of green zones finds growing support in the well-known fact that the presence of vegetation is a form of microclimatic control in urban spaces that alters the energy balance of the climate on a local scale, reducing radiant temperature, affecting wind velocity, and altering air temperature and relative humidity. This microclimatic interaction between the built environment and vegetation helps improve human sensation of comfort in outdoor urban spaces, as well as reduces the effects of climate on buildings.

2 Methodology A total of eight districts of the city of Valencia were used in the study for the field measures. The districts were chosen to be representative of the different microclimates of the city. The districts selected for the study include the most densely populated districts (2 and 6) and also those districts that presented certain urban and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

86 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability environmental peculiarities: outskirts (4 and 10), market gardens (7, 17 and 19) and the sea front (11) [11]. The climatic parameters measured were air temperature (dry and humid), ambient temperature and wind speed. The air temperature was recorded with a conventional aspirosichrometer, for measuring dry and humid air at the same time; the relative humidity was obtained with the aid of the previous temperatures and psychrometric tables. Ambient temperature was recorded with a “dark-bulb thermometer”; its measurement, after being left standing for ten minutes, records a temperature which is a combination of the air temperature, direct solar radiation and the amount of radiation received from the surroundings by convection; in our case this measurement was always taken with direct exposure to sunlight. The other measurements were taken in the shade; to avoid the influence of the environment; the measurements were taken two metres away from any facade and at least one metre from ground level. The wind speed was measured with a Clima Hies digital anemometer, with a range of measurements between 0.1 and 35 m.sec.-1, a reliability of  0.2% and an integration capacity for time periods between 1 and 10 seconds. The blades of the anemometer were placed at a height of 1.8 to 2 m, from the ground, and taking the integrated measurement during the stationary time of the dark-bulb thermometer.

3

Comfort indices

For the analysis of the comfort indices different climatic and environmental parameters were measured in the sampling areas of the city selected for that end. The field measurements were taken at different sampling points of each district (from 20 to 25), over a period of time between 10 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. The field sampling points were chosen to cover different structural and urban features, such as ground surfaces, dimensions, proximity of building constructions, type of cover, etc., in particular street orientation, the presence of vegetable cover and the type of soft/hard pavement. The application of all the comfort indices to the different districts of the city revealed great differences in thermal comfort on a local, (e.g., between streets of the same district) or district level (e.g., between the surroundings (Market Garden) and the city center), or between “soft” and “hard” ground covers. For the statistical analysis to be significant, the total number of data per sampling point should be ten. For this reason, the field surveys were performed for a period of 10 seasons (1997-99) (Table 1). Then, these data were used to calculate the comfort indices for each station of the year and city district. Table 6 shows an example of the data for the summer season taken in district 2. As it can be observed, the “soft” zones (lawns, earth, low bushes, welloriented streets or streets with trees), especially in the summer, present a value closer to comfort than the “hard” zones (concrete or asphalt paving, tiles, hard earth, badly oriented streets or streets with no trees). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Table 1:

87

District 2 data of the summer, 1997.

DATA LOCATIONS

TIME

Vv

Tg

Th

Ts

HR

Glorieta gardens (ficus)

10.00

0.1

31.0

19.0

22.4

74

Glorieta gardens (recreations) Navarro Reverter Street America Square Cirilo Amoros Street Grabador Esteve Street Gran Via Street (pavement) Gran Via Street (garden) Salamanca Street Ciscar Street Joaquin Costa Street Burriana Street Dña. Germana King Street Regne de Valencia Avenue Matias Perello Street Peris y Valero Street

10.15 10.30 11.00 11.15 11.30 11.45 12.00 12.15 12.30 12.45 13.00 13.15 13.30 13.45 14.00

0.1 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.9 0.6 0.1 0.7 0.4 0.5 0.9 1.3 0.8 1.2

31.8 31.2 33.8 34.6 35.6 34.0 34.8 36.2 37.6 39.8 37.2 37.8 36.4 36.4 37.8

19.2 19.6 20.0 20.2 19.8 20.8 20.2 21.0 21.0 21.4 20.4 21.2 21.6 22.0 21.4

22.8 24.2 25.2 25.2 24.8 26.2 25.2 26.6 27.0 26.8 27.0 26.8 27.0 26.8 27.2

71 65 62 63 62 61 63 60 58 62 55 61 62 66 60

Vv Wind speed (m.s-1) Tg Dark-bulb or globe temperature (ºC) Th Wet-bulb temperature (ºC) Ts Dry bulb temperature (ºC) Hr Relative humidity (%)

For clarity, the comfort values were coloured with different color intensities (see diagram below), depending on whether the value lies under (white), within (light grey) or above (dark grey) the lower and higher comfort limits (Table 2). Comfortable

Cold

Table 2: INDEX ID VINJE WBGT

Cold < 14.16 > 10 < 58.86

Hot

Comfort ranges of each index. Comfortable 14.16 to 26.4 10 to 5 58.86 to 88.31

Hot > 26.4 <5 > 88.31

Table 3 illustrates the results obtained in district 2 with the different comfort indices used in this study. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

88 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 3:

Results of the indices for district 2.

DATA LOCATIONS

ID

VINJE

WBGT

Glorieta gardens (ficus)

TIME 10.15

13.32

5.24

53.51

Glorieta gardens (recreations)

10.30

13.4

5.2

54.62

Navarro Reverte Street

10.45

13.72

9.46

54.91

America Square

11.00

13.88

6.57

55.74

Cirilo Amoros Street

11.15

14.84

5.54

57.14

Grabadpr Esteve Street

11.30

14.4

4.85

56.58

Gran Via Street (pavement)

11.45

14.84

6.89

57.97

Gran Via Street (garden)

12.00

14.88

7.95

58.17

Salamanca Street

12.15

15.04

6.74

58.1

Ciscar Street

12.30

15.08

7.35

58.73

Joaquin Costa Street

12.45

15.24

4.59

59.19

Burriana Street

1.00

15.44

4.53

59.18

Dña. Germana King Street

1.15

15.6

4.44

59.43

Regne de Valencia Avenue

1.30

15.84

6.91

60.58

Matias Perello Street

2.00

15.84

7.79

60.29

Peris y Valero Street

2.15

16.4

7.32

62.17

As can be observed in the table, the distinction between cold, comfortable or hot points in the sampling areas greatly depends on the type of ground pavement (hard or soft) existing in the zone. Since the authors of the conventional comfort indices base their analysis on other environmental parameters [6], and in view of the results obtained in this study, we consider that a more reliable and accurate model of thermal comfort should include green zone parameters [12]. In the revision of the exiting literature on the topic we found one study in which reference is made to this relationship between the dimensions of green spaces and environmental improvement in thermal comfort [13]. This author gives an estimated surface area of 10 Ha. to obtain a reduction in air temperature of 1ºC. Therefore, we believe that the results obtained in our study did not correlate well because the size of the green zones in the districts of the city was too small to influence the estimation of the comfort indices. For this reason, we have reformulated the concept of green areas using the terms of soft of hard zones instead. We then calculated again the values of each comfort index including this time the new concept of hard/soft zone. The results of the indices showed a good agreement with the field measurements, and in 100% of the cases the “soft”

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zones of the sampling districts displayed values closer to comfort (Figure 1, Table 4).

Figure 1:

Grabador Esteve and Navarro Reverter Streets (comfort values between 5 and 10, under 5 this is hot). Table 4:

Formulation of the WBGT index for Valencia.

Formulation of the Radiant wet bulb temperature index for Valencia WBGT = 38,29 B + 39,07 D + 1,81 H Autumn (R2 = 99.30) WBGT = 59,07 B + 58,99 D + 1,16 H Spring (R2 = 99.70) WBGT = 67,98 B + 68,73 D + 1,03 H Summer (R2 = 99.00) WBGT = 36,66 B + 37,39 D + 1,73 H Winter (R2 = 98.00)

B = 1 for soft zone; B = 0 for hard zone. D = 0 for soft zone; D = 1 for hard zone. H = h GMT + 2 in spring and summer. H = h GMT + 1 in autumn and winter.

The Coefficients of Determination obtained are considerably higher than those reported in other works [7] (Table 5). The good results obtained with this new approach allowed us to successfully reformulate the comfort indices for the city of Valencia [14]. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

90 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 5:

Comparison between Coefficients of Determination obtained in Seoul and Valencia.

Coef. of Determination Statistic.

Seoul

Valencia

Standard error Coef. Determination ( R2 ) F value

1.213 0.35 0.0419

1.183 0.99 0.0023

4 Analysis of human thermal perception Together with the analysis of the climatic and biological parameters used to calculate the comfort indices for the city of Valencia, a survey of human thermal perception was performed at the same hours, districts and streets as the climatic data used in the scientific analysis. The purpose of the survey was to compare the opinion of the residents with the results obtained from the climatic data recorded in the different districts of the city. In this way, we could find the comfort index (from the comfort indices analyzed in this work) that best fitted the thermal comfort perception of the people living in those districts. For that end, we compared the graphs obtained for each comfort index with those obtained from the citizen’s survey. 4.1 Characteristics of the human perception analysis The survey was performed in the 9 districts analyzed and the sample included people over 14 of both genres. The maximum error limit of the survey was ± 2.6 %, with a confidence level of 95% for values of p = q = 0.50, and the total size of the sample was 1,500 people. The sample data correspond to the different districts and seasons of the year, and the total number of persons interviewed is shown in Table 6. The survey was performed at the same hours and sites as the recorded climatic data, so that the answers of the interviewed people were in accordance with the data used in the scientific analysis Table 6:

Number of interviewed people for each season of the year. SEASON

Spring Summer Autumn Winter

INTERVIEWED PERSONS

378 348 397 309

The error produced in the analysis of the survey data per seasons is approximately ± 5%, with a confidence level of 95%. The questionnaire was designed and analyzed by the staff of the Department of Statistics of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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4.2 Results of the human perception analysis Table 7 presents the survey results about comfort and discomfort data as perceived by the interviewed people, for each season of the year in the city of Valencia. Table 7:

Percentage of interviewed people giving their opinion about comfort and discomfort for each season of the year. SEASON

COMFORT

DISCOMFORT

Spring Summer Autumn Winter

0.1 % 25.9 % 5.4 % 12.4 %

85.1 % 40.3 % 73.3 % 56.3 %

This general opinion is in agreement with the districts that, particularly in autumn and spring lie in the comfort zone; very few districts are in the cold zone and even fewer in the hot zone, similarly to the results obtained after applying Vinje’s comfort index (PE) [11]. The people’s opinion, presented in Table 7, clearly shows that summer is the least desirable season, especially for women, as the survey data indicate. If we observe the graph obtained from the survey data (Fig.2), we can see that there are very few districts in which the residents feel uncomfortable. The districts considered as uncomfortable by the residents are: In summer, District 2 is considered to be hot (the district most typically urban, with a grid-like urban planning and narrow streets with trees that, on one hand prevent solar radiation, but on the other prevent refreshing wind flow in this season); for the same reasons, districts 7 and 10 are considered hot districts by the residents. In winter, District 10 is considered to be cold due to the fact that it is much more open than District 2 and therefore it has streets which allow the flow of cold winds; in addition, Districts 17 and 19, located at the North and South of the city, are also considered to be cold as they are much more exposed to the cold NE winds. To conclude, we can say that the climatic comfort index that best expresses the residents’ climatic perception in the different districts analyzed is the WBGT comfort index, as a general index; and if wind factor is taken into account, then Vinje’s comfort index will provide better results (the former for microspaces, and the latter for macrospaces, for example, districts). Although the climatic data of the scientific research were in agreement with the data obtained from the survey, the small differences observed come from the fact that one thing is the meteorological measurement and mathematical calculation of thermal comfort, and another thing is the citizen’s comfort perception, which is affected by factors such as age, genre, health, mood, etc., factors that clearly a mathematical equation cannot provide. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

92 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Figure 2:

5

Climatic comfort sensation in the four season or the year, spring, summer, winter and autumn, according to the answers of the interviewed people (Y axis = percentage of answers and X axis = value (from 1 to 10) of the answers).

Conclusions

The city of Valencia was the scenario for this research, taken as a prototype of Mediterranean cities because of its typical Mediterranean climatic conditions. In this study we used different conventional comfort indices adapted to the city of Valencia. The mathematical model included the effects of the green zones on the comfort values. For a more reliable and accurate calculation of the index, a new concept of hard/soft zone has been developed that provides a more close approximation to the real comfort values of the field survey. This reformulation of the comfort index using the concept of “hard” and “soft” zones may be used as a powerful tool by urban planners in the design of open areas, in particular in cities with a warm climate and a high number of hot days per year, like in Valencia.

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The thermal comfort index developed by the authors in this work for the city of Valencia can be extrapolated to other cities of the Mediterranean area that present similar climatic characteristics. Future studies can be conducted to further our understanding of the thermal comfort in open spaces, mainly in warn climate cities where summer conditions are critical. Together with the scientific research, a survey of human thermal sensation has been conducted in the same urban space. The results show a close correlation between people’s thermal sensation and the values of the comfort index.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

[14]

Oke, T. R. (1990) Boundary layer climates, 2ª Ed. Boutledge, London. Werner, P. and Sukkopp, H. (1982) Nature in cities, Council of Europe, Strasbourg Thom, E.C. (1959) The discomfort index, Weatherwise, 12:57- 60. Watson, D. and Labs, K (1983) Climatic Design, Energy-Efficient Building Principles and Practices, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York. Landsber, H.E. (1981) The Urban climate, New York Academic Press, pp.275. Salvador, P. J. and Smith, D.R. (1987) Vegetation and urban climate in Valencia, Spain, A pilot Project, Mab-Unesco, pp. 125. Kwi-Gon-Kim., (1989) Climate, Urbanization and green spaces in urban areas, the case of Seoul, Mab-Unerso, University of Seoul. Olgyay, V. (1973) Design with climate, Princeton Univ. Press. 190 pp. Rholes, F.H. Jr. (1980) The preferred Indoor Comfort Temperatures (Report No 80-02, Institute for Environment Research, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Ks. Gómez, F., Tamarit, N. and Jabaloyes, J. (1999) Bioclimatic Characterization of the Mediterranean City: The Valencian case, PLEA’99, Ed. Steven Szokolay, Brisbane, pp. 807-812. Gómez, F. Gil, L., Montero, L. and V. De Vicente. (2004) Climate indicators for cities. The Sustainable City III. Urban Regeneration and Sustainability. WIT Press, July, SIENA (Italy), pp. 91-102. Gómez, F. M.L. Gil, Montero, L. and F. Rodrigo (2002) The Green zones, main factor of urban regeneration and of city sustainability, The Sustainable city II, WIT Press, July, Segovia (Spain), pp. 315-324 Sthülpnagel, A. (1987) Klimatisce Veränderungen in Ballunngsgebieten unter besonderer Berüchschtingug der Ausgleichaswirkung vonGrünflächen, dargestellt am Beispiel von Berlin (West). Diss. FB 14, TU, Berlin. Gomez, F., Montero, L., Jabaloyes, J, and Salvador, P. (2000) The Green zones like model of infrastructure in the urban development toward the sustainability, WIT Press, July, Alicante (Spain), pp. 185-194.

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Speed in the sustainable city P. Yıldız Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, Hacettepe University, Turkey

Abstract Speed is the basis of life style in the sustainable city development. The concept of speed in the image of the city is so important among optimal and multidisciplinary living styles. Recently life styles are strongly affected by the concept of speed and therefore the designing process in the scale of city planning has started to be based on that factor. This is also the case in the newly developing cities. Speed will be analyzed by the ecological statement of the city, transportation, visual perception and recognition, aesthetical needs, multifunctional usages of common spaces and the formation and orientation of city centers in the sustainable cities. Speed is the basic principle in artificial intelligence. In this study, the speed factor with some examples on sustainable developed cities and criticizing this factor by making proposals will be discussed. Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, will also be analyzed. Showing examples of speed in city life style will bring together contemporary solutions as a result of this study. The most important thing is to mention the speed factor together with regular, comfortable and peaceful relaxing spaces. The ideal combination of speed and comfort is the basic aim of the study. The term speed does not only refer to transportation or time factor but also to the multidisciplinary and flexible usage of surroundings as well as aesthetic value and visual recognition. Keywords: sustainable city, speed, transportation, optimal, common spaces, multidisciplinary, visual perception.

1

Introduction

Cities are places characterized by a physical dimension, an identity and an image. Cities bear a geographic, demographic, physical and economic dimension WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060091

96 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability that nourish and determine its internal functioning and its role. A city is the definition of the systematic organization of a large scale space of communities who are organized to live together and share the same common places among the related image and circumstance. A city, in order to be contemporary, has to carry some basic properties which lead the societies to live well and peacefully. A sustainable city should: -have functioning infrastructures, -have responsive to the needs of the people, -contain alternatives from a wider perspective, -have the capacity to identify problems and produce concrete solutions, -require active citizenship and good governance, -recycle; generate systems and natural resources, -have common spaces with multifunctional usages and multicultural identity etc. The sustainable meanings of cities are the properties regarding the flexible and optimal usages of external spaces in that city, the multicultural perspective of the city, the historical aspect with the futuristic solutions, the aesthetical value of city environments, and the time criteria to reach the dynamism of a city life. One of the most important factors to reach sustainable meaning in a city is speed. In today's world, life styles are hardly affected by the necessity of time and the lack of it. The dynamism of city life is based around speed formation, which is the basis and the necessity of contemporary life style. Urban sustainability is not a simple environmental quality objective, but forms a triangular relationship between economic, social and ecological principles [3].

2

The multidimensional formation of speed in the sustainable city

Speed should be adapted to the city from various perspectives which come together to maintain sustainability factor. In a sustainable city the formation of speed from various ways and the process of its circulation indicate the high quantities of a city. These different approaches to analyze speed in city life can be summarized as follows: 2.1 Solutions regarding the ecological basis of the city The ecological statement is very important regarding transportation. The geographical phrase should be taken into consideration to maintain the optimal usage. If the city is by sea level, then the transportation vehicles should be designed accordingly. For example, cycling ways could be added taking the place of pedestrian ways to be faster. Transportation with the basis of ecological structure brings together solutions related with sea transportation, tunnel formation, bridge usage, transportation through air way like tele-ferric, cycling ways where the topography is by sea level and also sea shore usage etc.

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2.1.1 The local transportation in the city At the turn of the last century more sophisticated transport technologies were introduced, electrified trains and commuter trains, and these were followed by underground electric railways. This generated a new wave of suburban development, reinforced by the need to solve the emerging social housing problem. The result of this development was the emergence of late publictransport cities (e.g.: London, Paris, Berlin, New York etc.). Transportation brings people and goods to people, returning enormous benefits to economies [1]. However, transportation also comes with significant undesirable side effects, particularly in terms of air pollution in urban areas and emissions of greenhouse gasses, which can impact on global climate change. One of the ways to analyze the speed factor in city environment is solving the problem by transportation. Transportation in city life can be supplied in many ways to reach sustainability. The fastest and at the same time the most comfortable solutions can be reached. Transport has significant effects on the environment that should be addressed explicitly in the design of programs and systems in general. The transportation factor can be explained under two headings: -Pedestrian: The pedestrian ways in the city environment should have some properties as follows: The relationship of the pedestrian ways with the motorways must be strong but bring together the solutions of safety, noise and ergonomics. The pedestrian ways must be: -well designed with appropriate dimensions; -with a path of green axes between the highways which could separate the ways from each other; -should be non-limited to be faster like the help of the bridges where needed, etc). -By common vehicles: The transportation by motorways and high ways could be adequate and safe and without blocking each other in order to avoid traffic-jam, especially in rush hours. If motorways are blocking each other, then the intersection should be solved by downgrade or upgrade circulation systems. The vehicles for transportation process should be adequate with the ecology, geographical statement of the city, climate, etc. 2.1.1.1 Sustainable transport with the term speed brings together the following solutions Transport and communications in the urban area are not necessarily a burden or threat, but rather they are vital for sustained economic development. It ought to be emphasized that cities in both the developed and the developing world will not favor urban sustainability by discouraging urban mobility through artificial, inflexible and generalized regulations. Mobility is a necessary consequence of the need for accessibility, which in turn offers the necessary conditions for vital cities as islands of opportunities. Thus, the often assumed conflict between urban transport and the environment has to be looked at also from the viewpoint of dynamic positive externalities.

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98 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 2.1.2 Designing the city environments regarding climate The climate criterion is another factor to be recognized reaching solutions by the help of speed. A city’s environmental properties decline the city’s life style regarding: -Transportation. In the cold regions suburbanization is integrated with city life like placing the entrances of shopping malls in the subways. An example of this can be seen in Canada. -Activities related with climate that bring dynamism to the city. -The energy transformation system regarding climate is another factor that brings faster solutions regarding speed. For example, the renewable energy systems are optimal quantities of the usage of natural resources, which let us gain time. The effort and time for fulfilling the loss of a source is minimized as this process is supplied in a natural circulation that decreases manpower energy. 2.2 The visual perception and recognition in the city Perception is another factor parallel with the term speed. If a city has strong perceptional elements spread around, then the process of activities could be faster. The solutions for the recognition matter in the city must be well designed to understand the city activities (cultural, artistic, social etc.). If the recognition of the activities held in the city becomes easier, then the speed of the activity in the city can increase. To strengthen the perceptional recognition [5]: -there should be enough numbers of billboards, -the billboards should be placed ideally in order to be seen from all sides. For example, when a billboard announcing an activity is placed in the motorway and with a degree turning its face to the road, then it can be seen by many more people which leads us to a faster and better recognition process. 2.3 The aesthetical value of the city This factor can be analyzed under two main titles: -The restoration and prevention of the historical features of the city could accelerate the rate of usage and functionality in a city where spaces are valuable. The historical aspect of a city should be renewed and loaded with functions commonly needed in city life. This practice brings together speed factor as the functional needs are supplied by aesthetical and valuable spaces. So both the aesthetical and functional needs of city life are solved together. -The usage of contemporary means of art in transportation vehicles: While the dynamism of city life circulates in a fast rhythm the aesthetical needs could sometimes neglected and the loss of this criterion arises thereby. The artistic practice inserted on transportation vehicles supply the aesthetical value of environments. 2.4 The flexible and multidisciplinary usage of common spaces in the city life style In the sustainable city there should be some common spaces for common activities relating to cultural, social, artistic etc. issues. Open space provides a WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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break from the continual battering that occurs to a human being from the crush of the urban environment. Furthermore large tracts of open land existing contiguously to developed areas preserve the quality of the overall environment. The common spaces should be designed multidisciplinary to be flexible for different usages in order to gain time for different activities at the same place, and that is another formation of speed in the city environments. The same common place should be optimally formed through contemporary means. This leads to maintaining the optimal usage of places. The term speed arises here when a city is more active, dynamic and becomes a transition between different people. The three kinds of common space increase the capacity of relationship where speed is formed: -Complementary spaces; linking cities performing different roles within the spatial division of labour (relatively specialized in different functions) -synergy spaces; linking cities performing similar roles and allowing the integration of the local markets (e.g. the international financial centres, acting on a unique virtual worldwide market, art cities, linked within tourist itineraries), -Innovation spaces; linking cities cooperating on common projects (e.g. airports, railways, etc.) [3]. -Suburbanization is another functional necessity for faster process. 2.5 The formation and orientation of city centers In big cities a basic city center is usually the most active and recognized space for everyone and most of the needs could be supported in this area. In sustainable city basis the centers for cities should be in different focal points of the city map. This could bring together the activities to be spread around the city life and the supporting of the needs from different sources that leads to the gaining of time and speed factor. The city centers should be formed in opposite focal points and coordinates of the newly developing cities. These coordinates indicate the city’s maximizing ability also. One of the solutions for urban diseconomies of scale and the increasing contradiction between the abstract node function of the city and its heavy physical realm is to think about the integrated way in which the general city is formed: -The single centers have to bear a diversification of functions, possibly linked with each other in order to contain inside the center the widest possible share of trips. In this respect monofunctional centers should be avoided in order to be faster in life styles and maximize trip generation with respect to other centers. -the centers should be linked with each other through a network of effective transport links, organized both in a radia and an orbital way with respect to the major city-centre. -each center should keep or develop its specific image and character, in order to work as a magnet [2]. 2.6 Using terraces so as to fill the loss of green (green roof planning) In sustainable cities the need for green areas and the adequate spreading of them are other factors to be recognized if the solutions regarding green areas came WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

100 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability closer then the effort for reaching these types of natural spaces could be minimised then the multifunctional areas with green usage would bring speed to formal ordinary life styles.

3

The sustainable cities as sample regarding speed criterion

To analyze the speed on some sustainable developed cities the first criterion is to examine transportation. In the conflict between private motorization and collective transport systems several cities made an explicit choice pro private car, with a result of low density in individualized urban sprawl (Los Angeles, Dallas etc). This led to called auto oriented cities, in which public transport was bound to decline. Other cities however, adopted a different urban transport systems model and tried to cope with the new wave of urban industrialisation by developing more appropriate public transit systems (e.g.: Paris, London, Tokyo, New York etc.). Later on when cities started to grow (e.g., Brussels, Frankfurt, Milano, Rotterdam, San Francisco), they adopted a hybrid policy by opting for both private and public transport. Although a significant part of urban transport in the centre is served by public transport, the share of private transport in suburban areas is as high as in Los Angeles. Such cities have a mixture of various models of public transport. In view of the high social costs of congested urban centers, a new phenomenon has in more recent years emerged the edge city, which means also a concentrated suburbanization of offices and shops towards suburban areas, which are either car-dependent (e.g.: Milano, Munich, Toronto etc.) or public transport dependent (e.g.: Tokyo, Amsterdam, Zurich). The sustainable cities could be accepted as a union of internalization, multinationalization and globalization. More recently, in presence of an acceleration in the process of international integration due to political, economic and institutional reasons, cities are taking up anew crucial role; the role of gateways in the internalization process of their surrounding regions [4]. The speed criterion on some sustainable developed cities can also be recognized by especially the preservation of open spaces. The most common properties that can be listed are: -Restraints on central city growth, -Request for private parking availability in newly rebuilt residential lots. -The multifunctional land-use/transport planning, (e.g.: suburbanization in Canada) -Compact city and urban containment, -Multi-centric city formation, (e.g.: New York) -Mixed land-uses, -Designed growth areas and new towns etc. The other recognition of speed criterion on some sustainable developed cities can be seen on multifunctional usage of common spaces. The Rockefeller Center in New York is a sample of it. In winter time the space provides ice-skating facility while, in summer time it is used for coming together and to organize some external fairs and exhibits at the same place. This optimal usage in the city can bring dynamism and activity to city life which leads the city to gain speed. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Ankara the capital city of Turkey

In this study, we can analyze the sustainable developing features of the capital city of Turkey. The advantages and disadvantages of Ankara in the basis of sustainability could be summarized as follows. Firstly the advantages of the city are: -The geographical statement of Ankara is adequate for speed criterion as it is in the middle of Turkey, and, as a capital city, it is nearly the same distance to reach all the cities when compared with each other. So the general location of this city meets the demands of speed. -The formation of the city centers in Ankara has newly started to develop. Because of the high population rise in Turkey cities are developing so fast but without taking attention to green usage. Ankara is also developing very fast especially on some axes. The high population and the need for housing increase day by day and that’s why the city is developing in an accelerated way. But one factor is dominant as the city center formation is another factor to be recognized. The centers have started to be located at different coordinates of the city and that started to bring speed factor as the need of the people have started to be met nearby the streets where they live. -The subways are developing so as to help maintain the speed factor.

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

The general map of Turkey.

The Map of Ankara, The capital city of Turkey.

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102 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Figure 3:

Figure 4:

A view from a hill of Ankara.

Another view from a hill of Ankara, the Atakule Tower.

-The billboards and visual recognition have newly started to be designed according to ideal ways of perception. -The historical features of the city are functional at the present and that brings aesthetical and functional solutions together. Some of the disadvantages are as follows: -The transportation and traffic problem barriers for the speed of ordinary life styles. In 1990 the Turkey’s railway decided to get rid of their steam locomotives

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and to replace them with more modern machinery. Fortunately, all the enormous beasts that used to pull the carriages where put together in a museum (Figure 5). -There are still many places which lack subway and a railway transit system. -The cultural and social activities should be better organized for people around the city, which make them attend the activities in a faster way. -The city is not proper for touristic activities and that can slow down the cultural and artistic activities, economy and sustainability, etc.

Figure 5:

The traditional transportation system with locomotives, now being exhibited in a museum.

Based on these examples we can say that Ankara is developing fast but should take care and great attention to designing with natural factors and aesthetical values also. Sustainability is a concept for contemporary appliances and is hardly effective on city planning but on one hand it takes time to be reached because the results could take some time to be seen as the development of the city takes too much time because of the conditions of multicultural and economical factors. And on the other hand the importance of it is recently started to be understood and is newly being integrated in city planning and general regulations of environmental design process.

5

Result

The results of this study indicate that sustainability factor is highly based on speed. Speed should be in every usage and condition of the modern city. The factors that are the solution of speed are as follows: -A fast, systematical and contemporary urban transportation system with safe and comfortable practice would be speedy. -Designing on the basis of the ecology of the city brings faster solutions. -As the formation of city centers increase, than the needs are welcomed faster. -The visual perception and recognition in a city can make attending of the activities as well as economy and communication faster. -The common spaces in cities should be multifunctional, flexible and optimal. That is another factor which can save time. These factors could be added but WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

104 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability there is one thing that should never be forgotten while gaining speed in life styles, aesthetical values and comfort criteria should never be forgotten which lead to optimal means of space planning on the basis of speed in the sustainable city.

6

Conclusion

As a conclusion of this study we can say that the term sustainability should be analyzed through the dynamic meaning of life styles, which intersects the speed criteria. If ordinary life in a city is both comfortable, peaceful and at the same time fast and easy, then the solution of the speed criteria can automatically bring sustainable and contemporary conditions.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

Braudel F., The Structures of everyday life: The limits of the possible Civilization and Capitalism: 15th-18th Century, University of California Press, 1992. Camagni R. and Gibelli M.C., Reseaux de villes politiques urbaines’, in Flux no:16, Paris, 1994. Camagni, R. Global Network and Local Nfilieu, in S. Conti, E. Malecki and P. Oinas (eds), ‘The industrial enterprise and its environment: Spatial Perspectives’, Avebury, Aldershot, 1995. Gordon R., Internationalization, Multi-nationalization, Globalization: Contradictory World Economics and New Spatial Division of Labor, Working Paper Series, Centre for the Study of Global Transformation, University of California, Santa Cruz, n. 94-10, 1994. Habermas, J., The theory of communicative action, Vol. 1 Boston, M.A.: Beacon Press, 1994. http://www.unchs.org/unchs/english/transpor/transp.htm. http://www.balsoy.com/Turkiye/inpictures/pi/ankara04.html. http://www.bamjam.net/Turkey/Ankara.html. http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resim:T%C3%BCrkiye-b%C3%B6lgeler.png. http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankara_%28il%29.

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Sustainable regional development and provincial development planning: the case of Bolu O. Özbek Department of City and Regional Planning, Selcuk University, Turkey

Abstract This paper aims at analysing the possibilities of a development strategy for the realization of sustainable spatial development in Bolu (as an important tourism centre and transit point of Northwestern Anatolia in Turkey) and the principles and limitations of the 2023 Provincial Development Plan of Bolu (BIGEP). In Bolu province, where the co-existence of nature protection areas, a rich flora and fauna and historical settlements has provided suitable conditions for the development of mass tourism facilities, the earthquakes in the Eastern Marmara and Duzce in 1999 accelerated the urbanization of agricultural lands for housing needs at the sub-regional level. Both the need for spatial and economic planning of the future development of urban and rural settlements and the priorities of pre-disaster planning in the provincial area made necessary the preparation of a sub-regional development plan in Bolu. The BIGEP plan comprising the economic and spatial development strategies of Bolu province for 2023 can be evaluated as an effort to reveal the sub-regional development dynamics under the heading of a “provincial development plan”. However, the content of the BIGEP requires elaboration in terms of the priorities of sustainable development. The implementation scope of the plan as a region under constant threat from earthquakes means that the discussion of sustainability is far from being a priority. Here, the crucial questions are which priorities, emphases and contents do the policies on spatial and economic structure in a region under threat of earthquake have? Which natural contradictions exist for a strategy on making such a region the focus of economic development? And lastly, can provincial development planning be a planning level for sustainable development of the build environment? Keywords: sustainable urban development, sub-regional planning, provincial development. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060101

106 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

The earthquakes in the Eastern Marmara and Duzce in 1999 added new dimensions to the urban and sub-regional spatial developments in Bolu as an important tourism centre and transit point of Northwestern Anatolia in Turkey. In the post-earthquake period, Bolu experienced a rapid urban sprawl motivated by low-density residential development. In this period, the central city continuously lost its urban population, the residential development orientated toward the surrounding rural ring of the city. This development presented important threats to the spatial structure of a city where the agricultural production mainly depends on the small-scale farming in limited agricultural areas. The existence of large nature protection areas of special plants and animal species in the region constituted an important obstacle for the homogenization of urban population between urban and rural settlements. While these spatial developments occurred at the urban level, the spatial organization and socioeconomic structure remained the same at the sub-regional level. This dual structure can be evaluated as an important motivation for the preparation of the 2023 Provincial Development Plan of Bolu (BIGEP) in 2004. However, there is a need for the elaboration and revision of the aims, targets, strategies and implementation tools in the development plan in terms of emphasizing priorities of sustainable development. In the BIGEP, sustainability is only included as an emphasis in the formulation of general spatial development strategy and the targets and implementation tools of the plan are mainly based on the priorities and necessities of an economic growth through the realization of a commercial and industrial development at a sub-regional level.

2

Sustainability and regional development

A harmonious integration of environmental protection and management priorities and economic and spatial development goals was well incorporated into recent work within regional economic development. In the last fifteen years, sustainable urban and regional development became joint agenda for an environmentally sound economic development in both developed and developing countries through milestones of global cooperative efforts like Agenda 21, Earth Summit, Earth Summit +5 and Johannesburg Summit (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs [1]). In Agenda 21, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992, “promoting human settlement development” was regarded as an important discussion area under the headings of human settlement management, sustainable land-use planning, sustainable energy and transports systems, human resource development and integrated provision of environmental infrastructure. In the declaration, “promoting human settlement planning and management in disaster-prone areas” can be evaluated as an important programme area to reveal how the development goals for human settlements, economic sectors and environmental resources must be reformulated to establish both “a culture of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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safety” and “pre-disaster planning” in urban and rural communities (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division of Sustainable Development [2]). The principles and implementation tools in this programme area of Agenda 21 is important whether regional economic and spatial development in these disaster-prone areas is sustained by a complete limitation of development vision of urban settlements at different scales or new environmentally sound and disaster-sensitive development dynamics. The selection of one of these two strategic ways mainly depends on a clear formulation of long-term economic and spatial development goals across a full range of spatial scales from national to local. Here, sub-regional planning can be taken as an intermediate planning level to provide a harmonious integration between national and regional economic development goals and local development strategies at provincial, urban and rural levels.

3

Sustainable regional development and provincial development planning: the case of Bolu

Bolu province is an important tourism centre and transit point of Northwestern Anatolia in Turkey locating on the most important highway of Northwestern Anatolia (Gerede-Yenicaga-Bolu) connecting capital city Ankara to Istanbul. As the North Anatolian fault line passes through the provincial area, Bolu is under constant threat of earthquake and whose urban and rural areas were negatively affected by the earthquakes in the Eastern Marmara and Duzce in 1999. The natural assets of Bolu province make this area more important regional, national and international tourism centre. The provincial area includes one national park, one nature park, five nature protection zones and two wildlife protection areas (see table 1). Table 1: area class national park nature protection zone

Selected nature protection areas in Bolu province [3]. name of area Yedigoller (Seven Lakes) Akdogan and Ruzgarlar

nature protection zone

Demircionu

nature park

Abant Lake

wildlife protection area

Geyik Lake (Deer Lake) in Mengen district

size of characteristics of area area (ha) 2.019 rich forest eco-systems, flora, fauna and recreational facilities 174 the world’s only natural growing area of Ebe pine (pinus nigra ssp. pallasiana var. seneriana) 430 pure and mixed communities of beech (fagus sp.), hornbeam (carpinus sp.), chestnut (castanea sp.) and oak (quercus sp.) trees 1.150 rich scenery, flora, fauna and recreational facilities 53.594 protected wildlife areas of deers

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108 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability According to the NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) classification, the province takes place in the Eastern Marmara region (TR4) at NUTS 1 level and in the Kocaeli sub-region (TR42) at NUTS 2 level. As seen in fig. 1, Kocaeli sub-region, which comprises the provinces of Kocaeli, Sakarya, Duzce, Bolu and Yalova, had the highest value ($4109) of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices in 2001 among other statistical subregions of Turkey. This highest GDP value of the sub-region may be explained by the fact that most of nationally strategic industrial and commercial establishments located along the industrial corridor of the Eastern Marmara near to Istanbul. At provincial level (NUTS 3), Bolu had the second highest per capita GDP value ($4216) in comparison with other provinces in Turkey (T.R. Prime Ministry Turkish Statistical Institute [4]). However, this GDP value is not an indicator of real economic prosperity of the province because the huge construction costs of the Bolu Mountain tunnel (one of most costly and prolonged transportation projects of Turkey aimed at shortening the route between Istanbul and the capital city Ankara) artificially exaggerates the GDP value of the province. Regional locational advantages, rich natural resources and economic development potential make Bolu province a candidate for an important tourism centre in the Kocaeli sub-region. However, both the seismic characteristics and nature protection priorities of the provincial area tend to constrain the possibilities of implementing a large-scale development strategy aiming to homogenize industrial/commercial development at sub-regional level and to create large agglomerations of urban settlements. At this point, 2023 Provincial Development Plan of Bolu for 2023, which was prepared in 2004, can be evaluated as an effort to determine how environmentally sound and disastersensitive development initiatives can be activated to sustain spatial and economic development in the area. 3.1 Provincial development plan of Bolu (BIGEP) The vision of the Provincial Development Plan of Bolu (BIGEP) is based on a framework including the components of geographical location, sectoral structure and socio-cultural infrastructure: “an agricultural-industrial and social city which is sensitive to the priorities of natural environment, produces the high value added agricultural and industrial product and functions as a nature, health and sport centre” (T.R. Prime Ministry State Planning Organization et al [5]). This definition that claims to have a sustainability emphasis, however, has the emphasis on realizing both an economic growth and spatial development paralleling to this growth at sub-regional level. The basic principles of the BIGEP can be given as follows: - To realize the sustainability of economic and social development. - To realize the coordination between the provincial development plan and national development plan in terms of development policy. - To develop institutional capacity and to provide the participation of public in both planning and implementation. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Sub-regional (NUTS 2) distribution of per capita GDP at current prices in Turkey in 2001 [6, 7]. Figure 1:

110 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability - To follow an investment policy based on the priorities of the private sector and to constitute an investment climate. - To emphasize sustainability in both the supervision of urban growth and the realization of regional industrial development. - To prepare an infrastructure for socio-economic development and to develop institutional capacity in the rural areas. - To emphasize the importance of human resources development in the policies for both population mobility and homogenisation of regional development (T.R. Prime Ministry State Planning Organization et al [5]). In the determination of the strategies of the BIGEP that has a twenty-year horizon (2003-2023), the national and regional development goals and strategies in the Eighth Five Years Development Plan of Turkey (2001-2005) are worthy of note. These strategies aimed at utilizing the potentials in tourism and agriculture can be given as follows: - To establish a harmony of urban, land use and environmental adjustment plans by taking with a focus on earthquake and other physical factors. - To prevent urbanization of fertile agricultural lands and to determine new areas for different land uses. - To locate industrial activities in the industrial complex outside the province. - To promote agricultural production with a high market value at technical support of TUBITAK (The Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey) and to realize crop diversification in the agricultural sector. - To encourage land consolidation for providing the productivity in agricultural production, to protect the soil resources and to encourage contractual production in agriculture. - To implement pilot projects on organic agricultural production and to improve the infrastructure of agriculture and stockbreeding. - To implement small-scale rural development projects for preventing immigration in underdeveloped rural areas. - To improve productivity, institutional infrastructure and interaction among firms in the industrial sector. - To improve the entrepreneurial capacity of small and medium-scale firms. - To improve both existing and alternative tourism types and to diversify the supply of touristic products. - To execute an effective activity program for the promotion of tourism values. - To prepare educational programs in terms of increasing knowledge and abilities of unskilled labour. - To take measures to develop the human and physical infrastructure of education. - To improve both the infrastructure and accessibility of health services at urban and rural levels. - To improve the institutional capacity of public and social service institutions. - To form a city council functioning in both the coordination among different administrative actors and the development of administrative capacity at rural level. - To provide an effective use of geographic information systems. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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- To improve the infrastructure of transportation and telecommunications in terms of both strengthening relationships between rural and urban settlements and accessing the market (T.R. Prime Ministry State Planning Organization et al [5]). The principles, targets and strategies of the BIGEP summed up above incorporated together to the development scenarios for 2023 in terms of making realistic predictions about the sub-regional economic and spatial development in the future. In the projection of existing trends for the year 2023, three different development scenarios defined a spatio-temporal framework: a continuation of existing economic and spatial conditions and stable growth, a growth dependent on local resources in support of public sector and a sustainable development both with the strong support of public sector and under the leadership of private sector. The first scenario suggests a stable regional economic development in which idle economic resources will be put into efficient use and there will no longer be an external intervention in sub-regional economic growth. In this scenario, the continuation of migration pressures toward urban centres is emphasized as a result of an anticipated failure of struggles for the vitalization of rural economy. The second scenario indicates a development trajectory in which a local resource and agriculture-centric regional development will be achieved through public and private sector resource allocation paralleling to the improvement of institutional capacity. The third scenario includes a more realistic economic growth through the realization of sustainable development with both technical and financial support of European Union and the reform of the fiscal system and public administration in Turkey. However, in this scenario, the anticipated positive developments like “an improvement in rural industry, an increase in the occupancy rate of touristic facilities, a creation of an investment climate and vitalization of the commercial sector” can be evaluated as the developments toward realizing a high growth rate at provincial level instead of having an emphasis on sustainability (T.R. Prime Ministry State Planning Organization et al [5]). Some of the foresights of the BIGEP reveal possible negative outcomes of sub-regional developments in the triangle of economic structure, build environment and earthquake sensitivity. In the foresights for 2010, it is drawn attention that rapid population growth can encourage further urban sprawl in Bolu province (Özbek [8]). First, a rapid population growth in the corridor of Gerede-Yenicaga-Bolu is likely to cause critical environmental and residential development problems. Second, approximately 5000 hectares of arable land in the Bolu plain will be allocated for housing purposes since safe residential areas by earthquake are so limited in the province. The foresights for 2020 indicates that the scope and speed of urban sprawl toward agricultural areas in the province will increase unless new development strategies of the BIGEP will be adopted by local and central authorities responsible for build environment. In 2020, it is anticipated that some of existing rural and urban settlements will become large urban agglomerations in the development corridor of GeredeYenicaga-Bolu and the extent of urbanized agricultural lands will go up by 15000 hectares (T.R. Prime Ministry State Planning Organization et al [3]). The WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

112 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability anticipations for 2010 and 2020 point out that urban sprawl as an inevitable process will radically alter both the settlement structure and the spatial composition of rural an urban activities in Bolu province. Here, with the BIGEP initiatives, it is aimed to slow down the pace of urbanization and to lessen the negative effects of sub-regional spatial development motivated by low-density housing in the province under constant threat of earthquake. 3.2 A critique of the BIGEP for sustainable regional development A critique of socio-economic, spatial and ecological initiatives of the BIGEP is necessary to comprehend the potential problems in the conceptualisation of a new level or type of regional planning (provincial development planning) in Turkey. Here, a crucial question highlights necessity for a revision of regional development goals and priorities of responsible central and local planning authorities: Can provincial development planning be a planning level for sustainable development of build environment? The case of Bolu also reveals additional questions to be answered in terms of producing realistic and powerful foresight strategies at sub-regional level: Which priorities, emphases and contents do the policies on spatial and economic structure in a region under threat of earthquake have? Which natural contradictions do exist for a strategy on making such a region focus of economic development? In Bolu province, where the co-existence of nature protection areas, a rich flora and fauna, historical settlements has provided suitable conditions for the development of mass tourism facilities, the provincial development strategies of the BIGEP depending on the priorities of agricultural, commercial and industrial sectors are likely to accelerate the urbanization of agricultural lands at subregional level. With the development strategies of the BIGEP, sub-regional and urban housing development in the area, which was led by the needs of population and threats of earthquake in the past, will be motivated by new sectoral growth dynamics. In this possible development scenario, the BIGEP assigns important administrative, commercial and industrial functions to the central city of Bolu and these central functions are possible to make the spatial and economic development in the corridor of Gerede-Yenicaga-Bolu cumulative and to cause the emergence of new sub-centers along this corridor (Özbek [8]). A close inspection of table 2 indicates that the development principles and implementation tools of the BIGEP must be reformulated to combat the anticipated negative effects of both urban sprawl and sub-regional economic development in Bolu province. Here, there is an urgent need to establish goal consistency between different spatial scales in terms of rural development, settlement strategies and long-term regional plans. The threats of earthquake and nature protection issues must be incorporated into the development scenarios at each spatial scale. In addition, the limited success and implementation scope of environmental adjustment and land use plans in Turkey makes necessary the adoption of sub-regional planning as a new and main planning level in the BIGEP.

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Table 2:

113

Selected development initiatives and implementation tools for the BIGEP at different spatial scales. development principles • • •

development of agricultural industry diversification of agricultural products • prevention of urbanization of fertile rural level agricultural lands • protection of the soil resources Problem: How will rural development initiatives on rural settlements and rural environment be realized in an area of rapid urbanization?

• • • • • •

implementation tools small-scale rural development schemes new environmental adjustment plans industrial decentralization agricultural projects of TUBITAK land consolidation contractual agricultural production pilot projects on organic agriculture

•

establishment of a harmony between land use and environmental adjustment plans in terms of the priorities of disaster-sensitive urban planning level • allocation of new urban areas for different land uses Problem: How will environmentally sound new settlement strategies be produced under constant threats of earthquake and urban sprawl? • encouragement of cooperation between industrial firms in related sectors • development of institutional infrastructure for export-based commercial and industrial enterprises • development of human infrastructure for meeting workforce needs and realizing the productivity provincial of labour level • forming of a new institutional administrative structure encouraging transparency and participation in the supply of public services • development of alternative tourism Problem: Which development priorities (commercial/industrial, ecological and urban physical) will be included in longterm regional plans? Or will a strategic synthesis of these priorities for sustainable development be possible?

• • • •

• • • • • •

new environmental adjustment plans new urban land use plans new administrative body (city council) geographic information systems

BIGEP initiatives new environmental adjustment plans touristic activity programs training programs for workforce new administrative body (city council) geographic information systems

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114 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

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Conclusion

An analysis and critique of the BIGEP initiatives and development principles provide important insights for how a decision framework for sustainable development can be incorporated into a new level of spatial planning (provincial development planning). The case of Bolu indicates that a harmonious integration of regional development and environmental protection goals is predominantly important to limit the future development of urban settlements in disaster-prone areas. In the same vein, there is a need to revise the principles, goals and implementation tools of the BIGEP. In the provincial development plan, the content of goals and targets for rural development, development of institutional capacity and human infrastructure, homogenisation of spatial development at sub-regional level and industrial/commercial development require elaboration in terms of the priorities of sustainable development. Here, rather than including as physical factors or emphasises in the BIGEP, the issues of nature protection and threats of earthquake need to be addressed as the main policy determinants within the regional economic and spatial development framework.

References [1] [2] [3]

[4] [5]

[6] [7] [8]

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Division of Sustainable Development Web Site, New York, www.un.org/esa/sustdev. UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division of Sustainable Development. Agenda 21. www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21 /english/agenda21toc.htm. T.R. Prime Ministry State Planning Organization, T.R. Governorship of Bolu, The Bolu Municipality, The University of Abant Izzet Baysal & The Bolu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bolu Provincial Development Plan: Environment and Spatial Structure, 2004. T.R. Prime Ministry Turkish Statistical Institute. Per Capita GDP at Current Prices in 2001 by NUTS 3, Ankara, Turkey, www.die.gov.tr /nuts/131d3.xls. T.R. Prime Ministry State Planning Organization, T.R. Governorship of Bolu, The Bolu Municipality, The University of Abant Izzet Baysal & The Bolu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bolu Provincial Development Plan (BIGEP): Master Plan, 2004. T.R. Prime Ministry Turkish Statistical Institute. Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics, Ankara, Turkey, www.die.gov.tr /nuts/bolgekarar.htm. T.R. Prime Ministry Turkish Statistical Institute. Per Capita GDP at Current Prices in 2001 by NUTS 2, Ankara, Turkey, www.die.gov.tr/duzey2/131d2.xls. Özbek, O., Sub-regional development strategies and sensitivity to earthquake: An analysis of the Bolu provincial development plan. The 29th Colloquium of World Urbanism Day, 7-9 November, Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul, pp. 107-117, 2005. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Valuing the effects of urban road-network projects: a methodological proposal A. Granà Department of Road Infrastructure Engineering, University of Palermo, Italy

Abstract This paper proposes a methodology of valuation for the urban environment, trying to answer questions and problems deriving from new road installations, or functional requalifications in existing road infrastructures, in accordance with specific practices already well-known as Urban Impact Assessment (UIA). More generally, the objective of the urban impact assessment consists in valuing the possibilities to localize urban installations, also considering both their economic and social effects, as well as identifying potential dangers to the environment, intended in a general sense. This kind of valuation distinguishes from the traditional environmental impact valuation (e.g., applied for extra-urban road projects), because it gives more importance to aesthetical aspects, such as visual impacts; also through simulation devices with reference to models of urban habitat, it introduces the concept of urban quality for integrating to environmental (and ecologic) quality in order to make the first screening for possibilities of installations into urban areas, considering the element of participation central and ever present. According to the above explained general object, the analysis and valuation methodology proposed in this paper is a tool expressible in a language that can be codified, but with the smallest possible content of strict quantifications and general predetermined physical constraints; as well, it can be able to allow the valuation of real situations (related to urban road installations) working creatively and using prudently procedures and algorithms. The result represents an exploratory study to objectify a process characterized by a strong subjective content in order that the proposed methodology assumes the role of constitutive component of the urban road-network project assessment, as security for comprehensive positive outcomes. Keywords: urban impact assessment, road safety, performances. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060111

116 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

When the urban space is subject of analysis, as regards new infrastructural installations and the forecast of effects that location and conversion choices are able to make, the definition of an explicit and shared decision-making system conflicts with the intrinsic unforeseeability peculiar to the evolution of complex contexts. Nevertheless, considering the urban growth process, principles, methods and procedures for valuing outcomes of urban transformations are essential, with the awareness that the project (from the planning level to the geometric design one), however it is quality, isn’t able to warrant the achievement of prearranged purposes, as well as to avoid the generation of unfavourable externalities and to consider all the relations of influence made by the project implementation. Starting from these reflections, also considering that procedures and methods for valuing effects of infrastructural projects have been devised right from a few years with rising interest both in natural environment and in built/anthropical one, the need to delineate specific methodologies for valuing effects of urban road-network projects is derived. In general, the peculiar elements of an evaluation process are [1]: i) the measurement, as set of activities for pointing out the targets; ii) the control, as the review of the effectiveness (and the reliability) of tools and process phases; iii) the verification, as collection of informative data qualitatively and quantitatively functional; iv) the evaluation, or rather the explanatory analysis oriented towards the taking on of choices. The impact evaluation, just why it isn’t related to marketing forms, discovers in the evaluation principles a problem of great extent; as regards this, the main problems are the following: i) the effectiveness, or the suitability of evaluation results to the aims to pursue by means of the application of the impact evaluation; ii) the reliability, or the characteristic to provide steady results whoever is the analyst and to reproduce the same result during subsequent evaluations carried out by the same analyst; iii) the intertemporal and interspatial comparability, or the complex articulation that, in the use suiting to needs, can foresee the “overcoming” of some steps without the overall working is invalidated. An obstacle to define an procedure for valuing effects of urban road-network projects, based on sound, reliable and univocal (as for issues) principles, is referable to the effort for objectifying a process characterized by a strong subjective content. Based on above considerations, the urban impact assessment is absolutely necessary on condition that it is considered as a decision-making tool forcing to make clear ways and reasons of a choice and following the project course also up to produce mitigation actions for correcting unwanted results. In this sense, as security for a positive result, the evaluation can assume the role of constituent for the project design if, for having a clear picture of current and possible facts, it considers both the need to look into all the feasibility conditions and to examine crucial elements characterizing new infrastructural projects (or functional requalifications of urban spaces). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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117

Theoretical-methodological questions of the UIA

Nowadays there are many methodologies, as alternative to traditional economic analysis, used to carry out both the analysis of new infrastructural projects (or requalifications of existing installations) and the evaluation of effects. The methodological scheme of the impact evaluation procedure well-known as “systematic global evaluation” is revised and shown in figure 1. The objective of this model is to establish both the (steady and repeatable) basis for the design/evaluation of activities related to the elements that can be considered interacting together (and producing relations among them) and to suggest the choice of more effective techniques for carrying out specific evaluations within each project action. Even though the methodological scheme doesn’t apply to all cases, it allows by its articulation to select one infrastructural project (or more projects) that will be the object of the detailed analysis, i.e. the real impact evaluation focused on the examination of the consistency and the effectiveness. This examination is the Urban Impact Assessment that includes in the inside the social and economic desirability analysis, as regards the different project alternatives, and carries out the compatibility analysis, the evaluation of results and the forecast for the uses and the future (direct and indirect) effects. Within the evaluation of infrastructural projects, a decision making tool, considering the consequences on the environment as influential and decisive elements for valuing the project feasibility (both for maximizing the public benefit and for minimizing unfavourable results), is the well-known environmental impact assessment (eia). The eia as proposed by EEC directives is organized as follows: a) preliminary activities deputed to the project selection demanding eia and to the identification of the project changes to value; b) activities of evaluation deputed to: i) the detection of environmental impacts made by the project on the existing situation; ii) the description and the measurement of impacts by means of specific indicators and the evaluation of the changes granted to select the design proposal; iii) the list of the impacts and the choice of the mitigatory countermeasures. As an example, the procedural course of this phase is shown in figure 2; c) consultation activities, involving authorities as regards request of authorization, as well as the parties concerned, and common participation; d) decision-making activities, concerning the description of results and reasons have caused the decision. In this sense, eia is the estimate of the effect extent on each environmental factor by means of a value judgement (or by a measurement), ascribing different weights to variables in relation to the impact extent. As an example, figure 3 shows the graph of impact evaluation for an urban commercial zone [3]. It thence follows that the urban impact assessment also needs already existing methodologies as it uses all the tools (for example, the eia ones as regards structure and procedural course) that allow to read, to organize and to check the available informations and the existing data. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

118 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability ACTIONS Verification of technical/economic effectiveness for different design hypothesis

METHODS Study of technical feasibility Study of economic feasibility Cost-benefit analysis

PRELIMINARY STAGES

Calculation of externalities costs Calculation of maintenance costs Calculation of dismantling costs

Analysis of the social desirability of the design Valuation of perceived desirability (1) Valuation of objective desirability (2) Rating of difference between (1) e (2)

Analysis of the economic desirability of the design

Questionnaires and interviews Brainstorming Method Delphi Opinion polls Scenarios Public meeting

Strategic analysis Role-play Delphi method

Identification of economic stakeholders Identification of effective aims both in the short term and in the long term

PLANNING STAGES

Valuation of institutional feasibility of the design

Strategic analysis Role-play Interviews

Examination of normative outline Examination of accounts as regards installations of similar designs

Identification of possible designs Draft of possible designs Prevision of effects

Compatibility and effectiveness check of the design between the possible ones

Urban Impact Assessment

DESIGN CHOICE

Figure 1:

An example of urban impact assessment methodology [2].

Nevertheless, the UIA cannot be considered only an adaptation of other evaluation methodologies, why some phases and techniques have a greater weight as regards typical problems of the urban context. The UIA characterizes both for methodological aspects (i.e., the definition of urban quality factors, the visual and aesthetic impact assessment, the role of participation, etc.) and for the object of the evaluation. From this, considering that the implementation of a procedure for valuing the impacts of road projects is correlated to the project contents, the peculiar elements of the urban road spaces and then the aspects of geometric design for urban roads have been explained in short before the methodology proposed is described. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Information gathering Preliminary discussion: - Design acquisition - Drafting of a short report

Preliminary site visit Review of policy in progress Examination of similar design and rating of analogous cases

DATA PROCESSING

Identification of possible impacts Consultatations Structuring of impact matrix Evaluation of existing situation

Assessment of possible impacts Review of the level and significance of possible impacts

PARTECIPATION OF THE PARTIES CONCERNED

Examination of warrant request and specifications of design

Presentation of the results Production of the impact statement Synthesis of the report and recommendations

Figure 2: Primary Houses transfer

Shops transfer Affairs transfer

Figure 3:

Procedural course of the assessment phase. Secondary

Tertiary

Quaternary

Loss of profit from property tax

Profit reduction

Rise in the tax rate on property

House stock reduction for the community

Rise in the house demand

Rise in the house prices

People transfer

Change in population of the area

Rise in the spaces

Loss of profit from commercial taxes

Reduction in the commercial profit for the community

Rise in the tax rate on property

Rise in the number of unemployed

Rise in the payment of social aids

Loss of profit from taxes on sales Loss of work

The impact of a new road within the trade zone of a city [3].

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120 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

3

The details of urban road geometric design

The peculiarity of urban roads demands that the project approach, calling for different competences as regards the complexity of problems, maintains an unitary character; it has to consider the whole infrastructure life-cycle and to combine, from starting project activities, the right needs of construction, operational conditions and management. The road, as a communication element, interacts to the environment passed through and becomes a place of subjects observing and using such places. The road theme always considers questions involving the layout (the link from the starting point to the destination) and relations among junctions (and functions) within different contexts; it also demands the knowledge of directives (rules and standards) concerning safety and traffic problems, environmental and aesthetical quality, etc. So, within a town planning scheme, the road isn’t only a route but becomes a road-network element; this requires both to put a hierarchical role down to it, as regards functions that have to be performed and the relation between junctions and traffic flow fluidity, and to put an architecture down to its cross section, as regards the recognizability of the feature-function relationship. The geometric design and the evaluation phase cannot be out of road safety problems. From the road safety point of view, urban roads are less dangerous than extra-urban ones; this is true as regards crash consequences, why the urban space organization, the rapid series of junctions and traffic conditions (often close to congestion) limit speeds and reduce considerably crash dangerousness. This also influences clearly the death and injured rates [4] in use for highlighting crash phenomenon dangerousness: in probabilistic terms, urban crashes having fatal consequences are about three times and about five times lower than ones occur throughout freeways and other extra-urban roads respectively; the likelihood of user to be injured in urban crashes is in all cases lower regarding both freeways and other roads. Nevertheless the perspective is very different if the extent and consequences of crash phenomenon are examined. Few data [5] can be useful for this purpose: a) the accident number in urban areas is more than ¾ of all crashes (they are 3 times and over 10 times greater than those on freeways and other extra-urban road respectively) and is three times higher than crashes occurred in other roads (ten times higher than freeways); b) the consequences of the accident phenomenon: deads caused by urban road crashes are about the half of all the deaths (every a hundred deads on urban roads correspond to about an half on main and provincial roads; less than 1/3 on freeways).

4

The difficult definition of “urban value”

As is known, the value concept of a generic project component is linked to the utility assigned to the specific function chosen among those ones performed by the examined component, according to its total cost compatibly with available

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resources for producing and managing the life-cycle assumed for the road infrastructure. For road constructions, the value concept is so closely connected to the efficiency and the effectiveness of road performances, or of those ones performed in a dynamic way by the examined component. So, considering that the efficiency and the effectiveness concern all the life-cycle of the road infrastructure, the geometric/functional design has to guarantee that starting performances persist in the time. Based on these considerations, the evaluation can contribute to increase the value of a road infrastructure on condition that it is integrated in the project procedure and makes easy the value identification through a complete examination of the real functions, the prospects of the installation and the dimensional constrains. From the seventies, a methodological approach, well-known as value engineering is developed progressively for road constructions and has transformed principles of urban road geometric design; this evolution has matched community transformations that, together with a more immediate participation of citizens to collective life, have reported an increasing respect for the environmental values and the life quality. So, the urban road project is the result of an interdisciplinary work characterized by different competences (road engineering, architecture, town planning, landscape painting, psychology, etc), sharing in the defining the geometric and functional features of road spaces. This approach allows one to establish a scale to satisfy different needs [6], basing on road functional analysis [7], or on the recognition of needs, and on user expectations and motivations. Table 1 shows in short phases and corresponding activities of the value engineering. Table 1:

Articolazione dell’approccio di value engineering.

phase

activity

pre-trial

data collection, working team choice, definition of objectives

functional

identification of requirements to satisfy

inventive

research solutions by the formulation of functions and costs

of valuation

function analysis

development

selection and assessment of solutions

of proposals

development and presentation of solutions

In the functional analysis of a specific road installation at least three furthermore classes of users need to be distinguished: each user (or road occupying) has a specific dimensional need (see table 2); constraints at sides, in general existing in urban areas, often request a priority choice among them [8].

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122 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 2: Users on the surface Road users consumers pedestrians and Circulating and reduced mobility stopped vehicles users, two-wheel riders Public transport (bus, taxi, tram) and Activities at sides delivery transport for commercial products Security and maintenance services

Public transport users

Classes of users. Users occupying public property

Under-service network

Green spaces

Energy and telecommunication

Urban equipment

Aqueduct and city sewer system

Other services and activities

Pubblic lighting and traffic control systems

5 The urban impact assessment proposed The methodological approach revises the procedure of Cecchini et al. [9] and proposes additional pieces allowing one to stress further aspects to value, as: - visual impacts, considering that the urban context is strongly loaded with symbolic and perceptive values; - impacts on performances, considering that urban geometric and functional design influences directly the integration of town parts and their development; - impacts on traffic safety, considering that urban roads are characterized by different users including vulnerable ones (pedestrians, two-wheel riders, reduced mobility users, etc.). For each impact figure 4 shows the principles by means of which a mark (or a judgement) can be ascribed to each basic element for carrying out the evaluation. Completed the inventory phase, the analysis of places and related neighbourhood follows and for each above mentioned impact consists in: i) assigning a value to each basic element characterizing the road environment, basing on a scale of sensitiveness and quality variable for each impact; ii) classifying basic elements according to a relative hierarchic order; iii) bounding sites influenced by the project, in accordance with principles of morphologic, functional and typological consistency (this can vary regarding the analysed project); iv) creating, for sites influenced by the project, wired and transparent maps of synthesis in which low values (for sensitiveness and quality) are coloured by clear dyes and high values (for sensitiveness and quality) by dark dyes; v) valuing perceptions of users, that have to be reproduced on transparent maps too. Maps drawn for each impact in accordance with the above mentioned principles of analysis can be used for choosing the project that, for features of location and morphology, corresponds to the need of containing all the possible impacts made by the same project on the environment passed through. The superimposition of maps so painted for each impact makes an only map showing impacts on the sites influenced by the project: in each impact map the very dark zones are characterized by high quality and sensitiveness to impacts and are

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VISUAL IMPACT PRINCIPLES

outside environment

Geometric design

visual quality landscape architecture historic places visual sensitiveness land use consistency topography

users of visual spaces from stationary positions

BASIC ELEMENTS

aesthetic continuity visual elements quantity visual elements arrangement

geometric characteristics\road function adaptation

IMPEDIMENTS: operational space location signalling visual communication

structural design visibility of the project into the landscape integration of the project into the landscape

number of potential users level of interest visual distance visual duration

capacity of standing up to stress suitable surface characteristics facility of maintenance and use integration to site and environment minimization of costs facility and flexibility of implementation

urban equipment from linear passages from sites being visible project

location reciprocal position legibility features architectural features that denies access to reduced mobility users open spaces

uses\different expectations compatibility traffic calming countermeasures investment profitability moving time reduction consumption reduction traffic congestion hours pollution risk building material quality pavement aptitude for taking durable traffic signs maintenance level maintenance needs of subterranean equipments optimizing road environment perception illuminance needs at specific sites

Principles for UIA.

BASIC ELEMENTS

PRINCIPLES

road spaces riskiness consistency: role of infrastructural installation in hierarchized road network medley level for different types of users number of potential conflicts for motorized (or not) users

vulnerability equipment design and maintenance level pedestrian courses features elements of direction

not motorized users type of users exposed to a risk number and value of users exposed to a risk

crash classification number and gravity

by

traffic flows and vehicular composition interpretative consistency of geometric design to the type of road\junction place propensity of being danger seat speed differential for different users road place perception adequacy of road place organization

social segregation phenomenon social context, environment and activities at sides protection aptitude and motivational factors

123

Figure 4:

PRINCIPLES

IMPACT ON TRAFFIC SAFETY

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BASIC ELEMENTS

IMPACT ON PERFORMANCES

124 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability considered important by users. So the project has to be carried out only in the very clear zones resulting from the superimposition, characterized by a lower impact. The selected project, considering the location, the layout and the level of landscape alteration (from the construction level to the operation one), as well the contrast extent to the elements characterizing the environment passed through and the attraction of the project for users, represents a “compromise” solution, able to minimize the unfavourable effects of its installation. In general, the evaluation also needs the simulation of the project for assessing impacts carried out on the environment passed through. The results of simulation, obtained by multimedia tools now available that allow fast to display the project into the modified environment, will show then to decision makers, to involved people and to groups of evaluation; this is for gathering remarks and indications on acceptance of impacts and/or on the possible implementation of mitigatory countermeasures to improve the project.

6

Conclusions

The methodological approach proposed for identifying, describing and assessing impacts carried out by infrastructural projects, both diffused (at the network and/or route level) and in specific point (at the junction and/or road situation level), has to be considered as a suggestion on possible elements to value and on principles for establishing quality judgements. This approach isn’t a procedure to be applied mechanically; it is in fact free from rigid quantifications and general predetermined constraints and, being situated within the creative acting, can be intended as a combination of different methodological approaches (for example, methodologies used by VIA or specific methodologies for urban areas). The methodological approach proposed in this paper is an overall view of easygoing suggestions for making clear the urban impact assessment. It isn’t the path to carry out a technical calculation, but on the contrary, the outlined method can represent a tool applicable to real situations (related to urban road installations), able to combine qualitative and quantitative elements, to stimulate and organize the participation, not to give only a simple number. The result has to be envisaged as an exploratory study to try both to objectify a process characterized by a strong subjective content and to integrate also in Italy the proposed methodology into the urban road-network project assessment, as security for comprehensive positive outcomes. Moreover, the techniques have to be used considering that they are; in fact, tools to increase the awareness and the clearness are more useful than procedures for settling.

References [1] [2]

Gori E., Vittadini G., Qualità e valutazione nei servizi di pubblica utilità. Etas, Milano (Italy), 1999. Clark B. D. et al., A manual for the assessment of major development proposals, HMSO, London, 1981. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

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Irer, Valutazione di impatto ambientale e calcolo economico, Ed. Angeli, Milano (Italy), 1984. Giuffrè O., Road safety in urban areas: a place of myths. Personal communication at SIIV Conference, 2 Dicembre 2005, La Sicurezza Stradale nell’Adeguamento della Viabilità Esistente, Catania (Italy). ISTAT Statistiche degli incidenti stradali – Anno 2004. Entretien des chausses urbaines. Guide méthodologique, Cetur, 1993. Analyse de la valeur. Guide pratique. Club des Concepteurs routiers. S.E.T.R.A., 1994. Aide à la conception de la voire urbaine par l’analyse fonctionnelle, Rapport d’étude Certu/Cete, 1997. Cecchini A., Fulici F., La valutazione di impatto urbano. Ed. Franco Angeli, Milano (Italy), 1994.

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Mobile positioning in sustainability studies: the social positioning method in studying commuter’s activity spaces in Tallinn R. Ahas1, Ü. Mark2, O. Järv1 & M. Nuga1 1

2

Institute of Geography, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia Positium ICT, Niine 11, Tallinn, Estonia

Abstract We introduce the mobile phone positioning-based social positioning method in studying activity spaces of commuters and residents of the city centre in Tallinn. The social positioning method (SPM) studies space-time behaviour by analysing the location coordinates of mobile phones and the social characteristics of the people carrying them. Our study experiments took place in the Tallinn and Tartu region in Estonia from 2003–2006. The results demonstrate that mobile positioning-based tracing is applicable in geographical studies, as an analysis of temporal movement patterns and activity spaces. This is good reference for analysing travel diaries, especially for analysing daily activity spaces and space consumption which is a key issue in sustainable planning of the sprawling cities. The biggest advantage of mobile positioning-based methods is that mobile phones are wide-spread, positioning works inside buildings, and the collection of movement data is done by a third party at regular intervals. The disadvantage of mobile positioning today is relatively low preciseness and surveillance fears. The boom in the generation of phones with A-GPS will raise positioning accuracy in the near future. Keywords: mobile positioning, commuters’ activity spaces, social positioning method, sustainable city, Tallinn, Estonia.

1

Introduction

Urban sprawl, extensive space consumption and rising traffic demands are major problems in both western and eastern cities. This has been one of the major issues in urban planning during the last 30 years. Concepts of sustainable WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060121

128 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability planning and smart growth are aimed at designing energy- and time-effective settlements and transportation models, which need input data from space-time movement analyses and models [1]. During the last decades, geographers have evolved different methods to gather and analyse the space-time movement data of society and individuals [2]. In the current paper we introduce the results of pilot studies using the positioning data of personal mobile phones for researching human space-time behaviour in the Tallinn urban region. This method is called the social positioning method (SPM) [3] and it describes an individuals’ movement patterns using the positioning co-ordinates of their personal communication devices combined with the owners’ personal/social attributes. This new data has some advantages in urban studies; better information can help to plan environmentally, socially and economically balanced cities. The biggest advantage of mobile positioning data is that phones are widespread and they can be used as terminals to get a spatial response from the public. The biggest problem with mobile positioning data is surveillance fear and privacy issues, as mobile phones are very personal.

2

Data and study area

2.1 Tallinn The study area – the capital of Estonia Tallinn – can be characterised today by its fast development and sprawling urban environment. The area of the capital of Estonia, Tallinn, is 158 km2, with a population of 400 000. The largest residential areas in Tallinn are Lasnamäe, Mustamäe and Õismäe, which consist of apartment buildings built between the 1960s and 1990. A significant part of the population is also located within the city centre - 44 778 inhabitants in 2005. The compact medieval old town in the centre of Tallinn is in UNESCO’s world cultural heritage list. The area of urban agglomeration around Tallinn extends as far as 50-70 km from the core city [4,5]. In suburban areas, new residential areas and shopping centres have been extensively developed. Our field works showed that majority of new settlement areas locate still in the closest neighbourhood of city (Figure 1). The population of the entire urban region of Tallinn is 550 000 inhabitants. A large number of inhabitants commute daily to work using mainly automobile transportation. It is comprehensible that the relatively good and cheap system of public transportation from soviet times does not suit anymore. During the last 15 years the number of cars has almost doubled, reaching 319 cars per 1000 inhabitants in Tallinn in 2004. In 1990 people made 603 million journeys and in 2004 only 213 million journeys using public transportation [6]. 2.2 Mobile positioning data The collection and analysis of the social positioning data was conducted by the Estonian company Positium ICT [7], which is currently developing SPM applications in co-operation with the Institute of Geography, University of Tartu.

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Figure 1:

129

New settlement areas in urban region of Tallinn (1.01.2006, 5 or more houses/apartments in range of 200 m).

In the pilot studies, the EMT network, Estonia’s biggest operator, was used. EMT has technical and organisational capabilities for location-based services using the CGI+TA method. Movements of a sample of 117 individuals were recorded by positioning their personal mobile phones in Tallinn in 2004. The experimental sample of the first study in 2004 was proportionally divided into two groups: a) 91 residents of the central part of the city; b) 26 commuters living outside the city limits. The locations of the selected phones were registered every 30 minutes between 7 am and 11pm during the period from February 18-22, 2004. During the 5 days the motion of the 117 participants was observed and altogether more than 14 000 location coordinates were registered. In addition to the mobile positioning data, each individual completed a personal questionnaire describing social characteristics and travel behaviour. The calculations of positioning error on network characteristics showed that in urban areas the accuracy of 61% of positioning cases remained within 1000 metres and within 3000 metres for 53% of positioning cases in rural areas of Estonia. Accuracy checks conducted with GPS indicated that the error is less than 1200 metres in 99% of positioning cases in urban areas. Additionally, to understand the suburbanisation, structured interviews were held with 13 commuters, who were asked to answer some questions about their space-time movement and life style. The respondents consisted of 1 with basic and 1 with secondary education; 4 trade school education and 7 persons with higher education. The dominant group consisted of married people with children, one was single and two persons were in common-law marriages.

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130 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 7 6

hours

5 4

commuter resident

3 2 1 0 Wed Thu

Figure 2:

3

Fri

Sat Sun

Mean time spent in “other” locations (filter 2 km in suburbs and 500 m in city centre) than home or work between 7:00 and 23:00.

Mobile positioning data in urban studies

3.1 Space-time behaviour and activity spaces The social positioning method allows us to trace the movement of people with relatively good spatio-temporal precision. This data helps us to analyse personal activity spaces, which has a great field of applications in urban studies and planning. We used the pilot study in Tallinn to compare the activity spaces of commuters and residents of the city centre. The main differences between commuters and residents of the city centre are in the use of urban space and the temporal rhythm of daily movement: commuters start their day earlier and spend less time on “other” locations besides home and work anchor points (Figure 2). Compared to the average commuter, who covered 55 km/day during the experiment period, the average resident covered only 31 km per day (Figure 3). The analysis of all the positioning events made during 5 days shows that during 30 min periods the resident moves on average 2266 m, but the commuter, 4426 m. This shows differences in the lifestyles and ecological footprints of people working in the same area, even in the same office. These people differ also in their utilisation of other resources, which could be further estimated on the basis of the given movement data. According to the estimations of the latest studies, suburbanisation and urban sprawl are still rapidly growing trends in Tallinn, and transportation problems should be linked to their sources – the sprawling communities and persons living there. Our interviews showed that most of people who moved into suburban regions wanted to live closer to nature. SPM analysis can be one way to estimate and calculate personal energy consumption and ecological footprint [8]. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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70 60

km

50 40

commuter resident

30 20 10

Figure 3:

Sa t Su n

Fr i

Th u

W

ed

0

Mean daily movement of commuters and city centre residents in Tallinn during SPM experiment (February 2004).

Another parameter describing the movement and lifestyle of commuters is the distance from the city centre. For this reference point we used the Town Hall Square in the Old Town of Tallinn. The distance from the centre characterizes the life style of sybarites, the spatial distribution of functions in the city. Figure 4 shows mean distances from the city centre for the 26 commuters (5-35km) compared to the 91 residents of the city centre (2-20 km). The differences in space utilisation are obvious: the residents live in the centre and they move in various neighbourhoods (work, service, free time); the commuters live quite far in the suburbs, work near the centre of the city and use other services on the way home. The interviews also showed that commuters used services not situated by the road home only in rare cases of specific need. It is essential to stress that all the commuters taking part in this experiment were working in the centre of town. Taking into consideration the whole urban region, the concentration of commuters in the city centre is not so great. On the weekend, residents and commuters both travel away from the city and come back on Sunday afternoon. 3.2 Space consumption and social features Extensive space consumption and urban sprawl are related to the lifestyle of city residents. To improve planning and administration it is important to understand the lifestyle, social characteristics and other determinants of space consumption. SPM data allows studying the features of respondents. We studied correlations between some personal features and the length of daily movement of 117 people positioned in Tallinn. The target group had 26 commuters – dominated by a well-educated and successful middle class who lived in suburbs behind the administrative borders of Tallinn and mostly worked in the centre of the city. We compared their space-time movement with educated and successful residents of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

132 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability the city centre. The commuters have chosen their place of residence mainly in last 10 years. The educated and successful residents of the city centre are the group most at risk to become commuters in the near future.

Figure 4:

The average distance from the Town Hall Square in Tallinn. 1. 91 city centre residents; 2. 26 commuters.

The results show that the amount of movement depends on the place of residence and some personal features. Although the sample was unequal we can make some inferences about the factors affecting the length of journeys. As a whole there is a significant correlation between movement sums and location of home. The age of the respondents had a significant influence on movement only on Saturdays, where children (0-19) move only 3,7 km, older people (over 40) 29,8 km and young people (20-39) 42,7 km. Education has a significant influence only on weekends, where less educated persons and children moved only 3,1-8,5 km; persons with higher education 32,1-37 km and persons with secondary education 41,2-45,7 km. On workdays the link between the length of distance and transportation preference (car, public, walking-bicycle) of the respondents has a significant correlation. Other features like gender, occupation, income and family status do not have significant correlations. Similar results were also drawn out by method of confidence ellipses of activity spaces [9]. This method gave us some extra information and significance measures (Table 1). Interviews showed that many of the commuters presumed that they live an untypical life and that their offbeat system is hard to put into the frames of a scientific study. Opinions such as this were given, for example, by the director of big company who had a flexible work schedule with no daily routine and a freelance yoga trainer. Nevertheless the positioning data showed that most of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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these unusual commuters still go to work every day quite early in the morning and get home late and have relatively similar (routine) space consumption during workdays. Table 1:

Significance of social characteristics of the studied 117 participants on activity-space ellipse parameters by the results of the KruskalWallis test (** - p<0,01; * - p<0,05).

Region Age Gender Occupation Education Marital status Children Pay Resident/commuter

Major axis Yes** Yes* Yes* Yes**

Minor axis Yes** Yes Yes* Yes**

Angle Yes -

Area Yes** Yes Yes* Yes**

Commuters usually do not spend their free time in town. The cinema and theatre are visited two or three times a year; most of the interviewed people said that there was not enough time to take part in the culture events in the city. Also it was easier to participate in sports closer to home or to enjoy the local nature. Commuters spend weekends and holidays mostly at home, in 10-20% of cases they travel abroad or to other parts of Estonia. Outside of the working day, the commuters visit the centre of Tallinn or Old town less than once a month to take part in festive occasions or dine in fine restaurants. Commuters believed that when they were living in town they visited the old town more often. For the commuters the distance from culture and the city centre was a critical drawback. Residents of city centre are still often visitors of the Old town. They visit mostly restaurants, bars and cultural events. Other services such as shopping or banking are less related with the Old town and city centre.

4

Conclusions

Space-time movement data is an important source for urban studies and for developing sustainable planning models. For sustainable planning practices it is necessary to have very detailed movement outlines, but our experiences with 3 SPM studies show that there is also a need for very detailed data of personal characteristics from questionnaires and travel diaries, as lifestyle is a main driving force behind growing suburbanisation and traffic demand. Institute of Geography, University of Tartu has developed SPM based ecological footprint tracker for educational purposes. If people can compare own space and energy consumption with others in society this can be used for rising environmental awareness and for regulating sprawl with soft measures. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

134 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The main objective of our pilot study – to test the SPM method- showed that the social positioning method allows recording and analysis of personal activity spaces in more detail than earlier as mobile positioning data has an additional quantitative data layer to traditional questionnaires and travel diaries. This quantitative layer helps us to measure actual movements, link it with space and energy consumption and to control hypothesis from qualitative research. The preciseness of mobile positioning is improving rapidly. In 2006 A-GPS will start working in Estonia and in some other European countries, which will permit positioning data with an accuracy of a few meters. The analysis of the movements of 117 persons showed that even if our sample was small and unbalanced we got comparative measurements of the movements of commuters and city centre residents. Commuters travelled 50-70 km and residents of the city centre only 10-20 km daily. Dispersed suburban communities of commuters create traffic demands as public transportation and public services are not well developed in new dwelling areas. Commuters have less free time and they spend less free time in city centre. Spatial movement has a significant correlation with age, education level and the transportation preference of respondents, as these are the main characteristics typical for commuters. The main question to be addressed considering the sustainability of the urban region of Tallinn is planning new suburbs near existing transportation networks and existing social infrastructures.

Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank the Department of Planning of Tallinn, EMT Ltd., Positium ICT. and all respondents. This project was partly funded by the Target Funding Project No. 0182143s02 of the Ministry of Education and Science, Estonia.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Timmermans, H., Arentze T. & Joh, C.-H., Analysing space-time behaviour: new approaches to old problems. Progress in Human Geography, 26, pp 175-190, 2002. Handy, S., Smart growth and the transportation - Land use connection: What does the research tell us? International Regional Science Review, 28, pp 146-167, 2005. Ahas, R. & Mark, Ü., Location based services - new challenges for planning and public administration? Futures, 37, pp 547-561, 2005. Tammaru, T., Kulu, H. & Kask, I., Urbanization, suburbanization, and counterurbanization in Estonia. Eurasian geography and economics, 45, pp 212-229, 2004. Ahas, R. & Leetmaa, K., Suburbanisation and commuting in Tallinn. Estonian Architectural Review, 45(3), pp 16-21, 2005. Statistical office of Estonia, Website and databases, www.stat.ee, Last visit 20.01.2006. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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[7] [8] [9]

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Positium, Website of Positium ICT, www.positium.com, last visit 12.03.2006. Muniz, I. & Galindo, A., Urban form and the ecological footprint of commuting. The case of Barcelona. Ecological Economics, 55, pp 499514, 2005. Schönfelder, S. & Axhausen, K.W., Activity spaces: Measures of social exclusion? Transport Policy, 10, pp 273-286, 2003.

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Planning with PlaceMaker: complex indices for sustainable projects M. Sepe C.N.R .- DPU Università di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy

Abstract Questions connected to urban analysis study aspects that are not univocally translatable into objective facts with particular regard to three issues: the scientificity, and so the objectivity of the results, and the repeatability of the method in different contexts; the updating capability, and so the possibility of adding new data, to modify the existing data and to obtain other results; the times, and so the sustainable possibility of using the results with respect to the evolution of a sustainable programming and town planning process. To answer these questions the method of analysis called PlaceMaker and the associated software, actually under development, have the following main characteristics: flexibility, facility and rapidity of use, a strong graphical impact, and indexing of the results. PlaceMaker is a method for analysing the contemporary urban landscape that is designed to identify the elements that do not feature in traditional mapping and which constitute the contemporary identity of the places, representing them in a complex map that renders those places intelligible. Starting from these premises, the aim of this work, carried out in the framework of a Convention between Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche and Dipartimento di Progettazione Urbana - Università di Napoli Federico II, is to investigate the construction of complex indices starting from data and symbols related to the place-identity. In order to support the study and the project of the sustainable urban landscapes, the symbols created for the elaboration of the complex map, the final result of the analysis, are translated by the PlaceMaker software into numerical indices. Owing to these characteristics, the prime users of PlaceMaker are urban planners, administrators, citizens and all people involved in construction of a sustainable city. To complete the work suitable case studies are presented. Keywords: placemaking, sustainable urban planning, multimedia software, complex indices, sustainable place-identity index. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060131

138 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

The quality of a place in a city does not merely depend on the city’s physical resources but also on subjective factors. Most of the latter are determined by the interaction of the patterns constituting the city as a whole with the significance given by users to each of the places they encounter and exploit. Current studies on indicators of urban sustainability tend to focus above all on such factors as population, water, air, energy, noise, transport and urban vegetation [1, 2]. Attention is rarely paid to the urban image, and if it is, this is chiefly in relation to the aesthetic impact, as a factor in calculating urban sustainability [3]. Starting from these premises, this study, carried out in the framework of a convention between the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche and Dipartimento di Progettazione Urbana - Università di Napoli Federico II, sets out to investigate the possibility of calculating the sustainability of urban identity using what we have called the sustainable place-identity index. The characteristic features of a place’s identity are established using PlaceMaker, a method for analysing the urban landscape designed to identify elements that do not feature in traditional mapping and which constitute the contemporary identity of the places, representing them in a complex map that renders the place intelligible [4]. This method assembles, elaborates and reconstructs the data deriving from surveys based on physical reconnaissance, sensory perceptions, graphical elaboration, and photographic and video records. It sets this data against an overview of expectations, analysis of traditional cartography and a questionnaire given to local inhabitants. Specific software is currently being developed to connect up and communicate the information contained in the complex map. This will support PlaceMaker in all its phases and the creation of the map. PlaceMaker makes it possible to represent and interpret places in a territory by drawing up interactive maps, using symbols and elements connected to multimedia schedules that can be continuously updated. The main characteristics of PlaceMaker are: flexibility, ease and rapidity of use, strong graphical impact, indexing of results. In order to render the results of the interpretation objective and useful for sustainable urban planning, the software links the symbols of the complex map to numerical indices, making it possible to calculate the quality, potentiality and weaknesses of the places represented in the map. We put the sustainable place-identity index and its potential in studying sustainable urban landscapes to the test using two case studies based on historical city centres. Both places, one in Italy and the other in Japan, were destroyed by violent earthquakes and suffered wide-scale damage. This article is organized as follows: section 2 outlines the proposed index; section 3 illustrates the two case studies and relative observations; and in section 4 we draw the conclusions.

2

The sustainable place-identity index

Establishing the identity of a site located in a certain territory is the key to a comprehensive interpretation of place, showing its significance and value with respect to safeguarding, on the one hand, and planning and/or reconstruction, on WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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the other. The peculiarity of an urban site consists in the concentration of buildings, inhabitants or activities which characterises it. These elements may create critical situations and congestion, above all in terms of environmental sustainability. Studies concerning indicators of urban sustainability rarely refer to urban image. They generally focus on the parameters of population, water, air, energy, noise, transport and urban vegetation. The complexity of the contemporary city makes it very difficult for citizens to arrive at interpretations and value judgements, for they are invariably confronted with new urban features which cannot be fully decoded. The identity of a place is an element which, while comprising the sum of many individual features, is a comprehensive value, which can nonetheless be arrived at by measuring its constituent elements. Determining the sustainability of place identity involves monitoring the elements which go to make up urban identity seen in the perspective of sustainability. We believe that the creation of a complex index generating numerical values may be useful input for the process of sustainable urban construction and transformation. In order to study the sustainability of a place by means of data concerning urban identity, we shall use what we have called the sustainable place-identity index. The method of analysis used to identify the characteristic features of place identity is provided by PlaceMaker. The index is characterised above all by referring to the context and its phenomena, and by its flexibility, ease of updating and compatibility with planning tools. It is defined by the value of a set of elements expressed as symbols shown on the complex map drawn up using the PlaceMaker. Each symbol is associated with an element of place, to which is attributed a value of integral weight w i ranging from 1 to 5. This weight is determined by the typology of the indicator to be calculated. The lowest value of integral weight w i = 1 has little impact in calculating the index, while the highest value w i = 5 counts for a lot. The overall number of elements is taken to be n, so that i ∈{1,…,n}. Each element of the complex map is defined by a set of features (varying in typology and number from one element to another), each having its own integral value c ij ranging from 1 to 5. Thus c ij denotes the feature j of the element i and j ∈{1,…, m i }, where mi represents the total number of features of the element i. All the elements denote the quantitative presence of that element in the place. The value v i of an element is given by the median value of its features, calculated thus: 1 mi vi = ∑ c ij . m i j=1 It is possible to define an absolute index I a and a median index I m . The absolute index is calculated thus: n

Ia = ∑ w i vi , i =1

and corresponds to the weighted sum of the value of all the elements of a place. This value in this index depends on both the quantity and the quality of the elements present. The median index I m is calculated thus: WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

140 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability I m = I a /n and depends only on the quality of the elements present.

3

The case studies of the historical centres of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi, Southern Italy, and Kobe, Southern Japan

In order to try out this index and its potential in enhancing cultural resources and sustainable planning in cities, we calculated the indices for the historical centres of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi in Irpinia (Southern Italy) and Kitano-Cho at Kobe (Southern Japan). The historical centres of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi and Kobe were destroyed in 1980 and 1995 respectively by earthquakes measuring 6.9 and 7.3 on the Richter scale. The casualties ran into millions and there was incalculable material damage as well as a grave impact on place identity and collective memory. The culture and traditions of the populations in the two historical centres are clearly very different. Nonetheless the two sites can be compared in terms not only of the earthquake but also of surface area, history, orography, the typology of reconstruction based on how it was and where it was and some perceptions we shall illustrate below. 3.1 The sustainable place-identity index of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi The complex map of the historical centre of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi, fig. 1, shows how the historical centre interacts powerfully with the rest of the town, in spite of there being no real continuity in the architectonic approach. The lay-out is concentric, with all the streets linking up and feeding into one another. The characteristic structure of a hilltop village was not seriously impaired during the reconstruction. Buildings rarely exceed two storeys, and have pitched roofs with virtually no decoration. The impression created by the historical centre is of a good level of maintenance, carried out recently and with a pleasant colour scheme, but there appear to be few residents. One detects few of the elements denoting globalisation, apart from the satellite dishes on some houses and the television mast. The urban décor is well thought out, particularly in Piazza De Sanctis, where the paving reflects the various itineraries in the use of different sizes of porphyry slabs and cubes, variously oriented, and also alternative materials. Some elements are immediately apparent: the silence pervading the various places, occasionally broken by voices, passing cars or work on building sites; the sound of the wind, particularly appreciable in the open areas; occasional passers by, invariably elderly people or a few youngsters, above all near the bars in Piazza De Sanctis; in spite of the play area near the castle, no children were encountered. The view over the surrounding countryside is a constant element of perception, evoking the difficult relationship with the forces of nature. The castle and the cathedral are two of the major historical monuments; the castle in particular can be seen from virtually everywhere in the town. There is little stimulus for perceptions of smell and taste. The only public transport is the extra-urban bus services. There are no venues for aggregation, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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and in fact there seems to be little life in the town; there are no shops in the historical centre, apart from one boutique dealing in hand-made crib scenes on the ramp of Piazza De Sanctis. The few people whom we interviewed did not seem to want to remember the earthquake. They declared that there are no particularly interesting monuments, that everything has gone back to being as it was before the catastrophe, and that they are happy with the state of the historical centre. Many monuments have undergone a change of function, including the town hall and the prison. Memories of the earthquake seem to have been deliberately dismissed: it is physically present only in the monument to the earthquake victims in Via Mancini, and in the ruins still standing near the statue of the Madonna in Piazza Umberto I.

Figure 1:

Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi complex map and legend.

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142 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 1:

Symbols used on the map with corresponding weighting and features.

Element

Weighting

Features State of conservation

Place of historical-cultural interest

5

Degree of contextualisation Quantitative presence State of conservation

Place with residential function

5

Degree of use Quantitative presence Degree of contextualisation

Place of traditional socialization

5

Degree of use Quantitative presence

Place of random socialization

State of conservation

3

Degree of contextualisation Quantitative presence

Place of multiple values

Value of single elements

5

Degree of use Quantitative presence

Place of memory

State of conservation

5

Degree of capacity to recall the event Quantitative presence Degree of contextualisation

Symbolic place 5

Degree of capacity to recall the event Degree of use Quantitative presence

Empty space

Degree of contextualisation

2

Value of single elements Quantitative presence

Space of limit

Degree of contextualisation

2

Value of single elements Quantitative presence

Permanent visual perception Permanent touch perception Transient smell perception Transient sound perception Slow pace Medium pace Trees and urban green area

3

Degree of perception

2

Degree of perception

1

Degree of perception

3

Degree of perception

2

Degree of perception

2

Degree of perception

Quantitative presence

Quantitative presence

Quantitative presence

Quantitative presence

Quantitative presence

Quantitative presence Degree of perception

4

State of maintenance Quantitative presence

Animals

2

Degree of perception Quantitative presence

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On the contrary it is much more incumbent than appears at first sight in the enormous, untreated gaps in the townscape in Piazza Umberto, Via Caracciolo and Corso V. Emanuele, where one senses that no choices have been made, leaving these places without any sense of identity. In general there are no specifically tourist venues, although there are postcards on sale in some shops, and some notices indicating an itinerary featuring the historical monuments; there are very few restaurants or venues for young people. The elements used in calculating the sustainable place-identity index all feature on the map, see table 1. The absolute index of the historical centre of Sant’Angelo comes out as 551, while the median index comes out as 9.8. On the basis of the elements taken into consideration, values of the absolute index between 174 and 406 indicate acceptable place-identity sustainability; from 406 to 638 reasonable sustainability, and from 632 to 870 maximal place-identity sustainability. As for the median index, the value for acceptable place-identity sustainability ranges from 3.1 to 7.2, reasonable sustainability from 7.2 to 11.3, and maximal sustainability from 11.3 to 15.5. Thus the identity of Sant’Angelo is found to rank as reasonable, both on the absolute index, in terms of the quantity of characterising elements, and on the median index, in terms of the quality of the elements assessed. The reconstruction of the historical centre took into account the identity of the places, and managed not to destroy it. Even now, however, the centre of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi has still not really come back to life, and in some spots the silence is so pervasive as to block out any other perception. Few services or activities are carried on in this centre, and there are few residents. The memory of the earthquake still haunts in this site, which appears to be frozen in time in spite of the reconstruction. What remains to be done in the way of reconstruction could take into account this index in planning the interventions, in order to enhance the cultural assets that do exist and ensure greater involvement of the population. 3.2 The sustainable place-identity index of Kitano - Cho The area of Kitano-Cho is situated on a hillside. It begins from the junction of Kitanozaka Avenue and Kitano Street, the area’s main trunk road, with side streets and paths leading up Mount Rokko, which delimits the study area. Few streets bear names, and although the houses are numbered, they are rarely specified. The quarter features several museum houses, all recently rebuilt. There are also various residential buildings, varying in typology and height but all made of reinforced concrete in a rational style devoid of decoration, and temples and shrines belonging to different religious cults. It is undoubtedly significant that the residential buildings and museum houses exist alongside the temples and shrines. The area is densely populated, with a youth hostel, and there is no sense of this being an empty or deserted quarter. The most interesting museum houses are situated in the eastern zone. There are also some contemporary buildings featuring high quality architecture along the mountainside and on Kitano Street. The buildings in the western zone are less interesting, and there are some overgrown plots. One sees few of the elements denoting globalisation, especially in comparison with the rest of the city: some WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

144 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability satellite dishes on houses, the typical Japanese drinks vending machines and the ungainly electricity pylons lining the whole route are perhaps the most striking features. The urban décor has no particular interest; the most distinctive features are the manhole covers bearing images of the city of Kobe, such as the tower, the harbour, and so on. Kitano Cho Plaza is the area’s nerve centre, much photographed by tourists: it is a round open space, with ramps for people to sit on, although most visitors just pause to take photographs. From here one can see the various places in Kitano-Cho: Rheinen House, sculptures featuring jazz musicians, and the cluster of skyscrapers in the other zone of the city. This curious area is much visited by Japanese tourists and also used for weddings. In fact there are several boutiques for wedding dresses and some isolated properties where weddings and receptions are organized. Remains of the earthquake are only to be seen in an area of vegetation beneath the House of Holland, where amongst the trees one can glimpse a devastated house. The itinerary runs downhill, and some stretches are so steep that they provide the most striking tactile perceptions. Almost all the streets running perpendicular to Kitano-Cho Street are made up and carry one-way traffic, breaking up the visual perception. The streets and paths further up are not sloping and are narrower with more vegetation. They are not made up, and ensure a more harmonious visual perception. At the highest point one’s attention is held by the mountain, and low down by skyscrapers in the modern zone of the city. The most notable acoustic perception concerns the silence. Passing tourists, the noise of the fountain and of jazz from Kitano-Cho Plaza, the cries of crows and passing cars are the only sounds which occasionally interrupt the silence. The most significant smell is green tea, used by the shopkeepers to make ice cream and butter, and featuring copiously in local cooking. Some kiosks early on in the itinerary contribute to this particular perception. The pace of life is invariably tranquil, except for Kitano Street where it is moderate and at times busy. Few of those approached took any interest in the interview, apart from the owners of the museum houses. Not a single monument in the area was considered to be particularly significant, apart from the museum houses. The reconstruction in fact gave special importance to these features as being a source of revenue from tourists. The memory of the earthquake is still alive, but there are no significant mementoes in the area. In the eastern zone there is a station of Scinkanzen, a metro station and a cablecar terminus. The elements used in calculating the sustainable placeidentity index all feature on the map, as shown in table 1. The absolute index of the historical centre of Kitano-Cho comes out as 1342, while the median index is 11.5. On the basis of the elements taken into consideration, values of the absolute index ranging from 396 to 924 indicate acceptable place-identity sustainability; from 924 to 1452 reasonable sustainability, and from 1452 to 1980 maximal place-identity sustainability. As for the median index, the value for acceptable place-identity sustainability ranges from 3.4 to 7.9, reasonable sustainability from 7.9 to 12.4, and maximal sustainability from 12.4 to 16.9. Thus the identity of Kitano-Cho, like that of Sant’Angelo, is found to rank as reasonable, both on the absolute index, in terms of the quantity of characterising elements, and on the median index, in terms of the quality of the elements WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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assessed. This is probably due to the contrast between the eastern area, with the majority of the museum houses, and the western area, where there are still some overgrown plots and buildings under construction. Although the destination is mixed, tourist and residential, the area appears to have been designed for tourism, and can have a rather “quaint” atmosphere. The post-earthquake reconstruction concentrated above all on restoring the museum houses as the main source of income for the local inhabitants. In completing the reconstruction this index could cause planners to consider how to integrate the cultural patrimony in the area and make other sites more attractive, not least for the benefit of the local residents. 3.3 Observations The sustainable place-identity index has been calculated for different contexts, with quite satisfactory results. Nonetheless the construction of complex indices for studying sustainability is still at an experimental stage. In particular, the index we have presented has only been verified in theory, albeit using case studies. It is one thing to compare index values for different places, and another thing to compare the different indices for a single place. As can easily be imagined, each place is characterised by particular features which distinguish it from other places. In order to be able to compare two different places, these features have to be assimilated in categories. This is a delicate operation requiring great care and attention if the specific quality of a place is not to be sacrificed. In the two case studies we have illustrated, we believe that the assimilation of features in more general categories has not compromised the end result. Another delicate issue concerns the weighting to be given to each feature. We found that this could in fact change according to the area under analysis: a certain perception, for example, cannot always carry the same weight for every place. In attributing the same weight to the same type of symbol regardless of place, one is in fact introducing an approximation. We also found, during other experiments, that the weighting can change according to the index being calculated, and hence it would probably be more correct to speak of relative weight. In any case we believe it is appropriate to calculate the index based on other data obtained using the PlaceMaker, and to try out the method for a sufficiently high number of cases to be able to establish a scale of values that will provide an object evaluation of the results. The first experiment in using the indices for sustainable planning showed that it is the tools for the evaluation of urban impact and territorial control at the urban level which are the most suitable.

4

Conclusions

We have presented the sustainable place-identity index and its use in supporting the study and planning of sustainable urban landscapes. This has involved looking at case studies of historical centres in two very different geographical locations and cultures, one in Italy and the other in Japan. They had in common WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

146 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability some territorial features and the fact of being destroyed by a violent earthquake, causing a large number of casualties and widespread damage to both buildings and the identity of the two places. The method of analysis used to identify the characteristic features in place identity was the PlaceMaker. The absolute index of the historical centre of Sant’Angelo came out as 551, and the median index 9.8. For the historical centre of Kitano-Cho, the corresponding values were 1342 and 11.5. Thus both cases were found to rank as reasonable, both on the absolute index, in terms of the quantity of characterising features, and on the median index, in terms of the quality of the features assessed. Furthermore there was a good match between the quantity and quality of the features indicating the place’s sustainability. What remains to be done in the way of reconstruction should take into account these indices in planning sustainable interventions enhancing the cultural assets that do exist and ensure greater involvement of the population, in the case of Sant’Angelo, and how to integrate the cultural patrimony in the area and make other sites more attractive, not least for the benefit of the local residents in the case of Kitano-Cho. If there had been scarce correlation between the two indices, this would have meant either many representative features with a low sustainability or few features able to determine a high level of sustainability. In such cases what remains to be done in the way of reconstruction should also seek to redress the balance between the qualitative and quantitative aspects of place identity sustainability. The observations on the method used in calculating the sustainable place-identity index concerned in particular the criteria for establishing the weighting and the correlation of places with different specific elements. The prime users of these indicators are likely to be urban planners, administrators, citizens, and all those involved in sustainable urban construction. In this respect we feel that the tools for the evaluation of urban impact and territorial control at the urban level which are the most suitable for using the indices in planning sustainable urban landscapes.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

Nijkamp, P., Perrels, A.H., Sustainable Cities in Europe, Earthscan: London, 1994. Cecchini, A. Fulici, F. La valutazione di impatto urbano. Una proposta metodologica, FrancoAngeli: Milano, 1994. European Conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns, Aalborg Charter, Denmark, 27 May 1994. Sepe, M. The PlaceMaker: a flexible and interactive tool to support the sustainable city construction and transformation, Proc. of Sustainable Planning 2005, WIT Press: Southampton, 2005 (Pagg.1525-1534).

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Green-switch: reducing the conflict between the industrial and the residential interface A. Sharma School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract The dilemma of the co-existence of humans and industry has been a constant topic of debate among the realms of landscape planning, many times without being clearly articulated as such. This paper examines the conflict through the study of the industrial–residential domain. Natural resources such as water and land are primary reasons of conflict. This paper explores the potential of landscape design to address this conflict. The proposed landscape design strategy green-switch combines the landscape planning concept of “greenways” and the applied ecological engineering concept of “constructed wetland” to address the conflict. Keywords: greenways, urban planning, industrial landscapes, industrial– residential conflict, land and water resource conservation.

1

Introduction

The structure of the industrial domain has evolved over the years from a conglomeration of heavy manufacturing industrial estates to light manufacturing industrial parks and most recently to eco-industrial parks - the conglomeration of cleaner production industries engaging in matter and energy exchanges. The industrial domains comprising cleaner industries are increasingly being located within cities, inadvertently becoming a part of the larger geographical and ecological context. This has resulted in conflicting consumption of land and water resources. The planning authorities responsible for planning of these mixed-use zones try to be judicious in allocation of land and water resources to these zones. Mostly, people come to terms with sharing of resources with an industrial domain in view of the perks offered by industries such as employment, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060141

148 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability products for consumption, and also the improved infrastructure in some cases. The loss of ecological values due to rapid replacement of the biophysical environment is overshadowed by other benefits such as jobs and manufactured goods. The industrial and residential domains exist in various precincts of a city. With this understanding the city can be perceived to exist at a regional scale and the precincts at a local scale. Most of the current ecological landscape design strategies, for example Greenways, are mostly applicable at a regional scale. But if a landscape strategy is to be incorporated within the industrial–residential precinct, it needs to be applicable at a local scale while fitting in the given land footprint and surviving some degree of pollution. The landscape strategy of green-switch satisfies these requirements while simultaneously providing grounds for regaining some of the ecological values lost to densely built, industrial–residential precincts. Green-switch is further discussed in terms of its theoretical development, structure and design, and the influence on the surrounding ecosystem.

2

Green-switch

A switch is a device for opening and closing electrical circuits under normal load conditions. The concept of “switch” is adapted and represented as a “workgate or interconnection” in Odum’s [1] energy circuits. Here, the “workgate” depicts work necessary to continue the energy flow through the system. It works as an interconnection of different paths of energy flows and controls the amount of energy flowing through. Inspired by Odum’s adaptation of physics to ecology, Wilson and Agnew [2] introduced the concept of the “switch” in vegetation management – as a positive feedback process between species composition and the environment. A vegetation community operates as a vegetation-switch when it modifies the environment to its advantage through a range of abiotic factors such as water supply, pH, light, fire and wind and biotic factors such as the microbial and grazing population. The proposed landscape strategy of green-switch also adapts the commonly understood notion of “switch” in landscape planning as “switching the flows ‘on’ or ‘off’ among landscapes of different types”. The green-switch is designed for collecting, diverting or re-distributing the paths of ecological flows; the objective is to facilitate the path of ecological flows by providing alternative flow-paths. It is essentially composed of a single or multiple constructed wetlands. Linear landscapes link multiple constructed wetlands or even the cells within a single constructed wetland when it is designed as such. Thus green-switch is designed to accommodate temporary fluctuations in water storage and treatment capacity, control segregation and integration of pollution treating landscapes with other preserved natural ecosystem and modified landscapes in a contextual ecosystem, and regulate spatial interconnections between industrial and residential domains to facilitate biodiversity flows. Figure 1 presents a conceptual diagram of greenswitch. The figure shows the conceptual inclusion of the green-switch within the industrial premises and at the interface of industrial–residential precincts as the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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component of a larger urbanized context. The possibility of activating the greenswitch at the interface of a urbanized context and a natural ecosystem is also indicated, although not explored through this paper. Conceptual diagram of green-switch Natural Ecosystem Urbanized context

: Proposed green-switch Potential green-switch

Ind.

Figure 1: 2.1

Proposed strategy of green-switch: conceptual diagram.

Components of green-switch

The surface-flow constructed wetland forms a basic module for planning greenswitch since it resembles a naturalistic landscape with an additional ability to treat wastewater. Other measures such as vegetated swales and detention basins could be embedded as the support structure to the constructed wetland. The constructed wetland forms the nodal structure of green-switch and regulates or directs the wastewater flow towards a secondary treatment basin or back to the industrial, human, and biophysical community. Linear landscapes provide the connections between the constructed wetlands lying within the green-switch or among the group of green-switches. The shape, size and structure of these linear landscapes are determined by a range of objectives. For example, linear landscapes known as ‘Greenways’ that are developed as biodiversity connectors are guided by the commuting habits and preferred habitat size of that biodiversity. Recent research investigating the potential of linear landscapes of greenway to function as a biodiversity connection has found that narrowing the greenway trail and landscaped surfaces adjacent to the trail, maintenance of a shrub layer and groundcover within the greenway, combined with the protection of greenways contiguous to the landscape with thick canopy cover, increases the diversity and abundance of development-sensitive bird species [3]. The research found that the 50-100 meter wide forested corridors can provide habitat for a variety of bird species, while some species of conservation concern may require corridors wider than 300 meters.

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Making space for incorporating green-switch

Three rules of making space in the spatially constrained context of a industrial– residential precinct are presented here. These rules are based upon principles and practices of conventional landscape planning and the tenet that land resource is available in a limited quantity at local habitable scales and thus should be judiciously used. The first rule is the “share-ability of land”. Land that is open or occupied by the shareable infrastructure such as water supply and drainage-ways is identified as a share-able landscape. The underlying theory of this rule is that the functional value of land, if shared among different zones, will save on the consumption of land, function as a means to spatially integrate different planning zones, and act as a control mechanism for the growth or expansion of each zone. The second rule of “free-ability” draws from the concept of an ecological footprint. The rule implies that the land footprint should be reduced by freeing up the land occupied by the secondary needs of the precinct. The third rule of borrow-ability is about the component taking advantage of its context. The industries can gain from the visual and ecological and recreational benefits of existing gardens and parks lying in its surrounding residential context through strategic site selection, location and development. These rules suggest a way towards judicious consumption of existing resources.

4

General siting and design considerations for planning green-switch

The criteria for locating a green-switch are based on the guidelines for planning constructed wetland and greenways [4]. Generally speaking, the green-switch should be located near the common wastewater collection pond, on higher topographical grounds, outside the flow path of water flowing among preserved natural ecosystems and modified ecosystem, and to exert beneficial impact over the water quality, land uses and biodiversity of the surrounding ecosystem. Siting decisions are also influenced by the function attributed to the green-switch such as collection, diversion or re-distribution of water, however one of the components of a constructed wetland of green-switch or one of the green-switch itself is located next to all the common wastewater collection ponds of the industrial–residential precincts to facilitate wastewater treatment. Other factors influencing the siting of green-switch include land conditions, soil chemistry, hydrology/geomorphology, vegetation, presence of endangered species or critical habitat, wildlife, the surrounding landscape, land use/zoning considerations, and potential impacts on safety and health. The design of the green-switch is determined by the physical characteristics of the constructed wetland and linear landscapes, and by its intended functions such as collection, diversion or distribution. Constructed wetland guidelines advocate avoidance of rectangular basins, rigid structures and straight channels, use of sinuous edges in design configuration, grading the site to use the landform and gravity to the advantage of the project, and designing the margins of the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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constructed treatment wetland system as natural transition zones, including woody vegetated buffer areas around the site.

5

Discussion

Green-switch acts as an area for treating or holding the water and its component metals and minerals to be recycled besides facilitating the spatial connection among industrial and residential contexts, thus forming a land loop. Use of selected constructed wetland as spatial workgates controls the undesired mixing of secondary treated water in industrial premises with the tertiary treated recreational water in the surrounding residential context. It acts as a naturalistic valve for directing and distributing the water flows among the industrial– residential precinct. The green-switch thus provides an avenue for conservation of land and water resources.

6

Conclusion

Industrial and residential domains have co-existed together for reasons of mutual gains. The residential context provides the industries with raw materials and labor and gains in terms of directly or indirectly usable consumer products and employment. However, the competition for land and water resources persists as an underlying reason of conflict among the two. This is a matter of grave concern as the natural resources are rapidly depleted and the impacts are realized more pronouncedly at the local level. The ecological landscape planning approach offers some indirect answers only, probably because the intensely built urban contexts are not the primary focus of those approaches. The role of greenswitch thus becomes more significant. The potential to treat wastewater and facilitation of biodiversity connections augment the ecological values regained due to increased green-cover in the industrial–residential precincts. The landscape design strategy of green-switch needs to be further explored through multidisciplinary approaches to estimate its true potential.

References [1] Odum, E. P., Fundamentals of Ecology, W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, London, Toronto, 1971. [2] Wilson, J.B. and Agnew, Positive-feedback switches in plant communities, Advanced Ecological Research, 33: 263-336, 16:1-11, 1992. [3] Hess, G.R. and Moorman, C.E., “Greenways for Wildlife”, <www4.ncsu.edu/~grhess/GreenwaysForWildlife>, Retreived in June 2005. [4] SEPA, Manual: Constructed Wetlands Treatment of Municipal Wastewaters, Office of Research and Development, EPA/625/R-99/010, 1999.

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Section 4 Planning, development and management

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KiwiGrowTM: a community and environmental health framework for sustainable development P. G. Luckman Creative Decisions Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract An easily understood community and environmental health framework was devised to provide the basis for a comprehensive assessment of the water and sanitary services for Waitakere City Council, Auckland, New Zealand. The framework, now known as KiwiGrowTM consists of a matrix obtained by considering seven key qualities of healthy ecosystems separately in social, economic, environmental and cultural contexts. A healthy ecosystem is supposed to be nurturing, supportive, stable, contributing, responsive, directed, and adaptive. Each of these terms takes on consistent but slightly different meanings within each of the four major contexts, providing an easily communicated and holistic framework for sustainable development. If adopted as a “mantra” within the community, it could have far reaching applications to the management of entities ranging from pocket wetlands and neighbourhoods to entire regions. KiwiGrowTM can also underpin a new generation of easily understood, high impact “quadruple bottom line” sustainability reporting. Keywords: ecosystem health, sustainable development, quadruple bottom line reporting.

1

Introduction

In 2002, New Zealand enacted new local government legislation that was based on principles of sustainable development (Local Government Act, 2002). In the Act, the purpose of local government was firstly to enable democratic local decision-making, but was also to promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of current and future communities. To underpin the focus on sustainable development, the Act included provisions to improve strategic planning. Local authorities were required to identify and report regularly on the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060151

156 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability achievement of desired community outcomes, and prepare, on a three yearly basis, Long Term Council Community Plans covering at least a ten year period, and from which annual plans would be derived. In addition, Councils were required to prepare an Assessment of Water and Sanitary Services, taking a long term view of demand and the effects of alternatives. By July 2005, Councils were required to have prepared the first of these Assessments of Water and Sanitary Services. Waitakere City Council, already committed to being an “Eco-City”, saw the Assessments as an opportunity to bring a fresh, integrated perspective on these services, and a context within which to further explore ideas about quadruple bottom line (QBL) sustainability reporting. No system had yet been devised that would provide the framework for a QBL assessment of water and sanitary services. In the absence of such a framework, and taking account of the Council’s desire for the Assessment to be easily understood and presented to the community via multimedia, an interim framework was developed. This framework, now known as KiwiGrowTM, shows promise as a general framework for sustainable development. This paper describes the framework and its origins, examines it more closely in light of the literature, and reaffirms that potential for more general use is very real.

2

Development of the assessment framework

2.1 Needs As an organisation committed to sustainable development, Waitakere City Council has an urgent need to develop operational QBL systems that can give effect to legislative requirements for advancing social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being. While it is possible to structure an evaluation system around a council’s strategic framework, there is a compelling need for integrated planning for development within the Auckland region and elsewhere. The Water and Sanitary Services Assessment (WASSA) project provided a platform for determining whether an assessment framework could be devised that looked beyond local strategies and outcome areas, and presented the assessment in terms that could be used elsewhere in the region. 2.2 Foundations The concept of ecosystem health has been promoted as a basis for a diagnostic and problem-solving approach to achieving sustainable development, in terms of maintaining and restoring the health of critical natural ecosystems [3]. However no consensus has emerged on a detailed framework that can be widely applied in sustainability assessments, especially for urban systems. Despite this, environmental and health professionals have increasingly seen community health and environmental health as most effectively approached synergistically [1, 16]. However, while the concept of ecosystem health had been adopted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, an agreed definition was not evident as WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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recently as 1999, when Costanza and Mageau [5] proposed that a healthy ecosystem is one that “is sustainable – that is, it has the ability to maintain its structure (organisation) and function (vigour) over time in the face of external stress (resilience).” Urban areas can be viewed as ecosystems either literally or metaphorically [17]. However, while urban ecosystem research is still in its infancy, there is a significant literature on the health of agroecosystems. Based on this, Okey [15] suggested there were seven system properties that lent themselves to a health interpretation: • Stability - the capacity to maintain some form of equilibrium in the presence of perturbations; constancy of production under a given set of environmental, economic and management conditions; • Resilience - the ability to maintain or re-establish structure and behaviour when disturbed; maintaining productivity under stress or disturbance; • Sustainability - long term stability; maintaining production over long term frames despite major ecological and socio-economic perturbations and stresses; • Self-organisation - the ecosystem’s ability to maintain itself through mutually reinforcing interactions or cybernetic feedbacks; related to autonomy and self-sufficiency; • Diversity/complexity - the number of species; biotic “richness” or structural and functional variability of an ecosystem; • Efficiency (or productivity) - the output per unit of input; related to the conversion of food resources to biomass; • Equitability (or equity) - a socio-economic property representing the evenness of both product distribution and access to agricultural inputs within an agroecosystem.

3

A health vocabulary for human-dominated systems

3.1 Development Okey’s work [15] provided the starting point for developing a vocabulary for describing health of human-dominated, urban ecosystems. However, in order to move forward, it was necessary to clarify the particular requirements of a model for urban ecosystem health. Complex systems can be conceptualised as entirely different systems in terms of their components, organisation, purpose and performance measures [2]. Thus an urban ecosystem can be viewed variously as a social system, an economic system, a cultural system, or an environmental/ecological system. Each of these four systems represents a living, changing, evolving system, and consequently ecosystem health concepts should be relevant to each in turn. If a vocabulary can be found that applies equally well to these four systems, then it is likely to endure as a robust basis for assessment. The vocabulary also needs to be concise and easily understood, and to lend itself to presenting issues in terms of risk. It WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

158 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability also needs to focus on symptoms of healthy behaviour, rather than fundamental determinants or predictors, which can subsequently be the focus of ongoing research. Thus we started by evaluating Okey’s [15] vocabulary against these criteria. Okey had suggested five of the seven properties listed were useful in defining ecosystem health: stability, resilience, diversity/complexity, efficiency, and equitability. These were examined in turn. Each system clearly needed to be stable, and instability in any one of the four areas would increase tendencies toward instability in the others. The link between social and economic stability is one of the main lessons from history, and cultural stability also depends on stability in the physical and social environments [6]. Resilience was clearly an important property. However, Moran [13] has suggested, from an ecological anthropology perspective, that human adaptability provides the key to understanding long term interactions of social and natural systems. Whether response to external change is viewed in terms of stability, resilience, or adaptation would depend on the degree of change that may occur within the system while maintaining its essential nature, and on the expected lifespan of the ecosystem [4]. For KiwiGrowTM, with its focus on long term issues, we preferred the requirement that healthy urban ecosystems be “adaptive”. While there was evidence of their role in determining health, Okey’s diversity and complexity properties were not considered sufficiently symptomatic of healthy behaviour. They also did not lend themselves easily to connotations of risk. Okey’s concern was actually for connections and structures that would be indicated by properties such as diversity. For KiwiGrowTM the term “supportive” was preferred: a supportive community would support and benefit from diversity. Okey’s equitability property became redundant as a supportive community should also be an equitable one. The efficiency property was also insufficiently symptomatic of urban ecosystem health, carried only weak risk connotations, and could not be applied equally well across the four systems. We considered that the way a community or ecosystem interacted with its environment through products and services was more fundamental: an ecosystem depends for its sustainability on the role or function that it plays within the hierarchy of ecosystems that make up the landscape mosaic. A key aspect of ecosystem health was that the ecosystem should be “contributing” positively. Thus, consideration of Okey’s five definitive properties of healthy agroecosystems produced four qualities – stable, supportive, contributing, and adaptive – describing urban ecosystem health. These by themselves are insufficient, however, and Okey’s two other properties, self-organisation and sustainability, were therefore re-examined. Okey’s sustainability property was adequately captured in our “stable” quality, while the self-organisation property provided the key to the next quality, which linked to ideas about the ability to be self-sustaining. For humandominated systems, this property relates to qualities such as community spirit, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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inner resources, and leadership: healthy urban ecosystems should be “directed” in some way, just as natural systems show organisation and direction in their development. Directedness not only captures the sense of being energetic, purposeful, confident, inspired, and organised, but also the extent to which there is coordinated, integrated action, and leadership matched by followings that achieve action. As urban ecosystems are themselves composed of multiple nested component ecosystems, health is obviously improved by some alignment of these directions. A fundamental characteristic of living organisms is their ability to respond to changes in their environment. Similarly, urban ecosystems, as collections of people and other living organisms, should be “responsive” to threats and challenges. A responsive system is reactive and resourceful, and opportunities and threats are met with timely and substantial responses from a system that has a sound capital base. Ideas regarding social, natural capital and cultural capital [8, 9, 19] are entirely consistent with this interpretation. Finally, healthy urban ecosystems must consistently meet first-tier requirements for safety and regeneration, and care of the young and vulnerable. They therefore needed to be “nurturing”, a term equally relevant in economic, social, cultural and environmental contexts. 3.2 KiwiGrowTM quadruple bottom line assessment model Table 1 summarises the seven KiwiGrowTM qualities of healthy urban ecosystems, and the underlying themes that provide the basis for their application in social, economic, environmental and cultural contexts. Having settled on the seven qualities of Table 1, we devised working definitions for each within the four contexts, for use in the WASSA project (Table 2). Different definitions, but equally based on the seven qualities, may be required for different applications. Wider application of the framework would provide a body of experience from which guidelines could be established for catchments, neighbourhoods, small settlements, businesses, schools, and other systems. Concepts presented in Table 2 suggest a vast array of measures would be required to fully assess and communicate urban ecosystem health. However, the framework can also be used qualitatively, to structure dialogue, and identify issues and collections of goals that together can make up a compelling vision. Research is needed to explore interactions and identify the system properties that fundamentally determine the QBL matrix scores, and can become the focus for management. These more fundamental qualities are likely to reflect more closely the vocabulary that is emerging from ongoing scientific research into ecosystem health, and include such concepts as biodiversity and resource use efficiency. As part of the WASSA project, we assessed how current water and sanitary services impacted on each of the 28 performance areas in the KiwiGrowTM framework, and identified 28 sets of issues. We then created contrasting year 2050 visions centred on each of these issues. In parallel, an overarching management action plan was developed by Council staff to address key issues. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

160 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 1:

The seven system qualities of KiwiGrowTM, and one graphic reporting format (where shading indicates the score, or level of risk).

System quality

Underlying themes

Nurturing

Regenerating, safe, caring

Supportive

Respectful of roles of components, non-inhibiting, fulfilling, maximising potential, equitable

Stable Contributing Responsive

Strong, not fragile, continuing, protective, respectful / honouring of traditions, not capricious Providing goods and services, not wasteful or draining, or a source of harmful constituents or activities Reactive and resourceful, having a strong capital base

Directed

Energetic, inspired, motivated, self-sustaining, confident, purposeful, self-organising

Adaptive

Resilient to change, accommodates change, innovative

Social

Economic

Environmental

Cultural

Nurturing Supportive Stable Contributing Responsive Directed Adaptive Overall

4

General applicability of KiwiGrowTM

4.1 Robustness of the ecosystem health concept The validity of the ecosystem health concept has been discussed by Okey [15] and Lackey [10]. One concern has been that it is inappropriate to compare an ecosystem to an organism, for which the idea of health is valid. Some have argued that even if it is valid for an ecosystem as a concept, the lack of scientific data limits its use in practice.

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Table 2:

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Customised KiwiGrowTM health definitions used for Waitakere City’s Assessment of Water and Sanitary Services, 2005.

Nurturing Social:

Safe communities, caring attitudes towards people and especially children. Providing essential needs for families.

Economic:

The economic environment supports new business establishment and relocation through availability of workforce, land, financial and other resources and support services.

Environment:

The environment provides for natural regeneration, and spawning and other breeding grounds are protected or being restored. Exotic predators are controlled.

Cultural:

The community supports cultural regeneration and rejuvenation.

Supportive Social:

Communities are respectful rights of citizens, including minorities. They provide equal opportunities for advancement and individual fulfillment and value fairness.

Economic:

Businesses are supported through appropriate networks and services, possibly via “ecosystems” of businesses related via inputs and outputs. Tax and rating environment is favourable.

Environmental: The environment is biologically diverse, and the number of threatened species is minimised. A wide variety of habitats support diversity at the micro and macro levels. Pests and weeds are minimised. Cultural:

The community respects and supports cultural diversity. Individuals are able to live fulfilling lives without abandoning cultural heritage.

Contributing Social:

People within the community are contributing positively to society through paid and unpaid activities. Unemployment and waste of human resources is low. Negative contributions including crime are minimised.

Economic:

Businesses contribute positively to the economy and community welfare in the broadest sense. Businesses are resource efficient, and produce minimal pollution and waste that is not recycled.

Environmental: The environment provides a variety of “ecosystem services” such as clean water, water storage, and amenity, which benefit communities directly or indirectly. Emissions of pollution and harmful biological materials such as weeds and pests are minimised. Cultural:

Cultural diversity provides benefits to the community. Cultural groups contribute positively to society.

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162 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 2: Continued. Responsive Social:

The community and individuals within it respond to challenges such as crises, and areas of need. The skill base is high and people have the tools and technologies to be effective.

Economic:

Businesses have resources to respond to increases in demand, or to downturns.

Environmental:

The environment responds positively to demands placed on it. Ecosystems are inhospitable to exotic biosecurity threats. Systems recover diversity after disturbances such as floods or erosion.

Cultural:

Cultural groups respond to challenges and opportunities and have key skills and other human capital that enable them to flourish.

Stable Social:

The community is strong, has a sense of its own past, and respects traditions. Leaders ensure it is not vulnerable to rapid change to its disadvantage.

Economic:

The local economy is strong and not vulnerable to major cyclicity. Many businesses are well established and provide community economic leadership.

Environmental:

Ecosystems and populations are stable, and not being irreversibly degraded. The abiotic environment is maintained within healthy limits.

Cultural:

Cultures are strong and not dying out. People maintain and respect their traditions and heritage.

Adaptive Social:

The community acknowledges need for change, learns from experience, and has robust learning institutions that serve its needs.

Economic:

The economy responds to change in economic fortune without major layoffs. Entrepreneurs maximise benefit from new opportunities.

Environmental:

Biological systems reach new stable equilibria following change in environmental circumstances, while maintaining nutrient and other cyclic processes.

Cultural:

Cultures adapt to or accommodate social, economic and environmental change. All cultures have access to research and learning systems

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Table 2: Continued. Directed Social:

The community has a sense of its own future, and major projects are well coordinated to achieve shared goals. Leaders have vision.

Economic:

The economy is sustainable, and not founded on a resource base or market that is short-lived. Businesses and leaders have a sense of direction and progress.

Environmental:

Biological systems are generally self sustaining and require minimal inputs from outside the community. Human inputs are local.

Cultural:

Cultural groups have a sense of vision and purpose. Leaders are strong and visionary.

Lackey recognised ecosystem health was a dynamic and normative concept, and that, to be useful, public involvement was essential in its definition. Okey found that proponents of the ecosystem health concept argued that the health metaphor was simply a model that did not require that ecosystems behaved as organisms, health itself was not a static concept, and the ecosystem health approach was a pragmatic approach justified by the limited mechanistic understandings. Lackey [10] considered the ecosystem health concept did not help policymakers with the critical task of identifying tradeoffs. However KiwiGrowTM provides a rich array of 28 management areas which must be prioritised in any practical application. 4.2 KiwiGrowTM as an operational framework for sustainable development Operationalising sustainable development requires measurement [20]. The OECD [19] considered that indicators should illustrate linkages to policy questions and the related tradeoffs, the long term implications of policy, and provide a means of measuring progress via baselines and trends. Measures should be simple and easily-understood without compromising the underlying inherent complexity. While resource and environmental accounting frameworks provided information on interactions and a basis for evaluating efficiency, they could be complex and impenetrable. They were also limited to the economic and environmental dimensions, whereas it was essential that social dimensions of sustainable development were also accommodated within the framework. OECD guidelines [14] further state that decisions should be based on both locallyaccepted and global values, and reflect risk and uncertainty. Sustainability measures should essentially address five questions: (1) how well is the ecosystem in question, (2) how are the people affecting the ecosystem, (3) how well are the people (including current and future generations), (4) is their wellbeing fairly shared, and (5) how are these questions connected. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

164 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Frameworks for measuring progress towards sustainable development need to reflect means (processes) as well as ends (outcomes). Mog [12] suggested measurement should capture process factors such as the nature of participation, capacity-building efforts, creative thinking, and processes to accommodate diversity and change. Lee [11] likened the level of integration and focus to achieve sustainable development to that required for a major war effort. KiwiGrowTM appears to address all of these concerns. It is simple, yet asks searching questions about the health of our economic, social, environmental and cultural systems. It is values-based, and entirely consistent with concerns of international agencies such as the OECD who could extract information for their international comparisons. It addresses processes as well as outcomes, and can reflect priorities and preferences of society, while being guided by fundamental concepts of ecosystem health. It also readily lends itself to risk-based approaches, as deficient performance in any of the 28 performance areas carries risk. 4.3 Completeness A number of concepts exist that tend to appear in debates about sustainable development, but are not explicit within the KiwiGrowTM vocabulary. Among the concepts of health listed by Costanza et al. [3] was the concept of balance between ecosystem components. In KiwiGrowTM balance is arguably an aspect of the ‘supportive’ quality: a system in balance will support coexisting components in ways that are mutually beneficial or beneficial to the system as a whole. The framework also captures the notion of tradeoff, as managers are required to achieve some sort of balance among the 28 performance areas. Graham and Wiener [7] discussed this in terms of tradeoff between risks: managers should, in adopting a “whole patient” culture, aim to reduce overall risk, through managing a risk portfolio. KiwiGrowTM provides a coherent framework for a comprehensive risk portfolio. Vigour is a longstanding ecosystem health concept. Costanza and Mageau [5] saw this as indicated by primary productivity. In KiwiGrowTM vigour is captured primarily through the “contributing” quality, but also through the “responsive”, and “directed” qualities. Within KiwiGrowTM, growth is viewed as development and improvement rather than augmentation. Augmentive growth is a measure of performance to the extent that it affects the degree that the system is supportive, nurturing, responsive, contributing, etc. Ecological limits may be communicated through the “supportive”, “nurturing” and “responsive” qualities, with the latter being capable of capturing perceived threats to ecosystem viability as well as the associated response. Measures related to participation and other aspects of the democratic process would necessarily be captured under the “sociallysupportive” quality. Frameworks can fail totally if they are not well-aligned culturally. Compatibility of KiwiGrowTM with contrasting world views and cultures is indicated at two levels. The first is that the nature of the framework suggests that cultures can coexist to their mutual benefit, so long as they adapt and evolve. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Some cultures may be more widely represented and require other cultures to adapt. However a community is expected to be culturally nurturing and supportive and to retain or acquire diversity. At a more fundamental level, cultural acceptability of the KiwiGrowTM framework is assisted by its biological basis, as well as by the appeal to pragmatism and the inevitable need for real world tradeoffs. 4.4 Underpinning an ecosystem approach The ecosystem approach to integrated planning and development [18, 21] is one approach that could conceivably deliver sustainable development in New Zealand. Following [21], an ecosystem approach would have the following elements: • Defining the boundaries of the area of concern, clarifying the agendas of the principal participants, and high level issues to be addressed • Gathering information on the historical ecosystem and the present economic, environmental, and social conditions and trends, and building understanding • Identifying stakeholders and associated perspectives on the situation, including their conflicting aims • Identifying issues, assembling information on possible solutions, and creating alternative visions for the future, from the perspective of various stakeholder groups, firstly qualitatively with stakeholders, then increasingly quantitatively drawing on resources available for research and modelling, with clarity on tradeoffs • Debating the alternative futures, and producing a common vision, and designing an implementation plan including provision for collaborative learning • Implementing the plan, including resolving priorities and responsibilities, and establishing institutional arrangements and policies • Monitoring and evaluating implementation and associated outcomes, including selecting indicators and resolving responsibilities for measurement, information management, interpretation and subsequent action and adaptive responses. Implementing the ecosystem approach faithfully will always be difficult where there are multiple political jurisdictions, short time frames dictated by electoral and planning cycles, and other economic and infrastructure imperatives. Particularly when large areas and populations are involved, the complexity of the interacting issues is usually so great that single issue, unsustainable responses are always liable to emerge. Establishing a sustainability value-base within the community would ease planning processes, but this has always been hindered by difficulties in explaining what sustainability actually means. However KiwiGrowTM is simple enough to be championed politically within the community as a “common sustainability language”. This can then underpin debates about outcomes, processes, and tradeoffs, help to transcend debilitating

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166 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability expertise and policy “silos”, promote values convergence, and support selfsustaining sustainability initiatives throughout the community.

5

Conclusion

KiwiGrowTM is a community and environmental health assessment framework initially developed to assist with and communicate Waitakere City Council’s 2005 Assessment of Water and Sanitary Services. It seems clear that it has significant potential as a general operational framework for sustainable development. It can form the basis of an array of tools to assist education, monitoring and reporting, issue identification, visioning, and decision-making, including identifying and making tradeoffs. Promoting KiwiGrowTM and a “common sustainability language” within any community that genuinely aspires to sustainable development has the potential to precipitate a wave of collaborative innovation centred simultaneously on systems such as pocket wetlands, ecological restoration projects, neighbourhoods and small settlements, catchments, cities, regions, households, businesses, public agencies, schools, and governments.

Acknowledgements and disclaimer The author wishes to acknowledge Waitakere City Council’s support for innovative solutions, and the encouragement from Tony Miguel, Richard Taylor, and Mark Essex. KiwiGrowTM is the trademark of Creative Decisions Ltd. None of the work described is the policy of Waitakere City Council.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

[7]

Burke, T.A., Litt, J.S., & Fox, M.A. Linking public health and the health of Chesapeake Bay. Environmental Research Section A (82) 143-149, 2000. Checkland, P. Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 330 pp, 1981. Costanza, R., Norton, B.G., & Haskell, B.D. Ecosystem Health – New Goals for Environmental Management. Island Press, Washington D.C. 269 pp, 1992. Costanza, R., & Patten, B.C. Defining and predicting sustainability. Ecological Economics (15) 193-196, 1995. Costanza, R. & Mageau, M. What is a healthy ecosystem? Aquatic Ecology (33) 105-115, 1999. Elmer, D.M., Christensen, H.H. & Donoghue, E.M. Understanding the links between ecosystem health and social system well-being: An annotated bibliography. USDA. Forest Service, General Technical Report PNW-GTR 559. 47 pp, 2002. Graham, J.D. & Wiener, J.B. Risk versus Risk. Tradeoffs in protecting health and the environment. Harvard University Press, 1995. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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[8] [9]

[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]

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Hawken, P., Lovins, A. & Lovins, L.H. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. Rocky Mountain Institute. 1999. Holling, C.S., Berkes, F. & Folke, C. Science, sustainability and resource management. In F. Berkes, and C. Folke. (eds.) Linking social and ecological systems – management practices and social mechanisms for building resilience. Cambridge University Press, 342-362, 1998. Lackey, R.T. Values, policy, and ecosystem health. BioScience 51 (6) 437-443, 2001. Lee, K. Compass and Gyroscope: Integrating Science and Politics for the Environment. Island Press, Washington D.C., 243 pp, 1993. Mog, J.M. Struggling with sustainability – a comparative framework for evaluating sustainable development programs. World Development 32 (12) 2139-2160, 2004. Moran, E.F. Human adaptability, an introduction to ecological anthropology. Second edition, Westview Press, Boulder, CO. 446 pp. 2000. OECD. Sustainable development strategies. A resource book. OECD, Paris and United Nations Development Programme, New York. 2002. Okey, B.W. Systems approaches and properties, and agroecosystem health. Jl Environmental Management (48) 187-199, 1996. Parkes, M., Panelli, R. & Weinstein, P. Converging paradigms for environmental health theory and practice. Environmental Health Perspectives 111 (5) 669-675, 2003. Pickett, S.T.A., &. Cadenasso, M.L. The ecosystem as a multidimensional concept: meaning, model, and metaphor. Ecosystems 5 (1) 1-10, 2002. Slocombe, D.S. Environmental planning, ecosystem science, and ecosystem approaches for integrating environment and development. Environmental Management 17 (3) 289-303. 1993. Stevens, C. Measuring sustainable development. OECD Statistics Brief No. 10. September 2005. 8 pp, 2005. UNCED. Agenda 21 & the UNCED Proceedings. N.A. Robinson, editor. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. New York: Oceana Publications. 1992. Waltner-Toews, D. & Kay, J. 2005. The evolution of an ecosystem approach: the diamond schematic and an adaptive methodology for ecosystem sustainability and health. Ecology and Society 10 (1) 38 Online. www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol10/iss1/art38/.

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On the way to Gigapolises: can global urban development become sustainable? M. Keiner & W. A. Schmid Institute for Landscape and Spatial Development, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract Urban growth in developing countries is a challenge to the management capabilities of national and local authorities. Problems of steering the urban development occur not only in ‘mega-cities’ but also in smaller but rapidly growing cities. Will the big cities continue to grow, will they become ungovernable gigapolises? Sustainable urban development is a must and early action is needed. In research, the issue of hyper-growing sub-mega cities in the developing world has not yet been analyzed sufficiently. Those cities can be characterized by rapid population growth, an economy dependent on the informal sector, widespread poverty, widespread informal housing, basic environment and public health problems, and governance problems. These problems are similar to those of the mega-cities; yet offer the opportunity for earlier intervention. Meeting the needs for the city’s inhabitants of today and to improve the quality-of-life of future generations is of major concern. The prerequisites for sustainable urban development are ‘good governance’, i.e. the democratization of planning decisions by enhancing participation of individuals, households, communities, voluntary associations and NGOs; decentralization; networking of cities with similar challenges regarding sustainability; the elaboration of sustainability oriented strategies and visions; harmonizing planning instruments and regulations; using indicator based monitoring to control and to enforce sustainability related planning measures Keywords: urbanization, mega-cities, gigapolis, sustainability, good governance.

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1

Introduction: urbanization without limits?

The world of today is urban and will tomorrow be even more urban. Until 2030, the UN Population Division expects that in Africa, the share of population living in cities will rise from 37% in 2000 to an estimated 53% in 2030, and in Asia, the same figures will mount from 48% to 54% during the same period of time. Thus in 2030, 3.8 billion people will live in urban areas in developing countries, compared to 1.4 billion in 1990 [1]. This means that 80% of global growth of the urban population will take place in the poorer countries, and from 2000 to 2030, the urban population in developing countries will grow by 60 million people a year, effectively doubling in the period from 2000 to 2030. The reason for this ‘Big Bang’ is a population explosion linked to tremendous rural-urban migration processes and the striving of people for an improved quality of life in a globalizing world [2]. In general, in the world’s poorer countries, socio-cultural innovations, economic growth, diversification of income opportunities, and new patterns of self-determination of the individual are limited to the big cities. These attract more and more people and, by causing a drain of brain and labour force from the countryside, enlarge the urban-rural gap [3, 4]. Global urbanization has resulted in so-called ‘mega-cities’, which are cities with 8 or 10 million or more inhabitants. Today, according to different sources and spatial delimitations (cities, city-regions, agglomerations), there are between 24 and 28 urban giants with over 8 million inhabitants, with Tokyo being the biggest with over 25 to 28 million dwellers. What is perhaps more interesting than the sheer size of mega-cities is their speed of growth. Cities or urban agglomerations with more than 5 million inhabitants that are to increase their population by more than 50% between 1996 and 2015 are situated mainly in Asia (Mumbai, Dhaka, Karachi, Delhi, Metro Manila, Jakarta, Lahore, Madras and Bangalore). The same is to occur in Africa, in Lagos. The latter will more than double its population from 11 million in 1996 to approximately 25 million in 2015 [1]. The result of ongoing urban growth is the emergence of metropolises of unprecedented size whose impact on regional, national and global levels is almost unconceivable.

2

How big can cities grow?

Thus, the question of how large can cities become arises. The aforementioned projections are valid until 2015/2030. But what can be expected after that? Will the metropolisation of the Blue Planet continue? Will our children see cities, say Gigapolises, of 50 million and more? Or will the biggest cities be able to stabilize their size in the near future and allow smaller cities to become new million or mega-cities? Another time-honoured question has to be added. How many people can live on planet Earth [5], that is, in cities at all? Are there limits to urban growth? WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Before year 2020, for example, there will be 5 billion urban residents who will not be able to feed themselves. They depend on supplies from rural areas. If farmers continue to give up the production of food in order to migrate to the cities, who will then feed the urban dwellers? Malthus [6] points out that catastrophe can be avoided if mankind perceives the warning signs and if the necessary actions are undertaken in time. So, where are the warning signs? Anti-Malthusians, like Julian Simon, claim that humans adapt to the problems they create by improvements in productivity and efficiency [7]. According to Simon, the substitutability of resources is infinite and the human population can continue to grow forever. Thus, the key problem is not that resources will run out but that at present, brainpower is not used enough in order to deal with the problems of food security, energy production and so forth. Bartlett [8] states that we are already living at our limits. His ‘First Law’ relating to sustainability points out that “Population growth and / or growth in the rates of consumption of resources cannot be sustained”. Also, “Growth in the rate of consumption of a non-renewable resource, such as fossil fuel, causes a dramatic decrease in the life-expectancy of the resource” (‘Seventh Law’). His ‘Second Law’ states “In a society with a growing population and / or growing rates of consumption of resources, the larger the population, and / or the larger the rates of consumption of resources, the more difficult it will be to transform the society to the condition of sustainability … [Thus] Sustainability requires that the size of the population be less than or equal to the carrying capacity of the ecosystem for the desired standard of living” (‘Fifth Law’). Bartlett summarizes, “…in order to move toward a sustainable society, the first and most important effort that must be made is to stop population growth” [8]. The point of this chapter is not to judge who is right, Malthus and Bartlett, or Simon. Rather, important questions need to be asked: If what they say is true, what must be done? How can we avoid catastrophes, stop population growth, substitute finite resources? Does technology allow another quantum leap toward the next ‘green revolution’? If not, how can substitutes be produced, by whom, on what soil and with what kind of investment? O’Meara [9] shows examples of how cities can adapt their consumption to realistic needs, produce more own nutrition and energy, and reuse waste more effectively. Also, von Weizsäcker et al. [10] claim that resources like energy and land, for instance, could be used four times more efficiently if human behaviour would change. Daly [11] adds that sustainable development may only be possible if materials are recycled to the maximum degree possible, and if the annual material output of the economy would not grow. But how far can more efficiency and recycling outweigh the future population growth? How can we avoid that bigger populations will not consume more finite resources? Urban growth not only impacts nutritional and energetic, hydrologic, and atmospheric resources but also land resources and functions of the less densely settled hinterland. The growing cities eat up the land that feeds them. Keywords in this context are urban sprawl, sub-urbanization, pressure on woodland, depletion of biotopes, and impoverishment of the sink and buffer functions of surrounding rural areas. As McGranahan and Satterthwaite point out: “The goal WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

172 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability is not sustainable cities but cities that contribute to sustainable development within their boundaries, in the region around them, and globally” [12]. Thus, the governments of urban centres should be concerned about the impact of the city on the region and behave in a sustainable way even if the outlying territories cannot be spared from the effects of the city’s waste and pollution. Focus must be laid upon the carrying capacity of the planet Earth and of its highly urbanized regions. The ‘carrying capacity’ of our planet is defined as the largest number of any given species (human) that a habitat can support indefinitely. ‘Indefinitely’ means without damaging the environment, that is, the resource basis [13]. Pimentel [14] claims that already in 1998, the global population exceeded the Earth’s carrying capacity. Have we already passed the outer limits to global urban growth? How big can an individual city-region become, and how many of them can be supported in each of the world’s regions? Food availability is not the only criterion. The ability to be governed, or governability, is another. Whereas it does not seem very surprising that institution and infrastructure are overburdened for both of the Latin American cities [15, 16], one might be astonished to see that even the major metropolitan area of the ‘world city’ [17] and ‘global city’ [18] Tokyo is judged to be beyond governance ability [19, 20]. Is there a critical size of cities beyond which the authorities cannot keep up with the development? Due to the huge size and the multitude and complexity of problems involved, achieving sustainable development in the mega cities of the developing part of the world seems to be a Sisyphean task.

3

Governability, density, vulnerability, and migration

Will mega cities and smaller but rapidly growing cities become more manageable, more liveable, environmentally sounder and safer? The answer is obvious. Some are already borderline ungovernable and it is difficult to imagine how they could make a U-turn from unsustainable to sustainable development. For Bartlett, ‘urban growth management’ or ‘smart growth’ are pseudo solutions: “Whether the growth is smart or dumb, the growth destroys the environment”, adding that the term sustainable growth would then be an oxymoron [8]. An issue to highlight is governance capacity. There are large cities that have been run well, have overcome environmental challenges, and are increasingly clean, as there are smaller cities that are poorly managed and have terrible living conditions. Indeed, some have argued that it is neither the size of the city nor the speed of growth that is most important in explaining poor urban environments, but that the main culprit is a lack of good governance [21, 22]. Prud’homme [23] points out that mega cities, if well managed, are more productive than smaller cities because the relationship between urban benefits and urban costs is more favourable in larger cities: “A small city poorly managed is bad, a large city poorly managed may be as good (or as bad) as a small city well managed, but a large city well managed is definitely best” [23]. Big cities are probably more difficult to manage than smaller cities. However, Hall and Pfeiffer [24] point out, “…some of the biggest problems occur in WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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relatively small cities.” In fact, not only mega cities have mega problems. What counts is the governability, that is, the management skills to cope with the problems of growth [2]. Thus, attention must also be given to smaller cities. In 2000, there were 22 cities with 5 to 10 million people, 370 cities with 1 to 5 million, and 433 cities with 0.5 to 1 million inhabitants. It is estimated that in year 2015 already, there will be worldwide about 564 cities with more than one million inhabitants [25], and the sharpest increase in new million cities will occur in the less developed regions. While they are growing, cities sharpen inner segregation along income and cultural lines, multiply the coordination tasks for planning, and create more urban diversity. Higher densities may propose gains in economical and cultural terms but can become cumbersome in terms of administration, social care, environmental protection, and control. The larger cities grow, the higher the urban densities become and the more they become vulnerable to natural hazards (earthquakes, volcanism, etc.), accidents, and terrorism. Eight of the mega-cities in the developing world border an Ocean. Already today, regular flooding catastrophes destroy settlements and life in countries like Bangladesh. If sea levels rise just a few centimetres due to global change, the risks for the crowded populations in those cities will increase, too. Rural areas of food production will suffer as well. Many of the world’s big cities are located near fault zones, where damaging earthquakes have taken place in the past (for example, Jakarta, Mexico City, and Teheran). Such cities are at great risk. Countermeasures have to be adopted before it is too late. Safe environments depend on social cohesion and on their affordability. The future sufficiency of resources depends on their accessibility. As resources and money are concentrated in the developed world, poor countries cannot count on importing needed raw materials, goods and nutrition. Future population growth will mainly take place in the urban areas of developing countries, where money is scarce. Already today, one third of the people living in developing countries, live in slums or squatter settlements. Over 50% of the global population lives on less than $2 per day [26]. Thus, the global welfare divide will increase. Will intragenerational solidarity be established one day? Will resources, knowledge, and technology become equally (according to the needs) distributed between North and South? We are far from an ideal world. A survival strategy for urban dwellers of the South could be to migrate to less polluted and less problem charged city-regions in the North. But will the cities in the North really become more open (‘PubliCities’) for migrants from the disadvantaged parts of the globe? There are a lot of obstacles and fears. Where migrations are possible, problems of integration in multicultural and multiracial societies occur [27].

4 Sustainable urbanization? The solutions have to be found not only on a global, but also on a local scale. The challenge for more than half of world’s population is to be at the same time WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

174 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability ‘homo urbanus’ and ‘homo sustinens’. The task for urban management is to create urban ‘sustainotopes’ where the needs of the urbanites are met without compromising the quality of life and resources in the rural areas, today and in the future. The gap between city and its hinterland, that is, the impacts of the urban area on the rural areas have to be considered. Cities are no isolated islands. Their impact is at least regional, mostly national, and sometimes global. To become sustainable, the cities have to act on all three levels, as well as for themselves. There are several definitions for ‘sustainable cities’. The Institute for Sustainable Communities offers an action-oriented definition as follows: “Sustainable communities are defined as towns and cities that have taken steps to remain healthy over the long term. Sustainable communities have a strong sense of place. They have a vision that is embraced and actively promoted by all of the key sectors of society, including businesses, disadvantaged groups, environmentalists, civic associations, government agencies, and religious organizations. They are places that build on their assets and dare to be innovative. These communities value healthy ecosystems, use resources efficiently, and actively seek to retain and enhance a locally based economy. There is a pervasive volunteer spirit that is rewarded by concrete results. Partnerships between and among government, the business sector, and non-profit organizations are common. Public debate in these communities is engaging, inclusive, and constructive. Unlike traditional community development approaches, sustainability strategies emphasize: the whole community (instead of just disadvantaged neighbourhoods); ecosystem protection; meaningful and broad-based citizen participation; and economic self-reliance” [28]. Urbanization in developing countries today may lead to local clusters of entrepreneurial enterprise, so-called ‘economies of agglomeration’ with significant cost advantages for the private sector and for the supply of public services. For example, in compact cities the efficiency of infrastructure investments is increased. The most outstanding aspects of agglomeration economies that benefit from the proximity between producers, suppliers, consumers, and workers are: - The size of an urban labour market allows for the availability of an adequate and relatively inexpensive workforce, and enhances the division and diversification of labour with new job opportunities; - The access of the firms to a relatively large urban market without long transportation paths, opportunities for specialization and for innovations as well as the ability to react to changes in consumer’s demands and potentials for sharing common inputs (warehousing, power etc.). In 1989, according to the World Bank, about 60% of the GDP of the developing countries was created in cities, and 80% of future GDP growth is expected to occur there [29]. Other related benefits of urbanization that accrue directly to the people include, for example, issues of education, interaction, and transfer of know-how. Thus, big cities can be centres of culture and ‘social advancement’. These opportunities have to be seized by urban management and planning. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Good governance and planning for fast growing cities

The future task and main challenge for the management and steering of mega cities and hyper-expanding medium-sized cities will be to make the turn around from a fast growing urban area with growing problems to a sustainable developing city. The main challenge for sustainable urban development is to establish good governance. ‘Good governance,’ according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), has the following characteristics: “It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society” [30]. For rapidly growing cities in the developing world urban development planning towards sustainability is of top priority. These cities must orient their planning and development management towards the predictable future. In so doing, inevitable problems can be at least reduced, the management of metropolitan areas can be improved, and opportunities for more sustainable future development can be made. Keiner [31] points out five specific fields of action: decentralisation, visions, participation, planning and networking. - Decentralization. One main aspect is the vertical distribution of power and competences between the national (central) government and its different territorial components, including the cities. Perhaps the biggest tasks in this sense are to cope with the horizontal overlapping of functions and with the high degree of centralization of decision-making. Decentralization is a must for sustainable development [2]. Moreover, urban policy and planning requires a clear distribution of functions and competences. - Visions. More emphasis has to be laid upon a clearer definition of what is sustainable urban development in the specific context of each city concerned. After fixing the objectives, the way to achieve them should be traced. In order to do so, a comprehensive strategy for sustainable urban development should be worked out. - Participation. Sustainable urban development requires citizen participation [32, 33], and the democratization of planning decisions [34]. To this end, innovations from the grassroots level have to be promoted [35]. - Planning. An approach for offering more future opportunities for living could be made in spatial planning. Spatial planning is the discipline that steers the development of our present and future living space. In many countries, the implementation of sustainable development via spatial planning has been mandated. The guiding principles of spatial planning should be oriented towards the concept of sustainability. Planning WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

176 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability instruments should be reshaped in order to create more environmental, economical and societal opportunities. Compacting the cities is a must if their sprawl is to be stopped. Urban policies are applied through a set of planning instruments and by-laws that range from the regulation of land use to the definition of public and private transportation systems. In order to achieve the desired development as outlined in visions and strategies, the following requirements exist: - Plans must be oriented toward the objectives of the conceptual framework (i.e., focused on sustainable development) - Plans and by-laws on urban development should not contradict other plans, strategies and legal regulations - Plans should cover the “right” spatial perimeter, that is, they should not just consider the cities in their administrative boundaries, but also their interaction with rural regions should be taken into account. As urban areas spread and consume land, the agricultural areas must be protected. Indicator based monitoring and controlling systems are appropriate tools to steer the development of urban growth and its impact on rural areas, into the desired direction [36]. - Networking. Generally speaking, city to city networking aims at putting together knowledge, creating synergies, and using resources more efficiently. Networking cities are looking for collaboration with other communities, which have similar tasks that can be done more easily, more cheaply and more successfully if jointly undertaken. Networking does not require a spatial connection, it can be a-territorial, that is, virtual (internet) and global. Also, cooperation between science and urban practice plays a key role in finding solutions for sustainable urban development.

6

Conclusion: good governance for fast growing cities

Big cities are on the way to becoming gigapolises, if no trend reversal of the current development occurs. Smaller cities will become big cities, too. All of them consume more and more resources and overstep the local, regional, and global carrying capacity. It is clear that the uncontrolled growth of population and urban areas cannot continue. Sustainable development is an answer, but the implementation of this concept into policy tends to come late. To make this vision for the urban future of mankind real, good governance and improved urban management can avoid that mega-cities become victims of Malthusian scenarios in the next future. Action is needed for the smaller, but rapidly growing cities of developing countries, where the main problems and challenges of humanity, today and tomorrow, occur. As a result, good governance in mega and medium-sized cities in the developing world is a must. This includes, among others, the responsible use of resources, decentralization, and the improvement of the social living conditions of urban dwellers. Also, the growth of populations and cities has to be stopped

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with appropriate measures. Finally, visions for sustainable development should be worked out and put into practice by participatory urban planning.

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[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

[16] [17]

UN Population Division, The State of World Population, http://www.unfpa.org/swp/ swpmain.htm. Keiner, M., Salmerón, D. & Schmid, W.A., Urban development in Southern Africa and Latin America. From Understanding to Action, ed. M. Keiner, C. Zegras, D. Salmerón & W.A. Schmid, Springer: Dordrecht, pp. 1–24, 2004. Perlman, J., Mega-cities: Global urbanization and innovation, The MegaCities Project Publication MCP-013, 1993. Keiner, M. & Schmid, W.A., Urbanisierungstendenzen in Entwicklungsländern. Probleme und Potenziale für nachhaltige Stadtentwicklung, DISP, 155, pp. 49–56, 2003. Cohen, J.E., How many people can the Earth support? W.W. Norton & Company: New York, 1995. Malthus, T., An Essay on the Principle of Population, http://www.econlib.org/library/Malthus/malPop.html. Simon, J., The ultimate resource 2, Princeton University Press, 1998. Bartlett, A.A., Reflections on sustainability, population growth and the environment”, Renewable Resources Journal, 15(4), pp. 6–22, 1997. O’Meara, M., Reinventing cities for people and the planet, Worldwatch Paper 147, Worldwatch Institute, 1999. Von Weizsäcker, E.U., Lovins, A.B. & Lovins, L.H., Factor Four; Doubling Wealth - Halving Resource Use, Earthscan: London, 1997. Daly, H.E., Sustainable Growth: An impossibility theorem. Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, Ethics, ed. H.E. Daly & K.N. Townsend, MIT Press: Cambridge, 1994. McGranahan, G. & Satterthwaite, D., Urban Centres: An Assessment of Sustainability, Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour., 28, pp. 243–274, 2003. Giampietro, M., Bukkens, S.G.F. & Pimentel, D., Limits to population size: Three scenarios of energy interaction between human society and ecosystems, Population and Environment, 14, 109–131, 1992. Pimentel, D., How many people can the Earth support? Population Press, 5(3), 1999. Molina, L.T. & Molina, M.J., (eds). Air Quality in the Mexico Megacity, An integrated assessment. Alliance for Global Sustainability Book series Science and Technology: Tools for Sustainable Development, Vol. 2. Kluwer: Dordrecht, Boston, London, 2002. Santos, M., São Paulo: A growth process full of contradictions. The Mega-City in Latin America, ed. A. Gilbert, UNU Press: Tokyo, New York, Paris, pp. 224–240, 1996. Friedmann, J., The world city hypothesis. Development and Change, 17, pp. 69–83, 1986. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

178 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [18] [19]

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Sassen, S. The Global Cities, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991. Takahashi, J. & Sugiura, N. (1996), The Japanese urban system and the growing centrality of Tokyo in the global economy. Emerging world cities in Pacific Asia, ed. L. Fu-Chen & Y. Yue-Man, UNU Press: Tokyo, New York, Paris, pp. 101-143, 1996. Honjo, M., The growth of Tokyo as a world city. Globalization and the world of large cities, ed. L. Fu-Chen & Y. Yue-Man, UNU Press: Tokyo, New York, Paris, pp. 109–131, 1998. Satterthwaite, D., Towards healthy cities. People and the Planet, 5(2), 1996. Gilbert, A., World cities and the urban future: The view from Latin America. Globalization and the world of large cities, ed. L. Fu-Chen & Y. Yue-Man, UNU Press: Tokyo, New York, Paris, pp. 174–202, 1998. Prud’homme, R., Managing Megacities. Le courrier du CNRS, 82, pp. 174–176, 1996. Hall, P. & Pfeiffer, U., Urban Future 21: A Global Agenda for TwentyFirst Century Cities, Spon Press: New York, 2000. United Nations (UN), World urbanization prospects – The 1999 revision, UN: New York, 1999. The World Bank Group, Urbanization & cities: Facts and figures. http://www.worldbank.org/urban/facts.html. Sandercock, L., Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities, John Wiley & Sons: New York, 1997. Institute for Sustainable Communities, Definitions of a sustainable community. http://www.iscvt.org/ FAQscdef.htm. Perlman, J., Hopkins, E. & Jonsson, Å., Urban solutions at the poverty/environment intersection, The Mega Cities Project Publication MCP-018, 1998. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), What is good governance? http://www.unescap.org/huset/gg/governance.htm. Keiner, M., Towards Gigapolis? From Urban Growth to Evolutionable medium-sized cities. Managing urban futures: Sustainability and urban growth in developing countries, ed. M. Keiner, W.A. Schmid & M. KollSchretzenmayr, Ashgate Publishers: Aldershot, pp. 219–232, 2005. Douglass, M. & Friedmann, J., (eds). Cities for citizens: planning and the rise of civil society in a global age, John Wiley & Sons: Chichester (UK), 1997. Holston, J., Cities and citizenship, Duke University Press: Durham, 1999. Sandercock, L., Practicing Utopia: Sustaining cities. DISP 148, pp. 4–9, 2002. Douglass, M., Urban environmental management at the grass roots. Toward a theory of community activation, East-West Center Working Papers, 42: Honolulu, 1995. Keiner, M., Indicator based control of regional planning. Australian Planner, 39(4), pp. 205–210, 2002. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Seeking a unified urban systems theory D. Coelho & M. Ruth School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, College Park, USA

Abstract Cities are a key driver of environmental and climatic change, and at the same time significantly impacted by that change. Vulnerability varies spatially and over time, and the complex relationships among climate, ecosystem health, and socioeconomic development call for an integrated theoretical framework within which to study the world’s cities. Advances in the fields of industrial ecology, urban metabolism and urban ecology shed light on these relationships. However, much of the current research is found in the form of case studies. Though detailed and relevant, the lack of a cohesive theory precludes standardization of and comparison between methodical experiments pertaining to the relationship between urban systems and global climate change. Aiming to identify and connect underlying issues, and to drive research forward, this study is a synthesis of key emergent theories and continuities in the body of research surrounding urban systems and global change. Thinking of cities as complex open systems integrated within a larger environmental and social context brings us closer to understanding how cities impact/are impacted by climate change and variability. The physical realism and interdisciplinary nature of a unified urban systems theory will facilitate more grounded and effective policy to shape and govern our cities. Keywords: urban ecology, industrial ecology, urban metabolism, complex systems, climate change.

1

Introduction

Cities are a major element of the modern landscape, and as such are impacted by and are sources of significant environmental change, most notably air and water pollution, loss of habitat and biological diversity and global climate change. In 2000, 47 percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas [1]. This figure is higher in developed countries, but most of the population growth and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060171

180 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability urbanization over the next 50-100 years is expected in developing countries. By 2030 it is projected that 60 percent of the world’s population will live in cities [1], many with populations exceeding half a million people [2]. Very large cities will also become more numerous. In 2000, there were 41 cities with populations greater than five million people; the projection for 2015 is 59 such megacities, 48 in developing countries [1]. And although urban areas cover only 1-6 percent of the global landscape they exert tremendous pressure on the environment beyond their borders (see Alberti et al [3] for a review of these impacts). What is less well understood is how and how much cities interact with the environment. Urban areas are the loci of human economies and the majority of our productive and consumptive activities. The extent and nature of a city’s impact on the local and global environment are defined by spatial arrangements as well as cultural characteristics that govern patterns of production and consumption. As a result, urban policies have direct and indirect impacts on the amount and quality of energy and material extracted from, and returned to, the earth system. Consider this example, much of the predicted stress on future water supply comes from population growth and changes in demand related to intensity of use directly, rather than changes in supply caused by climate change [4]. However, population growth, consumption patterns and related urban policies to control distribution will impact the local environment, climate and the city over the longer term in unpredictable ways. Similarly with residential energy use, geographic patterns of suburban development in the US are correlated with household energy demand. More compact urban areas demand less energy per capita than more sprawling areas [5]. The decision to extend municipal services into previously undeveloped areas will decrease the density of an urban area, and increase its physical and energy footprint. Conversely, encouraging more compact settlements can increase energy efficiency. Broadly, urban form and economic activity influence regional precipitation patterns and temperature (largely via urban heat islands), energy demand and the infrastructure necessary to generate and deliver it [6]. So if we would desire to deliver water and energy to urban residents in the future, the design and management of cities matters. To answer how and how much cities interact with the environment—locally and globally—requires integration of insights from the natural, engineering, social and health sciences as well as active dialog between scientists and policy makers. Research in the growing fields of industrial ecology, urban metabolism and urban ecology—as well as complex systems theory—is actively making the necessary connections. Through analogy, metaphor and direct application, researchers are taking an “ecosystem approach” to studying natural, economic, urban and industrial systems. This approach is both relevant and appropriate to the study of sustainable urban development because it provides a flexible framework, one responsive to issues of scale and changing social and environmental conditions over time, within which to study urban systems.

2

Cities as complex social-ecological systems

What does it mean to take an ecosystem approach to the study of ecology and/or society? Broadly considered, an ecosystem has no pre-determined scale or WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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boundaries and is instead defined as the interaction between organisms and their environment [7]. Its boundaries are drawn in order to answer a specific question. In this sense an ecosystem is a dynamic concept—rather than a physical entity— taking into account many interactions that vary over time. This approach naturally lends itself to defining hierarchical or nested systems, which are characterized by elements interacting horizontally with each other and vertically with larger organizing structures. Cities, like natural ecosystems, can be characterized as complex open systems [8, 9] and may dominate or be more equal parts of a larger network of other urban areas [10]. Alberti et al [3] extend that globally and, certainly at regional scales, environments are humandominated and the study of social-ecological systems is necessary to accurately describe social and ecological processes. These social-ecological systems are self-organizing and can be thought of in terms of resilience (adaptability) and transformability (ability to fundamentally change state) [11]. According to Levin [12] a complex adaptive system is that in which “patterns at higher levels emerge from localized interactions and selection processes acting at lower levels.” This is true of ecosystems, and also the economy, where the actions of individuals are made with intent, but “self organize” into larger patterns that do not embody the same intent [3, 10, 11]. These systems are dependent upon history and relationships among elements which often are time-lagged and non-linear [12]. As recipients of energy flows, complex adaptive systems naturally go through phases of organization: exploitation/growth, conservation, release and reorganization [8, 9]. The larger the reach and complexity of the system, the greater the uncertainties and risks associated with individual actions. Insufficient efforts have been taken to model complex dynamics at the global [13] and more local scales. Though a legitimate challenge, researchers such as Alberti et al [3] see the opportunity to finally link ecological and social sciences in the study of cities as emergent phenomena embedded within a spatial and historical context of interacting processes. If we approach cities as social-ecological systems we must embrace change and evolution. There is no single optimal state towards which we may strive [11, 14] and planning for maintenance or avoidance of change seems unrealistic, and even dangerous. Rather we anticipate change and plan for resilience—the degree to which a system can undergo change and retain its major organization and functioning—and build it into our cities [3, 11]. Here the goal becomes maintaining the social-ecological system’s ability to evolve and develop.

3 Lessons from theory and practice Taking an integrated and comprehensive approach to the study of socialecological systems is difficult and, indeed, just developing. However, lessons from industrial ecology, urban metabolism and urban ecology help to flesh out the reasoning behind focusing our attention on cities, and how to apply a complex systems or ecosystem approach to both research and policy making. Separately, all three are exploring methods of measuring human impacts on the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

182 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability environment, and to varying degrees attempting to link social and natural systems. Opportunities and challenges for integration will be discussed in the following section. 3.1 Industrial ecology Industrial ecology is the systematic analysis and design of human activities and the environment with the implicit goal of optimizing the total industrial cycle: from raw material input through the creating of a finished product to waste output and back to the economy [15]. This is driven by a realization that, like cities, industrial processes are not isolated from their surroundings, but rather part of a more integrated whole, and as such influence and are influenced by their surroundings [15, 16]. Through mimicking (learning from) natural systems, industrial processes can be designed to maximize recycling, minimize throughput, and reduce or eliminate waste output [17]. In a system where there is no waste (i.e. global water and nutrient cycles, the growth of a tree) all byproducts of single processes are picked up as the raw materials of another process. This sharing of what would otherwise be deemed “waste” closes the material loop, increasing both material and energy efficiency. This is particularly true in diverse systems, and often optimization of a larger process or collection of processes is more effective than optimizing a single process or the actions of a single firm [17]. Historical examples of this kind of waste sharing include the US steel industry, in which a significant percentage of scrap would be re-forged rather than discarded, and chemical plants, which regularly make use of process byproducts as seeds for various other processes, either in the same facility or in a neighboring plant [16, 18]. Similarly, cogeneration power plants use the waste heat from the generation of power to heat plant or nearby non-industrial buildings. Eco-industrial parks bring multiple industries together in an intentional symbiosis within which waste products and heat, as well as personnel and information can be shared collectively [19]. Perhaps the best example of an eco-industrial park, the Kalundborg symbiosis in Denmark includes several participants: a chemical plant producing insulin and enzymes; electricity and heat co-generation facility; refinery of petroleum products; producer of gypsum wallboard; microbial soil remediation facility; trout fish farm; and the municipality of Kalundborg [19]. Participants are engaged in 19 different activities involving transfer of water, energy and solid waste. They also are engaged in projects for sharing storage and lab space, creating common contracts with other entrepreneurs, recruiting new employees and locating jobs for spouses. Korhonen [20] discusses the application of industrial ecology to sustainable development within the context of Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD). In this model, industrial ecology can contribute to definition of principles, identification of the desired state of sustainability and development of tools, as well as implementation and evaluation of actions. In fact, Robert et al [21], authors of the SSD model, argue that with so many approaches, tools and methods for sustainable development the opportunity for contradiction and competition is significant and problematic. Adopting the hierarchical systems WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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model provided by SSD allows for the simultaneous and calculated consideration of tools so that they are used as complements rather than as competing approaches. Importantly, and consistent with taking a complex systems approach, the levels are interdependent. 3.2 Urban metabolism Urban metabolism in many ways is simply an extension of the theory behind industrial ecology and studies of industrial metabolism to a specifically urban context. Though subject to a number of different definitions, as a basic concept, urban metabolism provides a way of quantitatively measuring resource inputs and waste outputs—production, consumption, recycling and waste—relative to a city or urban area [2, 22, 23]. It can be thought of as a city’s “circulatory system,” which processes matter and energy [2]. Huang and Hsu [22] point out the importance of incorporating emergy (or embodied energy) into the analysis. Mitchell [24] accepts these definitions, but proposes a broader concept of urban metabolism as the “social as well as biophysical [means] by which cities acquire or lose the capacity for sustainability in the face of diverse and competing problems.” By sustainability he means the maintenance of resources and quality of life in the face of hazards and risk. Studies measure inputs and outputs within a city or metropolitan area in terms of either mass and/or energy, as well as material recycling. The conversion of diverse physical quantities into units of energy (i.e. joules or solar emjoules, a measure of embodied solar energy in a product or process [22]) allows for more comparison and meaningful gross measures of urban metabolism. A study by Warren-Rhodes and Koenig [23] of the city of Hong Kong built on the pioneering analysis conducted by Newcombe et al [2] in 1978 and showed significant increases in both consumption and waste outputs between 1970 and 1997. The first urban metabolism study conducted on a North American region was completed in Toronto in 2003, suggesting slow development of this concept. The study by Sahely [25] showed that, in general, inputs (consumption) were increasing more rapidly than outputs, suggesting increases in efficiency. Observed residential solid waste and wastewater outflows decreased in real terms over the study period (1987-1999). This is in stark contrast to the results in Hong Kong [23], and may be indicative of the different patterns of urbanization in developed and developing countries. 3.3 Urban ecology Urban ecology is typically approached as either the study of cities in ecosystems or cities as ecosystems [26]. Looking at ecology within cities employs traditional studies of climate, hydrology, soils, flora and fauna, etc. in a defined urban area. Results indicate that spatial heterogeneity is particularly relevant in urban systems [26]. As human-dominated ecological entities, urban areas are characterized by low levels of stability, unique energy dynamics and altered species assemblages [3]. Studies of cities as ecosystems, instead, look at the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

184 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability urban area in terms of biogeochemical budgets, ecological footprint [27] and measures of overall species richness. Pickett et al [26] propose a more interdisciplinary approach that joins the two ideas just presented as well as elements from the social sciences. In fact, they point out that the dynamics of social differentiation (hierarchies based on wealth, power, etc.) parallel spatial heterogeneity observed in natural systems, and that consideration of the two systems together can contribute to the understanding of the urban ecosystem as a whole. Alberti et al [3] come to the same conclusion, but go a step farther and propose a conceptual model that can be used to study explicitly the interactions between human and ecological processes. Depicted in Figure 1, this model identifies forces driving urban development. These drivers define spatial and usage patterns, which in turn impact human and ecological processes. These processes influence more macro-level phenomena such as human behavior and biodiversity, as well as feedback into landscape and social patterns. Completing the loop, acknowledgement of change spurs policy development that comes to act as the driver affecting further alteration of patterns and processes. For example, the provision of water and other infrastructure services beyond city boundaries spurs sprawl development, which affects water quality via increased use of chemical fertilizers (among other reasons), resulting in policy changes affecting future distribution of infrastructure services and therefore development patterns. Patterns: Land use Urban heat islands

Drivers: Population/economic growth Infrastructure investment Processes: Economic markets Nutrient cycles

Effects/changes: Human behavior Biodiversity

Figure 1:

Conceptual model (based on Alberti et al [3]).

The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) projects currently taking place in Phoenix, Arizona [28] and Baltimore, Maryland [29] are contributing to our understanding of ecology within cities (i.e. fish population dynamics in urban WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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streams, regrowth of urban forests) and cities as ecosystems (i.e. ecological footprint, flows of matter and energy). They are actively seeking to define the relationships between human decisions and the landscapes they impact.

4

Integration and challenges to integration

In each field discussed above are voices urging for greater integration of social and ecological systems. Taken together, they make an even stronger argument. Both industrial ecology and urban metabolism place the economy (and industry) within a larger social and then biophysical environment [20]. However, analyses of industrial and urban systems have largely focused on physical flows of material and energy, and have not fully engaged the three dimensions of sustainable development—economy, society and environment [20]. In fact, even the most famous realization of an industrial ecosystem, the eco-industrial park at Kalundborg, is ultimately dependent on fossil fuel resources and may not be able to sufficiently adapt to a changing physical and social environment [20]. Similarly, urban ecology and urban metabolism situate the city within a larger context and explicitly account for interactions between human and environmental systems over time and space. These perspectives highlight interdependency and the ultimate physical limits placed on socioeconomic systems by the natural ecosystem. Industrial ecology and urban metabolism, by focusing on material flows and recycling, seek to increase the efficiency of production and consumption cycles. Thinking of processes on a larger scale opens up opportunities for the reuse of waste products, and system diversity is important. However, technical, economic, organizational, regulatory and legal barriers impede better system design in industrial systems [17]. Political will, corporate and public attitudes also play a major role in either allowing or stifling the development, application and interpretation of novel concepts [16]. To return again to the Kalundborg example, this particular symbiosis developed from the ground up out of a distinct set of existing social linkages. Without such a network—and mutual trust—firms and governments will not be willing to take the risks necessary to alter competitive processes in favor of cooperation [30] nor will they embrace complex and qualitative concepts over traditional quantitative data when making decisions. The issues of scale (physical, temporal) and perspective (ecological, sociocultural) are critical both for defining system boundaries and subsequent analysis. Research must be holistic as well as focus on individual sectors/ components. Each alone is not sufficient for understanding the functioning of the whole system, and we should constantly strive to look up and down two levels from our primary point of reference [31]. In order to understand more complex systems we need to look above (at a larger organizing system) and below (at components and their behavior) to understand the whole. This requires embracing complexity and dynamics, and accepting uncertainty. A decidedly difficult task, dealing with dynamic systems means planning with change rather than against it, focusing on adaptation and evolution rather than avoidance WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

186 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability mechanisms. This presents a major challenge for the ecosystem approach. Complex systems, as the name implies, are intricate and their behavior cannot easily be predicted or anticipated. The approach, by necessity, also entails a lack of objectivity that is otherwise expected, and required, of normal science [31]. Boundary definition is subjective, value-laden, and depends on the research question asked. Qualitative as well as quantitative information is also important, underscoring the relevance of political processes and stakeholder involvement in definition and analysis of ecosystems and human interactions with them.

5

Conclusions

The ultimate goal of planning should be the attainment of a “healthy city,” one constantly learning from past experience in order to improve the quality of life [10]. The search for quality is not a search for static longevity or short-lived functionality, but long term development. However, measurement, especially over the long term, is complicated by a general lack of data (both quantitative and qualitative) describing the interaction of system components. The integration of the disciplines explored in this paper, as well as their application to sustainable development and urban environments is new and underdeveloped. We believe the development, through more integrative research and large-scale experimentation, of a unified urban systems theory will serve to create common ground on which to collect and analyze such information and implement more effective policies.

References [1]

[2] [3]

[4] [5] [6]

Population Reference Bureau. Human Population: Fundamentals of Growth: Patterns of World Urbanization, http://www.prb.org/Content/Navigation Menu/PRB/Educators/Human_Population/Urbanization2/Patterns_of_Wo rld_Urbanization1.htm. Newcombe, K., Kalma, J. & Aston, A. The metabolism of a city: the case of Hong Kong. Ambio, 7, pp. 3–15, 1978. Alberti, M., Marzluff, J.M., Shulenberger, E., Bradley, G., Ryan, C. & Zumbrunnen, C., Integrating Humans into Ecology: Opportunities and Challenges for Studying Urban Ecosystems. BioScience, 53(12), pp. 1169–79, 2003. Vörösmarty, C.J., Green, P., Salisbury, J. & Lammers, R.B., Global Water Resources: Vulnerability from Climate Change and Population Growth. Science, 289(5477), pp. 284–88, 2000. Rong, F. Personal communication, 5 April 2006, Ph.D. candidate, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. Ruth, M., (ed). Smart Growth and Climate Change: Regional Development, Infrastructure and Adaptation, Edward Elgar: New York, 2006.

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[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

[15]

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[19]

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Tansley, A.G., The use and abuse of vegetational concepts and terms. Ecology, 16, pp. 284–307, 1935. Kay, J., Reiger, H., Boyle, M. & Francis, G., An Ecosystem Approach for Sustainability: Addressing the Challenge of Complexity. Futures, 31(7):721–742, 1999. Kay, J. & Schneider, E., Embracing Complexity: The Challenge of the Ecosystem Approach. Alternatives, 20(3), pp. 32–38, 1994. Ausubel, J.H. & R. Herman, (eds). Cities and their Vital Systems: Infrastructure–Past, Present and Future, National Academy Press: Washington, DC, 1988. Walker, B., A Resilience Approach to Sustainable Development, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, and The Resilience Alliance. Unpublished, 2006. Levin, S.A., Ecosystems and the Biosphere as Complex Adaptive Systems. Ecosystems, 1(5), pp. 431–36, 1998. Janssen, M., Use of Complex Adaptive Systems for Modeling Global Change. Ecosystems, 1(5), pp. 457–63, 1998. Rotmans, J., A Complex Systems Approach for Sustainable Cities (Chapter 7). Smart Growth and Climate Change: Regional Development, Infrastructure and Adaptation, ed. Ruth, M., Edward Elgar: New York, pp. 155–180, 2006. Graedel, T., Industrial Ecology: Definition and Implementation (Chapter 3). Industrial Ecology and Global Change, eds. Socolow, R., Andrews, C., Berkhout, F. & Thomas, V., Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 23–41, 1994. Frosch, R.A. & Gallopoulos, N.E., Strategies for Manufacturing. Scientific American, September 1989, pp. 144–52, 1989. Frosch, R.A., Industrial Ecology: Minimizing the Impact of Industrial Waste. Physics Today, November 1994, pp. 63–68, 1994. Ruth, M., Davidsdottir, B. & Amato, A., Climate Change Policies and Capital Vintage Effects: The Cases of US Pulp and Paper, Iron and Steel and Ethylene. Journal of Environmental Management, 7(3), pp. 221–233, 2004. Jacobson, N.B. and S. Anderberg. 2004. Understanding the Evolution of Industrial Symbiotic Networks: The Case of Kalundborg (Chapter 11). Economics of Industrial Ecology, eds. van den Bergh, J.C.J.M. & Janssen, M.A., The MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 313–335. Korhonen, J., Industrial ecology in the strategic sustainable development model: strategic applications of industrial ecology. Journal of Cleaner Production, 12, pp. 809–23, 2004. Robert, K.H., Schmidt-Bleek, B., Aloise de Larderel, J., Basik, G., Janson, J.L., Kuehr, R., Price, T.P., Susiki, M., Hawken, P. & Wackernagel, M. Strategic sustainable development—selection, design and synergies of applied tools. Journal of Cleaner Production, 10, pp. 197–214, 2002. Huang, S-L. & Hsu, W-L., Materials flow analysis and emergy evaluation of Taipei’s urban construction. Landscape and Urban Planning, 63: 61– 74, 2003. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

188 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [23] [24]

[25] [26]

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Warren-Rhodes, K. & Koenig, A., Escalating Trends in the Urban Metabolism of Hong Kong: 1971–1997. Ambio, 30(7), pp. 429–38, 2001. Mitchell, J.K., Urban metabolism and disaster vulnerability in an era (Chapter X). Earth System Analysis: Integrating Science for Sustainability, eds. Schellnhuber, H-J. & Wenzel, V., Springer: Berlin, pp. 359–377, 1998. Sahely, H.R., Dudding, S. & Kennedy, C.A., Estimating the Urban Metabolism of Canadian Cities: Greater Toronto Area case study. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 30, pp. 468–83, 2003. Pickett, S.T.A., Cadenasso, M.L., Grove, J.M., Nilon, C.H., Pouyat, R.V., Zipperer, W.C. & Costanza, R., Urban Ecological Systems: Linking Terrestrial Ecological, Physical, and Socioeconomic Components of Metropolitan Areas. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 32, pp. 127–57, 2001. Wackernagel, M. & Rees, W., Our ecological footprint. New Society Publishers: Philadelphia, 1996. Central Arizona—Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER), http://caplter.asu.edu/home/index.jsp. Baltimore Ecosystem Study, http://www.beslter.org. Boons, F. & M.A. Janssen. 2004. The Myth of Kalundborg: Social Dilemmas in Stimulating Eco-Industrial parks (Chapter 12). Economics of Industrial Ecology, eds. van den Bergh, J.C.J.M. & Janssen, M.A., The MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 336–355. Kay, J.J., The Ecosystem Approach, Ecosystems as Complex Systems and State of the Environment Reporting, Prepared for the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, State of the North American Ecosystem Meeting, Montreal 8–10 December, 1994.

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What the “new Istanbul” shaped by capital makes one think… S. Turgut Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Yıldız Technical University, Turkey

Abstract Istanbul, which has tried to be administered without high scale plans, strategic acceptance and principles, so as to remain away from “scientific” and “objective” implementations in the name of planning, is today faced with significant problems and threats. The relationships brought forward as a consequence of globalization as well as the fact that the city has been directed in an unconditional manner by capital has led to a city that completely lacks direction to be given by balanced and principle based planning due to unconscious urban management. Although attempts were made to initiate quite significant planning efforts within this process, the fact that central attitude and planning had been unable to assume a legitimate role had always been the most important obstacle for balanced and planned development. In particular, the “large”, “autonomous” and “fragmented” projects observed lately are another product or consequence of this crooked system. These “giant” and “arrogant” projects produced by local or central governments in different strategic points of the city are quite dangerous and capital focused approaches will change the appearance of the city at the expense of the alienation of the city to itself. Such projects, for which only capital is a determinant factor, have been the most important factors shaping Istanbul in the last period. Keywords: Istanbul, development focused on capital, point plan decisions, large projects and Istanbul, urban regeneration projects and Istanbul, New Istanbul Vision.

1

Introduction

Following the general and local elections held in 2004, the central government and the local government of Istanbul have been under the administration of the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060181

190 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability same party with a rightist tendency. The fact that the central government and Istanbul are in the same political conjuncture was perceived as an advantage at the beginning. The opinion that this partnership would lead to favorable consequences in terms of fast decisions, regular investments and the provision of effective and productive services was dominant at the beginning. However, during the implementation process of more than two years, it has been understood that this did not yield positive results as expected, especially for Istanbul and the development of Istanbul in a manner overlapping with balanced, principle based and scientific agreement. On the one hand, quite significant attempts were made over the last 2.5 years for Istanbul in terms of planning. The foundation of the “Istanbul Metropolitan Planning and Urban Design Office” ranks first among them. This office incorporating within its structure a planner and technical experts in their area of interest, with their number exceeding 100, initiated a very intensive work for the preparation of planning and inventory, analysis and assessment of Istanbul and continued its studies with the support of valuable academicians from universities. Comprehensive statistical analysis of socio-cultural and physical structure, which had been significantly missing, was conducted and efforts were made with regard to the “Strategic Plan” of the city. However, it was not easy to interpret the dynamics and potentials of Istanbul with its population exceeding 12 million and 74 first level municipalities, and to come up with scenarios for the future. In particular, problems related to coordination established between first level municipalities increased and gradually led to discontinuity, confusion of authority in planning and led to a period in which decisions were made individually and not conforming to principles such as “subsidiarity” and especially with the processes of “participation”. Certain concepts, in particular, were emphasized during this process. The concepts of “Urban Regeneration”, “Urban design” and point based projects produced for these concepts are also among them and have sometimes been brought to the agenda as a phenomenon that had been misinterpreted many times by different circles. These attitudes and the very dominant and autonomous planning decisions were formed most of the time in a manner independent from the Metropolitan planning office, and without informing it. This very serious lack of coordination led to the “stillbirth” of the Istanbul Strategic Plan, for which there had been many hopes.

2

The “new Istanbul” vision abandoned to the limitless approvals of capital

Istanbul has entered into a significant process with its organizational scheme in a rapid process of reorganization, changing administrative borders and a legal administrative basis and its new planning teams having been established. The revisions made in the country in the legal sense and especially in the area of public administration and planning were perceived at the beginning as the messenger of a series of new innovations. However, a perspective, which is also very dangerous, has become dominant in the administrative and planning areas WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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of Istanbul. Planning and administering this difficult city with its indefinable multiple dynamics, complex and illegal to a great extent, is very difficult. However, wrong methods, wrong process planning and a series of actions without principle also prevent actions and efforts that would be successful and beneficial in the long term. A few basic concepts make the problem bigger and make it difficult to come up with solutions. These may be classified under the following headings from the point of local governments and authorities. 1. “Hasty” and “palliative” perspectives, administrative tools and goals restricted with political periods, 2. Populist attitudes, 3. Local authorities with insufficient experience and expertise, 4. The tendency to attract the investor to the city in a manner without any principle, 5. Establishing planning, implementation and control processes that do not suit scientific and professional approvals and ethics. In this sense, many “values of essence” in the city are damaged. These decisions, which might lead to the extinction of values that could not be replaced, most of the time do not suit principles of planning and urbanization. The most striking three examples of these shall be examined in this study. The first is the Galata Port Project, the second the Haydarpasa Railway Station and World Trade Center and the Cruiser Port Project and the third the Dubai Towers. All three of these projects are located at quite important and strategic points of Istanbul and have been included in the planning process of the city in a “de facto” manner as “autonomous” decisions that do not suit the approval of the city and has received reaction from almost all NGOs and professional chambers. These projects, introduced by the central government and the administration of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality as prestigious projects for the city, in fact bear contents and processes that damage the dynamics of the potential and identity of the city. 2.1 Galata Port project The Galata Port, which had always been a significant destination in the city since the 15th century on the European continent of the city, has been an important warehouse/entrepot for the city since the beginning of the 19th century and has assumed the function of a central port for international marine transportation. As cargo transportation switched gradually from Galata to the Haydarpasa Port on the Asian continent, it became the only point of halt for large passenger cruise vessels. The Galata Region was privatized in 2005 after its declaration as a private tourism area and the projects, having been prepared within this framework, also brought along with it big discussions (Fig. 1). This area, where the city will especially meet water on the European side, was transformed into projects developed through privileges granted to international capital groups with autonomous decisions. This project, which is against both the constitution and the principles of planning, also bears numerous technical drawbacks. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Figure 1: Galata Port project. In particular, the fact that the area concerned has been an area of infilling, acquired from the sea, has not been taken into consideration. No additional transportation solutions or projects were prepared to meet the intensity that would take place in the region and the visitors that would be attracted as a consequence of the functions proposed (shopping center, accommodation, housing, cultural facilities, trade). The same problem exists for the additional burden to be imposed on the infrastructure of the region (waste water, drinking water, electricity, natural gas etc.). There is no strengthening with regard to a new system or the rehabilitation of the old system. The investment company has not been found responsible for the infrastructure projects that have not been calculated during the project, which have then become indispensable. This means that the investment concerned shall be made by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the Turkish Government. These investments, based on the investments of the population, will be an additional burden on the state and the population is granting a subsidy to the investor in a sense [1]. The region with its existing texture is an area experiencing intensive traffic and transportation problems in the quiet crowded and old urban texture. Also the entry to and exit from the construction area and the transportation of the work machines necessary for the construction areas proposed is almost impossible and imposes an unacceptable threat to the local community. In a manner, which is independent from all those points referred to above, the need for “green areas” is at a maximum level and, in this respect, the idea that the use of the port should be public should be defended and the inclusion of “prestige residence” areas in the project is also among the most objectionable points of the project. 2.2 Haydarpasa Railway Station and World Trade Center and Cruiser Port Project The Haydarpasa Port region, located on the Asian side and on a coastal band that is significant for the marine transportation of the city, also has an important value as a railway, marine transportation transfer point. This significance becomes stronger when considering the similar role that it undertook in history. It almost embraces the sea with the Haydarpasa Railway Station building, which is an indispensable silhouette for the unmatched coastal panorama of Istanbul and it almost wraps up the city with the “Historical Peninsula”/old town located right across from it on the other side. There is no doubt that in this area, which WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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might need new arrangements and infrastructure projects, there have been a series of decisions adopted following a series of wrong planning decisions and processes, which have not been approved by the parties concerned; however their implementation cannot be stopped. The project covers an area of approximately 1.000.000 m2 (Fig. 2).

Figure 2:

Haydarpasa Railway Station and World Trade Center and Cruiser Port Project.

In the project, which has been prepared according to the model of constructoperate-assign, the areas will be leased to the investors for a period of 49 years and 7 skyscrapers, 7 five star hotels, sports and recreation facilities and congress departments, yacht ports and residences representing the 7 hills of Istanbul are included [2]. It was observed that the majority of the project area concerned had been in an area that is not suitable for settlement and that detailed geological analysis has not been conducted. This highlights the great danger that exists along the coastal line of a city like Istanbul, with a very high earthquake risk. No analytical studies have been conducted for such a work [3]. Functions and designs preventing the use of the coast by the public violating the Coastal Code were proposed. Integration with the existing transportation systems has not been achieved, continuity of main transportation axes has not been provided, peripheral data have been disregarded and integration could not be achieved. The issue of Leave Free led to uncertainty about the height of the project in the 3rd dimension. 2.3 Dubai Towers Another example of a project with such great mistakes are the towers known as the “Dubai Towers” in the Turkish Public, which came into existence with the help of foreign capital (Fig. 3). In this project, which will be realized as a business and residence center by Dubai International Properties (DIP), there will be 5 star hotels, office areas, recreation and shopping centers. In the project, which has been planned to be finished in 2008, the height of the towers are intended to be 300 meters [4]. This project, planned to be located at the continuation of the new “CBD” axis on the European side, has attracted a lot of criticism with the slogan that it entered the market with a series of technical mistakes. The project, with an approximate cost of 550 million Dollars, which has been introduced with the slogan of “We are coming to change your Shopping Culture”, is evaluated as a project with data that will lead to problems in many different dimensions. The WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

194 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability most important factor that made the local authorities and the central government enthusiastic about this investment has been the fact that the investors from Dubai have offered to direct further investments into the city corresponding to approximately 9 times more than the investment concerned, after the construction of the towers [5].

Figure 3:

Dubai Towers.

The investment group claimed that they would create a “symbol” for Istanbul along with this giant project and the Turkish authorities were pleased with this offer. They forgot that the city that they had been talking about had had a past of 2500 years and that it incorporated unmatched natural and cultural symbols in all parts; rather they started to have a very enthusiastic attitude towards these “artificial images”.

3

The common problems in all three projects presented as the vision projects of Istanbul The decisions of intensity do not match the higher planning decisions and segmental zoning and construction rights are granted to those regions of the city, The processes of planning, decision and implementation were conducted in an order that do not match professional acceptance and ethics processes, and the necessary legal approval processes have not been completed, In the projects brought up for the “Benefit of Society” there are no spatial reflections for this process and decision, and there are also decisions that are in contradiction with this overall decision, such as the announcement of coastal areas as “housing” areas. The use of coastal areas are not opened sufficiently for social use, Inclusion of definitions that do not conform to the planned construction technique,

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Factors, silhouettes and heights will be formed that shall have a very adverse effect on the silhouette of the city and the infrastructure, The infrastructure, transportation plan and projects for absorption of the intensity to be created will not be analyzed, A construction type not respecting the historical identity is being encouraged, These can be cited as the major criticisms common for all three project areas.

4

How do international agreements interpret these arrangements within the process of integration to the European Union?

When these projects are interpreted from the perspective of international agreements that Turkey has signed and is obliged to conform to, and when the articles concerned and profiles of the projects are compared, the following inferences can be made. First of all, one can approach the subject within the framework of “European Urban Condition”. This condition, accepted in the year 1992, reads as follows in the articles concerned: “…The liveliness of a city is dependent on balanced urban settlement models and the preservation of the settlement characteristics of the city.” With this principle, local governments are given the responsibility to regenerate and rehabilitate urban centers to provide sustainability. Similarly, with the principles mentioned in part four under the heading ‘Architectural Look at Cities’, it is emphasized that urban heritage will constitute a point of reference for future generations, so a lot of responsibility lies with the local authorities for the preservation and sustainability of this heritage and that urban economic revival has a significant role for preservation. [6] Another significant agreement, which can constitute a criterion for all the three projects, is“Charter of European Cities and Towns Towards Sustainability – The Aalburg Charter” adopted in accordance with the decisions of the Rio Summit in 1994 [7]. With this agreement, which is among one of the most important steps for the establishment of sustainable cities, it was agreed that European cities had been the guardians of tradition, culture and cultural heritage and that they had the responsibility to preserve and protect this heritage, to pass it on to the future and that the local authorities had significant duties to reach this goal. In addition to these agreements, “The Agreement for the Preservation of European Architectural Heritage” suggesting the development of basic common policies for the preservation of the joint architectural heritage of Europe, and “Sustainable Cities Report, 1996” prepared between 1993 and 1996, defending and explaining the concept of sustainability in urban areas, and the contents of the projects referred to above are not in line with each other [8]. All three of the projects indicate significant risks for the sustainability of the city culture, integration with its natural structure, sustainability and balanced development of architectural heritage and establishment of healthy and balanced city centers [9].

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196 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability In particular, the identity of these projects, which are shaped in a manner of preferential treatment to privileged income groups with speculative developments that replaced public common benefits, do not conform with the valuable “traces” of the history of the city for 2500 years, which has hosted many civilizations and incorporates many features about them.

5

Conclusion

These projects, which are occurring in very valuable parts of the city both by the central government and the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality with the purpose of “marketing the city” and “pulling foreign capital into the city”, were designed and proposed in a manner that is in contradiction with legal systems, planning, approval and implementation processes, principles and norms of planning and urbanization, public expectations and benefits and professional ethics. They disregard the values of the city at once, do not suit with the identity of Istanbul and disregard environmental factors such as transportation relations, environmental functions, environmental factors etc. There is no doubt that such an important city definitely needs the functional areas referred to in the three projects cited above. When we approach the matter from another perspective, we can conclude that “regeneration”, “renewal”, “gaining new functions” and/or “production once again” are the correct planning tools for the parts of the city that have lost their function in time, have become dilapidated and are unable to meet the needs for today. However, the problem here is the mentality established on the perspective of adopting point-based decisions without integrating them within the city as a whole and with the Strategic Plan, without respecting the values of the city, which are its essense, and assuming that opening the city to foreign capital in an “unconditional” manner means being a “world city”, therefore refusing all the established systems of the city, including its participation and governance channels.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, Chamber of City Planners Istanbul Branch; Activity Report for the VIIIth Period, 20042006, Istanbul Turkey, pp: 168,175,178. 2006. www.ibb.gov.tr. Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, Chamber of City Planners Istanbul Branch; Activity Report for the VIIIth Period, 20042006, Istanbul Turkey, pp:178, 2006. http:www.dexigner.com. Project Report of the İstanbul Municipality / Vision Projects of İstanbul, Turkey, pp: 223.2005. Özden, P., Turgut S., 2002. Local Governments and Planning in the Process of Adaptation to and Integration with the European Union, 10th National Regional Science / Regional Planning Congress, Urban and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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[7] [8] [9]

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Regional Regeneration, Adaptation to and Integration with the European Union, 17-18 October 2002, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, p. 51-60,2003. Ed: Kalelioğlu U. and Ozkan N., 2000. International Environmental Agreements that Turkey is a Party of, Izmir Bar Publication, Izmir. Charter of European Cities and Towns towards Sustainability (The Aalburg Charter), European Sustainable Cities & Towns Campaign, 1994. http://euronet.uwe.ac.uk/eurosustcit/campaign.htm.

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Use of atmospheric modelling for the territorial planning of technological structures G. Genon, E. Brizio & M. Poggio Turin Polytechnic, Italy

Abstract The introduction and distribution of transport activities, energy infrastructures and technological plants throughout the territory are operations that must be conducted taking into consideration some constraints or objectives, and that of respecting environmental quality and compatibility seems to be increasingly more important, in particular with reference to the atmospheric transport of gaseous emissions. On the basis of defined emission scenarios, corresponding to hypothesised technological conditions, it is necessary to evaluate the loads of the emitted pollutants and then to evaluate the modifications of the air quality on the basis of atmospheric transport mechanisms. In order to obtain such results, it is necessary to use the correct instruments to first of all evaluate the value of the emissions and then to describe the atmospheric transport in a reliable way and to establish the damage in terms of externalities or effects on human health. In order to define correct territorial planning instruments, different scenarios derived from different location or technological choices must be compared. Three examples are given to illustrate such an approach: - optimal collocation of an incinerator for municipal solid waste, taking into consideration both emission and impact aspects and the benefit that can be derived from the elimination of the environmental load due to conventional thermal and electric systems that are substituted by new systems; - evaluation of either concentrated or distributed cogeneration systems, in consideration of the different potentialities, technological configurations and spatial distributions of the different possibilities; - verification of the effect of interventions to limit urban vehicle traffic or of a different road distribution on the quality of the air. Some results that were obtained for the three aforementioned cases for the Piemonte Region are presented here, but the main purpose of this article is to show the necessity of using this type of approach as an aid to territorial choices. Keywords: atmospheric pollution, territorial planning, models, externalities, energy. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060191

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1

Introduction

The introduction of large technological structures or flows of vehicle traffic into the texture of metropolitan areas is an operation that is increasingly more subject to resistance and preoccupation by the local populations, in particular concerning the foreseen atmospheric pollution and the changes to the quality of the air. Even though the role of technology is surely important in setting up ever more efficient impact control systems, these instruments should however be accompanied by a careful evaluation of the environmental incidence; each single intervention should therefore be evaluated taking the environmental constraints into account and adopting methodologies that allow estimations to be made of the effective environmental result that the coupling of technological solutions and the receptive capacity of the surrounding environment involves. The decision makers, at various territorial levels, must be put in a position where they can recognise what the results of different technological scenarios or different localisation options might be and then to be able to use such information as part of the set of considerations that make up the substratum of territorial planning. Sufficiently developed and precise forecasting calculation instruments nowadays exist that can be used as an aid in such evaluations and it is on the capacity of using such instruments that this paper is concentrated, while presenting some detailed results relative to particular situations and trying to draw more general considerations of a methodological type from these results.

2

Definition of emission factors

The starting point for any estimation of territorial impact is the knowledge of the actual atmospheric type pollutant flow that is emitted from a determined technological structure; in the absence of such quantitative information it is in fact not possible to carry out a concrete estimation of the changes in the quality of the air and consequently of the possible risks or damage. It is usually difficult to have direct evidence of emissive flows that one can deal with, either because we face forecasting evaluations, and the technological object whose emissions one intends to measure is not yet available, or because one intends studying a phenomenon that involves numerous sources arranged throughout the territory, whose analytical quantification is extremely difficult to put into practice. In these situations it is necessary to make use of forecasting methods based on emission factors, that is to say, on numerical indications that are able to correlate the quantity of emitted pollutant to a specific magnitude that characterises the dimension of the emitting source; as such a variable is known or fixed in the particular application, an at least approximate knowledge of the emissive flow can be derived from the use of the emission factor. In order to clarify this concept, mention can be made to some examples of such factors: the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of energy generated by a thermoelectric plant, the flux of thin powders dispersed in the air per volumetric unit of heated houses, the quantity of solvent dispersed in the air due to painting operations from a unitary quantity of raw material. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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The thus schematised emission factors are functions of various magnitudes, that is: - the raw materials that are used - the technological process that is considered - the operative conditions from the process and plant engineering point of view - the pollutant removal systems and they can undergo large variations due to the specific situations; in some cases they can be estimated through hypothesis of mass and heat balance, while in other cases, a definition can be made in a statistical manner starting from experimental type indications. The topic of the estimation and verification of emission factors, given the importance of this knowledge and interpretation instrument able to evaluate and forecast the impacting significance of determined technologies, has been dealt with for some time now by the most important environmental agencies at a worldwide level (U.S. E.P.A., E.E.A, European IPPC Bureau, national environmental agencies) and reviews and inventories are periodically published on this matter. On the basis of such data, it is therefore possible to consider that the estimation of the generation of pollutants, which, from a determined situation of the scenario of the sources is destined to derive, can be considered sufficiently reliable.

3

Modelling of the atmospheric modelling and externalities

The next step in the described study consists of the quantitative definition of the correlation between emitted pollutant flows and changes in the quality of the air, and more precisely, the increase in the concentrations of the pollutants that can be found in determined and significant points and in each moment in the area surrounding the emitting source. From the point of view of the phenomenological modelling of the thus induced correlation, it should be recalled that different factors can be influent, that is: - the modality of the emission - the meteorology of the receiving environment - the surrounding orographic situation - material exchange and transformation phenomena in the atmosphere - the receiving characteristics of the ground. A great deal of literature exists on describing the physical, chemical and physic-chemical phenomena that subtend such factors and on how to use this knowledge in the preparation of mathematical models to use as calculation instruments that must be calibrated to the specific situations; models of different complexity and facility of use are available, of different specificity for particular environmental situations or for different types of pollutants with different environmental destinations, for different temporal or spatial horizons on which the forecasting knowledge of the levels of concentrations, starting from the flows, must be practised. It is not the intention of this work to make a summary collection of this very rich literature, but rather to point out that it is possible to find models that couple a good rigorousness of methodology and significance of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

202 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability representation with practical applicability, that above all involve acceptable calculation times and specific site knowledge, especially from the meteorological point of view; their use will subsequently be demonstrated. The scenario of the calculated air concentrations is in itself a useful result, making it possible to compare the impact with standards of predetermined environmental quality, in order to allow defined uses of a resource (in this particular case that of the atmosphere); but it seems to be very important, in order to estimate the real acceptability or negativity of a determined polluting situation, to correlate the levels of environmental concentrations with the frequency of hygiene-sanitary damage to humans and possibly to translate such damage into monetary terms. A significant amount of international experience also exists concerning this aspect, in particular with the purpose of defining two aspects: 1) the identification of the number of cases of various pathologies connected to defined levels of quality of the air and statistical interpretation of the results; 2) the econometric evaluation of the costs for the public operator of a single pathology, from the point of view of the costs due to lost activity or due to effective necessity of medical treatment. It is not intended to report here the large amount of literature on these two aspects in detail, but to underline that this is a consolidated methodology based on statistical results obtained from different sources, though with the inevitable defects of numerical discrepancy; the application of the method will be the subject of some examples reported in the following chapter.

4

Comparison of scenarios

In the practical application of territorial planning events, the problem often arises of the comparison of scenarios, by this we mean the different technological solutions, different hypotheses of location, different hypotheses of production or supplies of energy flows (electricity and/or heat). While the definition of polluting flows corresponding to different design hypotheses is basically an already acquired knowledge patrimony, how these source factors can be compared still has to be studied in depth to offer the decision makers a correct and practically usable basis of environmental comparison. The adoption of the previously schematised approach, made up of the use of emission factors, from the reconstruction of the scenario of quality corresponding to a determined situation, from the aggregated evaluation of the risk or damage corresponding to a determined environmental situation, seems to be the correct way of arriving at a quantisation of the environmental effect of a determined hypothesis. A procedure of this type should obviously come after a verification of the minimum plant capacity requirements of reducing the emissions that each evaluated system should possess, as this seems to be a minimal, irremissible requirement that should however guarantee the adoption of the best technology for the considered systems. However, after this, as there exist comparison hypotheses, dealing more with environmental compatibility, it is on the evaluation of this compatibility that the described approach is used. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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The considered operation is surely complex as far as acquiring process, environmental and territorial information, the necessity of calibrating predictive models on dispersion or atmospheric destiny, and the complexity of the calculation especially in complex territorial structures or with a multiplicity of sources is concerned; anyway these obstacles must be overcome, in view of the result that can be obtained. The procedure, in light of the aforementioned aspects of complexity, must basically be directed to evaluate cases with large environmental loads, where the best reduction technology does not seem enough and it is therefore necessary to assess the compatibility on the territory.

5 Examples of application of the methodology Example 1: localization of a MSW incinerator The city of Turin planned to construct a MSW incineration plant, with a potentiality of about 1200 t/d; once the size and the technology were decided, the flows of the pollutants into the atmosphere and the thermal and electric power that could be used outside the plant were calculated. As far as the pollutants are concerned, it is of fundamental importance to understand the effect on the quality of the territory, while for the thermal power, it is very important the local energy network and the possibilities of transferring heat to local district heating existing systems; the consequent substitution of conventional sources and the elimination of the corresponding loads represent an environmental benefit. Three possible sites of the metropolitan territory were considered and the topographic situation, the local meteorology, the possibility of energy transfer, the conventional substituted sources and the consequent benefits in terms of environmental load elimination were evaluated for each of these sites. The fallout maps of the main pollutants (dust, nitrogen oxides, micropollutants) were drawn up for the three locations using a Gaussian type forecasting model (the AERMOD model by U.S. EPA [1]) and the concentrations were evaluated through a comparison with environmental standards (an example of a map is shown in Figure 1, taken from [2]); once the acceptability was showed for each of the sites, the possibility of setting up an energy network, thus contributing to the metropolitan energy production, supplying the district heating network and substituting individual domestic heating plants was then examined; the latter two aspects involve the elimination of environmental loads that at present exist. After evaluating the present and future environmental situation and translating the environmental loads into externalities, through consolidated correlations for a metropolitan territory (the ExternE methodology, [3]), it was possible to establish either an increase or decrease of the externalities for each site and this verification made it possible to establish a scale of priorities, from this point of view, of the three territorial situations that were considered. Table 1 (taken from [4]) illustrates the results, in terms of externalities, of such a comparison.

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Figure 1:

Isoconcentration map for the incinerator placed in Volpiano.

Table 1:

Environmental balance for the three localizations. STRADA DEL GERBIDO FRANCESE EURO/year EURO/year EURO/year

VOLPIANO

AVOIDED DAMAGES

ADDITIONAL DAMAGES

SCALE

PARAMETERS TSP, CO, SO2, incinerator LOCAL µ−pollutants TSP, CO, SO2, NOx, incinerator REGIONAL µ−pollutants, nitrates and sulphates incinerator GLOBAL CO2 TOTAL displaced LOCAL TSP, CO, SO2 heating displaced TSP, CO, SO2, NOx, REGIONAL heating nitrates and sulphates displaced GLOBAL CO2, CH4 heating electricity TSP, CO, SO2, NOx, REGIONAL production nitrates and sulphates electricity GLOBAL CO2 production landfill

GLOBAL

CO2, CH4 TOTAL

ENVIRONMENTAL BALANCE

66.690

115.501

113.976

1.329.968

1.329.968

1.329.968

827.904 2.224.561

827.904 2.273.373

827.904 2.271.847

6.228

168.487

165.113

18.696

289.113

321.104

3.360

62.160

71.040

5.554.493

5.804.158

6.219.529

410.285

428.726

459.408

2.085.367 8.078.429

2.085.367 8.838.012

2.085.367 9.321.561

5.853.867

6.564.639

7.049.714

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Example 2: evaluation of a cogeneration hypothesis A proposal was made, in a town of about 30.000 inhabitants, in Piedmont, to construct a cogeneration type electric production plant capable of producing electric energy to use in the energy network and, at the same time, to produce heat that could be used in a district heating system for an urban area; on the basis of data concerning potentially connectable thermal utilisation and of the configuration of the proposed cogeneration system (about 30 MW of thermal necessity, and cogenerated electric energy for the network), the proposal of installing a plant made up of engines (10MW) and boilers (40 MW) was examined. It seemed important to evaluate the compatibility of such an installation and the significance in terms of environmental effects [5]. The loads of the main pollutants introduced by the new system and those that would be substituted are shown in Figure 2. While the result for the carbon dioxide can immediately be used, as the effect of this pollutant is not local, and as it is significant to directly compare the emitted flows to estimate an environmental balance, for the other pollutants (nitrogen oxide, sulphur oxide, dust) as in the previous case, it was necessary to evaluate the fallout maps, taking into consideration the newly introduced loads and those eliminated in order to verify where to find benefits or deteriorations on the territory and of what entity. Figure 3 shows an example of a map concerning the differences in concentrations between the present situation, before the intervention, and situations that can be hypothesises for after the intervention. 0

CASE 1

CASE 2

CASE 2

CASE 2

20

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FUTURE ACTUAL FUTURE 5

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0.8

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ACTUAL FUTURE ACTUAL FUTURE

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NO X emission (t/year)

local scale emissions

Figure 2:

15

NOx (t/y)

0.0

CASE 1

10

ACTUAL

0

CASE 1

5

global scale emissions

Environmental loads before and after the intervention.

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Figure 3:

Difference of concentrations between after and before the intervention.

The two types of comparison previously described (the first global and the second local) made it possible, in the specific case, to show the sure general benefits of the initiative, but with a certain local impact in the zone immediately surrounding the plant. The verification of acceptability of such a degrade on the particular site, and the weight that should be comparatively given to such a burden with respects to the general benefits is an aspect of political choice of territorial planning; the data that was supplied are certainly a necessary aid for this operation. Example 3: effect of the limiting of urban traffic The city of Cuneo (about 60.000 inhabitants) is evaluating the effect of limiting traffic in some central zones on the air quality in order to establish the opportunity of defining new limitations. So as to carry out this kind of evaluation, described into details in [6], it was first of all necessary to set up a modelling instrument that was able to correlate traffic flows (and their emissions that could be evaluated on the basis of known specific factors of emission of the vehicular fleet) with the quality of the air; such an instrument needs to take into consideration particular situations concerning the geometrical structure of the town, the wind field and the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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turbulence at a ground level. A model that had already been used in other urban areas [7] was verified and calibrated according to the specific territorial requirements (an example of such a calibration is given in Figure 4). 900

measured OSPM (V=30km/h)

800

OSPM (V= 30 km/h), k=0.02, + background conc 3

CO concentration (µg/m )

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

0

10

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hours

Figure 4:

3

NOx concentration ( ◊ g/m )

350 300

Measured and calculated CO concentrations.

Lineare (NOx,winter, at 7 PM) Lineare (NOx, summer, at 1 PM)

Worst pollution dispersion conditions

250

y = 0,1764x

200 150

y = 0,1184x 100 50 0 500

700

900

1100

1300

1500

1700

Emisemissione sion QtQ((g/km/h) g/km/h)

Figure 5:

Maximum emissions in order to comply with limits.

This model was then used as a forecasting model to first of all evaluate how a limitation of the circulating vehicles (type of vehicles admitted) would influence the daily distribution of polluting concentrations. In more general terms, the maximum flows that the vehicle traffic altogether, however constituted, could emit in order to respect determined environmental quality levels in the worst atmospheric conditions in both the summer and winter periods were calculated WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

208 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability and these results are reported in Figure 5. This latter appears, from the point of view of limiting strategy, to be the most significant response that the Public Organisation can consider as an aid for their intervention policies.

6

Conclusions

The three previously mentioned examples illustrate the applicability of the proposed methodology for different contexts and technologies. It is important to underline how, while this approach can be considered of a general nature, the results obtained for a certain situation cannot be extrapolated for other applications. While the correlations between technology and emissive flows can be considered general, the environmental effect of the latter is extremely sitespecific as it depends on local aspects such as meteorology, the street geometry or orography aspects and on synergy phenomena between different pollutants. Even the damage aspects depend on the particular situations, as the distribution of the population, the closeness of sensitive targets, the value that can be attributed to damage factors are all parameters that can certainly vary from situation to situation. Although it is important to state that in order to obtain a precise numerical result, or even only a parametric comparison of different situations, it is necessary to carry out a specific calculation procedure for each particular case according to the indicated procedure, the study of the operative guidelines however constitutes a procedure that can be generalised and which can draw some positive aspects from a specific study that has already been performed elsewhere. The thus described instrument can be considered to be an important step in territorial planning of some technological interventions; though not able to eliminate all the problems, it can offer the decision makers a reliable evaluation instrument.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

U.S. EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Revised Draft user’s guide for the AMS/EPA regulatory model AERMOD, U.S. EPA, 2002. Brizio, E., Genon, G., Poggio, M., Results of atmospheric dispersion model for the localization of a MSW incinerator, W.I.T., ENVIROSOFT 2004. European Commission – DG XII, Externalities of Energy, volume 7: Methodology 1998 update, (EUR 19083 EN), Bruxelles, 1999. Brizio, E., Genon, G., Poggio, M., Comparison of locations for a MSW incineration plant, W.I.T., WASTE MANAGEMENT 2004. Politecnico di Torino, Analisi energetica e ambientale delprogetto di teleriscaldamento di Mondovì, 2005. Genon, G., Brizio, E., Modelling the effects of traffic emissions on the air quality, W.I.T., AIR POLLUTION 2005. Berkowicz, R., Olesen, H., Jensen, S., Operational Street Pollution Model, User’s Guide to Win OSPM, National Environmental Research Institute, Denmark, 2003. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Urban regeneration of historic towns: regeneration strategies for Pauni, India P. Parlewar & Y. Fukukawa School of Architecture and Planning, Chiba University, Japan

Abstract The urban regeneration of historic towns is a process of inducing life into decaying assets and developing future potential. These assets and potentials may consist of built heritage, traditional industries or cultural resources. The research is a study of an historic town in central India called Pauni which is famous for its historic buildings and traditional economic industry. However, at present these assets are degenerating due to industrialization. Between the 14th and 16th centuries, the town achieved prosperity because of location, linkages, political patronage and existing economic skills. Later the town could not achieve growth due to a lack of economic potential and out migration of skilled workers. Also the inadequate development polices affected the town’s growth and with the passage of time it retained the historic settlement pattern. The town today has a strong potential for tourism as there are numerous historic buildings. The town economy is dominated by household industry of skilled master craftsmen involved in producing fabric from silk and cotton. But at present, this traditional heritage and the economic potential of the town are struggling to survive. The research looks into the town’s assets and potentials that could be a base for development and sustainability. Keywords: historic towns, urban regeneration, urban conservation, urban planning, built heritages, household industry, handloom cottage industry, sustainability, weavers, tourism.

1

Introduction

The settlement patterns in India are an overlay of civilizations belonging to different periods in the history of Hindu, Buddhist, Mughals and British rule. This overlaid pattern has developed urban forms that reflect the diversity in social and cultural needs of the inhabitants. The architecture of these urban forms WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060201

210 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability has interesting elements like forts, palaces, traditional houses and religious buildings. Many cities in India have these overlaid patterns of historic architecture but, in the process of urbanization, they are struggling to survive. In this process, the industrialization of major urban centres has forced the rural population to migrate to urban areas in search of better economic opportunities, thereby reducing rural growth. The research is study of a rural town, Pauni, which has historic settlement pattern of various periods in history. Due to a lack of physical and economical development, the town retains its historic architecture and traditional economic skills but is struggling to sustain itself the in modern economy. This research tries to study the problems and prospects for the potential of historic buildings and traditional economic activity for the regeneration of the town.

2 Pauni: the town profile Pauni, a walled city with a population of 21,857 is located in central India. The total area of the town is about 294.12 hectares and is located about 85 km from a major city Nagpur (Figure 1). Out of various overlaid patterns of human settlements, the first settlement in Pauni dates back to 100 B.C. when Buddhism was flourishing in India. Later in the 2nd century A.D. the town was under Hindu rule. The dominance of rule continued until the 12th century. After these dates the town was invaded by Mughals. Again in the 15th and 16th centuries the town came under Hindu rule. This period is generally referred as medieval period of Indian history. The town became part of British rule when the East India Company took Nagpur and the surrounding region in 1817.

New Delhi

Nagpur Bombay

Arabian Sea

Figure 1:

Pauni

Bay of Bengal

Map of India, street view of town and Pauni fort wall.

2.1 The prosperity and decline Once, during prosperity, the town increased its population to 60,000 persons but the political instability and industrialization lead to a decline of historic assets and traditional economic industry. It was the period between the 12th to 17th WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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centuries when there was political and administrative stability in the town. The traditional economic activities flourished because of this stability. The town gained its glory by becoming a major exporter for silk and cotton fabric as cocoons and cotton were grown in abundance in the surrounding region. The climate, location and political patronage lead to flourishing trade and commerce. The navigable river gave accessibility to export its product in the region and other parts of the nation. During 1750–1800 political patronage was lost. The administrative instability and industrialization of many cities in the surrounding area reduced the demand for silk. Modernization invaded with the influence of the western countries and reduced the demand for fabric. Hence many skilled workers migrated in search of better opportunities. 2.2 The Unique feature of Pauni The town is unique and famous in the region for its history, culture and tradition. It is well known in the surrounding area as the ‘Town of Temples’ as there are more than 150 temples. Hence many festivals are celebrated in the town, attracting people from the surrounding area. In the past the town was famous for its silk industry and skilled master craftsmanship of the weaving community. During industrialization, power looms replaced the hand looms and reduced the importance of master craftsmanship. But many of the skilled master craftsmen still exist today and they export products to different parts of country. Apart from this, various political patronages left numerous assets of heritage sites. The heritage sites of the town include temples, a fort, an archaeological excavation site, step wells, caves, Buddhist stupas and traditional style residences. 2.3 The physical environment of the town The town environment has a picturesque setting of an earthen fortification with a moat. The natural scenic places, built heritage and river front together give a unique physical setting to the town. Today, about 51.10% of the area within the municipal limits is developed and 48.10% is undeveloped. The physical growth is stagnant as there is no economic potential. Also, because of the fortification, physical growth has been restricted. But in the past few years certain parts of town have grown outside the fortification forming a major activity node near historic entrance gate (Figures 2 and 3). Even though the town has many assets and much potential there have been quit a few physical interventions. The inadequacy of this intervention has forced the town to survive on a bare minimum of infrastructure, below reasonable living standards. The general infrastructure of the town shows poor conditions of roads, lack of potable water supply and sanitation services. This has caused unhealthy living conditions in the town.

3

The heritage sites

Most of the heritage sites of Pauni are from the medieval period. The architecture of these sites includes use of local sand stone and wood with ancient construction technologies. Many accidental discoveries have found relics belonging to WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

212 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 1stcentury B.C. and 12th century A.D. [4]. The frequent occurrence of such discoveries has shown that there may be undiscovered layers of historic towns beneath.

Legend Residential; Commercial Transport Water Bodies Public/ Semi Public Vacant

Figure 2:

Landuse Map of Pauni, view of the riverfront, temple and residential architecture. LEGEND

C

S

EX

- Excavated Buddhist Stupas G - Ghats

GG

North

UE ST M EF

S

ST - Step wells G

T

UE - Unexcavated castle R

V

ST

T

T

T

G

T - Large Temples ▃ - Small and Medium Temples V - Votive Pillars

M

EX

V

EX ST

GA

EF - Earthen Fortification

M

SF

R M

280 M

S

Figure 3:

M

C - Historic Caves EX - Archaeological Excavation Sites SF - Stone Fort Wall

840 M

Scale

S EF

- Traditional Residences

M - Historic Moat

R V

M

G

T

R

T

GA - Historic Gate

Map showing various heritage sites in Pauni.

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In the present physical form of the settlement, numerous temples are scattered around. The architecture of these is influenced by ancient Hindu temple architecture from central and southern India with decorative ornamentations and interesting spatial forms. Many of these temples are in private ownership. So they are well maintained and protected under the Archaeological Survey of India Act. Various excavations have explored the possibility that there might have been a Buddhist settlement beneath or around the town. But the exact traces of this settlement have not been found. The excavation of 3 Stupas has explored numerous relics. These three excavation sites dates back to the 1st century B.C. and 2nd century A.D. [1]. Within the walled city there are three step wells constructed out of sand stone. A step well in Indian architecture is an interesting architectural element that have stepped platforms with elaborate decorations, acting as a communal space for the community. In Indian cites, connections of river and city form an important transitional space through architecture elements called Ghats. In Pauni about 5 Ghats connect rivers making a picturesque riverfront. Such a historic towns have a unique house pattern called Wada. A Wada as a house pattern was evolved during the medieval period and have two or more courtyards and most of the activities are concentrated around a central courtyard. The architecture of Wada consists of ornate pillars, doors, windows and motifs made out of wood by skilled craftsmen. Pauni has many such Wada in private ownership. Apart from these, there are many other heritages like ancient caves, fort walls, votive pillars and an historic moat that gives historic ambience to the whole walled city. The Archaeological Survey of India and The Indian National Thrust for Art and Cultural Heritage manage most of the heritage. Although some of the heritage sites are protected under law but many of them need urgent attention for preservation. 3.1 The problems and potential of built heritage All of these built heritages in Pauni show strong potential to conserve because it’s unique architecture of ancient technology, use of materials, artistic values and historic significance. The important reasons to neglect the potential of these assets are inadequate administrative setup, unavailable finances and ownerships with different organizations. But despite this, the community has shown a strong will to conserve and many of the heritage sites in private ownership are well maintained. Interestingly, local citizens have taken the initiative by forming a ‘Community Conservation Unit’ that has increased the attention of various authorities in the region.

4

The traditional economic industry

4.1 Handloom cottage industry: a perspective At present there are many economic activities in Pauni but the dominant part of economic activity is shared by household industry, i.e. handloom cottage industry. Also agriculture is a main source of income for many inhabitants due to the lack of manufacturing industries. Since other economic activities in town are WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

214 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability self sustaining, the research focuses on handloom cottage industry as it is struggling to sustain itself. Once, Pauni and the surrounding regions were the largest producers of cotton in India. As cotton was grown in abundance, the handloom cottage industry flourished in Pauni. Some historic traces have shown that during its peak period there were about 25,000 people involved in this industry. The decline of the industry continued with industrialization and in 1955 there were about 13,854 peoples involved in this occupation [3]. Unfortunately, after this the decline was much sharper and today there are about 1296 persons involved in this occupation. Also, there are many more weavers who own looms but cannot continue this occupation as the demand of products is reduced. 4.2 Importance of weaving in Pauni From historic times the handloom cottage industry has retained its significance because of the production of high and medium count artistic fabrics. The fabrics produced from silk and cotton have been the important products of the town. The unique feature of weaving in Pauni is its artistic design of master craftsmanship which is produced on high count fabric with use of natural colours. 4.3 The prosperity and decline The abundance of cotton as raw material, favourable climate and availability of water were the main reasons the weaving industry in Pauni flourished. During the political patronage of Hindu and Mughal rulers, the industry was uplifted to boost the economy of the town. Particularly during the Mughal rule, the industry prospered by using gold and silver in the fabric. The uniqueness of the fabric and available skills of spinning and weaving of skilled master craftsmen were the main reason for the growth of this industry. In its peak period, the town had a good export trade in regional and national markets. At the same time the coarse fabric was easily disposed off in the local market. The end of political patronage and unstable administration precipitated the decline of the town. Famine occurred during various periods and also increased the costs of living, further reducing the demand of fabric. This reduced the wages of weaving and led to a high cost of production. Moreover, an invasion of new technology and demand for machine made fabric lead to the decline of the industry. As a result of the decline, weavers began to work as ordinary labourers or in agriculture. Hence the independent weaving system collapsed and the income of a weaver reduced to Rs. 300 – 350 /- ($ 6–7) per month. 4.4 The weaving community: physical and socio-economic Although weaving was once prestigious work in Pauni, today, because of economic disabilities, most of the weavers live in poor physical conditions. The houses of weavers are predominantly one room or two rooms. The loom and weaver’s family coexist in a single room. In studies it was found that 55% don’t

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have access to potable water supply and about 37% don’t have their own sanitary facilities. The dominant age group of weavers undertaking this occupation is above 40 with a marginalised participation from the younger generation as there is no future economic prospect in this occupation. Generally, the weavers in Pauni fall into one of three categories: a) weavers who are involved in producing silk fabric, b) weavers who are involved in producing high count cotton fabric and c) weavers who produce coarse cotton fabric. The weavers in first two categories fetch good money as there is available demand but those who are involved in producing coarse fabric earns below Rs. 350 /- ($ 7) per month despite the skills of master craftsmanship. Many weavers are in debt and borrow money from friends and family. From the analysis it was observed that 60% have taken loans for buying raw materials. Interestingly, in many case studies it was found that most of the weavers have extraordinary skills and strong willingness to conserve this occupation. 4.5 The weaving cycle and process: past and present In the past, an independent weaving system was dominant in Pauni. During this time the factory system and master weaver system used to share certain parts of production. In 1940, about 80% of weavers were working as independent weavers. In the independent weaving system a weaver would undertake most of the activities like the purchase of raw materials, production and marketing. The advantage of this system was that weavers were able to set their own prices and had access to a free market. In this system considerable profit was gained by the weaver. Also the factory system was stable and profitable because of a high production cycle. At present the independent weaver system has collapsed and cooperatives provide raw materials to weavers. The wavers then have to produce and supply the product to the cooperatives. In return the cooperative sells the product in regional markets. The advantage of this system is that there is a continuous supply of raw materials. But the disadvantage of this system is that the weaver has lost the access to a free market and total gains to the weaver are marginalized. To understand the production cycle, the process of production was analyzed and it was found that the silk fabric weavers are highly productive but the cotton fabric weavers have to undertake a complicated process. The initial part of the cotton fabric production process is time consuming and needs large preparation and storage space. In the preparation process the weavers have to employee 3 to 4 persons and this increases the cost of production. The appliances and techniques used by weavers have also had an effect on the production process. The appliances used by many of the weavers are outdated and the poor weaver could not afford to repair or replace it. Also the lengthy process of preparation, time consumption and high labour intensiveness has reduced the productivity and hence the demand for the fabrics.

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216 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Present Weaving System

System before 1940 Independent Weaver System

Raw Materials

Independent Master Weaver Factory Weaver System System System

Factory System

Master Weaver System

Raw Materials

Cocoons

Cocoons

Cotton

Production

Cotton

Production

Processing Raw Materials

Processing Raw Materials

Loosing and Warping

Loosing and Warping

Fixing on loom

Fixing on loom

Weaving

Weaving

Finishing final fabric

Finishing final fabric

Markets

Markets

National

Regional

National

Local

Past System

Figure 4: Group 1.Cocoon fabric 2.High count cotton fabric 3.Low count cotton fabric

Part of process that no more exists

Local

Part of process that exists to certain level

The process of weaving – past and present.

Length of fabric

Days for Preparation

Days for weaving

Persons involved

5.03 m

1 Days

15 Days

3 Persons

8.23 m

14 Days

4.5 Days

5.03 m

14 Days

2.5 days

Figure 5:

Regional

Present System

Part in which weaver is involved

5

Cooperatives System

Cost of raw materials @900 Rs. ($ 2.6)

Wages

Price

350 Rs. ($ 7.92)

2100 Rs. ($ 47.55)

4 Persons

@115 Rs. ($ 2.6 )

138 Rs. ($ 3.12)

238 Rs. ($ 5.39)

2 Persons

@120 Rs. ($ 2.72)

35 Rs. ($ 0.79)

175 Rs. ($ 3.96)

Cost of products, wages and time consumed.

Role of authorities and regeneration efforts

The Town and Country Planning Department (TCPO) and Municipal Corporation look after the urban development in Pauni. The role of the TCPO is plan formulation and financing and the Municipal Corporation look after the implementation of plan. Various other responsibilities of conservation, pilgrimage, tourism and economic activities are shared by many different authorities. This has increased overlapping responsibilities and difficulties in coordination, there by reducing the efficiency in development. Efforts to regenerate Pauni include the planning activities by various governmental and non-governmental organizations. The regional development plan has emphasized development control and conservation of historic WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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monuments in the region. The Pauni Development Plan, 1991 has planned for manufacturing industries outside the town [2]. Many of the infrastructural development proposed in the plan are not implemented because of a lack of finances with the local authorities. In this present regeneration effort, the inner voice of the settlement is not reflected as there is no concern for existing assets and potentials. Various non-governmental organizations (NGO) have made some efforts to restore and document the built heritage of the town. The efforts have also been made for publication and to achieve the governmental support to conserve the traditional assets of the town, but these efforts have remained partial for regeneration.

6

Problems and need for sustainability

The historic ambience of Pauni no longer exists. Most of the efforts have not given sufficient base to uplift the town. The urban development authority and other organizations need financial support and a better administrative setup. The decaying heritage and traditional economic activities have raised the issue of sustainability of the town. The physical and economic activity problems of Pauni are as follows. a. The heritage sites and natural scenic places are gradually degrading and some of them need immediate protection. Important heritage sites do not have the basic infrastructural services like paved roads, electricity and drainage, which is decaying them further. Also, in many parts of the town there is poor physical and social infrastructure that has affected the health and hygiene of the inhabitants. b. The dominant part of the economy is shared by the handloom cottage industry, which is struggling to sustain itself because of reduced demand. c. The production process has been labour intensive, time consuming and expensive with outdated production technology. Necessary efforts are needed to facilitated training, education and finances to improve the productivity. d. The poor physical living environment, lack of space and infrastructure has reduced the efficiency of the weavers. The town has many environmental and traditional assets that could be recycled for present needs. Recycling these assets could uplift rural poverty with existing skills for the sustainability of the town. Moreover the existing economic activity still has demand and shows potential for sustainability.

7

The regeneration approach for Pauni

From the various findings an approach was suggested that could promote the regeneration of Pauni by conserving existing resources of traditional heritages and economic activity. Although the historic assets only could not be a base for development in modern economy, it was found that the town has a strong potential for regional tourism. The regeneration strategies for Pauni were conceptualized for tapping regional tourism, integrated conservation with development and recycling existing economic skills. The past cycle of the independent weaving system could be revived by creating new markets through WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

218 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability standardization and diversification of existing products. A free market could be created by developing common places for work, sale, exhibition and training at regional and local level. The heritage sites could be an important asset for tourism-based development of the town. This could be restored and reinterpreted through community participation and partnerships with local citizens, universities, NGOs and local government. Many of the heritages were suggested for adaptive and active reuse like museums, shops, etc. Restructuring the existing organization and integration role of local authorities in conservation could be a possible way to implement such strategies for developing tourism in Pauni.

8

Conclusions

The urban regeneration of historic town Pauni, heritage sites and traditional economic activity could be assets to uplift the economy. Recycling existing assets and tourism based development could give an impetus for improving the infrastructure and sustainability of the town. In the suggested approach the regeneration of the tourism industry could be tapped along with gradual development of manufacturing industries. In India there exist many such towns that have immense assets of heritage sites and traditional economic skills. Out of many such historic towns in India, the settlement pattern in Pauni is similar to towns like Chanderi, Kachipurum and Bhuranpur. The research is an approach to understand the regeneration of one such historic town in India where traditional assets could be a base for tourism. This research is also part of ongoing further research on urban regeneration of historic towns in Japan like Nagahama, Sawara and Kawagoe. Although the economic activity structure, settlement pattern and planning system in Japan are completely different from India, innovative approaches have been used in the urban regeneration of these historic towns. The city of Nagahama in central Japan underwent a successful regeneration through introducing the ‘glass industry’ to promote integrated conservation and tourism in the town.

Acknowledgement I will like to acknowledge Prof. (Mrs) Veena Garella, Professor, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi for her guidance on this research in India.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

Archaeological Survey of India, Pauni Excavation Report, ASI publications, New Delhi, 1991. Town and Country Planning Department, Pauni Development Plan, Bhandara District, Maharashtra State, India., 1973 and 1996. Nanekar K.R., Handloom Industry in Madhya Pradesh, India., Nagpur University Press, Nagpur, India, 1968. Meshram P., Pauni – A Important Hinayana Buddhist Center, Department of Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology, Nagpur University, 1994.

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Environmental policy integration in urban spatial planning: the approach of Rotterdam V. Simeonova Environmental Science Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands

Abstract An integrated approach to spatial planning and environmental policy has not yet been adopted by many national, regional or local administrations. However, such integration is likely to provide a better streamlined planning process incorporating the environmental improvements and the physical developments in the urban areas. Within Europe some attempts to integrate spatial and environmental planning can be found in western countries like the Netherlands. In this paper we review the local policy concerning spatial and environmental planning on the experience of the city of Rotterdam. We discuss two methods for an area-oriented planning approach which have been applied in Rotterdam. Keywords: spatial planning, environmental policy integration, urban planning.

1

Introduction

Since the early 1970s, in many countries environmental protection programmes have been instituted to reduce pollution. Nowadays, more often, local governments try to combine spatial planning and environmental objectives as a more effective strategy for improving the quality of life in urban areas and conserving natural resources (Miller and De Roo [1]). In the current political and scientific debates this process of incorporation of environmental objectives in development sectors is more broadly referred as to an environmental policy integration process (EPI) (EEA [2]). However, EPI has not yet been institutionalized in the urban planning practice by many local administrations (EEA [2]). Due to the increasing social demands for better quality of life in the cities some municipalities like Rotterdam developed new planning tools that support WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060211

220 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability EPI process. Such a tools incorporate physical planning, land uses and environmental measures. The approach developed in Rotterdam is based on a concept for an area-oriented environmental policy which foresees more decentralized process of planning. This is a policy approach developed in the Netherlands that allows decisions concerning urban environment and development to be taken mainly by local actors concerned with the area while acknowledging the specific local qualities of the urban area under development. It is remarkable, that relatively many of the Dutch municipalities have been using and are presently still using specific methods for an area-oriented environmental policy (De Roo and Vissers [3]). Such methods have been designed to help finding solutions to conflicts of different policy sectors which have impact on the quality of urban life. Municipality of Rotterdam have developed two specific methods for an area-oriented environmental policy. These are the right place for the Environment (Milieu op Z’n Plek: MOZP) and the Guidance for Local Area-Typology and Environmental Quality (Locale Geiedstypologie en Omgevingskwaliteit: LOGO). The aim of this paper is to discuss two are-oriented methods developed in Rotterdam and analyse what factors influence the effect of the use of these methods for environmental policy integration in urban spatial planning.

2

The Dutch perspective on environmental policy integration

After the Second World War the Netherlands has experienced a rapid economic expansion, interspersed with a few periods of recession in the period 1970-1990. However, the economic growth as well as the growing population still keeps the country in a permanent state of reconstruction and alteration. Spatial planning tries to meet the continuing demand for land for residential, business, industrial and transportation functions and services, as well as a range of other interests, such as recreation, nature conservation, and agriculture (VROM [4]). The spatial development of the Netherlands is reflected in the National Policy Document for Spatial Planning (NPDSP). The Dutch have produced such spatial planning documents since the 1960. As result a number of spatially organizing concepts have been developed and had an important leverage on national, provincial and local developments. (Faludi and van der Valk [5]; Hajer and Zonneveld [6]). Generally, the spatial planning policy documents provide a framework for the provincial and municipal authorities on their specific spatial plans. Strong emphasis in the Dutch planning is put on the land allocation plans (“Bestemmingsplan”), which regulate local spatial developments of an urban area (Van der Valk [7]). These land allocation plans are developed in compliance to provincial Regional Spatial Plans (“Streekplan”) and Spatial Structure Plans (“Structuurplan”), which in their turn have to reflect the priorities of national policy plan. Hence a hierarchical system has been developed, in which a shift from large scale spatial policies (national level) to more specific land use allocations (local level) currently takes place (Table 1). More comprehensive planning concepts related to sustainable urban planning were introduced in the fourth NPDSP (Vierde Nota Ruimtelijke Ordening, 1990; WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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VROM, [8]). Its follower the Nota Ruimte”, published in 2004 (VROM [9]) differs from the previous planning policy documents in providing general policy for specific areas, which gives this policy document a more area-oriented character. Furthermore, it offers more detailed descriptions of the manner in which the different spatial concepts and policy instruments are to be used as well as the distribution and share of responsibilities (VROM [9]). Due to the small and densely populated territory of the Netherlands environmental policy have also played a crucial role in maintaining the quality of life in the urban areas. The Dutch environmental policy is embedded in a National Environmental Policy Plan (NEPP). The first NEPP was mainly focused on corrective measures in order to counteract emerged environmental problems, while the more recent NEPPs have put more emphasis on preventive measures (Carley and Christie [10]). A special feature of the Dutch NEPP is that it has introduced ways for more decentralized planning through negotiated agreements between number of actors at local and provincial level (VROM [11]). Table 1:

Current policy framework for spatial planning and environment in the Netherlands.

Horizontal levels

Spatial planning policy

Environmental policy

National Policy

Spatial Planning Document

National Environmental Policy Plan

Regional

Provincial Development Plan

Provincial Environmental Plan

Vertical levels The Netherlands

Structural Plan Municipal

Land Allocation Plan

Municipal Environmental Plan

Despite the well-developed national policy framework as in many other countries as well as in the Netherlands it is still not an easy task to manage balancing interests between the sectoral developments of national importance and quality of the environment of the densely populated urban areas. There is an ongoing debate in the Netherlands on institutionalization of more effective mechanisms for integration and cooperation between both different policy sectors within one governmental level (horizontally) and between different governmental levels (vertically) (RIVM [12]). 2.1 Some approaches promoting EPI in spatial planning the Netherlands The idea of environmental policy integration in the Netherlands was firstly introduced in 1983 within the Environmental Policy Integration Plan (PIM) followed in 1989 by the first National Environmental Policy Plan (NEPP) (VROM [11, 13]). These plans had to increase the awareness of the politicians and professionals on the existing interdependency of the environmental policy to other sectoral policies. As a result, a number of more specific approaches have been developed that help enforcing more integrated environmental policy at WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

222 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability regional and local levels. These approaches illustrate a changing tendency towards policy tools in the Dutch urban planning that can provide solutions to the dilemmas of the compact city urban form and intensification of urban activities (De Roo and Visser [3]; Schreuders and Tiemersma [14]). Compact city planning in the past has been used to prevent the exodus of citizens from the city centres in the larger cities of the country and reduce uncontrolled urban sprawl into the countryside. It also aimed to offer a structure for multifunctional use of urban space in order to preserve both the spatial and environmental qualities (De Roo [15]). However, the claims about the sustainability of the compact city have not yet been proved completely (Burton et al. [16]). One of the reasons for this is the lack of tools with which urban managers can assess, measure and predict the effects of the compact city development in concentration, while at the same time increasing the environmental quality (Schreuders and Tiemersma [14]; De Roo [15]; Burton et al. [16]). Nowadays, the Dutch environmental policy can be characterized as moving from a centrally governed sectoral policy, based on quantitative standards toward an area-oriented environmental policy which provides more responsibility to the local authorities to meet developmental needs considering specific local factors. This tendency has significantly induced the development of a number of more specific area-oriented methods, currently used by some Dutch municipalities to assess environmental qualities and impacts of spatial developments. The major contrast with the earlier applied approaches is that these methods are focusing on assessment of an urban area or part of it as an integrated structure of functions, networks and actors (De Roo and Visser [3]). This way an area-oriented approach allows an assessment of well-defined geographical areas within the cities or regions in which environmental pressure (e.g. air pollution and disturbance due to industrial activity, traffic etc.), is expected and which are assessed for the whole area at once. By this approach the environmental pressure is measured by set of criteria confronted with desired standards. If standards are exceeded re-allocation of functions and land use is considered. Such approaches have gained prominence during the last decade, largely because it creates a framework for concerted action to counteract conflicts between sectoral objectives. The spatial perspective of the approach enables the development of a platform upon which cross-sectoral efforts can be coordinated. Moreover some visible effects within relatively short time. have made it popular among politicians, as it enables to demonstrate results of their work. Finally, the area-oriented approach is aimed to produce considerable synergy in the planning process, as it implies direct involvement and cooperation with the local community as well as with various public authorities, businesses and other local organizations and actors.

3

Environmental policy integration approach in Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands and part of the country’s western conurbation, the so-called Randstad. The city forms the main node in the southern wing of the Randstad, and is important to both the regional and national WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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economy due to the presence of the nation’s main seaport. As a result of the port and industrial activities Rotterdam and its region Reijnmond represent one of the areas in the Netherlands under continuous environmental pressures (Salet and Kreukers [18]).The city is constantly in move. Its reconstruction after the second World War have been followed by the renovation of old city districts, new expansions, and the transformation of former harbours into attractive places to live, work and relax (dS+V [18]). To ensure better coordination between all urban activities local authorities focus on three ambitions (dS+V [19]). The first is that Rotterdam must be varied and attractive city to reside, work and live. The second ambition is that the city is to be the centre of south wing of the Rndstad and the third ambition sees it as a European city with international harbour. To achieve these ambitions the city is seen in five integrated structural images: the residential city, the enterprising city, the mobile city, the water city , the recreational city (dS+V, [19]). However, to be able to coordinate plans and projects with each other it is not sufficient to simply put all these ambitions together but integrate these in specific planning measures and approaches. Current local policy framework with regard to spatial development and environment consists of two plans, which play key role for the sustainable urban development of the city: (1) the Rotterdam Spatial Plan 2010 (dS+V, [19]), and (2) the Rotterdam Environmental Perspective 2007 (Gemeentewerken [20]). In the attempt to balance between the sectoral objectives of these plans within many development projects local authorities have applied an area-oriented planning methods (Gemeentewrken [20]). 3.1 The area-oriented method of Rotterdam The initiative of the biggest Dutch port city to develop its own area-oriented methods has been broadly acknowledged as a new standpoint in the planning practice. First, in 1997 the methodology The right place for the environment (Milieu op z’n plek (MOZP) was developed in Rotterdam by a team of local experts (Gemeentewerken Rotterdam [21]). This method allows one to translate the Rotterdam environmental policy into the land use planning. Two main questions are addressed: (1) What environmental quality should be aimed for which place? (2) What is the best way to implement environmental issues in the spatial planning process? (Schereuders and Tiemersma [14]). The essence of the method is in defining different types of land functions and assessing environmental qualities for each of these by which both the desired function and environmental quality of that specific urban area is defined. This is done in three major steps: (1) reviewing of the spatial structures in the planning area concerned, based on the municipal spatial plan and define the main aspects of the future development of the area, (2) distinguishing the type of area on the basis of environmental aspects which have a structural function with a long life cycle (e.g. ecological network, human transportation network) (3) assessing the environmental qualities which can be applied in using the potential of the area and set specific environmental standards (Schreuders and Hoeflaak [23]). By the use of the method it is attempted to reduce the environmental pressure on certain WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

224 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability areas, optimize the functioning of public transport, increase possibilities for industries and businesses, and improve the quality of living spaces. Eight types of areas are distinguished such as: rail junction, public transport zone, car area, business/infrastructure, agriculture/greenery, urban recreational nature, outside area, natural area (Schreuders [24]). The environmental themes are related to each type of the area while specific references for environmental qualities are defined (table 2). The MOZP has been popularized as a new philosophy and as a new instrument in the planning process of Rotterdam. At the same time it has also became a part of a much broader consultation process among local experts and politicians. There are a number of factors, however, that influence the effectiveness of the method. In 2001 the first evaluation concerning the effectiveness of the method was conducted by a team of local experts. Thanks to this evaluation such key factors for success and failure were assessed. They have been related to the content of the method, the communication strategy for the method and the way the environment is brought within the planning process. A number of positive developments due to the introduction of the method in the local policy and as well as some difficulties related to the performance of MOZP in the spatial plans implementation became evident. Most significant factors for the effectiveness of the method were considered as the popularity and the understanding of the method by the local experts, its broad acceptance locally, the performance of the measures into the spatial plans, the integration of sectoral objectives and ensuring an equal initiative of the planners and environmentalists to apply the method in their practice (DCMR [25]). The method had an important role for Rotterdam authorities in trying to communicate departments responsible for both environment and spatial planning. For example, during defining of a complex spatial project the method is applied to discuss the different interests of the intended area development. This allows for multidisciplinary project teams to be formed including representatives from different municipal divisions. Often agreements are made between the responsible municipal actors on their contribution to the development of the spatial plan including the contribution of the environmental department in relation to the MOZP operation. A major issue in this however is that the method should be applied at the initiation phase of the spatial planning process. This way a method such as MOZP suggests that integration of the environmental goals with the spatial planning can be achieved firstly by substantive assessment and secondly by interdisciplinary co-operation of the municipal departments and services. Because of this the method can be used both as an assessment tool and as a process-supportive tool (De Roo and Visser [3]). The disadvantages of the method are that first of all it is too broad and it does not necessarily include a clear implementation plan. Secondly, it did not succeed yet to achieve sufficient internal communication between the environmental experts and planners. Thirdly it does not foresee external communication such as public involvement (De Roo and Visser [3]). In contrast to the initial form of MOZP method its follower the Local area types and environmental quality method named LOGO (DCMR [25]) appears to WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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provide better elaborated and more operational framework to guide the local authorities’ in Rotterdam in their decisions about the area quality. The LOGO method was more recently developed and is based on the same principles as MOZP including, however the lessons learned from the previous experience of the local authorities with MOZP. The difference of LOGO compared with MOZP is in its ability to identify more clear indicators for quality differentiation of the area (Table 2). It also appears to provide a more systematic way to apply these indicators in the developing of the spatial plans and to formulate specific measures for achieving desirable quality of the area (DCMR and Provincie Zuid-Holland [25]). Table 2:

Environ mental factor

Waste Energy Green Noise Air

Example of environmental parameters defined per type of area according to the LOGO methodology (DCMR and Provincie ZuidHolland [25]). Parameter

construction households per house/y % open green (Db(A) NO2 µg/m3

City centre margin

City district

Green district

90% 45% 40 Gj 5 55 30

90% 45% 50 Gj 10 55 30

80% 55% 50 Gj 15 50 30

Suburban resident district

70% 60% 60 Gj 20 50 30

Buildings

70% 60% 50Gj 25 50 30

Apartments district

80% 45% 40Gj 15 50 30

Villa area

70% 60% 60Gj 25 50 30

Next to this LOGO method ensures that a monitoring and appraisal of the effects of these measures is made at later stage of the planning process. Both MOZP and LOGO methods can serve as an area assessment and as a communicative tool. In the assessment part LOGO, method however is accompanied by provision of visualisation materials, which helps finding common language between the environmentalist and planners. Although the methods have had already some positive effects with regard to improvement of the communication process it steel needs to be enhanced and a more clear strategies for inter-departmental cooperation need to be developed. One way or another these methods allow for more integrated and streamlined spatial planning to take place while preventing occurrence of hindrances at later stages of the decision making and discrepancy between developments and environmental qualities in the urban area.

4 The lessons learned from Rotterdam In table 3 we assess the presence of the success and failure factors that have influenced the effectiveness of the area-oriented methods in Rotterdam (Gemeetewereken [21]). The progress of Rotterdam with EPI process in general and with the areaoriented policy in particular is a result of a number of reforms within the national policy and based on local initiative. One of the reasons for the undergoing shift towards area-oriented policies is that the top-down legislative framework proved WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

226 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability not to bring desired effect for sustainable urban development. To move towards locally designed policies a higher degree of decentralisation of the national policies was introduced. Next to this we have noted above that the acceptance of EPI as a principle has been achieved in Rotterdam because of the awareness and acknowledgement of the politicians and experts on the need for EPI in urban spatial planning as a new principle and philosophy. Hence, we assert here that the presence of a number of specific preconditions is necessary in order to apply more effectively the area-orated methods. These preconditions include: 1) awareness of the interdependencies between the sectoral policies among local actors; 2) willingness for communication and consultation internally/externally within the municipal administrations and other local organisations; 3) decentralised decision making for environmental and spatial planning policies; 4) systematic evaluation of policy measures. Table 3:

Assessing the methods of Rotterdam.

Factors for success and failure

Presence

Is there an awareness and acceptance of the need for integrated Yes approaches to urban development? Is there any strategy for an internal/external communication? To be enhanced Is there a transparency of the policy? Yes Are there any arrangements for the implementation of plans?

To be enhanced

Is there any involvement of interests at the beginning of the planning process Is there a monitoring and evaluation process?

Yes Yes

The methods of Rotterdam have brought significant popularity and broad acceptance of the area-oriented policy as a new understanding in the urban planning (Gemeetewereken [21]). However, the performance of the method in practice needs still to be enhanced. To deal with this the main concerns of the local experts are that the environmental measures have to be formulated at the initial phase of each spatial plan and be considered by the decision makers (Gemeetewereken [21]). Besides bridging the substantive differences in the method significant change is also needed in the communication strategy. This means that the attention on the use of the method should be shifted from its perfection as an instrument itself towards formulating commonly understandable professional languages, which can be used by all target groups such as the planners and environmental experts.

5

Conclusions

This study shows that the process of environmental policy integration (EPI) in urban spatial planning is a challenging process at national as well as at local level of governance in the Netherlands. The Dutch planning tradition and the efforts to address EPI in urban planning practice brought some innovative policy WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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approaches such as the area-oriented approaches. Rotterdam is among those Dutch municipalities who have developed specific methods for EPI in their planning practice. Such area-oriented methods allow more systematic changes in the spatial layout of an area focusing on a common understanding for quality of life rather than on sectoral objectives and norms. The methods of Rotterdam provide a number of criteria for defining quality of the area and balancing interests between different development activities and environment. This becomes possible by applying both substantive and processsupportive elements of planning. Our research suggests that a combination of these two elements is necessary to achieve more effective performance of the are-oriented methods during the different phases of preparation of the spatial plans. Our study also indicates that the main constrains in the use of the areaoriented methods in Rotterdam concern the process-supportive element. Communication and equal share of responsibilities between planners and environmental experts in the municipal departments is essential for this. The experience of Rotterdam shows that in order to introduce the concept of an area-oriented policy much efforts has to be put at first place on reaching greater awareness and understanding of the local professionals and politicians for environmental policy integration in the spatial planning as part of the general and the specific spatial plans and projects. However we can conclude that so far there are no best ‘recipes’ nor ‘the best solutions’ but the assessment of experiences based on exchange of knowledge are especially appropriate in learning more about EPI related processes in urban context. The Dutch authorities are seeking for ways to achieve such integration by re-evaluating their initial ambitions and experiences.

Acknowledgements For the contribution to this paper I would like to thank Ingeborg Absil, Mark Soeterbroek and Els Lenting from Municipality of Rotterdam and Esko Blokker from DCMR. I also thank Wim Timmermans and Edgar van der Grift from Alterra Institute in Wageningen.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

Miller, D. & G. de Roo Integrating city planning and environmental improvement. Ashgate Publishing Ltd., Aldershot, UK, 1999. European Environmental Agency, Environmental Policy Integration in Europe, Office for official publication of EC, Luxemburg, 2005. De Roo, G. & Visser, J., Slimme methoden voor milieu en ruimte: Een analyse van zestien toonaangevende milieubeschouwende methoden ten behoeve van planologische keuzes, Rijksuniversiteit, Groningen, 2004. VROM (ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer). Summary Fourth National Environmental Policy Planwhere there is a will there is a world, 2004. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

228 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]

Faludi, A. & Van der Valk, A. Rule and order Dutch planning doctrine in the twentieth century. Wageningen University, The Netherlands, 1994. Hajer, M. & Zonneveld, W Spatial planning in a network societyrethinking the principles of planning in the Netherlands, European Planning Studies, 8 (3), pp. 337-354, 2000. Van der Valk, A. The Dutch planning experience, Landscape and Urban Planning, 58, pp. 201-210, 2002. VROM (ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer).Fourth National Environmental Policy Plan, The Hague1998. VROM (ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer).Nota Ruimte-ruimte voor ontwikkeling. Den Haag, 2004. Carley, M. & Christine, I. Managing Sustainable Development, Earthscan Publication Ltd, UK, 2000. VROM (ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer) National Environmental Policy Plan The Hague, 1989. RIVM Summary Environmental Balance 2004, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, 2004. VROM (ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer) Environmental Policy Integraiton Plan The Hague, The Netherlands, 1983. Schereuders, A. & Tiemersma, R., The compact city: from dilemmas to solutions, Gemeentewereken Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1997. De Roo, G, Environmental Planning in the Netherlands: too good to be true, Ashgate Publishing limited, Hampshire, UK, 2003. Burton, E., & Williams, K. & Jenks, M., The compact city and urban sustainability: conflicts and complexities (Part four).The compact city. A sustainable urban form? Spon press,UK, 2000. VROM (ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer) Area-specific policy. The Hague, The Netherlands, 1999. Salet, W.T.A. & A. Kreukers,. Metropolitan governance and spatial planning-comparative case studies of European city region. Spon Press, London, UK, 2003. dS+V, Ruimtelijke Plan Rotterdam 2010, Rotterdam,1999. Gemeentewerken Rotterdam, Milieuvisie 2002-2007, The Netherlands, 2002. Gemeentewerken Rotterdam, Herziene plan van aanpak actualisatie Milieu op z’n plek. Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2002. Gemeentewerken Rotterdam. Milieu op z’n plek - Maatwerk voor milieu in ruimtelijke plannen. Beleidsnota, Milieubeleid,The Netherlands, 1997. Schreuders, A. & Hoeflaak, R., The right place for the environment: a method for area oriented environmental policy, The Netherlands 1999. Schreuders, A., Milieu op z’n plek: milieukompas voor plannenmakers en bestuurders, Gemeentewerken Rotterdam,The Netherlands, 1998. DCMR & Provincie Zuid-Holland Rotterdam, Handrekening LOGO, 2004. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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How many light globes does it take to change a footprint? M. Lenzen1 & P. Maganov2 1 2

ISA, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia Randwick City Council, NSW, Australia

Abstract This work covers two key areas related to ecological footprint analysis. The first section covers issues related to the calculation of ecological footprints for the populations of two Statistical Subdivisions (SSDs) and Statistical Local Areas (SLAs) of Eastern Sydney, Australia. These were obtained by applying inputoutput analysis to population and expenditure data from the 1998-99 Household Expenditure Survey and the 1996 and 2001 Australian Census carried out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The second section relates to linking results of the ecological footprint analysis to policy development, implementation and monitoring at a sub-regional level, namely the local government area of Randwick City in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Keywords: ecological footprint, input-output analysis, urban sustainability, environmental policy, resource consumption.

1

Introduction

The ecological footprint was originally conceived as a simple and elegant method for comparing the sustainability of resource use among different populations [1]. The consumption of these populations is converted into a single index: the land area that would be needed to sustain that population indefinitely. This area is then compared to the actual area of productive land that the given population inhabits, while the degree of “unsustainability” is calculated as the difference between available and required land. Unsustainable populations are simply populations with a higher ecological footprint than available land. Ecological footprints calculated according to this original method became important educational tools in highlighting the “unsustainability” of global

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230 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability consumption [2]. It was also proposed that ecological footprints could be used for policy design and planning [3, 4]. Since the formulation of the ecological footprint the concept has undergone significant modification and improvement [5–7], mostly in response to both observations and criticism levelled at the original concept by a number of researchers [8–14]. This presentation assumes there will be further refinement of the ecological footprint concept and calculation methodology. In the brief space permitted, there is an assumption of some acceptance of the ecological footprint methodology and its application to organisations, individuals and entities. While accepting that the ecological footprint concept has advantages and disadvantages this paper attempts to focus some discussion on the policy context of an ecological footprint calculation, particularly at a sub-regional setting. The original ecological footprint represents the area of land required to meet the consumption needs of a population and the land needed to absorb all their waste [15]. In this approach, consumption is divided into 5 categories: food; housing; transportation; consumer goods; and services, while the land component is represented under 8 categories: energy land; degraded or built land; gardens; crop land; pastures and managed forests; and 'land of limited availability. This latter category is considered to include untouched forests and 'non-productive areas', which the originating researchers defined as deserts and ice-caps. Internal calculations remove so-called 'non-productive' areas from the overall ecological footprint analysis. Over the past 30 years, an input-output approach has been applied in numerous ecological footprint calculation methodologies, and appears to provide a more robust approach for assessing environmental impacts of human populations. Since its first application to New Zealand, input-output analysis for ecological footprint analysis has grown continuously. In 2003, this approach was applied to the ecological footprint calculation for the State of New South Wales (NSW) in Australia [16] for the purposes of that State’s triennial State of the Environment Report [17]. More recently, a pilot study has been completed for the State of Victoria, also in Australia (www.epa.vic.gov.au/eco-footprint/docs/ vic_ecofootprint_demand.pdf). In both cases, calculations were undertaken using various methodologies to enable comparison and understanding of the differences between earlier methodologies and the application of input-output analysis. Input-output-based ecological footprints are considered to have a number of advantages: they do not incur artificial boundaries, they draw on detailed data sets that are collected regularly by government statistical agencies, and they can be calculated for industry sectors and product groups, for states, local areas and cities, as well as for companies and households. Finally, input-output-based ecological footprints allow valid trade-offs with other sustainability indicators, placing the ecological footprint within the broader context of a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) model or framework. The main results table below summarises the results for the per-capita ecological footprint of all regions and years examined, based on both a shared WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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responsibility (both producer and consumer) and on a full consumer responsibility. The quantities shown are “total impact” (total ecological footprint per capita), and “total intensity” (ecological footprint per capita and per dollar of expenditure). Results are shown for the Statistical Subdivisions of Inner Sydney and the Eastern Suburbs. The categories “government administration” and “capital infrastructure” cover expenditures that are not made by final consumers themselves, but by the government and producers in order to provide the “commons”, i.e. government administration and infrastructure such as buildings, roads, ports etc. Note that Statistical Local Areas (SLAs) results for Randwick, Woollahra and Waverley are based on estimated not surveyed expenditure figures (see maps below). Results are therefore partly an effect of the regression estimation procedure and the explanatory variables used. Inner Sydney is listed for comparison. Finally, the benchmark is the average Australian consumer.

2

Regional and sub-regional areas covered

The Integrated Sustainability Analysis (ISA) group at the University of Sydney has assembled a framework for calculating ecological footprints tailored to Australian conditions. This framework employs the most detailed and comprehensive information on land distribution and greenhouse gas emissions available in Australia. The methodology uses comprehensive input-output tables prepared by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and CSIRO satellite-image based assessment of land disturbance over the Australian continent (significant truncation errors (often 25-50%) of upstream requirements that are common in conventional ecological footprint do not occur in the proposed methodology). In 2003, this approach was used to calculate the ecological footprint of the State of NSW in Australia and for the Statistical Divisions making up Sydney’s Greater Metropolitan Region (GMR) [18], The results were the first prepared specifically for and included in, the triennial NSW State of the Environment (SoE) Report [19] although the analysis carried out included other methodologies for comparative purposes [20]. While the main results were incorporated briefly in the NSW SoE Report, there was no attempt at considering the policy relevance or implications of the ecological footprint calculation in the NSW SoE Report. In 2005, in order to assist Randwick City Council establish baseline information for the preparation of Randwick’s 20-year City Plan [21], ISA also undertook Randwick’s ecological footprint calculation. The analysis included not only the population of the Randwick Local Government Area, but a number of other Statistical Subdivisions (SSDs) and SLAs within the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. To enable some understanding of potential differences across these areas and consider the potential implications within a policy context, two calculations were provided for each area: 1) a detailed component breakdown of the aggregate ecological footprint in terms of critical inputs and impacts, and 2) a short time series of the ecological footprint, in order to identify significant trends and changes. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

232 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Through this approach, results can be interpreted ex-post, as answers to the questions: “What the ecological footprint would have been assigned to the user’s entity, given base year economic and resource use structure, and assuming proportionality between monetary and resource flows?” Results however cannot readily be interpreted in an ex-ante, predictive way, such as, “How would the ecological footprint change as a consequence of changes in the user’s financial and resource flows?” In the original ecological footprint method, the areas of forest, pasture and crop land do not represent real land, but hypothetical areas needed to support the consumption of the population, if local farming and forestry was conducted at 'world average productivity'. Proceeding as such makes it easy to compare ecological footprints of different countries or populations [22]. However, the loss in detail through the conversion to world-average productivity makes it impossible to use an ecological footprint for formulating regional policies, because the latter always involve region-specific economic, political, technological, environmental and climatic aspects [23]. In 2004, three committees set up by the Global Footprint Network aimed to resolve inconsistencies in methodologies through the development of standards for ecological footprint practitioners. A major difference from past methodologies was to separate out ecological footprint’ components into final consumers and their upstream suppliers (in the commonly employed full consumer responsibility for ecological footprints, companies and industries must have an ecological footprint of zero by default). This separation enables a clearer representation of upstream ‘producer’ ecological footprints without doublecounting in the ecological footprint of final consumers. Sharing responsibility holds for many situations in business and in life and acknowledges that there are always two (groups of) people who play a role in commodities produced and impacts caused, hence two perspectives involved in each transaction: the supplier’s and the recipient’s. Responsibility is shared between them, both in terms of benefits and burdens. Sharing each impact between the supplier and the recipient – for example on a 50-50 basis – alleviates the double-counting problem when ecological footprint between producers and consumers is calculated. Bastianoni et al. [24], acknowledges an importance in this separation as “assuming [only] a consumer responsibility […], producers are not directly motivated to reduce emissions, while consumers, […] without adequate incentives or policies, […] are not likely to be sensitive with respect to their environmental responsibilities […]”. An interesting feature arising out of applying a shared responsibility between producer and final consumer is that the upstream responsibility for a given impact decreases with increasing distance between the various ‘actors’ in the supply chain. In this recent work, both shared and full consumer responsibility are applied and contrasted.

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Table 1. Ecological Footprint

Randwick SLA 1996 Randwick SLA 2001 Woollahra SLA 1996 Woollahra SLA 2001 Waverley SLA 1996 Waverley SLA 2001 Eastern Suburbs SSD 1998 St George - Sutherland SSD 1998 Inner Sydney SLA 1996 Inner Sydney SSD 1998 Inner Sydney SLA 2001

Total impact shared full consumer responsibility responsibility 2.69 ha 4.87 ha 2.87 ha 5.30 ha 3.47 ha 6.47 ha 3.53 ha 6.66 ha 3.16 ha 5.88 ha 3.34 ha 6.32 ha 3.16 ha 5.97 ha 3.08 ha 5.48 ha 3.16 ha 6.01 ha 3.00 ha 5.60 ha 3.54 ha 6.87 ha

Total intensity shared full consumer responsibility responsibility 2.84 m2/$ 1.85 m2/$ 2.70 m2/$ 1.68 m2/$ 2.60 m2/$ 1.70 m2/$ 2.53 m2/$ 1.57 m2/$ 2.49 m2/$ 1.59 m2/$ 2.40 m2/$ 1.44 m2/$ 2.62 m2/$ 1.46 m2/$ 3.10 m2/$ 1.96 m2/$ 2.64 m2/$ 1.53 m2/$ 2.61 m2/$ 1.54 m2/$ 2.52 m2/$ 1.56 m2/$

Government administration Capital infrastructure

0.11 ha 0.57 ha

0.34 ha 1.31 ha

0.70 m2/$ 1.80 m2/$

0.59 m2/$ 1.89 m2/$

Benchmark: average Australian consumer

2.04 ha

3.57 ha

3.53 m2/$

2.23 m2/$

Including government and infrastructure Randwick SLA 1996 Randwick SLA 2001 Woollahra SLA 1996 Woollahra SLA 2001 Waverley SLA 1996 Waverley SLA 2001 Eastern Suburbs SSD 1998 St George - Sutherland SSD 1998 Inner Sydney SLA 1996 Inner Sydney SSD 1998 Inner Sydney SLA 2001

3.37 ha 3.55 ha 4.15 ha 4.21 ha 3.84 ha 4.02 ha 3.84 ha 3.76 ha 3.84 ha 3.68 ha 4.22 ha

6.52 ha 6.95 ha 8.12 ha 8.31 ha 7.53 ha 7.97 ha 7.62 ha 7.13 ha 7.66 ha 7.25 ha 8.52 ha

3.88 m2/$ 3.74 m2/$ 3.64 m2/$ 3.57 m2/$ 3.53 m2/$ 3.44 m2/$ 3.66 m2/$ 4.14 m2/$ 3.68 m2/$ 3.65 m2/$ 3.56 m2/$

2.89 m2/$ 2.72 m2/$ 2.74 m2/$ 2.61 m2/$ 2.63 m2/$ 2.48 m2/$ 2.50 m2/$ 3.00 m2/$ 2.57 m2/$ 2.58 m2/$ 2.60 m2/$

Benchmark: average Australian consumer

2.72 ha

5.22 ha

4.57 m2/$

3.27 m2/$

3

Results highlights and summary

The following main results were established [25]: 1. The per-capita ecological footprint of Eastern Sydney is above that of the average Australian, no matter which calculation method is employed, and which year is appraised. This is most likely due to the greater affluence of households in Eastern Sydney, compared with the average Australian. 2. The per-capita ecological footprint of Eastern Sydney has increased between 1996 and 2001. This result is independent of inflation, which has been taken out of the figures. It is most likely due to increasing living standards. The percentage increase of the ecological footprint between 1996 and 2001 is highest for the Randwick SLA with a percentage increase of 6.6%. 3. The ecological footprint intensity (ecological footprint per dollar of expenditure) is low in areas with high ecological footprint, and high in areas with low ecological footprint. This is due to the fact that wealthy households purchase a larger proportion of services than less wealthy households. Since WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

234 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability services are associated with smaller ecological footprint intensity, the overall ecological footprint intensity of wealthier households is lower. 4. The per-capita ecological footprint for our commons (government and infrastructure) constitutes about 30% of the average Australian’s per-capita ecological footprint, but only about 17% of the ecological footprint of Eastern Sydney residents. This result is due to the fact that the common components were allocated on a per-capita basis, i.e. an equal amount to each Australian. 5. The ecological footprint calculated based on shared responsibility is smaller than the ecological footprint calculated based on full consumer responsibility. This result is due to the fact that within shared responsibility, ecological footprints are shared between producers and consumers, and only a part of the responsibility is passed on to consumers. Shared responsibility recognises that Australian companies are capable of calculating their own ecological footprint: Also, within shared responsibility, the sum of all producers and consumers equals the total national ecological footprint. Within full consumer responsibility, the ecological footprint of any producer (company, industry sector etc) is zero. 6. Ecological footprint intensities calculated based on shared responsibility are higher than ecological footprint intensities calculated based on full consumer responsibility. This is due to the circumstance that within the household’s consumption bundle, footprint-intensive commodities such as meat, electricity or petrol have their impacts in production stages that are relatively close to the final consumer. Considering that shared responsibility has an inherent feature of down-weighting ecological footprints that are caused in more remote production stages, and up-weighting ecological footprints in more proximate stages, this leads to an overall increase of the ecological footprint intensity compared to full consumer responsibility. 7. The ecological footprint of the average Australian consumer is lower at 5.22 ha/cap than a previously calculated value of 6.7 ha based on the 1994-95 input-output system. This is due to the fact that the previous figure included capital expenditure as intermediate and not final demand. 8. Most of the total ecological footprint is due to the land component, and not to greenhouse gas emissions.

4

Policy Response to Randwick’s ecological footprint

Randwick’s overall strategic priorities in terms of governance, social, environmental and economic planning and decision-making are set out in Council’s recently completed 20-year City Plan. A major direction within City Plan includes the incorporation of the Melbourne Sustainability principles into established goals and objectives. This includes recognition of the need to WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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establish and reduce the ecological footprint of the Randwick Local Government Area (LGA), an area approximately 39 square kilometres. To facilitate the capacity to achieve a reduction in the ecological footprint of Randwick City, a special environmental levy equivalent to 6% of the business and residential rate commenced from July 1, 2004 for a 5-year period. This levy, calculated to raise around Aus$2.4M each year, is for spending on specific environmental improvements and sustainability initiatives under Randwick’s Sustaining our City Program. Being located approximately 8 kilometres from Sydney’s Central Business District and with 29 kilometres of coast line including the Pacific Ocean and the historic eastern shores of Botany Bay, the Sustaining our City Program has a major coastal focus. The Program’s 5 main thematic areas and budget streams include: Coastal Protection; Conserving Resources; Protecting Biodiversity; Tackling Greenhouse; and Community Participation. Over the current financial year, staff have invested substantial effort in integrating the directions and outcomes in the 20-year City Plan into the annual business and management processes of Council’s mandatory Management Plan. This ensures accountability of City Plan outcomes and Sustaining our City deliverables through the annual Management Plan. The Management Plan is placed on exhibition for Randwick’s 120,000 residents and submitted to the NSW Minister for Local Government. As well as a comprehensive strategic approach, various operational initiatives have commenced across each of the major themes of the Sustaining our City Program. A number are relevant and worth highlighting for the purpose of this discussion. For example, late in 2005, Council adopted a 20% voluntary reduction target for both water and energy consumed across Council. This action was taken ahead of Randwick completing mandatory Water Saving and Energy Saving Plans by March and September 2006, respectively. Council has ostensibly achieved its water reduction target and is close to achieving its energy reduction target. On top of major improvements in water and energy management, Council is also required to achieve an overall waste reduction target of 14% within a statutory timeframe of 2014. These targets too are close to being achieved through improved mechanisms for kerbside recycling collection and the separation and processing of organic ‘greenwaste’. Council’s new Greenwaste Recycling facility is currently reprocessing around 95% of 100,000 tonnes of material received annually into 23 final products, most of these meeting stringent quality assurance standards before being sold on to bulk supplies and other local Councils. In addition, a 315,000 litre wastewater re-use system ensures potable water is used only for on-site drinking and showering purposes. A waste education classroom is being constructed on-site for small educational groups to visit the Greenwaste Recycling facility and through the environmental levy will incorporate rooftop solar power and underfloor rainwater storage systems. Environmental levy projects have included construction of a major wastewater re-use system at the Council’s main Depot which over its first 12 months of operation, has saved in the order of approximately 4 million litres of town water. At the Council’s Community Nursery where native plants are WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

236 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability propagated from locally collected seed, a 40,000 litre underground stormwater re-use system is being installed to provide approximately 80% of the nursery’s irrigation needs. Designs are underway to construct a 140,000 litre backwash water re-use system at Council’s Aquatic Centre. Ten to twenty thousand litres of treated backwash water will be redirected through the Centre’s toilet amenities with the remaining water to be used for irrigating adjacent parkland and for recharging the groundwater of the Botany Sands aquifer under the parkland and pool area. The investment in the environmental levy has also benefited Council and its ratepayers by attracting an additional Aus.$500,000 worth of funding to levy projects over the past 12 months alone, one of these includes funding to reinstate an indigenous ‘bush tucker’ trail on the eastern shores of historic Botany Bay. Community efforts have been included in the Sustaining our City Program, for example, the distribution of 55,000 energy efficient globes, free to residents over a 3-month period. As well as saving an estimated Aus$2.4M from householder energy bills, the globes will also reduce greenhouse gases by approximately 5,500 tonnes over the life of the globes. A new energy incentive scheme for householders will see home and unit owners able to receive a free home energy audit with from June 2006, with follow-up financial incentives for a limited number of householders to install a range of energy saving measures including solar hotwater systems, solar panels and thermal insulation. A similar incentive is being investigated for Spring 2006, to top up the existing rainwater tank rebate on offer to householders from the State water utility. A rainwater tank offer has also been made to each of the 39 primary and secondary local schools in Randwick over the next 3 years. Other programs for residents include free Sustainable Living workshops conducted on an ongoing basis through the local community college, a series of Open Days held at Council facilities to showcase projects underway or completed and an inaugural EcoLiving Fair held as part of World Environment Day in June. The focus of these events is to provide practical demonstrations, workshops and resources that lead to changes in householder behaviour and actions. A similar range of efforts is underway with local schools but progressing slower than anticipated due to existing curricula demands on schools. The first Sustainability Agreement between a university and local Council has been signed in Australia between Randwick Council and the nearby University of New South Wales to enable university access to operational and on-ground areas of learning but also provide Council access to relevant research and projects underway by both academics and students. The agreement has resulted in full semester learning projects where final year undergraduates take on sustainability-related Council projects. While plans to revisit and update Randwick’s ecological footprint are built into City Plan and Management Plan objectives, it will be just as important for Council to ensure its ongoing monitoring and reporting of results and continue to establish accurate changes in footprint outcomes. A number of major processes to achieve this are underway but aim to be built into staff performance and appraisal systems currently under review. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Further information on Randwick Council’s Sustaining our City and environmental levy program can be obtained via Council’s website at http://www.randwick.nsw.gov.au or by contacting either, Richard Wilson, Sustainability Communications Officer [email protected] or Peter Maganov, Manager, Sustainability, [email protected] or [email protected]

References [1] [2] [3]

[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

Rees, W.E. Ecological footprints and appropriated carrying capacity: what urban economics leaves out. Environment and Urbanization 4(2), pp. 121130, 1992. Costanza, R. The dynamics of the ecological footprint concept. Ecological Economics 32, pp. 341-345, 2000. Wackernagel, M. Ranking the ecological footprint of nations, 1997. Internet site http://www.ecouncil.ac.cr/rio/focus/report/english/footprint/ranking.htm, Centro de Estudios para la Sustentabilidad. Wackernagel, M. and Silverstein J. Big things first: focusing on the scale imperative with the ecological footprint. Ecological Economics 32, pp. 391-394, 2000. Bicknell, K.B., Ball R.J., Cullen R. and Bigsby H.R. New methodology for the ecological footprint with an application to the New Zealand economy. Ecological Economics 27(2), pp. 149-160, 1998. Simpson R W, Petroeschevsky A and Lowe I An ecological footprint analysis for Australia, Australian Journal of Environmental Management 7, pp. 11-18, 2000. Lenzen, M. and Murray S.A. A modified ecological footprint method and its application to Australia. Ecological Economics 37(2), pp. 229-255, 2001. Levett R. Footprinting: a great step forward, but tread carefully, Local Environment 3 (1), pp. 67-74, 1998. van den Bergh, J.C.J.M. and Verbruggen H. Spatial sustainability, trade and indicators: an evaluation of the 'ecological footprint'. Ecological Economics 29(1), pp. 61-72, 1999. Ayres, R.U. Commentary on the utility of the ecological footprint concept. Ecological Economics 32, pp. 347-349, 2000. Moffatt, I. Ecological footprints and sustainable development. Ecological Economics 32, pp. 359-362, 2000. Opschoor, H. The ecological footprint: measuring rod or metaphor? Ecological Economics 32, pp. 363-365, 2000. Rapport, D.J. Ecological footprints and ecosystem health: complementary approaches to a sustainable future. Ecological Economics 32, pp. 381-383, 2000. van Kooten, G.C. and Bulte E.H. The ecological footprint: useful science or politics? Ecological Economics 32, pp. 385-389, 2000. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

238 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [15] [16]

[17] [18] [19] [20]

[21] [22] [23] [24] [25]

Wackernagel, M. and Rees W. Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. New Society Publishers Philadelphia, PA, USA, 1995. NSW EPA, The Ecological Footprint of the Sydney Greater Metropolitan Region and New South Wales (Report prepared by Dr Manfred Lenzen and Dr Sven Lundie, University of Sydney for the EPA), unpublished, Sydney, October 2002 NSW EPA, State of the Environment Report, 2003, Environment Protection Authority, Sydney, 2000 Online. http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/soe Lenzen, M., Lundie, S., Maganov, P., and Wachsmann, U. The Ecological Footprint of the Sydney Greater Metropolitan Region and New South Wales, (unpublished), 2004 NSW EPA, State of the Environment Report, 2003, Environment Protection Authority, Sydney, 2003 Online http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/soe NSW EPA, The Ecological Footprint of the Sydney Greater Metropolitan Region and New South Wales (Report prepared by Dr Manfred Lenzen and Dr Sven Lundie, University of Sydney for the EPA), unpublished, Sydney, October 2002 Randwick City Council, Draft City Plan, Randwick , Sydney, 2005 Online http://www.randwick.nsw.gov.au/ Wackernagel, M., Lewan L. and Hansson C.B. Evaluating the use of natural capital with the ecological footprint. Ambio 28(7), pp. 604-612, 1999 Lenzen, M. and Murray S.A. A modified ecological footprint method and its application to Australia. Ecological Economics 37(2), pp. 229-255, 2001. Bastianoni, S., Pulselli F.M. and Tiezzi E. The problem of assigning responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions. Ecological Economics 49, pp. 253-257, 2004. Lenzen, M. An Ecological Footprint study of Eastern Sydney, Result of consultancy work undertaken for Randwick Council, University of Sydney, January 2006.

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Spatial-temporal changes of regional sustainability: an empirical study in Taiwan Y.-T. Hung1 & K.-W. Tsou 2 1

Department of Recreation and Health-care Management, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Taiwan, Republic of China 2 Department of Urban Planning, National Cheng-Kung University, Taiwan, Republic of China

Abstract Under trends of globalization, reforms of economic development environment have become the most important national strategy for enhancing competitiveness in developing countries. However, there are debates as to whether these reformed strategies have considerable impacts on regional sustainability. In order to assess the impacts on regional sustainability, this paper presents a cohesive procedure to analyze spatial-temporal changes of regional sustainability and a dimension-based conceptual framework of an indicators system for measuring regional sustainability. Based on seven key selected criteria and a conceptual framework of three dimensions that are widely perceived to be the major factors in Taiwan sustainability, 27 operational measuring indicators are identified. In the proposed analytic procedure, GIS is first used to manage and display the spatial-temporal database in Taiwan. Secondly, factor analysis is used to highlight the underlying multidimensionality and structure of relationships among the regional sustainability indicators for all municipalities in Taiwan. Cluster analysis is also used to simply explore the spatial-temporal changes that emerge from the analysis. In the empirical study, we find nine common sustainability factors and five heterogeneous spatial clusters. Results from of the GIS-based multivariate statistics will be discussed as well as concluded in the final section. Keywords: regional sustainability, spatial statistics, GIS.

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240 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

In the last decade, there has been a growing recognition amongst planners and decision-makers in developing countries, which are facing considerable pressure of global competition. At the same time, reforms of economic development environment usually have become important national strategies for enhancing competitiveness in the global economy. Moreover, the national economic strategies may also have considerable impacts on the sustainable development at the local, regional and national levels. Consequentially, a spatial-temporal analysis of regional sustainability changes is necessary to support informed and valid responses in the debate. The assessment of regional sustainability changes throughout country’s spatial system could provide valuable information for reformulating development strategies and support to achieve integration between environmental protection and economic development. To date, most of the empirical studies regarding regional sustainability have focused their analysis on the region itself and are aspatial. However, these individual aspatial approaches yield little insight into the detailed spatial distribution pattern of regional/local sustainability and cannot provide more sufficient planning information on the various responses of different regions and municipalities to environment fluctuation occurring over space. With the above statements, three major issues are addressed in the paper: (1) What multidimensional indictors of regional sustainability should be selected to aid the spatial-temporal comparative analysis? (2) How can spatial-temporal changes of regional sustainability be analyzed and assessed? (3) What have changed, in the last decade, the regional sustainability of developing countries? For attempting to answer these questions, this paper presents a cohesive procedure (Fig. 1) to analyze spatial-temporal changes of regional sustainability and a dimension-based conceptual framework of indicators system for measuring regional sustainability. The procedure as we proposed that enables spatialtemporal comparisons of regional sustainability at municipal scale. 1.Defining the regional sustainability in Taiwan and scoping

6.Spatial factor analysis of the sustainability indicators 7.Spatial cluster analysis and assessing spatial-temporal changes of the holistic regional sustainability

Figure 1:

2.Building a dimensions-based conceptual framework

5.Building spatial database of the indicators

3.Establishing criteria for the indicator selection

4.Identifying indicator system of the regional sustainability in Taiwan

8.Discussion and conclusion

A proposed analytic procedure of regional sustainability.

Taiwan was chosen to test this conceptual framework and analytic procedure for three main reasons: (1) Diversity of natural and human landscape is very rich. (2) Because Taiwan is an urbanized island country, it has specific importance in sustainability system and could be observed independently. (3) Taiwan is one of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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the “Four Little Dragon”, which had implemented many important strategies to overcome the challenges of global competition and economic redevelopment in the last decade (1995-2004). Meanwhile, the strategies have been argued that have seriously influenced the spatial development of regional sustainability.

2

Regional sustainability and a conceptual framework of indicators

The increasing role of region in sustainability stems from an understanding that the spatial effects of national development plans are not uniform, may be addressed more effectively at the regional levels. For example, the Asian Development Bank study on sustainable development had concluded that plans at the regional level provide a potentially powerful bridge between national plans and local plans and projects [1]. In the last two decades, particularly since the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, entitled “Our Common Future” [2], sustainability and related term sustainable development have become catchwords in the regional and urban planning. Efforts to assess and improve sustainability have been a part of the planning profession. There are different understandings and definitions, [3-5] showed they are significant but vague. For example, Robinson et al. [5] define sustainability as “the persistence over an apparently indefinite future of certain necessary and desired characteristics of the socio-political system and its natural environment.” Because no universally accepted definition exists, we have to set out our working understanding of regional sustainability and conceptual framework. A conceptual framework for indicators is necessary to guide the creators of indicator sets [6]. In general, there are six general frameworks that can be used for developing sustainability indicators, including dimension-based (domain-based) frameworks, goal-based frameworks, sectoral frameworks, issue frameworks, causal frameworks, and combination frameworks. Meanwhile, the dimension-based frameworks are most effective for accentuating the holistic aspect of sustainability [7]. In the paper, in accordance with the framework used by the National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD) in Taiwan in their national sustainable development indicators, three core dimensions of a dimension-based conceptual framework have been identified, i.e. social life, economic production and environmental ecology. Using the proposed conceptual framework, it could create a set of indicators based on a number of criteria. In recent years, although many indicators have been used in sustainability assessments [8], most of indicators are either based on smaller level (e.g. community level) or larger level (e.g. national level). However, indicators at national level may mask problems in regions with highly unsustainable conditions [9]. In contrast, indicators at community level usually neglect the critical regional level interaction among rural area, suburban and urban [10]. One has to define and select appropriate sustainability indicators for the study [11]. In addition, highly heterogeneous nature of local circumstance has thus led to different interpretations of regional sustainability. As a result, the indicators WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

242 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability should be rebuilt to suit different regional environment. Indicators for this study were redrawn from an extensive literature review of material pertaining to the characteristics of regional sustainability. Besides, indicators were also modified through many less formal discussions with other experts. Based on an extensive literature review (e.g. [9]), and series of discussions, the following seven key criteria were established for the indicator selection to ensure their viability: (1) Holistic. The indicators should be incorporated as an integral and on-going framework. (2) Computable. The indicators should be measurable with quantified technology (3) Unambiguous. The indicators should be unambiguous for providing clear information. (4) Scientific. The indicators should be scientifically valid for measuring sustainability. (5) Comparable. The indicators should be comparable for enabling comparison across inter/intra regions. (6) Sensitive. The indicators should be sensitive to changes. (7) Available. The data of indicators should be available from existing sources. These criteria could provide a series of useful guidelines, which results in an indicator system that meets the needs of the empirical study in Taiwan.

3

Empirical study area

Taiwan has an area of 36,006km2. According to the regional plans, Taiwan is divided into four regions (North, Central, South and East, Fig. 2). At mid-2003, its population stood at 22.5 million. Taiwan is one of the most densely populated areas in the world (625 capita/km2). Main terrain type is mountain (above 60%) and is not richly endowed by nature. Taiwan is a developing country, although its economy has entered a more-mature stage in recent years. To meet the needs of enhancing national competitiveness in the global economics, most national spatial redevelopment plans have focused on accelerating economic development. During the last decade, its main industry has shifted from labourintensive to technology-intensive production. High-tech industries have dominated the manufacturing sector (approximate 36% of total manufacturing value). However, many research articles had implied that regional sustainability in Taiwan might be degraded for implementing these plans. Currently, Taiwan has come to the sustainable development crossroads. Policymakers and planners are now aware that they have the responsibility and the confidence to overcome the difficult challenges for promoting greater sustainability. At policy level, Taiwan chooses the path of sustainable development with the year 2003 as the starting year. The NCSD has developed a set of national-level sustainable development indicators (SDIs) for use in Taiwan. However, they are only suitable for assessing national level sustainability.

4

Methods

To analyze the spatial-temporal change of regional sustainability in developing countries is a difficult task. Municipality-based regional systems comprise a complex data problem that is not easy to analyze. In addition, empirical study of spatial-temporal change requires the numerous data that are disaggregated by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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space and time. In the last decade, GIS has gained popularity as a powerful tool for the management of spatial-temporal database. GIS is an information system that is used to input, store, retrieve, manipulate, analyze and display geospatial or descriptive data. Meanwhile, GIS-based technologies (e.g. spatial multivariable statistics) can offer an efficient and effective way to solve the problems involved in the development of spatial-temporal analysis. While collecting the three sets of individual indicators, the indicator system brings a large amount of disparate information together [7, 10]. The underlying interaction and structure among the indicators should be reformulated by factor analysis. Factor analysis has been widely used for exploring spatial patterns [12]. Typically, the technology of factor analysis specially concerns with interrelationships among a set of variables. The result of factor analysis can explain the total covariance of a set of variance in terms of far smaller number of underlying factors. An agglomerative hierarchical clustering analysis was applied to identify clusters of the municipalities. It is computationally more intensive than other clustering method and is easier to interpret [13]. The analytic method can group the municipalities into several clusters with homogeneity among changed degrees of sustainability within each cluster, and heterogeneity between clusters. South Korea

Japan

North

China

Central Taiwan Hong Kong

South

East

Macau Philippines

Figure 2:

5

Location of Taiwan and regional division.

Indicator system

We invited 10 related experts and scholars to establish a less formal discussion group for selecting sustainability indicators that can be used in municipalitybased comparison. Meanwhile, the selection of indicators is also guided by the above criteria. 27 meaningful and representative indicators for sustainability measurement were finally selected (Table 1). The formulation of the indicators is consistent with the three core dimensions of the conceptual framework which has been stated above. Because partial related databases are insufficient, several important indicators (such as biodiversity) are not yet adapted in the initial indicator system. In according to the schedule of national development plans in Taiwan, temporal analysis would focus on the changes between two time points of 1995 and 2004. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

244 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 1:

Indicator system of regional sustainability in Taiwan.

Dimension Sustainability indicator Operational definition Social life S1: Final expenditure of government Final expenditure /a person S2: Public & social services groups Groups of medical care & social service& charity S3: Mobility No. of (Move in+ move out)/all population S4: Dependency rate (Population above 65 years old +Population under 14 years old) / population between 15 and 64 S5: Medical treatment Per capita physicians S6: Dwelling level Housing area / a household S7: Automobile usage Per capita automobiles S8: Resource recycling Amount of recycle resource / all garbage S9: Proportion of unused land Area of unused land / total area of land Final expenditure /a person Environmen E1: Government expenditure on environment protection al ecology E2: Atmospheric quality % of measurement days which PSI＜50 E3: Daily water consumption Per capita daily water consumption E4: Electricity consumption KWH per capita E5: Daily solid waste disposal Amount of wastes / 365 days E6: Agricultural production area Area of Agricultural production E7: Green land and park area Green land and park area/current population E8: Building construction in urban Area of building construction of housing and planned districts commerce in urban planned districts E9: Interior to edge ration of buildingsΣ(P/A) / N of buildings in non-urban planned in non-urban planned districts districts Economic P1: Labour force of manufacturing Labour force of manufacturing industry / all industry population production P2: Output value of manufacturing Revenues of manufacturing industry / area used industry land use by manufacturing industry P3: Labour force of commercial Labour force of commercial business / all business population P4: Output value of commercial Revenues of commercial business / area used by business land use commercial business P5: Scale of agriculture No. of workers in agriculture P6: Scale of manufacturing industry No. of workers in manufacturing industry P7: Scale of commercial business No. of workers in commercial business P8: Population with educational level Population with educational level beyond junior beyond junior college college including vocational school P9: Average family income Average family income

6

Spatial-temporal changes of the regional sustainability factors

The spatial-temporal changes of the regional sustainability factors during 19952004 can be portrayed by factor analysis, a class of multivariate statistical methods whose primary purpose is to define the underlying structure in a data matrix. The analysis can first identify the separate dimensions of the structure and then determine the extent to which the variance contributed by each variable is explained by each dimension. Once these dimensions and the explanation of each variable are determined, the two primary uses for factor analysis – summarization and data reduction – can be achieved. In summarizing the data, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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factor analysis derives underlying dimensions that, when interpreted and understood, describe the data in a much smaller number of factors than did the original individual variables. Using the principal components and the varimax rotation methods, the analysis extracts 9 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 in this study. The total variance that could be explained by these factors is 57.67%. The nine dimensions with their respective factor loadings (F.L.) are shown as Table 2. 6.1 Factor 1: manufacturing industry Factor 1 contains two indicators: labour force of manufacturing industry, and output value of land use of manufacturing industry. These indicators have positive values and it means that the sample district is getting mature in a manufacturing-oriented area. 6.2 Factor 2: usage of non-renewable resource Factor 2 includes electricity consumption, and automobile usage. This dimension shows gradual increases in resources consumption and discharge production during 1995-2004 in districts composing this factor. The increasing usage of non-renewable resources is detrimental to sustainable development. 6.3 Factor 3: decay agriculture Scale of agriculture and agricultural production area are included in the factor 3, with negative F.L. for both indictors. The decreases in both indicators represent that these districts have become decayed in agricultural because scale of agriculture and agricultural production area have declined. 6.4 Factor 4: upgrading the quality of public service Factor 4 contains two indicators: Final expenditure of government and government expenditure on environment protection. All the indicator values are positive. It reveals that the public service and quality of environment is upgrading in the sample district in the last decade. 6.5 Factor 5: resources of public service Medical treatment and population with educational level beyond junior college are included in the factor 5, with negative F.L. for both indictors. The decreases in both the medical treatment and the education level are decreasing imply that these districts have become barren area in resources of public service. 6.6 Factor 6: urban sprawl Factor 6 has two indicators: mobility and interior to edge ration in non-urban planned districts. Since F.L. are positive, it shows people have moved into suburbs, and results in urban sprawl. Moreover, interior to edge ration revels that WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

246 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability these districts have become fragmentary area, it is detrimental to sustainable development. 6.7 Factor 7: urbanization Factor 7 has three indicators: labour force of commercial business, output value of land use of commercial business, and building construction in urban planned districts. Since F.L. are positive, it shows commercial business is flourishing, and the area of housing and commerce is increasing. In other words, the degree of urbanization is getting higher in the sample district. 6.8 Factor 8: degenerate in environmental quality Two indicators with negative F.L. – public and social services groups, and atmospheric quality make up this factor. That is, enthusiasm of residents to participate local affairs is reducing, meanwhile, the environmental quality is going down, and it is detrimental to sustainable development. Table 2: Variable P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 Expl.Var Prp.Totl

Factor loadings of 27 sustainability indicators in the eight factors. Factor 1 0.9189 0.9217 0.3475 0.2448 -0.0599 -0.0461 -0.1418 0.0043 -0.0480 0.0319 0.0252 -0.1522 -0.1950 0.2041 -0.1848 0.0664 0.0670 -0.3144 0.1378 -0.0458 0.1952 0.0784 -0.0097 0.0842 0.0816 0.2489 -0.0470 2.2924 0.0849

Factor 2 0.0164 0.0670 0.0051 0.0543 -0.1630 0.1256 0.0294 -0.0917 0.4458 0.0489 0.1422 -0.0809 0.4298 0.2604 0.2189 0.8930 -0.3963 0.0419 -0.1101 -0.0567 0.1042 0.8082 0.4711 0.0312 -0.0285 0.1274 0.0243 2.4640 0.0913

Factor 3 -0.0225 -0.0166 0.0281 0.0104 -0.6960 0.0021 -0.0326 0.2103 0.0389 0.0572 0.0724 -0.0406 -0.1216 -0.0987 0.1988 -0.0017 0.1218 -0.0950 -0.0419 -0.0353 -0.0295 0.1234 -0.3519 -0.8190 0.0144 0.1281 0.0436 1.4632 0.0542

Factor 4 0.0501 0.0377 -0.0150 -0.0059 -0.2422 0.0973 -0.0500 0.0999 -0.1182 0.7622 -0.0114 -0.0261 0.1569 -0.1434 -0.3110 -0.1105 -0.2898 0.0774 0.6502 -0.0785 0.3150 0.1010 0.2164 0.1085 0.0196 0.2377 0.0623 1.5822 0.0586

Factor 5 -0.0291 -0.0412 0.0150 0.0954 -0.0053 0.0186 -0.0258 -0.6679 0.1846 0.0493 0.0717 -0.2375 0.2207 -0.6947 0.0705 0.0189 0.0844 -0.4383 -0.0302 0.0616 0.0612 -0.1857 0.0389 0.0324 0.0396 -0.0920 0.1302 1.3655 0.0506

Factor 6 -0.0520 -0.0422 0.0050 0.0878 -0.1294 -0.0150 -0.0993 0.0796 0.0610 0.0855 -0.0541 0.7217 -0.2109 0.0319 -0.0457 -0.0428 -0.0409 -0.3693 -0.1066 0.0757 -0.0227 -0.0010 0.1113 0.0527 0.0605 0.0208 0.7556 1.3755 0.0510

Factor 7 0.2012 0.2011 0.8226 0.7781 -0.0398 -0.0013 0.1863 -0.2226 -0.2060 -0.0184 -0.0406 0.1229 0.1248 0.0363 -0.1269 0.0797 -0.1008 0.3844 0.0736 -0.0274 0.2348 0.0097 -0.0436 -0.0371 -0.0853 0.5569 0.0019 2.0877 0.0773

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Factor 8 -0.0002 0.0105 0.0043 0.0760 0.1520 0.1028 0.0065 0.0690 0.0748 0.1713 -0.7560 -0.0395 0.2329 0.0869 -0.0131 -0.0484 0.0001 0.0230 -0.1348 -0.7046 0.3118 -0.0267 -0.0729 -0.0451 0.0230 -0.0135 0.0281 1.3386 0.0496

Factor 9 0.0349 0.0454 -0.1077 -0.0938 -0.0020 -0.5177 -0.7537 0.0155 -0.2084 0.0822 -0.0660 0.1249 0.4349 -0.0818 0.0531 -0.0053 0.1640 0.0144 -0.0270 0.0812 -0.1625 0.0227 -0.2328 0.0006 -0.0541 0.2588 -0.0361 1.3155 0.0487

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6.9 Factor 9: degenerate in manufacturing industry and commercial business Factor 9 contains scale of manufacturing industry and scale of commercial business. These indicators have negative value. This means that the sample district is getting decline in manufacturing industry and commercial business, the industries is moving out or close down, in other words, the district is facing the difficulty in manufacturing industry and commercial business.

7

Spatial-temporal changes of the holistic regional sustainability

In order to fully reflect the sustainability of the regional condition changes during 1995-2004, it was necessary to embark on a complex process of information gathering. The complexity of the data made it difficult to understand the spatial meaning of the data. Hence, cluster analysis was used to assist the research and clarify the meaning of the data. The brief summary of spatial structure is shown as Fig. 2. Across the 350 municipalities of Taiwan, the research used Semi-Partial R-Squared indicator method [12] to identify five clearly defined clusters (Fig. 3). The characteristics and analysis of the clusters are presented below (Table 3). 7.1 Cluster 1 This group includes 122 municipalities, which are mainly located in the northern, central and southern region. Table 3 shows that the characteristic of this cluster is unapparent. Only factor 2 has little negative effect. These 122 municipalities are optimistic in sustainable development due to good control of usage of nonrenewable resource. 7.2 Cluster 2 11 municipalities are spread over five regions of Taiwan. The main characteristics of this cluster are obvious growing in agriculture, manufacturing industry and raising quality of public service rapidly. 7.3 Cluster 3 This includes 161 municipalities and is the biggest cluster of all. It is mainly located in the central and southern regions. There is no particular character in this cluster that is no apparent changes in the last decade. 7.4 Cluster 4 This area includes 43 municipalities which are mainly distributed in northern, central and eastern regions that near the seaside coastland. Factor 5 is the significant factor. This region apparently belongs to sustainable development WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

248 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability area due to notable improvement of its resources of medical treatment and education. 7.5 Cluster 5 This area includes 13 municipalities which are gathered up at the mountain area in southeaster region and northeaster region. Factor 1 and 7 are the significant factors. Table 2 reveals that the manufacturing industry has been expanded substantially, and the degree of urbanization is getting higher in this cluster. These 13 municipalities belong to emerging area, and might have negative effects on sustainable development. Nevertheless, active management planning will be needed in the future. Table 3:

Each factor’s average scores of the five clusters.

Factor\Cluster Factor1 Factor2 Factor3 Factor4 Factor5 Factor6 Factor7 Factor8 Cluster 1 Cluster 2 Cluster 3 Cluster 4 Cluster 5

-0.0561 1.9942 -0.2257 -0.0162 1.6875

-0.8993 -0.3370 0.5337 0.6356 0.0117

0.1657 -1.8933 0.0334 -0.1401 0.0964

-0.0705 3.0742 -0.0278 -0.4333 -0.1620

-0.0432 0.2789 0.4691 -1.7678 0.2067

0.2383 -0.4016 -0.0884 -0.2622 0.0650

-0.2370 -0.7241 -0.0721 -0.1906 4.3603

-0.0746 -0.2661 0.0271 0.1533 0.0826

N W

0

E

20

S

40

60 Kilometers

Regional boundary Boundary Cluster ¢» 1 2 3 4 5

Figure 3:

Heterogeneous spatial cluster in Taiwan.

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No. of municipality 122 11 161 43 13

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249

Discussion and conclusion

In last decade, the national economic strategies of Taiwan have a highly heterogeneous impact on the regional and local sustainability through its influence on spatial restructure and infrastructure. In this study spatial pattern of the change has been clearly identified. The result of clustering analysis has revealed distinct differences in the pattern of regional sustainability at regional and local scales. Given the spatial distribution of municipalities among the five clusters, we can speculate the relationship between the rate of economic development and regional sustainability.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

[9]

[10] [11]

[12]

Asian Development Bank, Integrated Economic and Environmental Planning at the Sub-national Level in Asia, ADB, Manilla, 2001. The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1987. Dale, A., As the edge: Sustainable development in the 21st century, Vancouver: UBC I’ress, 2001. Hanna, K.S., Planning for sustainability - experiences in two contrasting communities, Journal of American Planner Association, 71(1): 27-40, 2005. Robinson, J., Francis, G., Legge, R. and Lerner, S., Defining a sustainable society: Values, principles and definitions, Alternatives, 17: 36-46, 1990. Andrew, F. and Manuel, W., Land use modelling at the regional scale: an input to rural sustainability indicators for Central America, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 85(1-3): 249-268, 2001. Maclaren, V.W., Urban sustainability reporting, Journal of American Planner Association, 62(2): 184-202, 1996. Ko-Wan Tsou, Yu-Ting Hung and Yao-Lin Chang, Spatial analysis of urban sustainability, Compact Cities: Sustainable Urban Forms for Developing Countries, Mike Jenks and Rod Burgess (eds), Spon Press, London, pp. 321-330, 2000. Herrera-Ulloa, Á. F., Charles, A. T., Lluch-Cola, S. E., Ramirez-Aguirre, H., Hernández-Vázquez, S. and Ortega-Rubio, A., A regional-scale sustainable development index: the case of Baja California Sur, Mexico, International Journal for Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 10(4): 353-360, 2003. Lewis, G. M. and Brabec, E., Regional land pattern assessment: development of a resource efficiency measurement method, Landscape and Urban Planning, 72(4): 281-296, 2005. Bühler-Natour, C. and Herzog, F., Criteria for sustainability and their application at a regional level: the case of clearing islands in the Dübener Heide nature park (Eastern Germany), Landscape and Urban Planning, 46(1-3): 51-62, 1999. Ward, J. H., Hierarchical grouping to optimise an objective function, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 58: 236-244, 1963. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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A critical analysis of regional planning in South Africa in the 21st century J. Lodi The Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract The democratic South Africa brought with it a swathe of changes regarding the entire governance system of the country including the notorious apartheid planning system. One of these changes that landed with the new dispensation was the establishment of provinces as a distinctive interrelated and interdependent (The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996) sphere of government between the national and local governments. This sphere of government consists of nine provinces that are earmarked, amongst others, by varied population and geographic sizes, political orientation, socio-economic endowments, institutional capacities and competencies, development potential and development planning systems and implementation capabilities. One of the major challenges currently facing the national government is the muddled state of regional/provincial development planning processes and plans. Most of the regional development plans are characterised by a lack of a clear strategic development agenda and an ongoing planning process that seldom sees the dawn of completion and implementation, varying time frames, inward focussed plans, plans that are hardly monitored, plans that do not have teeth and plans that seldom add value to the intergovernmental landscape of South Africa. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, to unpack the current provincial/regional development planning challenges and to critically discuss and engage some of the pertinent phenomena that have shaped and are currently shaping the nature in which provincial development planning has evolved thus far in South Africa since the early 21st century; secondly, the paper will also touch on the dynamics that underpin the provincial planning processes since 2000 in South Africa. The paper will adopt a critical and interpretive stance. In doing so, the paper will relate briefly to the concept and dynamics of municipal integrated development planning of South Africa within the intergovernmental planning landscape that is currently emerging. Keywords: provincial development planning and implementation, municipal planning, governance system, intergovernmental planning landscape, municipal integrated development planning. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060241

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1

Introduction

Provinces in South Africa, like municipalities and other apartheid related forces, had to undergo a form or change since the dawn of the new government after 1994 (Rogerson [1]). This change in provinces was witnessed by an increase in the number of provinces from four to nine. This re-demarcation process was marked by a range of difficult political nuances. Since the introduction of nine provinces by the new government, the advancement of provincial planning in South Africa became almost non-existent and unheard of within the planning and governance platforms. A sign of life on the existence and perhaps acknowledgement of provincial development planning (provincial strategic planning) was witnessed around 2004. In fact, neither the Presidency nor the Department of Provincial and Local Government had staff that attended to provincial planning matters prior to 2004. Municipal planning was the latest fashion and fascination for both planners and other government practitioners. The move adopted by certain proponents of the integrated development planning concept shortly after the failure of the introduction of this concept at national level, to by-pass the provinces as an alternative sphere within which to locate this concept, could be interpreted as a statement by national government pertaining to the importance given to provincial planning. It could be argued that this step is one of the decisions taken by the new government to indicate their uncertainties, or perhaps lack of commitment to provincial planning as opposed to local level planning, which enjoyed undivided attention since 1996. The entrenchment of the local integrated development planning pointed out the importance of proper planning requirements in other government spheres in order to optimally enjoy the benefits of the local plans, thereby teaching us about the important of a systems approach to planning within government (Harrison [2]). When the evolution of provincial started saw the dawn of light in the early 21st century when the evolution of provincial planning started to take off mainly due to the importance and the strong emergences of the concept of alignment given the establishment of the IDP system. Whilst provincial planning in South Africa is finding its feet, the evolution of national planning in South Africa is not better off. The fruitless attempts undertaken by the Forum for Effective Development Planning (FEPD) to kickstart a national development plan, in the form of an integrated development plan shortly after the new democratic government of South Africa are yet to see the light of day [3]. Notwithstanding these variances within the intergovernmental planning landscape of South Africa together with their relationships with one another (irrespective of how these relationships may be perceived, interpreted, approached used and abused within the system) and the supposedly underlying implications thereof, this paper focuses on relating the story of regional/provincial planning. In relating this story, it is imperative to firstly provide a broad and brief overview of the intergovernmental planning landscape of South Africa, with a WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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specific focus on the provinces/regions. Secondly, the paper touches on certain key development planning trends, events and practices in some of the regions/provinces. More importantly, it is essential to discuss the implications of some of these ad hoc, varying and uncoordinated development planning practices within the regions. It is also empirical to obtain a broad understanding of possible causal factors for such trends without necessarily placing any positive or negative judgement on such practices that could potentially undermine and jeopardise the enjoyment of the current Constitutional, legislative and policy frameworks and more. Lastly the paper will provide implications of such practices to governance issues, planning issues and other pertinent social issues affecting South Africa immensely such as health and the youth. The paper does not aim to provide answers but seeks to raise questions pertaining to the implications of the issues mentioned above. This paper is based on studies conducted on the provincial planning since 2004 and the current ongoing work on producing the provincial planning guidelines in South Africa. The paper also borrows from some of the studies undertaken on intergovernmental planning, the National Spatial Development Planning (NSDP) and Integrated Development Planning (IDP).

2

Overview of the intergovernmental planning landscape of South Africa

As a government admired internationally for its young and progressive Constitution, South Africa consists of three spheres of government that are interrelated and interdependent. Felmann and Ambert [4] contend that powers and functions of each of these spheres are clearly laid out by the Constitution and should be adhered to by each of the spheres. One of these powers and functions are to be executed by these spheres of government is that of planning. In South Africa, the nature of holistic development planning undertaken within the intermediate sphere of government (this kind of planning does not include the planning that is executed by sector departments located within the same sphere of government; sector planning in provinces is undertaken separately from the overall provincial development planning process), the provinces, is mainly known as the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS) (other provinces often refer to these plans as Provincial Growth and development Plans e.g. the Eastern Cape Province). Whilst the PGDS is accepted as the provincial planning tool, the IDP at local level is the legally prescribed planning tool whereas the major planning tool at national sphere is accepted to be the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF). According to Mohammed et al. [5] the interrelationships of the PGDS, the IDP and the MTSF should be guided by the National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP). These plans and the policy/guiding frameworks, supported by the respective financial and sector plans across each sphere, are aimed at making interventions in district and metropolitan spaces. Figure 1 below argues that interventions, or the so-called WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

254 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability government actions co-ordinated through the various spherical planning instrument/tools as a means to an end, should be guided by the philosophy of joint collaboration on planning and implementation by all three spheres in order to optimise government delivery in the impact zones of government (Mohammed et al. [5]). The impact zones are defined as the 47 district municipalities and the 6 metropolitan municipalities are local level. Figure 1 below illustrates the intergovernmental landscape of South Africa and its key planning tools within each sphere. National

MTSF

MTEF & Budget

DEPARTMENTAL STRATEGIC & SECTOR PLANS

MTEF & Budget

DEPARTMENTAL STRATEGIC & SECTOR PLANS

District & Metropolitan Spaces

Provincial

N S D P

PGDS

Local

DM, Metro IDP

Figure 1:

Financial Plans & Budget

DEPARTMENTAL STRATEGIC & SECTOR PLANS

53 Impact Zones of Government

The intergovernmental planning landscape of South Africa (Mohammed et al. [5]).

Given the importance and the role of development planning and the planning tools that are located within the various spheres of government, the importance of these planning tools in each sphere is inevitable, and should be pursued, managed, supported, implemented and co-ordinated with equal importance in order to realise in a sustainable manner, the implementation of government policies and legislation. As it has been hinted earlier, and will be elaborated upon further, this has not been the case with the provincial plans and the national plan. The following sections explore different ways by which these plans have evolved over time. 2.1 The municipal planning system: integrated development planning The intergovernmental planning landscape of South Africa can be located within each of the three spheres of government as defined by, amongst other key policy WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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imperatives, the 1996 Constitution and the White Paper on Local Government on Local Government (WPLG). To date, the current nature of planning executed in each sphere of government in South Africa is vividly known to the public. Whilst this is still the case, this evolving intergovernmental landscape has recently become vital to the democratic government of South Africa. Notwithstanding certain political impasses, and the failure of development planning to find a place in the recently promulgated Intergovernmental Relations Bill soon to become an Act, the nature and the formation of the intergovernmental planning landscape is currently emerging strongly in South Africa. To date, the fore-runner to the above scenario is local level/municipal planning. This municipal planning system was established shortly after the new democratic South Africa and is currently legally prescribed to all 284 municipalities that surfaced from the original 850 during the daunting process of demarcation and introducing a new system of developmental local governance (Feldmann and Ambert [4]). Municipal planning in South Africa has taken the form of a holistic plan that is executed within the municipal level and embraces the ethos of integrated development planning. This type of planning is defined in Oranje et al. [3, p 15], Harrison [2, p 185], Meiklejohn and Coetzee [6, pp 4-11] and others as: “A participatory approach to integrate economic, sectoral, spatial, social, institutional, environmental, and fiscal strategies in order to support the optimal allocation of scarce resources between sectors and geographical areas and across the population in a manner that provides sustainable growth, equity and the empowerment of the poor and the marginalised” In this definition, of integrated development planning, five key pillars reign. These pillars are; (a) integration, (b) participatory, (c) strategic, (d) service delivery orientation, (e) pro-poor focus, and (f) anti-apartheid geared. Furthermore, Chapter 5 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act, 32 of 2000, which lies at the core of municipal planning, defines integrated development planning as: “(a) the principal strategic planning instrument which guides and informs all planning and development, and all decisions with regard to planning, management and development, in the municipality; (b) binds the municipality in the exercise of its executive authority, except to the extent of any inconsistency between a municipality’s integrated development plan and national or provincial legislation, in which case such legislation prevails; and (c) binds all other persons to the extent that those parts of the integrated development plan that impose duties or affect the rights of’ those persons have been passed as a by-law” The current legal framework and a range of support measures that have been put in place by government as pointed out in Rauch [7], ensured a sense of direction and progression in development planning within this sphere of government. Even WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

256 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability though certain support measures in the various forms have been put in place, this local planning system still suffers major criticism, stands under constant scrutiny and still suffers many inadequacies indicated by various researchers such as; Aitkinson, Feldmann and Ambert [3], Harrison [8], and others. In some cases, expectations and the hope placed on these local plans to deliver services, foster development and change lives of the poor in South Africa, led to major disappointments, at least thus far, to the beneficiaries and other IDP believers in government, private sector, and the broader development arena. There are those who were hoping that the IDP will deal with the so called “big issues” such as poverty and HIV. As Ambert [9, pp 36-40] illustrates, this has not been the case in most municipalities. Clearly, this is a major concern in South Africa given the rapid spread of the disease and the future implications to issues of governance and planning that needs to be taken into account within municipalities and their abilities to plan in a sustainable fashion. Despite the challenges that this local plan is facing, it still stands its ground pertaining to its execution, the support it enjoys, and legislation that has been put in place. In fact, it can be argued that the battle to make the IDP work has led government to the be aware of the many gaps that exist with regard to planning in other spheres and how this local plan needs to be supported by other planning processes in the other two spheres of government.

Figure 1: 2.2

South African provinces.

The provincial planning system: the provincial growth and development strategy (plan)

In contrast to the evolution of the local planning phenomenon, provincial planning in South Africa has been robbed of attention. It is interesting to note that other than the strategic and developmental role mentioned in the WPLG [10, p 41] probably the first attention-worthy research on provincial planning was conducted about two years ago. This study will be discussed in more detail later in the paper. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Other than this study, very little work has been undertaken regarding provincial planning in South Africa as compared to place like the England, (Marshall [12]) that have made major strides and progress since 1997. Figure 2 above provides and overview of the nine provinces of South Africa. Other than Gauteng and Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal, most of thee provinces are characterised by high levels of poverty, HIV and unemployment. The reason for this neglect remains a speculation for many. There are those who attribute this negligence by government to provide some form of guidance as a symptom of the underlying uncertainties and dissatisfaction around the role of provinces within the system. On the other hand, there are scholars that call for the concept of creative experimentalism (Harrison [11]) on planning in the new democratic South Africa. This argument is centred around openness and creating a platform within which planning can evolve without legislative impediments and hindrances that often tend to stifle creativity and experimentation. Even though this argument was targeted at local level planning, there is no doubt that it bears some relevance to provincial level planning. Perhaps the validity of this argument has more merit at the provincial level compared to the local level. However valid, this view, can be countered by the need expressed by most provinces in South Africa for some form of guidance on how to undertake the provincial plans (Gwagwa [13]). There are also recent emerging observations and concerns regarding the limited role that provinces are playing as a sphere of government that possesses executive and legislative powers. These concerns take the view that some provinces are operating merely as the administrative arm of government despite the powers bestowed upon them by the Constitution. This is an issue of great concern given the fiscal allocation that the provinces secure from national government compared to the local government (Feldmann and Ambert [3]). Whilst these views are being expressed, there are provinces that have been implementing their constitutional right to undertake provincial planning at their own discretion and putting in place some policies and legislations in this regard, which demonstrates the desire and will to be a government sphere that enjoys its Constitutional rights, and becoming presumably creative and innovative. Harrison would argue that this is perhaps the right approach. Whilst this is the case amongst some provinces, the opposite scenario has played and continues to play itself out in other provinces, thereby, making the provincial planning platform a complex and diversified one with somewhat chaotic and uncoordinated planning processes, actions and efforts that others would argue, yield undesired outcomes and perpetuates a stagnant and unsustainable environment for development within the intergovernmental planning landscape. Over and above the call for provincial guidelines expressed by certain provinces, as opposed to a provincial planning legislation due to the limitations this will impose to the provinces (Gwagwa [13]), a report on Study Tour for Municipalities [14], makes a recommendation made by the Portfolio Committee on Provincial and Local Government saying:

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258 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability “provinces should give serious consideration to devising new provincial general development plans that shape and are shaped by the municipal IDPs” This study was undertaken in 2003, during a period within which some provincial planning were underway. The timing of this recommendation, raises critical questions regarding the existence of provincial plans and or planning. More important to note is that this recommendation provides a clue into the lack of government knowledge or perhaps acknowledgement of some of the provincial development plans, given the fact that the WPLG clearly stipulates that provinces need to develop provincial growth and development strategies as part of their strategic role in government [10, p 41]. The same policy paper clear stipulates the importance of alignment between the IDPs and the PGDS as provinces developmental role. The study undertaken by Gwagwa [13], paved way and raised some awareness to government regarding the poor planning or lack of planning or even others would argue creative and innovative planning that existed in some of the provinces. This study discovered amongst others, the following issues pertaining to provincial planning in South Africa: In most provinces the PGDS is in draft form and its finalisation has been delayed by the April 2004 elections. Where there has been substantial change of political leadership, the draft PGDS is being reviewed by EXCO, for example, KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga. This is introducing new processes and will obviously impact on the final PGDS that is approved, which might have substantive changes from the draft that was reviews for this report. A case in point here is perhaps KwaZulu Natal. This reinforces the importance of political ownership of the content and process of the PGDS. Generally there are no province wide planning instruments in most provinces except KwaZulu Natal, North West and Gauteng The conclusion that can be drawn from the above is that, firstly, there is limited province wide planning in this country. Rather what exists is sector and programme specific planning. Secondly, it can be extrapolated that planning legislation in KwaZulu Natal, Western Cape and Gauteng has been a response to a need to manage and control spatial development and land use management, rather than to guide development per se. What came out clearly though is the need for guidance in the preparation of PGDSs. Provinces are not at the same level in terms of experience in and capacity for planning. Furthermore, the importance of planning, in some instances, seems to be affected by the inclination of the incumbent political leadership Gwagwa [13, pp 7-12] WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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This muddled state of provincial planning exposed by Gwagwa, did not go unnoticed. Soon after the presentation of this report to Cabinet, a resolution was taken to prepare some guidelines of guidelines for provincial planning. This call was headed and soon after the first draft guidelines for provincial planning were developed (Lodi [15]). Complementing the development of these guidelines was the call by the President for government to embark on a strategy of harmonising the NSDP, the PGDS (which were broad and undefined at that point). The subsequent outcomes of this study added more light to the possible development of the philosophy that should accompany the development of the PGDS guidelines (Mohammed et al. [5, pp 21-26]), and the subsequent practices thereof. One of the positive impacts of the awareness that is emerging 2004 on PGDS has been the strong marketing of the various PGDS process in the various process on the radio, billboards and newspapers. These were followed by an intensive process that culminated into more comprehensive guidelines that are soon to be finalised (DPLG 2005).

3

Concluding remarks

A decade has passed since the new government of South Africa was reinstated. Since then, provincial planning came to the fore about a year ago. The opposite side of the coin demonstrates clearly that local planning is well embedded. Only now is South Africa waking up to adopt, implement and take seriously the importance of an intergovernmental planning system. This new awakening, however good, has certainly had a negative effect on the long standing development issues such as health, government expenditure, the overall delivery of services, unemployment and poverty in the country. The sudden new awakening also points to the reactionary and crisis management tendency of the South African government of many development and governance issues. However concerning this attitude maybe, there is some comfort in the powerful progress made by The Department of Provincial and Local Government and The Office of The Presidency since the call made by parliament to develop the PGDS guidelines.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

Rogerson, M. Ten years of changing development planning in a democratic South Africa. International Development Planning Review. Vol. 26(4), pp. 356-358, 2004. Harrison, P.. The genealogy of South Africa’s Integrated Development Plan. Third World Planning Review. Vol 23(2): 175-93, 2001. Oranje, M., Harrison, P., van Huyssteen, E., Meyer, E. A policy paper on Integrated Development Planning. Prepared for the Department of Provincial and Local Government, Pretoria, 2000. Feldmann, M and Ambert, C. Are IDPs barking up the wrong tree? A paper presented at the Africa Planning Conference, 2002. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

260 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [5]

[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

Mohammed, H. van Huyssteen, E. Coetzee, M. Harmonising and aligning the: National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP), Provincial Growth and Development Strategies (PGDS), and Municipal Integrated Development Plans. Prepared for the Policy Co-ordination and advisory services. The Presidency, 2004. Meiklejohn, C. and Coetzee, M. Integrated Development planning. The best of Hologram 2001-2003. Issues and practice in South African Local Government. Cape Town: Nolwazi, 2003. Rauch, T. Principles of Integrated Development Planning and Assessment of the Process 2001/200.Prepared for the German Technical Corporation (GTZ) and the Department of Provincial and Local Government, 2002 Harrison, P. Towards integrated inter-governmental planning in South Africa: the IDP as a building block. In DPLG/GTZ, 2003. Ambert, C. HIV, AIDS and Integrated Development Planning: Municipal Planning and responses. In IFAS Working paper series. Vol. 5. pp 36-40, 2004. Ministry for Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development. The White Paper on Local Government. March 1998. Harrison, P. Subverting orthodoxy: Re-look at the ‘truths’ of postapartheid planning. Int. Planning Conference, 2002. Marshall, T. Regional Planning in England: Progress and pressures since 1997. In Town Planning Review. Vol. 75(4). Pp 447-472, 2004. Gwagwa, L. Provincial Planning Study. Prepared for the German Development Corporation and the Department of Provincial and Local Government, 2004. Portfolio Committee on Provincial and Local Government. Report on the Study Tour of Municipalities, 2003. Lodi, J. Draft PGDS Guidelines. Prepare for the Department of provincial and Local Government, 2004.

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Section 5 Strategy and development

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Entropy and the city N. Marchettini, F. M. Pulselli & E. Tiezzi Department of Chemical and Biosystems Sciences, University of Siena, Italy

Abstract The sustainability assessment of a complex human system, such as a city, must start from the knowledge of physical laws and constraints which the development of the system is based on. It is well known that the Second Law of thermodynamics states that an isolated system tends towards maximum entropy, that implies maximum disorder. In general, life seems to contradict the Second Law since we observe that the trend of living organisms is towards the creation of order where previously there was disorder: it is the trend to organize and self-organize. Ilya Prigogine called these systems “dissipative structures” that are thermodynamic self-adaptive systems open to both energy and matter. Human systems (economic, social, urban, etc.) use relations and exchanges with their environment in order to survive and might be identified as dissipative structures far from thermodynamic equilibrium. In particular, the evolution and maintenance of a city is possible due to inputs of natural resources from the terrestrial ecosystems and outputs of heat and wastes into terrestrial ecosystems. Edgar Morin said that the autonomy of a system is funded on the dependence on the environment so that autonomy and dependence are complementary concepts, although they seem in contrast, and there cannot be autonomy without dependence. Different kinds of inputs, especially from the environment, are stored in a city and become part of its “living” structure. Morin’s concepts of autonomy and dependence for human systems suggest that those systems must evolve between two extremes: autarchy and globalisation. This paper seeks to show how, in entropic terms, these two configurations are inconsistent with the concept of sustainability. Keywords: sustainable development, second law, entropy, autarchy, globalization.

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1

Introduction: a thermodynamic framework

The term entropy, indicated with S, was coined by Clausius from τροπη (transformation) and εντροπη (evolution, mutation or even confusion). For an isolated system ∆S ≥ 0, equality holds only for ideal reversible processes (e.g. a Carnot cycle). In an ideal reversible transformation between two states of a system, entropy variation is given by the sum of the ratios between heat quantities, exchanged with the environment in a succession of short whiles during the transformation process, and the absolute temperatures (considering infinitesimal whiles, thus infinitesimal heat quantities, this sum is given by a sum of integrals). Thus, in classical thermodynamics, entropy is a state function whose variation, in the transition of a system from a state to another, can be calculated. In real irreversible transformations of an isolated system, according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the entropy variation is always positive, thus entropy tends to a maximum, that is the end of spontaneous evolution of the system. Any real process can only proceed in a direction which results in an entropy increase. Heat always flows spontaneously from a hotter reservoir to a colder one, until there is no longer a temperature difference or gradient; gas always flows from high pressure to low pressure until there is no longer pressure difference or gradient. This principle has been applied to the whole universe suggesting the hypothesis of a trend towards a thermal death; it represents the extent to which nature becomes more disordered or random. Entropy is also an indicator or even an evidence of the existence of time (the arrow of time) because it gives a direction to the succession of states of a system. It is necessary to distinguish between isolated systems (which cannot exchange energy or matter with the outside world), closed systems (which can exchange energy but not matter, e.g. our planet) and open systems (which can exchange both energy and matter). Cities and biological organisms are examples of open systems. For such systems we must sum the negative entropy produced inside the system with the positive entropy created in the environment. We then see that if “sometimes disorder degenerates into order” this is only a facade, the appearance of order at the price of even greater disorder in the surrounding environment. Living systems therefore need a continuous flux of negative entropy from the universe, to which they return an even larger amount of positive entropy. Ilya Prigogine called these open systems “dissipative structures”. Now we have a suitable formulation and a powerful tool to understand how the entropy variation in open systems is the sum of two terms: external entropy fluxes and internal entropy production. From a thermodynamic viewpoint, any ecosystem is an open system far from thermodynamic equilibrium, in which entropy production is balanced by the outflow of entropy to the environment. The climax of the ecosystem corresponds to a dynamic equilibrium (steady-state), when the entropy production inside a system is balanced by the entropy flow from the system to its environment.

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In the theory of open systems and dissipative structures by Prigogine, as we have seen above, the total variation of entropy is presented in the form of two items: dS = diS + deS

diS > 0

where diS is the entropy production (heat, disorder) caused by irreversible processes within the system and deS corresponds to the entropy of exchange processes between the system and its environment; it is the transfer of entropy across the boundaries of the system. In this formulation, the distinction between irreversible and reversible processes is essential. Only irreversible processes produce entropy. The Second Principle therefore states that irreversible processes lead to a sort of unidirectional time. For isolated systems deS = 0 and the previous equations becomes the classical Second Law. Open systems could conceivably evolve to steady states with: deS = – diS

dS = 0

This is a non-equilibrium steady state that should not be confused with thermodynamic equilibrium, and in which order may be created from disorder. Order created in this way no longer violates the laws of thermodynamics; equilibrium is no longer the only attractor of the system, but the world becomes more complex and thermodynamics can embrace new worlds characterized by highly organized as well as chaotic structures. In this way thermodynamics’ second principle addresses the pathways we should avoid in order to keep life on Earth. It shows the universal, inescapable tendency towards disorder (or the general trend toward an entropy maximum), which is also a loss of information and of usable energy availability. Living systems try to avoid the condition of thermodynamic equilibrium, keeping themselves as far as possible from that state, self-organizing due to material and energetic fluxes, received from outside and from systems with different conditions of temperature and energy. However, even biological systems, ecosystems and especially human systems can suffer this tendency to the Clausius’ “thermal death” through the destruction of diversities [1]. There are two ways to achieve such a condition: a) when, through energy exchanges as heat fluxes, there are no more differences in temperature and nothing more can be done, because any exchange of usable energy is allowed; b) when a system, becoming isolated, consumes its resources, reaching a great increase in its internal entropy and, at the end, to self-destruction. Economics and our society cannot be unaware of thermodynamics’ second principle. As a consequence globalization, the destruction of both biological and cultural diversities, homogenization and the unique thought take inescapably to the thermal death. In the same way a country, a nation, a system that makes a political dogma of its isolation, of its refusing of cultural contamination (better: WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

266 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability of cross-fertilizations), of its castling on fundamentalist positions of selfconservation, will go to the same end. An excessive defence of one’s diversity and a complete loss of diversity are two faces of the same thermodynamic violation.

2 Urban systems, complexity and entropy An urban system is a both complex and complicated system, and therefore not completely determinable. Dynamic phenomena and surprising new events spring from the variable relationships between the parts and from collective behaviours that escape individual control. The evolution of urban systems is governed by irreversible and stochastic processes combining choice and chance. Clear signs may be recognised, for example the way in which certain technologies have recently changed the way people move and exchange information, and how they use public and private urban space. Mobility, telecommunications, energy and material flows that feed a city raise practical evolving questions in the field of urban studies. Emergent landscapes have changed the perception of cities, drawing attention to general behaviours and ordering principles in a holistic framework. The idea that a city can be conceived as a complex self-adapting system, or even a living ecosystem, is a key point for urban research and opens promising perspectives to direct strategic choices in future development. Certain concepts, from complex system theory to evolutionary physics, from thermodynamics to ecology, confirm this hypothesis and are in line with Eugene Odum’s definition of an ecosystem as a unit of biological organization consisting of all the organisms in a given area interacting with the physical environment [2]. The interactions between society and the built environment, living and nonliving systems, change and take various forms that can be observed on different space-time scales. Organizational and developmental properties of cities and ecosystems must be considered as wholes and their structural and dynamic properties studied in order to describe and explain the formation of macro-level patterns in systems composed of many interacting micro-level components [3]. An ecosystem approach is required if we assume that some of the properties and behaviours of certain urban systems depend on interactions between their parts and with the surrounding environment. A proper understanding of these properties and behaviours will require bringing these system-environment relations explicitly within the field of investigation [4]. This ecosystemic approach to the study of anthropic (urban) systems can be well represented by the use of the energy system language proposed by Howard T. Odum [5]. An energy diagram gives a synthetic description of resource flows and transformation processes that take place in the territory; it works as a scheme in which relationships between the system and the outside and between its own parts have been decoded in the form of flows of energy and materials. Specifically, it provides a comprehensive glance on urban and regional dynamics based on the ability to group different aspects of a territory and different sectors into a unique vision. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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A city is part of a much vaster territory and many processes have a wide range of action or, even, a global dimension. Without continuous flows of input energy that build order, these systems would degrade. The inventory of the inputs that supply a city comes from an observation of multiple dynamics and processes. System diagrams provide a holistic picture of the ecosystems, or complex systems, specifying the main forcing functions, internal components, process interactions, etc. [6]. Diagrams are characterised by geographic boundaries and the fundamental elements within them: external sources, natural deposits or storages, primary producers, human activities and settlements (industries and cities, respectively) and institutions that communicate by flows of energy, matter, information, money, people, wastes and heat (fig. 1). Evolutionary physics and non-equilibrium thermodynamics are the main disciplines for studying dynamics of complex systems and self-organization in urban social systems. Prigogine [7] underlines that cities and living organisms embody different types of functional order. “To obtain a thermodynamic theory for this type of structure we have to show that non equilibrium may be a source of order. Irreversible processes may lead to a new type of dynamic states of matter which I have called “dissipative structures”. […] These structures are today of special interest in chemistry and biology. They manifest a coherent supermolecular character which leads to new quite spectacular manifestations.” Earth Cycle

Rivers

Minerals

Fuels

Goods &

Services

GRP

Minerals Water

Sun

Soil

Tourism

Hydroelectric production

Rain

Government

Industry

Forests

&

Manufacturing

Wind

People & Cities Market

Agriculture

Livestock Wastes

Figure 1:

The energy diagram is a schematic description of the flows of resources and transformation processes within and through the given boundaries of the system. It is a synthetic idea of the relationships between elements and processes in form of fluxes of energy and matter.

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

268 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability How can a city be conceived as a dissipative structure? Absorption of external input (negentropy) and emission of internal output (entropy, heat) is a principle that works for social systems, economics, human settlements and all their dynamics. Cities absorb flows of high quality energy from the external environment and emit heat, wastes and pollutants; their internal entropy decreases by self-organization in the form of structures, information, social patterns and economy. Resource flows feed these dissipative cities, as if they were ecosystems composed of organisms and are metabolized and continuously used to sustain its ordered structure during the time. Entropy change depends on two processes: interactions among constituents of the system diS and exchanges with the external environment deS (see above). How can we describe these processes in a complex urban system? The configuration of a complex system, or organization of parts into a whole, is therefore a steady state and depends on interactions among constituents of the system (responsible for the entropy change diS) and perturbations from the external environment (responsible for the entropy change deS). The configuration is always dynamic: it is not static in time but changes whenever external conditions change.

3

Biophysical foundations

Cities are physical systems in contact with various sources and sinks; matter and energy flow through them from the sources to the sinks. Let us consider the flow diagram [8]: Energy source

Intermediate system

Sinks

and divide the system into two parts: 1. 2.

source(s) + sink(s) intermediate system(i).

According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics: dSss + dSi ≥ 0 where Sss is the entropy of source + sink and Si is the entropy of the intermediate system. The flow of energy from the source to the sink always involves an increase in entropy: dSss > 0 whereas the only restriction of the second law on dSi is that: dSi ≤ dSss WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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so that the entropy of the intermediate system (in our case a city) may decrease if there is an energy flow. A flow of energy provides the intermediate system with quantities of energy for the creation of far-from-equilibrium states, that is, states far from thermal death. Two related elements must be put on evidence: I) as we have already quoted, a source of low entropy is as necessary as the sink into which high entropy must be discharged; II) it is the continue flow through the system and not the mere availability of resources that enables it to survive, develop and increase in complexity. The transition from a low entropy input to high entropy output describes the evolution of a far from equilibrium system as a dissipative structure and the irreversibility of such a pattern according to the Prigogine’s concept of arrow of time [9]. The evolutionary process is such that systems become more and more complex and organized. Biological diversity is the key element that derives from long term interactions at a genealogical and ecological level, the former regarding the dissipation of entropy by irreversible biological processes and the latter regarding entropy gradients in the environment. Morowitz’s scheme suggests that the inhibition of the flow of low entropy from sources to sinks could jeopardize the capacity of a system to survive in the long run. Furthermore, the intermediate system is an anthropic system and the amount of resources involved in its processes is correlated to its dimensions. The larger is the system and the more “urgent” are both the supporting inputs (low entropy) and the capacity of discharging wastes (high entropy). Hence, the fundamental biophysical bases for an urban system like a city to survive indefinitely rely on its consistency with physical limits imposed by thermodynamics and the preservation of ecological surroundings and, consequently, of ecosystem services. In this context, Morin [10] defines the concept of autonomy as funded on the dependence on the environment. Autonomy and dependence are complementary concepts, although they seem in contrast, because a system needs resources to self-organize and maintain its individuality and originality. Hence selforganization and eco-organization have to be interconnected and this is a conceptual problem of complexity. There cannot be autonomy without dependence. Once the dissipative nature of anthropic processes and their dependence on natural sources and sinks have been acknowledged, the management of economic as well as urban systems is a problem of decision making, that should be oriented according to the above statements.

4

Extreme evolutionary patterns

Like a living system, an anthropic system must develop by mediating between two extreme situations, namely autarchy and globalization, that are both unsustainable from a thermodynamic point of view. Theoretically speaking, perfect autarchy and globalization are arbitrary concepts and are to economics as WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

270 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability the concept of absolute vacuum is to physics and that of isolated system is to thermodynamics. They are scholastic representations of hypothetical economic realities that do not exist, but they are useful as hypotheses for human life. The idea of an autarchical human system is related to a sort of selfconsistency. In general, the concept is referred to political systems as selfgovernment and to economic systems as self-sufficiency. Autarchical is a closed socio-economic system that feeds upon its internal resources without trading with the outside. It is neither economically nor culturally influenced by external systems. The lack of relations with other systems and cross fertilization experiences makes autarchy a rare and unnatural condition, often driven by a dictatorship. As a system, it is composed by subsystems that are often forced to avoid any connection with external elements. An autarchical system is assimilable to an isolated system, with no exchanges of energy, matter, information, culture etc. with the outside. Like for biological systems, the ordered state of such a system would decay, if left to itself, towards the most disorderly state possible. In order to avoid the condition of maximum entropy, in fact, a system may continuously export the produced entropy to other systems so that, even in a steady state, i.e. in case of constant entropy, the entropy of the total (system plus surroundings) increases, according to the Second Law. In condition of autarchy both the inflow of negentropy and the export of high entropy are inhibited, contravening the observations I) and II) seen above and driving the system to the exhaustion of its vital processes. Globalization process is, in general, the increasing integration of international markets with the major priority of promoting economic growth. The concept of “integration”, typical of globalization, goes beyond the simple “interdependency” of national economies which the process of internationalization is based on. It is the effective erasure of national boundaries for economic purposes, with social and cultural implications. Distribution inequality, together with different working conditions, poverty and lack of democracy somewhere, makes the markets of different countries not comparable with each other and a global economy difficult to realize. Each one considers the “other” markets within an unilateral vision of globalization: new consumers to stimulate and fresh energy and matter to exploit. Globalization is a growing, and apparently endless, process, whose keywords are efficiency, competency, ability, flexibility and competitiveness. It induces the global economy to maximize some crucial magnitudes, first of all consumption and production. Thermodynamics does not justify the project of an infinite growth in a finite planet and the level of exploitation of natural resources, including the capacity of ecosystems to absorb anthropic emissions, is already beyond the carrying capacity of Earth. The growing demand of energy and matter to support the global system and the eventual presence of an adiabatic membrane around the planet (increasing greenhouse effect) imply that globalization contravenes the observation I) and II) derived from the Morowitz’s entropic scheme. In Morin’s terms of autonomy and dependence, the growing integration of international markets, together with cultural homologation and loss of diversities, is generating a huge organism (the global system) more and more dependent on WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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the availability of ecosystem’s goods and services that, in turn, are becoming more and more scarce. When the capacity of Earth of providing goods and services is completely exhausted, then the maximum level of globalization will be paradoxically the extreme form of economic autarchy. It is our opinion that autarchy and globalization are two extreme configuration of an economic, but also socio-political, system whose evidences are not consistent with physical laws, in particular the entropy law.

5

Conclusions

Mankind is similar to other biological species. Socio-economic and urban systems are living subsystems within the greater system-biosphere: they can evolve like biological systems but their evolutionary processes are much more rapid than the capacity of the environment to respond to such changes. This could lead to unpredictable consequences for all living species and for the environment. The paper shows the necessity to manage the thermodynamic limits to growth of an anthropic system in order to avoid the risk of incurring in an “entropic euthanasia”. Two extreme configurations were described that imply the risk of a thermal death: (a) autarchy: similar to the condition of a thermodynamic isolated system destined to the maximum entropy as the Second Law of thermodynamic states; (b) globalization: the unlimited increasing of quantitative flows of energy and matter to feed a larger and larger structure, that is to say that maximum level of globalization corresponds to a maximum homologation, no more differences between the subsystems of global system, no more potentialities to develop, hence maximum disorder and maximum entropy. The development of an urban system, as a dissipative structure strongly dependent on continuous flows of energy and matter from the environment, has to follow a path between those two extreme vicious and convergent configurations.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

[5] [6]

Tiezzi, E. The essence of time. Wit Press, Southampton, 2002. Odum, E. The strategy of ecosystem development, Science, 164, 262-270, 1969. Ulanowicz, R.E. Growth and Development: Ecosystems Phenomenology, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1986. De Laplante, K. and Odenbaugh, J. What isn’t wrong with ecosystem ecology, in: R.A. Skipper, C. Allen, R. Ankeny, C. F. Craver, L. Darden, G. M. Mikkelson, and R. C. Richardson, eds., Philosophy of the Life Sciences, MIT press, Cambridge, USA, in press, 2006. Odum, H.T. Environmental Accounting, Emergy and Environmental Decision Making. Wiley & Sons, New York, 1996. Tilley, D.R., Swank, W.T. Emergy-based environmental system assessment of a multi-purpose temperate mixed-forest watershed of the

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[7] [8] [9] [10]

southern Appalachian Mountains USA. Journal of Environmental Management, 69, pp. 213-227, 2003. Prigogine, I. Time, Structures and Fluctuations, Nobel Lecture, 1977. Morowitz, H. Energy flow in biology. Ox Bow Press, Woodbridge, Connecticut, USA, 1979. Prigogine, I. The arrow of time. In: C. Rossi, and E. Tiezzi (Editors) Ecological Physical Chemistry. Elsevier, Amsterdam, NL, pp. 1-24, 1991. Morin, E. Le vie della complessità. In: G. Bocchi and M. Ceruti (Editors), La sfida della complessità. Feltrinelli, Milano, Italy, pp. 49-60, 1995.

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IRMA: a European project for a sustainable City Concept I. G. Sánchez & E. K. Lauritzen DEMEX A/S, Member of the NIRAS Group, Denmark

Abstract A project called Integrated Decontamination and Rehabilitation of Buildings, Structures and Materials in Urban Renewal (IRMA) is being conducted within the European Commission’s Fifth Framework Programme “Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development”. This international initiative involves seventeen partners from nine European countries, representing important stakeholders with interests in urban development. The primary objective of the project is the development and implementation of a general City Concept comprising a toolbox of improved technologies and processes, together with decision-making and management tools, for sustainable urban renewal, focusing on contaminated buildings, in order to protect the environment from hazardous compounds and save reusable buildings and materials. This paper presents the main focal points of the project, including contamination assessment, health and safety of construction and demolition workers, reduction of waste and preservation of buildings and resources. The holistic purpose of the project is to respond to some of the most important challenges of urban development, such as rehabilitation of old buildings, minimisation of waste and recycling of materials. Within this general context, focus is placed on the main outcome of the project, namely a model for an integrated management system called City Concept. The model serves as a management support tool for activities and processes related to the decontamination and rehabilitation of urban structures and buildings, including demolition, cleansing of surfaces and materials and recycling and reuse of recycled materials. Keywords: demolition, demolition waste, cleansing techniques, cleaner technologies, City Concept, integrated management system, sustainable urban renewal, decision-making tool. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060261

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1

Introduction

Most buildings and structures contain substances potentially dangerous for the environment and human health. Some buildings have been constructed with materials containing substances considered harmful today, e.g. asbestos, PCB, heavy metals, certain paints, etc., which can constitute a problem both during the “normal” use and the renewal operations of the buildings. At the same time, some of the most important challenges of urban development are the rehabilitation of old buildings, minimisation of waste and the recycling of materials. The identification and management of contaminated structures and buildings are thus important prerequisites for an innovative environmentally-oriented approach to urban renewal. In this context, the development of measures to identify and manage the contamination of buildings and structures, and the integration of rehabilitation, demolition and recycling techniques into a common approach to urban renewal called City Concept are the main objectives of a research & development project called IRMA. IRMA stands for “Integrated Decontamination and Rehabilitation of Buildings, Structures and Materials in urban renewal” and it is a project carried out within the European Commission’s Fifth Framework Programme “Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development”, Key Action 4: City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage. The project started in August 2003, and it lasts 48 months, until July 2007. The project total cost is estimated to be approximately 5 millions Euro, being half of it financed by the European Commission and the other half by the involved organisations.

2

About the IRMA project

2.1 Project objectives The major problems encountered in the current context of urban renewal are that: Very little practical applicable knowledge on the decontamination of buildings and materials is available There are no accepted technologies or guidelines for the decontamination of polluted buildings and materials There are no standards for the classification of decontaminated buildings and materials as “clean” The means of classification of polluted soil cannot be applied to recycled materials The health and safety of personnel carrying out work on contaminated buildings is insufficiently regulated The main objective of the IRMA project is to develop and implement a general City Concept comprising a toolbox of improved technologies and processes together with decision-making and management tools for sustainable WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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urban renewal. This managerial model focuses on contaminated buildings, in order to protect the environment and the people from hazardous compounds and optimise the reusability buildings and materials. 2.2 Project participants The project consortium consists of sixteen (16) partners from seven (7) European countries. They represent important stakeholders with interests in the decontamination of buildings in urban development: housing and civil contractors, demolition contractors, recycling specialists, consultants, universities, research institutes and municipal administrators. Table 1 includes the partners participating in the project, the stakeholder group to which they belong and the country they are established at. Table 1: Partner name NIRAS DEMEX Dansk Beton Teknik INTRON Demoliciones Técnicas Belgian Building Research Institute BRANDIS Enviro Challenge Contento Trade SBS Byfornyelse Hochschule Bremen Delft University of Technology Brussels Institute for Management of Environment Rotterdam Public Works Engineering Dr. Tech. Olav Olsen Meldgaard Federal State of Bremen

IRMA project partners. Stakeholder group Consulting engineers Concrete testing and R&D center Technical consultancy and laboratory Demolition contractor Research institute

Country Denmark Denmark

Demolition contractor Recycling contractor Research and technology center Urban renewal and consultancy University University Public administration

Denmark Belgium Italy Denmark Germany The Netherlands Belgium

Public administration

The Netherlands

Consultant engineers Recycling equipment suppliers Public administration

Norway Denmark Germany

The Netherlands Spain Belgium

2.3 Project contents The project is organised following a modular scheme, addressing each of the main objectives in separate Work Packages (WP). The contents addressed in each of the work packages are listed below. WP1. Compilation of data on building contamination and development of database Development of a database to be used as information tool Compilation of the relevant baseline information WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

276 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Description of the state-of the art on decontamination of buildings, structures and materials WP2. Assessment of contaminated buildings and structures Identification of existing contamination and assessment of the related risk for human health and environment based on their behaviour with respect to emissions Environmental impact and risk assessment of selected urban development scenarios comprising large groups of buildings, including contaminated buildings and structures WP3. Development of techniques for the end-of-life phases of buildings and structures Identify research needs and describe existing techniques within all end-of-life phases of buildings and structures Implement environmental risk assessment, economical evaluation and human health risk assessment to existing techniques used during all end-of-life phases of buildings and structures WP4. Guidelines for design of demolition and application of products from contaminated buildings and structures Prepare procedures and guidelines for - Assessment of contaminated buildings - Cleansing and demolition structures - Production of demolition products - Application of demolition products WP5. Development of City Concept for decontamination and rehabilitation of buildings, structures and materials Development of a model and a computer program for an integrated management system called City Concept for activities and processes related to decontamination and rehabilitation of urban structures and buildings, including demolition (partial and total), cleansing of surfaces and materials and recycling and reuse of recycled materials WP6. Evaluation of City Concept for European cities Feasibility study and evaluation of the City Concept in the following European cities and urban areas: Bremen (Germany), Brussels (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), Aarhus (Denmark), Barcelona (Spain) and Rotterdam (The Netherlands) Demonstration of the City Concept during a test project in connection with an actual rehabilitation plan WP7. Implementation and exploitation – Reporting, recommendation and guidelines Development of recommendations for cleaner processes for contaminated building structures Establishment of procedures for identification of contamination and its removal prior to demolition or refurbishment, for minimum waste production and maximum recovery of the materials Development of a structured approach for urban renewal projects including decision making, planning, supervision and administration WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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WP8. Project management Project coordination and administration in accordance with the contract requirements and pursuing the highest quality of the project’s outcome Despite of the presented division of work, necessary for the realisation of the project in praxis, the whole project is conceived as a unitary working process aiming at the final objective: the development and evaluation of the City Concept to be used for urban renewal processes at European level. 2.4 Project outcomes The main outputs of the project suitable for exploitation follow the objectives of the individual work packages. The outcome of the project concentrates on the introduction of cleaner processes and maximum waste recycling in the construction and demolition industry focusing on urban rehabilitation and supporting safe and extended lives of buildings. The results of the project will be materialised in the following deliverables, all pieces of an integrated management system for decontamination and rehabilitation of buildings, structures and materials in urban renewal, i.e. the City Concept. Final Report. Descriptive document about the development and findings of the specific work packages and the project in general. Database. Database of pollutants appearing in buildings and related materials, their physical-chemical properties and their possible interactions with building materials, preferential disposition sites, methods for their quantification and efficiency of appropriate cleaning techniques among others. Code of Good Practice for Works on Contaminated Structures. Guideline providing a structured approach for the identification and safe and efficient handling of contaminated structures and leading to maximum recovery of materials and minimum consumption of resources. Dissemination material. Demonstration material – including video documentation of different activities – for training and further education of engineers and skilled workers in clean construction, refurbishment and demolition procedures.

3

About the City Concept

The main objective of the IRMA Project is to develop and implement a general City Concept. The City Concept comprises a toolbox of improved technologies and processes, focusing on contaminated buildings in order to minimise risk to the environment from hazardous compounds and to save reusable buildings and materials. The Concept consists of decision-making and management tools for sustainable urban renewal, including: Minimisation of risk to the occupants of buildings Health and safety of construction and demolition workers WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

278 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Preservation of buildings and resources Reduction of waste The development of an old urban area - e.g. industrial area or harbour area towards new purposes - e.g. housing or business - requires firstly, demolition of buildings and clearance of old infrastructure - which are condemnable or not useful for the new purposes - and management of building waste materials with respect to maximum reuse, and secondly, rehabilitation of existing buildings and infrastructure, and reuse of these structures for new purposes. The integration of these processes in a holistic approach constitutes the basis of the City Concept, as shown in figure 1.

DEMOLITION

RECYCLING

DECONTAMINATION

DECONTAMINATION

City of today

REHABILITATION

Figure 1:

City of tomorrow REUSE OF BUILDINGS

Holistic process of urban renewal according to the City Concept.

The technical and scientific objectives of the City Concept consist of a sequence of measures to identify and manage contaminated structures and buildings, with the following consequences: Hazardous substances in buildings and the industrial pollution of building surfaces and structures are identified and classified Toxic emissions are prevented The lifetime of a structure can be extended Existing polluted building and structures can be rehabilitated and reused Volumes of polluted demolition waste materials (primarily concrete and masonry rubble) can be recycled The volume of contaminated building waste will be reduced Materials can be recovered upon complete or selective demolition to save natural resources and to avoid the need to dispose off waste Open spaces at the urban rehabilitation sites are used for the establishment of crushing and sorting machinery in order to allow all recycling to be carried out on site. Only contaminated waste and other non-recyclable materials are to be transported from the site The aim of the City Concept is to optimise the material flow with respect to economy and environment. It means that the amount of generated waste WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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materials and the consumption of natural materials must be reduced to a minimum, which requires maximum recycling. This is schematically represented in figure 2 below. RECYCLING & CLEANING MATERIALS X

NATURAL MATERIALS

A-X

NEW CITY

OLD CITY

B-X WASTE

TOTAL COST = COST (A-X) + COST (B-X) + COST (X)

Figure 2:

Economic perspective of the City Concept.

A crucial barrier to recycling is the contamination of buildings to be demolished or rehabilitated. Hazardous waste is very expensive to dispose off on controlled landfill, to incinerate or to receive special treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to separate the contaminated materials from clean materials, in order to minimise their volume and concentrate the pollution. The main elements of the City Concept are described below. Even though many of the elements and indicators of the City Concept are based on national and local regulations, standards and guidelines, the goals and the principles of the City Concept are valid for all EU member countries, cities and regions. 3.1 Demolition Demolition of buildings and structures comprises total demolition and removal of foundations. Demolition work should optimally be performed as selective demolition, which means that demolition waste is sorted on site aiming at the maximum reuse of the different waste fractions. Selective demolition is usually performed in the following stages: Removal of asbestos and other hazardous materials Stripping of the structure, including removal of doors, windows, roof and other installations Demolition of bearing structures, including beams, walls and plates Clearance of the ground area Asbestos sanitation techniques and demolition processes regarding clean materials are well described. However, in case of contaminated buildings e.g.

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280 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability surfaces contaminated by heavy metals, PCB, PAH, etc. there is a lack of methods and documentation of the demolition processes. The key issues with respect to demolition in these cases are: To identify and assess the hazardous materials in existing buildings and structures To clean surfaces and/or separate hazardous materials from clean materials as a specific step of selective demolition To reduce impact on the environment and risk of occupational health problems during demolition of contaminated buildings 3.2 Recycling Recycling includes recovery of concrete and masonry, and reuse of stony materials and timber. In principle all stones, masonry and concrete could be recycled. However, it must be ensured that the materials are clean and they fulfil the national standards and relevant legislation. Recycling of clean materials and reuse of clean recycled materials are welldocumented processes. There is a lack of documentation and control of recycling processes for contaminated materials and the use of contaminated materials in new structures. The key issues with respect to recycling in these cases are: To control hazardous materials in recycled materials To reduce the risk of environmental impact and occupational health problems caused by hazardous materials in the recycled materials, both during the recycling processes and during the lifetime of a structure built with recycled materials 3.3 Decontamination of material In case of polluted demolition waste materials - e.g. generated by the mixture of clean materials with polluted compounds - it is necessary to clean the materials before recycling, otherwise the materials are rejected for recycling and must be dumped on landfills. In most stationary recycling plants various kinds of facilities for sorting and cleaning crushed rubbles exist. However, there is a lack of facilities and methods for cleaning polluted materials. The key issues with respect to decontamination are: To develop economical feasible methods for cleaning polluted materials To establish acceptance criteria for clean recyclable materials 3.4 Rehabilitation From an environmental point of view, rehabilitation of old buildings and structures should generally be preferred instead of demolition. The choice between rehabilitation and demolition of a given structure depends on various factors. The initial condition of the structure and the degree and type of pollution within the structure are some of these factors.

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Rehabilitation of buildings and structures comprises: Partial demolition Reconstruction of structures Repair and/or renewal of doors, windows, roofs and other installations Rehabilitation and partial demolition of clean structures are well-documented processes; however there is a lack of information on rehabilitation of contaminated structures. The key issues with respect to the rehabilitation are similar to the key issues of demolition: To identify and assess the hazardous materials in existing buildings and structures To clean surfaces and/or separate hazardous materials from clean materials To reduce the environmental impact and the risk of occupational health problems during rehabilitation of contaminated buildings However, the principal difference is that in the case of rehabilitation the structure is to be saved and therefore the degree of repair and reconstruction should be minimised. 3.5 Reuse of buildings During the past decades strong efforts have been deployed in trying to reuse buildings and structures in urban renewal projects. In the development of harbour areas old warehouses are often reused for dwellings or offices. Many examples of converting grain silos into fashionable apartments are seen today in Copenhagen and other European cities. After partial demolition and cleansing of the building structure, the building is supposed to be free of any substances, which could entail a risk to the environment or the occupational health. The reuse of clean buildings does not need specific documentation. The reuse of industrial buildings - where hazardous materials have been used or hazardous materials exist in the building - needs documentation. The key issues with respect to reuse of buildings, like the use of recycled materials in new buildings are: To control hazardous materials in the reused structures To reduce the risk of impact to the environment and occupational health from hazardous materials in the reused structures, both during the reconstruction processes and during the lifetime of a reused structure 3.6 Decontamination of buildings Polluted building structures have to be decontaminated in order to save as much of the structure as possible and allow the reuse or refurbishment. The decontamination process comprises: Removal of major contaminated structures Removal of contaminated surface layers until a certain thickness Surface cleansing WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

282 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Handling of contaminated materials The key issues with respect to decontamination are: To develop economically feasible methods for cleaning contaminated structures To establish acceptance criteria for clean structures

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

M. Torring, Management of Concrete Demolition Waste, Dr. Ing. Thesis Trondheim Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2001. E. Lauritzen, T. Hansen, Recycling of Construction and Demolition Waste 1986-1995, Environmental Review No. 6, Danish Environmental Protection Agency, Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy, 1997. C. Hendriks, The Building Cycle, Æsneas Technical Publishers, The Netherlands, 2000. IRMA project website, http://projweb.niras.dk/irma, last updated March 2006.

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When does stacking become vertical sprawl? I. S. Y. Hwang1,2 1 2

The University of Sydney, Australia The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

Abstract More cities are expanding and aspiring to expand vertically. Many are advocating densification/intensification as a sustainable alternative to the urban sprawl of the west. Is densification the cure-all snake oil to problems associated with endless sprawl and leap-frog suburbia? This paper uses Hong Kong – one of the most dense cities in the world – to discuss whether the vertical city is a sustainable solution to human settlements. Like any other concept and theory, the implementation requires a much deeper and comprehensive understanding of the process of actualisation. Without this process, instead of a leap-frog suburb, a skyscraping suburb will be created, instead of the automobile, people will be highly dependent on elevators and escalators and most importantly, this may have already started to occur in cities around the world. This paper discusses the difference between stacking and vertical sprawl and examines the notion of the vertical sprawl through examples of the vertical cul-de-sacs and vertical gated communities already existing in Hong Kong and calls for more rigour in approaching densification. Keywords: vertical sprawl, stacking, cul-de-sac, gated communities, urban expansion, high-rise, high density, compact city.

1

Introduction

Sustainability has been ‘the topic’ across all disciplines over the last few decades. People in business, politics, science, anthropology talk about it and it is probably one of the most used, abused and misused words of this century. Discussions on cities are not an exception. It is impossible to find a book on cities or urbanism which does not mention the word ‘sustainable’ or ‘sustainability’ once. This indicates the importance and hence the appropriate attention given to the issue of sustainability in the discussion of cities. In the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060271

284 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability discussion of sustainable cities, densification is often presented as a sustainable alternative as traumatic lessons are learned from the urban sprawl of the west. Mau asks the world to stack its population vertically and describes densification as a sustainable solution as it will “simultaneously open up the surrounding rural space” [1]. Today cities are expanding in all possible directions to satisfy increasing populations as well as to accommodate for the demand of different life styles etc. In many places with an abundance of land such as the USA and Australia, cities generally expand horizontally resulting in strings of leap-frog suburbia along the city’s main arterial roads and therefore increasing the need for private vehicle. For instance, in 2002, 70.2% of people travelling to their place of employment or study in New South Wales, Australia, commuted by private vehicle [2]. There is also a demand for a second car at home as any services are far from walking distance. This high automobile dependency is well documented in works of Newman and Kenworthy [3, 4]. Along with the high vehicle dependency, authorities are also accounting various social issues as well as greater pressure for the provision of adequate infrastructure and amenities. These suburbs are continuing to appear with new street names and addresses in Sydney and the fire brigade service is not aware of new developments as street directories are only updated once a year. As ridiculous as this may sound, this demonstrates the seriousness of the endless sprawl and the related costs. With the increasing pressure from all sides, the NSW State Government of Australia has outlined to contain 60-70% of future housing developments within established areas in the Metropolitan Strategy, looking into intensification as a solution [5]. On the other hand, cities with clear physical limits of available land such as Hong Kong has been practicing a different approach to planning and development resulting in the skyline of incredible density and verticality. As more cities grow taller and denser, more airspace is being occupied and inhabited, yet most infrastructures and interaction facilitators remain on or near the ground plane with many repeated equal floor plates containing a single program. Although many Australian and American cities are resorting to intensification to remedy the sprawl cost, many do not realised that the equal and often non-desirable conditions of conventional horizontal sprawl can easily translate to the vertical version. The automobile dependency and conventional cul-de-sacs of the horizontal version equate to the elevator/escalator dependence and vertical cul-de-sacs of the tower version in the central cores. Usual horizontal gated communities are stacked vertically occupying a smaller footprint, but huge airspace vertically. With a series of cul-de-sac towers and vertical gated community developments, a vertical sprawl is established. Like any other translation, it is natural for certain mutations to occur from the horizontal to the vertical version. Therefore, a more fundamental evaluation of the nature of cul-de-sacs and gated communities are required rather than assuming it to exist only in the context of sprawling residential developments. This evaluation leads to the translation of the concept of ‘cul-de-sac’ and ‘gated communities’ into other types of buildings and developments not usually associated with it. This paper will discuss vertical sprawl typology of vertical WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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gated communities and vertical cul-de-sac through examples in Hong Kong and evaluate whether the direction of vertical cities undertook in Hong Kong is a sustainable solution.

2

When stacking becomes vertical sprawl

In recent years, the stacking of diverse programs has been tirelessly experimented by MVRDV. One of their earliest attempts is Berlin Voids in 1991. Adam describes the idea of stacking employed in this project as “not a stereotype multistoried apartment block in the tradition of post-war modernism, but rather a three-dimensional puzzle of diverse types of flats interspersed with holes, empty spaces and public spaces” [6]. One of the few built projects of MVRDV’s radical stacking concept is the Dutch Pavilion for the Expo 2000 designed in 1997 which is a “stacked landscape” of nature in an unmistakeably artificial way [6]. This vertical stacking is further studied through projects such as the Museum of Primitive Arts Quai Branly, LNV New Office of the Ministry of Agriculture, 3D City [7, 8]. Attali describes the work of MVRDV as follows: “MVRDV imagines its buildings in cross-section and erects them like vertical labyrinths…Its entangled pathways communicate among themselves, even if they lead mostly to dead ends. Passageways and doors proliferate, but the number of exits is severely restricted. Why not, then imagine a labyrinth into the third dimension? Why not shift the paradigm?”[9] Due to the severe shortage of land and ever growing population, Hong Kong is no stranger to the practice of stacking in all facets of life. Double-decker buses are becoming more a ‘Hong Kong Thing’ rather than its original British counterpart. Wet markets are stacked with different produce organised on different levels, teenagers go up to the roof of their school building to play basketball and even dim sums are served in stacked bamboo steamers. Stacking has been the predominant way of making and duplicating space in Hong Kong and at one point, stacking in building has became vertical sprawl. In the name of economies of scale and efficiency, many countries, through modernization, have competitively produced housing estates with the capacity to house thousands of households equipped with obligatory amenity facilities to satisfy basic shopping and recreational needs. According to Karakiewicz, Mei Fu Sun Chuen Estate (the first private housing development in Hong Kong) used the typical shop house typology where living takes place above the working space, with multiple living spaces above, therefore, distorting the proportion between commercial and residential activities [10]. Today, it is typical for housing developments in Hong Kong to have 25-27 storey residential towers on top of a podium structure containing shopping, parking and laundry etc. As towers grow taller, the proportion between living and working is further skewed and “becomes progressively detached from the city” [10]. Adam, in the abovementioned description of Berlin Voids, suggests a distinct difference between the idea employed by MVRDV and that of the traditional housing developments – the difference between stacking and vertical sprawl [6]. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

286 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Stacking of mixed programs invites opportunities for interactions and these opportunities are accommodated in public spaces provided within the structure. However, in vertical sprawl structure, while mixed use gesture maybe made on or near ground level, the structure is largely made of repeated floor plates which contain single or similar programs. In a vertical city like Hong Kong, the existing zoning-oriented planning approach almost guarantees to produce a vertical sprawl rather than an integrated intelligent stacking of programs. While the vertical sprawl in Hong Kong may consume less than 20% of its land as built area (therefore economically and environmentally sustainable), it still has outstanding issues of achieving social sustainability [10].

3

Gated communities and cul-de-sacs

It has to be reinforced at this point that the concepts of gated communities and cul-de-sacs are not exclusively tied to the horizontal manifestation. In the vertical version, due to its inherent nature of intentional disconnectedness from activities and interaction, both gated communities and cul-de-sacs constitutes vertical sprawl rather than the intelligent stacking of MVRDV. The concepts of gated communities and cul-de-sacs share many common characteristics and therefore make the differentiation between the two very difficult and ambiguous processes. While gated communities are, by nature a type of cul-de-sac, smaller cul-de-sacs can also be formed within a physical boundary of gated communities. For the purpose of this paper, in the following sections, the distinction between gated communities and the cul-de-sac is made by simply determining whether the access is open to non-residents/non-tenants or not. Gated communities have a controlled, usually single point of access where non-residents is prohibited to enter. Visitors to residents of gated communities are scrutinized and checked where as access to a cul-de-sac is open to public while strangers present in cul-de-sac settings are carefully watched. Similarly this different level of security and control also impacts a community’s potential to expand. A cul-de-sac has potential for much more organic communities than gated communities. While both layouts encourage the formation of communities, cul-de-sacs have a capacity to expand and accommodate other non-residents into their communities. In other words, others will be welcomed and not be watched like a stranger if he/she lives two streets down and have been accepted into the cul-de-sac neighbourhood, whereas regardless of one’s familiarity with the community or residents, he/she will be subjected to the standard security procedure during every visit. When it comes to the capacity to expand its neighbourhood, a vertical cul-de-sac is more inorganic than its horizontal counterpart. As a vertical cul-de-sac development is highly internalised and strictly defined by its outer façade, it does not have a capacity to expand its community nor allow any parasite new-comers. While acknowledging that most of cul-de-sacs and gated developments are residential, it is important to broaden one’s understanding and realise the nonresidential cul-de-sacs and gated developments do exist. For instance, industrial parks in many Australian and American cities are gated communities where a WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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number of commercial tenants share a common security and other amenity services. Similarly, non-closed industrial parks where similar industries congregate around one area such as Silicon Valley in the USA is a nonresidential cul-de-sac development.

4

Vertical gated community

Blakely and Snyder limits gated communities to residential developments in their definition as follows: “… residential areas with restricted access in which normally public spaces are privatised. They are security developments with designated perimeters, usually walls or fences, and controlled entrances that are intended to prevent penetration by nonresidents” [11]. While the most gated communities are spread-out residential developments, in this day of heightened security and surveillance, more and more commercial and office buildings are taking the same approach to gated communities. Burke briefly discusses secure apartment complex as a type of gated communities and hence alludes multi-level buildings to be included in the categories of gated communities [12]. Dovey takes a more holistic approach to the tower as an enclave development and that “a vertical enclave” becomes increasingly detached from the city [13]. He continues to argue when coupled with parking facilities on ground floor, it will discourage movement and reduce “the need to use the street for access and thereby weakening the safety component of streetlife vitality” [13]. For instance, the International Finance Centre One (IFC One) tower in Hong Kong is an example of a gated office tower. In order to enter the building which houses many security-sensitive tenants such as the Hong Kong Monetary Funds, on top of the usual security measures - numerous surveillance cameras and security guards around the clock - one has to use his/her security pass to enter into the elevator lobby under the watchful eyes of security guards and surveillance cameras. For this reason, it may be more suitable to call it ‘enclave development’ which is inclusive of any program rather than limiting to residential development. However, most office towers in Hong Kong are not gated while they are equipped with the usual security guards and surveillance cameras. Therefore most examples of vertical gated communities are residential buildings. It is typical for residential developments in Hong Kong to have 24hour security guards who restrict entries by non-residents. 4.1 Tai Koo Shing: vertical gated community Tai Koo Shing development is a residential development situated in the eastern end of Hong Kong Island, facing the Victoria Harbour of Hong Kong. The development contains approximately 48,000 people in 13,800 units occupying a footprint of 956,000 square meters with a plot ratio of approximately 4.5:1 [14]. It is clear that the area was planned and designed as a fully serviced, selfcontained development equipped with a shopping centre, sports facilities, schools and other facilities as well as office towers. Tai Koo Shing is connected WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

288 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability to the Island Line of MTR (Hong Kong’s subway system) through Tai Koo Shing Station which is located at the centre of the development. All other forms of public transportation - trams, buses and mini buses – are diverted to its periphery, as only vehicular traffic allowed through the development is private automobiles or taxies. Most travel out of Tai Koo Shing is done by MTR, however, Tai Koo Shing is, as intended, an island, where “you can live, work, shop and entertain yourself without stepping out of the development” [14]. The majority of the apartment towers stand on top of podium structures which reinforce the street pattern on the ground. The largest podium contains City Plaza – a shopping complex with connection to MTR with many other podium structures containing a car park, small shops and public plaza. Floor plates are repeated from level 1 to level 28 and residential units are disconnected from the street and podium level resulting in a largely deserted public plaza on the podium level. Tai Koo Shing is a good example of mixed use development which eventuated in the vertical sprawl consists of a series of vertical gated communities.

Figure 1:

Tai Koo Shing.

Despite the close proximity to the rest of the city and the vertical nature of its physical manifestation, the planning concept is almost identical to that of a suburb. A shopping centre, where most daily consumptions are satisfied is at the centre of the development, equivalent to the town centre of Sydney’s suburbs. The shopping centre dully functions as a transportation hub as it connects to Tai WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Koo Shing MTR Station. Apartment towers possess an identical exterior which also corresponds to consistent area development of outdoor spaces. Many of the New Town developments of Hong Kong also take a similar form of large housing development with consistent exterior with shopping centre /transportation hub which contains train station as well as bus terminus. The development contains a series of gated towers forming vertical residential enclaves, which are equipped with 24-hour security guards and surveillance cameras. Residents can tune into a specific channel on their TV to view elevator lobby, elevator and entry lobby through the lens of surveillance cameras in real time. The development’s communal sporting and other recreational facilities are scattered around between gated towers with streets and outdoor space open to non-residents’ use. The development therefore is a series of gated residential towers with communal facilities with varying degrees of exclusivity in view of non-residents, and hence categorised here as a ‘vertical gated community’.

5

Vertical cul-de-sac

Whittick simply defines the cul-de-sac as “a street closed at one end” and may be “T-shaped, circular, square, hexagonal. Elliptical, rectangular, or other geometric shape; and they may be of various sizes” [15] while Dovey defines the suburban cul-de-sac as “where the ideal is that of a like-minded community, protected from through traffic, surrounding a shared space where strangers will be noticed and watched” [13]. The presence of strangers must be noted which is generally not allowed in gated communities. The suburban cul-de-sac usually terminates with a large open space which may be a garden or square where children can play safely away from high-speed traffic. This large open space at the end of a cul-de-sac is seen as an activity and encounter facilitator. It is for this perceived sense of safety why many prefer cul-de-sac developments as a family-friendly environment. This sense of community which a typical layout of conventional cul-de-sac suggests is one of the reasons why cul-de-sac developments are widely popular and this public’s warmth towards the cul-de-sac is well depicted in mass media where despite the wide condemnation from academia, cul-de-sac developments are portrayed as a positive family-friendly neighbourhood. Although it is true that most cul-de-sac developments took place as residential developments in horizontal form, the concept of cul-de-sac shall not be limited to that of a horizontal residential development. While many do not realise, vertical cul-de-sac towers are in every city. Internalised office towers with repeated floor plates of the identical program constitute a vertical cul-de-sac. Some may terminate without activity/encounter facilitator, as it will be another floor of office while some may contain different functions such as a restaurant, bar or even a gym. 5.1 Exchange Square Two: vertical cul-de-sac Exchange Square Two is a commercial tower located in Central, Hong Kong, connected to the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Central Station as well as Hong WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

290 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Kong Airport Express Line. Exchange Square Two is part of the greater Exchange Square Development which consists of the podium building with the large public plaza on top levelled with the elevated walkway, three separate towers - 52 and 51, 33-storey high respectively - and one 3-storey small amenities building. The podium building contains a bus terminus for large double-decker buses as well as mini 16-seater buses. 51 levels of Exchange Square Two range from 12,000 sq. ft in the low zone to 13,900 sq. ft in the high zone serviced by 22 passenger lifts and 2 service lifts [16].

Figure 2:

Exchange Square.

The development is home to many significant financial institutions such as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Citibank and Morgan Stanley etc. with the Hong Kong Monetary Fund in neighbouring IFC One. The recent completion of the IFC shopping centre and the Hong Kong Airport Express Station have introduced more activities to the area outside business hours, however the public open space is usually deserted from any activities outside normal business hours while adjoining elevated walkway moves consistent flow of pedestrians. With the heavily populated use of elevated walkways in Central, the ground level is almost deserted from any human activities or interaction. Highway - Connaugh Road – running adjacent to the development further isolates the development from pedestrians on ground level. The Exchange Square Development typifies the vertical cul-de-sac commercial towers. The development permits entries by non-tenants during WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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normal business hours, however strangers are always being watched through the eyes of 24-hour security guards and surveillance cameras installed in every conspicuous corner of the development. It is common for conventional cul-desacs to be terminated with a large open space, often in lollypop shapes which residents perceive as a safe place from high-speed traffic and hence suitable for children to play in. There are examples of towers with a more sociable termination, for instance, some apartment towers may have a communal rooftop garden, gym or clubhouse on top level and 64-storey commercial Hopewell Centre in Wan Chai, Hong Kong for example has a revolving restaurant on the top level which generates social activities different from that of conventional residential cul-de-sac. However, it has to be acknowledged that in the vertical version, more often than not, the end of the cul-de-sac is treated the same as all other levels. In Exchange Square Two, the top level is the same repeated floor plate as the one below. While a tenant occupying multiple levels may designate and therefore fit out the top floor as client and staff entertainment area, it does not invite strangers or other tenants for any social interaction.

6

Conclusion

Cities are growing bigger, higher and denser. A number of Chinese people equal to the Australian population are migrating to cities in China every year and this desire to move to cities is unlikely to cool down anytime soon. Through the experience in the west, cities aspire to grow in the vertical direction. From the examples presented here, it is clear that the current approach to the vertical cities can easily create similar conditions of horizontal sprawl – a kind of ‘vertical sprawl’. Whether in vertical gated communities or vertical cul-de-sac developments, social and other activities are largely overshadowed by the enormity of identical floor plates repeated above podium levels. While this vertical aspiration may prevent cities from growing uncontrollably large in its footprint and therefore economically and environmentally be more sustainable in terms of land use and efficiency in provision of infrastructure, the social aspects is largely neglected. The planning approach with the two dimensional zoning facilitates extrusions of single program creating a vertical sprawl and therefore the current planning approach needs to be re-evaluated. More importantly the notion of the vertical city should be approached with attention to providing diversity and vitality through more intelligent stacking of diverse programs and reintroducing connections in multilevel and multi-directional manners.

Acknowledgements This research is part of greater research for PhD at the University of Hong Kong and is also enabled by the Hazlet Bequest Scholarship from the University of Sydney. I would like to thank both Dr. Justyna Karakiewicz (University of Hong Kong) and Barrie Shelton (University of Sydney) for their advice in preparing this paper. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

Mau, B. and the Institute without Boundaries, Massive Change, Phaidon Press Limited, pp. 37, 2004. Struik J., New South Wales in Focus 2005, Australian Bureau of Statistics, pp. 152, 2005. Newman, P. & Kenworthy, J., Cities and automobile dependence, Gower Technical, Brookfield, VT, 1989. Newman, P. & Kenworthy, J., Sustainability and cities, overcomes automobile dependence, Island Press, Washington, 1999. NSW Government, Metropolitan Strategy, NSW Department of Infrastructure and Natural Resources, Online, http://www.metro strategy.nsw.gov.au/dev/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=75&languageId=1 &contentId=-1. Adam, H., Stacking and Layering, El Croquis, Vol. 111, pp. 31-38, 2002. Marquez, F. et al. ed., El Crouis, Vol. 111, pp. 172-183, 184-191, 2002. Mass, W. and Arets et al., W., 3D City, Hunch – The Berlarge Institute Report, No3, pp. 94-133, 2001. Attali, J, Vertical Labyrinths¸ Reading MVRDV, pp. 72-81, 2003. Karakiewicz, J.A., Poon Choi: A Multi-layer City - Dealing with overcrowding by intensifying the land use, International Symposium on City Planning 2004, Sapporo, 2004. Blakely, E. and Snyder, M, Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States, Brookings Institution Press, 1997. Burke, M., The Pedestrian Behaviour of Residents in Gated Communities, Australia: Walking the 21st Century Conference, Online, http://dpi.wa.gov.au/walking/pdfs/A14.pdf, 2001. Dovey, K., Safety and Danger in Urban Design, Safer Communities: Strategic Direction in Urban Planning Conference, 1998. Karakiewicz, J., Exploring the Dimensions of Urban Density, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Unpublished Dissertation, Melbourne, 2002. Whittick, A. Encyclopedia of Urban Planning, Mcgraw-Hill Book Company, pp. 297, 1974. HongKong Land, Online, http://www.hkland.com/commercial_property/ one_two_exchange_square_background.html.

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Can elevated pedestrian walkways be sustainable? J. Rotmeyer The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

Abstract In most North American cities, taking pedestrians away from the street level potentially kills the street life. Raised walkways perform as lines connecting otherwise disconnected urban islands together, but fail quickly where pedestrian density is not high enough to sustain both levels. The networked connectivity acts not only as a public space linking together the built environment, but also distances pedestrians from vehicular pollution while redistributing the density of the ground layer. This paper looks specifically at how Hong Kong is able to sustain such a unique phenomenon facilitating permeability accentuated through a network of elevated walkways when most North American cities fail to function successfully for various reasons. It concludes by demonstrating how elevated walkways have been utilized for years; yet still project a visionary idea for future sustainable urban design. Keywords: sustainability, elevated pedestrian walkway, urban layering, pedestrian movement.

1

Introduction

Sustainability is a concept developed to maintain social, economic, and environmental needs both now and in the future, to preserve for infinite generations. Hong Kong and several North American cities developed elevated walkway networks integrating human activity with the built environment. While the driving force behind Hong Kong’s pedestrian walkways was efficiency and overcrowding, in Minneapolis and Calgary it was the extreme cold climate. Elevated networks add a sense of security and comfort, allowing a continuous flow of movement without interruption from vehicular traffic, stop lights and pollution. Pedestrian density is high enough in Hong Kong to support WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060281

294 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability multiple layers of parallel pedestrian movement directly associated with economic activities. However, many North American cities often do not maintain enough pedestrian movement to facilitate the street level alone. There is a substantial difference evident between car dependent movement, and public transport. In Hong Kong 98% of the population rely on public transportation, becoming pedestrians at some point during their journey [1]. In cities like Minneapolis and Calgary, a high percentage of the population rely on private vehicles. This limits the number of pedestrians moving through downtown. High density may benefit both social and economical development, however environmental issues of overcrowding and pollution are concerns. Hong Kong embodies many of the necessary elements to maintain a sustainable elevated system. However, failing to provide community and multiple functions within the pedestrian network hinders the overall success. With conflicting outcomes, a clear understanding is needed to determine if elevated walkways can be sustainable. For an elevated pedestrian network to succeed, it needs to be fully sustainable on all accounts, socially, economically and environmentally. The addition of elevated walkways is a direct response to different problems in North America and Hong Kong. An investigation is necessary to determine which one is more sustainable. The ultimate goal is to create a safe, comfortable, well-connected quality of life above the ground layer, without killing the street. To begin, a brief history of elevated walkways identifies what indicators can be drawn to determine a basic measure of sustainability. The next sections break down each indicator, comparing several US cities to Hong Kong, discussing how each contribute to form sustainable elevated walkway systems.

2

Historical background

Elevated walkways are not a new concept. Such innovative ideas began much earlier where dreams and imagination could exist as reality. Movies such as ‘Metropolis’ in 1927, and ‘Things That Come’ in 1936, envisioned a modern utopia with bridges spanning between buildings, giving their audience a city of the future [2]. These imaginary ideas led to visionary projects, each addressing various social, economic, and environmental issues. The following are early examples of elevated walkways, identifying a small piece of the puzzle to establish a starting point. Le Corbusier envisioned optimal organization in his Voisin Plan (1925) creating what he believed was a better quality of life, separating pedestrians from vehicular movement. With an emphasis on private vehicular transportation, a continuous flow of movement allowed multiple tasks to function smoothly on multiple levels. This dynamic plan elevated people into the sky, creating a social constraint that pushed spatial boundaries and created an extreme separation of urban tolerance. The vast open spaces killed the streets below, and resulted as empty lost space. Surprisingly, North America has developed a similar urban form, by placing high emphasis on private vehicular transportation, allowing vast empty abandoned lots, and decayed downtown cores. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Peter Cook of Archigram addressed both the spatial environment as well as the social impact with his “Plug-in City” [3]. This organized kit of parts, minus actual buildings, linked urban movement together vertically, horizontally and diagonally as a network of entangled modern utopia. It was an extreme example of a “lattice city structure” [4] that pushed movement too far. Instead of creating an organized flow of movement, the outcome was a tangled mess overemphasising connectivity, thus lacking a balance of open space. Entangled disarray, implementing a lack of open space, challenge most high dense urban environments today. Both Le Corbusier and Cook have taught us valuable lessons socially, economically and environmentally, by ultimately decaying the ground plane, limiting urban quality of life, and overplaying urban movement. A multi-layered city can be sustainable if each layer maintains itself within a balanced functional network of movement and activity. For the purposes of this paper, the measure of sustainability will be discussed according to the social, economic, and environmental strengths prevalent to Hong Kong and the US. The goal is to determine a balanced ideal, which could ultimately support a fully sustainable elevated pedestrian network. The indicators for social and economic sustainability include private versus public, continuous flow, and ground floor decay. The environmental indicators addressed as quality of life, include high density and temperature control.

3

Practical models

While the previous ideas were mainly theoretical, North America exhibits a practical model, which has also been replicated in Hong Kong. Minneapolis and Calgary, two North American cities, developed extensive elevated pedestrian networks over the past 40 years. In the 1960s, both cities embarked on such an urban phenomenon due primarily to extreme temperatures. Minneapolis developed its enclosed elevated network 10 years after the success of Green’s South Dale Shopping Centre in 1952. A total of 28 bridges with a population of only 370,951 as of a 1980 census united the downtown core. Today, a total of 77 bridges spanning 8 miles interconnect the entire downtown on the second floor [5]. Calgary also developed a 9-mile system publicly owned by 1972. These inner city elevated networks challenged suburban malls bringing people back downtown [5]. By creating climatically controlled continuous spaces, they hoped to improve the overall economic potential of the downtown core. Hong Kong on the other hand, responded to overcrowding and urban chaos, adding elevated walkways to help reclaim the street. With one of the highest densities in the world, pedestrians rely heavily on the extremely efficient public transportation system, increasing the number of pedestrians on the street. The need for elevated pedestrian walkways is directly related to pedestrian infrastructure and maintaining a functional public space above the street level. Upper levels prevalent to Hong Kong’s development act as a face-lift rejuvenating the ground layer. Central, Hong Kong presents pedestrian movement in a multi-dimensional fashion, pushing the spatial envelope. The elevated walkways portray the city in a new light, helping one escape and step WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

296 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability above the ever-present chaos. A transformation began in 1997 reshaping Central from the “Asian financial [district] into a retail wonderland” [6]. Catering to pedestrian movement, Aedas’ Design further developed Central’s elevated system linking together Hong Kong Land properties, Hong Kong’s largest landlord, into an interconnected pedestrian web. Together, elevated pedestrian routes allow retail on multiple levels to function successfully adapting the city centre as a pedestrian haven. While North America addresses many of the same sustainable indicators as Hong Kong, the multi-level pedestrian networks continue to fail, leaving the streets decayed. This leads one to ask, what sustainable conditions benefit from elevated pedestrian walkways in Hong Kong?

4

Pedestrian movement

Central thrives as a business district during the week, fully utilizing the elevated walkways with not only commuters, but also tourists. Although the flow of movement is stronger during business hours, a continuous flow remains throughout the day. Pedestrian movement at any level links the city into a viable network of patterns connecting each island and space together [7]. In Hong Kong, a permeable network of linked spaces promotes connectivity and convenience, interlinking streets and buildings as a complete pedestrian infrastructure. Hong Kong’s elevated network has adopted essential access points making it easy to enter and exit the pedestrian walkways. “Linking is simply the glue to the city. It is the act by which we unite all the layers of activity...” [8] This provides an experience for pedestrians often difficult to find in any North American city. Connectivity and consistency are typically destroyed in the US, blocking potential links with buildings, leaving broken urban conditions. This ‘American style’ environment prohibits sustainable development. A longstanding characteristic of Hong Kong’s spatial form is layering. Layers added on top of layers are interwoven together to accommodate activities, justified by the way they involve people [9]. The layering system works efficiently in Hong Kong as a result of an interconnected spatial network linking the urban fabric together. The elevated walkways plug into upper levels designed for pedestrian movement, and link carefully into the street and underground. This multi-dimensional network redefines how pedestrians impact and utilize the city. Multiple layers allow public activity to exist at various heights, no longer restricted within the ground level, thus radically improving urban development. This added convenience helps maintain the level of sustainability. However, the primary goal is connecting pedestrians from one consumer activity to the next; privately owed elevated walkways do not allow spontaneous change or events. 4.1 Public versus private Charlotte and Dallas, both Southern US cities residing in warmer climates, are attracted to the modern image of elevated walkways emphasizing a prosperous WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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second level. However, sustainably these systems fail, creating an economic dichotomy. Connecting professional offices, luxury hotels, and high-end living spaces integrates a community of high to moderate-income people. Low-income people feel unwelcome or perhaps economically bound, intended or not, placing different classes on separate levels. This pedestrian infrastructure results unintentionally as an internally private sector. Private space interlinks on multiple levels expanding into the public realm; there is no longer a defined line. Similar issues have surfaced in Hong Kong. Public space in Central, correctly labelled ‘ambiguous space’, has created a social struggle [10]. Property and legal rights, both public and private, have become a social phenomenon. Private landlords restrict needed development and proper pedestrian connectivity. The results are random unclear links, connecting their private property. However, many of the links are in fact public and fill a gap, providing much needed public space. These spaces are easily recognizable on Sundays occupied with Filipinas relaxing and socializing: “Whether privately or publicly built, skyway networks are a public transportation system” [11]. Architects need to take a stance and address the social separation as well as the bureaucracies that govern over the air rights. They need to lead this development unifying a structured network instead of landowners, lawyers and developers who randomly add additional pieces to the larger unplanned puzzle. It is a struggle within each city as a constant negotiation defining the public spectrum. Elevated walkways function as public spaces residing within the private realm on the second level. Ignoring this social struggle is a professional lack of proficiency, preventing elevated walkways from becoming fully sustainable. Lisa Law believes gatherings by large groups of Filipina women, currently seen every Sunday, plays a huge role in the success of the publicly owned elevated walkways around IFC, Central [12]. These spaces have adapted to the needs of pedestrians, functioning as a lively vibrant environment 7 days a week. In the mid 70s, women from Mainland China, who typically worked as domestic helpers, were pursuing other jobs. In 1975, 1000 Filipina woman filled this gap [12]. By 1998, close to 150,000 Filipinas worked in Hong Kong as domestic helpers. With limited private space of their own, crowds quickly began to gather publicly on Charter Road, closed for pedestrians in effort to revive downtown. This small effort led to the social phenomenon known today in Hong Kong as ‘Little Manila’ [12]. Every Sunday and most holidays, the public elevated walkways transform into stomping grounds for local Filipina woman to sprawl out on cardboard box mats, and have a picnic with their friends on their one day off per week. The elevated network in Hong Kong was forced into a social harmony. The primary function of the public walkways switched from fast forward movement amongst the financial business district to a linear gathering space for stopping and socializing. As space is limited, both publicly and privately, odd spaces become an extension of our living comfort zone. Despite the traditional role of a walkway system, the ever-present lack of public space in Hong Kong has redistributed human activity, sustainably adapting the public walkways into awkward public resting spaces.

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298 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 4.2 Continuous flow The elevated walkways in Central facilitate a high level of permeability [13]. Pedestrian networks link buildings together, enabling islands to connect as a unified whole no longer isolated [14]. Cutting through the built structure, walkways re-emerge to aid the succession of movement through the space. Spanning several kilometres, each bends and moves in and around the built environment distracting the focus of distance, and replacing it with attention on connectivity. The elevated networks maintain a continuous flow of pedestrian movement throughout the day and night. It functions as a unique urban phenomenon, allowing pedestrians to move freely without vehicular congestion and interruptions from traffic lights. However, comprehensive organization has taken a back seat, due primarily to a monopoly of land ownership. The current system has leaped ahead of itself loosing its full potential. Connections are made to link properties with the same owner, instead of ultimately creating a sustainable comprehensive network linking together the most direct routes to maintain pedestrian flow. In order for this network to be fully sustainable, each link should be positioned to optimize pedestrian movement, so that the entire network is highly attractive [15]. 4.3 Ground floor decay Enclosed elevated walkways are quickly becoming a common fixture in more than 80 US cities, separating pedestrians from vehicular traffic. “In a 1991 survey of the 119 North American cities with metropolitan population greater than 150,000, 82% of those responding recorded the existence of some kind of grade-separating pedestrian linkages in their CBD” [16]. Cities such as St. Paul, Cincinnati, Spokane, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Des Moines and Dallas are radically altering their city form. Cincinnati began building elevated walkways in 1970, with the largest density as of 1980, building 17 bridges. With 27 elevated walkways connecting the downtown core of St. Paul, 90% of the business exists on the second level, leaving the street level as a forgotten wasteland [11]. “Can skywalk systems in places like Minneapolis and Calgary offer lessons for architects?” [5]. Perhaps a better question remains, are skyway systems actually sustainable or perhaps only decaying the street? In Minneapolis, “pedestrians can avoid city streets altogether by using the skywalks” [17]. The addition of elevated walkways has shown a steady decrease of pedestrian activity at the street level. Kent Robertson asks a key question, “Is the economic growth attracted to skywalk development truly growth, or is it redistribution at the expense of the street level activities?” [18]. This avant-garde notion has reinvented pedestrian movement in North American cities. It is a radical idea, extreme from traditional planning. Central, Hong Kong employs a different strategy. Unlike previous American examples, which left the street level as forgotten territory, Hong Kong placed prime luxury stores, such as Prada, Louis Vuitton, Armani, and Hermes, as a hub on each street level corner attracting shoppers. Not only is the second level a WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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prosperous shopping haven at your fingertips; it is also directly connected back into the street. Central simultaneously revamped itself adding pedestrian connectivity in conjunction with a multi-million dollar renovation, as a complete spatial makeover. Maintaining a thriving ground floor is yet another primary difference in the success of Hong Kong’s elevated network as a sustainable system. Linking the downtown core into a prosperous pedestrian mecca internally focused within the second floor has led to abandoned streets in the US. Buildings are spaced greater distances apart using elevated walkways to reconnect them. City centres are becoming less and less walkable and more isolated. Elevated walkways are not a solution to urban sprawl. In order to attract people back downtown there must be a balanced intervention.

5

Quality of life

It is important to consider the quality of life downtown, creating a balanced vision, a place that people want to live and move within. In the US however, suburbia attracted people away from downtown proposing a better quality of life. Both safety and comfort appealed to many Americans, leaving the downtown core as an empty skeleton. Today, a large percentage of the US population resides within suburbia. Without a proper public transportation infrastructure, too much emphasis is placed on private transportation. As long as this continues, people will drive themselves unless something better is developed. As this phenomenon slowly reverses itself, and people begin to move back downtown, the goal must be to create an ideal quality of life within the heart of the city. This success is directly related to the social and economic development. If consumers are offered an attractive invitation, and urban form is interlinked to facilitate pedestrian movement connecting retail, residential and business, pedestrians will make the extra effort to not only park their cars, but also relocate back downtown. Decayed city centres are labelled as unsafe, dirty and noisy, diverting people to move away. Life in cities takes place when the speed of movement is reduced. This demands space, and preferably enough freedom to move without being pushed or bumped. There is a direct link between quality space and quality of life [19]. Elevated walkways directly address issues of safety, separating pedestrians and vehicular traffic. They also provide a quality of comfort, uniting pedestrian movement as a convenient mode of transportation interconnecting human activity and the built fabric. In order to become fully environmentally sustainable, pedestrian networks need to maintain a spatial standard interconnecting the built environment as a good urban intervention, well linked together. 5.1 High density Hong Kong maintains a unique composition. In contrast to vast North American landscapes, copious to urban sprawl, this densely packed urban form naturally responds to the surreal landscape creating a multi-dimensional urban fabric. With 6.7 million people, and a total land area of 1,100 km, the overall density is WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

300 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability about 6,100 persons/km [20]. High density in Hong Kong enhances movement within the city. Together with a key pedestrian infrastructure, it adds a level of convenience and structure. “Density without a doubt is the most important aspect of urban design, for without sufficient density, a city or an urban area will find it difficult to survive” [9]. A high-density ratio in Hong Kong in conjunction with an efficient public transportation network, secures a percentage of people throughout the city. If one half of this formula fails, it is difficult to sustain an elevated pedestrian network. Density wed with an efficient infrastructure is one of the many dimensions that separate Hong Kong from most North American cities. However, density is sometimes unequally distributed. Streets and walkways become too overcrowded and unable to flourish successfully. Elevated walkways help relieve this pressure allowing for a more sustainable balanced environment. Displacing pedestrian movement to several levels allows for a multi-dimensional idea of the street through re-distribution. Without an elevated pedestrian network, high density could hinder sustainability, allowing overcrowded streets. The elevated walkway system initiates a direct multi-level response to maintain the street level. While this encumbers most North American streets creating ground floor decay, it is a necessity to the success of Hong Kong’s urban fabric. 5.2 Temperature control While the primary function of elevated networks in Minneapolis and Calgary, as previously noted, is a direct response to extreme cold climates. Several warmer cities also prefer climate controlled elevated walkways. A series of case studies done by Kent Robertson in five cities (Cincinnati, Des Moines, Duluth, Minneapolis, and St. Paul) interviewing 100 people in each city, concluded that elevated walkways were most often chosen over street-level establishments by 66 % [18]. Also, concluded in the same study, an overall result of 98% preferred to use elevated walkways on cold weather days. Surprisingly, temperatures of 50 degrees Fahrenheit also averaged 81% and temperatures of 80 degree Fahrenheit averaged 71% preferring elevated walkways to sidewalks. From this study, we can conclude that people prefer to move about in a more comfortable climate controlled spatial environment. Hong Kong on the other hand, has adapted to extreme hot and humid climates. The elevated pedestrian routes provide a continuous breeze that relieves extreme temperatures, and distances pedestrians from vehicular pollution. Pedestrians move freely within a shaded cool open-air zone. A study by Gruen documented that pedestrians would walk 5,000 feet for 20 minutes in a highly attractive, completely weather protected, climate-controlled area, compared to the 600 feet for only 2 minutes in an unattractive environment [21]. Whether relieving extreme cold climates, maintaining a controlled temperature, or allowing breezes to sweep through as a cooling method, attention to temperature is a key sustainable indicator for the success of elevated pedestrian walkways creating a better quality of life.

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301

Conclusion

High density, connectivity, and quality of life are three primary elements in maintaining a sustainable elevated walkway system. Together this is a complete package on a social, economic, and environmental level. Undoubtedly, high density is a key ingredient in the success of elevated walkways systems in Hong Kong. In North America, low-density ratios hinder elevated pedestrian movement preventing comprehensive sustainability both socially and economically. Connectivity at multiple levels within a city centre unites buildings together, integrating all aspects of urban form. Elevated pedestrian walkways are a quick link within a greater network to transfer pedestrians from point A to B. However, potentially these walkways could be utilized far more. We need to create resting places, stopping places and breathing spaces within the urban chaos, thus organizing a strong sustainable pedestrian infrastructure. While Hong Kong’s elevated system is much more sustainable than those referred to in North America, it does lack in some dimensions. What is missing that would allow all types of movement to fully utilize the walkway networks as a much-needed public space? Perhaps stacking multiple activities is one solution, but why stop there? We can further develop design strategies to provide several activities within the same space at various times of the day [9]. As we begin to redesign cities, we need to focus on creating public spaces that connect and interact with the surroundings, creating a quality of life that attracts people with multiple functions. Providing convenient spaces where people can move quickly to their destination is crucial. If elevated walkways are to become fully sustainable, it is important to consider how multiple functions can exist within the network. We also need to consider how existing buildings could become a part of an intricate pedestrian pattern of prosperous activity. What is to stop cities from further development implementing elevated walkways hundreds of meters above the ground level? It is key to look closely at how elevated walkways can implement the future of urban design. Otherwise it is the architect’s act of incompetence disregarding such an urban phenomenon. Perhaps early visions of a 3-D city will become a reality, enriching urban design of the future. More and more cities are developing far too rapidly for their own good. Jane Jacobs defined four principles that make a great street. Perhaps urban designers should rethink modern a “street ballet” [22]. Potentially, elevated walkways can benefit the future of pedestrian movement above the ground layer without killing the street, if used sustainably.

Acknowledgement Supervision under J. Karakiewicz, Ph. D., The University of Hong Kong.

References [1]

Karakiewicz, J., Exploring the Dimensions of Urban Density, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Unpublished Dissertation, Melbourne, 2002. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

302 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [2]

Wood, A., Pavements in the sky: the sky bridge in tall buildings, arq, 7 (3/4), 325-332, 2003. [3] Cook, P., Archigram, Basel: Birkhauser Verlag, ed. 1991. [4] Alexander, C., The city is not a tree, Design, 206, 46-55. [5] James, V. & Yoos, J., The 3-D City, Architecture, 93 (5), 33-35, 2004. [6] Editorial Staff, Hong Kong Central makeover, Architecture China, 6-12, Autumn 2005. [7] Cullen, G., Townscape, London, Architectural Press, 1971. [8] Maki, F., Investigation in Collective Form, no 2 special publication, St. Louis: Washington University, 1964. [9] Karakiewicz, J., Sustainable High-density environments, The Sustainable City III, WIT Press, 2004. [10] Cuthbert, A.R. & McKinnell, K.G., Ambiguous space, ambiguous rights corporate power & social control in Hong Kong, Cities, 14 (5), 295-311, 1997. [11] Morphew, C., The ins & outs of skyways, APA, 50 (3), 23-26, 1984. [12] Law, L., Defying Disappearance: cosmopolitan public spaces in Hong Kong, Urban Studies, 39 (9), 1625-1645,2002. [13] Chan, Coway K.H., Pedestrian planning in Central District, A place to work, a place to walk, unpublished dissertation, The University of Hong Kong, 1998. [14] Trancik, R., Finding Lost Space, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1986. [15] Gehl, J., Life Between Buildings, Skive: Arkitektens Forlag, 1996. [16] Maitland, B., Hidden cities, the irresistible rise of North American interior city, Cities, 9 (3) 162- 169, Aug 1992. [17] Setter, A., Geography, Breathing Cities: The Architecture of Movement, London: Birkhauser, 2000. [18] Robertson, K., Pedestrianization strategies for downtown planners, skywalks versus pedestrian malls, APA, 59 (3), 361-370, 1993. [19] Crookston, M., Clark, P., Averly, J., The Compact City & The Quality of Life, Compact Cities & Sustainability, London: E& FN Spon, 134-142, 1996. [20] Fung, Bosco C.K., Planning for High Density Development in Hong Kong, Director of Planning, Planning Department, Government of Hong Kong Special Services Administration Region. [21] Gruen, V., The Heart of our Cities, The Urban Crisis: Diagnostic Cure, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1964. [22] Jacobs, J., The Death & Life of Great American Cities, New York: Random House, 1989.

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Structuring the World down to cities and sustainable air sharing H. H. Kleizen Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Abstract Cities live and need air to breathe. The annual air consumption of human activities in the Sustainable Technological World (STW) is prescribed (2006 thesis). This STW budget is shared by people. Densely populated areas have a larger air budget than less dense ones. The structure of human societies in subsocieties is described with a logarithmic distribution. This novel 5 parameter topdown model allows the description of the World in countries, countries in provinces and provinces in cities enabling one to study scale effects (entities with the same sub entity structure). It is shown that the Dutch province Zuid-Holland with two large cities (Rotterdam and The Hague) has the same structure as the World with two large countries (China and India). The cities and countries – embedded in their environment (Zuid-Holland, World) – are compared with respect to the categories of geography, people, government and transportation. It is concluded that indeed scaling occurs between Rotterdam and China and between The Hague and India. The differences in carbon dioxide emissions are reviewed with respect to air consumption allowed by the STW. Keywords: air, carbon dioxide emissions, China and Rotterdam, cities, countries, government, India and The Hague, novel society model, Sustainable Technological World, World and Zuid-Holland.

1

Introduction

There is vast amount of literature about human societies through the ages. Brotchie et al. [1] state that cities are in competition and according to Rusk [2] with counties and there are well-known cases where cities have become identical WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060291

304 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability with countries. While it is commonly accepted that cities are growing, acquire the status being the centre of metropolitan areas and end up with lack of control and stop blooming. The question addresses in this paper is what can cities learn from larger units - and vice versa- to ensure a sustainable life. A top-down approach is preferred. The paper starts with a summary of a Sustainable Technological World as described by Kleizen [3]. It has, like the hydrosphere and the biosphere, sustainable relationships with the atmosphere, the tiny shell around the earth allowing mankind to breath. The world is divided in land and water and 236 pieces of land (countries) can be extracted from the CIA World Factbook [4] are populated by human beings. These countries are subdivided in smaller units (say counties) and these smaller units in cities. A novel method is presented to describe the world and its (political) subdivisions, in terms of 5 variables. This enables to compare countries, counties and cities and study scale effects. It has been found that the Dutch province Zuid-Holland has the same 4 structural parameters as the World. The Dutch cities Rotterdam and The Hague play the role of China and India in Zuid-Holland Scene. The major properties of these cities and countries are compared. The paper ends with a vision of the air the have breath in the STW calculating the time of air refreshment from allowed mass stream and stagnant amount of air available.

2

Sustainable Technological World

The relevant parts of the STW concept as presented in Kleizen [3] are summarized. Humans are part of the living matter on Earth together forming the biosphere. The biosphere is dispersed in the upper region of the Earth called the geosphere. The geosphere contains three subspheres: the atmosphere, hydrosphere and the lithosphere. Atmosphere

H 2O

Hydrosphere Biosphere

CO 2

Atmosphere

Figure 1:

The 2 grant cycles on Earth.

The geosphere contains three subspheres: the atmosphere, hydrosphere and the lithosphere. Where the atmosphere meets a water surface mass exchange and life occurs: wet soil (the lithosphere) or seas (the hydrosphere). The two great cycles on Earth are depicted in Figure 1. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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The greatest cycle is the mass exchange between hydrosphere and atmosphere. The 1.7 billion Gton (Lide and Frederikse [5]) heavy hydrosphere evaporates annually about 540 thousand Gton (Houghton [6], Grübler [7]) water and gets it back as precipitation from the 5.1 million Gton ((Lide and Frederikse [5]) weighing atmosphere. Meanwhile the biosphere, with an estimated mass of 5.7 thousand Gton (Smil [8]), inhales 300 Gton/yr (Smil [8], Dunn [9]) carbon dioxide from the atmosphere reduces it and sends it back after oxidation. The two cycles are coupled to energy exchange. The H-cycle between atmosphere and hydrosphere involves the vaporisation and condensation of water and the Ccycle between biosphere and atmosphere the carbon fixation in plants and carbon oxidation in plants and animals. Atmosphere

H2O

O2

STW

Hydrosphere Biosphere

CO 2

Atmosphere

Figure 2:

The STW the 3rd cycle.

A third cycle involves the STW, the sustainable collection of technological artefacts on Earth. See Figure 2. The mass of the STW and its molar flux to and from the atmosphere is postulated making two assumptions about the position of the STW with respect to hydrosphere and biosphere. Oxygen is selected as the characteristic molecule shuttling between STW and atmosphere and water reduction is chosen to maximise the power associated with oxygen exchange. The major properties of the STW are collected in Table 1. Table 1:

STW properties.

Basic properties Mass STW Power STW Life-span artifacts, average Benchmarks Annual production of artifacts Specific energy consumption producing artifacts Specific power consumption STW Air and water flows Air Water

110 8800 25

Gton GW yr

4.4 64 80

Gton/yr MJ/kg W/kg

375 100

Gton/yr Gton/yr

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306 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

3

Structuring the World down to cities

The population of a society can be classified using a logarithmic distribution like in filtration. The population is described by 2N with N an integer and therefore a class width of 2. (In each class the number of people varies from N/√2 up to N√2.) In the CIA World Factbook [4] one counts 236 counties (nations, dependent areas and other entities) permanently populated by 6.446 billion people (July 2005 estimate). In Figure 3 the distribution over the World population over de 236 countries is sketched in terms of N.

Figure 3:

The World population distributed over 236 countries in terms of N.

The World population fells in class N=33. The largest countries China and India are in class N=30 and the smallest one – the Pitcairn Islands – with a population of 46 are in class N=6. To describe the World top down a second variable is introduced: the order m of the distribution. The order m is equal to difference between the N-value of the society and the one of the largest subsociety. Thus the world has the order 3 (3330=3). Too complete the topdown description three indices hkl are introduced, which satisfy the tcondition,

2 N = h ⋅ 2 N − m + k ⋅ 2 N − m −1 + l ⋅ 2 N − m − 2 WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

(1)

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307

with l,k=0,1,2,3 and h=1,2,3,… since there is at least 1 largest subsociety. The number of hkl solutions is equal to 4m as can be verified from Table 2. To avoid confusion the k-indices are underlined. Table 2: m=0 bhkl b100

m=1 bhkl b200

The hkl solutions for m=0,1 and 2. bhkl b120 b112 b104

m=2 bhkl b400

bhkl b320 b312 b304

bhkl b240 b232 b224 b216 b208

bhkl b160 b152 b144 b136 b128 b1110 b1012

The world with N=33, m=3, h=2 (China and India), k=0 (no country with N=29) gets then an l-value of 24 as calculated from equation (1). Many other societies were described in terms of the 5 parameters in search for a society with the same order and indices as the World. In the end it turned out that the Dutch province Zuid-Holland has the same order m=3 and indices hkl=2024 as the World.

4

World and Zuid-Holland

The World and its 2 largest countries are in Table 3 compared with the Dutch province Zuid-Holland and its 2 largest cities. The system of the table is copied from the sequence followed by the CIA World Factbook [4], highlighting only the themes Geography, People, Government and Transportation and disregarding the other 3 CIA Factbook themes: Economy, Military and Transnational Issues due to lack of comparable data. The CIA World Factbook deals with countries not with Dutch Provinces and their cities. All data regarding Zuid Holland, Rotterdam and The Hague are collected under references [10] up through [18]. Not all data given for the World, China and India can be found in [4]; these additional data cam be extracted from the references [19] through [23]. Some words have different meaning in different societies: (i) parliament = National People’s Congress (China) = Lok Sabha (India) = Provinciale Staten (Zuid-Holland) = gemeenteraad (Rotterdam, The Hague), (ii) independence = recognized entity (Zuid-Holland) = city rights and (iii) the governmental power of administrative subdivisions varies, being zero in The Hague. In the category Geography the cities relate to Zuid Holland as countries to the World. The exception is the carbon dioxide emission pro capita of Rotterdam and China. In the category People heading the same can be noted. The median age of The Hague and India are in line with Zuid-Holland and the World, but the median ages of Rotterdam and China show opposite figures. Under the heading Government it is clear that The Hague lacks an administrative subdivision. In all other societies there is one and interpreted in terms of the 5 parameters having in WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

308 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability common the order m=3, giving thereby each administrative subdivision little power. Rotterdam is the only society here the large subsocieties (deelgemeenten) can have a majority. The 5-parameter description can also be applied to the seats of the parliament (society) and seats of political parties represented in it (subsocieties). Since there is no World government this procedure cannot be carried out for the World. Table 3:

Comparing the World and its 2 largest countries China and India with the Dutch province Zuid-Holland and its 2 largest cities Rotterdam and The Hague. World

China

India Z-Holland Rotterdam The Hague

Geography: land area

bm2

1.3E+14

9.3E+12

3.0E+12

2.9E+09

2.1E+08

8.1E+07

carbon dioxide

bm2/cap bkg/yr bkg/yr/cap

20521 2.4E+13 3774

7139 3.5E+12 2685

2752 1.2E+12 1128

845 4.2E+10 12083

348 2.4E+10 40144

172 1.6E+09 3478

bN byr

6.5E+09 33 27.6

1.3E+09 30 32.3

1.1E+09 30 24.7

3.5E+06 22 36.9

6.0E+05 19 35.2

4.7E+05 19 35.6

236 3 b2024

32 3 b1910 2979 12 1 0 b100 221 BC

35 3 b288 545 9 40 2 b208 1949

86 3 b2024 83 6 10 2 b312 1795

14 3 b720 45 5 8 1 b200 1340

45 5 12 1 b112 1806

1.8E+09 1.4 2.0E+07 0.02 472

2.5E+09 2.3 9.0E+06 0.01 333

1.4E+07 3.9 1.2E+06 0.35 2

2.0E+05 0.33 1

1.2E+06 2.6 1.7E+05 0.35 0

People: population median age Government: administrative subdivisions bm bhkl parliament seats bN political parties bm bhkl independence byr Transportation: highways bm bm/cap cars bcar/cap airports

3.2E+10 5.0 7.0E+07 0.01 49973

The number of seats and political parties vary greatly, but m is smaller facilitating parliamentary majorities. A majority is easier achieved in China and Rotterdam then in India and The Hague. China and Rotterdam are older then India and The Hague, contributing to the list of corresponding phenomena. In the category Transportation, the length of the highways in Rotterdam is unknown. The Hague and India relate similar to Zuid–Holland and the World. This is also true for the number of cars pro capita, whereas Rotterdam has relatively less cars then China. Finally the number of airports is line with expectations: The Hague less then Rotterdam and India less then China. Summarizing it is remarked that the comparison makes sense and that differences between India and The Hague are smaller then those between China and Rotterdam.

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309

Air residence time in the perspective of the STW

In the STW the annual air flow is maximised (See Table 1) and this allocated to each human soul on Earth. On the other hand, the grammage, the amount of air per unit Earth surface, is limited too: 104 kg/m2 as calculated from Earth surface area and mass of the atmosphere (data: [5]). Knowing the land area populated by the society allows then the calculation of residence time τ, from the equation,

τ =G⋅

ac qc

(2)

with G the grammage kg/m2 and ac the number m2 /capita (See table 3) and qc the airflow in kg/m2/cap. The air flow depends only the number of people on Earth and for a World population of 6.446 billion people, the STW air flow is 5.8 e4 kg/m2/cap, so the air residence time of the STW can be calculated Another value of can be calculated from the carbon dioxide emissions. The conversion factor of 17 is derived from the human air breathing and carbon dioxide production [3]. In Table 4 the two residence times are compared. Table 4:

Geography anf People: res time actual yr res time STW yr

Comparison of STW and actual residence time. World

China

3200 3600

1600 1200

India Z-Holland Rotterdam The Hague 1400 480

41 150

5 60

29 30

In the perspective of the STW the city The Hague is sustainable, the World a bit unsustainable, China and India can increase their air production and Rotterdam is definitely invited to reduce its air production.

6

Discussion

The combination of the STW and the 5 parameter description of societies has the potential to become a powerful tool for developing pathways towards a sustainable future of planet Earth. It is applicable towards any society as demonstrated by the parliamentary seats, so also towards companies and other human organisations. For one thing more data are needed and especially more transparent data on the societies on scale classes. Governments should agree upon the list of prime parameters and definitions to have a planet Earth where sustainability is transparent enabling all societies to see the different pathways Data should be reliable: the procedures to arrive at a certain estimate should be known too. It is claimed that societies of different scale (N) can be compared once the order m and the indices hkl are identical. This statement could use additional proof. Exploring other cases with the same set of 4 parameters is in progress and will be reported elsewhere.

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310 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The specific result is that Rotterdam and The Hague embedded in the Dutch province Zuid-Holland can be compared with the 2 largest countries in: China and India. And where the comparison fails other reasons should surface. This work is also in progress. One of these reasons is of course historical development. For the future the STW can serve as a benchmark. The very idea of breathing chimney air alone should contribute to an increased awareness for the technological air production which by definition is contaminated, as fossil combustion processes are too difficult to ensure production of only carbon dioxide. An acceptable value for the residence time is of course open the discussion, but sustainable cities should aim at least for a time of 25 years.

7

Conclusions

The combination of STW and 5 parameter description of societies is a powerful tool in guiding societies towards sustainable development. Globally China and India play a similar role as Rotterdam and The Hague in the province Zuid-Holland. The STW helps in choosing between opposing trends.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

[9]

Brotchie, J., Batty, M., Blakely, E., Hall, P. & Newton P., (eds), Cities in Competition, Productive and sustainable cities for the 21sr century, Longman Australia: Melbourne, 1995. Rusk, D., Cities without Suburbs, Woodrow Wilson Center Press: Washington D.C., 2003. Kleizen H.H., Towards a Sustainable Technological World, Thesis Delft University of Technology, in press, 2006. CIA - The World Factbook, www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html Lide, D.R. & Frederikse, H.P.R., (eds), Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, CRC Press: Boca Raton, Ann Archor, London & Tokyo, pp. 144 & 14-5, 1993. Houghton J., Global Warming: The complete Briefing, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1997. Grübler, A., Technology and Global Change, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1998. Smil, V., Elementaire Kringlopen- Wisselwerking tussen biosfeer en beschaving, Natuur & Techniek: Amsterdam, 1999. Dutch translation of: Smil., V., Cycles of Life, Civilization and the Biosphere, The Scientific American Library: New York, 1997. Dunn, S., Decarbonizing the Energy Economy, in: State of the World 2001, A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress towards a Sustainable Society, W. W. Norton & Co: New York, Chapter 5, pp. 83-102, 2001.

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[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]

311

Land area and administrative subdivisions Zuid-Holland, Rotterdam & The Hague, www.sdu.nl/staatscourant,scdata/adv_frameset/html. Population Zuid-Holland, Rotterdam & The Hague home.wxs.nl/˜pagklein/gemprov.html. 2002 Carbon dioxide emissions Zuid-Holland, Rotterdam & The Hague, www.emissieregistratie.nl. Age distribution Zuid-Holland, Rotterdam & The Hague, CBS periode 2004, cbs.nl. Parliament (Provinciale Staten) seats, political parties & highways ZuidHolland, pzh.nl. Parliament (Gemeenteraad) seats & political parties Rotterdam, www.rotterdam.nl. Parliament (Gemeenteraad) seats, political parties & highways The Hague, www.denhaag.nl. Cars in Zuid-Holland: www.scp.nl, Cars in Rotterdam & The Hague, www.grotevier.nl. Airports in Zuid-Holland, Rotterdam & The Hague, www.aircraft-charterworld.com/airports/europe/netherlands.htm. Land area World, sum of populated countries calculated from [4] data. 2002 Carbon dioxide emissions, World, China & India, cdiac.ornl.gov/trens/emis/top2002.tot. Parliament (National people’s Congress) and seats China, www.lexas.net Parliament (Lok sabha) and seats India, www.indianelections.com/resultsupdate. Cars of the World, www.cambridgeesol.org, cars of China, www.chinadaily.com.cn, cars of India, www.atimes.com.

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Strategic (spatial) planning approach in Turkey: new expectations P. Ozden Department of Public Administration, Istanbul University, Turkey

Abstract The 2000s have been the years when comprehensive changes have begun to be lived in terms of public administration and planning. Legal formations realized in this short period of time have strongly modified the contents of public administration and planning, and have revealed new expectations. At this point, both urban planners and local governments have started to review their point of views about planning. Today, the fundamental actors of urban planning in Turkey query themselves and the legislators as to whether the concept of strategic planning can be a magic wand for the planning systems of Turkey, which has continued in a problematic manner since the very beginning. Within the scope of this study, questions such as the meaning of the concept of “strategic plan”, its legal basis, and the new urban order that it shall create shall be analyzed. Keywords: strategic planning, sustainability, governance, Turkey.

1

Introduction

When the few and very elementary experiences of the past are left aside, it can be suggested that Turkey has once again got acquainted with the concept of strategic planning during the last one or two years. The laws made one after another after year 2004 granted many institutions with the authority to make strategic plans. Based on this authority, the major institutions of urban management started to prepare their strategic plans. However, certain problems arose at this point. There were sharp differences between the mentality of strategic planning set forth by the laws and the policies and the implementations maintained by the institutions. Furthermore, this situation also caused a

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314 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability contradiction with the thought of establishing sustainable urban policies. These problems made it necessary that strategic planning be discussed once again and in detail. In this study, the concept of strategic planning shall be described briefly once again and then the process of development of the concept of strategic planning in Turkey shall be reviewed; its meaning shall be analyzed and then strategic planning experiences of different metropolitan municipalities in the country and the results of the research shall be brought up. The study shall be completed with evaluations and recommendations.

2

A brief overview of the strategic spatial planning concept

It is possible to come across many different sources defining the concept of strategic spatial planning in academic literature. The Webster Online Dictionary [1] defines strategic planning as “In organizational development, strategic management, and marketing, organizations employ strategic planning as a way to move toward their desired future states. It is the process of developing and implementing plans to reach goals and objectives. Strategic planning, more than anything else, is what gives direction to an organization” and expresses it under three headings: • • •

Situation - Where are we right now? How did we get here? Target - Where do we want to be? Path - How can we get there?

Albrechts [2] gives a general definition for strategic planning in the following manner: “Strategic planning could be considered a set of concepts, procedures and tools”. It is necessary to apply to the more comprehensive definition of Healey [3] to switch to the strategic spatial planning concept. In her opinion “strategic spatial planning is a social process through which a range of people in diverse institutional relations and positions come together to design plan-making processes and develop contents and strategies for the management of spatial change”. These definitions can be diversified, however it is deemed appropriate to leave it at this point for the scope of this study. However, those wishing to be informed in a more comprehensive manner are recommended to apply to the study of Albrecht [4] which provides many detailed definitions about this matter. Another point that also needs to be pointed out is that: Strategic planning is one of the important tools for cities to strengthen their position in the region within the framework of a holistic development policy and for them to be able to provide the sustainability of these positions.

3

Strategic spatial planning approach of Turkey

3.1 Emergence of the need for strategic spatial planning Contrary to many countries, the concept of strategic spatial planning started to be pronounced very late in Turkey. Notwithstanding, this should not be interpreted WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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as the fact that strategic planning is a very new concept. Strategic planning came on the agenda for the first time in Turkey approximately 20-25 years ago as metropolitan municipalities started to prepare their spatial plans with higher scales. However, these periods correspond to the years when other urban problems came up for Turkey. Illegal urbanization increased rapidly, zoning amnesties were implemented one after another in the 1980s and these years were recorded in the urbanization history of the country as the period in which existing problems in the space have been dealt with instead of reaching high scale urban goals and plans. In such periods, developing strategies for the future of the city is not a major problem for local governors; this is due to the fact that the future means the following elections and their target is to be reelected. This continued in the same manner until the beginning of the 1990s. Globalization started to be reflected in urban spaces as well in the 1990s and urban spaces underwent a rapid transformation. This transformation approached an uncontrollable position by the end of the 1990s. Decisions that need to be adopted by planning were replaced by the decisions of global capital about the selection of space. When the 2000s started, the wrong urban policies implemented in the country in the past necessitated restructuring in urban management. One of the fundamental topics of restructuring in the legal and administrative planes is about strategic planning. New legal arrangements place a lot of importance on strategic planning. Nevertheless, what strategic planning means in these arrangements has been a matter of argument and no real consensus exists with regard to it. In summary, spatial planning was remembered once again due to three basic reasons: First of all, the fact that urban problems started to exceed the urban dimension introduced the need to deal with the problems at a higher scale. The method for this in a spatial sense is strategic planning. Secondly, this concept was perceived as a new concept within the framework of restructuring efforts in public administration and they found their place in the laws through the local governments reform package starting from the year 2004. In this respect, the concept of strategic planning was defined within basic codes such as the Code of Metropolitan Municipalities, the Code of Municipalities and the Code of Private Provincial Administrative Authorities. Also the institution that shall conduct strategic planning has been defined in these laws. Thirdly, new discussions emerged about the meaning of the concept of strategic planning. The fundamental problem here is the fact that the concept of strategic planning has been defined with different meanings in the codes referred to above. In other words, strategic planning has different meanings for all these units. Hence, circles interested in the subject are faced with the problem of redefining the concept of strategic planning or introducing new concepts for its meaning. 3.2 Strategic plan mentality in Turkey It is necessary to analyze the matter from different perspectives in order to perceive the strategic plan approach of Turkey. This is due to the fact that legal and administrative perspectives and the academic perspective point in different directions. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

316 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 3.2.1 The legal perspective The term strategy has a military origin in Turkey, just like in many other countries. However, we will not adopt a definition in this respect within the framework of this study. Starting from 2004, many laws were changed in the country. The new legal arrangements adopted strategic planning as a basic goal. Although the concept of strategic planning started to find a place in the Turkish literature in the 1980s, the definition of the strategic plan concept was included for the first time in the Bill of Basic Code of Public Administration. Although this bill is not yet legal, the definition in it is significant as laws referred to the above and called the Local Administration Reform Package have been prepared in conformity with the principles of this draft bill. A strategic plan is defined in the following manner in the bill: a strategic Plan is a plan including the medium and long term goals of public institutions and enterprises, their basic principles and policies, goals and priorities, performance criterion, the methods to be adopted in order to reach them and the distribution of resources. The concept mentioned here is an institutional strategy plan. The Code of Metropolitan Municipalities, the Code of Municipalities and the Code of Private Provincial Administrative Authorities, which came into effect in accordance with the principles and approval of this law, mention spatial strategy plans. For instance, according to the Code of Metropolitan Municipalities, preparation of strategic plans of the metropolitan municipality and the preparation and implementation of master zoning plans of all scales ranging between 1/5.000 and 1/25.000 on the condition that they conform to the higher scale plan are among the duties and authorities of metropolitan municipalities. On the other hand, the Code of Municipalities refers to a strategic plan and performance program. According to this law, the municipalities and local governments are responsible for preparing a development plan and program and a strategic plan in conformity with the regional plan if there is any, within six months after the general elections and also for preparing an annual performance program before the beginning of each year. It is indicated that the strategic plan shall be prepared by also taking into consideration the opinions of universities, vocational chambers and the nongovernmental organizations related with the subject. Preparation of strategic plans is not mandatory for municipalities with populations of less than 50,000. The Code of Private Provincial Authorities on the other hand, mentions discussion of a strategic plan and adopting a decision about it among the duties and responsibilities of provincial general assemblies. According to the Code, The Provincial Environmental Order Plan prepared under the coordination of the governor, together with the metropolitan municipalities in metropolises, provincial municipalities and Private Provincial Administrative Authorities in other provinces is a kind of a higher scale plan, in which spatial goals are mentioned. 3.2.2 Perspective of local governors In Turkey where urban problems increase rapidly, it would not be wrong to say that local governors perceive strategic planning as a savior or a magic wand. However, the major problem here is that the same local governors have also WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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turned to the concept of “urban regeneration” with the same enthusiasm and justifications only about 2 years ago. Today, strategic planning activities started as a necessity imposed by the laws in many cities and especially in large metropolises. However, while these studies continue, the implementations of urban regeneration also continue rapidly in a manner independent from the general targets of strategic plan. Similarly, giant projects are imposed on large metropolises without caring about general planning targets and decisions and without seeking public consensus. Consequently, the danger of falling behind current implementations on the date when strategic plans are finished and the probability for this is very high. Another problem that the local governors face with respect to a strategic plan is about complexity of concepts. The concept of strategic planning is mixed most of the time with the concepts of long-range planning and comprehensive planning, and even the difference between goals and targets of spatial planning levels cannot be understood. Within this framework, it is not possible to conclude that local governors have adopted a strong, integrating and systematic planning approach. Göksu [5] suggests that strategic planning rather than spatial planning can be utilized as a significant program development technique in the public sector, on the basis of publicprivate sector cooperation. This approach is very feasible for local governments having a tendency towards a partnership model in all planning implementations and also explains the reason why the concept of a strategic plan has been internalized by local governments in such a short time. 3.2.3 Academic perspective The situation is quite different in the academic perspective. It is not possible to say that today the perception of strategic planning by academic circles is parallel with the perspective of local administrators. Most local governors have included the concept of strategic plan in the program as they perceive it as an obligation imposed by the laws and prepare their strategic plans in a manner that is independent from other planning implementations that they perform; on the other hand, the academic circles focus on the need to keep all planning implementations as the parts of a certain system. It is not easy to find a single and clear definition for the concept of strategic planning in the academic studies conducted in Turkey as in many other countries. Notwithstanding, it is possible to find clues in the academic literature, which will help understand strategic planning. Göksu [5] indicates that the clearest expression of strategic planning should focus on the process of selection of strategic actions aimed at getting results. Camur [6] notes that strategic planning is not a package program and emphasizes that a strategic plan, which has been prepared well, may not lead to the consequences expected under unique conditions. With this emphasis, it is possible to suggest that the concept of strategic spatial planning is unique for locations. However, it should be noted that a strategic plan should adopt certain common and basic principles in terms of method and system for coordination at the country level. According to Özaydın [7] this includes focusing on specific choices of a location in order to acquire a new structure for the city. Özaydın, with this suggestion, mentions own choice of the places and refers to WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

318 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability “uniqueness to a certain location”, which supports Camur. Göksu [8] on the other hand states the comprehension of strategic planning as an important tool of development and emphasizes especially its feature of increasing competence by creating differences between cities. This point is evaluated among the most important opportunities presented by strategic planning.

4

Research about strategic planning experiences in Turkey

Surveys were conducted on 16 metropolitan municipalities in Turkey within the framework of this study, answers were received only from the metropolitan municipalities of Erzurum, Izmir, Gaziantep, Samsun and Kayseri. Notwithstanding, information exists with regard to the studies conducted by the Istanbul metropolitan municipality as its activities are followed up closely and it will also be included in this study. 4.1 General information Strategic Planning studies are organized by the Head of the Research and Planning Coordination Department of Metropolitan Municipalities. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality: The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, included among the Municipalities within the framework of this study, started its strategic planning activities as the largest planning office of Europe with the Istanbul Urban Design and Metropolitan Area Planning Office that it established within its structure with a team of 500 people. There are plenty of academicians officiated in the three Urban and Regional Planning Departments located in Istanbul. Also an academician heads the office. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality: The Master Zoning Plan Office for the whole of Izmir started its activities right after Istanbul. Strategic plans are conducted in this city in the Master Zoning Plan Office, which is the planning department within the structure of the metropolitan municipality. Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality: It started strategic plan activities recently. A Strategic Planning Team comprising of 20 people was established with the cooperation of Strategic Planning Coordination Office and Strategic Planning Management within the structure of the Municipality. Joint studies are conducted with the State Planning Organization. Samsun Metropolitan Municipality: Strategic planning activities have commenced very recently in Samsun just like Kayseri. Its activities are conducted through the Municipality Company SABEG. Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality: It has not yet started any strategic planning activities. Preparations are in progress. Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality: It has not yet started any strategic planning activities. Preparation of a Strategic Plan within the scope of a Çevre Düzeni Planı for Gaziantep with a scale of 1/100 000 and Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality Borders is included among the goals of the municipality for 2006.

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Table 1.

Istanbul

Population (year 2000) 10 018 735

Commencement Date of Strategic Plan 2004

Izmir

3 370 860

2004

Kayseri

1 060 432

2005

Samsun Erzurum Gaziantep

363 180 937 389 853 513

2005 -

Organizational Structure Istanbul Urban Design and Metropolitan Area Planning Office Master Zoning Plan Office for all Izmir Strategic Planning Office -

Municipality Company conducting the work BİMTAS

SABEG

4.2 Survey work The survey comprises a total of 8 questions. The questions were prepared to be open ended in order not to impose any restrictions and common inferences were made from the answers received. This study does not aim to make any numerical analysis. The aim is to display the common acceptances of municipalities about a strategic plan within the framework of the answers received; hence to make a generalization about strategic planning approaches in this respect. It was observed that the municipalities had not clarified their answers for some questions, had sometimes provided answers that was not included within the scope of the question or that sometimes the correct answers had been given when in the answers of other questions. For this reason, there had been a need to make a selection between answers or to exchange them with each other. It is possible to analyze the 8 questions taken up within the scope of this study under 3 groups: I. Group Questions Questions with regard to the Strategic Plan Approaches

1.

2.

Briefly describe your vision for the city.

What meaning does strategic plan have in your opinion?

II. Group Questions Questions aimed at Opportunities and Expectations and Threats of Strategic Plan 4. What are the most important opportunities and expectations that the study of Strategic Plan shall present to the city?

5. Do you think that strategic plan can form a threat for the city?

III. Group Questions Questions aimed at Organization and Implementation 6. How do you organize participation to strategic planning activities? 7. To what extent can you reflect the planning activities of district municipalities in the strategic plan?

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320 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 3.

What are the basic goals of the strategic plan that you conduct?

8. What are the major reasons for you not to have initiated any strategic planning activities so far? (For municipalities that have not conducted)

I. Assessment of group questions Vision for the city: The question that the participants underwent a complexity of concepts has been in defining the vision for the city. It was observed that at some points they defined their goals instead of their vision or defined their vision aimed at the municipality rather than the city. Their lack of a clear and unique vision for the city has been determined as the common characteristic of all municipalities. When all the answers selected and grouped are analyzed, a common vision for the city, for all municipalities can be put forward in the following manner: A sustainable city with a strong economy and a well organized administration, which is healthy, secure, contemporary, attractive for investors, carrying its historical, cultural and environmental values to the future, attaching importance on social justice, egalitarian and placing importance on cultural variety. Meaning of strategic plan: When the answers given were reviewed, it was observed that strategic spatial planning had in fact been defined correctly by all municipalities. Answers such as “the action and policy guide necessary to reach goals and targets”, “a road map for the journey between where we stand and where we wish to be”, “an opportunity for change, the most valid administrative model for being successful in variable and uncertain environments “, “the long term and high quality administrative tool for the journey between the existing position of an institution and where it wishes to reach”, “a strong set of decisions to establish a macro plan providing an opportunity for the healthy development of the city as a whole”. Basic goals: Institutional and social capacity development, governance development, social welfare and improvement of employment, balanced use of resources and making teamwork effective are included among the common basic goals of all municipalities. Besides these common answers such as establishing investment centers with multiple sectors, providing spatial justice, effectiveness in the process of planning and implementation, democracy preserving social awareness and the ability to compete were also received. II. Assessment of group questions Opportunities and expectations: The answers given for the opportunities and expectations that strategic planning would provide for the city show differentiation between cities. While the Metropolitan Municipality of Samsun emphasized participation, accountability, governance and effective use of resources, the Metropolitan Municipality of Izmir perceives planning for the whole area in general and the reflection of sector diversity into the space as the most important opportunity. The Metropolitan Municipality of Kayseri WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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emphasized urban spaces that could be lived, provision of urban standards close to ideal, making green areas predominant and establishing harmony between construction and cultural heritage. Threats: None of the municipalities having taken part in the survey perceive strategic planning as a threat. III. Assessment of group questions Organizing participation: The answers received reveal that the municipalities have different approaches about organization of participation. Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is pleasing to see that the comprehension of a participatory planning has been adopted by all municipalities. Municipalities generally organize participation by partner analysis, search conferences, evaluation meetings and meeting with representatives from different units. In this way, local governments, nongovernmental organizations, different public institutions, some private institutions and universities participate in the process. No efforts aimed at direct participation of the population into strategic planning were included in the answers. Only the Metropolitan Municipality of Kayseri indicated that they have conducted a survey for the urban population about the subject. Participation of district municipalities: The metropolitan municipalities of Istanbul, Izmir and Samsun indicated that the district municipalities would always be present in the process of strategic planning and that coordination would continue. However, the municipality of Kayseri indicated that they have sought the opinion, thoughts and suggestions of district municipalities within the scope of partner analysis but did not give any clues with regard to the continuation of coordination. Reason for not making a strategic plan: The reason for the Erzurum and Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipalities not having prepared a strategic plan until date are almost the same. Urgent projects with priority originating from the needs of cities have averted strategic plans until date.

5

Conclusion and assessment

The municipalities analyzed within the framework of the study provide the opportunity to make definite determinations about the approach to strategic planning in Turkey. The following determinations can be made within this framework: The legal basis of strategic planning has been established in Turkey. The metropolitan municipalities have started their preparations within the framework of this legal basis. Most of the municipalities did not include making strategic plans in their programs before strategic plan became a legal requirement. The municipalities having closely understood the meaning of strategic planning are not successful enough about creating a vision for the city. However, their goals are quite clear. Each municipality conducts strategic planning activities with a different institutional organization model. In principle, they have adopted a WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

322 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability common attitude about participation. However, their participation models and partners are quite different from each other. Consequently, we can conclude that although Turkey has taken a giant step in this respect during the last two years that however the concept of strategic planning had not been internalized sufficiently by the municipalities. Although the meaning of strategic plan has been understood, we observe that in practice decisions coming from high officials are adopted, sectional urban transformation implementations are adopted, and goals to be foreseen by strategic plan are neglected by giant projects during implementations. Within this framework, Turkey is passing through a stage in which our municipalities and especially local governments have to act in a very sensitive manner.

References [1] Webster Online Dictionary [2] Albrechts L., 2004. Strategic (spatial) Planning Re-Examined, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, Vol. 31:743-758 [3] Healey P., 1997. An Institutional Approach to Spatial Planning, in P. Healey, A. Khakee, A. Motte, B. Needham (1997), Making Strategic Spatial Plans, Innovation in Europe, London UCL Press, pp. 21-36 [4] Albrechts L., 2005. Strategic (Spatial) Planning Revisited (an extended version of [2], new Policies and Strategies in Planning, 29th Colloquium of November 8th, World Urbanization Day, Istanbul, pp.xxv-xliii [5] Göksu S., 2006. Strategic Planning: Is it a Renewal of Faith or Privatization of Planning?, Urban Agenda No: 7, pp. 64-67 [6] Camur K., 2006. What is Strategic Planning? Opportunities and Risks of Physical Space in Planning, Urban Agenda No: 7, pp. 82-87 [7] Özaydın L., 2005. Comprehensible Strategic Planning within the Framework of Spatial Modeling, New Policies and Strategies in Planning: Risks and Opportunities; 29th Colloquium of November 8th, World Urbanization Day, Istanbul, pp. 613-617 [8] Göksu F., 2005. Will Strategic Planning Approach be a Tool for the Establishment of a New Urban Order?, New Policies and Strategies in Planning: Risks and Opportunities; 29th Colloquium of November 8th, World Urbanization Day, Istanbul, pp. 607-612

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Anthropocentrism and sustainable development: oxymoron or symbiosis? C. Speed RMIT University, Australia

Abstract This research focuses on the definition and achievement of sustainable development, and the factors that influence this. The aim is to understand the current situation in Western society, how and why we reached this point, and to determine a path forward that is genuinely sustainable. Within this context, this research paper will critically analyse the concept of anthropocentrism and the subsequent dominant cultural values, with particular emphasis on how they have framed our relationship with the built and natural environment. This will provide the framework to explore how this relationship, and the institutionalisation of anthropocentrism, has influenced the definition and achievement of sustainable development. Keywords: anthropocentrism, sustainable development, nature, Christianity, scientific revolution, classical economics, progress.

1

Introduction

The ideological basis of Western society has been pivotal in shaping our perception of nature, thereby framing our relationship with the natural environment, and consequently legitimising our treatment of it. As such, this paper will provide an overview of the most significant factors shaping Western European society since antiquity. For the purposes of this research, Western European history has been divided into two ideological periods of time. The first extends from the time of Christ until the scientific revolution in the sixteenth century. The dominant social authorities during this time were Christianity and science, the relative power of either generally inversely proportional to the other (with the exception of the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, during which time St Thomas Aquinas wrote Summa Theologiae which reconciled Christianity with Aristotle’s cosmology). The dominant WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060311

324 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability perception of nature during this period was that of a resource, created by God, over which man was bequeathed dominion. The decline in the authority of the Church during the scientific revolution was concurrent with the elimination of spirituality from science, with severe consequences for the perception of nature. Since the scientific revolution, the dominant perception of nature has been in reductionist terms as that of a machine, which classical economics defined as capital for the sole purpose of extraction and production for the use of man. Anthropocentrism was the common theme in Western European society during both periods, and remains as such in Western society today. Key questions to be explored within the presentation of this research include: (i) How has the current inherently human-centred paradigm (anthropocentrism) contributed to the definition of sustainable development? (ii) Is it possible to achieve true sustainable development within the current paradigm? Is it possible to re-define sustainable development within the current paradigm so that it is sustainable for all living systems, not just humans? (iii) Or do we need a radical re-thinking of anthropocentrism as a core element of Western society, and thus how we relate to and interact with the built and natural environment, in order to provide the framework to re-define sustainable development?

2

The origins of anthropocentrism in Western society

2.1 Anthropocentrism in the Garden of Eden The origins of anthropocentrism and current Western thought regarding nature can be traced back to the elements of Christianity that it inherited from its Jewish origins [1, p. 141]. The view that humans were placed in a position of dominance over subordinate nature is derived from the two creation myths in Genesis in the Old Testament, originally a Jewish religious book. In the first myth God created man in his own image on the sixth day, and God said “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” [2, Genesis 1:28]. The second creation myth outlines how man was created, followed by the Garden of Eden filled with plants and animals for the benefit of humanity, and finally women. In both these myths nature was created for purely utilitarian purposes, with humans hierarchically superior, thus it was available for exploitation by humans without any moral recourse. The Christian perception of nature gained credence in Western European society as the authority of the Church increased, while simultaneously the support for paganism and alchemic science diminished. This position was widely accepted during the Church’s zenith from the thirteenth century to the scientific revolution in the sixteenth century. 2.2 The Scientific Revolution: from the whole to the sum of the parts The rapid rise in the absolute authority of science during the scientific revolution in the sixteenth century rapidly replaced the Church as the dominant authority in WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Western European society. The new science, ‘Scienza Nuova’, became ultimate truth: “science’s power and the magic of its numbers were dazzling, overwhelming. Progressively they would exclude all possibility of competition, of alternative explanation” [3, p. 46]. Bacon (1561-1626), Descartes (1596-1650) and Newton (1643-1727) had a profound impact on changing the scientific perception of nature. The foundation of Cartesian thought, developed by Descartes, was the absolute certainty of scientific knowledge. Cartesian thought posited that the (human) mind (res cogitans, thinking thing) was superior to matter (res extensa, extended thing), and viewed living organisms (nature) as machines governed by precise mathematical laws. This became the basis of his dualistic world-view from which a natural hierarchy emerged between man (mind), who could think, and nature (matter), who according to Descartes, could not. These conclusions provided scientific justification for the anthropocentric belief, held firmly by both Bacon and Descartes, that the goal of science was to “render ourselves the masters and possessors of nature”, in order to transcend any human dependence on nature [4, p. 61]. The scientific progress made by these men was synthesised in the seventeenth century by Isaac Newton, who developed a complete mathematical formulation of the mechanistic view of nature: neutral, algorithmic, and fragmented. While he is often considered the father of modern reductionist science, much of his work focused on that which he is blamed for destroying – alchemy and astrology – which he was forced to abandon due to inconclusive scientific results [3, p. 45]. As reductionist-mechanistic thinking dominated, the spiritual, magical, and intuitive elements of science were eliminated. Science became a clinical process of human self-assertion, with the aim of dominating and controlling nature. Modern science considered all living matter as without a soul, with the exception of ‘rational’ man. The corresponding change in the perception of the universe was from a living, organic and spiritual being, to that of a compartmentalised machine that “could be fully understood as a series of differential equations, as an algorithmic compression” [3, p. 46]. 2.3 Progress: the path we chose Modern science and Christianity shared the underlying belief that the concept of ‘civilisation’ was directly linked to the taming and improvement of brute, wild nature; as such there was a commonly held conviction that they were “completing God’s work” [1, p. 147]. This viewpoint, firmly established by the eighteenth century, provided the justification for widespread domination, appropriation and destruction of the natural world. Within this social paradigm a new and pivotal discipline, economics, emerged. Unfortunately for the natural world, this social discipline shared the powerfully established anthropocentric perception of nature, and rapidly became the third pillar to the edifice of an increasingly anthropocentric Western European society.

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326 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability According to Ponting [1, p. 153], economics exercises such a profound influence upon the way the world is perceived, and is now so powerful within the Western social paradigm, that the modern view of the relationship between humans and the natural world can only be understood through the “hidden assumptions of economics and the value systems that it enshrines”. Furthermore, economics “never was and never can be value free” - the fact that it emerged as a separate discipline in the nineteenth century reflects the importance in the industrialized countries of the expansion of production and consumption [1, p. 158]. The economy became the focus of social organisation, the measure of civilization; other considerations such as quality of life and human dependence on nature were overlooked and ignored. As the power of economics escalated in the eighteenth century, the concept of progress, and by association support for economic growth, became a cornerstone of Western society. 2.4 The current ideological basis of Western society Christianity, modern science, and classical economics combined within an anthropocentric framework to create a powerful edifice on which Western society stands today. Each component is mutually reinforcing; each component validates the existence of the other; and each component plays a crucial role in the sustainment of the current ideological basis of Western society. Collectively they have contributed to the dominant global forces of capitalist patriarchy which are inherently exploitative and dualistic, interpret difference as hierarchical, and consider homogeneity as a requirement for equality [5]. Modern civilisation “structurally dichotomises reality, and hierarchically opposes the two parts to each other: the one always considered superior, always thriving, and progressing at the expense of the other” [5, p. 5]. These inherent inequalities in world structure enable humans to dominate nature, and justify the ongoing appropriation and pollution of natural resources. Reductionistmechanistic science and technology simultaneously create “the measure of value and the instruments for the annihilation of that which it considers non-value” [5, p. 25].

3

The institutionalisation of anthropocentrism

Anthropocentrism is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of regarding the existence and concerns of human beings as the central purpose of universal existence. The objective of this ideology was to enable human beings to impose a sense of order and meaning on the world, and provide humanity with an individual and collective identity. Anthropocentrism has been posited as the primary (though frequently unstated) reason why humanity consistently attempts to dominate nature. Through a dualistic framework, it views urban centres and the ‘civilization’ in them as the real world, rather than nature. ‘Nature’ is safely contained to designated reserves - enclosed, isolated pockets in vast areas dominated by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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human activities. Within this context, anthropocentrism has been identified by some as a root cause of, among other issues, the ecological crisis, human overpopulation, and the extinctions of many non-human species. 3.1 Anthropocentric perception of nature Anthropocentrism is an obstacle to sustainable development as it promotes dualisms, hierarchies, and the belief that humans are separate from nature. This mental and physical detachment enables humans to feel no connection to nature, and has contributed to the notion that the biosphere is here for our consumption. Further, the notion that non-humans have value only in so far as humans accord value to them is inherent in the belief that humans are the source of all value, and is the fundamental basis for anthropocentric thought. As such, it is generally held that “human beings are the only proper objects of human moral concern” [6, p. 109], and any duties towards the non-human world are in fact indirect duties to humans. Western society now perceives natural systems through a reductionistmechanistic framework, and as such they are no more than a collection of parts to be examined and understood in order to be engineered, technologically conquered, and appropriated. The attitude to natural systems promoted by reductionist science was adversarial - the Western concept of human freedom and happiness depended on an ongoing emancipation from nature, and dominance over natural processes, thereby overcoming this dependence by the power of reason and rationality, and the subordination of nature to human desire. This is the basis for the current capitalist patriarchal world system which has been facilitated by, is built upon, and maintains itself through the colonisations of, among others, nature, which it is progressively destroying [5]. It facilitates an economic regime where the processes of modernisation and development, and the concept of progress, necessarily require the destruction and appropriation of the natural environment. 3.2 Anthropocentric approach to environmental policy An anthropocentric approach to environmental policy is an obstacle to sustainable development primarily because it advocates a managerial approach to environmental problems, confident that they can be solved without significant changes in the current patterns of production and consumption. This is evident in the anthropocentric approach to environmental decision-making regarding environmental policy, which tends to have the following characteristics. The first is that it is often reactive, tactical, piecemeal and end-of-pipe; the second is the policy of ‘pollution displacement’; and the third is that it generally adheres to the principle of ‘no proof, no response’ [7, p. 7]. Further, a significant proportion of the anthropocentric approach to environmental policy is embedded in the anthropocentric and technocentric viewpoint that there are no limits to growth. This position claims that technology will provide a solution to any problems faced by an increasing population. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

328 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Conversely, others argue for the finite carrying capacity of the earth, citing food shortages due to limited agricultural land as the primary determinant. Within this framework, arguments for population control and reduction are generally made with reference to developing nations where there is evidence of widespread poverty. However, Ehrlich [8, p. 916] points out “While overpopulation in poor nations tends to keep them poverty-stricken, overpopulation in rich nations tends to undermine the life-support capacity of the entire planet.” 3.3 The concept of sustainable development Within this context, a fundamental obstacle to achieving sustainable development is the definition itself, and its ideological basis. While the first wave of environmentalism was “characterised as being anti-development” [9, p. xii], the second wave of environmentalism in the late 1980s, promoting sustainable development, was decidedly pro-development. This may be due in part to the anthropocentric economic and political environment in which the notion of sustainable development was conceived. In 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development produced a report, Our Common Future (Brundtland Report), whose primary thrust was sustainable development, which was defined as “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [9, p xiii]. The Brundtland Report focused exclusively on the needs and interests of humans, with the goal of achieving global equity for future generations by redistributing resources from developed nations to developing nations. The Brundtland Report believed all human beings should be able to meet their basic needs; and that social equity, economic growth and environmental maintenance are simultaneously possible. Further, it stated that each nation is capable of achieving its full economic potential whilst at the same time enhancing its resource base. However, it conceded that achieving this equity and sustainable growth would require technological and social change [10]. The 1987 Brundtland Report was quickly accepted in political and commercial spheres, and the idea of sustainable development became politically orthodox [11, p. 1] due to the understanding that sustainable development and economic growth were not mutually exclusive. This definition of sustainable development “offers the promise that economic activities can be harmonised with environmental protection, that technologies can be found and implemented that will ensure economic growth does not harm the environment, and that pressing environmental problems can be solved without social and political disruption” [9, p xi]. However, an inherent flaw in the definition of sustainable development is that it “largely displaces the discourse of limits and survivalism that were features of writing about the environment in the early 1970s, although these limits were not disproved by sustainable development, instead they were assumed away” [7, p. 7].

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4 Anthropocentrism and sustainable development: oxymoron or symbiosis? 4.1 Achieving sustainable development within the current Western paradigm Christianity, modern science, and classical economics combined within an anthropocentric framework to create the current Western social paradigm. Within this context, acting in self-interest was posited by classical economics as the most efficient form of organizing the economy, and due to the immense influence of economics, society. Acting in self-interest has developed into excessive consumerism, greed and what Fricker [12, p. 430] describes as “noxious wants” in the twentieth century. This position was further justified and legitimized by anthropocentrism, expressed in various forms through Christianity, modern science, and a dominator model of social organisation. Thus it is unlikely that the current definition of sustainable development, within the context of the current ideological basis of Western society, can be interpreted and implemented as anything other than anthropocentric, and therefore inherently human-centered, at the expense of the natural environment. 4.2 Re-defining sustainable development within the current Western paradigm The current definition of sustainable development is inherently qualitative; it resembles a performance based guideline rather than a prescriptive guideline. Even if it is viewed as a set of performance guidelines, the performance outcomes are very broad (meets the needs of the present generation) and to some extent, intangible (without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs). This presents two problems within a quantitative system: firstly, defining, and reaching consensus worldwide, regarding what are acceptable ‘needs’; and secondly, measuring an acceptable level of these ‘needs’. Western society operates within a reductionist-mechanistic social and policy-making framework; thus we have been unable to reconcile a qualitative definition (even as performance guidelines) of sustainable development with a reductionist-mechanistic outcome – there is no capacity for translating one into the other. In the absence of a clearly defined goal or outcome, and empirical evidence to illuminate the path that should be taken, Western society appears to be at a loss to know how to effectively implement the definition. Within the current anthropocentric approach to environmental policy, if a phenomenon cannot be proved, it is considered invalid. Just like Newton before us, there is growing evidence that we are being forced to abandon sustainable development as a concept, that we know intuitively to be true, but which we cannot prove. We are choosing to only see a fragment of the picture, the part that fits into a reductionist-mechanistic framework, at the expense of whole living systems, and the physical manifestations of this inaction are gradually destroying us. Thus, in order to re-define sustainable development within an anthropocentric framework, it would have to be translated into a quantitative WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

330 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability definition that is not inherently anthropocentric, and that places greater emphasis on inter-species equity, rather than simply inter- and intra- generational equity among humans. It would concede that ongoing economic growth and preserving the natural environment in an uncompromised (or at least functioning) state are not simultaneously possible or symbiotic – that in fact one excludes the possibility of the other. Rather, achieving inter-species equity will require humans (particularly in developing countries) to take a lesser share of the natural environment. Further, a quantitative definition would clearly outline obstacles in the current patterns of social organization, production and consumption in Western society, and identify a methodology embedded in reductionist-mechanistic science for achieving a sustainable outcome. As the precautionary principle is routinely ignored in Western society, the burden of proof remains with the natural environment; thus the empirical data required to prove to both governments and society that these measures are required is most likely insurmountable. Furthermore, the data indicating the impact we are having on the biosphere is difficult to both gather and collate into coherent empirical evidence (for example, tracking climate change). Thus, this course of action is an undertaking that, in the absence of support from either government or society, would be difficult to mobilize and follow through to completion, and as such is unlikely to happen. 4.3 Re-conceptualising anthropocentrism within the current Western paradigm Reductionist-mechanistic science is fundamental to sustaining Western society in its current form. As Mies and Shiva [5, p. 24] point out, “Far from being an epistemological accident, reductionism is a response to the need for a particular form of economic and political organization. The reductionist world-view, the industrial revolution and the capitalist economy are the philosophical, technological and economic components of the same process.” They are so tightly integrated, that to extract one from the others is virtually impossible. Thus, the action necessary to reconceptualise anthropocentrism within the current paradigm, and enable the survival of the earth, will demand a “radical rethinking of many of the most sacrosanct assumptions of the dominant culture of the Western world, and it will involve sweeping changes in cultural arrangements” [13, p. 157]. Diamond [15] further suggests that human survival will hinge on a future of significantly lower living standards, chronically higher risks, and the undermining of what we now consider to be some of our key values. While many people may find it difficult to believe that alternative social models are possible, if we “free ourselves from the prevailing models of reality, it is evident that there is another logical alternative; that there can be societies in which difference is not necessarily equated with inferiority or superiority” [15, p. xvii]. Within this partnership model of society, the social relations are primarily based on the principle of linking rather than ranking; they celebrate

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life, birth and the regenerative processes of nature rather than revering death and violence. In order to create a partnership model of organisation, Western society would have to undergo a process of cultural reform, which Boyden [13] defines as a cultural response aimed at overcoming undesirable consequences of cultural maladaptation (an activity that is the product of a cultural fallacy, and that causes unnecessary distress to humans, or unnecessary damage to other living systems in the biosphere). Within this context, it is important to note the difference between corrective reform, which is a cultural response to a culturally induced environmental threat that aims to correct the underlying cause of the threat; and antidotal reform, which is a cultural response to a culturally induced environmental threat that is directed at the signs or symptoms of the threat, but not at the underlying cause [13]. The current definition of sustainable development, and the policies derived from this, generally fall within the category of antidotal reform - they rarely solve the underlying issue, and merely deal with the physical manifestations of current patterns of production and consumption that meet the least resistance when modified. A clear example is recycling rubbish – rather than educating society to consume less, the current rate of consumption is justified by recycling the extraneous packaging. The process of creating a partnership society would facilitate the reconceptualisation of other fundamental disciplines. For example, the current Western economic system could be transformed into what E.F.Schumacher describes as “Buddhist economics”, which includes spiritual values [16, p. 207]. Within the framework of a partnership society and re-conceived social disciplines, the re-conceptualisation and re-definition of sustainable development would include sustainability for all living systems on earth, not simply humans as one element of a larger ecosystem, at the expense of the ecosystem.

5

Conclusion

The anthropocentric belief that humans are the only source of value in the world predisposes all economic, social and political motivations to improving the situation of humans at the expense of the non-human world, with questionable results for both man and nature. Further, anthropocentric approaches to environmental thought reinforce the notion that humans are separate from nature, and will somehow be immune to the negative effects of our current patterns of production and consumption. While these issues impact on the achievement of sustainable development, the definition itself has an anthropocentric basis and therefore places more importance on economic and social sustainability rather than environmental. As a result, “Everything that is normally described as an ‘environmental’ problem could be more accurately called an environmental symptom of a human problem” [17]. Thus, re-defining sustainable development from a qualitative to a quantitative guideline within the current anthropocentric paradigm is not only an WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

332 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability enormous task, it is unlikely to yield truly sustainable results due to the inherently human-centered ethos of the current Western paradigm. Consequently, anthropocentrism and sustainable development appear to be mutually exclusive, and as such are an oxymoron. A re-conceptualisation of Western society as a partnership society, in which dualisms do not facilitate the belief in a natural hierarchy between humans and nature, would produce a more substantive outcome. A re-conceptualised Western paradigm would provide the framework for re-defining sustainable development such that it enables the indefinite continuation of the biosphere, and thus humans, in an uncompromised state.

References [1]

Ponting, C., Ways of thought (Chapter 8). A Green History of the World, Penguin Books: New York, pp. 141-160, 1991. [2] King James Bible. [3] Appleyard, B., Understanding the Present: Science and the Soul of Modern Man, Pan Books Ltd: London, 1992. [4] Capra, F., The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture, Bantom Books: New York, 1982. [5] Mies, M., & Shiva, V., Ecofeminism, Spinifex Press: Melbourne, 1993. [6] Warren, M., The rights of the non human world. Environmental Philosophy, ed Elliot & Gare, pp. 109-134, 1983. [7] Coffey, B., Environmental Politics, Class Notes, RMIT University: Melbourne, 2002. [8] Ehrlich, P., Population, Plenty, and Poverty. Time, December, p. 914, 1988. [9] Beder, S., The Nature of Sustainable Development, Scribe: Newham, pp. 11-15, 1993. [10] Dresner, S., The Principles of Sustainability, Earthscan Publications Ltd: London, 2002. [11] Kirkby, J., Introduction. The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Development, ed. J. Kirkby et al, Earthscan Publications: London, 1995. [12] Fricker, A., The ethics of enough. Futures, 34, pp. 427-433, 2002. [13] Mies, M. & Shiva, V., Ecofeminism, Spinifex Press: Melbourne, 1993. [14] Boyden, S., The Biology of Civilisation: Understanding Human Culture as a Force in Nature, UNSW Press: Sydney, 2004. [15] Diamond, J., Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, Penguin Group: Melbourne, 2005. [16] Eisler, R., The Chalice and the Blade, Unwin Hyman Ltd: Great Britain, 1990. [17] Kumar, S., E.F. Schumacher (Chapter 34). Fifty Key Thinkers on the Environment, ed. J.A. Palmer, Routeledge: London, pp. 205-210, 2001. [18] Mukhtar, S., Embodied Energy of Building Materials?, http://www.strategicdata.co.nz/mukhtar/sam2.htm.

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Strategic urban design from a sustainable tourism perspective: a case study from the city of Guangzhou, China X. Wang1, J. Wang2 & R. Wennersten1 1

Industrial Ecology, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden School of Architecture, Southeast University, People’s Republic of China 2

Abstract With the economy booming, the City of Guangzhou sprawled its urban domain quickly. The city was vulnerably struggling on the brink of discretionary control as it lacked the overarching policies for sustainable development. In 2003 the government of Guangzhou initiated a Tourism Planning and Urban Design Consultation to control the development of Seagull Island, which was an agricultural island located in the Pearl River with a population of 20,000 and which is now part of the New-City of Guangzhou. This paper presents the strategic urban design and the design process from a sustainable tourism perspective. To carry out the scheme, a variety of approaches and tools were explored to optimise the design process, which tried to meet social, economic and environmental objectives. The integrated toolbox includes both quantitative and qualitative tools for different design stages, among which working process, SWOT analysis and environmental carrying capacity analysis were thoroughly discussed. Keywords: strategic urban design, sustainable tourism, integrated toolbox, environmental carrying capacity analysis, SWOT analysis, virtual reality, tourism market analysis.

1

Introduction

China has been in the international spotlight for years because of its considerable growth in economic and social development. Economic development significantly accelerated the step towards urbanization. The number of the cities WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060321

334 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability increased, and the metropolises, such as Beijing and Shanghai, expanded their urban area dramatically due to their nationally or regionally high primacy. Guangzhou, as the leading city in the Pearl River Delta, has had high economic growth since the 1980s. At the same time, a substantive amount of agriculture land, green spaces and natural forests have been transformed into urban areas every year, which has lead to increasing environmental deterioration and depletion of natural resources (Guangzhou [1]). Local governments, especially at the district level, sometimes short-sightedly make urban development decisions according to market preferences while lacking a holistic sustainable perspective. Consequently, misuse of valuable land and natural resources occurs. The Government of Guangzhou (GG) tried to develop an efficient plan and scientifically sound policies to develop its physical, economical and social potential, and to protect valuable resources legitimately, and mitigate discretionary or absolutely profit-oriented development. The Master Plan of the city was also adjusted so as to try to cope with the awesome urban sprawl. In 2003 the Guangzhou Urban Planning Bureau (representing GG) initiated a Tourism Planning and Urban Design Consultation as an overarching proposal to control the development of Seagull Island, which was an agricultural island and now part of the New-City of Guangzhou.

Figure 1:

Regional context of Seagull Island in the Pearl River Delta (PRD).

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Another consideration is tourism as a great potential for Seagull Island. The Pearl River Delta (PRD) has become China’s most frequented tourist area. Tourism is, after exports and production, one of the most important incomes for this area (Table 1). Within such a growing tourism market, Seagull Island, as the largest island in the Pearl River Delta, presents a great opportunity as an environmental and tourism destination for this area. Its central location between Guangzhou and Hong Kong makes it easily accessible from both urban centres. Table 1:

An analysis of tourism carrying capacity of Guangzhou and the PRD. International

National

Number

Average

Number of

Average

Total

Total

Tourists

Expenses

Number of

Tourism

/ Person

Tourists

Income

of

Expenses

Tourists

/ Person

2002

4,739,700

$155

74,364,400

$75

79,104,100

$6,083,012,000

2001

4,423,700

$150

63,592,600

$75

68,016,300

$5,484,698,700

2000

4,207,300

$154

57,943,800

$67

62,151,100

$5,008,674,600

The island itself, 36 square kilometres in area and 20,000 in population, remained relatively unchanged over many years, away from the industrial pollution of the adjacent areas. Two waterways divide the island into three partially connected islands. The local architectural vernacular is in the form of small fishing villages arranged along the edge of a canal system. Farmer’s houses have water routes at the front door and fishponds at the back door, creating a unique design vocabulary for the island. The only traffic link to the main land is a 1,400-meter-long Lotus Bridge, which is a two-way road expanding into the island. The water, island and the sense of remoteness from large urbanized areas have made Seagull Island a unique tourism destination. Current government proposals call for the development of ecological and agricultural tourism with a pastoral setting on the island, trying to fix a win-win situation. Its general objectives were structured as follows (Brief [2]): • Seagull Island should be developed according to the principles of sustainable development in which resources are properly utilized. • The island should be developed with a resort orientation, focusing on the regional market. • The Island should be developed according to the larger metropolitan framework plan that includes open space corridors and development corridors. • Seagull Island is to be developed as a high-quality, low-density ecological and cultural resort. • Environmental preservation is to be balanced with new resort development. • Seagull Island is to be developed in phases, according to a feasible and flexible development approach. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

336 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Formulating the task

Pre-design stage

Investigation

• • • •

Site investigation Interview Data analysis and synthesize SWOT analysis

• • •

Scenario alternatives Expert brainstorms Virtual Reality

Report on analysis of the studying area

Preliminary land-use structure

Design stage

Elaborating key strategies

Developing the physical plan

Final report

Figure 2:

Group working process.

2 Methodology 2.1 Design process The final report was required to consist of two parts: a tourism plan and an urban design. The design team accordingly consisted of two groups. As a cooperation team, the tourism plan group was in the USA and the urban design group was in China, which meant that the two groups couldn’t meet all the time; consequently it was important that the framework of the process was clear and efficient. The planning process encompassed a 6-month study period in a sequential process, each step building the results of previous steps (Figure 2). In the pre-design stage, a work team was organized before visiting the site, which involved experts from related disciplines including urban planners, landscape architects, a GIS analyser, an ecological expert, a marine expert and tourism planners. The team was divided into several groups in studying and analysing the status quo, each holding interviews with different stakeholders and governmental sectors. A subsequent report on the analysis of the study area was presented as a common working basis for the whole team, in which market analysis, heritage conservation analysis, situational analysis, cost-benefit analysis, SWOT analysis, GIS ecological sensitivity analysis and environmental WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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capacity analysis were carried out. It was crucially important that an interim report was given to form a common platform for further work for all members of the team. The Design stage took four months to develop the proposal from general ideas to a physical plan. To develop potential land use structure for the island, the two groups met several times to hold brainstorm sessions. Further design was made individually and synthesized via the Internet and frequent phone conferences. 2.2 SWOT analysis A scan of the internal and external factors is an important part of the strategic planning process, especially when we face a large amount of information from the site and interviews (Urban [3]). The team made a systematic evaluation of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats affecting tourism planning and came out with strategy in correspondence to each SWOT analysis (Table 2). Table 2: (

Some examples of SWOT analysis.

indicates strategies response to each SWOT analysis)

Strengths Unique location within the Pearl River; nothing else like it in the PRD. • •

Conceives of the island as a regional tourism- oriented destination. Expansive views of river and agricultural/aquaculture. Views are retained, directed and enhanced.

Weaknesses Lack of ecological diversity creates a sterile environment. • •

Plan includes a wetlands restoration and creates potential zones of biodiversity by arrangement of development. Depth and breadth of market support and knowledge of/for nature-based tourism. Plan concept is unique and clear in it’s form-this aids in the marketing and comprehension of the idea.

Opportunities Nature-based tourism tends to attract high-spend, extended stay tourists. • •

Proposed uses provide a range of high quality opportunities for contact with nature. Existing population may offer a “built-in” localized work force. 20 year phasing plan allows for employment opportunities in construction, tourism and support services.

Threats • Air and water pollution. •

Proposed uses are environmentally sound, and will not contribute to pollution. Competition from other regional nature-based tourism destinations. Plan proposes a natural and authentic environment-based experience that is distinct in the region, and provides market differentiation.

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338 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 2.3 Environmental carrying capacity analysis Environmental carrying capacity (ECC) is the ability and adaptability of the environment to provide the physical and non-physical resources humans need, such as the provision of energy and raw materials, the absorption of waste, genetic diversity and fundamental life support services such as climatic regulation [4]. In this project, the ECC is analysed to evaluate the daily capacity of tourists that the island can bear from an environmental point of view and thus get the potential construction magnitude for residential development. The result can be used as a basis for design and for general environmental and economic assessment in the later project stage. ECC can be expressed as

W max + Wa M

(1)

W −L p(1 − η1η 2 )

(3)

ECC =

where Wmax denotes the maximum recovery ability by natural metabolism, M T-1; Wa denotes anthropogenic recovery ability, M T-1; and M is the ability of anthropogenic intervention to the environment per capita, M T-1 H-1. The ECC could have diverse values depending on the indicators we use. For example, the results from the ECC of air, the ECC of water, and the local treatment ability for solid waste differ from each other. The minimum of the calculation can be adopted as the final ECC value. The report of the project calculates ECC by Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5) of water, oxygen needed, carbon dioxide and solid waste produced, total suspended particulate matter etc. This paper presents only the results with respect to the BOD5 of water. First, it is assumed that rainwater (the natural water source of the island) is pure water and the local BOD5 standard is 4×10-3 kg/m3 (according to the official water standard III), which means the carrying capacity of organic pollution of water. Thus, the yearly recovery ability by natural metabolism, W, reads W = RSB (2) where R stands for Yearly Rainwater, S the area of the island, and B the local BOD5 standard. Subsequently, the daily capacity of tourists, Q, can be given by

Q=

where Q denotes the daily capacity of tourists, and p is the BOD5 produced as waste per capita per year (14.6 kg), η1 is the removal efficiency of BOD5, η2 is the treatment efficiency of wastewater and L is the number of local inhabitants. In the project, R = 1.5 m, S = 3.6×107 m2, which gives W = 2.16×105 kg/yr. Thus, if we choose η1 = 90%, η2 = 90% (both are typical values) and L = 30,000 (the planned number of local inhabitants), the capacity of tourists Q would be 48,000 persons. This preliminary prediction of daily capacity of tourists would work as a reference for further design and also be used as basic data for physical planning and environmental policy making. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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2.4 Comparative case study As a consultant competition project, it was hard to develop a sound physical plan based on limited data in a given period. The challenge was unique for the working team. Any decision would be arbitrary and hasty if it lacked the full communication with the stakeholders. However, further data collection and analysis could be implemented after the first consultancy period. In this sense, case study played an instrumental role for planners in making decisions between alternatives and also drew a picture of the future scenario for the stakeholders. A comprehensive review of tourism planning for the islands was presented as an appendix in the final report. When the working team decided the planned number of tourists, a tourism resource analysis was made based on regional tourism statistics, but no data indicated any specific island. A reference island called Heart of Yangtze River with comparative area and functions would work to estimate the source and the number of tourists, daily expenses etc. To Panyu

Zone 1: Development core Resort centre Transit-oriented development Compact residential development Relocation existing inhabitants from conservative zone Zone 2: Limited development Residential development Ecological research Agriculture, aquaculture Restricted motorized transportation Zone3: Conservative zone No new development, No motorized transportation Recovering wetland and ecological system Lodging in traditional vernacular / small footprint Camping and nature traits

Figure 3:

3

Concept of general structure.

Plan summary

Tourism development is a double bladed sword between real estate development (including tourism facility construction) and ecological system recovery, both of which also work as marketing attractions. The overall aim of sustainable tourism planning is to achieve a trade-off between tourism development and environmental sustainability both in the near future and in the long run, with equitable and environmentally balanced and socially cohesive economic development. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

340 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Community Island

Heritage Island Estate Island

Agriculture Island

Ecology Island

Figure 4:

Master plan.

The physical plan divides Seagull Island into five smaller sub-islands, based upon the natural form of the existing waterways and drainage patterns. Each island is unique; development density varies from one island to the next, as do types of housing, recreation, attractions, lifestyle, transportation, and ecological sensitivity. Development is most intense on Community Island to the north, and decreases towards Ecology Island to the south. Community Island is proposed as being the most developed of Seagull Island’s sub-islands, accommodating a town centre sited around a marina, a medium-density mixed-use residential district, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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and sports and recreation complexes. Heritage Island will become mainly a resettlement district, with a cultural/folk village and floating market as the main attractions. Estate Island is envisioned as having a very low-density residential product amidst sprawling marshlands, canals, and wooded areas. A private “green” golf course that incorporates sustainable concepts exclusively will serve the residents of Seagull Island, while a Wetland Research Institute is anticipated to be a tourist attraction as well as an educational and research centre. Agricultural Island is to remain relatively unchanged, preserving the settlement character, agricultural fields, and natural landscape feeling of Seagull Island. Agro-tourism will be promoted on this sub-island, encouraging eco-friendly activities among the existing population. Finally, Ecology Island will undergo little or no development, serving primarily as a recreation and eco-tourism destination, with lodges and campsites scattered in various unique landscape settings. The pressure of rural urbanization will emerge with the steps towards tourism development. Traditionally, farming and the harvesting of seafood are the main incomes of local peasants. The plan commits itself to retaining agricultural heritage and local lifestyle. Local farms will serve as a model for how humans should live in concert with nature, creating a destination in which conservation measures, tourism and economic vitality are practiced holistically. Moreover, localization of labour will be a basic strategy for the local employment market. A strategic plan for a sustainable development is based on three dimensions: economic, social, and environmental levels. Economic feasibility is substantial for the physical implementation of the plan, which also works as the catalyst to meet social and environmental objectives. A 20-year implementing strategy with four phases is proposed to develop the island. Each phase is to be a 5-year plan, and a mix of public and private ventures is proposed, while retaining a balance of revenue and non-revenue uses. A bunch of environmental strategies are also proposed in the final report, including a green planning scheme and a series of alternative technologies and methods as environmental strategies.

4

Conclusion and discussion

The plan sets out a vision of urban design for sustainable tourism in a Chinese context. • A strategic urban design based on tourism plan would be instrumental to prevent discretionary and profit-oriented development, serving as a strategy to protect valuable land resources, amenity space and natural reserves of biodiversity. • In the design process, a set of analysis methods from an economic or environmental perspective established a scientific basis to pin down strategies and develop a physical plan. • A team with a diversity of experts from relative fields could come up with vivid ideas from interactive brainstorms and effective collaboration.

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342 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Nevertheless, the planning process also revealed some pitfalls as follows. • Lack of a database is the main hindrance to reach more precise estimations of the number of tourists, the corresponding tourism market and the potential environmental impact. Although several analysis methods were applied to help and support the planning process, in-depth analysis was still insufficient due to lacking of specific data, limited competition period and funding. From another angle, it was also potentially necessary to develop practical methods for decision making in a preliminary planning period, especially for planners and designers, which should be flexible for different users and for different design stages. • In an initial consultancy stage as such, planning cannot represent well the interests of different governmental sectors and stakeholders. There was not the time for them to stack up against each other to strive for individual interests. The interviews were not so critical because sometimes we could not reach the key persons in some governmental sectors. • A physical urban design is not essential in such an initial stage, while a report with concrete analysis and a rigorous proposal is more important. But the decision-makers and the public need a visualized picture to raise awareness of what could happen in the future; thus such a physical urban design worked as it was more public oriented than a real project. • Long-distance cooperation was possible for an urban design project with limited meetings, connecting from the Internet, FTP-resource sharing, telephone (or even visual) conferences, etc. But it was also time-consuming for file transfer, waiting for feedback and making an appointment or telephone conference. Face-to-face communication is still un-substitutable for its interactivity and stimulating atmosphere between people, especially for the first stage.

Acknowledgement This consultant project was carried out by the School of Architecture, Southeast University, China, cooperating with SASAKI co. USA in 2002. Prof. Jianguo Wang was the principal for the whole project.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

广州政府工作报告， 2002. Technical Document Project Brief for Seagull Island planning, Guangzhou Urban Planning Bureau, 2003. Urban Design For Sustainability, Final Report to the European Union Expert Group on the Urban Environment, 2004. http://europa.eu.int /comm/environment/urban/pdf/0404final_report.pdf (Visited 2005-05-09). Randall Thomas, Sustainable Urban Design: An Environmental Approach, Landon and New York: Spon Press, 2003.

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Section 6 Land use and management

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345

The ecological footprint of building construction S. Bastianoni, A. Galli, V. Niccolucci & R. M. Pulselli Department of Chemical and Biosystems Sciences, University of Siena, Italy

Abstract The aim of this paper is to evaluate the environmental pressure generated by the construction of two types of building, through the application of ecological footprint analysis. The appraisal of the impact of human settlement on the environment is of great concern and environmentally-friendly buildings are actually required. By considering the embodied energy of building materials and the “land area” required to sustain their assembly line, a comparison between the ecological footprint of two typical buildings in the context of Italy is presented. Finally, it is shown that the ecological footprint of building construction can be reduced by using environmentally-inexpensive materials, renewable energy resources and by optimizing bioproductive land use through the construction of multi-storeyed buildings. Keywords: ecological footprint, embodied energy, sustainable urban planning, sustainable building construction.

1

Introduction

The current development of urban areas underlines the importance of focusing on cities, buildings and their importance for the human economy. It is also important to consider the consequences of urban area spreading on ecosystem health. Considering people’s tendency to live in urban areas, cities are becoming focal points for human life but unfortunately, they are not sustainable. They are cross-roads of most material and energy flows and, at the same time, they contribute to natural capital depletion. Some concepts from evolutionary thermodynamics could be extended to the city in order to investigate its behaviour with a holistic approach. Each city can WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060331

346 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability be considered as an open system and depends on both interactions among its internal elements and exchanges with the external environment. Cities absorb high-quality fluxes of energy and matter from the outside as well as emitting wastes into the external environment (Tiezzi et al [1]). City dependence on external ecosystems shifts environmental impact from the local to the global level (Luck [2]). Houses, buildings, roads and infrastructure require a large amount of resources and can influence material and energy flows in urban areas. Cities can be considered as open evolutionary systems overflowing with structural and infrastructural fauna that feeds on natural capital. This theoretical framework suggests analyzing cities in terms of entropy flows and entropy production or in terms of resource flows and waste production, leading to more sustainable urban planning. Internal interactions and exchanges with the external environment are combined properties of evolutionary self-adaptive systems. These two categories also belong to urban dynamics that could be defined as dynamics of cities and dynamics in cities. For example, referring to dynamics of cities, flows of energy and matter that supply an urban system can be studied. Referring to dynamics in cities, patterns of urban interaction and their evolution can be studied. This assertion leads to a new evolutionary approach for urban studies assuming that some properties and behaviour of an urban system will depend on both the interactions among its parts and between the system and its external environment. This paper will focus on dynamics of cities, highlighting city dependence on external ecosystems, through the application of the ecological footprint analysis to buildings and their manufacturing process. The appraisal of the impact of human settlement on the environment is of great concern and more environmentally-friendly buildings are currently required. Considering the embodied energy of building materials, the energy spent in the construction process and therefore the “land area” required to sustain the building life cycle, the ecological footprint calculation of two typical Italian buildings is proposed. By optimizing the use of natural capital this analysis demonstrates how to reduce the ecological footprint of buildings, therefore leading to more sustainable building construction and city planning.

2

Resource consumption in building construction

The application of sustainable development principles to building construction aims to reduce resource consumption, waste production and environmental impact while warranting the high quality and utility of built-up areas. In evaluating the dynamics of the construction industry it is important to consider the close interaction that exists between living and non-living structures. This interaction consists of material and energy flows, information and resource flows and it is necessary to understand the evolutive dynamics of the building as a system. In this contest house quality has to be assured while considering natural resources, social needs and national history. Any sustainable building should be able to: WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

• • • • • •

347

make the most of energy resources and natural capital; support a part of its energy demand through natural processes; use of renewable and local materials; reduce its influence on the water cycle; reduce CO2 emissions and waste production; become part of the surrounding environmental, historical and cultural context.

About 40–50% of total energy cost in developed countries is closely linked or is a consequence of building construction. Moreover the construction of new buildings, infrastructure and industries, the production and the transport of building materials as well as waste disposal require an increasing amount of bioproductive areas. The significance of this impact requires its measure, here performed by ecological footprint analysis. These and other global environmental and human-related issues encouraged an increasing number of designers, planners, developers and building users to provide more sustainable urban planning and building construction strategies. The application of sustainability principles and environmental accounting methods to building construction is a consequence of the global environmental problems and it aims to reduce the direct and indirect impact of construction industry with respect to two main issues: • •

air pollution due to greenhouse gas emissions; depletion of both renewable and unrenewable natural resources (petroleum, natural gas, materials).

One of the main objectives of the application of environmental accounting methods to building construction is to evaluate the impact of common and alternative constructive technologies and materials. These types of analysis are characterized through a life-cycle approach and they are able to direct construction industry and materials choice towards a more sustainable building construction. Building ecology means using and managing natural resources considering not only their economic price and marketing availability, but also their real “environmental value”. Their availability in nature depends on time Nature spends for resource renewal and waste disposal and finally, on the Biosphere constraints.

3

Ecological Footprint Analysis

The Ecological Footprint Analysis (EFA) was proposed at the beginning of nineties by William Rees and Mathis Wackernagel. Commonly the Ecological Footprint (EF) of a given population is defined as the ecologically productive land or sea area required to produce, in a sustainable way, all the resources and the ecological services population consume and to absorb, in a sustainable way, wastes and greenhouse gasses population produce, with the prevailing technology and resource management (Rees and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

348 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Wackernagel [3, 4], Wackernagel and Rees [5], Monfreda et al. [6]). Since people use resources from all over the world, and affect faraway places with their pollution, the footprint is the sum of these areas wherever they are on the planet. EF is based on the assumption that most of energy and material flows can be converted into the bioproductive area that is required to maintain these flows. It is measured in global hectares (gha) and one global hectare is equivalent to one hectare of bioproductive land with world average productivity. The account includes six types of bioproductive areas used to support human economy (Wackernagel et al. [7]): • • • • • •

Cropland for the cultivation of food, animal feed, fibre, oil crops, and rubber; Grazing land for producing meat, hides, wool, and milk; Forests for harvesting timber, fuelwood, and wood fibre for paper; Fisheries for catching fish; Built-up areas, ecologically unproductive, used for accommodating infrastructure for housing, transportation, and industrial production; Energy land to sequester CO2 emitted from energy and fossil fuels consumption.

EF has a consumer approach to sustainability issues that shows human appropriation and dependence on the natural capital. Until now EFA was mainly applied to territorial system studies (at global, national or sub-national level) by comparing the EF of local population with the local regenerative capacity (Biocapacity). Biocapacity (BC) is defined as a measure of bioproductive supply, i.e. the biological production of a given area. It is an aggregate of the production of various ecosystems within the area, and it depends on both natural conditions and prevailing farming/forestry practices (Lewan and Simmons [8]). EF has been recently applied to productive systems in order to evaluate natural capital appropriation, efficiency in natural resource use as well as pressure generating on the environment. Thanks to its consumer approach the application of EF to building sector can provide an interesting evaluation of building dependence on resource production and waste assimilation that occurs at the global scale. EF methodology can be applied to buildings depending on the following assumptions: • • • •

it is possible to keep track of most materials used in a building; it is possible to calculate energy embodied in each material through specific embodied energy coefficients; use of fuels and energy during material construction and the building erection phase produces an increase of CO2 emissions; embodied energy in building materials can be converted into the biologically productive area required to absorb CO2 emissions or to produce materials.

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However, compared to other “products” buildings are more difficult to evaluate for the following reasons. They are large in scale, complex in materials and function and temporally dynamic due to limited service life of building components and changing user requirements. Their production processes are much less standardized than most manufactured goods because of the unique character of each building (Scheuer et al. [9]). It is simple to calculate the appropriation of bioproductive areas directly required for the physical occupation of land, with respect to dimension, typology and dwellers of a house. Unfortunately, the indirect appropriation of bioproductive land for CO2 absorption and material production, represents one of the most important aspects of EF application to building construction. So EF is able to convert all inputs connected with the life cycle of a building in a single value, expressed in global hectare (gha). This value represents the direct and indirect appropriation of natural resources and ecological services of a building. According to Adalberth [10] total energy demand during the life cycle of a building is composed by the energy requirement for building construction (i.e. energy use for producing all the building materials and energy use during the erection phase), energy use during the renovation phase, energy requirement for transportation of materials, energy use during the operation and energy requirement for demolition. This study focuses on the embodied energy in building construction, neglecting energy requirements for transportation, operation phase and demolition. This study aims to evaluate the consumption of natural resources and the efficiency of building constructional phases, trying to keep track of the most energy expensive factors or, in other words, the factors that more determine the appropriation of bioproductive areas. The appraisal of environmental impact of common and alternative construction methodologies and materials is necessary to reduce energy cost of buildings, emissions of CO2 and EF of buildings. It has to be considered as a basic knowledge for a more sustainable building construction and urban planning. 3.1 Embodied energy and other coefficients Embodied energy coefficients and the life-span of construction materials, expressed in MJ/kg and years respectively, are presented in Table 1. According to Scheuer et al. [9] it was decided to use 5% of total embodied energy in building materials to account for energy use during the erection phase (i.e. electricity used for power tools and lighting as well as diesel fuel used by heavy equipment at the construction site). Estimates for energy use during the erection phase range in literature from 1.2 to 10% (Cole et al. [11, 12]). To convert the amount of primary materials, energy as well as built-up areas into the bioproductive “land area” required for building construction, the conversion factors proposed by Wackernagel et al [13] are used. According to Wackernagel an emission factor of 0.020 kg of CO2 for each MJ of average fossil fuel, a global CO2 absorption factor of 0.095 kg/m2 and an average production factor of 0.125 kg of timber for square meter of forest is used. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

350 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Assuming that energy expenses due to the use of natural products, such as timber and cork, are compensated by the absorption of CO2 through trees during their growth, a hypothesis of zero emission factor has been considered. Table 1:

Embodied energy coefficients and life-span of building materials. Type of material

Embodied energy (MJ/kg)

Life span of materials (years)

Gravel

0.2 b

75 b

Concrete

1.2 a

75 b

Structural steel

32.0 a

75 b

Asphalt

50.2 b

75 b

Hollow concrete bricks

0.7 c

75 b

Hollow clay bricks

2.5 a, b

75 b

Ceramic floor and wall tile

2.5 a

75 b

Ceramic tile - roofs claddings

2.5 a

20 b

Stoneware

18.93 d

75 b

Glass

15.9 a

40-50 d

Raw aluminium

191.0 a

50 d

-

50 b

Timber - veneer dried in autoclave Cement rendering Cork sheets

7.8 a

5b

-

40 d

References in Table 1: a refers to data from González and Navarro [14]; b refers to data from Scheuer et al. [9]; c refers to our estimates on data coming from Venkatarama Reddy and Jagadish [15] and d refers to data from CRAS [16]. In order to evaluate the annual appropriation of natural resources and ecological services due to building construction, the life-span of each construction materials is considered. Adding up the annual contribution of every material the value of building ecological footprint is obtained.

4

Results and discussion

Here we discuss the results derived from the EF calculation of two typical Italian buildings with approximately 150 m2 of housing surface for each floor: a.

b.

a two-storeyed detached house with a reinforced concrete structure, hollow clay brick walling, cork sheets insulation, aluminium window frame, timber door, ceramic wall and floor finishing and cement rendering claddings. a four-storey condominium built-up with the same materials and constructional process. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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4.1 Building footprint This section provides the results of EFA calculation underlining the dynamics involved in building construction and the appropriation of natural resources and ecological services through the selected buildings (Table 2). Table 2:

Comparison between the building energy and ecological values. Detached house

Four-storey condominium

Units

160

160

m2

1,833

2,660

GJ

Housing surface

300

600

m2

Embodied energy

6.11

4.44

GJ/m2

Ecological Footprint

6,290

9,465

gm2

EF/Built-up area

39

59

gm2/m2

Dwellers

5.2

10.4

inhabit.

0.122

0.091

gha per capita

Built-up area Total embodied energy

EF per capita

Total embodied energy over the building life cycle ranges from 4.44 to 6.11 GJ/m2 for the four-storey condominium and the detached house respectively. These values fall within the range of 2–12 GJ/m2 cited in literature. From an energy point of view, Table 2 shows that the embodied energy of the detached house is 30% smaller than that of the four-storey condominium. Moreover, from a landscape point of view the detached house is better integrated in the environmental, historical and cultural context of Italy. At the same time, thanks to its vertical growth the four-storey condominium is characterized by a wider housing surface that determines a minor embodied energy per square meter of housing surface. EF values highlight that the construction of the selected buildings determines an annual bioproductive areas requirement of 6,290 and 9,465 gm2 respectively. The direct requirement of real land for building construction, i.e. the built-up area, hides a consistent indirect requirement of bioproductive areas, needed to provide all raw materials and to absorb all CO2 emitted in the constructional phase. For the detached house and the four-storey condominium this “ghost land” is 39 and 59 times as big as the built-up area respectively. It is important to underline that the four-storey condominium is able to annually accommodate a greater number of dwellers by means of the wider housing surface. For the detached-house and the condominium, two and four apartments are in that order estimated. Considering that each apartment of the selected buildings is dwelled by a family as well as an average Italian family is made up of 2.6 people (ISTAT [17]), the detached house and the condominium annually accommodate 5.2 and 10.4 people correspondingly. This leads to an annual per capita ecological footprint value of 0.12 and 0.09 global hectares respectively. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

352 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability These values are slightly greater than those proposed by Wackernagel pertaining to the typical Canadian wood-made houses. Results here obtained are more strictly related to reinforced concrete buildings that are typical of the European building construction. All these characteristics make the results obtained applicable to the analysis of the ecological footprint of Italian territorial systems. Moreover it is interesting to compare these results with the worldwide average biocapacity per capita (1.90 gha), defined as the annual amount of bioproductive land that people should have at their disposal by means of the equal distribution of natural resources. The percentage of EF that each average Italian citizen requires for building construction ranges from 4.8% (four-storey condominium) to 6.4% (detached house) of the overall biocapacity. Finally it is possible to compare EF values with the Italian average biocapacity, 1.18 gha per capita. EF component due to building changes to 7.7% and 10.4% respectively. Thus, through the construction of multi-storeyed buildings it is possible to reduce both the direct and indirect demand of built-up and bioproductive areas correspondingly. For allocating 10 dwellers the selected four-storey condominium requires about 160 m2 of built-up area; at the same time, for allocating the same number of dwellers, two detached house are requested. This leads to an increase of built-up areas that replace natural bioproductive areas contributing to the depletion of the global natural capital. This is even more important considering the continuous increase of the world population and the global tendency to live in urban areas. Keeping in mind Earth biophysical constraints, biogeochemical cycle dynamics and natural rate of resource production in regard to human rate of consumption, is necessary to direct future building planning towards more environmentally-inexpensive buildings. 4.2 Unpacking the ecological footprint of building construction To deeper understand the EF values of the selected buildings, data are presented for both building structural elements (see Table 3) and building materials (see Table 4). Focusing on “land area” categories, Table 3 shows that the construction of a typical Italian building requires a large amount of Energy land (90%) while requiring Forests and Built-up areas in a small scale (about 5% each of them). Focusing on structural elements, high demand of natural capital for Foundations is evident. This category includes consolidation and foundation works. It is interesting to compare the bioproductive land requirement for Foundations by the detached house and the four-storey condominium. It ranges from 33% to 23% of the total footprint value respectively. These values underline the environmental cost of Foundations in building construction. Most of natural resources and ecological services are required for this structural element which more contributing to the global natural capital depletion. Thus, in the construction of a building it is very important to optimize environmental costs by means of multi-storeyed buildings.

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Table 3:

353

Ecological footprint by structural elements and types of land areas of the selected buildings.

Detached House Foundations Structure and slabs - ground floor Structure and slabs - 1st floor Roof structure and claddings Floor and wall tiling and plastering Window and door frame Sanitary fittings Insulation Built-up area Total ecological Footprint Four-storey condominium Foundations Structure and slabs - ground floor Structure and slabs - 1st floor Structure and slabs - 2nd floor Structure and slabs - 3rd floor Roof structure and claddings Floor and wall tiling and plastering Window and door frame Sanitary fittings Insulation Built-up area Total ecological Footprint

Energy land gm2 2,058 1,139 1,059 842 190 325 20 5,633

Forest gm2 194 116 310

Built-up area gm2 347 347

TOTAL gm2 2,058 1,139 1,059 842 190 519 20 116 347 6,290

%

Energy land gm2 2,165 1,139 1,059 1,059 1,059 842 452 682 41 8,499

Forest gm2 -

Built-up area gm2 -

TOTAL gm2 2,165 1,139 1,059 1,059 1,059 842 452 1,070 41 231 347 9,465

%

388 231 619

347 347

33% 18% 17% 13% 3% 8% 0.3% 2% 6% 100%

23% 12% 11% 11% 11% 9% 5% 11% 0.4% 2% 4% 100%

Table 4 shows natural capital appropriation through building materials. For the detached house, most of EF value is due to the use of Concrete (for Foundations and Structure and slabs) and Asphalt (for foundation waterproofing). Asphalt is an environmentally-expensive material with a high embodied energy per mass unit. It requires a large amount of Energy land for its production even if it is used in a very small quantity. EF component due to Asphalt ranges from 21% for the detached house to 14% for the four-storey condominium. Once more EF values demonstrate the need of a more sustainable building construction by choosing multi-storeyed buildings able to reduce the Ecological Footprint of building construction system. Moreover, the choice of multi-storeyed buildings causes an important reduction in soil waterproofing, and decreases the risk of the water cycle alteration. In addiction to this, it is important to underline the contribution of aluminium to total bioproductive land requirement. Raw aluminium has an extremely high embodied energy per kg and it is used for door and windows frame. The EF value of a raw aluminium window frame (size: 1.3 m x 1.5 m x 0.04 m) is about 30 gm2 of Energy land while a timber window frame with the same size requires about 2 gm2 of Forests. These results demonstrate the importance of natural products in building construction. The choice of energetically-inexpensive and environmentally-friendly materials like timber can reduce the ecological footprint of Window and door frame up to 90%. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

354 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Even if this category contributes only in a minor part to the overall building footprint, it is possible to reduce total natural capital appropriation of buildings up to 3.5% by choosing these materials. Note that these types of precautions could be extended to all building structural elements. Table 4:

Ecological footprint by building materials and types of land areas of the selected buildings.

Detached House Gravel Concrete Raw steel - reinforcement Asphalt Hollow concrete bricks Hollow clay bricks Ceramic Ceramic tile - roofs claddings Stoneware (grès) Glass Raw aluminium Timber - veneer dried in autoclave Plaster Cork sheets Land use Total ecological Footprint Four-storey condominium Gravel Concrete Raw steel - reinforcement Asphalt Hollow concrete bricks Hollow clay bricks Ceramic Ceramic tile - roofs claddings Stoneware (grès) Glass Raw aluminium Timber - veneer dried in autoclave Plaster Cork sheets Land use Total ecological Footprint

Energy land gm 2 96 1,656 947 1,349 742 90 183 223 16 38 287

Forest gm2

Built-up area gm 2

194 7 116 5,633 Energy land gm 2 111 2,619 1,501 1,349 1,376 154 438 223 32 68 614

310 Forest gm2

347 347 Built-up area gm 2

388 14 231 8,499

619

347 347

TOTAL gm 2 96 1,656 947 1,349 742 90 183 223 16 38 287 194 7 116 347 6,290

%

TOTAL gm 2 111 2,619 1,501 1,349 1,376 154 438 223 32 68 614 388 14 231 347 9,465

%

2% 26% 15% 21% 12% 1% 3% 4% 0.3% 1% 5% 3% 0.1% 2% 5.5% 100%

1% 28% 16% 14% 15% 2% 5% 2% 0.3% 1% 6% 4% 0.1% 2% 3.7% 100%

Finally, it should be taken into account the fact that timber, cork and other wood products are able to compensate the CO2 emissions that rise from their use through the negentropic work of the photosynthesis.

5

Conclusions

By integrating a common embodied energy analysis with EFA it is possible to assess not only energy expenses but also natural capital appropriation of buildings, adding up all inputs into a single value. Based on these parameters the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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355

assessment of building impact, enables to find a common language between architectural and ecological disciplines and to generate useful analysis for establishing sustainability parameters for building construction and urban planning. Results presented in this paper demonstrate the minor environmental pressure generated by multi-storeyed buildings, in respect to detached houses, in the Italian contest. Minor natural capital requirement in multi-storeyed buildings is due to: • • • •

major number of dwellers for each building; sharing of Built-up area; less requirement of bioproductive land and more natural capital saving; Optimization of the environmental burdens due to environmental expensive structural elements (i.e. Foundations).

In addiction to this, it is important to consider the land area saving that results through the use of local building materials and renewable energy sources in the building constructional phase. EFA by building materials shows the importance of natural materials like wood and cork in CO2 reduction and, in general, in the reduction of “ghost land” requirement. Finally, it is undeniable the importance of saving the natural capital, the actual limiting factor. So, thanks to the application of EFA to building construction it is possible to assess building appropriation of the natural capital and to suggest useful options reducing this appropriation. For this reasons, this article suggests a comparison between the EF values of the two typical Italian buildings and both the global and the Italian average per capita BC. The appropriation of natural resources and ecological services for building construction ranges from 4.8% (four-storey condominium) to 6.4% (detached house) of the overall BC, while it changes to 7.7% and 10.4% respectively if compared with the local average BC. House sharing, the reduction of Built-up area as well as choosing natural materials and multi-storeyed buildings is necessary to reduce and optimize the appropriation of bioproductive land in building construction. All these precautions foster the conservation of the natural capital and the reduction of CO2 emissions for the benefit of current and future generations.

References [1] [2] [3]

Tiezzi, E., Steps Towards an Evolutionary Physics, WIT Press, in press. Luck, M.A., Darrel Jenerette, G., Wu, J., Grimm, N.B., The Urban Funnel Model and the Spatially Heterogeneous Ecological Footprint, Ecosystems 4, 782-796, 2001. Rees, W.E., Wackernagel, M., Urban Ecological Footprints: why cities cannot be sustainable - and why they are a key to sustainability, Environ impact assess rev 16, 223-248, 1996. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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[15] [16] [17]

Rees, W.E., Ecological footprints and appropriated carrying capacity: what urban economics leaves out, Environment and Urbanization 4(2), 121-130, 1992. Wackernagel, M., Rees, W.E., Our ecological footprint: reducing human impact on the earth, New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada, 1996. Monfreda, C., Wackernagel, M., Deumling, D., Establishing national natural capital accounts based on detailed Ecological Footprint and biological capacity assessments, Land Use Policy 21, 231-246, 2004. Wackernagel, M., Monfreda, C., Deumling, D., Ecological Footprint of nations, November 2002 update: How much nature do they use? How much nature do they have? Redefining progress, sustainability issue brief, November 2002. Lewan, L., Simmons C., The use of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Analyses as Sustainability Indicators for Sub-national Geographical Areas: a Recommended way Forward, European Common Indicators Project EUROCITIES/ Ambiente Italia, 2001. Scheuer, C., Keoleian G.A., Reppe, P., Life cycle energy and environmental performance of a new university building: modelling challenges and design implications, Energy and Buildings 35, 1049-1064, 2003. Adalberth, K., Energy use during the Life Cycle of Buildings: a Method, Building and Environment 32, 317-320, 1997. Cole, R.J., Rousseau, D., Environmental auditing for building construction: energy and air pollution indices for building materials, Building and Environment 27, 23-30, 1992. Cole, R.J., Kernan, P.C., Life-cycle energy use in office buildings, Building and Environment 31, 307-317, 1996. Wackernagel, M., Monfreda, C., Deumling, D., Dholakia, R., Household Ecological Footprint Calculator, v 3.2, Redefining Progress, http://www.rprogress.org, 2003. González, M.J., Navarro J.G., Assessment of the decrease of CO2 emissions in the construction field through the selection of materials: Practical case study of three houses of low environmental impact, Building and Environment, in press. Venkatarama Reddy, B.V., Jagadish K.S., Embodied energy of common and alternative building materials and technologies, Energy and Buildings, 35, 129-137, 2003. CRAS, Ecological Footprint - Un approfondimento sull’impronta ecologica dell’edilizia residenziale in Italia, International Association for Environmental Design (IAED), 2004. ISTAT, Annuario Statistico Italiano 2004, Rubbettino - Industrie Grafiche ed Editoriali, Soveria Mannelli (CZ), 2004.

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From Brownfield to blue sky: Sydney Harbour’s renaissance S. Bargwanna Kellogg Brown & Root Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia

Abstract Sydney Harbour is one of the most magnificent in the world. It has some 230 kilometres of foreshores, is around 21 kilometres in length, one to two kilometres wide and up to 44 metres deep. It is the centre of Sydney, a metropolis of around four and half million people. The harbour was the reason for Sydney’s settlement as a penal colony in 1788 and was the conduit for immigration and trade that developed over the ensuing 218 years. This paper examines the circle of sustainability describing in four phases: the South Pacific utopia of Aboriginal occupation; the convict settlement—the city’s foundation; the industrial–urbanisation period from the mid 1800s to the early 1980s; and the current post industrial eco resort period. Approaches to sustainability are discussed for each period using Cockatoo Island, the harbour’s largest island as an example. The Aborigines lived a sustainable lifestyle. The subsequent convict settlement and urbanisation period had no concept of the consequences of social, economic and environmental impacts nor any awareness of the limits of growth. The current post-industrial eco resort period shows the harbour healing with a new awareness of sustainability and the use of the harbour as a playground rather than a sewer and shipping canal. Lessons are offered from recent experiences in sustainable design and management principles in the harbour, many reflecting how the Aborigines experienced the harbour prior to European settlement. Use of such international natural feature icons as flagships for a global approach to sustainability is suggested. Keywords: Sydney Harbour, sustainability, Cockatoo Island, urbanisation, postindustrial, eco resort. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060341

358 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

Sydney Harbour was the location for the first European settlement in Australia, in January 1788, by Governor Arthur Phillip and his 11 ships of around 1000 convicts, soldiers and sailors. England had made a decision to establish a penal colony in Australia to relieve its overcrowded prisons. Sydney Harbour had a magnificent anchorage, capable of providing a safe haven for “over 1000 ships” or “the entire navies of Europe” as described by naval officers of the first fleet. At the time, Sydney Harbour was populated by the Aboriginal Eora people, who led a relatively blissful and sustainable hunter-gather existence in harmony with nature. However, the brutal convict prison colony, with its “guns, germs and steel” [1], quickly destroyed Aboriginal society and ended its 60,000 year of lone occupation. The 230 kilometres of foreshores around Sydney Harbour and its tributaries were progressively urbanised and industrialised over the next 200 years, as far as the rugged sandstone topography allowed. Today, Sydney is a prosperous multicultural city. The harbour has been a significant factor in Sydney’s evolution into a ‘second tier’ world city, with a population of some four and a half million people. The driving forces behind this expansion were the global commercial export trade of wool, gold, wheat and other raw commodities and the import of people (and their material demands) from economic, war and religious mayheminitially from Europe, then from Vietnam, the Middle East and elsewhere. Sydney is also undergoing major economic and structural changes as it evolves from industrial to post-industrial, from provincial to global. The factories, utilities, refineries and uncontrolled urban waste systems that used the harbour as a free pollutant discharge sink have been progressively relocated and these sites rehabilitated over the past 20 years. The harbour has been rediscovered as a wonderful place to live, play and visit. Tourism in Sydney was forecast to double from 4.2 million visitors in 1998 to 8.4 million in 2002 [2]. Global events such as the Olympic Games in 2000 and the annual New Year’s Eve fireworks extravaganza have showcased the harbour and its metamorphosis to an international audience. In this paper, the evolution of Sydney Harbour and approaches to sustainability will be described in four overlapping stages: • the South Pacific utopian paradise • the brutal convict prison settlement • the industrial-urbanisation period • the post industrial eco-resort. To bring this broad sweep of Australia’s history into sharper focus, this paper will also describe the ongoing transition of Cockatoo Island, the largest island in the harbour (17 hectares), as an example of the evolution of Sydney Harbour as a whole. This island has seen life as an Aboriginal fishing ground, a convict prison, a women’s institution and a naval shipyard. It is now about to become a cultural and recreational ‘must see’ destination. Like the harbour, it’s being cleaned up. The environmental qualities and spiritual significance of the island and the harbour, so well known to the indigenous inhabitants, are being WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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rediscovered in a new future. Finally, the scope and opportunity to apply sustainability principles will be discussed and the hope that we can go a full circle in our treatment of the environment.

2

The setting

Sydney Harbour is the jewel of the Sydney metropolis. A drowned river valley, the harbour feeds from a 180° catchment, effectively bifurcated by the South Pacific Ocean. The harbour and its tributaries contain some 230 kilometres of foreshores. These, when not modified by urban development, are typically rugged with many steep sandstone banks. As Captain Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of the colony, described in 1788: “it [the harbour] runs chiefly in a westerly direction about thirteen miles [21 kilometres] into the country, and contains not less than an hundred small coves, formed by narrow necks of land ... covered with timber, yet so rocky that it is not easy to comprehend how trees could have found sufficient nourishment…” The width of the harbour is generally one to two kilometres. At its deepest point, near the Sydney Harbour Bridgethe narrowest harbour crossing point adjacent to the central business districtit is 44 metres to the bottom. Cockatoo Island, the largest in the harbour, is three kilometres west of the bridge and some 12 kilometres from The Heads (the ‘gateway’ to the open sea). The harbour is a highly productive marine ecosystem, supporting many species of fish, prawns, shellfish (e.g. oysters and mussels) and seaweed as well as large marine creatures such as sharks, dolphins and whalesmany over four metres long. The foreshore comprises a diverse biology including intertidal mangrove, eucalypt and a variety of animals and birds. Sydney has a Mediterranean type climate. It can experience violent weathertorrential rain, extreme heat, drought and bushfires.

3 A South Pacific utopia For an estimated 60,000 years, Aboriginal people occupied Australia as huntergatherers, in relative isolation from other peoples and human migration waves. “Aborigines have the longest continuous cultural history of any group of people on earth”. At the time of the first European settlement in Sydney, in January 1788, there were an estimated 1500 Aboriginal people living around the harbour. These people did not cultivate the land and had no permanent settlements. They lived off, and in, nature. They fished sustainably with hooks, lines and multi-point spears, and derived sustenance and medicine from the natural landscape. The first English encounters found them a “very lively and inquisitive race” [3]. A district was named ‘Manly’ after the well built inhabitants. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Cockatoo Island

Central Business District SYDNEY HARBOUR

Source: Sharing Sydney Harbour Access Plan

Figure 1. The Aborigines had to be environmentally sustainable; the earth was sacred, and they saw themselves as part of a metaphysical landscape and biological system. They lived according to their ‘Dreamtime’, which was a myriad of stories of how places were created. “In the Aboriginal world view, every meaningful activity, event or life process that occurs at a particular place leaves behind a vibrational residue in the earth” [3]. Cockatoo Island was known to the local Aboriginal people as ‘Wareamah’ [4]. The island would have been a superb fishing and resting place. It is 200 metres to the north harbour shore and 1000 metres to the south harbour shore, and large (17 hectares). Its forest was habitat for the beautiful and striking white sulphur crested cockatoo, still prominent in Sydney. There were plenty of snakes, and the sandstone foreshores were bountiful in shellfish such as oysters, pippies and mussels. The many swimming holes would have provided variety and protection from prevailing winds. The Eora, Ku-ring-gai, Darug and other peoples who inhabited Sydney Harbour before European settlement lived sustainably, in harmony with the harbour and its catchment. This existence may seem ancient, but it was not a WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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long time ago in terms of human civilisation218 years. Three, maybe four lifetimes. Ways in which Aborigines achieved a sustainable existence and low impacts on the harbour were in their nomadic lifestyle, fire regime, seed dispersal and selective hunting.

4

Convict settlement: foundation of a city

England had a number of problems that could, in part, be solved by establishing permanent settlements and occupation in Sydney and Australia. These included a large, poorly accommodated prison population (a consequence of urbanisation and industrialisation processes), the loss of the North American colonies and territorial rivalries with France. The first fleet of 11 ships arrived in Sydney Harbour on 26 January 1788. It comprised more than 1000 convicts, sailors, marines and administrators together with food, provisions and animals to start the new settlement. On arrival, the settlers recorded “the satisfaction of finding the finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line may ride in the most perfect security” [5]. It could accommodate not only every British ship, but “for all the navies of Europe” [5]. At the time, this settlement-building expedition was a momentous achievement. Australia was seen as lying at the end of the earth; a land beyond the sea; the edge of oblivion. The settlers spent months at sea in cramped accommodation, continually buffeted by waves, fed dry biscuits and salt beef, anticipating death at any time. On arrival, there was “one mass outdoor party, Sydney’s first fête of hedonism” [5]. One observer reported: “It is beyond my abilities to give a just description of the scene of debauchery and riot which continued through the night” [5]. The settlers’ first night on land coincided with a violent thunderstorm, which had no effects on the “wild drinking and orgy”, but which was reportedly so violent that one lighting strike killed six sheep, two lambs and a pig. The new convict colony was established first with tents, then wattle and daub, brick and finally cut sandstone. Permanent water supplies, tracks and foreshore works were established. However, the barren sandy soils would not support cultivation or grazing, and the early colony was placed on starvation rations. Ships were sent to South Africa, the South Pacific and Indonesia for food and other supplies. The native animals and vegetables were rejected as a food sourcethis was an alien land, in no way similar to Europe. Finally, a fertile alluvial area was found on a harbour tributary, which supported the first successful crops and animal breeding. More convict ships arrived, bringing prisoners who were urban dwellers, not farmers. Few had practical skills. Most were convicted of petty grievances (stealing bread and clothing); many were political criminals, like the Irish rebels. An iron discipline was maintainedconvicts were regularly chained together and flogged, often by lashing whilst tied to a steel triangle. Serious offences led to hanging, with the body left on display as an example. Sydney’s birth was a hard labour, known as by the ‘convict stain’, a history many would like to forget. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

362 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The Aborigines also suffered badly, suddenly exposed to the systematic horrors of a penal system, and with no defence against foreign diseases from European city incubators. They were robbed of their fish and shellfish, infected with bacteria and viruses (from smallpox to syphilis), the woman raped and men murdered for theft. Between 1788 and 1850, over 162,000 convicts were sent to Australia—many to Sydney. Cockatoo Island was chosen as the site of a new convict establishment in 1839. It was to be a ‘gaol within a gaol’; a place for repeat convict offenders who had originally been sent to Norfolk Island, off the coast of Sydney in the South Pacific. With Norfolk Island now full, Cockatoo Island was the next holding place for many recalcitrants. By 1842 there were up to 500 convicts living in cramped congested conditions on Cockatoo Island. This band of prisoners undertook some magnificent civil projects, which are still evident today [4]: • twenty grain storage silos were carved out of the island’s sandstone, six metres deep and seven metres in diameter • Sydney’s iconic yellow block sandstone was quarried for public works in the growing city, including for the main harbour quay • a drydock for shipbuilding and repair was constructed taking 10 years, it has been used for over 100 years to repair and build ships for the Navy and commerce • the island’s penal settlement infrastructurewharves, gardens, water supply and transportwas largely built and run by convict labour. The convict era provided the foundation for the development of Sydney, and the pastoral and mineral expansion throughout the colony of New South Wales. Sydney Harbour provided the conduit and catalyst for this development, and was seen as a limitless resource for fishing and transport. Its use for recreation was initially limited to a small class of administrators and merchants, but this would change. Whist the English officers and administrators could admire the natural beauty of the harbour and the unique botany, there was no concept of sustainability. This was a harsh period focussed on survival of the new settlement with massive social impacts. The Aboriginal people were gradually disappearing. The environment was considered a limitless resource to be tamed and cultivated.

5

The industrial–urbanisation period

The industrial and urban expansion of Sydney occurred from around the mid 1800s. There were two dominant forces, both funnelled through the harbour: the immigration of free settlers from Europe and the United Kingdom (many escaping economic and political repression) and their need for manufactured goods; and the export of raw materials such as wool, wheat and gold. The growth of the harbour’s catchment was related to increased housing, while the city centre on the harbour flourished with commercial trade and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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administration. The harbour frontages, particularly around the quay and western bays, were characterised by docks, bond stores, warehouses and factories. Extensive land reclamation occurred. The harbour became a busy transport artery, and as housing grew and factories developed, it also became a waste depository. The harbour received all the untreated liquid and solid waste of the growing town. The fresh water stream that provided the settlement’s drinking water became so polluted and sedimented that new, distant water sources had to be found. Progressively, industry established around the foreshore and ridges— windmills, steam mills, flour mills, saw mills, foundries and abattoirs were built [6]. Extensive foreshore areas were reclaimed with dredging, piling and seawall construction. Some creeks entering the harbour were concrete lined. This period of growth was unhindered by any awareness of environmental sustainability. In the 1900s, massive wheat silos were constructed, along with power stations that used the harbour’s water for cooling and coal handling and petrochemical facilities. Long jetties were built into the harbour to facilitate the export of wool and other goods, and then for loading soldiers and their horses and chattels for war. On Cockatoo Island, the convict prison complex was converted to an industrial school for girls, and a girls’ reformatory was established. The island and moored ships also accommodated up to 500 homeless and orphaned boys, who were taught trades and nautical skills to be used in the burgeoning colony. In response to the growing trade and the increasing size of the ships visiting Sydney Harbour, a second dry dock was built between 1882 and 1890. Shipbuilding on the island began in 1870, largely for barges, dredges and tugs for the harbour and coastal development and trade. Naval ship building began in 1913. During World War I, up to 4000 men were employed on Cockatoo Island in the varied and complex trades involved in shipbuilding. During World War II, the island became the main ship repair yard in the south-west Pacific, converting or repairing around 250 ships. This was the largest heavy industry site on the harbour and one of the most significant in Australia. During this period there was little or no awareness of environmental sustainabilityconcepts of external costs and limits to growth did not exist. The island and harbour were used for waste dumping. Consequently there was little or no consideration of the negative environmental, social or economic consequences of development.

6

The post-industrial eco resort

The beginning of the renaissance of Sydney Harbour as a sustainable ecosystem can be traced to the early 1980s. At this time, three major forces were at work. First, in response to growing public awareness of the natural environment and the need for some protection, environmental legislation was enacted forcing industry and utilities to improve waste discharge and other practices. Second, Sydney was emerging as a global and regional commercial centre for tertiary industry such as finance, regional headquarters and information technology. At WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

364 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability the same time, industry was modernising, often relocating to Asia or peripheral urban locations. Third, the Australian Government turned the eyes of the world on Australia and Sydney Harbour as a new tourist destination. The famous “throw another shrimp (prawn) on the barbie” campaign showcased Sydney and its harbour to an international audience for the first time. The industrial and urban waterfront began to change rapidly, as people recognised the value of this natural feature; Sydneysiders now wanted to live and play by their harbour. To mark the bicentenary of Sydney’s European settlement in 1988, the State Government developed two landmark catalyst rejuvenation harbour projects. The first saw the conversion of rail yards, wharves and a wholesale vegetable and meat district into an entertainment precinct with parks, cafés, themed shopping, convention and exhibition halls, a museum and Chinese garden. This precinct, known as Darling Harbour, launched a rejuvenation wave around the waterfront. The second was a major civic upgrade, at the original site of the First Fleet anchorage, crowned with the iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House. These projects precipitated urban and environmental renewal around the harbour. They fuelled dramatic growth in international and domestic tourism to Sydney, and created a demand for a new ‘café harbour’ society. The government also established the Sydney Harbour National Park, bringing together vast foreshore forests, beaches and islands. The climax of this renaissance was the successful bid and execution of the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The focus on the Olympics was the remediation of a major harbour tributary site at Homebush Bay, which included an industrial waste dump, an abattoir and a brick pit. The international showcasing of Sydney Harbour has since evolved to include an internationally renowned New Year’s Eve fireworks display, adventure experiences such as the bridge climb, and harbour and international visiting ship cruises. Sydneysiders and the booming backpacker market now demand a clean harbour for such activities as kayaking, snorkelling, swimming and sailing. Numerous community groups work on harbourside revegetation and regular clean-up days. Sustainability has been re-discovered. The harbour has become an eco-resort, a playground in the middle of a vast sprawling city. There are still major remediation challenges. Recently, prawn harvesting in the harbour was suspended due to the discovery of dangerously high dioxin levels. This affected 20 commercial fishers, who had been a particularly attractive sight on the harbour. Meanwhile, Cockatoo Island has undergone many positive and exciting changes. Shipbuilding has ceased and the island is being progressively rehabilitated, with great respect afforded to its convict, institutional and maritime heritage. Today plans are well developed to reinvent the island, this time as a ‘must see’ destination for tourism, maritime and culturea Murano Island in Sydney. In 2005, the island hosted a very successful rock and roll festival! It is being rehabilitated to embrace sustainability.

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7 Sydney Harbour Sustainable City Principles Sydney Harbour can be seen as going through a full circle as the modern postindustrial eco resort discovers principles of sustainability well known to the Aborigines but lost for some 200 years during the penal settlement and industrial–urbanisation period. The harbour has been under intense pressure in the 218 years since European settlement. Fortunately, its sheer size and many rugged sections have kept it resilient and relatively healthy. However, to fix many of the poor practices of the past and to manage its ongoing sustainability amid the pressures of a dynamic changing city, there is much that we canand aredoing. We have learned many “micro” lessons over the past twenty years on how to achieve a more sustainable harbour. Some of the principles I have learned from project experiences including at Cockatoo Island follow. Many of these are applicable to other harbour and waterway cities around the world. • Education: the public, developers and practitioners need to be made aware of the harbour as a living four dimensional system. Waterways are more than mirror surface and static vista. • Urban design: marine ecologists, not architects, should design foreshore edge treatments involving habitat creation, revegetation and cleansing. Edges should not be sterile. • Construction: to encourage marine life, construct habitats such as artificial reefs, reduce velocity at foreshore edges through rubble treatments, use variegated rather than flat surfaces. • Stormwater and sewers: pre-treat entering waters, use reeds, mangroves, ponds and natural filters. • Land-use: create more parkland and wild edges with trails, have high value land uses (e.g. commercial buildings) pay for remediation. • Decontamination: wherever possible, remove and treat; otherwise, cap and contain foreshore and marine sediments. • Aboriginal interpretation: around the foreshore display and interpret Dreamtime stories and sustainable living practices. The convict penal story should also be told. • Disaster and emergency response: regularly test capacity to respond to oil spills, accidents and terrorism. • Events and festivals: use these as a focus of healing, celebration and awareness of the wonderful and essential sustainable asset that the harbour provides to the people and visitors to Sydney. There are also major “macro” lessons for other world cities from considering the history and future of Sydney Harbour. What better way of showcasing sustainability to the domestic and international community than through the healing and rejuvenation of an international icon as a flagship for a global approach to sustainability. If the most visible natural treasures of a city can be managed sustainably there is hope that we can take this approach to other parts

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366 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability of the world. This can then help us to moderate our impacts so there is natural resource richness and diversity for future generations to enjoy.

Acknowledgements Thanks for word processing, editing and reviewing to Juliet Fairley, Isabel Workman, David Abbey and Ana Naletilic of KBR–Sydney.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Diamond J. Guns, Germs and Steel. Vintage 1998. Department Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources. Sharing Sydney Harbour Access Plan. August 2003. Australian Dreamtime. www.crystalinks.com. Sydney Harbour Federation Trust. The Story of Cockatoo Island. 2004. Kenneally T. The Commonwealth of Thieves. Random House 2005. Aplin G. and Storey J. Waterfront Sydney. 1860-1920. Unwin 1984. Birmingham J. Leviathan. Knopf, 1984.

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A study on the future of urban models in the third millennium: a sustainable urban model for Kırıkkale, Turkey K. Özcan & F. Eren City and Regional Planning Department, University of Selcuk, Konya, Turkey

Abstract The aim of this paper is to determine an urban model for Kırıkkale city according to the sustainable urban development potentials and dynamics. This model is dependent on the many planning decisions which include the assessment of ecological potentials, the foundation of urban open–green system and also the reorganization of the neigbourhoods in the city as the clusters. In this paper, the methodology is based on the cluster analysis which consists of the assessment of the neighbourhoods in the city as named clusters and also transferring data onto maps according to the sustainable urban development dynamics and future potential. This paper focused on Kırıkkale city which is at an early stage for sustainable urban models in Turkey, but this paper also contributes towards the debate and study of sustainable urban models in Turkish towns according to the methodology. Keywords: sustainability, urban development, urban model, Kırıkkale.

1

Introduction

The globalization process has brought shifts in power from national or local governments to international corporations. So national or local governments have been pressed to reduce their roles in controlling the flows of goods, capital and information flowing across their boundaries because of the progress in the communication and transportation technologies and systems. As a result of this

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368 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability progress, when the barriers on trade and investments have been removed, the issues on urban models in many countries have been started to study and debate by planners (Breheny [3], Frey [4], Haughton and Hunter [6], Haughton [5], Naes [7], Talvitie [8], Audirac-Fitzgerald [2]). Over the past thirty years, the debates and studies on urban models are focused on the “sustainability” concept which is taking its base from “to supply the present generation needs without making concessions from the future generation needs” idea [1]. The aim of this paper is to determine an urban model for Kırıkkale city according to the sustainable urban development potentials and dynamics. This model is depending on the mainly planning decisions which include the assessment of ecological potentials, foundation of urban open–green system and also reorganization of the neighbourhoods in the city as the clusters. In this paper, the methodology is based on the cluster analysis which consists of assessment of the neighbourhoods in the city as named clusters and also transferring data on to the maps according to the sustainable urban development dynamics and potentials to the future. Also, this paper focused on Kırıkkale city is at an early stage for sustainable urban models in Turkey. But it is considered that this paper contributes towards the debates and studies on sustainable urban models in Turkish towns according to the methodology.

2

The city of Kırıkkale

Kırıkkale city as one of the cities in Central Anatolia like Ankara, Kırşehir and Kayseri is located in the Kızılırmak Valley in Turkey. In the provincial urban system in Turkey, each province is organized a central city and also the several towns which are depended on the central city according to the social, cultural, economical and administrative. In this context, Kırıkkale city which has a population of about 200.000 people is the central city of Kırıkkale Province. The foundation of the city was based on the military and strategic industry investment called The Mechanical and Chemical Industries Corporation (MCIC) which was founded in 1929. As a result of this investment, Kırıkkale city was faced with a rapid industrialization and urbanization process which has caused not only unplanned development but also environmental problems. At present, the city government, along with the central government, has maintained the development process by the national investments such as Middle Anatolian Petroleum Refinery, Organized Industry Zones, Free Zone, Kırıkkale University, Green Valley Tourism and Recreation Areas.

3

Urban land use system in Kırıkkale city

In this paper, the urban land use system in Kırıkkale city is examined according to the sustainable urban models. In this context, it is indicated that the city indicates an urban model defined as linear development. The urban land uses were organized and distributed to the twenty-five neighbourhoods in the city (Figure 1). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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It is stated that they have been organized as the sections and also specialized in difference functions according to the dynamics and potential of urban development like central business district (CBD), existing housing areas, and development housing areas. In this frame, urban land uses in each of sections is analyzed and classified according to the urban densities (Figure 2). Firstly, the section as named CBD is consisted of Hüseyin Kahya, Ovacık, Yenidoğan and Fabrikalar neighbourhoods, located in the center of the city. CBD is focused on urban facilities which serve for whole of the city according to the social, cultural, economical and administrative services. Unlike CBD, the neighbourhood is recognised as Sanayi, located in the northeast of the CBD. Not only it includes small industries depending on the automotive sector but also it is housing area with medium-densities.

Figure 1:

Key map, the neigbourhoods in Kırıkkale city.

Secondly, the section as called existing housing area, located in surroundings of CBD. This section includes Gürler, Tepebaşı, Kurtuluş, Yaylacık and Güzeltepe neighbourhoods that the main function of them is housing areas with high–densities. Thirdly, the section consists of Yenimahalle, Selim Özer, Çalılıöz, Bağlarbaşı, Etiler, Sanayi, Karşıyaka and Bahçelievler neighbourhoods which are called as housing areas with medium-densities. Finally, the section as named development housing areas with medium and also low-densities, located in the sphere of the city. This section includes the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

370 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Osmangazi, Kaletepe, Kimeski Akşemsettin, Gündoğdu, Fatih and Yuva neighbourhoods which have difference densities. Both Osmangazi in the northeast of the city and Kaletepe in the northwest of the city are planned as mass housing areas. They are development housing areas with medium-densities. Unlike Osmangazi and Kaletepe, Kimeski neighbourhood is planned mass housing area with low-density like garden city. Akşemsettin, Fatih and Gündoğdu neighbourhoods in the east of the city and also Yuva in the southeast of the city are development housing areas with low–densities. Also it is observed that these neighbourhoods especially Fatih and Yuva, are agricultural production areas. Besides, Kızılırmak neighbourhood in the southwest of the city is planned the prestige development housing area with low-densities.

Figure 2:

4

Distribution of population densities.

Cluster analysis

Cluster analysis is based on evaluating of the neighbourhoods in the city as the re–organized or revitalized sections according to the dynamics and potentials of sustainable urban development process near future. As a result of this evaluation, Kırıkkale city is divided into ten clusters which are reorganized as sub-units for the criteria of sustainable urban development, in terms of their functional identities and spatial characteristics (Figure 3). In the frame, the functional and spatial characteristics in the each of cluster and also spatial sizes and densities of them are explained below (Table 1).

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Figure 3:

371

Prepared clusters for Kırıkkale city.

4.1 Center cluster The center cluster called as CBD, mainly located in the central section according to the geographical position. This cluster includes the social, economical, cultural, administrative functions and services. There are six neighbourhoods in this cluster which are named Ovacık, Yenidoğan, Hüseyin Kahya, Tepebaşı, Gürler and Kurtuluş. Cluster 1: This cluster consists of four neighbourhoods which are named Yenimahalle, Yaylacık, Fabrikalar and Kızılırmak, located in the southwest section. This cluster was one of the first areas to be developed. The residential areas of the military industries named as MCIC, are main function of this cluster. Cluster 2: There are four neighbourhoods in this cluster which are named Bağlarbaşı, Kaletepe, Çalılıöz and Güzeltepe, located in the northwest section adjoining the woodland. The main function of it is residential areas. Cluster 3: This cluster includes two neighbourhoods which are named Sanayi and Etiler, located in the north section. The little industries based automative and residential areas are main users of this cluster. Cluster 4: There are two neighbourhoods in this cluster which limited Gündoğdu and the west part of Osmangazi, located in the northeast section. It is considered that this cluster has rapid development potentials near future by housing estate.

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372 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 1:

Characteristics analysis of the clusters.

Clusters

Geographical Positions

Areas (Hectares)

Populations (Persons)

Functions

Center

In the center of the city

160

32.000

Central Business District

1

In the southwest of the city

490

36.000

Housing Areas

2

In the northwest of the city and edge of the Woodland

488

50.000

Housing Areas

3

In the north of the city center

570

27.000

Small Industries and Housing

4

In the northeast of the city

533

53.000

Development Housing Area

5

In the northeast of the city

383.6

40.000

Development Housing Area

6

In the east edge of the city

295.7

34.000

Development Housing Area

7

In the southeast of the city

415.9

44.000

8

In the southeast of the city

368.5

38.000

9

In the south of the city center

345.6

24.000

Development Housing and Agricultural Areas Development Housing and Agricultural Areas Housing Areas

Cluster 5: This cluster consists of Akşemseddin and the east part of Osmangazi, located in the northeast section. It is considered that this cluster has an upper level of urbanization potentials near future. Cluster 6: Only one neighbourhood named Kimeski is included in this cluster, which is located in the north of the railway as east section. This cluster like cluster 4 and 5 has rapid development potentials. Cluster 7: This cluster like cluster 6, includes only one neighbourhood named Fatih, located in the in the south of the railway as southeast section. The main characteristic of this cluster has agricultural production areas. Cluster 8: This cluster includes only one neighbourhood named Yuva, located in the southeast section. The main factor influencing this cluster is the problems of environmental pollution. Because the garbage damp of the city is located in this cluster. The main characteristic of this cluster like cluster 7 also has agricultural production areas. Cluster 9: There are three neighbourhoods in this cluster which are named Bahçelievler, Selim Özer and Karşıyaka, located in the south section adjoining the Military Industrial Areas called MCIC.

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373

Conclusions: some guidelines to the future

In this paper, it is suggested a sustainable urban model for Kırıkkale city by the spatial and functional analysis which is defined as cluster analysis. This model includes mainly planning decisions which focused on the sustainable urban development. They are listed below: –to sustain and assess the ecological potentials such as woodland and agricultural areas, in the urban development process and also decrease or minimize negative effects of industrial areas on ecological sources. –to reorganize the urban density zones and control urban sprawl. –to be transformed from monocentric development model to polycentric urban development by planning sub-units as the sub-center which includes social, cultural and economical facilities for increasing of the living environment standards (Figure 4). –to plan urban open–green systems as the dominant element in urban land use system. With these decisions, it is considered that the sustainable urban model which has prepared for Kırıkkale is focused on the planned sub-units and founded open– green system in the context of green city as one of the sustainable urban models (Figure 5).

Figure 4:

Sub–unit center planned for sustainable development in Kırıkkale city.

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374 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Figure 5: Sustainable urban model for Kırıkkale city. Figure 5: Sustainable urban model for Kırıkkale city.

References [1] [2]

[3] [4]

World Commission on Environmental and Development, Our Common Future: The Brundtland Report, Oxford University Press, London, 1987. Audirac, Ivonne – Fitzgerald, Jennifer, “Information Technology (IT) and Urban Form: An Annotated Bibliography of the Urban Deconcentration and Economic Restructuring Literatures”, Journal of Planning Literature, V. 17, S.4, s.480-511, 2003. Breheny, M. J., “Sustainable Development and Urban Form: An Introduction”, Sustainable Development and Urban Form, editor: M. J. Breheny, Pion Limited Press, London, s.1-23, 1992. Frey, Hildebrand, Designing the City: towards a more Sustainable Urban Form, E and FN Spon Press, New York, 1999. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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[5] [6] [7] [8]

375

Haughton, Graham, “Developing Sustainable Urban Development Models”, Cities, V.14, N.4, s.189-195, 1997. Haughton, Graham-Hunter, Colin, Sustainable Cities, Jessica Kingsley Press, London, 1994. Naes, Peter, “Urban Planning and Sustainable Development”, European Planning Studies, V.9, S.1, s.503-524, 2001. Talvitie, Juha, The Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Urban and Regional Planning, Helsinki University of Technology Press, Helsinki, 2003.

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Section 7 Environmental management

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Characterization of particulate matter from urban, industrial and rural environments N. Quaranta, M. Caligaris, M. Unsen & G. Pelozo Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Facultad Regional San Nicolás, Argentina

Abstract Characterization studies of particulate matter were made in three cities of the Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. These cities have noticeable differences in relation to the number of inhabitants, vehicular density, industrial activities, etc. They are Vicente López, San Nicolás and Coronel Suárez towns. The samples were picked up with high volume equipment and daily concentrations corresponding to total suspended solids (PM) were determined by a gravimetric method. The particles were characterized by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron diffraction analysis X-ray (EDAX). The results obtained (PM concentration, particle size distribution, morphology and chemical composition) from the three towns showed important differences when compared. Carbonaceous particles, typically observed when traffic flow is high, were found in Vicente López samples. In San Nicolás samples, particles from industries can be differentiated and in Coronel Suárez samples, silicoaluminous particles, from local soil, are present. In San Nicolás, particularly, a comparative study between two different periods of time was made. The main difference between them is the country’s economic condition due to a serious economic crisis during 2001, which promoted the change of the vehicle motor power system from gasoline to compressed natural gas, with the environmental benefits that this situation involved. The present study is part of the research project “Study of the Air Quality in Buenos Aires Province”, financially supported by the National Agency of Scientific and Technologic Promotion, Argentina. Keywords: urban and rural air, particulate matter. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060361

380 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

Airborne particles can have an anthropogenic or a natural origin. The natural particles can be, for example, biological particles such as pollen or spores, mineral dust or background sea salt. The natural sources can also be volcanic emissions and forest fires. In urban and industrial areas most particles result from human activities. All types of combustion generate particulate matter: burning of fuel in buses and cars, hydrocarbon combustion for heat and electricity, solid waste incineration and biomass burning. Several industrial processes such as iron and steel milling and metal smelting are PM sources. The particulate matter is the only atmospheric pollutant without a definite composition. It can vary considerably from one place to another [1, 2] or within a city [3]. Chemical components of particulate matter range from near neutral and highly soluble substances such as ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and sodium chloride through dirty particles made up largely of elemental carbon coated in organic compounds, to essentially insoluble minerals such as particles of clay [4]. The objective of the present work is to evaluate the quality of the air in three towns of Buenos Aires Province, which are very different in size and commercial activities, through the chemical and morphological characterization of its particulate matter. These towns are Vicente López, San Nicolás and Coronel Suárez. Buenos Aires is the second largest province in Argentina and congregates the third part of its population. Vicente López and Buenos Aires city, the country capital city, are close together. Vicente López belongs to the so called Gran Buenos Aires and it has over 270,000 inhabitants, heavy traffic and very important commercial activity, mainly textile and food industries. San Nicolás has 160,000 inhabitants and a large number of industries being a steel factory, a chemical company and a power plant the most important ones. The traffic flow reaches 50,000 vehicles including public and private transportation [5]. It is located in the North of Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. Coronel Suárez has almost 37,000 inhabitants and a traffic flow that reaches 18,000 vehicles. The main activities are based on agriculture and cattle raising. In Argentina, the environmental control organism in Buenos Aires Province, where the studied cities stand, has fixed the daily concentration, expressed as particulate matter in air for 24 hours, of 0.150 mg m-3, and a yearly mean value of 0.050 mg m-3 [6], following the values fixed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of United States.

2

Experimental

Air samples were collected with high volume equipment in three towns of the Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. The cities location is shown in Figure 1. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Figure 1:

381

Location of the selected cities.

The measurements were carried out for two weeks in each town. During the analyzed period there were no rainy conditions. The mass of particle samples collected was determined by using a four decimal balance. First the clean dry filter is weighed, then after 24 hours, the filter with the collected sample is dried again and stored in a sterile Petri dish until it is weighed again. The daylong filters were all analyzed in order to determine PM concentration values corresponding to 24 hours, average particle sizes and morphological characteristics. The samples were characterized by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron diffraction analysis X-ray (EDAX). The samples were observed by optical and scanning electron microscopies. The optical observations were made with an Axiotech Zeiss microscope with annexed Philips video camera. The SEM analyses were carried out through a Philips 515 scanning electronic microscope with an EDAX X-ray detector.

3

Results and discussion

Macroscopic observations of the filters showed a noticeable difference in color and quantity of particulate matter retained, as can be seen in Figure 2.

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382 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Vicente López

San Nicolás

Coronel Suárez

Figure 2:

Filters pieces with PM samples obtained from the towns’ analysis.

In Table 1 some cities data and the results of the particulate matter quantitative studies are shown. Table 1:

City Vicente López San Nicolás Coronel Suárez

Cities characteristics and PM concentration and average particle size.

Activity

PM [mg/m3]

Average particle size [µm]

unavailable

Commercial

0.210

45

160,000

50,000

Industrial

0.108

22

36,723

18,041

Agriculture and cattle

0.076

42

Inhabitants number

Vehicles Number

274,082

Table 1 data in relation to inhabitant and vehicle numbers were obtained from Argentine Department of the Interior, National Direction of the Vehicle Proprietor Register and municipal information. The PM values in Table 1 are mean values of the concentrations daily determined for two weeks. The particulate matter pollution in Vicente López city shows levels higher than those established by the regulation while the other towns’ levels keep below the standard value. The average particle size measured in San Nicolás samples results significantly lower than those of the other cities. It can be explained if the important contribution of industrial particle emission is WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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taken into account. These particles produced by combustion processes at high temperatures have particular characteristics such us low quantity of carbonaceous material, small particle sizes and an important presence of spherical particles typical of the fusion reactions. The morphological analyses made by OM and SEM allow one to observe these noticeable differences. Figure 3 shows the microscopic characterization of Vicente López samples. In these particulate matter samples it is possible to observe the presence of smaller particles nucleating on bigger ones, with homogeneous texture, like a mass of agglomerated particles. The EDAX analysis showed an important percentage of carbon and the presence of other chemical elements in small quantities (C-77.7, O-9.3, Al-2.9, Si-1.3, Fe-0.9, Cu-7.9), as well as the particulate matter produced by the internal combustion of oil and petrol in vehicles [7]. The analysis of PM samples from Coronel Suárez town is shown in Figure 4. The EDAX general chemical analysis presents the typical composition found in atmospheric dust, mainly consisting of earth particle in suspension, particulate materials arising from construction works and biological particles like pollen and spores. The dominant elements determined in these samples are Si, Al, and O, in similar proportion to that present in silicoaluminates compounds like clays and feldspars. The elemental content expressed in percentages is O-34.1, Al-10.7, Si-43.8, K-5.1, Ca-2.1, Ti-0.9, and Fe-3.3. The SEM images in the figure show that this kind of particulate matter preserves its crystalline shape, making it easily recognizable. In similar way the pollen particles can be identified for their morphological characteristics, they look like small spherical sponges. In the case of PM collected in San Nicolás town centre, Figures 5 and 6, the general analysis shows a great variety of chemical elements, in high proportion, with an important quantity of carbonaceous material (C-49.8, O-13.7, Al-1.1, Si-6.7, K-3.7, Ca-1.9, Ti-1.8, Fe-11.4, Cu-7.4, Zn-2.5). The present particles are not exclusively typical of vehicular pollution but rather those originated from industrial high temperature processes such as metallurgical, steel or metalmechanics industries. Most of the Fe and Cu particles identified are perfect spherules, although some irregular iron particles have also been observed. The above photograph in Figure 5 shows a fine fraction of the PM sample studied, and it is possible to note a heterogeneous texture, with a great variety of particle shapes. The image below shows a particle consisting of a spherical Cu centre body (Cu-100) with other much smaller particles adhered to the surface. Some of them are carbonaceous particles and others are composed by Si, O, Ca and K in proportion corresponding to Ca-K silicate. The general analysis of this particle shows the following composition %: C-44.4, O-7.1, Si-3.7, Cl-1.2, K-6.2, Ca-2.5, Ti-1.3, Fe-1.6, Cu-28.2, Zn-3.8. A wide variety of particles were observed in San Nicolás particulate matter sample, as it is shown in Figure 6. Silica, silicates and silicoaluminates particles with the crystalline characteristic aspect, and typical particles originated by industrial processes such as Cu, Fe, chlorides, etc., with rounded shapes without beard grains were identified. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

384 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Figure 3:

Characterization of PM from Vicente López.

Figure 4:

Characterization of PM from Coronel Suárez.

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Figure 5:

385

Characterization of PM from San Nicolás.

These samples analyzed in San Nicolás town were collected in an urban area located three kilometers from the industrial area. Other samples were taken in more distant areas but with similar characteristics in relation to the vehicular movement, situated at approximately ten kilometers from the mentioned zone. The analyses of them show a noticeable decrease of the particles with the characteristic pattern of industrial origin. The chemical composition analysis notably changed resulting similar to that obtained for Vicente López PM samples, with a high percentage of carbonaceous material. The average particle size also changed, taking a value of 44 µm. It is important to note that in sustainable terms a few kilometers away from the industrial emission sources can mean a better air quality, due to the variation in particle characteristics: composition and sizes. This work makes also a comparative study of particulate matter in this central area of San Nicolás city in two intervals of time separated by a period of three years, November 1999-March 2000 and November 2002-March 2003. The objective of this comparison is to determine the influence of the economic crisis WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

386 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability occurred in the country during 2001 year, on the PM levels and characteristics. A complete comparative study of the air quality in San Nicolás centre focused in the mentioned situation can be found in a previous paper [8].

Figure 6:

Different particles identified in San Nicolás samples.

Similar compositions of PM, typical of vehicular pollution with high presence of carbonaceous particles were observed. In relation to the concentration levels it can be noticed that in 2002-2003 the pollution levels are considerably lower than those observed in previous years, as it is shown in Figure 7. At first, it was thought that the crisis caused a decrease in the vehicular flow. However, it was observed that during the 2002-2003 period, the vehicular traffic kept the usual values, that is, the number of vehicles and the usage frequency of them were similar to those corresponding to 1999-2000. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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0.12

PM[mg/ m3]

1999/2000 0.1

2002/2003

0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0 November

Figure 7:

December

January

February

March

PM level in San Nicolás central area before and after the 2001 economic crisis.

This fact can be explained taking into account the important number of vehicles whose engines were adapted to work with compressed gas. As it is known this kind of fuel is considered “friend” of the environment due to the lower contaminant concentrations that produce. The average PM emissions of compressed natural gas in relation to ones corresponding to traditional fuel were established almost negligible [9]. In Argentina the cost of compressed gas used as fuel is notably inferior to one of liquid fuels, which explains the mentioned transformations. For example, to travel the same distance the money expense is six times lower if the vehicle uses compressed gas instead of liquid fuel. This situation indirectly produced a positive impact on the air quality. This represents an important contribution in terms of sustainability. Argentine has appreciably increased the number of vehicle with the natural gas power system during the last years being at present about 1,500,000. In big cities the converted private vehicles represent about 30% of the total number of the automotive sector.

4

Conclusions

The particulate matter characterized from the three towns selected showed very different and typical composition as it was expected taking into account its origin environments: urban, industrial and rural. A better air quality was observed only a few kilometers away from the industrial emission sources. Therefore, in order to get sustainable cities the governments shouldn’t allow factories to settle close to the urban areas. It was also observed that when compressed natural gas is used instead of liquid fuels, the particulate matter level in air is noticeably reduced. For this reason it is advisable to promote the usage of this kind of fuel. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank the “Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica”, and the “Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires” for the financial support.

References [1]

[2]

[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

T. Moreno, T.P. Jones and R.J. Richards. Characterisation of aerosol particulate matter from urban and industrial environments: examples from Cardiff and Port Talbot, South Wales, UK. Science of the Total Environment 334-335, pp. 337-346, 2004. X. Querol, A. Alastuey, S. Rodríguez, M.M. Viana, B. Artíñano, P. Salvador, E. Mantilla, S. García do Santos, R. Fernandez Patier, J. de La Rosa, A. Sanchez de la Campa, M. Menéndez and J.J. Gil. Levels of particulate matter in rural, urban and industrial sites in Spain. Science of the Total Environment 334-335, pp. 359-376, 2004. N.E. Quaranta. Particulate matter from different fuels. Air Pollution VI, C.A. Brebbia, C.F. Ratto and H. Power, Eds., pp. 109-120, 1998. R.M. Harrison and J. Yin. Particulate matter in the atmosphere: which particle properties are important for its effects on Health? Science of the Total Environment 249, pp. 85-101, 2000. N.E. Quaranta and C.R. Grasselli. Social activities influence on the air quality in San Nicolás city, Argentina. Air Pollution IX, C.A. Brebbia Ed., pp. 253-261, 2001. Environmental Polity Secretary Decree 3395/96, Law 5965, modified by Resolution 242/97. Argentina. R.N. Colvine, E.J. Hutchinson, J.S. Mindell and R.F. Warren. The transport sector as a source of air pollution. Atmos Environ 35, pp. 15371565, 2001. N. Quaranta, C. Grasselli and G. Merizzi. Air quality: the influence of the economic crisis. Air Pollution XII, C.A. Brebbia Ed., pp.408-414, 2004. 20th World Gas Conference Proceedings, Copenhagen, 1997.

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Life cycle guarantors of sustainability R. Paluoja & S. Moore Seneca Sustainability Partnership, Seneca College, Canada

Abstract Sustainable cities rely on architects, engineers and urban planners, professions in the first tier of professional practitioners in the built environment. Few if any urban and building systems designed by them however are “fit-and-forget”. They rely on a “fit-and-manage” strategy. Potentially more significant for the longterm performance of these urban systems and individual buildings is the second tier of professions including technologists, technicians, and trades people. This latter group contributes ideas to the design professions, is employed in the construction or retrofit of these designs, and then operates and manages them over many generations. These second tier practitioners are often neglected or given little significance in the broader urban conversation about the future of our cities. They are an essential grouping however not only because of their crucial role in assuring the life cycle success of sustainable designs but as an important, homegrown employment resource for any community or country. The Seneca Sustainability Partnership, at one of Canada’s premier post-secondary institutions, is an advocate for this second tier of professions in ensuring that they are educated in the principles of applied urban sustainability. New training materials, consulting opportunities for technologists, research outreach and public participation are attuned to the role of this second tier. Keywords: green building, technologist, technician, trades, Brownfield, built environment, life cycle, urban sustainability, demand management, restoration.

1

Introduction

The design of sustainable buildings and communities has entered the mainstream of discussions about the future of living places. Whether borrowing from past models, responding to opportunities for appropriate and cost effective technologies, or competing with alternative, market transformation, strategies for attaining a healthier world, sustainability can no longer be ignored. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060371

390 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Too often however this discussion has failed to drill deeper than the first tier of urban practitioners - the architects, engineers, scientists and urban planners, responsible for their promotion and design. Below this group however is what this paper describes as the second tier of practitioners. This level includes workers like the operators of newly designed green buildings, construction contractors charged with building or retrofitting urban environments, and even emergency service providers, or road crews, who must navigate or maintain narrower streets. Reference to the medical profession is appropriate. The role of doctors as a first tier of decision-makers is well understood but no health system could operate without nurses, therapists, and first response paramedics, among others. This paper examines a Canadian strategy for recognizing this second tier of practitioners in their workplace function and its alliance with the primary postsecondary institutions responsible for their education.

2

The college/second tier practitioner in the sustainable built environment

The education of principal designers of the built environment, including architects, professional engineers and associated sciences, and urban planners, occurs in the university sector. As noted above, however there exists a robust second tier of practitioners described as technologists, technicians, and trades persons whose education is usually associated with the technical college sector. The notion of tiers of practitioners may be troubling, suggesting a pejorative hierarchy. It is an acknowledgement however of prevailing codes, practices, and jurisdictional authority for approving projects, assigning responsibility, and assuming historic roles which change over time and may do so eventually for emerging fields like the Brownfield industry. Educational content, legal entitlement and professional adjudication also play a role in determining these occasionally contested definitions. 2.1 Technologist, technician, and trades person descriptions The description of this second tier differs from one country to another but not their essential role. Technologists and technicians in Canada perform a variety of complex tasks. The Canadian Technology Human Resources Board notes that in Canada the terms 'Technician' and ‘Technologist’ describe many occupations, but that Applied Science or Engineering Technicians and Technologists are distinct individuals. Through a high degree of specialized training they may use, test, repair, design, analyze and problem solve in a broad range of applied science and engineering areas. They work in a vast range of sectors, from textiles to telecommunications, and of course the built environment (CTHRB [1]). They may practice under the direction of first tier professionals who have legal entitlement for safe design, but more often they are primary agents for effective analysis, technical planning and eventual construction. Smaller municipalities for instance often employ a technologist as their lead engineering WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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administrator relying on professional engineers only for specialized consultation and sign offs as legally required. The trades have a more common understanding of their role in different jurisdictions, but this often leads to a stereotyping of them as skilled functionaries under the meaningful and intellectual direction of other decisionmaking professionals. They often appear “invisible” in the range of issues associated with sustainable development. Attempts have been made to correct this impression. Skills Canada along with the Cement Association of Canada and other partners support the Ontario Masonry Training Centre. Using an applied training approach, masons are taught to use methods that implement the sustainable vision of first tier professionals. New masons as second tier practitioners develop respect for their work and pride in creating a lasting life cycle legacy. The International Trades Education Initiative (ITEC [2]) commented, 35 years after the Whitehill Report was submitted to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States in 1968, on the role of the trades in preserving the built environment. They noted that not only had the traditional trades not disappeared as predicted, but that they had grown in numbers, diversity, and vitality. Unfortunately their characterization, by James Marston Fitch as the disenfranchised “headless hand”, had persisted. 2.2 Role of the life cycle guarantor While sustainable cities have a particular reliance on the first tier of professional practitioners in the urban environment, few if any urban and building systems designed by them are “fit-and-forget”. They rely on a “fit-and-manage” strategy (Barnard [3]). An examination of the persistence of benefits from new building commissioning, prepared for the California Energy Commission as part of the Public Interest Energy Research Program, described the failure of items intended to achieve more sustainable solutions within examined buildings. These included dimmable ballasts, desiccant cooling, and a natural ventilation cycle. (Friedman et al [4]). These items performed poorly or were not maintained because of a failure to gain operator support during the design process and then afterwards because of a lack of adequate training. Poor operator morale and constant staff turnover exacerbated the problem. The long-term sustainable performance of these urban systems and individual buildings depends on a second tier of professions as described. They contribute ideas to the principal design professions, are then employed in the construction or retrofit of these designs, and finally operate and manage them over many generations. These second tier practitioners are often neglected or given little significance in the broader urban conversation about the future of our cities. They are essential however not only because of their crucial role in assuring the life cycle success of sustainable designs but as an important, homegrown employment resource for communities. Practitioners in this second tier are the essential life cycle guarantors of sustainable urban systems and individual buildings. They interact with these WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

392 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability systems on an almost daily basis and with the right skills and appropriate commitment they can ensure that these systems and buildings perform to the level of expectation designed into them. These practitioners can be enabled to adjust systems for better performance than in the original design. Negatively however, if imbued only with a basic appreciation of design intention, a modicum of poorly adaptable skills, and a limited interest in sustainable performance, these practitioners will unwittingly ensure that such systems and buildings soon descend in performance to the level of knowledge and interest of this maintainer. 2.3 Canadian Environmental Certification Approvals Board The Canadian Environmental Certification Approvals Board (CECAB [5]) has provided tools for sustainable development management by technicians and technologists. Recipients of their “Canadian Certified Environmental Practitioner” designation must demonstrate that their skills meet or exceed the National Occupational Standards for environmental employment in their field of specialization. These national standards are an emerging guide to the skills and knowledge required by competent practitioners. Developed with industry consultation they provide a comprehensive list of descriptions of the day-to-day work within 19 fields of environmental specialization. These standards are updated every five years reflecting changes within the environment industry. The task for institutions educating these practitioners is to incorporate such emerging ideas, measures, and skills in their students, so that they might engage in a more serious dialogue with universities and first tier professionals on the collaborative role of each in building sustainable cities.

3

Role of the Canadian community college system

In Canada the education and training of this second tier is largely performed, though not exclusively, by the community college system. Community colleges are recent additions to the post-secondary system in Canada. Most date back fewer than 40 years. They have evolved in some cases out of older technical colleges as well as associated specialty institutions such as agricultural training schools. These in turn had their roots in 19th century organizations like the Mechanics Institutes, predecessors in some cases of the public library system. They all recognized an essential need for training and education of a different type than that found in universities. Occasionally European models such as apprenticeship were adopted but in most cases training evolved as a market driven response to industry needs and requests for skilled workers to meet the challenges of new technologies. This strategy has grown to encompass the demands for workers in soft service areas (such as tourism and business retail) and human service areas (such as early childhood education and firefighting). The university system for its part realized the attractiveness of such training for many of its potential students and therefore sought to clearly differentiate its WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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role in the post-secondary education market. Almost a hundred years ago in 1907, and long before the current college system appeared, Robert Falconer, at his installation as President of the University of Toronto [6], responded to those arguing for a more practical education by reminding his listeners that his institution was “not a technical school”. Research and graduate work were to be its hallmark. 3.1 Utilitarian versus intellectual identities The challenge for colleges in educating this second tier is to confront the nature of their intellectual identity, build on its specific academic focus, and so provide for the engagement of its faculty, students, and graduates in the challenge of building a sustainable world. The evolving character of post-secondary education in Canada however has emphasized the largely utilitarian focus of the community college system alongside the more overt intellectual identity of the university system. Colleges, technical institutions, trades facilities, and even union-initiated training ventures have accordingly been very successful in recruitment, registration, hands-on learning, co-op and work placement opportunities, and the eventual employment of their graduates. This success has at least partially argued forcefully against any significant movement towards a more intentional intellectual profile. The utilitarian success of colleges serves them well by allowing them to match their delivery to the standards and expectations of the outside world. They might unconsciously reject an explicit acknowledgement of the intellectual because of its association with the effete, the pretentious, elitism, and academic overreach. As a result universities often look upon them as less than full academic partners. In the absence of a more explicit engagement in the world of ideas and social intervention, colleges necessarily receive less attention from a multitude of initiatives familiar to universities, namely improved public funding, research dollars, major alumni donations, participation in public forums, access to graduate studies, etc. Nor is this unique to Canada. As a general rule, forums concerned with major public issues such as sustainability invariably are the sole academic preserve of universities regardless of the country. In some ways this is extraordinarily ironic. Broader issues of meaning, civic engagement, and questioning the nature of external change and the status quo are essential pre-requisites for living in a rapidly changing world. Even at its most utilitarian level therefore such questioning should be part of a college student’s education. The way forward for colleges in Canada is to recognize their evolved role as not only providers of practical education but also one in which an intellectual dimension is attuned to their distinct nature and the kinds of roles their graduates will assume. 3.2 The college system’s intellectual engagement An intellectual identity is founded on colleges questioning their role related to the given and emerging world in which they operate, and from understanding WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

394 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability and advocating for those graduates entering the second tier, enabling them to engage in the discussion and practice of sustainability. In doing so its graduates and programs obtain legitimacy for participating in actions related to this emerging world. This intellectual examination, including research, practical application, and policy development is ultimately defined however by the program identity of colleges. Colleges can pursue a more explicit engagement with sustainable cities by tackling three program related issues. 3.2.1 Paradigms The operating paradigms in college academic programs often run counter to sustainability. Civil Technology’s models are often post-war suburban development such as single use, low-density subdivisions, on cul-de-sac, wide streets. Within this context students learn about road design, centralized servicing, and the surface sealing of the landscape. They learn technique but less clear is their ability to question or imagine other infrastructure opportunities such as hybrid, on-site servicing, narrow streets, and alternatives to pavement. Every academic area could list taken-for-granted assumptions, shaping its curriculum, but eliminating other options. 3.2.2 Culture The belief systems and practices that shape the professions college students enter often fail to incorporate ideas of sustainability. Building Systems Technicians interact daily with technologies that have a direct impact on energy use, air quality, building performance, water conservation, and greenhouse gas reduction. Too often however these workers are depicted as little more than overpaid floor sweepers in tattered t-shirts. Education, training and accreditation are powerful tools for building a culture of workplace legitimacy. 3.2.3 Engagement Issues-oriented panels usually focus on the top of a profession’s hierarchy rather than involving a range of practitioners. Sustainable development initiatives are generally focused around architecture and professional engineering professions, thus ignoring technicians and technologists. Such bias infiltrates every field from medicine and law to the built environment. It is hardly noticed because of its ubiquity. Public and private agencies turn to the universities when they need research often forgetting that the colleges could be a more relevant source of enquiry.

4

About Seneca College and its commitment

The Seneca Sustainability Partnership (SSP) is the outreach expression of Seneca College’s internal designation of its Centre for the Built Environment (established 1996) as a centre of excellence. It is located within the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering Technology. The Partnership’s role is to develop a public and policy profile, training strategy, programs, and educational delivery for the second tier of practitioners in creating a sustainable built WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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environment. The Centre developed significant capacity in applied urban sustainability and the Seneca Sustainability Partnership has built on this by playing a more explicit role in legitimizing the role of the second tier of practitioners as engaged participants in external public forums discussing, planning and building sustainable cities. Seneca College is Canada’s largest community college and one of the country’s premier post-secondary institutions. It is located in the fastest growing and largest urban region in Canada, that of Toronto, an area described as the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Toronto’s effective, though not jurisdictional extension, stretches a hundred miles or more in every land direction, within a region defined by the logistics management of products and services distribution, personal workplace commuting, watersheds, and leisure opportunities. Seneca has upwards of 18,000 full-time students and nearly 100,000 in parttime learning. Its size obliges it not only to find means of accommodating and serving such a large population, but also to envision a wider public role. Its President, Dr. Rick Miner, has committed the college to a national role, a significant undertaking in a country 5,514 kilometres from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean, and 4,600 kilometres from the country’s northernmost to its southernmost point. Canada has a relatively sparse population of 32 million, two official languages, and over 600 First Nations or recognized bands. In assuming an advocacy role, the Seneca Sustainability Partnership, by undertaking multiple initiatives, is building a role for the intellectual engagement of second tier practitioners in creating sustainable cities. 4.1 Seneca Sustainability Partnership (SSP) supported full-time academic programs of the Centre for the Built Environment (CBE) at Seneca College • • • •

Integrated Environmental Site Remediation, a four-year applied degree, in Brownfield reclamation and healthy, sustainable redevelopment Civil Engineering Technology, a three-year diploma program for engineering technologists Building Systems Engineering Technology, a three-year diploma program for engineering technologists Environmental Technology, a three-year diploma program for technologists.

4.2 SSP supported CBE part-time academic programs • • • • •

Building Environmental Systems, a program for building operators Photovoltaic Technology, a three level program Wind Power, a one subject introduction to the field Biomass, a two-subject program Geothermal Energy, a two-subject program.

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396 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 4.3 SSP supported education and training intervention programs Three accredited training intervention programs are provided with major public sector government departments in support of public policy initiatives in the pursuit of sustainable development. These include: • The development of the Energy Training Ontario (ETO) office with the province’s Ministry of Environment and Energy in 1993 to deliver energy demand side management training • Building operator needs assessment and training delivery for clients of the federal government’s Department of Natural Resources in support of demand side energy management • Environmental management and regulations training for the dry cleaning sector in the province of Ontario in association with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. 4.4 SSP supported external partnerships In expanding its program base, but more explicitly enhancing and profiling the role of education for the second tier of built environment practitioners, the SSP pursued an aggressive policy of intentional outreach, positioning its programs and graduates for a more dynamic role in public discussions on sustainable development outcomes. Some of its partner organizations include: • The Cement Association of Canada (CAC), a private sector lobby group advocating and implementing strategies for effective sustainable development within its sector • Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) • The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). 4.5 SSP supported intellectual partnerships The SSP established formal partnerships with leading thinkers and advocates in issues related to the built environment. They include: • Storm Cunningham, author of The Restoration Economy • Jean Bilodeau, former Director-General in Environment Canada • Leeroy Murray, European based representative for the Centre. 4.6 SSP supported Cross-Canada network – Avativut In the interest of working with and advocating on behalf of the college system the SSP established a Canada-wide organization for applied urban sustainability with institutions from every geographic area of the country. Avativut is the Inuktitut word for the English expression, “balanced use” (French - usage équilibré). It guides a national network of colleges consisting of: Nova Scotia Community College (Atlantic Canada) Collège de Rosemont (Montreal and Province of Quebec) Seneca College (Toronto and Province of Ontario) Nunavut Arctic College (Nunavut and northern territories) WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (Calgary and Prairies) Douglas College (New Westminster and British Columbia) British Columbia Institute of Technology (Vancouver, British Columbia) 4.7 SSP supported public awareness The SSP pursues aggressive profile awareness through a variety of means. One of these was its participation in media and filmed advocacy in 2004 through the Sustainable Development television production of CLARE Media in association with the Cement Association of Canada, Canadian Learning Television, and ACCESS – the Education Station. There are plans for participation and curriculum development in a six part series on sustainable development, scheduled for release by CLARE Media in 2008.

5

Conclusion

The Seneca Sustainability Partnership aims to develop the life cycle guarantor role for sustainability within a sector of professions historically marginalized in the urban conversation but now seen as an essential component for successful sustainable performance. The above is intended to be a description and a recipe for an ongoing process and discussion.

References [1] [2] [3]

[4]

[5] [6]

CTHRB, Canadian Technology Human Resources Board, http://www.cthrb.ca ITEC, The International Trades Education Initiative, http://www.iteiites.org/ITEI.htm Copyright © 2004 Preservation Trades Network, last modified: 01/05/05. Barnard, N., Dynamic energy storage in the building fabric, BSRIA TR 9/94, 1994, referenced in Roderic Bunn, Sustainable building services in developing countries: the challenge to find “best fit” technologies, UNEP Industry and Environment, April – September 2003. Friedman, H., Potter, A., & Haasl, T., (Portland Energy Conservation, Inc.), and David Claridge (Texas A&M University) Persistence of Benefits from New Building Commissioning, HPCBS#E5P2.2T5b2, California Energy Commission, Public Interest Energy Research program, published in the proceedings of the 2002 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, August 2002. CECAB, http://www.cecab.org/documents/NOSprofiles/Appendix %20B%20-%20TT%20NOS%20Profiles/Master%20TT%20Profiles%20 Statements%20Updated/nos_MasterProfileByType_TT19.pdf. University of Toronto http://www.newsandevents.utoronto.ca/bios/02/ history19.htm.

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Environmental management and numerical models: examples from long-term ecological research on a real case study C. Solidoro, G. Cossarini & D. Melaku Canu Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale OGS, Italy

Abstract Numerical models provide a framework for the integration and synthesis of existing knowledge about an ecosystem, and might offer important contributions for understanding the scale of human disturbance and the potential effectiveness of restoration action. In addition they provide the quantitative knowledge which is required for evaluation, at ecological and economic levels, of consequences of the implementation of possible alternative scenarios of policy options. Coastal areas and estuaries are particularly important sites, since they are very sensitive to anthropogenic impact and are very valuable. We present applications of a long-term modeling study on the Lagoon of Venice, which is the largest Italian lagoon. A suite of models, including a 3D fully coupled transport–water quality model, has been developed, validated against a substantial amount of real world data, and used to investigate nutrient cycles, primary production and water quality status. The model has then been used to analyze the effects of different scenarios of loading from the drainage basin, and to solve the inverse problem of the identification of Maximum Permissible Load that is compatible with the predefined Water Quality Target. Other applications include the integration of the model with a model for the growth and population dynamic of clams, and the identification of economically efficient and ecologically sound policies for exploitation of this renewable resource, in agreement with paradigms from sustainable developments. Finally, the model has been modified, and applied to derive a contribution to the evaluation of effects of multiple temporary closures of lagoon inlets on the water quality of the lagoon. Keywords: ecological modelling, water quality, lagoon of Venice, macroalgae, clams, MOSE, maximum permissible loads, ICZM, LTER. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060381

400 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

The request for model applications to ecological and environmental management problems has been steadily increasing during the last few years, and nowadays the use of ecological models is advocated in the majority of research programs. Models are included in major IGBP programs, which aim to assess the possible impact of global changes on global, regional and local systems, as well as in environmental impact assessment of specific local interventions and management problems. In fact, besides providing a theoretical frame within which to integrate available experimental information and ecological theories, mathematical models often represent the only way of assessing the effectiveness of alternative management options and forecasting their consequences on a given ecosystem and, therefore, they might give a substantial contribution to the so-called ‘decision support systems’. In this paper we briefly present selected examples of our applications of ecological models to management problems in the lagoon of Venice. This site has been the object of a large number of studies, including a long-term ecological modelling study, and can be considered as a natural lab, in which to test both new scientific methodologies and implementations of new management interventions. The problems were dealt with by using coupled transport-reaction models. The first two case studies represent specific applications concerning two general problems, i.e. species harvesting and the management of the Nitrogen and Phosphorus loads. The third case study concerns a very site-specific, but extremely important problem, i.e. the assessment of the environmental impact of the closures of the lagoon inlets.

2

The case study: the lagoon of Venice

The lagoon of Venice, which is located in the Northern Adriatic Sea, is the largest Italian lagoon, covering an area of about 500 km2. Its average depth is less than 2 m, but its morphology is characterized by the presence of large shallow areas and by a network of deeper channels. As can be seen in Fig. 1, three narrow inlets connect the lagoon to the Adriatic Sea. The lagoon is conventionally partitioned into three sub-basins, which are separated by two watersheds, along which the tidal velocity are low. The lagoon of Venice hosts highly valuable typical habitats, as well as several economic activities which depend upon the ecosystem health, such as fisheries, recreational activities and tourism. At the same time, the presence of other important economic activities negatively affects the quality of this environment. Among others, the port activity and the industrial ones, which are still concentrated in the area of Porto Marghera, see Fig. 1, should be mentioned. In addition, the lagoon receives the discharge of a drainage basin equivalent to 4,000,000 inhabitants, which conveys into the lagoon approximately 0.5 x 106 Kg of Nitrogen and 1.5 x 106 Kg of Phosphorous per year (Solidoro et al. [1]).

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Is. S.Erasmo

401

SIL

DES

Venice Lagoon OSE NAV Venice

Can. Treporti Can. d. Navi

LUS

Lido inlet Can. S.Nicolò Can. Giudecca

Malamocco inlet

Adriatic Sea

TAG MON

Chioggia inlet

CUO

Figure 1:

Schematic bathimetry of the lagoon of Venice, as obtained by using the grid of the numerical model, superimposed. Channels can be distinguished by the darker color and by the fact that they are represented by smaller elements. The white stars at the inner border of the lagoon mark the input points of major tributaries (from Solidoro et al. [2]).

The lagoon is a paradigmatic example, and the result of human interventions which hinder the natural ecological succession of the lagoon in either a marine or land environment (Ravera [3]). The fight is still going on, and several interventions are presently being discussed, which might have a substantial effect on the nutrient cycling and on the eutrophication of the lagoon. Among these one WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

402 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability can remember: the temporary closure of inlets in concomitance with exceptionally high tides, in order to prevent the flooding of large parts of the city, which might reduce exchange with the sea; the setting up of intensive aquaculture of the bivalve Tapes philippinarum in selected areas, which might solve some of the problems caused by the unregulated access to this resource, but could also enhance nutrient recycling and locally deplete the planktonic stocks; the plan for the reduction of the nitrogen loads from the tributaries.

3 The models Coupled transport-reaction models are made essentially of two parts. The first one is the submodel which describes the transport of dissolved substances while they react with each other. The second one describes biogeochemical reactions. In the lagoon of Venice, residual currents (i.e. currents averaged over a tidal cycle) are almost negligible everywhere, which means that a drifter would follow a roughly elliptical path and return approximately to its release point. This implies that the area when subjected to diffusion can be approximated by an ellipse, and that, insofar as one is not interested in processes shorter than the tidal cycle and in the effect of actual meteorological forcing, transport processes can be approximated by anisotrophic eddy diffusion, with tensor coefficients estimated once for all from a climatological current field. This approximation has been adopted in some of the applications presented here, where the focus was on the seasonal scale. In those cases a finite difference parameterization of the transport equation was implemented. Details on this scheme can be found in Solidoro et al. [1] and references therein. A finite element discretization of the shallow water equation was instead used for the analysis on temporary closure of the inlets, where the time scales of interest were shorter than the tidal cycle, and effects of realistic forcing (wind and tide) were important. Details on this scheme can be found in Umgiesser et al. [4]. The biological module describes the cycles of nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon and their interactions. The main interactions among the five compartments, water, phytoplankton, zooplankton, detritus and superficial sediment, are illustrated in Fig. 2. Primary producers are represented by a single state variable, phytoplankton, whose dynamic is driven by water temperature, light intensity and DIN and DIP concentrations, and is affected by the grazing processes. The elementary composition of the plankton is assumed to be constant, with C:P and C:N equal to the Redfield ratio. Phytoplankton growth and nutrient uptake are coupled and described by a single-step kinetic. The actual specific growth rate is computed by using the so-called multiplicative model: the maximum specific growth rate constant, µmax, which depends on water temperature, is multiplied by four dimensionless factors, each ranging from zero to one. Each factor describes the limitation to the growth due to sub-optimal levels of light intensity, water temperature, DIN and DIP concentrations. The N and P limitations are computed in agreement with a standard Monod kinetic. The Steele formulation is used for describing the effect of the light intensity. The empirical relationship proposed by Lassiter and Kearns is used for modeling the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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effect of water temperature on the maximum growth rate, µmax(T). Zooplankton is also described by means of a single state variable, which is representative of the pool of species which prey upon the phytoplankton. Grazing is described by a hyperbolic relationship (Holling II), while mortality, exudation and respiration of both phytoplankton and zooplankton are described as first order-processes: the kinetic constants exponentially increase with water temperature, in agreement with the Q10 relationship. The detritus compartment is described by three state variables, in order to take into account separately the C, N and P fractions. Detritus sinks and eventually enters the surface sediment box, which is also described by three state variables. The remineralization rate of the organic matter, which takes place both in the water column and in the surface sediment, depends on temperature and dissolved oxygen availability. This process involves the consumption of Dissolved Oxygen and leads to the release of nutrients back to the water column. Phosphorus is remineralized more rapidly than nitrogen and denitrification is also taken into account. The set of equations which describes the biological reaction is reported in Solidoro et al. [1], together with an indication of the set up of the model. Light irradiance

AIR

Atmospheric depositions N, P

Heat fluxes

DRAINAGE BASIN zoo

phyto

Oxy

Input from drainage basin

water temperature

Det. N

N-NH4 N-NOx

+

-

N

C P Sediment Figure 2:

4

SEA

Exchange through the inlets

RP Det. C Det. P

ADRIATIC

2

N

Main interactions among state variables (from Solidoro et al. [1]).

Model applications

4.1 Managing fishing and rearing of Manila clam (Tapes philippinarun) The management of fishery and aquaculture activities is an important piece of Coastal Zone Management, since it represents a classical example of exploitation of renewable resources, subjected to both economic and ecological constrains. In WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

404 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability fact, it depends heavily on water quality and trophic level, and it can be the basis of an important economic activity. Tapes philippinarum, commonly known as the Manila clam, was imported into the Northern Italian Adriatic lagoons at the beginning of the 1980s. It was soon reared in several lagoons of the northern Adriatic Sea, where local authorities set up aquaculture regimes which gave good socio-economic returns, but in the lagoon of Venice authorities feared that the harvesting of manila clams could have damaged other – already settled – economic activities (Melaku Canu et al. [5]), and called for an environmental impact assessment of this activity before it was permited. A commercial exploitation started, with no defined regulation, nonetheless and grew exponentially so that by the beginning of the 90s the lagoon of Venice became the most important site in terms of annual production and in terms of people involved in this activity (Melaku Canu et al. [5]). For over a decade fishing of clams continued on an open access basis, a policy which, as it is well known, rarely is the most efficient way to use a resource, and usually causes suboptimal situations, both from the ecological and economic points of view. In addition, since the fishing activity was carried on illegally, and without control or regulations, many other concerns arose. A list of problems included: use of illegal fishing tools, which heavily damage the bottom; health risks, for no certification could be given that the product was caught in healthy and not polluted sites; risk of overfishing; decreasing of the price of the goods, because of high availability of stock in the market; high social cost which could not be internalized. In short, the need for a better management of the resource was clear, both for the optimization of the clam market and to preserve the ecosystem (Melaku Canu et al. [5]). This awareness prompted a number of studies, which included: a) the definition of the individual growth and population dynamic models concerning T. philippinarum, (Solidoro et al. [6]; Solidoro et al. [7]); b) the use of these models, in order to compare the ecological consequences and the revenues of uncontrolled open access strategies, controlled fishing activities (fixed quotas and fixed harvesting effort policies) and culture based fishery regimes (Solidoro et al. [7]). The results show that culture based fishery is to be preferred to a regulated type of fishing activity, and that ecologically conservative strategies (in which only large individuals are caught and always by using low efficiency fishing devices) are also more remunerative in the long run; c) the characterisation of the socio-economic context, in order to assess: i) the economic income the local community received from this activity, ii) how many people were involved and where they lived, iii) a first estimate of the total rearing area (3x107m2) which could support a production comparable to that obtained in the open access fishing regime if a culture based fishery regime were implemented (Melaku Canu et al. [5]). The results of these complementing studies were integrated in the 3D finite difference coupled water-quality transport model (Pastres et al. [8]). The integrated model was then used to evaluate trophic potentialities of different areas of the water basin in terms of phytoplanktonic production and – by relating them to average energy requirements of Tapes Philippinarum and to other external constraints, such as WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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healthiness and water column depth – to provide spatial distribution of a habitat suitability index for this species (fig 3). The locations of the lots to be devoted to clam rearing were then identified, by partitioning the total required rearing surface (3x107m2) in keeping with the current spatial distribution of the fishing effort and in accordance with the criteria outlined above. The economical yields from different strategies of seeding density were then computed and compared. The model results indicate that revenues of optimised rearing/culture based fishery regimes in the selected areas would be similar to estimated yield in 1998, but the environmental impact would be much lower. The results of the selection process compare quite well with the spatial distribution of the areas which the Local Authorities assigned to the T. philippinarum fisheries in 2001.

− kr w

d

g T ww2 3

V dmax=F a · b · c > 1 0 .7 5 < E < 1 < 0 .7 5

Figure 3:

Distribution of aquaculture fields (boxes), in agreement with results from habitat suitability model (colours). See text for explanation.

4.2 Determination of Maximum Permissible Loads In 1999 the Italian government issued an innovative law for the regulation of pollutant loads in water-bodies, which was based on the concept of Maximum Permissible Loads or Total Daily Maximum Load. Accordingly, Local Authorities were entrusted to make an inventory of the sources of pollution, and then to fix the level of emission of each activity, in order to maintain the concentrations of potentially dangerous substances below prescribed thresholds, called “quality targets”, or “quality standards”. The implementation of this policy may clearly benefit from the use of mathematical models, which can be used as tools for both estimating the Maximum-Permissible-Loads (MPLs) compatible with QTs, and exploring the consequences of different input WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

406 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability scenarios. In fact, in mathematical terms, the loads are specified by a set of boundary conditions: numerical models can then be used for determining a functional relationship between the set of parameters which specify the boundary conditions and the output variables which one decides to compare with the Quality Targets. Once this task has been accomplished, one can solve the socalled “inverse problem”, i.e. invert the function in order to estimate the MPLs which are compatible with the targets. This possibility was illustrated by using the lagoon of Venice as a case-study and the local sensitivity analysis in respect of each source of pollution as a tool in Pastres et al. [9]. In this way, together with the model trajectory, one can compute the “sensitivity matrix”, which embodies the relevant information about the temporal evolution of the sensitivities and enable one to quickly estimate the perturbation on given output which would be caused by small variations of a subset of parameters around their nominal values. Two possible alternative definitions of Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen QT were hypothesized. DIN MPL was computed when assuming that the QT had to be compared to the yearly averaged DIN concentration, which was found to be linearly related to the nutrient load. Furthermore, the sensitivity matrix was used for exploring the relationship between DIN MPL and the percentage of the water basin into which the yearly average value lay below QT. Such a relationship was found to be highly non-linear for percentages higher than 70%, indicating that, in this range, small reductions in the nutrient loads would cause a great benefit in terms of compliance with the current legislation. Model results also indicated that a management policy based on the reduction of nutrient loads from specific sources would be more efficient than a general reduction of all sources. The main result of the paper, however, probably lies in the fact that it offers an example of how the methodology illustrated might be used for assisting policy makers. 4.3 Effects of temporary closures of the inlets One of the major debates about the safeguard of Venice concerns the periodic flooding of the city, in concomitance of an exceptionally, but regularly occurring, high tide (acqua alta - ‘high water’). As is well known, in the last decades the flooding events have increased in frequency and intensity, and several projects to prevent or at least mitigate consequence of ‘high water’ have been proposed. One of the projects is the temporary closure of the inlets, employing a mobile gate specifically designed, in concomitance with the very high tide events. The importance and the complexity of such a project gave rise to a vast debate, still open, about the opportunity and the consequence of this solution. During the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure, opponents of the operation stated that the closures could have a severe impact on the water quality of the lagoon, if implemented too frequently or for too long a time (Decree of the Ministry of the Environment, 24 December 1998). The underlying concern was that, without exchanging its water with the Adriatic Sea, the lagoon may no longer be able to self-purify its water at a rate high enough to cope with the input of pollutants from the historical city and the drainage basin. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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This hypothesis has been tested, under several simplifying assumptions, in a paper by Melaku Canu et al [10]. In the paper, which represents one of the very few examples of a paper in peer reviewed scientific literature dealing with aspects related to the MOSE problems, several scenarios of hydrodynamics and pollutant loads are considered, and their effects on BOD-DO concentration are compared. run 7 DO day 3

run 7 DO day 2

Lido Inlet

Lido Inlet

9 7

a run 7 DO day 5

b

5 3

run 7 DO day 10

1

DO mg/L Lido Inlet

Lido Inlet

c Figure 4:

d

Spatial distributions of Dissolved Oxygen in 4 moments of the run 7, in which the inlets are kept continuously closed (from Melaku Canu et al. [10]).

Numerical simulations are performed by using VELFEEM, a model developed by coupling some modules of the WASP5 code released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and a primitive equation finite element hydrodynamic model, FEM, developed for the lagoon of Venice some years ago. The resulting structure gives the possibility to analyse the DO-BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) dynamics under winter conditions, in both the absence and the presence of a temporary closure of the inlets. The exercise could provide some suggestions about the effects of the closure on water quality.

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408 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The simulations performed suggest that these closures do not significantly affect the water quality of the lagoon. In fact, even if the pollutant loads from industrial, agricultural, and domestic sources are doubled, in respect with the averaged winter values actually estimated, BOD concentrations are only slightly higher than the value which would be obtained without the temporary closures, and DO concentration never reaches very low levels. In any case the system seems to be able to recover rather easily to unperturbed situations (identified as the ones obtained by running the ‘control’ simulation with no closure at the inlets) when the inlets are opened again. As far as the DO-BOD dynamics is concerned, repeated temporary closures are not a major cause of critical conditions. Very low levels of DO concentration are instead reached when the inlets are kept continuously closed for very long tidal periods (more than 5 days), a scenario extremely unlikely or, any case, avoidable. Moreover, simulations show that the variability of the water quality is higher in response to the changes in loading factors than in response to the short term hydrodynamic reductions. This paper, far from being a green light to the MOSE, which is a very important intervention with multifaceted aspects and which has to be considered from a much larger and more multidisciplinary perspective, shows that numerical models might be extremely useful for testing different scenarios, and reminds us that the discussion about the environmental impact of interventions aimed at solving the flooding problem should lose the character of a political debate, and became again the field for technological challenges and scientific confrontations.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

Solidoro C., Pastres R., Cossarini G., Ecol. Mod 2005. Solidoro, C., D. Melaku Canu, A. Cucco, G. Umgiesser , J Mar Sys, 51(1-4) 147-160 2004. Ravera, O., J. Limnol. 59 19–30 2000. Umgiesser G., D. Melaku Canu, A. Cucco, C. Solidoro , J Mar Sys, 51(1-4) 123-146, 2004. Melaku Canu D., Solidoro C., Pastres R., Umgiesser G. Selected proceedings International conference sustainable development, Oporto, Portugal Solidoro C. , Pastres R., Melaku Canu D., Pellizzato M., Rossi R., Mar Ecol Prog Series , 199: 137-148. 2000. Solidoro, C., Melaku Canu, D. Rossi, R., Ecol. Mod 170 (2-3): 303-319. 2003 Pastres, R., Solidoro, C., Cossarini, G., Melaku Canu, D. and Dejak, C., Ecol. Mod, 138(1-3):213-245. 2001. Pastres R., S. Ciavatta, G. Cossarini and C. Solidoro. Rel Eng & Sys Saf, 79(2): 239-244 2003. Melaku Canu D., G. Umgiesser and C. Solidoro. Ecol. Mod., 138, (1-3): 215-230 2001.

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Recycling programs in partnership with scavenger associations as a sustainability factor in Metropolitan São Paulo, Brazil H. Ribeiro1, G. R. Besen1, W. R. Günther1, P. Jacobi2 & J. Demajorovic3 1

Public Health School (Department of Environmental Health), University of São Paulo, Brazil 2 School of Education, University of São Paulo, Brazil 3 University Center Senac, São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract The aim of this research was to evaluate waste recycling programs in partnership with scavenger associations in Metropolitan São Paulo, to verify their social, economic, sanitary, and environmental impacts in a sustainability perspective. Methods included bibliographical and data research and structured interviews with representatives of 39 municipalities. The analysis of factors responsible for program continuity was undertaken. It was found that among 39 municipalities, 23 (59%) have developed official recycling programs, 19 in partnership with scavenger associations. Indicators analysed showed that the programs resulted in social, and economic gains for scavengers, increased social capital and they contributed to the reduction of waste destined for landfills. However, there are competition factors that have been threatening the continuity of those programs. Keywords: recycling, sustainability, domestic waste, waste management, scavenger, São Paulo, Brazil, association, municipality, metropolitan area.

1

Introduction

Only 6.4% of 5,670 Brazilian Municipalities have official waste recycling programs. In Metropolitan São Paulo 20,000 tons of domestic waste are collected daily. Due to widespread urbanization, and lack of adequate lots for landfills, many municipalities adopted recycling programs using scavengers as partners, in WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060391

410 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability efforts to reduce costs, and environmental impacts and to promote social inclusion, and income generation. The aim of this research was to evaluate waste recycling programs in partnership with scavenger associations, in Metropolitan São Paulo, to verify their social, economic, sanitary and environmental impacts in a sustainability perspective. Methods used were bibliographical, and data research and structured interviews with representatives of 39 municipalities that form the Metropolitan area of São Paulo. Indicators analyzed for the evaluation of these programs were: percentage of inhabitants served and of materials recycled and wasted, materials sold, costs of the program, scavenger income, and benefits.

2

Domestic waste recycling in Brazil

In Brazil, regarding volume of waste produced, close to 60% has an inadequate destination, in spite of the fact that there has been improvement in this situation. In 1989, 28.8% of domestic residues were disposed of in sanitary landfills, in 2000 this proportion had increased to 40.8% [1]. Among Brazilian municipalities that have official selective recyclable collection programs, close to 50% informed they had developed programs in partnership with organized scavengers, and 96 municipalities informed they were organizing scavengers for this purpose [2]. Among those, only 178 (3.25% of all Brazilian municipalities with regular collection) informed that they collected recycling waste in 100% of their urban area. Also in the year 2000, 50 municipalities (that had started and interrupted waste recycling programs) pointed out as reasons for failure: lack of adequate place, no acceptance by the population and awareness lack of recycling importance [2]. This picture reveals that the majority of Brazilian municipalities have not solved in adequate manner the issue of solid waste management and that the traditional way presents a lot of problems, but new alternatives are very timid and have not been evaluated yet. Solid waste management in Brazil is a responsibility of local governments, but since the 1988 Constitution each municipality can either administer, and provide the service or give permission to others to do the service. In this last case the municipality only regulates and promotes the collection and disposal and nonofficial actors (enterprises, or organizations) may participate in the process. Partnerships with scavengers were developed in this context.

3

Recycling programs in Metropolitan São Paulo

A preliminary investigation through interviews with those responsible for solid waste management in local governments showed that, among the 39 municipalities of Metropolitan São Paulo, 23 (59%) had official recycling programs and 19 developed them in partnership with scavenger organizations (cooperatives, or associations). In three of them the program was operated by private enterprises and in one by the municipality itself. Nevertheless, among the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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20 municipalities that did not have partnership with scavengers 11 informed they intended to do so in a short term. 3.1 Recycling programs in partnership with scavenger organizations Our study was concentrated on 11 municipalities that had started the recycling program with partnership before December 2003, as we considered it was impossible to evaluate sustainability of programs less than one year old when we started our field study. Table 1:

Start of recycling programs and of partnership with scavengers in municipalities of Metropolitan São Paulo.

MUNICÍPALITY São Paulo Santo André São Bernardo Embu Barueri Poá Carapicuiba Diadema Santana de Parnaíba Itapecerica da Serra Jandira

Start of recycling 1989 1992 1993 1994 2000 2000 2001 2001 2001 2002 2002

Start of partnership 2003 2001 2000 1994 2001 2004 2002 2001 2001 2002 2002

As seen in Table 1, São Paulo municipality first started waste recycling in 1989. Three other local governments started from 1992 to 1994, following Agenda 21 recommendations, but only one adopted partnership with scavengers that early. The other seven municipalities started recycling only after 2000, some at the same time as the partnership mentioned. This experience thus is quite recent and is related to the great expansion of the market for recyclables in Brazil (due to technical progresses in the processing industries, to environmental education of a significant population portion; and overall to the unemployment crisis that has become quite acute in the Metropolitan area of São Paulo). In six of the eleven municipalities studied, the program was developed by the Environment Secretary Bureau or Department, indicating correlation with the idea of environmental conservation. Only in one of them, two Secretary Bureaus were accounted for (Citizenship and Social Development and Housing and Environment). So, even though the partnership is supposed to promote social inclusion, there is little supervision by social services, or Secretary Bureaus. The majority of these governments have partnership with only one scavenger organization (63.6%); two with two; one with five (Diadema) and the city of São Paulo with fifteen cooperatives. In 2005, the total number of persons involved in the programs, by municipality, varied from 3 to 663. Apart from these extremes, eight municipalities involved from 15 to 70 persons and one, 282. In total, 1,273 scavengers were employed in these programs (Table 2). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

412 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 2:

Scavenger Organizations and scavengers employed in the programs with partnership, and growth percentages.

Municipality Barueri Carapicuiba Diadema Embú Itapecerica da Serra Jandira Osasco Poá Santana do Parnaíba Santo André São Bernardo São Paulo Total

Cooperatives 1 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 15 32

Members in start 38 12 23 20 25 8 0 20 65 20 40 26 297

Members in 2005 36 37 49 34 15 3 0 26 58 282 70 663 1273

Growth % 5.3 208.33 113.0 70.0 -40.0 -62.5 30.0 -10.8 1300.0 75.0 2450.0 328.6

Data obtained shows a 328% growth in the number of members employed (that passed from 297 to 1,273). However, those numbers are not significant when compared to others from Metropolitan São Paulo (that has close to 18 million inhabitants and 1.3 million unemployed). The members of those organizations are also very reduced in comparison to the estimated number of 20,000 scavengers existing only in the municipality of São Paulo [3]. 3.2 Scavenger organizations’ benefits and responsibilities The partnerships involve some benefits to the organizations or payment of some services by local governments. The main benefits, described in Table 3, are diffusion materials (90.9%), technical training (81.8%) and payment of truck drivers, and recyclable collection teams (72.7%). In the majority of the programs (10 out of 11) the local government also provides the area for selection installations, but in none the area is donated to the cooperative/association. This fact highlights that there is strong dependency of those organizations on the municipalities. Nevertheless, the support is usually stronger at the beginning of the programs and tends to diminish with time, when they are relatively consolidated (but, sometimes they jeopardize their continuity, or their improvement). In those 11 municipalities recyclable collection varies greatly in form and in frequency. In seven of them collection is done at homes by organized scavengers; in five of them collection is done at homes by City Hall employees, or by a private company paid by local government; in six of them there is voluntary delivery by inhabitants in containers provided by local governments; in six delivery is done in some specific points of the municipality (as parks and schools); and in eight of them the reception of recyclables is at the selection centers. As can be observed, some municipalities have two, three or four types of collection. Regarding frequency, in seven municipalities collection is done once a week, and in four, twice a week. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Table 3:

413

Benefits provided by Municipalities to scavenger organizations.

Benefit provided Diffusion Material Technical training Truck drivers Collection team Payment of electricity bill Payment of water bill Service tax Isention Lettering courses Medical Assistance Basic Food Meeting Centre Accident protection equipment Free transportation Accountant Fuel Payment of telephone bills

N. municipalities % municipalities 10 90.9 9 81.8 8 72.7 7 63.6 6 54.5 5 45.5 4 36.4 4 36.4 3 27.3 2 18.2 2 18.2 2 18.2 1 9.1 1 9.1 1 9.1 0 0.0

The criteria for selection of the organization or the scavengers involved in the partnership included: previous existence of the group of scavengers (4 municipalities); independent scavengers (4 municipalities); ex-scavengers working in not sanitary landfills (8 municipalities); unemployed (5 municipalities); ex-prisoners or ex-drug addicts (1 municipality). In some municipalities two or three criteria were used. Excepting São Paulo, which did not have inadequate landfills; most of the other municipalities involved people previously living surrounded by domestic waste. With a strong enforcement by the Environment State Agency (CETESB), those inadequate deposits were closed down or transformed in controlled landfills and human work was forbidden on them. Those people taken off the deposits were trained to organize themselves in associations or cooperatives and to work on selection centers. Some of those organizations established a formal or legal partnership with the Municipality and some also established other partnerships, as can be seen in Table 4. The partnerships involve training of the workers by non-governmental organizations, by university, or by the church; donation of recyclable material by private enterprises or condominiums; payment of campaigns or of educational material for awareness raising in the population; financial resources for equipments provided by state or federal government; buying of selected material by recycling industries. It is important that some other partnerships help the operation of the program and allow the empowerment of the members of the associations. Among the 11 municipalities involved, 9 (81.8%) developed activities to enforce, and improve management of the organization, either through public institutions or through universities’ extension work. However, as mentioned, those activities tended to diminish after the consolidation of the partnership. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

414 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 4:

Municipality São Paulo Barueri Carapicuíba Diadema Embu Itapecerica da Serra Jandira Poá Santana de Parnaíba Santo André São Bernardo do Campo

Types of partnerships for the recycling program. Formal Partnership

Legal Instrument

yes yes yes in process no in process in process Yes no yes no

covenant covenant Municipal law Law Project covenant covenant covenant covenant Municipal act

Other partnerships State Fed. private Govern Govern Other co ment ment institution

X X

X X X X X

X

X

X X

X X

3.3 Environmental, economic, and social benefits Environmental, economic and social benefits of those programs are related to the volumes of solid waste collected and sold by the organizations. Their sustainability also depends on those amounts. The municipalities investigated collect from 60 to 8,700 tons of regular solid waste per day. Six of them collect up to 160 tons per day (56.6%); four collect from 250 to 800 tons per day (36.4%); and the municipality of São Paulo collects 8,700 tons per day. Those extreme, and varied numbers expose the also extreme demographic, social, and economic realities of the municipalities of the region. However only four of the eleven municipalities know the composition of their garbage, and have undertaken gravimetric analysis in the last 5 years. In those cities, the following percentages of organic waste were verified: Diadema 50.9%, Santo André 59.3%, São Paulo 60.8%, and Poá 69.9%. Among the 11 municipalities, 4 (36.4%) throw their no recycled waste in sanitary landfills and 7 (63.7%) in controlled landfills. All of them collect, in a regular basis, residues from 75 to 100% of their population. But regarding the percentages of their populations served by the collection of recyclable waste, they were as follows: 0-10% in 3 municipalities (27.3%); 20-30% in four municipalities (36.4%); 50-75% in one municipality (9.1%) and 75-100% in 2 municipalities (18.2%). One representative of a municipality did not know the percentage. These data indicate that in the majority of them (63.7%) the collection of recyclables reaches only up to 30% of their populations. This can be considered a low index. Only Santo André and Barueri reach high index of coverage.

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Table 5: Municipality São Paulo Barueri Carapicuíba Diadema Embu Itapecerica da Serra Jandira Poá Santana de Parnaíba Santo André São Bernardo do Campo

415

Coverage of the recycling program. Population 2004 - IBGE 10838581 248034 375859 383629 234174 152283 106742 105805 93845 665923 773099

Coverage of the program in N. of inhab. minimum maximum %* 3251574 very low 186026 248034 high 112758 very low 115089 very low 117087 175631 average nd 32023 very low 31742 very low 28154 very low 499442 665923 high 231930 very low

* Coverage: 0-30% very low 30-50% - low 50-75% - average 75-100% - high

The volumes of recyclables collected by those official programs, in partnership with scavengers, vary from 25 tons per month to 2,340 tons per month. In eight municipalities the amounts do not reach 150 tons per month; one collects 500 tons per month and the city of São Paulo collects 2,340 tons per month. One representative did not know the volume. In the municipality of São Paulo, given the scale of the program and the high number of inhabitants (more than 10 millions in the year 2000), the numbers are quite impressive and justify the development of activities related to reprocessing those materials. Even though, considering the production of 8,700 tons/day of waste in the municipality, the amount recycled is very low. In the other municipalities the volumes collected for recycling are quite small and the efficiency of the system is not very good, as the percentages of useless waste can reach up to 50%, as can be observed in Table 6. According to the Municipality’s representative, the sale of these materials generated incomes to the organizations that varied from US$ 450.00 to US$ 15,000.00 per month. But eight representatives of local governments could not inform their respective organization’s income. Information regarding income received by members of the scavenger organizations were obtained from representatives of Municipalities, and checked in interviews with presidents of the organizations. Their income varied from US$ 50.00 to US$ 260.00 per month. In four municipalities it was less than Brazil’s minimum income wage in 2005 (US$ 130.00), but in five cities it was from US$ 207.00 to US$ 260.00 monthly. Two representatives did not have the information. Representatives of 8 local governments also did not have information about the program’s total costs. If this lack of information can be considered positive (revealing autonomy of the organizations regarding distribution of their economic resources) in another perspective it also reveals these programs’ lack WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

416 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability of monitoring, and result evaluation by local governments. This fact is particularly worrying because ten among the eleven municipalities studied had plans for enlarging the program in the following 12 months; and many other local governments in Brazil are copying this model (without basis of knowledge on their social and economic sustainability). Also because a strong dependency on revenues generated by the sale of recyclables, and on government help was observed. Only one association had a second source of financial resource, which was guaranteed by a contract to collect waste for the local government. Table 6:

Recyclables collected, sold and % of waste informed. Collected (ton/month)

Sold (ton/month)

Percentage of waste informed

São Paulo

2340

1670

10 to 20%

Barueri Carapicuíba

150 40

130 ns

10 to 20% Na

Municipality

Diadema

54

44

10.4%

Embu Itapecerica Serra

62 30

52 ns

10 to 20% -5%

Jandira

ns

3

10 to 20%

Poá Santana Parnaíba

25 70

23 ns

-5% 35%

Santo André

500

250

50%

São Bernardo

88

na

Na

3359

2172

Total

Another point is that, since these programs are also meant for social inclusion, it is important to know their members’ income in order to define how many more workers can be hired to the organizations. The authors consider that an income twice the amount of the national minimum wage could guarantee a social inclusion and be a signal for the possibility of integrating new members. As seen, the amounts of recyclables collected and sold through these programs in partnership with scavengers are quite low, considered the amount of waste collected and disposed of in São Paulo Metropolitan area. Environmental sustainability of the solid waste management certainly does not depend on those programs. Many improvements are necessary to guarantee the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of these programs. However, seven among the eleven municipalities considered that the program is consolidated in their cities because inhabitants consider it important and would not accept its interruption; on the other hand, scavengers wish expansion of the program because of the social benefits it brings: education, training, and more stability.

4 Challenges to the programs In our investigation, the people interviewed listed some of the major problems faced by the programs in their municipalities. Eight of them indicated as a major WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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problem competition with no organized scavengers that collected recyclables prior to official collection on the streets. This was made more interesting because in many areas there is sorting of the waste in the households. Even though in terms of avoiding waste to go to landfills there is a benefit in this process, in terms of increasing social capital in the associations there is a loss. As mentioned, only in the city of São Paulo, an estimated number of 20,000 people collect recyclable waste in an informal way. As causes of problems faced we can point: 1. Little or no experience of the members of the cooperatives in management of an association, insufficiency of technical formation and weak participation of the members in the decisions result in lack of organization and problems of relationship among members. More and more frequent courses and advising are necessary to solve these. 2. Since scavengers revenues depend solely on the sale of materials and their price is low and decreasing, due to competition, they face lack of working capital to improve their infra-structure and to buy equipments, but also to buy recyclables from independent scavengers and to advance payments to the members of the cooperative before the end of the month. One of the reasons pointed for the high turnover of the members is that the autonomous scavenger can sell what they collect everyday and face his expenses daily. To enhance scavengers’ participation in the cooperative system, including the payment for their work, is a recommendation. 3. Municipalities indicated that there is still much to do in terms of awareness of residue sorting importance and getting a stronger participation of the population. Awareness raising campaigns and the implementation of a waste tax according to the volume of residues produced in each household could increase the amount of material collected and also diminish the volume of waste in the selection centers. Some indicators are recommended for monitoring the sustainability of these programs: waste tax; legal instrument of partnership; partnerships; percentages of inhabitants served, of material recycled, and of waste within the recyclables. In table 7 are indicated sustainability indicators for the associations. Table 7:

Sustainability Indicators for the Associations.

Indicator 1.Regularized association 2. Partnership legal instrument 3. Annual turnover of members 4.Capacity building of members 5. Members’ monthly income 6.Participation of members 7. Triage Centre 8.Equipments/Vehicles 9.Hours worked daily 10.Benefits to members 11.IPE 12.N. of partnerships

+ Regularized Law or contract Up to 25% Incubation 2 minimum wages High Owned by Coop Owned by Coop Over 6 3 or more Use IPE 2 or more

-

+/-

Non regularized No contract

Covenant

More than 50% No capacity building 1 minimum wage Low Lent Lent Up to 4 none Don’t have IPE None

From 25 to50% Courses From 1 to 2 Average Rented Owned/lent From 4 to 6 Less than 3 No use Less than 2

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418 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

5

Conclusions

Organizations still depend much on municipalities and the programs have low efficacy, and efficiency. Municipalities invest resources, but they do not use indicators to evaluate, and improve their activities. Organizations feel doubtful about program continuity, and its revenue guarantee. Programs present aspects related to social inclusion, social capital formation, and generation of work positions at a low cost. However, many aspects must be strengthened

Acknowledgement We thank Funasa – Fundação Nacional de Saúde - for providing funds for the study.

References [1] [2] [3]

IBGE - Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Pesquisa Nacional de Saneamento Básico 2000. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: 2002a. IBGE - Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Indicadores de Desenvolvimento Sustentável. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: 2002b. Borges, Danielle. Prefeitura de São Paulo. Aumenta número de distritos com coleta seletiva. Jornal Diário de São Paulo. September 29, 2005. São Paulo, Brazil.

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On energy requirements and potential energy savings in Italian hospital buildings G. Bizzarri Dipartimento di Architettura, Università di Ferrara, Italy

Abstract Most Italian hospitals show a significant rise in their electricity demand during the summer. Such a growth represents a high penalizing aspect especially in structures characterized by considerable needs, as the contracts with the electricity provider is normally set to the peak of consumption. An energy policy that would seek a requirement optimization through a cut of the summer peak of the electricity demand could therefore result in both energy and economic savings. In this paper the electricity needs of twenty-three hospitals located in Emilia-Romagna, north Italy, are investigated. These electricity requirements have been broken down into main end-uses confirming that compression chillers, supporting the HVAC systems during the hot season, represent the major electricity end-use and are essentially to be considered as responsible for the summer peak in electricity demand. The existence of a correlation between electricity requirements and cooling needs has been detected. Finally, a brief survey has been carried out to establish which technologies would best fit with the hospitals’ needs with the aim of a rationalization of the energy demand. Among the different scenarios, solar technologies (e.g. solar collectors) in particular well suit hospital facilities since these systems achieve their peak of production in correspondence of the peak of demand during the hottest sunny days of the summer. Keywords: hospitals energetics, electricity requirement, energy retrofit, peak-cut.

1

Introduction

In every temperate area, such as Italy, the cooling operations of HVAC systems are mainly concentrated during the hot summer months, from June to September. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060401

420 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability In this period, significant increases in the electricity requirements are frequently observed, especially in all those structures characterized by considerable energy requirements. This peak of consumption implies a significant expense, as the contracts between the users and the electricity producers are normally negotiated both on real consumption and on peak demand. A policy that lowered the electricity requirement or, at least, that rationalized demand through a peak cut, could therefore achieve a considerable financial saving. This appears to be particularly desirable for all those users, such as hospitals, that need a guaranteed grid connection calibrated on the peak of the demand. The comprehension of the electricity use characteristics is a very important issue for the Government and the administration in developing their future energy conservation plans. Besides, it has to be considered as the basic step in order to assess the impact of different retrofit strategies on energy savings and pollutant emissions reduction. In recent years, studies on electricity demand patterns have been carried out by many researchers for different categories of users all over the world. In this research, electricity consumption has been broken down by major electricity end users such as offices [1, 2], residential buildings [3–6], hotels [7], shopping malls, supermarkets [8–11] and schools [12, 13]. It is clear evidence that, when buildings are supplied with air conditioning systems, they are expected to be the major end user in terms of electricity consumption. Some realistic correlations [10, 11, 14] have been found between air conditioning and the related electrical energy consumption. Nevertheless, as the HVAC systems usage patterns are weather influenced, every formula has to be considered reliable only if referred to the local scenario. Studies on electricity use characteristics in hospitals received less attention in the past [15–19] even though this topic should be of particular interest since a considerable amount of the hospitals electricity consumption is due to the need for their buildings to be largely air-conditioned. In this paper, the electricity needs of twenty-three hospitals located in EmiliaRomagna, Italy are investigated. After a four-year survey, the study confirmed that the majority of the hospitals showed a considerable increase in the electricity consumption during the hot season, together with the air conditioning operation. In order to compare the electricity consumption pattern in the twenty-three structures, monthly consumption data were normalized following a purposelydeveloped procedure [18, 19]. The evolution of the normalized monthly electricity requirements throughout the year clearly revealed the existence of three common patterns. These different “energy behaviours” were identified in reference to the magnitude of the summer peak of the demand. This suggested that the summer growth had to be related to both the size of the structures and the type of services provided in the hospitals. The total electricity consumption has been broken down into major end uses: heating stations, cooling stations, ventilation units, lighting, and miscellaneous electrical appliances (lifts, medical equipments, etc.). Even though some difficulties were encountered during the survey, this analysis has finally confirmed that the considerable summer increase in the electricity needs has to be indisputably correlated to operations of compression chillers providing cool air to the conditioning systems.

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421

The survey arrangements

At first, the electricity consumption data of twenty-three hospitals, during a fouryear period, was gathered from the electricity company. From the beginning, the collected data was seen to be non-homogeneous: the electric meter readings were not simultaneously scheduled in the various hospitals; besides, the time elapsed between two successive readings ranged randomly around a thirty day period. This fact, as well as the considerable difference in sizes of the hospitals investigated, suggested the need to define a procedure in order to compare the electricity consumption of such a heterogeneous sample [18]. The first step consisted of the computation of the daily electricity consumptions characterizing each reading period. As soon as these values were calculated, it was clear that the same data needed to be further processed by introducing a parameter that could account for the hospitals’ size. In the literature it is a common practice to define this normalized parameter by dividing the consumption data by the gross floor area of the corresponding hospital. In this case, however, this modus operandi appeared not to be consistent with the cases of study, as many of the hospitals’ departments were unused or under restoration at the time of the survey. The daily electricity consumptions have been then divided by the corresponding January value (with reference to both hospital and year). Such a choice has been subsequently validated by observing the occurrence of a base load: an almost weather independent energy use that remains constant throughout the year, being essentially linked to the hospital activities. This January value is characteristic especially of cold months when cooling systems do not operate. Finally, these normalized consumption data have been averaged over the four-year period providing a normalized electricity consumption parameter (NEP) defined as the averaged normalized electricity consumption characterizing the typical day, from January to December, in each single hospital. In Table 1 the twenty-three hospital NEPs are summarized.

Castelnuovo M.

Montecchio

Finale Emilia

Castelfranco E.

Modena Est.

Modena S.Ag.

NEPs for the hospitals in the sample.

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Correggio

Guastalla

1.08 1.10 1.11 1.00 1.00 0.91 1.21 1.05 1.05 0.95 1.02 0.95 1.42 1.02 1.06 1.10 0.96 0.86 1.03 1.14 1.03 0.92 1.19

Scandiano

1.04 1.10 1.07 0.90 0.98 0.87 1.12 0.95 1.02 1.00 0.98 0.94 1.22 1.08 1.03 1.04 0.95 0.85 0.96 1.02 1.01 0.99 1.05

Dec

Formigine

1.11 1.22 1.11 0.93 0.83 0.80 0.97 0.97 1.09 1.13 0.99 0.95 1.14 1.10 1.14 1.07 1.08 0.77 0.91 0.93 1.01 0.99 1.02

Nov

Carpi

1.50 1.33 1.35 0.99 1.05 0.87 1.15 0.98 1.25 1.23 0.93 0.97 1.10 1.11 1.18 1.15 1.32 0.62 1.17 1.21 0.99 0.79 0.95

Oct

Sassuolo

1.69 1.56 1.79 1.13 1.19 1.03 1.16 1.10 1.55 1.50 0.98 1.23 1.35 1.32 1.44 1.31 1.51 0.66 1.38 1.44 1.15 1.11 1.04

Sep

Vignola

1.76 1.46 1.81 1.09 1.22 1.07 1.08 1.06 1.55 1.46 0.98 1.24 1.37 1.30 1.42 1.28 1.59 0.74 1.42 1.47 1.18 1.16 1.02

Aug

Pavullo

1.59 1.45 1.53 0.99 1.01 0.95 0.95 0.91 1.36 1.38 0.94 1.12 1.27 1.11 1.25 1.07 1.55 0.78 1.13 1.25 1.04 0.98 0.89

Jul

Mirandola

1.11 1.09 1.18 0.88 0.82 0.85 0.93 0.85 1.13 1.23 0.93 1.00 1.09 1.00 0.96 0.94 1.32 0.83 0.89 1.13 0.95 0.99 0.89

Jun

Tresigallo

1.01 0.96 1.05 0.86 0.76 0.79 0.92 0.87 0.91 1.05 0.93 0.87 1.01 0.96 0.91 0.90 0.94 0.97 0.97 0.89 0.91 0.91 0.89

May

Copparo

0.99 0.96 0.98 0.94 0.90 0.93 1.04 0.93 0.95 1.00 0.98 0.97 1.05 0.95 1.01 0.96 0.99 0.97 0.88 0.95 0.96 0.98 1.04

Apr

Bondeno

0.90 0.91 0.92 0.90 0.91 0.93 1.02 0.88 0.90 0.87 0.91 0.87 1.01 0.91 0.94 0.87 0.93 0.91 0.83 0.89 0.91 0.94 0.96

Mar

Codigoro

1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00

Feb

Cento

Jan

Argenta

Month

Comacchio

Portomaggiore

Table 1:

422 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

3

Definition of electricity consumption patterns

By comparing the hospitals NEPs (Table 1) it is possible to outline three major trends. This differentiation in NEPs patterns is mainly due to the differences in the operations of appliances, of human activities in the hospitals, and, to a lesser extent, to the structure’s size. The first group NEPs (Fig. 1) are characterized by a significant growth during the hot months, from June to September, while they slightly fluctuate around a constant base value during the cold- and the mid-season. It can be expected (and it will be clearly demonstrated in the next paragraph, where the breakdown of electricity end users will be discussed) that this base load is mainly related to non-weather sensitive end uses (i.e. lighting, medical appliances, elevators), while the summer peak has to be considered as strongly influenced by the intensive use of air-conditioners during the hot period of the year. 2.00

NEP

First Group Hospitals

1.80 1.60 1.40 1.20 1.00 0.80 Comacchio Mirandola Castelfranco E. Guastalla

0.60 0.40 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Figure 1:

Argenta Modena S.Ag. Carpi Scandiano

Jun

Jul

Aug

Cento Sassuolo Finale Emilia

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

First group NEPs.

Many important hospitals in the sample (i.e. Mirandola, Modena, Guastalla, Cento, Sassuolo, Scandiano, Argenta) are included in this group. The most of these structures are characterized by electricity consumptions usually higher than 100000 kWh per month. In fact, these hospitals, spread over the territory, must provide basic medical and/or emergency services. It implies that they are normally provided by surgery departments and are largely air-conditioned. Besides, Italian law binds to supply each operating theatre with a mandatory minimum air-exchange of 15 volumes per hour. The hospitals grouped in the second category (Fig. 2) show smaller electricity consumptions (seldom higher than 100000 kWh per month). In this group the NEPs between June and September do not show a very significant growth with respect to the other months in the year, sometimes they can be considered almost WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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constant. In few cases they show a slight rise (always lower than 25%) with reference to the January values. These structures normally offer limited emergency services preferring to privilege in-patient department activities and out-patient care facilities. 2.00

NEP

Second Group Hospitals

1.80 1.60 1.40 1.20 1.00 0.80 0.60

Portomaggiore

Codigoro

Bondeno

Tresigallo

Pavullo

Vignola

Correggio

Montecchio

0.40 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

Figure 2:

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Second group NEPs.

Finally, a few structures cannot be ascribed to any of the former categories. In fact there is no clear pattern indicating any specific NEPs variation during summer. The random fluctuations characterizing the third group NEPs might be attributed to temporary closings of some departments due to frequent restoration works.

4

Breakdown of major electricity end uses

At this time, a study was made in order to breakdown the total electricity use into major end uses. The main difficulty in this analysis was the lack of energy submeters that could monitor the consumptions of the various appliances. An alternative approach was hence adopted. The first step was to establish a list of the typical appliances and systems that normally operate in a hospital. Then a survey was conducted to obtain data about the usage pattern of all those appliances: a fundamental issue was to recognize which end uses were weather dependent (showing seasonal variations) and/or occupancy related (showing different behaviours during the typical working day or between working days and the week end). Then, all these end uses were grouped into five homogeneous categories in relation to the service they to provide: heating stations, cooling stations, ventilation units, lighting and miscellaneous electrical appliances (i.e. lifts, medical equipments, electric heaters, air-cooled chillers, etc.). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

424 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Heating stations In the heating station, gas-fired boilers provide the required hot water for heating and sanitary use. The hot water is delivered by electric pumps, first to heating substations, then, through dedicated lines, to localized heat exchangers (i.e. radiators, fan coils, heating batteries of the ventilation units). In the heating station, the electricity consumption is mainly due to the inlet pumps operation and, to a lesser extent, to the fans expelling the exhaust combustion fumes. The summer reduction of the heating demand does not affect the electricity consumption significantly. In fact, although these systems are used more intensively in winter, even during summer the most of them still work delivering hot water both to the sanitary utilities and to the postheating batteries of the ventilation units. To a good approximation, the electricity consumption of the heating station can be considered steady throughout the whole year. Cooling stations The refrigeration systems installed in hospitals are normally connected to a centralized station. Those units are generally provided with compression chillers. Among the cooling station appliances, the compression chillers are the most intensive electricity consumers. These chillers mainly operate during the hot season to produce the chilled water used to feed the fan coils and the cooling batteries of the ventilation units. Other devices, such as pumps, circulating the chilled water, contribute to the total electricity consumption that can be associated to cooling station appliances. As a consequence of the North Italian climate (cold winters and hot summers), the necessity to simultaneously provide both hot and chilled water is very limited. Therefore, in many departments, the same pipes are used for cooling in summer and heating during the cold and mid seasons. This fact implies the same electric pumps, described in the heating station, are required to operate constantly, and their pattern of use remains steady throughout the year. Hence, the only appliances in heating/cooling stations whose electricity consumption is significantly weather-affected are the compression chillers. Ventilation units In hospitals, the operation of these units is always intensive. If, during the winter months, ventilation units normally integrate with other hot-water heating systems, such as radiators and fan coils, in summer they often constitute the only systems available for cooling the indoor space. In addition, many departments (i.e. surgery, operating theatres, intensive care unit) are required by Italian law to be constantly air-conditioned. The electricity consumption of the ventilation units is mainly related to the fans. During the survey it has been observed that the most of the ventilation units are kept at a steady load all the time they operate. Besides, the same systems are used to provide heated-air in winter and cooled-air in summer. The amount of the fans electricity consumption can then be assumed constant throughout the year. Lighting Lighting accounts for a significant contribution to the annual electricity consumptions. Even if the hours of natural daylight varies significantly from winter to summer [18], the pattern of use of the lighting appliances remain rather steady throughout the whole year. In fact, in the hospitals, many indoor spaces have to be continuously lit for the particular needs of the healthcare facilities (i.e. operating-theatres), or for safety (i.e. interior WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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areas). The amount of this “mandatory” consumption is considerable enough so that the seasonal variation related to the daylight availability is not so relevant. Other electrical appliances All the other electrical devices are directly related to the human activities that take place in the hospitals. Some of these appliances (i.e. elevators, radiology and surgery equipment) are intensive electricity-users and are considered to be the cause for the high consumption. This end-use category constitutes the main component of the base electrical load, which can be defined as the non-weather related energy use. Although some departments, such as out-patient care facilities or offices, might be closed during some hours in a the day, the hospital must nevertheless operate and provide its basic services continuously for 24 hours, all year around. This implies that the level of electricity consumption associated to these appliances, constituting the core of the base load, is always considerable both in major and smaller structures, and that this load, being merely occupancy-related, can show no more than slight fluctuations throughout the different periods of the year. Table 2:

Characteristics of audited electrical appliances.

Electricity end uses

Seasonal dependence

Occupancy dependence

Operating frequency hours/day days/week

Heating / cooling stations Electric pumps (circulating Fans (exhaust fumes) Compression chillers Ventilation units Ventilation unit fan Lighting Lamps Other electrical equipment Autoclave for sanitary water Air compressor Vacuum compressor Radiology equipment Computer assisted tomography Elevator Cold stores Refrigerator Food warmer Electric owen Air cooled packaged chiller Electric heater

weak weak strong

none none strong

24 24 24

7 7 7

weak

weak

24

7

medium

medium

none none none none none none weak weak weak weak strong strong

weak weak weak strong strong weak none none medium medium strong strong

7 24 10

16 24 24 4

7 5 5 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Unfortunately, a complete breakdown of the total hospital electricity-use by individual end uses was impossible. In fact, this analysis could not foresee the influence of many widespread unitary devices such as electric heaters or aircooled packaged chillers, whose operations depend on the habits and on the sensations of thermal comfort of people living in the indoor spaces. Table 2, by summarizing the information given before, simply confirms that the major weather-dependent electricity end uses are the compression chillers and, in general, all the others grid connected heating/cooling devices. Among those, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

426 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability unluckily, appliances such as electric heater or air-cooled packaged chillers can not be associated with any predictable patterns as their use is occasional and completely dependent on the habits of people working/staying in the heated/cooled indoor environment. All the others end uses can, in general, be considered as unrelated to the weather and part of the constant base load characterizing the cold and the mid-season consumptions.

5

Estimation of electricity consumption due to compression chillers

In accordance with the conclusions of the previous discussion, it was clear that the summer growth of electricity consumptions had to be considered as a result of the high utilization of compression chillers supporting the HVAC systems during the hot season. Therefore the next step was to evaluate how much the cooling of indoors spaces could affect the electricity consumption. As the compression chillers’ performance is directly related to the cooling needs, a full knowledge of the summer heat transfer phenomena was required. This analysis was developed for eight hospitals in the sample. In order to evaluate the thermal requirements, since no reliable historical data were available, a digital model was created for each of the eight hospitals. The monthly heating and cooling demands, QH and QC, were determined using these models, first simulating the heat transfer phenomena both in transient and steady-state conditions, then processing the data obtained through properly developed spreadsheet procedures [15, 18]. The demands have been assessed assuming the restraint that the temperature and the humidity of the indoor spaces could fluctuate only within defined intervals suggested by the Italian norms. At the end of the investigation, the monthly energy requirements of the eight hospitals were completely predicted (see Fig. 3). Q H : monthly Month January February March April May June July August September October November December

Figure 3:

heating demand [MWht] 1465 1239 1087 757 435 254 192 196 257 572 991 1345

Q C : monthly cooling demand [MWht]

92 237 196 78

Predicted monthly heating and cooling demands (e.g. Argenta hospital).

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At this time it was supposed that, by exploiting the increased electricity consumption QEG,JUL recorded in July (defined, for the various hospitals, as the gap existing between the July electricity demand and that averaged over the others months) to feed compression chillers, it could be possible to fulfil the whole July cooling demand QC,JUL. A hypothetical coefficient of performance COPCC, characterizing each hospital compression chiller, has then been evaluated according to the following simple energy balance: COPCC = QC , JUL / QEG , JUL

(1)

Results are shown in Table 3. This table indicates realistic COPCC only for Cento and Comacchio.

[kWht]

Tresigallo

Copparo

Bondeno

Codigoro

Portomagg.

Argenta

Comacchio

Hypothetical compression chillers COP according to eqn (1).

Cento

Table 3:

Cooling need in July

Q C,JUL

258 623

120 467

236 923

97 552

56 339

122 330

193 482

48 257

Electricity gap of July

Q EG,JUL [kWhe] 91 688

59 696

38 743

8 318

8 559

13 306

4 034

3 778

Hypothetical COP

COP CC

2.02

6.12

11.73

6.58

9.19

47.96

12.77

2.82

The unconvincing COPCC values for the others hospitals can be explained considering that the cooling needs previously determined refer to the ideal scenarios represented in the digital models, where the indoor temperatures would be completely controlled. During the survey it has been audited that, in many cases, the operating systems were not powerful enough to allow a climate control where the temperature fluctuations are greater than the values given by the norms. Data shown in Table 3 confirm that, today, in at least six of the eight surveyed hospitals, the installed chillers are not adequate to ensure occupant comfort in all the departments. As a further stage, to a good approximation, it was assumed a given coefficient of performance equal to 3 for all the compression chillers. Such a value was also in line with those audited during the survey. In this case, again, the cooling output QCO,JUL associated with the compression chillers in July, was computed assuming that the whole increase of July electricity consumption QEG,JUL was entirely devoted to feed the chillers. QCO , JUL = 3Q EG , JUL .

(2)

The comparison between the July cooling needs QC,JUL (computed under the unsubstantial hypothesis of a strict indoor climate control) and the realistic outputs QCO,JUL obviously show weak correlation with the exception of Cento and Comacchio (Table 4). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

428 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The scattering between the two values is further emphasized by the effects of air-cooled screw chillers operations, whose electricity consumption could not be broken down. In confirmation of that, the structures showing the weakest correlation are also those where the largest number of independent packaged cooling systems has been surveyed.

Bondeno

Copparo

120467

236923

97552

56339

122330

193482

48257

Cooling output in July

Q CO,JUL [kWhe] 275063

179089

116230

24954

25676

39918

12102

11333

67%

204%

391%

219%

306%

1599%

426%

[kWht]

Q C,JUL /Q CO,JUL 1

6

%

94%

Tresigallo

Codigoro

258623

Q C,JUL 1

Argenta

Comacchio

Cooling need in July

Portomagg.

Comparison between cooling needs in July according to the digital models (QC,JUL), and to the realistic outputs imposing COP = 3 (QCO,JUL).

Cento

Table 4:

under the hypothesis of COPs=3

Peak cut strategies

A retrofit policy that wants to attain an effective peak cut should hence focus on the optimization of compression chillers’ operation. Since the HVAC systems operating in hospitals are meant to maintain a suitable indoor environment and a mandatory high quality of services, it is not acceptable to achieve the former result by limiting their use and consequently lowering indoor comfort. Instead, an effective policy can be achieved adopting complementary systems or through energy accumulation. In this section we investigate the storage and release of cooling energy through a phase-change process [20-21]. This policy could shift most of the load coming from compression chillers from peak to off-peak time periods (i.e. during summer nights). In addition, such a policy allows exploitation of the higher COPs that can be attained at nights, when the outdoor air temperature is lower. Many other scenarios can be investigated. A wise use of absorption chillers integrating conventional compression devices could lead to significant benefits, as shown by Maidment and Tozer [9]. Moreover, solar technologies (both photovoltaic and high-temperature devices) appear to be particularly suitable for hospitals needs since the electricity peak load matches the maximum incident solar radiation. Al-Hasan et al. [22] demonstrated that a significant reduction in peak load can be achieved with grid connected PV systems. Bizzarri et al. [15, 16, 18, 23] demonstrated that the best results in terms of primary energy savings and pollutant emissions reduction are achieved when the monthly electricity self production from “not-conventional” parts of the plant (i.e. solar technologies) equals the gap existing between the average monthly electricity requirement characteristic of the summer months (from June to August) and those characteristic of the others months. Finally, it was also demonstrated that, for hospital applications, high temperature solar systems represent an effective technologies to find the peak cut thanks to the considerable WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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electricity production and to the possibility of healing the thermal needs (and even feeding absorption chillers) using the abundant heat recoveries from the solar turbines [23].

7

Conclusions

A study of electricity consumption in twenty-three hospitals, located in EmiliaRomagna, Italy has been undertaken. Utility electricity bill records from a four-year period, supplemented by on-site operational records and survey were analyzed. An alternative systematic procedure has been developed: energy performance in every single hospital has been evaluated in terms of a parameter, called NEPs, defined as the averaged normalized electricity consumption characterizing the typical day, from January to December. The hospitals were categorized into three groups, according to the level of the summer peak use. This differentiation in NEPs patterns was to be mainly correlated to the differences in hospital appliances operations and human activities and, to a lesser extent, to the structure size. The first group, showing a significant growth of NEPs during summer months, included the major hospitals in the sample. These structures provide many health facilities, such as interventional departments, characterized by a significant electricity use due to an intensive use of air-conditioners. The second group of NEPs fluctuated around a constant value eventually showing a limited rise during the summer months. The hospitals grouped in this category are smaller compared with first group structures and they mainly provide out-patient care facilities and in-patient facilities for older patients. These departments are normally characterized by a limited use of air-conditioning. The third group included structures that cannot be ascribed to any of the former categories. This first analysis showed that the electricity use in the major hospitals was clearly dependent on the time of year. The monthly electricity consumption between June and September were significantly higher than those characterizing the others months. Their peak always occurred in July or August, together with the most intensive use of air-conditioners. In order to see how significantly the common appliances normally operating in a hospital would affect its electricity consumption, a further investigation was carried out. The major electricity end uses were then grouped into five categories: heating stations, cooling stations, ventilation units, lighting and miscellaneous electrical appliances. With the exception of compression chillers, and few others grid-connected heating/cooling devices, the monthly electricity use of all other electric appliances was found to be uniform over the year. This fact confirms that the main cause of the summer rise of the electricity requirements has to be attributed to the use of compression chillers. Therefore, an effective peak cut policy must first optimize the cool production processes. A further investigation was then carried out in order to seek a correlation between the amount of cooling needs and the summer rise in electricity demand. An accurate energy analysis was developed for eight hospitals in the sample requiring full knowledge of the monthly cooling requirements. However, by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

430 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability making further assumptions that the compression chillers are characterized by COP factor equal to three (coherently with the values observed during the surveys), and assuming that the increase in electricity demand in summer is entirely devoted to feed the compression chillers, it has been found that the cooling production through these chillers can equal the cooling demand only in Cento and Comacchio. The inadequacy of the available data concerning the indoor spaces climate, and the impossibility of evaluating the effect of other spread cooling systems (i.e. packaged screw chillers) on the electricity demand, lead to a correlation between cool production and demand that could not yet be satisfied and suggests the need for further investigations. Finally, a brief survey was conducted to establish which technologies would best fit with the hospitals’ needs with regards to a rationalization of the energy demand. Among the different scenarios, solar technologies (i.e. solar collectors) were in particular considered well suited to hospital facilities since these systems achieve their peak of production corresponding with the peak of demand during the hottest sunny days of the summer.

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Lam, J.C., Chan, R.Y.C., Tsang, C.L., Li, D.H.W., Electricity use characteristics of purpose-built office buildings in subtropical climates, Energy Conversion and Management, 45, pp. 829-844, 2004. Suzuki, M., Oka, T., Estimation of life cycle energy consumption and CO2 emission of office buildings in Japan, Energy and Buildings, 2, pp. 33-41, 1998. Lam, J.C., Residential sector air conditioning loads and electricity use in Hong Kong, Energy Conversion and Management, 41, pp. 1757-1768, 2000. Tso, G.K.F., Yau, K.K.W., A study of domestic energy usage patterns in Hong Kong, Energy, 28, pp. 1671-1682, 2003. Wan, K.S.Y., Yik, F.W.Y., Building design and energy end-use characteristics of high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong, Applied Energy, 78, pp. 19-36, 2004. Al-Ragom, Retrofitting residential buildings in hot and arid climates, Energy Conversion and Management, 44, pp. 2309-2319, 2003. Deng, S., Burnett, J., A study of energy performance of hotel buildings in Hong Kong, Energy and Buildings 31, pp. 7-12, 2000. Lam, J.C., Li, D.H.W., Electricity consumption characteristics in shopping malls in subtropical climates, Energy Conversion and Management, 44, pp. 1391-1398, 2003. Maidment, G.G., Tozer, R.M., Combined cooling heat and power in supermarkets, Applied Thermal Engineering, 22, pp. 653-665, 2002. Sezgen O., Koomey J.G., Interactions between lighting and space conditioning energy use in US commercial buildings, Energy, 25, pp. 793805, 2000.

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Zmeureanu R., Peragine C., Evaluation of interactions between lighting and HVAC systems in a large commercial building, Energy Conversion and Management, 40, pp. 1229-1236, 1999. Desideri U., Proietti S., Analysis of energy consumption in the high schools of a province in central Italy, Energy and Buildings, 34, pp. 10031016, 2002. Butala, V., Novak, P., Energy consumption and potential energy savings in old school buildings, Energy and Buildings, 29, pp. 241-246, 1999. Al-Rabghi, O.M., Al-Beirutty, M.H., Fathalah, K.A., Estimation and measurement of electric energy consumption due to air conditioning cooling load, Energy Conversion and Management, 40, pp. 1527-1542, 1999. Bizzarri, G., Morini, G.L., Greenhouse gas reduction and primary energy savings via adopting of a fuel cells hybrid plant in a hospital, Applied Thermal Engineering, 24(2-3), pp. 383-400, 2004. Bizzarri, G., Morini, G.L., Greenhouse gas reductions and primary energy savings via adoption of hybrid plants in place of conventional ones; in: Proc. of the 12th Int. Conf. on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution, eds. C.A. Brebbia et al., WIT Press, Southampton, pp. 32737, 2004. Williams J.M., et al., Energy consumption in large acute hospitals, Energy & Environment, 6(2), pp. 119-134, 1995. Bizzarri, G., Analisi energetica di complessi ospedalieri, Ph.D. Thesis, Università di Ferrara, Dipartimento di Architettura, 2003. Online. www.giacomo.bizzarri.too.it\Ph.D.Thesis Bizzarri, G., Il fabbisogno energetico in ospedale. Indagine sui fabbisogni di energia elettrica in alcune strutture ospedaliere della provincia di Ferrara, Tecnica Ospedaliera, 31(8) , pp. 76-82, 2001. Khudhair, A.M., Farid, M.M., A review on energy conservation in building applications with thermal storage by latent heat using phase change materials, Energy Conversion and Management, 45, pp. 263-275, 2004. Zalba, M., Marin, J.M., Cabeza, L.F., Mehling, H., Review on thermal energy storage with phase change: materials, heat transfer analysis and applications, Applied Thermal Engineering, 23, pp. 251-283, 2003. Al-Hasan, A.Y., Ghoneim, A.A., Abdullah, A.H., Optimizing electrical load pattern in Kuwait using grid connected photovoltaic systems, Energy Conversion and Management, 45, pp. 483-494, 2004. Bizzarri G., Morini, G.L., New technologies for an effective energy retrofit of hospitals, Applied Thermal Engineering, 26(2-3), pp. 161-169, 2006.

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Wind and environmental effects on overhead high voltage transmission lines A. F. Abdel-Gawad1, 2 & A.-S. A. Zoklot2 1

Electrical Power and Machines Engineering Department, Zagazig University, Egypt 2 Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Zagazig University, Egypt

Abstract This work is an experimental study of the effect of wind on high voltage transmission lines. Two sets of models, representing a pair of tension towers and a pair of suspension towers, were constructed to a suitable scale. The two sets were tested using a delivery wind tunnel. Three different sizes of conductors were tested at three values of wind speed (5, 10 and 15 m/s). Also, the effect of environmental conditions (ice and mud) was studied. Measurements of the horizontal and vertical displacements of the conductors of different phases were recorded. The additional tension of the conductors, due to aerodynamic drag, was also measured. Useful observations and conclusions are stated. Keywords: wind effect, transmission lines, high voltage, sag, aerodynamic drag.

1

Introduction

In recent years, as the electric capacity of transmission lines has increased, the size of transmission towers has become larger. Strong wind may cause unexpected damage to the power transmission systems, Fig. 1 [26]. Wind speed and turbulence intensity are greatly affected by terrain and climate, Fig. 2 [25]. In mountainous areas, the terrain effect is manifested in the speed-up of local wind owing to the narrow path caused by the mutual relation of location of mountain ridge and wind direction. Thus, careful study and design are needed when attempting to construct power transmission lines in such wind-hazardous areas. The subject of wind loading on transmission tower-conductor systems was reported in several text books such as [2], [5] and [18]. It is noticed that, in all text books, the wind and ice effects are represented by empirical formulae or WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060411

434 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability measurement tables. Generally, these formulae and tables are restricted to certain operating, topographical and meteorological conditions and lack generalization. Gust wind loading and sudden strong winds (typhoons) are not included. Recently, few researchers considered the wind effect on tower-conductor systems. Nakamura et al. [13] and Ishikawa et al. [6] studied local wind load on transmission tower-conductor systems. The initiative of their work was the unprecedented damage to transmission lines in West Japan that was caused by Typhoon No. 19 in 1991. Their results were based on both wind tunnel measurements and numerical simulations. Similar studies are also available, such as [7-10]. Some projects [16, 22] include the installation of anti-vibrating devices to damp vibrations caused by the conductors exposed to the dynamic load of wind, Fig. 2 [25]. The transmission line conductors may have noncircular crosssections designed to minimize the effects of wind-induced motions and vibrations [14]. Automatic weather stations may be installed on top of transmission towers to monitor both the mechanical loading of the structures due to wind gusts and the thermal dissipation of conductors for ampacity studies [21]. The environmental effect on the thermal ratings of overhead conductors was investigated by many investigators such as [3, 17, 20, 23]. There are many environmental conditions that have a complicated effect on transmission systems, Fig. 3 [3]. These studies are very helpful in up-rating (increasing the power) transmission lines without violating the thermal limits of the conductors. Also, the effect of ice on transmission lines [24] and ways of de-icing [12] were investigated. Based on the above review, it is obvious that there is a clear shortage in the data of the effects of wind and environmental conditions (ice and mud) on the transmission line systems. This work is a comprehensive parametric study that is based on wind tunnel experimental investigation. The parameters include wind speed, conductor diameter, value of sag, and distribution of ice and mud. Two sets of models that represent a pair of tension towers and a pair of suspension towers were constructed to a suitable scale. The models resemble the 220 kV lattice towers. Measurements of the horizontal and vertical displacements of the conductors of the six phases were recorded. The additional tension of each conductor, due to aerodynamic drag, was measured also. Useful remarks and conclusions are stated.

Figure 1: Damage due Figure 2: Mean speed and Figure 3: Parameters of to strong fluctuations of the thermal wind [20]. the wind [21]. rating [15]. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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435

Experimental setup

The experiments were performed using an open-circuit atmospheric-exhaust wind tunnel. Room air is pushed through a settling chamber with a honeycombtype flow straighteners and a 2:1 contraction into a test section of 0.5 × 0.5 m2. The flow is created by an axial-flow fan that is driven by a 5.5 kW-3 phase motor. At the inlet of the axial fan, a gate is used, as a mechanical method, to control the air speed. The measurements were carried out at three different wind speeds, namely: 5, 10 and 15 m/s. A Pitot-static tube was used to measure the wind speed. The experiments were carried out in the open area that directly follows the exit of the test section of the wind tunnel, Fig. 4.

3

Models and measuring techniques

3.1 Models Two sets of models that represent a pair of tension towers and a pair of suspension towers were constructed to a scale 1:50. The models resemble the 220 kV lattice, double circuit, single earth wire towers, see Fig. 5. Aluminum and iron rods of L-section were used to construct the models. Rivets and bolts were used to assemble the models. The insulators were replaced by simple suspension arrangements that facilitate the measurement of displacements and additional tension of conductors, Fig. 6. Two wires of diameters 2 and 5 mm were used to resemble the conductors. Another strand conductor of 15 mmdiameter was also investigated. No corrections, to consider the different scaling of towers and conductors, were applied [6].

Figure 4:

Experimental setup.

Figure 5:

1

AIR

3

5

Figure 6:

General view of the 220 kV lattice tower. 2

4

6

(a) (b) (a): Close view of the tower suspension; (b): Phase numbering.

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436 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Figure 7:

General view of a strong short Figure 8: The effect of wind on circuit [20]. sag [20].

3.2 Measurement of horizontal and vertical displacements The horizontal displacement of the conductor changes the safe distance between conductors. In severe wind conditions, when conductors approach each other, a strong short circuit may be expected, Fig. 7 [26]. This situation may be demonstrated by Warrington’s formula [18] as follows: Still air: R arc = 8750 L sc / I 1.4 Cross wind blowing: Rarc = 8750 ( S c + 3 Va t ) / I

(1) 1.4

(2)

where Lsc is the length of arc (ft) in still air and equals to the conductor spacing, I is fault current (amps.), Sc is the conductor spacing (ft), Va is the wind speed (mph), and t is the arc duration (Sec.). Thus, a strong damage may occur to the transmission-line system. On the other hand, the vertical displacement of the conductor changes its natural (or preset) sag, Fig. 8 [26]. In still air, tension-sag relation takes the form:

T =

ρ L g L2 8S

(3)

where T is the mechanical tension in the conductor, ρL is the mass of conductor per unit length, L is the span of the conductor, g is the gravitational acceleration, and S is the sag at the mid-point of the span. Continuous blowing of wind may reduce sag and increase the clearance between the conductor and earth. Traditional means of measuring the distance are not practical in the present case where changes of the position of the mid-point of the span in the vertical and horizontal directions are to be measured. The traditional means interfere with the air that exits from the wind tunnel. This may change the air speed, direction, and quality. Two laser pointers were used simultaneously to measure the horizontal (∆X) and vertical (∆Y) displacements. The laser pointers are forced to slide in the horizontal and vertical directions on a simple steel frame. Before turn-on of the wind tunnel (Va = 0.0), the two pointers are moved until their lights intersect with the mid-point of the span of conductor. Thus, the initial horizontal (Xo) and vertical (Yo) coordinates are determined. Then, while the air is blowing at certain speed, the horizontal and vertical pointers are moved so that their lights intersect again with the mid-point of the span of conductor. Thus, the final horizontal (Xf) WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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and vertical (Yf) coordinates are determined. So, the displacements due to wind are found from: Normalized horizontal displacement: ∆X n = (X f - X o ) / L (4)

∆Y n = (Y f - Y o ) / L

Normalized vertical displacement:

(5)

3.3 Measurement of additional tension A simple force balance was used to measure the additional tension of the conductor of each phase due to wind, Fig. 4. The force balance is consisted of a small water container, which is scaled to give the volume of water, a pair of small pulleys and a wire that connects one end of the conductor to the water container over the pulleys. Before turn-on of the wind tunnel (Va = 0.0), the midpoint of the span of the conductor is adjusted to the required sag by adding a volume of water (Qo) to the container. The vertical position of the container is determined. When the air blows at certain speed (Va), the conductor is pushed to move and consequently the container moves upwards. Water is added again to restore the initial position of the container. The final volume of water is Qf. The additional force due to wind is found from: Tw = (Q f - Qo ) ρ w g (6) where ρw is the water density and g is the gravitational acceleration. All measurements were carried out at steady values of the air velocity. The effect of wind fluctuations can be evaluated by considering the gust effect factor (GEF) [7-10]. The equivalent wind loading is equal to the mean wind force multiplied by a GEF. The GEF accounts for the dynamics of wind fluctuations and the load amplification introduced by the transmission-system dynamics. Values of GEF are found in the international codes and standards of wind loading according to the operating conditions. (a) Horizontal displacement (∆Xn).

0.01

(b) Vertical displacement (∆Yn).

0.008 0.007

Sag/Span = 0.07 Sag/Span = 0.04 Sag/Span = 0.07 Sag/Span = 0.04 Sag/Span = 0.07 Sag/Span = 0.04

0.0014 0.0012

0.006

(c) Wind force (Tn). 0.6

0.0016

Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 540 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 540 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1080 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 1080 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1620 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 1620

0.009

- Re - Re - Re - Re - Re - Re

= 540 = 540 = 1080 = 1080 = 1620 = 1620

0.4

p

0.001

0.005 0.004

0.3

0.0008 0.0006

0.003

Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 540 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 540 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1080 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 1080 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1620 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 1620

0.5

0.2

0.0004

0.002 0.001

0.0002

0

0

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2

3

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1

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6

0 1

2

Phase Number

Phase Number

3

4

5

6

Phase Number

Variation of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn - tension towers, dconductor = 2 mm.

Figure 9: 0.14

0.02

Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 540 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 540 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1080 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 1080 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1620 Sag/Sp an = 0.04 - Re = 1620

0.12 0.1

0.3

Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 540 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 540 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1080 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 1080 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1620 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 1620

0.018 0.016 0.014

Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 540 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 540 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1080 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 1080 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1620 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 1620

0.25 0.2

0.012

0.08

0.01

0.06

0.15

0.008

0.04

0.1

0.006 0.004

0.02

0.05

0.002

0

0

1

2

3

4

Phase Number

Figure 10:

5

6

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

Phase Number

2

3

4

5

6

Phase Number

Variation of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn - suspension towers, dconductor = 2 mm.

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438 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 0.8

0.016

0.12

Re = 1080

0.1

Re = 1620

Re = 1080

0.014

0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02

Re = 1620

0.6

0.01

0.5

0.008

0.4

0.006

0.3

0.004

0.2

0

0 1

2

3

4

5

6

0

1

Phase Number

Figure 11:

Re = 1620

0.1

0.002

0

Re = 1080

0.7

0.012

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

2

Phase Number

3

4

5

6

Phase Number

Variation of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn - suspension towers - with distributed mud, dconductor = 2 mm.

4 Results and discussions 4.1 Experimental measurements Three wind speeds (5, 10 and 15 m/s) were applied in the experiments. Three conductor diameters (2, 5 and 15 mm) were used in the investigation. Figures 911 show the variation of horizontal and vertical displacements as well as additional tension for a conductor diameter of 2 mm. From Fig. 9, for the tension towers, it is clear that the normalized horizontal displacement (∆Xn) increases with both sag and wind velocity. The normalized vertical displacement (∆Yn) changes by small amounts with wind speed. For the smaller sag (sag/span = 0.04) almost no change is noticed for Re = 540 and 1080 (Re is the Reynolds number = ρa Va d/µa). The normalized wind force (Tn) is obtained by dividing the additional wind force (Eq. 6) by the original conductor tension (T = ρw g Qo). No additional force is recorded expect for Re = 1620 and sag/span = 0.06 where Tw ≅ 25 % T. From Fig. 10, for the suspension towers, it is noticed that ∆Xn and ∆Yn increase with both sag and wind speed. However, Tn decreases slightly with the wind speed. It seems that conductors are free to move with the increase of wind speed without much increase of Tn. Comparing Figs. 9 and 10, it is obvious that values of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn for the suspension towers are one order of magnitude higher than those of the tension towers. To consider the effect of mud, three pieces of mud were distributed equally along each conductor. The effect of mud on ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn is shown in Fig. 11. Comparing Figs. 10 and 11, it is clear that mud has a small effect on both ∆Xn and ∆Yn. However, the values of [Tn]mud are 2 to 4 times the values of Tn without mud. This may be attributed partially to the increase of overall weight of the conductor but mainly to the additional disturbance created by mud pieces in the flow field around the conductors. These conductors take the form of circular cylinders with coshine distribution. Thus, a big increase of the aerodynamic drag is expected. Figures 12 and 13 illustrate the variations of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn for different values of sag/span and wind speed at a conductor diameter of 5 mm. It is demonstrated that the values of ∆Xn and ∆Yn of the suspension towers are one-order of magnitude higher than the tension towers. Values of [Tn]suspension equals 4-6 [Tn]tension. Comparing Figs. 10 and 13, it is found that [Tn]d=5 mm ≅ 3-4 [Tn]d= 2 mm. Figures 14 and 15 show the variations of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn for a strand conductor of d = 15 mm. The effect of distributed mud or complete mud on the conductor is shown in Fig. 14. The case of complete mud resembles the case of ice covering the whole conductor with increase of 3 mm in diameter. Almost the same range of ∆Xn and ∆Yn is obtained for both complete and distributed mud cases. For Re = 12150, [Tn]distributed mud is relatively greater than [Tn]complete mud. Comparing Figs. 10, 13 and 15, it is obvious that the increase of the diameter of the conductor increases considerably the values of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn. This may be attributed to the change of the wake pattern behind the conductor [4, 15]. Thus, the aerodynamic drag increases with diameter (which means the increase of Reynolds number) and thus pushes the conductor horizontally and vertically. An important point to state is that there is a noticeable mutual aerodynamic interference between the conductors of different phases. However, this point needs deeper investigation [1, 11, 19]. Also, deeper knowledge is needed on the swinging and clashing risks of cables in large bundles without spacers. 0.016

0.01

Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 1350 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1350 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 4050 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 4050

0.014 0.012

0.8

Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 1350 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1350 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 4050 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 4050

0.009 0.008 0.007

0.7 0.6

0.01

0.006

0.5

0.008

0.005

0.4

0.004

0.3

0.006

0.003

0.004

0.2

0.002

0.002

0.001

0

0 1

2

3

4

5

0.1 0 1

6

2

3

Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 4050 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 4050 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 4050

0.08 0.07

5

6

1

2

3

4

5

6

Phase Number

Variation of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn - tension towers, dconductor = 5 mm. 0.024

0.1 0.09

4

Phase Number

Phase Number

Figure 12:

Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 1350 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 1350 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 4050 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 4050

1

Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 4050 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 4050 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 4050

0.02 0.016

Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 2700 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 4050 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 4050 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 4050

0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6

0.06

0.5

0.012

0.05

0.4

0.04

0.008

0.03 0.02

0.3 0.2

0.004

0.1

0.01

0

0

0 1

2

3

4

5

1

6

2

3 4 Phase Number

Phase Number

0.006

Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 4050 - With Distributed Mud Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 8100 - With Distributed Mud Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 12150 - With Distributed Mud Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 4050 - With Complete Mud (Ice) Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 8100 - With Complete Mud (Ice) Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 12150 - With Complete Mud (Ice)

0.014 0.012

0.004

0.01

0.006

0.2

4

5

6

0.16 0.12

0.002

0.08

0.001

0.04

0.004 0.002 0

0 3

4

Phase Number

Figure 14:

3

5

6

Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 4050 - With Distributed Mud Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 8100 - With Distributed Mud Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 12150 - With Distributed Mud Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 4050 - With Complete Mud (Ice) Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 8100 - With Complete Mud (Ice) Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 12150 - With Complete Mud (Ice)

0.24

0.003

2

2

Phase Number

Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 4050 - With Distributed Mud Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 8100 - With Complete Mud (Ice) Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 12150 - With Distributed Mud Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 4050 - With Complete Mud (Ice) Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 8100 - With Distributed Mud Sag/Span = 0.10 - Re = 12150 - With Complete Mud (Ice)

0.005

0.008

1

1

6

Variation of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn - suspension towers, dconductor = 5 mm.

Figure 13: 0.016

5

0 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

Phase Number

2

3

4

5

6

Phase Number

Variation of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn - tension towers - strand conductor, dconductor = 15 mm.

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440 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability (a) Horizontal displacement (∆Xn).

0.05

0.14 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 8100 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 8100 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 8100 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 12150 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 12150 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 12150

0.12 0.1

(b) Vertical displacement (∆Yn).

0.04 0.035

0.08 0.06

(c) Wind force (Tn). 1.6

Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 8100 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 8100 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 8100 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 12150 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 12150 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 12150

0.045

1.2

0.03

1

0.025

0.8

0.02

0.6

0.015

0.04

0.4

0.01 0.02

0.005

0

0 1

2

3

4

5

6

0.2 0 1

2

3

4

5

6

1

2

3

Phase Number

Phase Number

Figure 15:

Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 8100 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 8100 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 8100 Sag/Span = 0.1 - Re = 12150 Sag/Span = 0.07 - Re = 12150 Sag/Span = 0.04 - Re = 12150

1.4

4

5

6

Phase Number

Variation of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn - suspension towers - strand conductor, dconductor = 15 mm.

4.2 Least-squares regression In order to generalize the measurements, least-squares regression was used to find the relation between the different parameters that affect the normalized vertical and horizontal displacements as well as normalized additional wind load. Two types of curve regression were applied, namely: multiple linear and multiple exponential. They take the following forms: 1-Multiple Linear: (7) (i) ∆Xn = aox + a1x (Ph) + a2x Re + a3x ρLn + a4x Sn (ii) ∆Yn = aoy + a1y (Ph) + a2y Re + a3y ρLn + a4y Sn (8) (iii) Tn = aot + a1t (Ph) + a2t Re + a3t ρLn + a4t Sn (9) 2-Multiple Exponential: (10) (i) ∆Xn = aox exp[ a1x (Ph) + a2x Re + a3x ρLn + a4x Sn] (ii) ∆Yn = aoy exp[ a1y (Ph) + a2y Re + a3y ρLn + a4y Sn] (11) (12) (iii) Tn = aot exp[ a1t (Ph) + a2t Re + a3t ρLn + a4t Sn] Table 1:

The regression coefficients for the suspension towers.

Coefficient aox a1x a2x a3x a4x Regression 2 - 215 818 - 48 54 Linear -2 -5 -8 -2 -2 Exponential

aoy

a1y a2y a3y a4y aot a1t a2t a3t a4t

655 224 ×10 ×10 ×10 ×10 ×10 ×10-5 ×10-6 102 - 215 818 - 48 54 100657 224 ×10-2 ×10-5 ×10-8 ×10-2 ×10-2 ×10-5 ×10-6

727 ×10-9 727 ×10-9

- 24 4 - 236 ×10-3 ×10-2 ×10-3 - 24 4 79 ×10-3 ×10-2 ×10-2

- 62 ×10-4 - 62 ×10-4

313 ×10-7 313 ×10-7

1624 ×10-3 1624 ×10-3

Table 2:

The regression coefficients for the tension towers.

Coefficient Regression Linear

aox a1x a2x a3x a4x aoy a1y a2y a3y a4y aot a1t a2t a3t a4t

Exponential

- 24 ×10-4 998 ×10-3

-4 ×10-5 -4 ×10-5

17 ×10-7 17 ×10-7

-5 7 11 ×10-2 ×10-2 ×10-4 -5 7 999 ×10-2 ×10-2 ×10-3

- 71 ×10-6 - 71 ×10-6

- 17 ×10-8 - 17 ×10-8

25 ×10-3 25 ×10-3

285 ×10-4 285 ×10-4

-136 ×10-3 873 ×10-3

- 11 ×10-3 - 11 ×10-3

- 29 ×10-6 - 29 ×10-6

- 54 ×10-2 - 54 ×10-2

736 ×10-2 736 ×10-2

468 ×10-2 468 ×10-2

Matlab 6.1 package was used to find the coefficients of Eqs. 7-12. Tables 1 and 2 show the coefficients for both the linear and exponential regression for the suspension and tension towers, respectively. Figs. 16 and 17 show the results of regression for some test cases. It is clear that linear regression gives the best WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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results. When considering the values of a1, it is obvious that the phase location has a smaller effect on ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn than other factors except Re. The values of the coefficient a2 show that, within the tested values of Reynolds number, Re has almost negligible effect on ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn. A summary of a general scheme (methodology) of the effect of wind/environment conditions on the power transmission lines is shown in Fig. 18. The scheme covers other aspects than those considered in the present study. 0

100

∆ Xn - Regression

10

10-1

Problem Description Transmission line design or wind-protection

-1

Setting the wind and environmental conditions: (1) Wind speed and direction. (2) Topography effect (Mountains, ridges, sea shore, etc.). (3) Ice and/or mud distributions.

10-2

10-3

Multiple-Linear Multiple-Exponential

-2

10

10-2

∆ Xn - Measurements

0

10

Multiple-Linear Multiple-Exponential

-4

100

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

∆ Xn - Measurements

100

100

∆ Yn - Regression

10

10-1

10-1

Multiple-Linear Multiple-Exponential

10

-1

10

-2

∆Yn - Regression

∆ Xn - Regression

10

Experimental Investigations

10-3 Multiple-Linear Multiple-Exponential

10-2 10-2

10-1

∆ Yn - Measurements

100

10

-4

10-4

Setting the specifications of the transmission-line system: (1) 66 kV, 130 kV, 220 kV, etc. (2) Lattice or pole towers. (3) Type and size of conductors. (4) Height of towers. (5) Sag of conductors.

10-3

10-2

10-1

∆Yn - Measurements

100

Neural Network predictions

Finding the equivalent static wind load: (1) Wind load on conductors. (2) Wind load on towers. (3) Wind load on insulator and hardware for insulator assembly. (4) Combination of the above wind loads. Finding the horizontal and vertical displacements of the conductors of all phases. Redesign or wind-protection arrangements of the transmission line

Figure 16: Regression results for the suspension towers.

5

Figure 17: Regression results for the tension towers.

Figure 18: General scheme of the wind-effect study.

Conclusions

The present study is an experimental investigation of the effect of environmental conditions on high voltage transmission lines. Different parameters were investigated such as conductor diameter and phase, wind speed, tower type, and distribution of mud. The horizontal and vertical displacements as well as the additional tension, due to wind, of the conductors are recorded. From the above discussions, the following points can be stated: 1. Generally, the values of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn depend on conductor diameter, wind speed, sag and distribution of mud. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

442 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 2. For tension towers, the wind effect on ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn appears mainly at the highest value of speed (Va = 15 m/s). 3. Generally, for suspension towers, values of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn may reach oneorder of magnitude higher than those of tension towers. 4. Distributed mud has a small effect on both ∆Xn and ∆Yn. However, distributed mud increases the values of Tn by 2-4 times the values without mud. 5. Increasing the conductor diameter increases considerably the values of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn. 6. For suspension towers, Tn may reach 40-50%. Whereas, for tension towers, Tn may reach 10-25%. 7. Increasing the values of ∆Xn, ∆Yn and Tn may be attributed to the change of the wake pattern behind the conductor. Thus, the aerodynamic drag pushes the conductor horizontally and vertically. 8. There is a mutual aerodynamic interference between the different phases that need deeper investigation. 9. Further investigations are needed to estimate wind load on tower structure. The authors wish that the present investigation contributes to wide the spectrum of understanding the wind effect on high voltage transmission systems, simplify the wind load evaluation method, and improve the design tools. The authors also believe that further investigations are certainly needed.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Ahmed, A. & Ostowari, C., Longitudinally and transversely spaced cylinders in cross flow. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 36, pp. 1095-1104, 1990. Bayliss, C., Transmission and Distribution Electrical Engineering, 2ndEdition, Newnes-Elsevier Publisher, 1999. Daconti, J. R., Increasing power transfer capability of existing transmission lines, Power Technologies, Inc., 2003, http://www.ewh.ieee. org/r1/schenectady/feb21_2003_lecture.pdf. Fujisawa, N. & Nakabayashi, T., Neural network control of vortex shedding from a circular cylinder using rotational feedback oscillations. Fluids & Structures, 16 (1), pp. 113-119, 2002. Grigsby, L. L., The Electric Power Engineering Handbook, CRC PressIEEE Press, 2001. Ishikawa, T., et al., Establishment of recommendations for wind loads on transmission towers – a draft, http://criepi.denken.or.jp/en/e_publication/a2003/03seika38.pdf. Ishikawa, T. & Nakamura, H., Derivation of gust response factor for transmission steel tower. Abiko Research Laboratory Rep. No. U97100, CRIEPI, 1998. Ishikawa, T. & Nakamura, H., Derivation of gust response factor and maximum horizontal tension of aerial cables. Abiko Research Laboratory Rep. No. U98004, CRIEPI, 1998. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26]

443

Ishikawa, T., Study on wind load evaluation method considering the dynamic effect for transmission towers. Structural Mechanics and Earthquake Eng., JSCE, 738, I-64, 2003. Ishikawa, T., et al., Evaluation techniques of wind load and gust response for overhead transmission lines. CRIEPI review, 48, 2003. Matsumoto, M., Shiraishi, N. & Shirato, H., Aerodynamic instabilities of twin circular cylinders. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 33, pp. 91-100, 1990. McCurdy, J. D., Sullivan, C. R. & Petrenko, V. F., Using dielectric losses to de-ice power transmission lines with 100 kHz high-voltage excitation, IAS 2001, http://thayer.dartmouth.edu/other/inductor/papers/hfdeice.pdf. Nakamura, H., et al., Studies on local wind and wind-resistance design of transmission tower-conductor systems, http: //criepi.denken.or.jp/en/e_publication/a1999/99seika26.pdf. Peterson Jr., A. J. & Hoffmann, S., Transmission line conductor design comes of age, 2003, http://www.findarticles.com/articles/mi_m0CXO/ is_6_55/ai_103697698. Prasad, A. & Williamson, C. H. K., A method for the reduction of bluff body drag. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 69-71, pp. 155-167, 1997. Putnam, E., Country negotiates power line deal, Wausau Daily Herald, 2004, http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/wdhlocal/294057820857405. shtml. Raniga, J. & Rayudu, R. K., Stretching transmission line capabilities – A transpower investigation, Institution of Professional Engineers, New Zealand, http://www.cfacs.co.nz/download/Dlripenz.pdf. Ryan, H. M., High Voltage Engineering and Testing, 2nd-Edition, IEE, 2001. Tokoro, S., Komatsu, H., Nakasu, M., Mizuguchi, K. & Kasuga, A., A study on wake-galloping employing full aeroelastic twin cable model. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 88, pp. 247-261, 2000. For Uprating Overhead Lines, Shaw Power Technologies, Inc., 2004, www.shawgrp.com/PTI/consulting/transmission/rating_monitor.cfm. Monitoring Transmission Lines, VAISALA, Finland, www.vaisala.com/DynaGen_Attachments/Att33124/VN165_p19.pdf. National Power Transmission Co. “Transelectrica” SA, Romania, Project No. 33354, 2004, http://www.ebrd.com/projects/psd/psd2004/33354.htm. Upgrading Transmission Capacity for Wholesale Electric Power Trade, www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/pubs_html_feat_trans_capacity/w_sale.html. Winter Storms, http://www.ci.eugene.or.us/HRRS/EmerPlan/MHMPch7 WinterStrms.pdf. http://criepi.denken.or.jp. Free download from Internet.

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Capacity building for effective municipal environmental management in South Africa T. C. Meyer & E. le Roux Centre for Environmental Management, North-West University, South Africa

Abstract Sustainable urban management and development is a critical issue for the 21st century that needs to be addressed by strong, decentralized local governments. The pervasive weakness of local governments and the lack of capacity of municipal institutions are major impediments to sustainable development and require capacity building initiatives at various levels. This paper discusses a municipal environmental management capacity building programme in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. It provides details of the municipalities, the municipal environmental management function, officials and councillors that participated, as well as environmental management initiatives in participant municipalities. Norms for quality education that was adhered to during the programme are also discussed. Programmes like these can go a long way towards improving the environmental management capacity in local authorities, enabling them to address relevant issues effectively. The success of sustainable development initiatives depend on the way municipal management, their partners and other spheres of government, act coherently and with common purpose in addressing specific local challenges. Note: when used in this article, sustainable development means the integration of social, economic and environmental factors into planning, implementation and decision-making so as to ensure that development serves present and future generations. Environmental management refers to the management of human activities to mitigate actual or prevent potential impacts on the environment. In relation to sustainable development, it only focuses on environmental factors. Keywords: urban environmental management, capacity building, training programme, participants, sustainable development.

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446 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

South Africa’s transformation started off with a political change in 1994 and is proceeding with a transformation of all spheres and levels of society, economy and governance. As a result, there is no clear understanding of municipal environmental management activities or the people involved. This study was undertaken to provide a better understanding of these activities and individuals. 1.1 Improving urban governance With half of the world’s population living in urban settlements, the issue of sustainable urban management and development is one of the critical issues for the 21st century (WSSD [1]). Urban areas produce a series of environmental problems arising from the consumption of natural resources and the consequent generation of pollution and waste. These problems contribute to the development of social and economic imbalances in urban societies. How governments and communities meet the concurrent challenges of rapid urbanization, poverty, development, and protection of the natural environment will largely determine the world’s future. Better local governance is a key to meeting urban challenges. There is growing consensus globally that national governments cannot manage and control complex cities and towns. Only strong, decentralized local governments, in touch with and involving their citizens and working in partnership with national governments, are in a position to do so (WSSD [1], HABITAT [2]).This is also echoed by Agenda 21, a comprehensive plan of action to be implemented in every area in which humans impact on the environment (UNCED [3]). Shifting authority from central governments to municipalities can help make policies, plans, and actions more responsive, especially to the urban poor (Hinrichsen et al. [4]). National governments should move towards playing the role of the enabler, while local governments move towards more direct control over the planning and management of urban areas. To enable local governments to perform these new functions, national governments need to devolve budget authority and resources to the municipal level, enhance the administrative capacity of local governments and promote public participation, particularly by local community members (HABITAT [2], HABITAT [5], World Bank [6]). South Africa is a unitary state consisting of three distinct, interrelated and interdependent spheres of government – national, provincial and local. Cities and towns form part of a developmental system of local government that is made up of six metropolitan municipalities and 47 district municipalities (containing 231 local municipalities) that cover the entire geographical area of the country. Cities and towns are viewed as spaces in which the three spheres of government have to take on joint responsibility to ensure the overall success of urban functionality and efficiency. The extent, to which sustainable development is achieved, depends on the way municipal management, together with other spheres of government and partners, act coherently and with common purpose in addressing specific local challenges (Patel [7]). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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1.2 Lack of capacity Local government needs to be both efficient and effective in carrying out programmes that tackle the challenges of equitable and sustainable development. Doing so requires the ability to analyse social, environmental and economic situations, as well as the ability to create creative solution with partners and to communicate effectively with decision-makers. Decision-makers further need the knowledge and ability to set priorities and to work for medium- and long term, as well as short-term objectives (HABITAT [5]). The pervasive weakness of local governments and the lack of capacity of municipal institutions in sub-Saharan Africa is a major impediment to sustainable development. This means that capacity building to manage problems at various levels of government is vital to any sustainable development (World Bank [6]). Therefore, training must encompass local government, as well as its partners and be aimed at council members, as well as officials (HABITAT [5]). In South Africa, environmental management is an area of concurrent jurisdiction for national, provincial and local governments. Although much effort has been put into developing environmental legislative and policy systems since 1994, more activity needs to be devolved to the local and provincial levels, according to the SA Human Rights Commission [8]. Energies and resources need to be concentrated at these levels to facilitate implementation. Capacitating municipalities in environmental management and conservation issues should be a priority of the national and provincial governments, in line with the Constitution. 1.3 Capacitating people for sustainable development Capacity-building has been one of the central notions in the sustainable development agenda since the introduction of the concept in the Brundlandt report and has a particular prominent place in contemporary environmental policy-making. It was identified as the principal ‘means of implementation’ for most of the programme areas of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit Agenda 21 agreement, and as such it has become a crucial element in LA21 programmes worldwide and other initiatives for sustainable development (Evans et al. [9]). According to Chapter 37 of Agenda 21, the ability of a country to follow sustainable development paths is to a large extent determined by the capacity of its people and its institutions. A fundamental goal of capacity building is to enhance the ability to evaluate and address the crucial questions related to policy options and modes of implementation among development options (UNCED [3]). Evans et al. [9] argues that capacity-building is usually understood as a process that strengthens the ability of local communities and organisations to build their structures, systems, people and skills in order to undertake and develop initiatives that will contribute to sustainable development. As a concept, capacity-building clearly goes beyond the training of individuals to the strengthening of the institutions and frameworks within which they work (HABITAT [5]). The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP’s) Capacity 21 programme understands capacity-building as the ‘sum of all efforts needed to nurture, enhance and utilise the skills of people and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

448 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability institutions to progress towards sustainable development’ (UNDP [10]. Sustainable development capacity-building can be defined as all measures that strengthens the governmental structures to meet the demand of sustainable development, as well as measures that create these capacities in cooperation with civil society (Evans et al. [9]).

2

Municipal environmental management capacity building

The Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture and Land Administration (DALA), through its interactions and co-operation with important role players, identified the need to strengthen the capacity of municipalities so that they can play a meaningful and constructive role in environmental management and sustainable development in the Mpumalanga Province. In association with the Centre for Environmental Management (CEM), DALA developed the environmental management training programme for municipalities. The aim of the capacity building programme was to provide municipalities with a basic theoretical understanding of environmental management. The programme consisted of nine modules (courses), 3 to 5 days long, which was presented between July 2004 and October 2005. A total of 91 people from 20 local and 5 district municipalities participated in the training programme. A core group of 28 participants attended more than six modules, while 43 attended less than four modules. An average of 42 participants attended each module. 2.1 Profile of participating municipalities The context within which the programme was delivered is provided by this short profile of the participating local municipalities (n=20), focussing on a few key characteristics (Table 1). Table 1:

Key characteristics of municipalities that participated in the programme (Gaffney [11]). Characteristic 2

Area (km ) Population size Population density (/km2) Urban (% of population) Rural (% of population) Electricity (% access) Water (% access) Sanitation (% access) Operational budget (ZAR million) Capital budget (ZAR million)

Average (± standard deviation) 3253 (± 1385) 177284(± 87752) 66.1(± 47.1) 42.1(± 31.2) 57.9(± 31.2) 54.2(± 18.0) 77.6(± 12.6) 88.8(± 8.9) 154.5 (±140.0)

1415 – 5105 43007 – 474806 10 – 194 1.1 – 93 7 – 98.9 21 – 83 54 – 91 71 – 98 38.2 – 472.8

51.6 (±47.5)

5.7 – 203.0

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Range

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2.2 Profile of municipal environmental management activities in participating municipalities Municipal managers in Mpumalanga were requested to nominate participants to the training programme. Participants (n=74) were classified into 8 distinct and relative uniform functions, according to their job titles. Figure 1 reflects the functional (departmental) affiliation of the total number of individual participants that were nominated, while Figure 2 reflects the percentage of municipalities with participants from the various functional (departmental) affiliations. The environmental health function in municipalities were best represented during the programme, with 25% of all individuals coming from this function, while 65% of all municipalities nominated a participant from this function. Other functions that were also well represented were community services (15% of individuals and nearly 40% of municipalities), IDP (12% of individuals and more than 30% of municipalities). It is interesting to note the active participation of elected politicians (councillors) as the second largest group (22% of individuals and nearly 70% of municipalities). Although not indicated in the figures, 16 officials from the DALA also attended the training programme. Municipal environmental management is primarily responsible for protecting, respecting, promoting and fulfilling the rights of the people in the municipality to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being. On the one hand, it entails activities classified as municipal health functions, i.e. water quality monitoring, waste management (cleansing, refuse removal, refuse dumps and solid waste disposal), vector control, control of environmental pollution, disposal of the dead and chemical safety. On the other, it includes activities related to other functions such as the control of air pollution, noise pollution, water and sanitation services (potable water supply, domestic waste-water and sewage disposal systems), municipal planning, fire fighting services, municipal public works (buildings and facilities needed to administer assigned functions), storm water management systems in Municipality representation

Individual affiliation

Environmental health Parks Environment Other

Community Services Planning & Development IDP Council

Figure 1: Functional affiliation of individual participants.

20% 10% 0%

ou nc il

9%

5%

30%

C

8%

40%

P

15%

50%

th er

12%

60%

ID

4%

70%

O

25%

En vi ro nm C en om ta m lh un ea ity l Se t h Pl rv an ic es ni ng & Pa En D rk ev vi s e ro n m lop m en e nt t& W as te

22%

Municipalities (%)

80%

Functions (Departments)

Figure 2: Functional representation of municipalities.

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450 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability built-up areas, municipal parks and recreation, beaches and amusement facilities, cemeteries, funeral parlours and crematoria, local amenities, billboards and the display of advertisements in public places, local sport facilities, control of public nuisances, facilities for the accommodation, care and burial of animals, pounds, licensing of dogs, fencing and fences, markets, municipal abattoirs, municipal roads, public places, street trading, street lighting, traffic and parking (South Africa [12]). It is clear that various functions (departments) in municipalities are involved in municipal environmental management. 2.3 Participant profile Participants in the programme were classified according to gender (n=90), age (n=67), population group (n=90), formal study (n=52), work experience (n=53) and organisational responsibility (executive [councillors], managerial [line managers], operational [officers]) (n=90). The gender, age and population group profiles of individual participants is reflected in Figure 3, while Figure 4 reflects their formal qualifications, work experience and organisational responsibility profiles. The majority of participants were young African males, between ages 30 and 40. The gender distribution shows an inequality to females, while the population group distribution reflects the population groups of the province fairly well. The participants seem to be fairly mature with an average age of approximately 39 years. Furthermore, 47% of participants fell in the 30 to 40 age category, while 40% were older than 40 years. Gender

Age 4%

15% 37%

35% 63%

46%

Male

<30

Female

30-40

41-50

>50

Population group

21%

79%

White

Figure 3:

African

Gender, age and population group profiles of participants.

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451

Work experience (years) 6%

19% 23%

35%

71% 46%

0-1

2-4

0-3

>4

4-8

>8

Organisational responsibility

23% 39%

38%

Executive

Figure 4:

Managerial

Operational)

Formal study, work experience and organisational responsibility profile of participants.

On average, delegates had 3.6 years formal education and 13.5 years working experience. It is interesting to note that nearly 20% of delegates had no or limited formal education (less than 2 years), the majority of these being councillors, while more than a third had more than 4 years formal education. Environmental health (30%) and education (26%) were the most common fields of study, while more than 25% of participants also studied nature conservation/horticulture or public/general management. The majority of participants (50%) had been active in the labour market for 5 to 15 years, while 33% had more than 15 years work experience and only 17% had been working for less than 5 years. 2.4 Quality of training programme The following internationally accepted norms (characteristics) for high quality education were addressed during the development and delivery of the training programme: • Interdisciplinary and holistic: Although the focus of the programme was on dealing with environmental issues, social and economical aspects were embedded in the curriculum. This was mandated by the legal definition of the environment in the South African National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), No. 107 of 1998 that includes the physical, chemical, aesthetic and cultural properties WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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•

•

•

•

•

•

•

and conditions of the surroundings within which humans exist (land, water, atmosphere; micro-organisms, plant and animal life; any part or combination of these and the interrelationships among and between them) that influence human health and well-being. It was also supported by the sustainable development principles in the said act and the emphasis in the South African society and municipal management on social and economic development; Value-driven: The NEMA, apart from stating that “development must be socially, environmentally and economically sustainable”, explicitly spells out eight shared values and principles underpinning sustainable development that were examined, debated, tested and applied throughout the training; Critical thinking and problem solving: Participants were exposed to practical case studies, either in the classroom or through site visits, to facilitate the internalisation of the concepts. They were challenged to not only identify the challenges of sustainable development, but also to suggest some solutions to these, thereby building their confidence to address similar issues in their own municipalities; Multi-method: Wherever possible, the learning programme was structured to be highly interactive and participative, enabling facilitators and learners to work together to acquire knowledge and find solutions; Participatory decision-making: Although the learners themselves did not participate in decisions on how they were to learn, all modules were discussed between DALA and the CEM and customised to address specific needs and learn from local case studies; Applicability: Municipalities were requested to nominate one councillor and one relevant senior manager to attend the programme, to allow for the integration of the learning experiences into municipal environmental management. This requires both technical managers that are able to do the necessary planning and budgeting to address environmental issues, as well as councillors that understand the extent and importance of such issues in order to mobilise council support. All participants were also constantly encouraged to integrate the learning experiences in their day to day personal life. Locally relevant: Conscious efforts were made to identify opportunities for involving local facilitators and learning from Mpumalanga practical case studies. This not only illustrated concepts and practices with local examples, but also strengthened and sometimes even created links between the municipalities and other relevant role-players. The programme also incorporated the following two important CEM policies: to sustain only a small core team of skilled specialists that is supported by a network of handpicked specialists in various relevant fields. The programme was designed and delivered by a team of four people, but involved a total of 67 facilitators from the academic, research and private sectors, as well as all three spheres of government; WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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to actively promote the development of previously disadvantaged individuals into skilled environmental professionals and use them as presenters and sub-contractors. The nine black male, six black female and 16 white female presenters sub-contracted as facilitators accounts for approximately 50% of all presenters.

2.5 Environmental management activities in the municipalities Participants were regularly given the opportunity to report on activities/projects in their municipalities aimed at addressing environmental issues. A wide range of projects is undertaken by municipalities and communities, in partnerships with government departments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and sponsors (Table 1). These include capacity building, cleaning, gardening, recycling, waste management, storm water control and land protection and rehabilitation projects and programmes, as well as community forum initiatives. The unemployed and the youth in the community are involved in most of the projects.

3

Conclusion

Sustainable urban management and development is a critical issue for the 21st century that needs to be addressed by strong, decentralized local governments. The extent, to which sustainable development is achieved, depends on the way municipal management, together with other spheres of government and partners, act coherently and with common purpose in addressing locally specific challenges. However, the pervasive weakness of local governments and lack of capacity of municipal institutions are major impediments to sustainable development and require capacity building initiatives at various levels. Knowledge of the profile of potential participants in training programmes is essential for the development and delivery of high quality capacity building interventions. The profile of municipal officials and councillors involved in municipal environmental management activities will assist service providers to improve customisation and better focus future similar capacity building interventions. The experience during this intervention again highlighted the importance of the following aspects to ensure an effective capacity building programme: • a training needs analysis to ensure that appropriate training is provided; • good co-operation between local partners and environmental specialists is essential for the development of appropriate training material; • customised training material should use locally known examples and incorporate as much visual material as possible; • local conditions should be linked to global environmental problems; • global environmental issues should be addressed at a local level; • competent trainers that are conversant with the local conditions and customs and aware of the potential challenges and windows of opportunity. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

454 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 2:

Summary of municipal activities and projects aimed at addressing environmental issues.

Activity

Description

Environmental awareness programmes

Talk shows, debates, workshops, seminars etc. to educate the youth, ward committees and community members on topics such as air pollution, illegal dumping, waste minimisation and recycling, water conservation and alien invader plant control. Educating food handlers, hawkers, and dairy farmers on basic food and milk hygiene. Competitions to clean and beautify school premises and wards. Includes Adopt-a-School and Adopt-aCommunity initiatives. Campaigns to collect litter and illegal waste. Linked to poverty alleviation projects where unemployed are temporarily employed to assist. Development of open spaces earmarked for parks into sustainable community recreational facilities. Involves changing illegal dumping areas into parks. Growing of tree seedlings and planting indigenous trees along streets, at houses and schools to promote greening and create a healthy living environment. Providing vegetable and medicinal plant seedlings and fruit trees to community members and traditional healers to grow crops for own consumption. Collection of used plastic bags from which bags, hats and doormats are made, as well as empty glass bottles that are sold to glass manufacturer. Establishment of drop in and buy-back centres. Sorted waste is recycled. Production of compost from biodegradable waste. Development, review and implementation of plans and programmes.

Food, milk hygiene and food handling interventions Cleanest school and ward competitions Cleaning up campaigns Parks development projects Tree planting and nursery projects Food gardens, medicinal plant and community orchard projects Community recycling projects Municipal recycling project Composting project Integrated waste management plans and environmental programmes Solid waste management Upgrading of land-fill sites Alien plant removal Wetland protection and land rehabilitation projects Construction of storm water retention ponds Environmental monitoring forum

Extension of refuse removal and cleansing services to rural villages. Fencing, upgrading and registering of landfill sites. Temporary employment of community members to remove alien invasive plants. Projects to protect and sustain wetlands and to rehabilitate areas degraded by illegal sand mining and waste disposal. Control of storm water with controlled releases. Monitoring of industrial processes by experts. Information cleared and reported.

The training programme successfully addressed the norms for quality education, as reflected by the feedback of participants to the programme. The WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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majority of participants (>75%) were positive with regard to the overall impression of the programme, meeting of expectations, relevance, benefits and quality of training, balance and level of the programme, as well as the training methods employed and administrative arrangements. They acknowledged that the individual courses did not only improve their general levels of knowledge, but also their ability to develop and implement appropriate initiatives. Municipalities are involved in numerous projects and programmes addressing environmental issues. The majority of these have either been initiated by government driven programmes (e.g. the clean schools, wards and towns campaign) and poverty alleviation programmes (e.g. Land Care, Working for Water and Working for Wetlands) or by legislative requirements, such as those governing the Integrated Development Programme (IDP) process. However, these initiatives are often perceived and executed as unrelated, independent activities. Participation in the programme assisted participants to realise that all of these are focussed on addressing interrelated municipal environmental issues. South Africa has made tremendous progress in redressing the legacy of the past and meeting the global millennium development targets. However, much more still needs to be done. Although much effort has been put into developing environmental legislative and policy systems, energies and resources now need to be concentrated at the local and provincial levels to facilitate implementation. Capacitating municipalities in environmental management and conservation issues should be a priority of the national and provincial governments in line with the Constitution. In this regard, programmes similar to the one that has been reported on could assist in building municipal environmental management capacity in South Africa.

Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the inputs of the staff of the Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture and Land Administration and colleagues at the Centre for Environment in the successful delivery of the programme.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Local Government declaration to the World Summit on Sustainable Development. World Summit on Sustainable Development: Johannesburg, 2002. United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT), The state of the world’s cities 2001, Habitat: Nairobi, 2001. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Agenda 21, Chapters 28, 36, 37, UNCED: New York, 2002. Hinrichsen, D., Salem, R. & Blackburn, R., Meeting the urban challenge, Population Reports, Series M, Number 16, The John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Baltimore, 2002.

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456 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT), Cities in a globalizing world: Global report on human settlements 2001, Earthscan: London, p. 162, 2001. World Bank Economic Development Institute (EDI), Strengthening Local Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa, EDI Seminar Report Number 21, World Bank: Washington, D.C., 1989. Patel, Y., New Urban Realities: Overview of Urban Challenges Facing South Africa, Presentation at World Urban Forum: Barcelona, 2004. South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), The right to a healthy environment. 5th Economic and Social Rights Report Series, South African Human Rights Commission: Pretoria, 2004. Evans B., Joas M., Sundback S. & Theobald K., Governing sustainable cities, Earthscan: London, pp. 23, 26, 28, 2004. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Capacity 21 Annual report: Local Action, National Impact, UNDP: New York, 1999. Leon, J (ed.), Gaffney’s Local government in South Africa 2004-2006, Official yearbook, Gaffney Group: Johannesburg, pp. 810-824, 2004. South Africa, Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act, Act No 108 of 1996. Schedules 4 & 5. Government Printer: Pretoria, 1996.

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Minimization of adverse environmental effects of a sports complex through implementation of green management M. Abbaspour1, A. R. Karbasi2 & S. Khadivi3 1

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran 2 Iran Energy Efficiency Organization, Tehran, Iran 3 Center for Environment & Energy Research and Study (Science & Research Branch of Islamic Azad University), Tehran, Iran

Abstract Implementation of green management in sports complexes can ensure the continuous arrangement and assessment of activities from an environmental perspective and will end up with the control and prevention of contaminants. Enghelab Sports Complex in Iran was selected for this study due to its size and long-term activities. The establishment of Enghelab Sports Complex is among important national projects whose framework was founded in the late 1950s. Due to the comprehensive plan of the aforesaid sports complex, numerous centers and departments were established in this site in order to materialize its envisioned sports, recreational and cultural objectives. Green management pursues greater productivity, lower water and energy consumption, reduction of consumed materials like paper, management of solid wastes and creation of a recycling system in Enghelab Sports Complex. This sophisticated complex provides a broad range of sports and recreational services to the residents of Greater Tehran and thus could be considered as a suitable model for similar facilities. Keywords: green management, consumption pattern, environmental quality, sports complex.

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458 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

During the past few years, new concepts like Green Management, Green Government, Green University and etc have been introduced in management systems [3]. Taking into account the ever-increasing prominence of environmental management in the world arena, the implementation of green management systems could enhance managerial recommendations as well as improve the preparedness of pertinent organizations to face up to future challenges [5]. Therefore, establishment of a green management system with the cooperation of senior managers and members of the related organizations would pave the way for profound alteration and evolution of executive branches of such institutions [2]. The green management system is considered as a management system, which is entrusted with dynamic and continuous arrangement and assessment of activities and processes from the environmental perspective and to monitor, prevent and control contaminants. According to the ratification of the Council of Ministers dated April 6th 2003, green management is considered as a component of the national managerial system and organizations should function based upon the objectives of green management [4]. However, not only are sports complexes are involved with physical education, but they also address cultural, social and recreational aspects. Thus, Enghelab Sports Complex (ESC), as the largest sports complex in the country, is a prominent target for the implementation of green management in sport facilities. The successful implementation of such a system in the above-mentioned sports complex could be used as a model for establishment of green management at national and international levels.

2

Materials and methods

In the first step, the current status of the Sports Complex in terms of available spaces and buildings; number of personnel; diversity of applications; type and number of fauna and vegetation coverage; level of water, electricity and gas consumption and other related parameters was assessed. Secondly, the environmental and energy status of the complex in terms of water quality, noise, air quality, solid wastes, and energy consumption were studied. Moreover, the other pertinent issues of interest like economic and investment aspects for enhancement of the current status were examined. Finally, after conducting the preliminary measures and the above-mentioned study, the guidelines for establishment of green management system in sports complexes are provided based on four major topics namely, (1) education, dissemination of information and enhancement of personnel awareness; (2) measures for optimization of resource consumption; (3) measures to improve the environmental status of the complex, monitoring and continuous supervision; and (4) preparation and implementation of the guidelines in Enghelab Sports Complex along with a list of managerial and executive recommendations.

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Results

In order to establish the green management system in ESC, it is necessary to attain adequate familiarity with the sports and recreational activities as well as the environmental status of the complex. Table 1 shows a summary of related information about this sports complex. Table 1: No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Specifications of Enghelab Sports Complex.

Specifications Number of members in 2003 Number of employees Total area of the complex (Hectares) Green coverage area (Hectares) Average temperature 1989-1999 (ºC) Average annual precipitation 1989-1999 (mm) Number of trees Foundation area of the administration building (m2) Number of in-door pools Number of tennis courts Jurisdiction

Remark 52,083 310 95 70 17.7 245.15 23,951 2,290 3 37 District 3 of Tehran Municipality

In order to determine the environmental status of the complex, eleven stations have been identified to measure the concentration of air pollutants at various time intervals. Figure 1 indicates the location of these stations and Table 2 shows the concentration of major pollutants and the noise levels in the stations.

Figure 1: Location of air and noise pollution measurement stations in Enghelab Sports Complex. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

460 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Noise level ranged from 55 to 105 dBA with a mean value of 68 dBA. Obviously the highest ones have been observed in the borders of the complex with adjacent streets. Table 2:

Concentrations of air pollutants at Enghelab sports complex.

Station No.

Wind Speed (m/s)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

0.49 0.38 0.74 0.34 0.45 1.16 0.5 0.7 1.61 0.5 0

Number of Suspended Particulate Matter ( m No. Per m 3) 261.53 80.09 91.39 141.50 345.22 111.23 89.27 81.96 81.01 82.03 183.95

Min. Max. Mean

0 1.6 0.62

80.09 345.22 140.83

2.5 5.5 4.5 11 4 2 2 3 2 5 24

NO Concen -tration (ppm) 1 2.5 1.5 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.5

2 24 5.9

0 2.5 0.6

CO Concentration (ppm)

Leq (dBA) 68.7 69.1 69 70.3 69.8 69.5 69.3 69.3 67.7 71.5 77.8

65 77.8 72

Numerous visits were made to the complex during different seasons of the year with the intention of determining the status of the produced solid waste (garbage) production in ESC through the identification of solid waste ingredients and the applied management schemes for their collection, transportation and disposal. Manual separation and weighing of the solid waste were conducted to identify the qualitative status of the produced garbage, the results of which are shown in Table 3. Table 3: Status of solid waste production (type and amount) in the complex. Material Plastic Parameter % of Produced Solid Waste Weight of Produced Solid Waste (Tons)/Yr.

Putresciable

Materials

24.1

45.9

131.40

250.75

Glass

Paper

Metal

Total Solid Waste Produced Annually

7.6

19.3

3.1

100

16.97

545.86

41.61 105.12

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A review of the water and electricity bills was made with the aim of assessing the water and energy consumption of the Complex the results of which are presented in Table 4. Table 4:

Water and energy consumption in Enghelab Sports Complex.

Time Consumption Water Consumption (Cubic Meters) Energy Consumption (Kwh)

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

Whole Year

303.9

2904.1

1131

110

4449

1294191

1322161

1550142

1659070

5825564

The status of the administrative building from the energy consumption perspective was studied with the purpose of assessing the potentials for energy conservation in that facility. The aforesaid building was selected as the model for the preliminary auditing. Therefore, electrical appliances in the administrative building were identified and it was found that fan coils consume the highest electricity (744 Kwh/month). The opinions of managers, personnel and members of the Sports Complex are quite useful in proper preparation of the desired management system. Thus, due to the considerable number of members and their related issues, it was decided to prepare a questionnaire and ask 50 members and 50 personnel to fill it out in order to facilitate the proper establishment of green management.

4

Discussion and conclusion

As a result of the conducted studies on the environmental quality of the complex, the consumption pattern of water and energy, and the production of solid waste, the following conclusions were reached. The air quality in the city of Tehran is dependent on the air pollution and its stability. Thus, based on the conducted measurements, the stations adjacent to Seoul and Neayesh Expressways with heavy traffic congestion registered higher levels of air pollution. For this reason, stations No.11 and No.4 registered the highest levels of CO (10.3 ppm and 24 ppm). On the other hand, stations No.2, No.3 and No.11 had the highest levels of NO, registering 2.5 ppm, 1.7 ppm and 1.5 ppm, respectively. Moreover, stations No.11 and No.4 with the highest levels of suspended particulate matter showed 5.2 x106 and 4x106 levels. It is important to point out that most of the registered levels exceeded the permissible standard [1]. The CO levels in stations 11 and 4 surpassed the standard limit of 9 ppm, which indicates the need for remedial measures. Meanwhile, the level of suspended particulate matter in the aforesaid stations went beyond the standard range of suspended particulate matter in clean air (from 200 x 1000 to 1000 x 1000, number of particulate matter per cubic foot of air). It seems that the status WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

462 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability of the air pollution in the Complex is destined to follow the pollution pattern of Tehran [1]. Therefore, reduction of energy consumption in the administrative building was identified (as shown in Table 5). Table 5:

No. Activities

Reduction of energy consumption in the administrative building. Power Consumption (Present Condition) (Kwh/month)

Substitution of light bulbs with low energy consumption 712.8 brands (110 bulbs) 2 Proper use of lighting systems (e.g. using switch 1782 timer) 3 Substitution of old refrigerators with more efficient ones (standard 257.04 labeled refrigerators) (24 refrigerators) 4 Reduction of the number of existing computers and their 624 proper use (16 computers) 5 Reduction of the number of existing printers and their 28.08 proper use 6 Substitution of present copier with star energy labeled 72.8 brand 7 Do not leave TVs unattended 20.8 (2 TVs) 8 Using the fan-coil system with thermostat to control 744 temperature (and stop the system during closing) 9 Proper use of ventilator (and stop the system during 84 closing) Total consumption 4325.25 Total annual consumption 1

Power Consumption Energy Saving (Modified (Kwh/month) Condition) (Kwh/month) 256.4

256.4

891

891

216

41.04

390

234

17.55

10.53

54.6

18.2

5.2

15.6

465

279

52.5

31.5

2348.25

1777.27 21327.24

At the same time, the utilization of GIS and Arc view software, and introduction of the resultant data and information on the levels of Carbon Monoxide and Particulate Matter made it possible to draw up a graphic map of air pollution and the location of the air and noise measurement stations. These maps are shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Figure 2: Air pollution map in Enghelab sports complex (carbon monoxide, ppm).

Figure 3: Air pollution map in Enghelab sports complex (suspended particulate matter, m No. per m3).

The noise quality of the Complex exceeds the standard limits most of the time and the lowest registered level “Leq” belongs to station 9 with a value of 67.7 dBA. On the other hand, the highest registered level belongs to station 11 with a value of 77.8 dBA. By taking into consideration the noise pollution standard in commercial areas of 65 dBA between 7am to 10 pm and 55 dBA between 10 pm to 7am [1], it could be concluded that the noise levels in Enghelab Sports Complex are considerably higher than the permissible limits. This issue becomes more significant, when the instantaneous noise levels of over 105 dBA at the Complex are taken into consideration. The above-mentioned values indicate the need for control and monitoring measures by the pertinent authorities. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

464 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 6:

Guidelines for promotion of green management in sports complexes. Action

1-Training, Dissemination of information and Enhancement of Members and Personnel’s Awareness

2-Implementation of Optimization Measures on Resource Consumption

3-Measures for Enhancement of Environmental Conditions of The Complex

4-Continuous monitoring and supervision

Remarks 1-1- Providing training on protection of the environment to the members 1-2- Providing training to the personnel on protection and preservation of the environment 1-3- Providing training to the personnel of the Complex on protection and preservation of the resources 2-1- Measures for reduction of water consumption 2-2- Practical measures for reduction of electricity consumption 2-3- Practical measures for reduction of the consumption of natural gas 2-4- Practical measures for reduction of paper consumption 2-5- Practical measures for improvement of energy consumption in heating and air conditioning systems 3-1-Measures for reduction of solid waste production and separation of garbage at origin 3-2- Measures to reduce noise pollution 3-3- Measures to reduce air pollution 3-4- Measures to reduce wastewater production 4.1- Monitoring the activities for optimization of paper, water and energy consumption 4.2- Monitoring and supervision of educational training programs and their proper implementation 4.3- Monitoring and supervision of environmental quality

The total amount of solid waste produced in this Complex is 547.5 tons/yr. In 2004 the constituents were plastic (24.1%), putresciable materials (45.9%), glass (7.6%), paper (19.3%) and metal (3.1%). According to the economic analysis conducted, the investment required for implementation of all the solid waste separation techniques amounts to US$11200. The appropriate implementation of the above-mentioned techniques and selling of the separated wastes could produce an annual income of US$13079.13, which indicates an investment return in 11 months. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Based on these studies, new schemes for energy consumption in the administrative building and ultimately recommendations for reduction of energy consumption in the aforesaid building are provided. Although, only a portion of these energy conservation methods are mentioned here, their implementation will increase the energy efficiency of the building considerably. According to the results of the completed questionnaires, green management checklists and the assessment of the green group, the average electricity consumption for illumination of the building and the surrounding areas, the average electricity consumption in heating and air conditioning facilities and the average water consumption in the building and the surrounding area are estimated. The result of the present investigation is indicative of a medium level of optimization for energy and water consumption in ESP and there is a high potential to improve the efficiency of the system. Meanwhile, the results of the questionnaires distributed amongst the members and the personnel of the Complex revealed that approximately 50% occupants were not acquainted with green management and only 30% were faintly familiar with it. The personnel’s knowledge on green management was much better and about 64% of them were well acquainted with the related issues. The importance of general and specialized training of personnel and members is quite significant in proper implementation of green management. According to the results of the study, the following guidelines in four major topics are provided to modify and enhance the water, paper and energy consumption pattern for the improvement of the environmental status of the Complex and proper execution of green management. As conclusion, in order to establish Green Management in such sports complexes it is necessary to create a proper environment, in which all people whether as members or employees do their best to cooperate in the preservation of all aspects of the environment. The management of a sports complex adapts itself by making necessary changes in the present organizational chart to meet such a demand.

References [1] DOE, “Environmental Regulations and Standards”, Department of the Environment Publications, 2003. [2] Maknoun, R., “Green Government, The Experience of the Presidential Office”, Bulletin No. 10, Higher Council for Protection of the Environment, Sustainable Development National Committee., 2003 . [3] Reyahi, M., “Establishment of Green Management System in Executive Institutions as an Instrument for Environmental and Economic Activities at National and International Levels in Accordance with the Objectives of the 4th National development Plan”, 5th Bi-annual National Conference of Iranian Society of Environmentalists, 2004. [4] DOE, “Green Government for Culture & Sports Centers”, Department of Environment Publications, 5th Volume, 2003. [5] www.greengovernment.com WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Strategic spatial planning and environmental management: the impact of Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme in Rio de Janeiro V. A. Carneiro da Silva & G. Ribeiro School of Architecture, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark

Abstract This paper looks at a prominent example of planning for sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro, namely the Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme. We examine the role of the Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme against the background of socio-economic and spatial trends in the last decade, identifying patterns of segregation and polarization on these levels. Beyond the fact that such patterns follow urban development tendencies under the impact of globalization which also have been documented elsewhere, we are interested here in looking at how the Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme has contributed to reinforce existing trends of spatial and socio-economic segregation through the way in which sanitation infrastructure has been implemented in different areas of the city. In order to do that, we look here at two neighbourhoods located on opposite sides of the same, heavily polluted Guanabara Bay. The first is Icaraí, a high-income area where the beach, despite being polluted and being closed for bathing for many years, has remained a recreational amenity. The second is Maré Complex, a low-income community which has been closed off from the bay by series of urban interventions, such as the free-way containing the main traffic towards Rio de Janeiro International Airport. The Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme interventions in both areas have contributed to perpetuate and reinforce existing patterns of spatial segregation, both between neighbourhoods of different socio-economic status and between such neighbourhoods and potential environmental amenities. Keywords: Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme, strategic planning, environmental management, sustainability, Rio de Janeiro, urban development.

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468 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

An earlier study on intra-metropolitan inequalities in Rio de Janeiro [8] analyses the impact of the Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme (GBCP), the biggest environmental management programme in Brazil in the last three decades with a budget of US$ 860.5 Million. The main conclusion of that study was that whilst the GBCP plays an important role in improving existing infrastructure of lowincome areas in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area, it has also contributed to reaffirm inherited patterns of spatial segregation between different social groups through the design and implementation of sanitation facilities. In addition, the GBCP has limited its environmental approach in the process of implementation and instead of dealing with the Guanabara Bay as a complex ecosystem it has narrowed its scope down to become a sanitation programme. In this paper we move from an analysis at a metropolitan scale, to an investigation at a local scale, focusing on two neighbourhoods located on the Guanabara Bay’s waterfront, tracing the impact of GBCP interventions in each of those areas and thus providing further evidence and documentation for the above claims.

2

The Guanabara Bay Hydrographical Basin (GBHB)

The Guanabara Bay Hydrographical Basin (GBHB) accommodates 2/3 of the entire metropolitan population of Rio de Janeiro (approximately eight million people). The vast majority of that population lives in Guanabara Bay’s North Zone and consists of low-income groups housed in modest residential schemes or in informal settlements [9]. The Guanabara Bay’s South Zone on the opposite side of the Guanabara Bay accommodates, by contrast, high-income social groups living in flats costing up to € 1.5 million. The Guanabara Bay Area receives 17 m3/second of domestic sewage – that is 465 tons per day, only 68 tons of this sewage has had some kind of treatment and most of that treatment is just primary. In addition, it receives a large volume of industrial waste: 64 tons/day of organic material and 0.3 tons/day of oils and heavy metals (chrome, lead, zinc, mercury, etc). On the whole, 7 tons/day of waste are released by oil refineries and ports [5, 6]. Other sources of pollution are the rivers belonging to GBHB that have been contributing with 4,000,000 tons/year of waste. In addition, there are many garbage landfills, official and unofficial, that have a large environmental impact and release 800 litres/day of chorume (extremely toxic liquid that leaks from solid waste landfills) in the Guanabara Bay. Another type of intervention with a large degradation impact are landfills which cover 91 km2, an area which previously integrated the Guanabara Bay – that amounts to 29.1% of its area. These landfills have contributed to a pronounced depletion of the Bay’s ecosystem, mainly due to the destruction of mangroves – an essential feature of the Guanabara Bay. Those mangroves that originally covered an area of 260 km2 are confined today to only 82 km2 [2, 5].

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469

Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme (GBCP)

The Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme (GBCP) was launched as an aftermath of the Rio World Summit in 1992 with an initial budget of US$ 860.5 million. The Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme has mainly focussed on the provision of sanitation infrastructure (an activity which takes up 88.19 % of the overall budget of the programme). This has been realised through the creation of a sanitation belt around the Guanabara Bay with the construction of new sewage treatment units and the upgrading of existing ones, as well as the extension and implementation of sewer pipelines, collectors and submarine emissaries [3, 6]. The choice of location for sanitation facilities can be described as a piece of strategic urban planning, which has had an important impact on the spatial organization of local neighbourhoods. This paper looks at two neighbourhoods containing sewage treatment units which were either implemented or upgraded by the GBCP. The first is Maré – located on the North Zone – an area which contains the biggest complex of “favelas” (informal settlements) in Rio de Janeiro. The second is Icaraí, a highincome neighbourhood located on the Guanabara Bay’s South Zone.

Figure 1: Location of Maré Complex and Icaraí in Rio de Janeiro.

4

The Maré Complex

The Maré Complex, occupying a landfill on what used to be the Inhaúma Inlet, is the most polluted spot of the Guanabara Bay and one of the poorest and most dangerous urban areas of Brazil – it has been dubbed Gaza Strip by the media. It is composed of sixteen communities and it is the biggest agglomeration of shantytowns in Rio de Janeiro. It has 132,176 inhabitants distributed in 38,273

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470 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability houses and represents 1.13% of the population of the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area [4]. In the year 1500, at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese colonizers in Brazil, the Inhaúma Inlet was composed of beaches, islands and mangroves. The environmental degradation process of the Guanabara Bay goes back to the XVI century when the Portuguese colonizers completely depleted pau-brasil tree resources and also banished or killed all the indigenous population in the region. But a pronounced increase in the degradation process happened in the XX century when the scale of urban development placed the Guanabara Bay ecosystem under enormous pressure. During the XX century the Inhaúma Inlet was plugged up by several landfills implemented by the public sector, informal communities and private companies. The biggest landfills were made by the public sector based on a sanitation discourse that described the indigenous mangrove vegetation as a health hazard. At the same time, a rapidly growing population and accelerated industrialization accentuated the degradation of that part of the Guanabara Bay. Brasil Avenue, constructed in 1946, is another important historical landmark in the process of environmental degradation of the Guanabara Bay and in the development of the Inhaúma Inlet as an urban site. This historical moment coincides with the inception of the Maré Complex. Brasil Avenue is the main motorway in the metropolitan area linking the south and north regions on the west side of the Guanabara Bay. From its construction to the 1980s, Brasil Avenue has made possible intense urban development on reclaimed land and in the remaining mangrove areas [1]. The latter takes the form of so-called “palafitas” – fragile, recycled timber houses built in the swamp. The Maré Complex became one of the most notorious Brazilian symbols of urban poverty. In this context, in 1979 the Federal Government announced the Rio Project, an ambitious sanitation programme that had as its main goal the improvement of sanitation conditions around the Guanabara Bay. The project was only partially executed; but in the Maré Complex all the “palafitas” were removed and the population was located in four social housing complexes. These were constructed on landfills where the “palafitas” used to be and a new sanitation system was implemented. After that intervention, the growth of Maré Complex has mainly been characterized by illegal constructions and the collapse of the sanitation system. As part of preparations for the Rio Summit in 1992, the Maré Complex was impacted by another major public intervention – namely the Red Line Expressway linking Rio de Janeiro’s International Airport to the wealthy South Zone and by-passing the low-income neighbourhoods of the Maré Complex. It can be said that the Red Line emerges as a prominent symbol of social inequalities in Rio de Janeiro – the raised expressway creates a traffic link for expensive, air-conditioned cars and at same time shuts out with a wall the inhabitants of the Maré Complex. Both the Red Line and the wall which separates it from the surrounding shanty towns stand as physical barriers between local inhabitants and the Guanabara Bay.

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4.1 GBCP interventions in the Maré Complex The Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme (GBCP) implemented seven new sewage treatment units, the biggest of which was built in the Maré Complex waterfront. Alegria Sewage Treatment Unit, as it is called, was designed to receive sewage from nearly two million inhabitants and to release its waste (sewage after primary treatment) on the Maré Complex waterfront [5, 6]. Construction of Alegria Sewage Treatment Unit started in the late 1990’s. The unit is already operational and receives mainly sewage from wealthy neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro’s South Zone. Sewage from the North Zone is released directly in the Guanabara Bay as collection pipes linking the Maré Complex to Alegria Sewage Treatment Unit are yet to be implemented. The urban development process of the Maré Complex has been marked by accentuated degradation, and the Alegria Sewage Treatment Unit can be said to have played a role in this process in that it greatly reduces the potential of the waterfront as a leisure area and environmental amenity. The Maré Complex stands as a diffuse urban spread – concentrating the poorest segments of the society – notorious for narcotics gang warfare, and located in the most polluted spot of the Guanabara Bay, in the vicinity of industries, waste landfills, motorways and now the biggest sewage treatment unit of Rio de Janeiro.

5

Icaraí

Icaraí is located in the south-eastern margin of the Guanabara Bay, in the Municipality of Niterói, which has 62,494 inhabitants [7]. During the XX century the population of Icaraí grew rapidly and that neighbourhood consolidated its status as a high-income residential area. The urban development of Icaraí through the XX century can be described according to three important moments. The first moment was marked by the transferral of the Rio de Janeiro State capital to Niterói in 1903. In this connection, the public sector implemented key urban development policies, promoting infrastructure improvement and the revitalization of the central urban areas. In this context, important urban interventions took place in Icaraí in the first decade of the XX century: namely, the construction of a tram system linking Icaraí to Niterói City Centre and the construction of a monumental waterfront avenue in the “belle époque” style along Icaraí Beach. According to the local Mayor at the time, the tram would support urban development in the most exclusive bourgeois quarter of Niterói; and the new waterfront avenue would be the site of hotels, casinos, sports courts and other centres of leisure and diversion. Furthermore, Niterói City Hall was ahead of its time concerning the introduction of an agenda for environmental protection and the exploration of the tourist potential of selected spots of the Guanabara Bay, notably Icaraí Beach.

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472 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability A second moment points to a somewhat contradictory development: the loss of Rio de Janeiro State Capital status and the construction of the Rio-Niterói Bridge linking the most important municipality of the Metropolitan Area – namely Rio de Janeiro – to Niterói. Such infrastructure investment caused a boom in the Niterói real state market, especially in Icaraí which has since then emerged as one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area. On the other hand, in parallel to this market boom, Niterói Municipality underwent a period of economic decay, the sanitary infrastructure of Icaraí collapsed and environmental degradation in that part of the Guanabara Bay became extreme. These factors contributed to erode the image of this neighbourhood. Icaraí Beach was closed for bathing. Interviews carried out by the present authors with local residents indicate that they used Icaraí Beach up to the late 1970’s, after that, it became impossible to bath in it due to its accentuated environmental degradation. A last important moment of inflexion in the urban development process of the Icaraí started in the 1990’s together with the economical recovery of Niterói Municipality following the oil boom. Two public urban interventions have contributed to the revitalization of this neighbourhood: (a) the opening of the Contemporary Art Museum (1996), designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer, which is located in the Icaraí waterfront; and (b) the Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme interventions in Icaraí. In the 1990s Niterói Municipality introduced, as a strategic planning component, the construction of the “Niemeyer Path,” which when completed will rank as the second biggest project ever built by Oscar Niemeyer (the largest being his work in the Federal Capital Brasília). The Niemeyer Path is a set of nine buildings on the Guanabara Bay waterfront aimed at raising the profile Niterói in the international scene. Despite of the Contemporary Art Museum being the only finished building in the “Niemeyer Path”, Niterói municipality and especially Icaraí neighbourhood have indeed already significantly raised their profile internationally. Our interviews with the local organizations point to two main controversies in this project: the first is corruption and the second is the issue of investment priorities. According to those organizations, the budget of the Niemeyer Path is a black box to which they do not have access. In addition, such organizations complain about government investment priorities which relegate to a second plan demands related to social issues such as increasing violence and the growth in the number of homeless people. Despite these criticisms, and in contrast with the Maré Complex case, the Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme is seen to accommodate by and large local demands by the residents of Icaraí. 5.1 GBCP interventions in Icaraí Icaraí had a sewage unit providing secondary treatment. That unit was built in the 1960s. But its capacity was already exhausted a decade later. Despite of the negative impact in the Guanabara Bay, the GBCP implemented the expansion of the capacity of this unit by changing the level of treatment from secondary to WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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primary [5, 6]. This decision was based on the fact that the unit did not have available physical space in which to expand. The GBCP solved the possible negative impacts of the discharge of waste treated at primary stage in Icaraí through the construction of a submarine emissary which releases the waste 3,300 meters away from Icaraí waterfront [5, 6]. The discharge point is exactly in the middle of the deep canal in the Guanabara Bay and there are conflicting analyses about the impacts of releasing sewage in that particular point. Technicians from the Sewage Company say that there are no negative impacts on the Bay. On the other hand, some specialists from NGOs and universities say that there will be long-term impacts. The fact is that Icaraí Beach has been officially declared suitable for bathing since 2004. And according to the population and local organizations the results are already visible and the dwellers are coming back to use the beach. The combined actions of the public sector were decisive to improve the life quality of the inhabitants and also to start a speculation process on the state market. At the moment, there are apartments in Icaraí waterfront costing up to € 1.5 million.

6

Local residents opinions

The analysis presented in this section builds on a field study carried out by the authors in February/March 2006. Questionnaires were applied to 142 residents in Icaraí (0,23% of the population of Icaraí). In the case of the Maré Complex, questionnaires were applied to residents of the settlement Esperanca – which is the settlement in the Maré Complex closest to Alegria Sewage Unit. 137 residents in Esperanca responded questionnaires (1,72% of the population of Esperanca and 0,10% of the population of the Maré Complex). The designs of the two sewage treatment units afford different physical and environmental impacts on the local neighbourhoods where they are located. But data from interviews carried out with local residents highlighted the fact that the socio-economical conditions of the inhabitants and their local demands have an important role in their perception of these two interventions. Despite of the large scale of intervention of the Alegria Sewage Treatment Unit and its impact on the Maré waterfront as a physical obstacle, 62% of the Maré inhabitants are not even aware of the purpose of the building. And of the remaining 38% that know of its purpose, 67% consider the unit a very good public investment that will create jobs and upgrade the neighbourhood for it denotes the presence of the public sector; the other 33% are worried about possible environmental impacts on the neighbourhood, especially related to the bad smells released by it. Icaraí the interviews highlighted a completely different scenario where nearly all inhabitants know about the Icaraí Sewage Treatment Unit. Respondents made comments about the positive impacts of the unit in the life quality of the neighbourhood, the environmental improvement and also the increase in real state value (by 80%). On the other hand, 20% pointed out that the unit should be located elsewhere, for it represents a function that conflicts with residential land WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

474 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability uses, and which may lead to depreciation in the value of dwellings in the unit’s vicinity. Both Icaraí and Maré Complex are based on the Guanabara Bay waterfront, the very same ecosystem, but the interactions between the inhabitants and the Guanabara Bay in these two areas are completely different. In Icaraí, 64% of the respondents indicated their use of the waterfront for leisure activities and 18% of that total said that they would be prepared to use the waterfront even more if some public space improvements were implemented. 29% of the respondents affirmed that they do not use the waterfront, but 29% of that total said that would use it if public space improvements were implemented. In the Maré Complex case, 93% of the respondents affirmed that they do not use the waterfront. Only 7% of them use it (mainly for fishing). When asked about their level of satisfaction concerning living in their neighbourhoods, 69% of the Icaraí respondents answered that they are very satisfied with their neighbourhood, 23% are satisfied but require some improvements and 8% are dissatisfied. The Maré Complex results show a lower level of satisfaction, where 45% are satisfied, 33% are dissatisfied but demand improvements and 22% are completely dissatisfied. Finally, when the Icaraí respondents were asked about their opinions about Maré Complex and vice-versa an important spatial stigmatization emerged. 86% of the Icaraí respondents have a very negative opinion (“image of hell”, “sewer”, “slum”, “Brazilian shame”, etc…) about the Maré Complex and 24% do not have any opinion about it. But none of those interviewed in Icaraí manifested a positive opinion about the Maré Complex. When the Maré Complex inhabitants were interviewed, 91% of them had a positive opinion about Icaraí (beautiful, nice beach, well structured, well known, etc.) and 9% did not have an opinion about it.

7

Conclusion

The above analysis verifies the assertion that the Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme (GBCP) has promoted a differentiated pattern of intervention between high-income and low-income neighbourhoods and has, in that way, contributed to perpetuate spatial segregation from the waterfront in the latter and consolidation of the Guanabara Bay as a recreational amenity in the former [8]. The Guanabara Bay is located in the middle of the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area and is of key strategic importance in its urban development. The spatial analysis of the bay area reveals intrinsic inequalities that are reaffirmed through the design of the waterfront and the assignment of land uses. The elaboration and implementation of the GBCP highlight two important challenges both to local authorities and to international agencies that are involved in implementing strategic planning on a regional scale. The first challenge relates to the question of how to address regional demands as well as local ones. The GBCP case shows that regional goals where not linked with the demands of the residents of the Maré Complex. The physical intervention obliterated the potential of the waterfront as an environmental WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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amenity. In addition, our interviews highlight the gap between local demands and the GBCP interventions and the fact that community based organizations and residents did not participate in the processes of design and implementation. This lack of participation reflects a lack of capacity as well as managerial limitations in the agencies involved in the implementation of the Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme (GBCP) and in the Government of the Rio de Janeiro State. In addition, the interviews with residents of the Maré Complex in particular reveal that lack of participation limits their understanding of the purpose of the sewage treatment unit (let alone its impact). The ostensible endorsement of 67% of that minority (i.e. 38 % of the total) who is actually aware of the purpose of the unit can be seen in the light of the extreme disregard by the public sector visà-vis those neighbourhoods. Any public intervention stands out in an indiscriminate landscape of neglect and is taken as a sign of commitment, even if such intervention ignores the potential of the Guanabara Bay as an environmental amenity. The fact remains that the residents of the Maré Complex have to live next door to a unit treating sewage of a population of two million inhabitants. The infrastructural onus is therefore placed on this particular neighbourhood, with little consideration of the potential of the Guanabara Bay as a leisure area and as an environmental amenity. The second challenge relates to the promotion of a development which operates at the three levels of environment, economy and equity; which in the case of Rio de Janeiro amounts to dealing with extreme environmental degradation, pronounced socio-spatial inequality and serious economic decay as interrelated problems. The GBCP was managed by a governmental agency in a top-down fashion and its implementation emphasised a sanitation approach that neglected its potential as a strategic element in the development of the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area. But it is important to point out that the initial scope of the GBCP encompassed such three-fold dimensionality of environmental, social and economic goals. This was formulated in the following terms: (a) clean-up the Guanabara Bay, (b) minimize socio-spatial inequalities through provision and extension of sanitation infrastructure and (c) attract investments to the city through the improvement of its image. The Guanabara Bay clean-up process is far away from achieved. The programme focused in the sewage system expansion, which is definitely an important step in the clean-up process but there are still several interventions required for its completion. In addition, the sewage network expansion put further environmental pressure on the Guanabara Bay as an ecosystem by increasing the amount of sewage which is released in the bay after primary treatment. Concerning equity, the GBCP expanded the sewage system provision especially to low-income neighbourhoods, but as pointed out above, this analysis highlights deep inequalities of the GBCP treatment between low-income and wealthy neighbourhoods as the Maré and Icaraí comparison reveals. Finally, the potential of the GBCP as a generator of economic growth has remained unfulfilled. The Guanabara Bay is still far from being cleaned-up and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

476 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability as our interviews with local inhabitants indicate, parts of the Guanabara Bay, such as the Maré Complex, are still perceived as being highly polluted. So, the ambition of the GBCP that a clean Guanabara Bay would promote a new image of the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area and that it would be a key factor in attracting international events such as the Olympics as well as other investments is still far from being a reality. The case of Icaraí, on the other hand, could support the argument that the interventions by the Guanabara Bay Cleaning Programme may have played a role in increasing in the value of property in that neighbourhood. The extent to which such financial benefit has reached others than real state speculators and those who own property in the area is a matter for further research.

References [1] Abreu, M. Evolução Urbana do Rio de Janeiro. IPLANRIO/Jorge Zahar Editora. Rio de Janeiro. 1987 [2] Amador, E.; Lima, S. Considerações e Propostas dos Movimentos Ambientalistas Baía Viva e Os Verdes para a Fase II do Programa de Despoluição da Baía de Guanabara. Rio de Janeiro, 1998 [3] Britto, A. L. Implantação de Infra-estrutura de Saneamento na Região Metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais, n. 1, vol. 5, pp. 63-77, maio/2003. [4] Centro de Estudos e Ações Solidárias da Maré. Conhecendo o bairro da Maré. http://www.ceasm.org.br/abertura/03onde/ondeatua.htm. 2006. [5] Governo do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Programa de Despoluição da Baía de Guanabara. Documento-base para Formulação da Fase II. ADEGCEDAE: Rio de Janeiro, 1997. [6] Japan International Cooperation Agency, State of Rio de Janeiro & Federative Republic of Brazil. The Study on Recuperation of the Guanabara Bay Ecosystem. Volumes 1 & 2. Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd. Tokyo. 1994 [7] Prefeitura da Cidade de Niterói. História de Icaraí. http://www.urbanismo.niteroi.rj.gov.br/bairros/icarai.html, 2006. [8] Silva, V. & Ribeiro, G. Intra-metropolitan Inequalities in Rio de Janeiro and the Guanabara Bay Cleanning Programme. In A. Kungolos, C. A. Brebbia and E. Beriatos (editors) Sustainable Development and Planning II. Southampton, Boston: WIT Press. (pp. 1319-1328). 2005 [9] Silva, V. & Ribeiro, G. Spatial Analysis of the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area and Social and Environmental Management Issues. In J.A. Tenedório and R.P. Julião (editors) 14th European Colloquium on Theoretical and Quantitative Geography. CD-ROM. Lisbon: Universidade Nova de Lisboa. 2005

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Rational environmental goals and sustainable planning K. Edvardsson Department of Philosophy and the History of Technology, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

Abstract In Sweden planning towards ecological sustainability starts out from a system of environmental objectives adopted by Parliament in the late 1990s. The objectives express what environmental quality society should aim for within a generation, and are designed to guide decision-making in all sectors of society. In order to form a solid basis for planning towards ecological sustainability, the objectives must meet two types of conditions. First, they must have the capacity to guide and motivate those who are responsible for their implementation. To do so each objective must satisfy a set of rationality (functionality) criteria for individual goals: precision, evaluability, approachability, and motivity. Second, taken together the objectives must constitute a rational (functional) operationalization of the ecological dimension of sustainable development. For this to be the case the goal system must be coherent. An application of the suggested conditions to three Swedish environmental quality objectives illustrates some of the difficulties that are associated with the Swedish system of environmental objectives and ultimately with the whole idea of using goals in environmental management. Keywords: goal setting, environmental objectives, precision, evaluability, approachability, coherence.

1

Introduction

In Sweden planning towards ecological sustainability starts out from a system of environmental objectives adopted by Parliament in the late 1990s [1]. The objectives express what environmental quality society should aim for within a generation, and are designed to guide decision-making in all sectors of society. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060451

478 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability In the government’s view, management by objectives (MBO) is the most effective way of implementing a broad environmental strategy involving participants in all sectors [2]. However, for MBO to be effective at least three conditions must be met: the goals must be formulated in a rational (functional) way, there must be an adequate process of assessment and evaluation in force, and there must be a continuous dialogue between the goal setter and the implementer [3]. Despite the fact that objectives are frequently used in environmental management, little has been written on the first of these conditions; what properties environmental objectives should possess in order to be rational. In management theory [4-6] and psychology [7] writers have proposed desirable properties of individual goals. Very often the suggested criteria can be captured by the SMART acronym, according to which goals should be Specific, Measurable, Accepted, Realistic, and Time-bound. An attempt to explain and justify the selection of a particular set of goal criteria was made by Edvardsson and Hansson [8]. In our view, to be rational goals must have the capacity to guide and induce agents to act in ways that further their realization. Individual goals have this capacity when they are precise, evaluable, approachable, and motivating. In addition, for goal systems to have this capacity they must be coherent. In this paper the criteria of precision, evaluability, and approachability are applied to three environmental quality objectives. The criterion of precision is applied to the objective A balanced marine environment, flourishing coastal areas and archipelagos, the criterion of evaluability to the objective A good built environment, and the criterion of approachability to the objective A non-toxic environment. The aim of the paper is to bring the rationality of these objectives up for discussion and to briefly point at some of the difficulties that are associated with the practice of using goals in environmental management. The analysis is based on the objectives and interim targets in force in the beginning of 2005, and does not consider the changes to the system of environmental objectives suggested by the Swedish government in May 2005 [9]. Before the analysis is presented, our theoretical approach to rational goal setting is described briefly. Throughout the paper the term “rationality” is given a rather wide interpretation. Readers who prefer a more restricted usage of the term may instead prefer to use the terms “functional” and “functionality” when the paper talks about “rational” and “rationality”. A list of the three environmental quality objectives and their respective interim targets can be found at www.miljomal.nu, which is available in English.

2

Setting rational goals

According to our theoretical approach to rational goal setting agents typically set goals because they want to achieve the desired outcomes to which the goals refer, and because they believe that the very setting of the goals furthers this achievement. A goal that furthers its realization well is achievement-inducing. In order to be achievement-inducing the goal must both guide and motivate the agent to act towards its realization. Three types of properties determine the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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capacity of individual goals to guide and motivate action: epistemic, abilityrelated, and volitional properties. Epistemic properties concern what the agent knows about the goal and the means to reach the goal. Two such properties determine the action guiding quality of a goal, namely precision and evaluability. The requirement of precision can be divided into three subcategories. A goal is directionally precise when it tells the agent in what direction to go in order to reach the goal. It has completive and temporal precision when it tells the agent to what extent and in what time the goal should be reached. Ability-related properties concern what the agents can do. At least one such property determines the action guiding quality of the goal, namely approachability (attainability). Volitional properties concern what the agent wants to do. At least one such property determines the achievement-inducing function of the goal, namely motivity. Motivity is the capacity of a goal to induce action in agents. How well a goal must guide and motivate action in order to be achievement-inducing depends on the circumstances of the particular decision situation. In order to optimise the rationality of the goal the four criteria therefore need to be weighed against one another. For a system of goals to be action guiding it must also have a certain degree of coherence. In its basic sense “coherence” refers to some property that makes the elements (e.g. propositions, rules, principles, goals, and so on) of a set fit together [10]. The degree of coherence belonging to a particular set is determined by the relations that hold among the elements in the set [11]. Hence, the coherence of a particular goal system is a function of the relations that hold among the goals within the system, in particular the relations of support and conflict. A support relation holds between two goals when one goal facilitates achievement of the other. A relation of conflict holds between two goals when it is impossible or difficult to achieve both of them. Goal conflicts are problematic, since they make goal systems less action guiding. In some situations the criteria for individual goals may conflict with the criterion of coherence. For example, it is possible that one way of avoiding goal conflicts (and hence strengthening the coherence of a goal system) is to formulate the individual goals in very ambiguous terms. By doing so goal system coherence can perhaps be obtained, but only at the cost of renouncing the requirement of precision. This shows that an assessment of the environmental objectives must observe both the criteria for individual goals and the requirement of coherence. The analysis in this paper, however, focuses on the criteria of precision, evaluability, and approachability, and the criteria of motivity and coherence will only be touched upon in passing.

3

A balanced marine environment: precision

The environmental quality objective A balanced marine environment, flourishing coastal areas and archipelagos is a complex landscape goal which embraces interim targets concerning the natural and cultural assets of the marine environment, biological diversity, noise reduction, and discharges of oil and

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480 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability chemicals from ships. The analysis in this section starts out from the criterion of precision. Already the title of the objective speaks of a marine environment in balance. However, the government does not explicitly define what is meant by “balance in nature”. The idea that there is some sort of balance in nature is old and has been a background assumption in various academic disciplines for centuries [12, 13]. In its oldest sense “balance in nature” simply denoted an entirely stable, or constant, natural order [14, p. 32]. Such constancy was believed to exist when no obvious changes in the environment, e.g. in population sizes, could be detected. In the early twentieth century it became evident to some ecologists that the idea of homeostasis had to be abandoned in favour of a more dynamic concept [15]. The reason for this shift was the insight that many populations did not in fact remain in equilibrium. Instead, populations seemed to vary continuously, even in natural communities essentially undisturbed by man. Consequently, the classical equilibrium paradigm had to be reformed to allow for such variations. According to one view that emerged, “balance in nature” came to denote a state in which changes in the environment take place, but where it returns to some “normal” condition after perturbation. According to another, “balance in nature” came to denote a state in which irreversible changes in the environment take place, but where it has the capacity to remain within defined limits despite perturbation. Sometimes, the term “dynamic balance” is used to denote the former of these two states, whereas “resilience” or “persistence” is used to denote the latter [14, p. 33]. In a goal setting context the ambiguity of the term “balance in nature” could be problematic in several ways. First, as was indicated above it is not entirely clear what kind of state the term refers to. The multiple meanings that can be ascribed to the term render communication and coordination difficult, since agents could employ the same term and mean different things. Different interpretations of the goal could lead to disparate plans, or strategies, and disparate strategies could lead to heterogeneous environmental outcomes. Moreover, the heuristic role of the term may be misleading, since the idea of balance in nature traditionally has had a religious and cultural connotation rather than a scientific foundation [12]. Therefore, even if a goal that makes use of the term “balance in nature” is specified in some way, it runs the risk of being ridiculed because of its dated connotations. Second, a goal which makes use of the term “balance in nature” can also be hard to evaluate, since it may be judged by using a variety of temporally and spatially specified scales. As was pointed out by Shrader-Frechette and McCoy, some of these scales do not easily lend themselves to measurement [14, p. 42]. For instance, how does one measure the stability of the Earth as an ecosystem over the last two billion years? Taken together, it could be argued, these circumstances combine to make the goal insufficiently action guiding (and perhaps action motivating). However, it is also possible to defend the government’s use of the concept of balance in nature. First, it could be argued that the use of imprecise goals is rational because they tend to enjoy a higher degree of acceptability than other goals. Political goals WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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usually result from a process of bargaining involving many conflicting interests. By formulating the goals in terms that each political party may interpret as she sees fit, agreements are more easily arrived at [16]. Goals that enjoy solid political acceptance, in turn, are rational in the sense that they guide planning over long periods, regardless of which political party is in the majority at a particular point of time. The benefits of such acceptance are also acknowledged in governmental organizations, and ambiguity is a central feature of much real life decision-making [17]. Second, by keeping the objectives somewhat imprecise greater scope for action is given to the implementing agencies. Such scope for action is important since it makes it possible for the implementer to adjust to circumstances that could not be foreseen when the goal was set [18]. This is also one of the core ideas behind MBO as a steering technique; that greater freedom as to the selection of means towards goal achievement should be left to the implementing agencies. Third, despite its ambiguity the concept of balance in nature is de facto used in discussions of conservation and pollution [13] and in politically coloured literature on ecology [19]. Therefore, the concept is likely to possess at least some heuristic power. Perhaps the term “balance in nature” is simply more easily understood by, and communicated to, a broad audience, and therefore more likely to have a wider appeal, than terms like “persistence” and “resilience”. In summary, the objective A balanced marine environment illustrates one of the difficulties that are associated with the use of goals in environmental management, namely how to strike a balance between the requirements of precision, communicability, acceptability, and motivity. Since the environmental objectives are set to guide and motivate action towards sustainable development, some degree of precision is needed for the objectives to be functional. But how much precision is really needed, and what happens when ambiguous terms like “balance in nature” are used, are moot questions.

4

A good built environment: evaluability

The environmental quality objective A good built environment is a complex landscape goal, which mainly concerns the cultural environment. It embraces interim targets regarding spatial and community planning, the reduction of traffic noise, energy use, the extraction of gravel, the indoor environment, and waste disposal. The analysis in this section starts out from the criterion of evaluability. The third interim target to the objective concerns the reduction of noise. The objective states that by 2010 the number of people who are exposed to traffic noise in excess of the target values approved by Parliament for noise in dwellings have been reduced by 5% compared with 1998. The target has been criticised for focusing on exposal to noise and for not paying due attention to people’s actual experiences or the health effects of noise [20]. Measuring the number of people who are exposed to traffic noise, it is argued, is not an appropriate way of establishing whether the built environment is good or not. Noise nuisance simply cannot be measured solely in terms of decibel. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

482 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability A reformulation of the target in the indicated way, however, would most likely make it more difficult to evaluate. It is simply harder to measure people’s experiences of noise than to establish actual decibel levels. To render a reformulated target evaluable new methods of measurement would have to be developed. One method that has been suggested is to use questionnaires in which people indicate to what extent they have been disturbed by noise, for instance while sleeping with open windows [21]. The interim target illustrates another difficulty that is associated with MBO. Successful MBO presupposes that accurate and usable information about actual goal achievement is gathered and fed back to the goal setter. To be rational goals must, therefore, be evaluable. A common way of making abstract objectives evaluable is to operationalize them through sets of precise and measurable interim targets, each of which can be followed up and evaluated through indicators that focus on conditions that are quantifiable. The Swedish environmental quality objective A magnificent mountain landscape provides an example of this practice. The objective is operationalized through four interim targets, each of which is evaluated by means of quantitative indicators concerning the number of reindeer and wolverines in mountain areas, the number of all-terrain vehicles meeting noise standards, nitrogen and sulphur deposition, and so on [22]. The dependence of MBO on evaluability and the resulting tendency to rely heavily on goals that can be expressed in quantitative terms is problematic in several ways. The quest for direct measurability may lead policy-makers to neglect more complex indicators that express both quantitative and qualitative aspects of ecological sustainability [23]. This is unfortunate, since many aspects of ecological sustainability cannot be quantified, except in an arbitrary manner. For example, how does one express the goal to preserve the scenic beauty of archipelago landscapes solely in quantitative terms? When a goal is genuinely qualitative in nature, e.g. a goal that expresses aesthetic value, quantitative targets and indicators are simply not adequate enough. According to Cortner the tendency to rely heavily on quantitative indicators has its roots in a fundamental political problem [24]. By focusing on what is quantitative, political problems that require open discussion of preferences are reduced to sets of technical problems, each of which is analysed in isolation from questions of value. Quantifiable goals and indicators may give the appearance of scientific objectivity, but they render invisible the social choices their selection entails. A strong focus on what is quantifiable may in the end lead to goal displacement [25]; in the case of the Swedish environmental objectives the content of ecological sustainability and good environmental quality is reduced to be about a particular number of hay-fields or fishery vessels, a particular amount of gravel extracted, and so on. In summary, the objective A good built environment illustrates a second difficulty that is associated with MBO and the use of goals in environmental management, namely the dependence of MBO on evaluability and the resulting tendency to favour goals, interim targets, and indicators that one can put numbers to. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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483

A non-toxic environment: approachability

The environmental quality objective A non-toxic environment is a pollution goal which embraces interim targets regarding the reduction of health and environmental risks connected with the manufacture and use of chemical substances, the identification of polluted areas, and the establishment of guideline values for chemical substances. The analysis in this section starts out from the criterion of approachability. A non-toxic environment is one of the most difficult environmental quality objectives to achieve within a generation. The reason for this is that several of the interim targets that operationalize the objective are difficult to reach on time [26, pp. 28-32]. The sixth interim target is among the goals that are acknowledged to be most difficult to achieve. Among other things the target states that polluted areas should be identified and investigated, and that by 2005 remediation should have begun at a minimum of 100 of the sites given highest priority. According to a report by The Swedish Environmental Objectives Council (SEOC), remediation is in progress at some 30 sites, which means that actual goal achievement is poor [27]. This certainly raises the question if the objective is realistic. The current poor goal achievement could be taken to indicate that the interim target has a low degree of approachability, or attainability. At the same time it could be argued that a hundred sites is not a great number considering the fact that some 35 000 polluted areas have been identified, among which 1 500 have been assigned to the highest risk category [26, p. 32]. On the one hand most writers seem to agree that goals should be possible to attain, or at least to approach. Goals must be realistic, it is argued, since it is unreasonable to adopt goals that are of no use in the selection of means towards their realization [28]. On the other hand psychological studies suggest that difficult goals result in better achievement than goals with a low degree of difficulty [7, p. 90], [29]. Several of these studies confirm that there is a linear relationship between the degree of difficulty pertaining to a goal and the level of performance displayed by the agent. The reason why hard goals have a better performance record is that such goals give rise to greater effort and persistence, at least as long as the goals are accepted by the agent [7, p. 29]. However, other empirical studies suggest that very difficult goals can be counterproductive [30]. According to those studies agents perform worse when they aim for goals that are very challenging than when they aim for goals that are challenging but not exceptionally difficult to achieve. The studies suggest that a medium degree of approachability is probably most efficient in furthering goal realization. But how does the goal setter know when a goal possesses a medium degree of approachability? Such knowledge presupposes that the goal setter has access to sufficient information on which the goal can be based. However, that is rarely the case. As was pointed out by Simon [31] and Lindblom [32] public policy decisions can seldom be based on perfect information. Decisions are instead regularly made on a rather intuitive basis with no complete or systematic knowledge about the situation at hand. This means WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

484 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability that the prospect of selecting an optimal goal is often substantially circumscribed. Lack of adequate information and knowledge is particularly common in the environmental context, where many factors in combination give rise to negative effects on the environment. As regards pesticides, Falconer has for example listed a number of factors that challenge the development of an adequate environmental policy [33]. Such policy is difficult to develop because (1) several contaminants with different physical, chemical, and eco-toxicological profiles are involved, (2) there are many potentially affected ecological components, (3) there are many different contaminant sources, (4) there are many potential synergies between different contaminants, and so on. Ignorance is also recognized as a major obstacle to the realization of the objective A non-toxic environment [34]. Lack of adequate information and the complexity of the problems involved make it difficult to point out an appropriate degree of difficulty for environmental objectives in this particular area. In summary, the objective A non-toxic environment illustrates a third difficulty that is associated with MBO and the use of goals in environmental management, namely that of setting rational goals in the face of ignorance, or great uncertainty.

6

Conclusions

Effective MBO implies that it is possible to set rational goals. The analysis in this paper suggests that some of the environmental objectives may not be sufficiently rational given the criteria of precision, evaluability, and approachability. An application of the criteria to the environmental objectives points out some of the difficulties that are generally associated with MBO and the use of goals in environmental management. First, effective MBO presupposes that a balance can be struck between the requirements of precision, communicability, acceptability, and motivity. There are several reasons for setting imprecise goals. By doing so agreements among disunited parties may be more easily arrived at, and greater scope for action is given to the implementing agency. Moreover, some ambiguous terms like “balance in nature” could be more easily understood by, and communicated to, a broad audience than terms like “persistence” and “resilience”, and hence have a higher degree of acceptability and motivity. Second, effective MBO presupposes that accurate and usable information about goal achievement is fed back to the goal setter. The resulting tendency to focus on goals and indicators that can be expressed in quantitative terms is unfortunate, since there may be aspects of ecological sustainability, e.g. concerning aesthetic value, which are not quantifiable Third, effective MBO presupposes that goals with a medium degree of approachability can be set. To hit the right degree of difficulty the goal setter must have access to adequate information on which the goal may be based. Since such information is rare, the prospect of setting rational environmental goals is in practice considerably circumscribed. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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References [1]

Gov. Bill 1997/98:145, Gov. Bill 2000/01:65, Gov. Bill 2000/01:130, Gov. Bill 2001/02:55, Gov. Bill 2001/02:128, and Gov. Bill 2002/03:117, www.riksdagen.se. [2] Gov. Bill 1997/98:145, p. 38. [3] Poister, T.H. & Streib, G., MBO in municipal government: Variations on a traditional management tool. Public Administration Review 55(1), pp. 48-56, 1995. [4] Odiorne, G.S., Management Decisions by Objectives, Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., p. 25, 1969. [5] Carroll, S.J. & Tosi, H.L., Management by Objectives: Applications and Research, MacMillan: New York, p. 72, 1973. [6] Raia, A.P., Managing by Objectives, Scott, Foresman and Company: Glenview, Ill., p. 25, 1974. [7] Locke, E.A. & Latham, G.P., A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance, Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1990. [8] Edvardsson, K. & Hansson, S.O., When is a goal rational? Social Choice and Welfare, 24(2), pp. 343-361, 2005. [9] Gov. Bill 2004/05:150, www.riksdagen.se. [10] Hansson, S.O., Coherence in epistemology and belief revision. Philosophical Studies 128, pp. 93-108, 2006. [11] BonJour, L., The Structure of Empirical Knowledge, Harvard University Press: Cambridge, p. 93, 1985. [12] Wu, J.G. & Loucks, O.L., From balance of nature to hierarchical patch dynamics: A paradigm shift in ecology. Quarterly Review of Biology, 70(4), pp. 439-466, 1995. [13] Egerton, F.N., Changing concepts of the balance of nature. Quarterly Review of Biology, 48, pp. 322-350, 1973. [14] Shrader-Frechette, K.S. & McCoy, E.D., Method in Ecology: Strategies for Conservation, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1993. [15] Elton, C.S., Animal Ecology and Evolution, Clarendon Press: Oxford, p. 17, 1930. [16] Minogue, M., Theory and practice in public policy and administration. The Policy Process: A Reader, ed. M. Hill, Harvester Wheatsheaf: New York, pp. 10-33, 1993. [17] Hill, D.M., Political ambiguity and policy: The case of welfare. Social and Economic Administration, 12(2), pp. 89-119, 1978. [18] Larsson, A., Miljömål – inte så enkelt som det låter. En studie av roller och kommunikation i det svenska miljömålsarbetet, Institutionen för tematisk utbildning och forskning (ITUF), Linköping University, p. 20, 2003, www.mai.liu.se/engo/Anna%20Larsson%202004-03-12.pdf. [19] Gore, A., Earth in the Balance: Forging a New Common Purpose, Earthscan Publications: London, 1992. [20] The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, Fördjupad utvärdering av miljömålsarbetet: God bebyggd miljö, The National Board WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

486 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability of Housing, Building and Planning: Karlskrona, p. 29, 2003, www.boverket.se/novo/filelib/arkiv02/miljo/slutrapportgbm.pdf. [21] The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, Buller: Delmål 3 – Underlagsrapport till fördjupad utvärdering av miljömålsarbetet, The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning: Karlskrona, pp. 30, 35-36, 2003, www.boverket.se/novo/filelib/arkiv02/miljo/delml3buller. pdf. [22] Miljömålsportalen, www.miljomal.nu/english/indicators.php. [23] Wilson, G.A. & Buller, H., The use of socio-economic and environmental indicators in assessing the effectiveness of EU agri-environmental policy. European Environment, 11(6), pp. 297-313, 2001. [24] Cortner, H.J., Making science relevant to environmental policy. Environmental Science and Policy, 3(1), pp. 21-30, 2000. [25] Larsson, A., Indikatorer för miljö- och hållbarhetsmål – om konsten att mäta och utvärdera måluppfyllelse, Rapportserie för Svenskt centrum för klimatpolitisk forskning 05:01, p. 14, 2005, www.mai.liu.se/engo/Rapport%20Anna%20Larsson.pdf. [26] SEOC (The Swedish Environmental Objectives Council), Sweden’s Environmental Objectives – Are We Getting There? The Swedish Environmental Objectives Council: Stockholm, 2004, www.naturvardsverket.se/bokhandeln/pdf/620-1238-X.pdf. [27] SEOC (The Swedish Environmental Objectives Council), Sweden’s Environmental Objectives – Will the Interim Targets be Achieved? The Swedish Environmental Objectives Council: Stockholm, p. 19, 2003, www.miljomal.nu/las_mer/rapporter/deFacto/deFacto2003E.pdf. [28] Laudan, L., Science and Values: The Aims of Science and Their Role in Scientific Debate, University of California Press: Berkeley, p. 51, 1984. [29] Locke, E.A. & Latham, G.P., Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), pp. 705-717, 2002. [30] Stedry, A.C. & Kay, E., The effects of goal difficulty on performance: A field experiment. Behavioural Science, 11(6), pp. 459-470, 1966. [31] Simon, H.A., Models of Man: Social and Rational: Mathematical Essays on Rational Human Behaviour in a Social Setting, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.: New York, p. 198, 1957. [32] Lindblom, C.E., The science of muddling through. Public Administration Review, 19(2), pp. 78-88, 1959. [33] Falconer, K., Pesticide environmental indicators and environmental policy. Journal of Environmental Management, 65(3), pp. 285-300, 2002. [34] The National Chemicals Inspectorate, Summary of Documentation for Indepth Evaluation of the Environmental Quality Objective of a Non-toxic Environment, The National Chemicals Inspectorate: Sundbyberg, p. 5, 2003, www.kemi.se/upload/Giftfri%20miljö/Docs/Summary_eng_FU_ GFM _2003.pdf.

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Section 8 Energy resources

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Environmental accounting of buildings: outcomes from the emergy analysis F. M. Pulselli, R. M. Pulselli & E. Simoncini Department of Chemical and Biosystems Sciences, University of Siena, Italy

Abstract In recent years, efforts have been made to promote integrated building design practices based on the definition of “green building” criteria as common standards of measurement. For example, Green Building Rating Systems such as LEED (US) and BREEAM (UK) provide national standards for developing high-performance sustainable buildings. However, integrated environmental accounting methods are still required to evaluate the general environmental performances of buildings in the two phases of their construction and their use, relative to problems such as global resource exhaustion and energy wasting. In this paper an emergy analysis is applied to buildings. The emergy method uses the thermodynamic basis of all forms of energy and matter and converts them into equivalents of one form of energy. Emergy enables the account of energy and material flows for building manufacturing, maintenance and use (housing). Different materials, technologies and structural elements can be compared to each other in order to hypothesise different scenarios for future buildings. A comprehensive appraisal of the building industry and its environmental impacts is then expected. Keywords: emergy analysis, building manufacturing, building maintenance, housing

1

Introduction

An environmental policy for building industry aims to maintain a high quality built environment optimizing resource use. Energy consumption, energy wasting, emissions and environmental impacts due to human activity are expected to decrease. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060461

490 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Buildings work to provide specific services and maintain their performances constant in time with respect to variable context conditions (clime, temperature, humidity, sun irradiation, atmosphere, etc.). Buildings management therefore has to take care of the interactions between buildings (non-living inert structures), and their living context (the environment and human beings). This dynamic network of relations could depend on people movements and exchanges of goods and services; it has the form of materials and energy flows. A sustainable building therefore should be able to maintain high performance state self-adapting to its surrounding environment and according to environmental resource availability, social needs, history and landscapes quality. However, eco-buildings have the following features: - they make the most of energy and materials inflows; - they supply a part of their energetic need through natural processes; - they use renewable and local materials; - they have minimal impact on natural cycles (i.e. water cycle); - they belong their environmental context (landscapes, society, history).

2

Relevance of the building industry for environmental policy

About 30-40% of total natural resources that are used in industrialized countries are exploited by the building industry. Almost 50% of this energy flow is used for weather conditioning (heating and cooling) in buildings. Almost 40% of world materials consumption converts to the built environment, and about 30% of energy use is due to housing. For example, in US, a rate of 35-60% of national energy budget is used to maintain buildings (Roodman and Lenssen [1]; Stein [2]). Since 75% of electrical supply in US is thermoelectricity, also a large amount of CO2 emission depends on housing, in addition to the emissions due to building materials production. In the E.U. the energy consumption for housing and services was 371.4 Mtoe (million tons of oil equivalent) in 2000 (Eurostat, report 1995) that is higher than other sectors such as transport and industry. In the last few years, new sustainable building technologies have been developed and applied to new buildings or even for renewal of existing structures, in order to achieve higher energetic efficiency and to reduce energy consumption and energy wasting. The so called eco-architecture represents an attempt to respond to global environmental problems and to reduce environmental impacts due (directly or indirectly) to the building industry. The main points are relative to: -

Natural resources exhaustion (for example non renewable resources such as oil, natural gas, raw materials). CO2 and other greenhouse gasses emissions (air pollution). Soil and ground water pollution and overexploitation. Biodiversity decrease.

Environmental accounting methods applied to the building industry evaluate building technologies and materials, and aim to define standards for making WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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choices. The ecological assessment takes into account every step of the building process “from cradle to grave”, that is from the extraction of raw materials to their assemblage and use, during their life-time, until their disposal or recycle. The accounting of energy and material flows that supply buildings manufacturing processes as well as buildings use (housing) therefore have great concern with the problem of natural resources over-exploitation and also, indirectly, of greenhouse gases emissions. Buildings ecology calls for a comprehensive vision on natural resources management based on their real “environmental cost”, which depends on their availability, regeneration rate and environmental impact (absorption of wastes), with respect to natural constraints.

3

Indicators applied to the building industry

An “indicator” is a tool able to give synthetic information of a more complex phenomenon with a wider sense; it works to make visible a trend or a process that is not immediately clear. Indicators simplify information often relative to multiple factors and enable to communicate and compare results. The accounting of indicators follows different targets according to which two classes can be noted: A. State-pressure environmental indicators account for specific parameters, through conventional physical units, to verify their compatibility with specific environmental variables; they often evaluate very localized factors based on data collected in a specific area. A firstlevel information is thus achieved but it needs to be further processed in order to achieve a synthetic information. B. Sustainability indicators provide a general evaluation based on a comprehensive balance, integrating a multiplicity of phenomena even non homogeneous; they attempt to evaluate general behaviours according to a global sustainability viewpoint, with special reference to the problems of resource overexploitation and energy wasting. Methods for evaluating buildings are usually based on environmental statepressure indicators. These techniques are worldwide known and developed at national levels. Examples are the Building Research Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM in UK) and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED, in USA). These methods provide a list of indicators based on objective values comparing buildings performances and impacts to environmental constraints defined as sustainability threshold. Global sustainability indicators are obtained by processing data relative to different parameters (given in mass and energy units) through thermodynamics based algorithms. Different measures can be involved in a unique synthetic balance. Examples are: Emergy analysis, Ecological footprint, Exergy assessment.

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492 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability These methods enable to study relations between buildings and their environmental context, an ecosystem. An holistic approach is thus developed (the whole is more than its parts) gathering information and providing general valuation of buildings.

4

Introduction to the emergy analysis

Emergy analysis (spelled with an “m”) is an environmental accounting method that develops an energy systems language for the thermodynamics of open systems (Odum and Odum [3]; Odum [4]). When applied to a building, it quantifies all the natural resources used for building manufacturing, maintenance and use. Emergy analysis is concerned with quantifying the relationships between human-made systems and the biosphere. Emergy is the available solar energy previously used up, directly and indirectly, to make a service or product (Odum [4–6]). The emergy valuation assigns a value to products and services by converting them into equivalents of one form of energy, the solar energy, that is used as the common denominator through which different types of resources, either energy or matter, can be measured and compared to each other. The unit for emergy is the solar emergy joule (sej). The emergy of different products is assessed by multiplying mass quantities (kg) or energy quantities (Joule) by a transformation coefficient, namely transformity or specific emergy. Transformity is the solar emergy required, directly or indirectly, to make one Joule or kilogram of a product or service. Every time a process is evaluated, previously calculated transformities are used as a practical way of determining the emergy (sej) of commonly used products or services. By definition, the solar emergy Bk of the flow k coming from a given process is: Bk= Σi Tri Ei

i = 1,…,n

(1)

where Ei is the actual energy content of the i-th independent input flow to the process and Tri is the solar transformity of the i-th input flow.

5

Emergy analysis of buildings

In this section a case study is presented with an emergy analysis applied to a building. A few other case studies exist in this field and are available in literature: Brown and Buranakarn [7]; Meillaud et al [8]; Buranakarn [9]. In this study, two phases are assessed separately: 1) building manufacturing process and maintenance; 2) housing: building use in time. The building under study is a 10,000 m3 block (2,500 m3 are underground) for residential and office use in Castelfiorentino, near Florence (Italy). It takes 2,700 m2 flats distributed on 1 basement, 1 ground-flour and 4 floors. This building has WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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the characters of a traditional contemporary building and thus is a powerful case study to provide general information about resource use due to the building industry in Italy. In Figure 1 is shown an energy system diagram of a building with inflows of energy and materials. In the diagram two phases are shown: 1) building manufacturing: is the process of gathering and assembling materials to generate a built stock (the building) and to maintain it in time (ordinary maintenance). 2) housing: is the building use during which people live in the building and consume energy for coaling and heating, electricity, gas and water.

Figure 1:

Energy system diagram of a building.

In the diagram, the interaction of different inputs, such as soil, water, energy, machinery, human work, materials, transport and other services (energy and materials flows) generates the building as a built reservoir in which energy and materials have been stocked. Also a flow of energy and materials is used for the ordinary maintenance of the building in time. In the analysis this flow is assumed to be constant for 50 years that is the likely building lifetime. The rectangle in the diagram represents the building lifetime and its function, namely housing. Housing feeds on flows of energy and matter such as electricity, water and gas. All the inputs to the process are then assessed. Data has been collected for both the phases of building manufacturing and housing. An official document WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

494 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability namely building metric computation provided by the work director gives all the quantities of materials used and human work hours for manufacturing. Data on electricity, gas and water consumptions of families has been collected for a year long period. Every raw data (mass quantities) in the building metric computation has been expressed in terms of solar emergy joule through the transformity in order to evaluate the environmental cost of every material in the building manufacturing. Emergy flows have been aggregated into structural elements and different building parts have been compared to each other. In Table 1, emergy flows of raw materials are presented in order to evaluate the amount of emergy stoked in the building as a reservoir. Results highlight the ‘environmental cost’ in terms of sej of building materials relative to their quantity and their transformity. Transformity is accounted for each material assessing all steps of the process from their origin to their provision (i.e. from their extraction, to their final production). Building materials are therefore evaluated through the emergy analysis in order to give a measure of their environmental impact and their use in the building industry. References for transformities used are: a, Simoncini [10]; b, Buranakarn [9]; c, Brown and Arding [11]; d, Odum [4]; e, Odum et al [12]. Table 1:

Emergy flows of raw materials in the building.

RAW MATERIALS Concrete Tile and Brick Waterproof Sheathing Stony materials Steel Plaster Painting Copper PVC Mortar Alloy Wood Glass

Specific Emergy (sej/kg)

Ref

Emergy (sej)

%

1.79E+12 3.68E+12 8.85E+12 2.44E+12 6.97E+12 3.29E+12 2.55E+13 1.04E+14 9.86E+12 3.31E+12 2.13E+13 2.40E+09 2.16E+12

a b b d b e b c b b b d e

5.49E+18 2.83E+18 2.37E+18 7.45E+17 5.39E+17 3.79E+17 2.91E+17 9.20E+16 5.71E+16 3.45E+16 3.17E+16 1.17E+16 1.69E+14

42.64% 21.99% 18.44% 5.79% 4.18% 2.94% 2.26% 0.71% 0.44% 0.27% 0.25% 0.091% 0.0013%

Total Building Materials Emergy

1.2873E+19 100.00%

Materials have been aggregated into building structural parts, as shown in the building metric computation document, and emergy has been assessed for each part. In Table 2, the accounting of emergy flows of a building structural part, namely the external skin, has been presented, as an example. In Table 3, results from the emergy analysis of the building are shown. Emergy flows are relative to each component and structural part in the building manufacturing process.

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Table 2:

495

Emergy flows in a building structural part: the external skin.

EXTERNAL SKIN

Volume 3 (m )

Density 3 (kg/m )

Raw Data (kg)

Transformity (Sej/kg)

Ref.

Emergy (Sej)

Tile Block, 20 cm Tile Block, 25 cm Tile Brick Hollow Brick Isover Mortar Mortar Mortar Concrete Plaster Plaster Travertine PVC Waterproof Sheathing

18.38 2 153.12 102.08 76.56 0.71 0.06 1.96 17.60 0.40 0.40 0.80 0.27 0.77

1000 1000 1045 625 30 1300 1300 1300 2400 1.45 1.45 2560 1380 1600

18380 2000 160010.40 63800 2296.80 919 80 2552 42240 0.58 0.58 2048 373.84 1238.40

3.68E+12 3.68E+12 3.68E+12 3.68E+12 8.85E+12 3.31E+12 3.31E+12 3.31E+12 1.79E+12 3.29E+12 3.29E+12 2.44E+09 9.86E+12 8.85E+12

b b b b b b b b a e e d b b

6.76E+16 7.36E+15 5.89E+17 2.35E+17 2.03E+16 3.04E+15 2.65E+14 8.45E+15 7.56E+16 1.91E+12 1.91E+12 5.00E+12 3.69E+15 1.10E+16

External skin total Emergy

Table 3:

1.02E+18

Emergy flows aggregated into building structural parts. BUILDING STRUCTURAL PARTS

Emergy (sej)

%

Solar radiation Land use (soil erosion) Building yard installation Basement Building frame External skin (facades) Floors Roof Partitions and other internal works Coating and details Windows and doors Sheet-metal works Drainage System Maintenance Human work

1.50E+17 1.50E+11 5.95E+16 2.22E+18 2.00E+18 1.02E+18 5.08E+18 1.05E+18 1.07E+18 2.32E+17 4.47E+16 9.20E+16 5.47E+16 5.67E+18 1.30E+17

0.79% 0.00% 0.32% 11.78% 10.60% 5.41% 26.89% 5.57% 5.66% 1.23% 0.24% 0.49% 0.29% 30.06% 0.69%

Total Buinding Emergy

1.89E+19

100.00%

Results show the importance of each building structural part in terms of natural capital investment for building manufacturing. Results are shown in terms of emergy flows. • •

Structural parts such as basement and building frame are about 23% of the whole emergy use for building manufacturing. Floors are about 27% of the total emergy flow.

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496 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability • • •

The whole external covering of the building, that is the external skin (facades) and the roof, is about 11% of the total emergy flow. Internal works, such as partitions, coating and other details, are about 6% of the total emergy flow. Maintenance has been assessed according to the lifetime of structural parts and is about 30% of the total emergy flow (considering a building has a 50 years mean lifetime).

This detailed description based on the emergy analysis enables to evaluate the use of structural elements, technologies and materials in buildings in order to make choices in the executive project even before manufacturing the building. This analysis also works to compare possible scenarios and valuate different technologies and materials and their effects on energetic efficiency and environmental impacts. In Table 4, consumptions of electricity, gas and water in building lifetime (50 years) are presented. These emergy flows are due to housing. Table 4:

Emergy flows of housing.

RESOURCE USE

Quantity

Unit

Electric Energy Gas Heating Water Supply

3.09E+11 8.22E+08 1.58E+06

J J kg

Yearly Emergy for Housing

Transformity Emergia (Sej) (Sej/unit) 2.07E+05 6.72E+04 1.95E+09

6.40E+16 5.52E+13 3.09E+15 6.71E+16

Results have been obtained for two phases of buildings life: the building manufacturing process and the building use (housing). Results show the following values: •

•

the total emergy flow due to the building manufacturing and the building maintenance is 1.89x1019 sej. An emergy flow (1.32x1019 sej) represents the investment in terms of natural capital to provide the building. This amount of emergy could be conceived as emergy stocked in the building structures (as distributed into each structural part). As shown in the energy system diagram buildings are stocks of emergy. A yearly emergy flow is also accounted (5.67x1018 sej in 50 years) for building maintenance. This flow is spent to maintain the building emergy stock. The total emergy flow due to building use (housing) is 6.71x1016 sej/yr. In 50 years this value is 3.35x1018 sej.

Thus buildings achieve a new meaning considering that flows of energy and materials used for building manufacturing (raw materials extractions, building materials production, constructive elements assembling) are stocked in the building structural parts and buildings represent a memory of all the resources used in the process to provide a final structure for housing. The project of a WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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building has also a significant effect on the period in which the building is used and on the resource consumption that could be assessed in the form of a constant emergy inflow in time. This emergy inflow due to housing depends on buildings technical characters and the choice of a different technology can require a different investment in the phase of building manufacturing (for example a different technology for facades) but it can also change buildings performance in terms of resource consumption during their lifetime. Therefore, the emergy analysis of buildings could be used to evaluate the investment for different technologies in the phase of building manufacturing and their effects in terms of resource saving in the phase of building use (housing).

6

Conclusions

An emergy analysis has been applied to a building and an emergy evaluation of buildings manufacturing process, buildings maintenance and buildings use (housing) has been provided. This method enabled to achieve the following results: • An accounting of resource used in the building manufacturing process according to the environmental cost of all the materials and energy inflows. • Emergy flows have been accounted relative to building materials according to their quantity (mass) and their environmental cost (transformity). A hierarchy of building materials in terms of emergy use has been presented. • An emergy based evaluation has been provided for each building structural part (basement, frame, floors, external skin, internal works, windows and doors, coating and details), giving a measure of their environmental relevance. • An emergy flow relative to building maintenance has been accounted. It represents a flow of energy and matter that is required during the building lifetime to maintain the building and let it work in time. • An emergy analysis has been applied to the phase of building use, namely housing, in terms of resource consumptions. Data on electricity, gas and water consumption has been collected and considered constant for a period of 50 years (mean building lifetime). • Results have been obtained for the two phases of building manufacturing and building use (housing) and could be compared to each other. A comprehensive emergy balance has been provided. This study of buildings sustainability based on emergy analysis seems to be a powerful tools for future evaluations in the field of building industry. The expected outcomes should give clear information, based on a rigorous environmental accounting method, to make choices towards a sustainable development. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

498 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

References [1]

[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Roodman D.M. and Lenssen N., A building Revolution: How ecology and health concerns are transforming construction. Worldwatch Institute, paper #124, 1995. Stein R. G., Architecture and Energy. Anchor Press, New York. 1977. Odum H. T. & Odum E.C., Energy basis for man and nature. McGraw Hill: London, 1981 Odum H. T., Environmental accounting: emergy and environmental decision making. Chichester Wiley: New York, 1996 Odum H.T., Environment, power and society. Wiley, New York, US, 1971. Odum H.T., Systems ecology. Wiley, New York, US, 1983. Brown M. T. and Buranakarn V., Emergy indices and ratios for sustainable material cycles and recycle options. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 38 (1), 2003, 1–22. Meillaud F., Gay J.B. and Brown M.T., Evaluation of a building using the emergy method. Solar Energy, 79 (2), 2005, 204-212. Buranakarn V., Evaluation of recycling and reuse of building materials using the emergy analysis method. University of Florida, Ph.D. Thesis, 1998. Simoncini E., Implicazioni ambientali ed energetiche di materiali ed elementi costruttivi in un edificio: un’analisi emergetica. Tesi di Laurea, University of Siena, 2006. Brown M.T. and J.E. Arding, Transformity Working Paper, Center for Wetlands, University of Florida, 1991. Odum H.T., Brown M.T. and Williams S.B., Handbook of emergy evaluation: a compendium of data for emergy computation issued in a series of folios. Folio #1 - Introduction and Global Budget. Center for Environmental Policy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 2000.

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The emergy synthesis for the Province of Pescara (Italy) and strategic choices for a sustainable development M. Di Donato, A. Galli & F. M. Pulselli Department of Chemical and Biosystems Sciences, University of Siena, Italy

Abstract This paper shows an appraisal of local sustainability through an environmental accounting method applied to a region with reference to its population, human activities, natural cycles, infrastructures and other settings. Environmental resources locally used, whether directly or indirectly, from both renewable energy flows and storages of material are investigated. In this paper the Emergy Synthesis is applied to the Province of Pescara (Italy) and its districts, in order to evaluate the main flows of energy and materials that locally supply the territorial system, including human systems, with reference to their actual environmental cost. Once expressed in units of the same form of energy through the emergy evaluation, categories of resource consumptions and systems of varying scales and organization are compared. Furthermore, indexes of environmental performance based on emergy are calculated. Keywords: emergy analysis, sustainability indicators, environmental accounting.

1

Introduction

This research proposes the results of an environmental assessment of a territorial system, which will be conducted through the emergy synthesis. The system, in fact, may be seen as an open thermodynamic system interacting and depending on the natural environment, whose existence would not be possible without the activity of survival systems. Emergy synthesis is an environmental accounting method based on thermodynamics that enables the integration of economic and ecological aspects: WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060471

500 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability the final goal is to test the global behaviour of the system in relation to use and consumption of natural resources. Statistical data from local and regional databases was used to monitor the matter and energy flows, as well as the main economic activities and income sources. The use of emergy evaluation in a territorial system has the goal to provide an overall view of the considered system and to evaluate (and quantify) its environmental performance through sustainability indicators; this allows policy makers to make choices and adjustments in order to obtain the sustainability of the system or, at least, a better environmental performance. Hence, reading the results of this thermodynamic methodology, it is possible to steer policy, focusing on local peculiarities and needs. An integrated evaluation of the main flows of natural and economical resources that feed a region enables to understand how it is evolving towards sustainable pathways. Methods used for environmental analysis are characterized by a qualitative approach in determining the effects of human activities on ecosystems, while natural capital is underestimated, or even excluded, from conventional neoclassical economic assessments. For this reason, we need tools able to overcome classical approaches based on single criterions. Methodologies and indicators must offer the transition from a reductionist to an holistic and ecological approach. This proposal also focuses on the principles of Ecological Economics, which considers economy as an aspect of a whole ecological and social fabric, a living system made of people interacting with each other and with the natural environment. Ecological Economics faces the challenges imposed by the bio-physical laws ruling the planet and considers economic systems as open systems belonging to a broader ecological system. This approach implies the awareness of limits to economic growth. Economy is in fact constantly changing and evolving, depending on the mutable ecological and social systems in which it is integrated. Odum's emergy synthesis is a methodology oriented to the holistic study of systems; it offers an integrated economic, ecological and thermodynamic evaluation of an environmental and/or productive system. The purpose of this methodology is the study, through an energetic and systemic perspective, the organization of thermodynamically open systems, that can trade matter and energy with the external environment. The main goals are: assessment of the energetic externally forces applied to the system and which drive its evolution; evaluation of the role of natural resources in production cycles; an evaluation of the work of the biosphere in the global dynamics of anthropic systems; development of integrated economic environmental accounting; processing thermodynamic indicators of environmental yield, impact and sustainability. This work deals with the emergy analysis of Province of Pescara (Central Italy). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Much statistical data has been collected on the scale of six sub-areas (namely Costa, Crinale Centrale, Vestina, Tremonti, Majella, Gransasso) so that the location of consumption, activities and land use, achieves a higher level of accuracy. Boundaries of sub-areas in the Province have been traced with reference to the Master Plan of the Province, in order to respect local economic and social dimensions and their characteristics. In this way, an appraisal of sustainability may respond to any local area within the boundaries of the Province.

2 Methodology The concept of emergy is based on the assessment of all the natural resources that have been used to provide a certain product or process. For this reason, the name emergy means energy memory and it works to give a measure of quantity and also quality of energy. Solar Emergy is the available solar energy used up directly and indirectly to make a service or product and is measured in solar emjoules, abbreviated sej. Although this basic concept is quite straightforward, its implications are potentially profound: H.T. Odum pioneered the development and use of emergy and presented it as a way of understanding the behaviour of self-organized systems. Emergy analysis considers all systems to be networks of energy flows and determines the emergy value of systems involved. Since solar energy is the main energy input to the Earth, all other energies are scaled to solar equivalents to give common units. Other kinds of energy existing on the Earth can be derived from this main source, through energy transformations. Even the economy can be incorporated to this energy flow network since “wealth directly and indirectly comes from environmental resources measured by emergy” (Odum [1]). An important concept in emergy analysis is Solar Transformity, defined as “the Solar Emergy required to make 1 J of a service or product” (Odum [1]). Solar Transformity is measured in sej/J. The Solar Transformity of a product is its Solar Emergy divided by its available energy. When an item is expressed in units different than joules, for instance grams, the quality factor is emergy/mass (sej/g). From a practical point of view, transformity is useful as a convenient way of determining the emergy of commonly used resources and commodities. Most case studies in the literature rely on the transformities calculated by Odum and co-workers to calculate the emergy of their inputs. Transformity is a possible measure of the quality of energy and it is useful to compare different kinds of energy by using a common unit. Since the early 1980s, emergy analysis have been used widely to analyze systems as diverse as ecological, industrial, economic; the analysis of fluxes by the emergy methodology defines, in quantity and quality, the main exchanges of energy and matter, classifying these fluxes according to their origin and destination.

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502 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The outcomes of the analysis will deal with the character of the territorial system revealing how many resources are locally available or otherwise imported by the outside. Furthermore, while fluxes are drawn in a diagram as kinds of vectors identified for their origin and direction, a second classification is made according to the renewability or non-renewability of their sources. The main steps of the emergy analysis of the Province of Pescara are: identification of the boundaries of the study area that correspond to the administrative territory of the Province of Pescara; research of statistical data dealing with the anthropic activities taking place in the territory (productions, consumptions, inputs, outputs, market, etc.) and physical and geo-morphologic features (solar energy, rain, soil erosion, mineral sinks, water, etc.). All data refers to the year 2001; the calculation of matter and energy flows and the conversion of them into emergy by means of suitable transformities. Finally there is an overview on the total emergy flows supplying the system. Once the main inflows have been identified and the total emergy driving a process has been evaluated, a set of indices and ratios can be calculated. These indices are useful to study and compare processes under human control, where a sustainable pattern is not guaranteed and choices have to be supported by careful consideration of many different parameters. Three main emergy flows can be recognized: renewable flows from within (R), non-renewable flows from within (N), and flows imported from outside the system (feedback flows, F), sometimes referred to as purchased flows. The characteristics of emergy flows make it possible to calculate different indices for monitoring system’s behaviour. In this case study four indicators can be defined as follows. The environmental loading ratio (ELR), is the ratio of purchased (F) and nonrenewable indigenous emergy (N) to renewable environmental emergy (R). It is an indicator of the pressure of the process on the local ecosystem and can be considered a measure of the ecosystem stress due to human activity. The emergy investment ratio (EIR) is the ratio of the emergy from outside (F) to the local emergy flows (R+N). It shows if the process is a good user of the emergy that is invested, in comparison with alternatives. The empower density (ED) is the emergy per unit area. A high value of this index is found in areas where emergy is concentrated, such as cities and industrial sites. In such cases the available area can become a limiting factor for development. This index is generally low in rural or undeveloped areas. In general, for equivalent processes, the higher the empower density, the higher the environmental stress. The emergy per person (EpP), given by the ratio of total emergy to the population is an index of the standard of living which includes environmental and economic contributions to the quality of life in terms of the availability of resources and goods.

3

Results and discussion

The general framework of the Province is characterized by an area with mining industry (Crinale Centrale) with high emergy flows and by an area (Costa) with WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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high population density and relevant economic activities and high environmental impact. The results obtained for the Province give information about the resources exploitation in the territory according to their eMergy values. In general, the area is almost dependent on external inputs such as electricity, food items and other goods. Statistical data is then collected, along with detailed information on local production and consumption, imports and exports, and the economy, as well as on local geomorphology (solar irradiation, rain, soil erosion, ore deposits, water, etc.). Quantities and equivalent emergy values have been ordered into tables that distinguish different classes of resources. In Table 1, some inputs are quantified (in J/yr or g/yr) and equivalent amounts of emergy are gathered in groups as follows: local renewable R – local nonrenewable N – imported fuels and energy F1. In Table 2, the imports of goods and services are quantified and the equivalent amounts of emergy are classified as F2. The transformities of each entry are reported on relative rows with the corresponding reference: a (Odum et al. [2]), b (Tiezzi [3]), c (Bastianoni et al. [4]), d (Ulgiati et al. [5]), e (Bastianoni et al. [6]), f (Brown and Arding [7]), g (Tiezzi [8]), h (Ulgiati et al. [9]), i (Tiezzi [10]), j (Odum [11]), k (Odum and Odum [12]), l (Odum and Arding [13]), m (Odum and Odum [14]), n (Bjorklund et al. [15]), o (Odum [1]), p (Bastianoni et al. [16]). Values are in scientific format (for example, 1.50E+2 means 1.50 x 102 that is equivalent to 150). Table 1: No.

Emergy evaluation of indigenous resources (R, N) and imported fuels (F1) for the Province of Pescara, year 2001.

Item

Amount

Unit

(unit/yr)

Solar Transformity

Ref.

Solar Emergy

(sej/unit)

(sej/yr)

1

Sunlight

5.01E+18

J / yr

1.00E+00

a

5.01E+18

2

Rain

1.05E+15

g / yr

1.45E+05

a

1.52E+20

3

Wind, kinetic energy

5.71E+14

J / yr

2.47E+03

a

1.41E+18

4

Waves

1.03E+15

J / yr

5.10E+04

a

5.27E+19

5

Tide

3.39E+10

J / yr

7.39E+04

a

2.50E+15

6

Geothermal heat

1.76E+15

J / yr

3.02E+04

a

5.30E+19

7

Soil erosion

2.91E+14

J / yr

1.24E+05

a

3.61E+19

8

Water, consumptions

2.85E+13

g / yr

1.95E+06

b

5.55E+19

9

Materials from mining

5.10E+12

g / yr

1.68E+09

a

8.56E+21

10

Electricity use a

import

1.30E+15

J / yr

2.07E+05

p

2.69E+20

b

thermoelectric

3.51E+15

J / yr

2.07E+05

p

7.26E+20

hydroelectric

c 11

Gasoline and diesel

9.98E+13

J / yr

1.06E+05

p

1.06E+19

7.79E+15

J / yr

1.11E+05

o

8.65E+20

12

Fuel oil, LPD and lubrificants

1.63E+15

J / yr

9.30E+04

c

1.52E+20

13

Natural gas

4.29E+15

J / yr

6.72E+04

c

2.88E+20

RENEWABLE RESOURCES, R (sum of items 2, 5, 6 and 10 c)

2.16E+20

NON RENEWABLE LOCAL RESOURCES, N (sum of items 7, 8 and 9)

8.66E+21

IMPORTED RESOURCES (ENERGY and FUELS), F1 (sum of items 10 a, 10 b, 11, 12 and 13)

2.30E+21

A detailed analysis is given in Table 3; in this table, in particular, there is a summary of the main emergy flows and indices for the Province of Pescara and for six districts (sub-areas). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

504 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 2: No.

Emergy evaluation of imported goods and materials (F2) for Province of Pescara, year 2001.

Item

Amount

Unit

(unit/yr)

Transformity

Ref.

(sej/unit)

Solar Emergy (sej/yr)

AGRICULTURE 1

Cereals

6.08E+12

J / yr

2.67E+05

d

1.62E+18

2

Legumes

3.37E+13

J / yr

1.39E+05

e

4.68E+18

3

Fruits

6.31E+12

J / yr

4.82E+05

d

3.04E+18

4

Vegetables

2.93E+11

J / yr

3.19E+06

f

9.36E+17

5

Seeds

7.49E+13

J / yr

1.33E+06

d

9.95E+19

6

Spices and tabacco

3.80E+12

J / yr

3.36E+05

f

1.28E+18

7

Plants and flowers

6.56E+08

g / yr

4.74E+09

g

3.11E+18 1.14E+20

BREEDING, HUNTING and FISHING 8

Animals

1.77E+14

J / yr

5.33E+06

h

9.44E+20

9

Woods

8.38E+09

g / yr

1.68E+08

f

1.41E+18

10

Hunting and fishing

1.91E+09

g / yr

2.27E+08

i

4.34E+17 9.45E+20

MINING INDUSTRY 11

Metal minerals

1.81E+08

g / yr

5.81E+09

h

1.05E+18

12

Non metal minerals

9.09E+10

g / yr

2.82E+09

j

2.56E+20 2.58E+20

MANIFACTURING INDUSTRY 13

Food industry human

1.39E+15

J / yr

5.33E+06

h

7.39E+21

non human

8.04E+13

J / yr

4.49E+05

-

3.61E+19

beverages

1.55E+10

g / yr

4.23E+09

-

6.56E+19

14

Tabacco industry

-

J / yr

1.76E+05

h

-

15

Leather industry

1.29E+12

J / yr

1.44E+07

k

1.87E+19

16

Textile industry

3.91E+14

J / yr

6.38E+06

f

2.50E+21

17

Furniture and clothing industry

3.99E+13

J / yr

6.38E+06

f

2.54E+20

18

Wood and cork industry

3.47E+10

J / yr

5.86E+04

l

2.04E+15

19

Paper industry

5.91E+15

J / yr

3.61E+05

f

2.14E+21

20

Graphic industy

9.42E+11

J / yr

3.61E+05

f

3.40E+17

21

Metallurgic industry

3.25E+10

g / yr

1.13E+10

f

3.66E+20

22

Mechanical industry

2.12E+09

g / yr

2.10E+10

m

4.46E+19

23

Mineral industry

1.04E+10

g / yr

3.09E+09

n

3.21E+19

24

Chemical industry

2.64E+11

g / yr

6.38E+08

o

1.68E+20

25

Rubber industry

3.53E+10

g / yr

7.22E+09

f

2.55E+20

26

Other manifacturing industries

1.25E+10

g / yr

5.81E+09

h

7.28E+19 1.33E+22

IMPORTED RESOURCES (GOODS and MATERIALS), F2 (sum of items 1-26)

1.47E+22

The total emergy use (U) for the Province of Pescara in 2001is 2.59E+22 sej/yr that depends on the variety of activities and dynamics occurring within the areas. The total annual emergy use is a measure of wealth; several activities of transformation industry, commerce, services, tourism, beside the density of people, let the value increase. Locally available environmental inputs (R) account for about 0.9% of total emergy supporting the Province of Pescara. Rain, tide, geothermal heat and hydroelectricity are included in the total renewable flow. In particular, a fraction of electricity use can be considered renewable, because it is produced inside the Province from hydroelectric plant (with a production of 27,000,000 kwh); thermoelectricity produced in the Province have WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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been considered non renewable and imported because fuel is not locally available (Table 1). An additional contribution of 8.66E+21sej/yr comes from local nonrenewable flows. Extractive activity plays a significant role according to the emergy accounting of the Province (in particular for the area of Crinale Centrale); the high amount of emergy contributed by extracted materials is due to their quantities and, especially, to the high values of their transformities. Local resources, both renewable and non-renewable, represent about 35% of the total emergy use in the area. The total imported emergy F is 10.70E+22 sej/yr, and is the sum of all the fluxes coming from the outside. It is about 66% of the total emergy used. This value is given by the sum of the emergy amount due to purchased energy and fuels F1 and purchased goods and materials F2. Table 3:

Emergy evaluation and indexes for the Province of Pescara and its areas, year 2001.

AREA PROVINCE OF PESCARA COSTA CRINALE CENTRALE GRAN SASSO MAJELLA TREMONTI VESTINA

Figure 1:

R sej/yr 2.16E+20 2.55E+19 3.35E+19 3.19E+19 7.26E+19 1.75E+19 3.47E+19

N sej/yr 8.66E+21 9.40E+20 4.38E+21 6.36E+18 2.29E+21 1.29E+20 9.20E+20

F sej/yr 1.70E+22 7.67E+21 5.21E+21 8.20E+20 1.08E+21 5.73E+20 1.64E+21

U sej/yr 2.59E+22 7.50E+21 1.03E+22 7.04E+20 4.11E+21 6.58E+20 2.63E+21

ED U / area 2.11E+13 4.66E+13 4.76E+13 3.42E+12 1.35E+13 5.82E+12 1.17E+13

EpP U / pop 8.76E+16 3.99E+16 3.05E+17 7.89E+16 2.33E+17 4.28E+16 8.28E+16

ELR N+F / R 118.92 338.02 286.06 25.86 46.42 40.12 73.82

EIR F/L 1.92 7.95 1.18 21.40 0.46 3.92 1.72

Maps of emergy density and environmental loading ratio in the Province of Pescara.

This high percentage of resources coming from the outside means that there is a presence of many local entities that import resources from a huger context.

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506 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Once all the inputs have been classified into categories, some indicators are calculated. Each area has been investigated, and the results of the analysis are shown in Table 3, that shows also a comparison between the Province of Pescara and the six districts with different environmental and economic characteristics. Only a deep investigation of all the values, ratios and indicators, besides the first collection of data, allow to understand the real behaviour of each area and its role within the system. This outcome gives a clear vision of resource consumption throughout the area of the Province. Results are not homogeneous and show different conditions in different areas. Two districts (Crinale Centrale and Costa) have been highlighted as areas where very concentrated flows of emergy are located, due to the population density and the presence of industrial activities, high urbanization and resource use and extraction. The values of the emergy density (2.11E+13 sej/yr/m2) and the emergy per person (8.76E+16 sej/yr/ab.) for the Province and for each district help to estimate respectively the pressure of the economic activity on the territory and the standards of living in terms of availability of resources. The measure of spatial stress, represented by ED, is higher in Costa (4.66E+13 sej/yr/m2) and Crinale Centrale (4.76E+13 sej/yr/m2) than in the Province of Pescara as a whole. Low levels are found in Gran Sasso (3.42E+12 sej/yr/m2). The Emergy per Person (EpP) shows how consumption is related to population and, in a certain sense, this index represents the responsibility of each inhabitant for the use of resources. The values for the Province of Pescara and its districts Costa and Tremonti show a certain equilibrium between local consumption and the presence of population; a high level of population density is compensated by a moderate amount of resources per capita. The high value in Crinale Centrale derives from the existence of a relevant level of exploitation of local non-renewable resources. The Province of Pescara presents a high level of ELR, which reflect a larger use of local non-renewable resources. This indicator achieves high values in areas such as Crinale Centrale and Costa. So, a large ratio suggests a high level of environmental stress. Gran Sasso has lower values than other areas. The emergy investment (EIR) ratio is the ratio of the emergy feedback from the economy to the indigenous emergy inputs. A high level of the EIR in Gran Sasso represents a sort of fragility of the system because of its dependence on inputs from other economic systems and probably depends on tourism. In Majella there is a low level of purchased resources with respect to the local resource availability.

4

Conclusions

The combined use of emergy synthesis, sustainable indicators, thermodynamics, is capable of providing synergic information on the dynamics of human systems at any level. According to this information so provided, future strategic choices have to be directed in order to enhance the welfare of the local community and orient the consumption of resources. Environmental and landscape information, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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social information from statistical database can be fruitfully integrated within the conceptual framework of emergy synthesis, contributing to local policy making, as well as to understand the relation between local and “sub-local” economies. The real application of the eMergy analysis during the planning practices concerns practical choices even interacting with other actors, urban planners, stakeholders and policy makers. The best solutions are obviously the ones that decrease the value of the eMergy flows, that means decreasing consumptions of energy and matter within the local human settlement. The general results for the Province of Pescara suggest that compatibility between some economic activities and increasing environmental protection is possible, provided that the population density is relatively low and that local renewable sources are used to a considerable extent. Sustainable economic activities can provide economic support to the local population, thus preventing people from abandoning a territory for better living conditions. A better use of environmental resources can maximize the total resource available and may increase economic vitality.

References [1] [2]

[3]

[4] [5]

[6]

[7]

Odum H.T., Environmental accounting: emergy and environmental decision making. Wiley, New York, US, 1996. Odum H.T., Brown M.T. & Williams S.B., Handbook of emergy evaluation: a compendium of data for emergy computation issued in a series of folios. Folio #1 - Introduction and Global Budget. Center for Environmental Policy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 2000. Tiezzi E. (Ed.), Implementazione di un sistema di contabilità ambientale su scala provinciale e intercomunale. Experimental project sponsored by Italian Minister for the Environment. University of Siena and Province of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. 2001. Bastianoni S., Campbell D., Susani L. & Tiezzi E., The solar transformity of oil and petroleum natural gas. Ecological Modelling 186, 2005, 212220. Ulgiati S., Odum H.T. & Bastianoni S., Emergy analysis of Italian agricultural system: the role of energy quality and environmental inputs. (Eds.) Bonati L, Cosentino U, Lasagni M, Moro G, Pitea D ad Schiraldi A. Proc. 2nd Int. workshop - Trends in ecological physical chemistry. Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1993, 187-215. Bastianoni S., Brown M.T., Marchettini N. & Ulgiati S., Assessing energy quality, process efficiency and environmental loading in biofuels production from biomass. (Eds.) Chartier Ph, Beenackers A.A.C., and Grassi G. Proc. 8th European Biomass Conference - Biomass for energy environment, agriculture and industry. Pergamon, Oxford, 1994, 23002312. Brown M.T. & Arding J.E., Transformity Working Paper. Center for Wetlands, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 1991. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

508 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

[14] [15]

[16]

Tiezzi E. (Ed.), Analisi di sostenibilità ambientale del Comune di Pescia. Unpublished report, Siena, Italy, 2000. Ulgiati S., Odum H.T. & Bastianoni S., Emergy use, environmental loading and sustainability. An emergy analysis of Italy. Ecological Modelling 73, 1994, 215-268. Tiezzi E. (Ed.), Studio per un progetto di valutazione di scenari per uno sviluppo sostenibile della Laguna di Venezia, Unpublished report, Siena, Italy, 2000. Odum H.T., Emergy and Public Policy (Part I-II). Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 1992. Odum H.T. & Odum E.C., Ecology and Economy. Emergy Analysis and Public Policy in Texas. Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, Policy Research Project Report n. 78. Austin, TX, 1987. Odum H.T. & Arding J.E., Emergy analysis of shrimp mariculture in Ecuador. Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Working paper prepared for Coastal Resources Center, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, 1991. Odum H.T. & Odum E.C., Energy Analysis Overview of Nations. WP-8382, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria, 1983. Bjorklund J., Geber U. & Rydberg T., Emergy analysis of municipal wastewater treatment and generation of electricity by digestion of sewage sludge; a Swedish case study. Resources Conservation & Recycling 31 (4), 2000, 293-316. Bastianoni S., Marchettini N., Principi I. & Tiezzi E., Sviluppo di un modello di analisi emergetica per il sistema elettrico nazionale. Unpublished report, Siena, Italy, 2001.

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Sustainability of energy use in Estonian settlements and regions H. Hallemaa1, H. Vitsur2, T. Oja1 & Ü. Mander1 1 2

Institute of Geography, University of Tartu, Estonia Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Tallinn, Estonia

Abstract Energy use and the sustainability and economic use thereof are the most essential questions for development, especially for economic development in each country. The effective use of energy has also been the focus of public debate in Estonia since the restoration of independence in 1991. On the one hand, Estonia has a relatively extensive supply of energy resources. On the other hand, energy use is generally not very economical and sustainable. This paper characterizes the main aspects of the development of sustainable and effective energy use in each sector of society in Estonia based on the classification of settlements and development units. We have performed emergy and exergy analyses of society in cities, counties and regions. The concept of emergy and exergy has been used in simplified and very general terms. The rate of use of renewable energy generally remains low, but is relatively higher in the southern and central part of Estonia. However, the rate of the use of wood for heat production in cities and counties and in Estonia as a whole has increased in the last decade. The average emergy rate for the whole country (0.109) is significantly lower than the average for most counties (0.12-0.71), except for the oil-shale region of Ida-Viru County (0.009). It is also relatively low in the capital city of Tallinn (0.080). The northern and north-eastern part of the country (including Tallinn) is remarkably less sustainable than the rest of the country. One of the biggest energy users and at the same time one of the most inefficient/uneconomical energy users is car transport, especially in the cities. Keywords: car transport, cities, counties, emergy, energy system, exergy, sustainability of energy use, regions.

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060481

510 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

1.1 Aims and objectives of study The article presents the results of the joint research carried out from 2004–2006. The aims and objectives of this study are: (1) to analyse energy use and the sustainability of the Estonian energy system and its characteristics and developments; (2) to analyse the regional differences in energy use and in the energy system in Estonia and between the internal regions and cities of Estonia; (3) to characterize the tendencies and point out measures for the development of sustainable and effective energy use in each sector of society in Estonia, based on the classification of the specified settlements and development units; (4) to perform emergy and exergy analyses of society in the cities and other development units and calculate respective indices; (5) to describe regional differences, characterize the tendencies and point out measures to make car transport more efficient/economical; (6) to study, describe and outline ideas and a design perspective for the development and changes in the future of the Energy System of Estonia on several development levels. 1.2 The Republic of Estonia and units of its administrative system The Republic of Estonia is a relatively small country in the northeast of Europe, which regained its independence in 1991, joined NATO in March 2004 and the EU on the 1st of May 2004. The process of rebuilding and developing Estonia’s economy, institutional structure and society has been taking place for a little longer than fifteen years. As we have stated in previous articles [1], the territorial objects related to regional and local development and development policy – development units – in Estonia are all units of the Estonian administrative system. As of the 1st of January 2006, Estonia has 15 counties and 231 local administrations, including 32 towns and cities and 199 rural communities. Settlement units without the status of local administrations in Estonia are divided into urban communities in cities and 4607 rural communities: towns within parishes (5), townships (1), large villages (173) and villages (4428) (by the 1st of January 2003) [1]. The administrative reform of Estonia is presently being designed and planned. One idea is to distinguish four prospective administrative regions. These have been taken as development regions to present research results for this paper. 1.3 Theoretical approaches and bases for emergy and exergy analyses as methods in ecological energetics Emergy and exergy have been developed as complementary goal functions. By definition, emergy is the solar energy directly and indirectly required to generate a flow or storage. Exergy is a property of a system that measures the maximum work that can be extracted from a system when it moves towards the thermodynamic equilibrium with a reference state [2]. The concepts of emergy and exergy have been developed by Odum [3–7], Jørgensen et al. [8], Patten [9], WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Brown and Herendeen [10], Tiezzi et al. [11] and Zhou et al. [12]. This concept has been used for several practical reasons and applications [7, 13, 14]. Estersväg and Melnik have performed an exergy analysis of Norwegian society [15], and Estersväg has compared different societies based on society exergy analyses [16]. Energy hierarchy analyses and energetic zonation, like that of Taipei metropolitan region of Taiwan performed by Huang et al. [17], can be interesting and promising.

2

Materials and methods

2.1 Emergy and exergy analyses of the Estonian energy system On the one hand, Estonia has a relatively extensive supply of energy resources. Oil shale (kukersite) is the main local primary energy source in Estonia (58% of the total). It is mainly used to produce electricity (96%). Oil shale is the second largest resource in heat production (22%) after imported natural gas (26%). However, it makes up only 7% of final consumption, being outstripped by imported engine fuel (54%) and wood (22%) [18]. On the other hand, the efficiency of energy use is very low and generally not sustainable in the long term. We have performed emergy and exergy analyses of society in the cities and regions of Estonia. In this paper we describe and compare energy use and sustainability in Estonian settlements and cities and in counties and regions. At this time the counties act in energy use as backgrounds of cities and county centres (and this is how they have been considered in the analysis). The following types of settlements and research units have been distinguished: (1) Tallinn as the capital city and centre of agglomeration (TLN), (2) the agglomeration of Tallinn (TLN + rest of Harju County), (3) the large industrialized cities Narva (NAR), Kohtla-Järve (KJ) and Sillamäe (SIL), (4) other large cities Tartu (TRT) and Pärnu (PÄR), (5) county centres, (6) other settlements, (7) counties (backgrounds of cities), (8) EU NUTS 3 regions [18]: Northern (N), North-Eastern (NE), Central (C); Western (W), and Southern (S) Estonia, and (9) development regions. 2.2 Data and materials for research For this study we used basic data from the Statistical Office of Estonia, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia, the Estonian Motor Vehicle Registration Centre (data about car traffic in 2002–2006) and local administrations. Some basic data for research and overall calculations was picked up from official publications [18, 19] and from the statistical database and regional development database (1991–2004) [20] of the Estonian Statistical Office. The regional data about the production and consumption of energy and fuel was taken from statistical annual accounting forms “Energy and Fuel” and its summaries by counties and cities for the period 1996–2004. We obtained the data about declared agricultural lands from the field register [21] and supported WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

512 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability fields from the register of agricultural support [22] of the Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board. We also used the results of previous studies on this topic by the Institute of Geography of the University of Tartu [1, 23–26] and the Faculty of Power Engineering of Tallinn University of Technology. Based on the data available in the Estonian Statistical Office [18–20], Primary Energy Consumption (PEC) was summated as follows: PEC = Consumption of coal + oil shale + milled peat + sod peat + firewood + wood chips + wood waste + natural gas + liquefied gas + heavy fuel oil + light fuel oil + diesel + motor gasoline + aviation gasoline, (1) where PEC – total and specific energy in GJ or TJ and GJ per capita. For the calculation of the Primary Energy Consumption with Imported Energy (PEC I+E-), we consider classical primary energy consumption (PEC), but also take into consideration “imported” electricity and heat (used energy from other regions of Estonia), and subtract “exported” electricity and heat (energy, sold and transported to other regions of Estonia): PECI+E- = PEC + “imported” electricity + “imported” heat – “exported” electricity – “exported” heat (2) where PECI+E- – total and specific energy in GJ or TJ and GJ per capita. For the calculation of Renewable Energy Consumption (REC) we were only able to use firewood, wood chips and wood wastes, about which regional consumption statistics are available. Unfortunately we were unable to use data concerning the regional division of biogas (total for Estonia in 2004: 108 TJ, in 2000 21 TJ and in 1996 only 8 TJ) and hydro-electric and wind energy (total by Estonia in 2004 108 TJ, in 2000 21 TJ and in 1996 only 8 TJ) [18]. Renewable Energy Consumption has been calculated as follows: REC = Consumption of firewood + wood chips + wood wastes,

(3)

where REC – total and specific energy in GJ or TJ and GJ per capita. Final Energy Consumption (FEC) comprises energy that is received and consumed after conversion into other forms of energy (fuel, electricity, heat). Final consumption excludes the use of energy for non-energy purposes, selfconsumption by power plants and losses [18, 19, 20]. Final Energy Consumption is the sum of the following: FEC∑ = FECf + FECe + FECh,,

(4)

where FEC∑ – Final Energy Consumption, total; FECf – FEC, fuel; FECe – FEC, electricity; FECh – FEC, heat; (all in GJ or TJ and GJ per capita). For analysing and characterizing the dynamics of car transport, we use the index: (5) Icar = number of cars / 1,000 inhabitants, where the number of cars was calculated as of the end of the year (31.12).

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In all calculations of index Icar, the number of inhabitants in the current year has been taken as the de facto population size of the beginning of the next year. For practical reasons the number of inhabitants in 2005 was considered as de facto population size on 01.01.2006. In energy analysis per capita we used the mean annual population size of the current year. 2.3 Emergy rate as the rate of environmental sustainability of an energy system We have used the concept of emergy and exergy analysis in simplified and very general terms. The Emergy or Rate of Emergy is defined as follows: Em = REC / PEC,

(6)

where Em – Emergy; REC – Renewable Energy Consumption; PEC – Primary Energy Consumption. Emergy shows the ecological sustainability and efficiency of a society or the society’s energy system. From this index we can see how great a proportion of energy production and consumption comes from materials that do not raise the entropy of systems [3–9]. 2.4 Exergy and efficiency rates as indices of the efficiency of an energy system The Exergy or Rate of Exergy is the relationship between final energy consumption (output) and used primary energy (input), or the percentage of final energy consumption from all used primary energy, this also in very general terms. We calculated this rate as follows: Ex = FEC∑ / PEC,

(7)

where Ex – Exergy; FEC∑ – Final Energy Consumption, total; PEC – Primary Energy Consumption. The Efficiency or Rate of Efficiency is the relationship between final energy consumption (output) and used primary energy together with “imported” energy (input), or the percentage of final energy consumption from all used primary energy together with “imported” energy. We calculated this rate as follows: Ef = FEC∑ / PEC I+E- ,

(8)

where Ef – Efficiency; FEC∑ – Final Energy Consumption, total; PECI+E- – Primary Energy Consumption, in which we have also taken into consideration “imported” electricity and heat and have subtracted “exported” electricity and heat. At the same time, exergy is a measure of the energy or energetic sustainability and efficiency of a society or that society’s energy system. It shows how great a proportion of energy input goes into the final output of the system. It also characterizes the system’s overall efficiency.

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514 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability In our paper, efficiency was calculated as the efficiency of the real energy system of society together with all adjustments. Thus the rate of efficiency directly shows how rational a region’s energy system is.

3

Results and discussion

3.1 Energy resources, primary energy input and final energy output in Estonian regions There are extremely great differences in the character and sustainability of energy use between settlements and regions in Estonia (Table 1). Table 1:

PEC PEC I+EREC FEC∑ FECf FECe FECh

Primary energy input (energy consumption) and final energy output (final energy consumption) in Estonian NUTS 3 regions and cities in 2004 (GJ per capita). For abbreviations of energy parameters, NUTS 3 regions and cities, see text. EST 170 166 19 90 45 20 25

N 84 111 10 101 44 26 31

NE 807 652 7 107 27 42 38

S 63 71 29 67 44 8 16

W C TLN 63 93 89 75 107 121 21 36 7 69 105 107 45 74 45 9 12 29 15 18 32

NAR 1632 1181 0 105 9 62 34

KJ 471 517 0 98 17 32 49

SIL 115 101 0 52 9 16 28

TRT PÄR 41 46 52 65 9 7 48 67 19 30 8 11 21 25

On the one hand, oil-shale based electrical energy production in north-eastern Estonia supplies the rest of Estonia with energy. Therefore the PEC value (GJ per capita) in NE Estonia and the cities of Narva and Kohtla-Järve is considerably higher than in other counties and cities. One can also see that the primary energy input without secondary energy flows (PEC I+E-) in the cities (Tallinn, Tartu, and Pärnu) is lower than final energy consumption. On the other hand, north-eastern Estonia and the capital city do not use renewable energy sources. In contrast, that ratio is highest in marginal regions in the south and west of the country. The FEC values show a significant concentration of final energy consumption in the northern and north-eastern parts of Estonia. Accordingly, these regions cannot be considered sustainable. In contrast, Tartu, Pärnu, and most counties outside of northern and north-eastern Estonia show much more sustainable energy consumption. 3.2 The emergy rate of Estonia’s energy system The results of the emergy analysis of Estonia’s energy system by regions, counties, cities and county-centres are presented in Fig. 1. This is very much related to the results given in Table 1. The rate of use of renewable energy generally remains low, being relatively higher in the southern and central parts of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Estonia. However, the rate of use of wood for heat production in cities and in counties and in Estonia as a whole has increased in the last decade. The average emergy rate of the whole country (0.109) is significantly lower than in most counties (except for Ida-Viru County: 0.009). It is also extremely low in Tallinn (0.080). The relative importance of renewable energy is great and the emergy rate is highest in Valga (0.706), Viljandi (0.568), Võru (0.533), Jõgeva (0.528) and Järva (0.506) counties. 1,6

Em

Ex

Ef

1,2 0,8 0,4

EST Northern Estonia

Figure 1:

North-Eastern Estonia

Central Estonia

Western Estonia

Võru

Viljandi

Tartu Tartu City* Valga

Põlva

Jõgeva

Pärnu Pärnu City* Saare

Hiiu

Lääne

Järva LääneViru Rapla

Narva* KohtlaJärve* Sillamäe*

Ida-Viru

Harju

Tallinn*

0,0

Southern Estonia

Emergy (Em), exergy (Ex) and efficiency (Ef) indexes in Estonia’s counties (NUTS 3 regions) and cities in 2004.

3.3 The exergy rate of Estonia’s energy system The results of the exergy analysis of Estonia’s energy system by regions, counties, cities and county-centres are also presented in Fig. 1. As in the case of emergy values, exergy and efficiency rates are closely related to the data in Table 1. There are regions that produce for the whole of Estonia (north-eastern Estonia) and counties that consume this service. Thus in general, all of the rest of Estonia excluding the Ida-Viru region itself consumes the electricity produced in this area. In comparison with other countries, wind and hydroelectric power production is developing very slowly outside the main energy production region in north-eastern Estonia. However, there are plans for the construction of biomass-based CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plants in several towns. The idea of the construction of several small nuclear power plants, which has recently been debated in some political circles, will hopefully never be realised. 3.4 Car transport and its dynamics in the Estonian regions One of the biggest energy users and at the same time one of the most inefficient/uneconomical energy users is car transport, especially in the cities. The total number of cars and the index Icar has increased during the last decade, especially in cities and county centres (Fig. 2). Although the number of cars is increasing year by year, gasoline consumption has generally remained constant during the last 15 years. The total number of cars at the end of 2002 was 486,182. In 2003 it was 522,776, in 2004 562,199, and in 2005 585,175, which makes 359 cars per 1,000 inhabitants in 2002, 387 in WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

516 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

600

2002

500

2003

2004

2005

400 300 200

NUTS 3 regions Figure 2:

Narva

KohtlaJärve

Pärnu

Tartu

Northern Estonia NE Estonia Central Estonia Western Estonia Southern Estonia

0

Tallinn

100 Estonia

Cars per 1000 inhabitants

2003, 417 in 2004 and 434 in 2005. The consumption dynamics of motor gasoline in Estonia in thousands of tons per year was as follows: 1991 – 463, 1992 – 228, 1995 – 247, 1996 – 280, 2000 – 306, 2001 – 335, 2002 – 311, 2003 – 306, and 2004 – 287 [18, 19]. At the same time, the consumption of diesel oil (together with gas oil) has also increased somewhat over the last 15 years: (1991 – 676), 1992 – 413, 1995 – 375, 1996 – 408, 2000 – 450, 2001 – 492, 2002 – 570, 2003 – 592 & 2004 – 608 thousand tons per year [18, 19]. These are positive trends and show that new cars are more effective and more environmentally friendly, and probably the amount of kilometres per car has decreased. The same picture can be seen in the regions, counties and cities of Estonia. However, the regional differences in the car index remain significantly high. The road systems of the cities must be developed and the level of public transport must be increased in order to make urban transport more effective and environmentally sustainable.

Main cities

Dynamics of the car index (cars per 1,000 inhabitants) in Estonian regions in 2002–2005.

3.5 Perspectives on the energy system in Estonia

In Estonia, strategic development documents and policies in the area of energy economy are elaborated both by Government and Parliament [27, 28], against the background of the adoption of a Common Energy Policy and the design of perspective developments discussed also in the European Union and by the European Commission [29]. One of the most promising fields and spheres of energy production for Estonia will be biomass energy (energy forests, rape, grain, straw, dung, etc.) and biogas. There is great potential for this sphere of future agriculture in Estonia. In 2005, more than 380,000 ha of agricultural land was out of production (of the total of 1,219,780 ha declared in 2004: [21]). In 2005, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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agricultural subsidies covered 837,098 ha [22]). By our calculations, it would be possible to produce approximately 47,000 TJ of external energy from this perspective, which is 41.8% of total final energy consumption in 2004. Wetlands are a challenging opportunity for sustainable development and energy production [23]. In the new Estonian Rural Development Strategy for 2007–2013 [30], renewable energy production is considered to be one of the priorities and fields for agricultural subsidies for this period. At the same time, it launches and supports the establishment of new jobs in rural areas. For the year 2020 there are possibilities to increase the percentage of renewable energy in Estonia’s total energy balance by up to 25 %. Nuclear energy could yield approximately 25% of energy consumption. These developments will reduce the role of fossil fuels (especially oil shale) in the energy balance by about 25–50%. Thanks to these important steps, emergy, exergy and efficiency rates will increase significantly. Finally, it will result in an improvement in the ecological and energetic sustainability of the energy system in Estonia

4

Conclusions

In Estonia, the effective use of energy has been the focus of public debate since the country regained its independence in 1991. There are remarkable differences in the character and level of sustainability of energy use between the settlements and regions of Estonia. The rate of use of renewable energy (the emergy rate) generally remains low, being relatively higher in the southern and central parts of Estonia. However, the rate of use of wood for heat production in cities has increased in the last decade. Regarding the exergy rate, there are regions that produce for the whole country (north-eastern Estonia) and counties that use these services. In general, the rest of the country consumes power production from the oil-shale region in Ida-Viru County. One of the greatest energy users and at the same time one of the most inefficient/uneconomical energy users is car transport, especially in the cities. The road systems in the cities must be developed and the level of public transport increased in order to make urban transport more effective and environmentally sustainable. In terms of energy sustainability parameters, northern and north-eastern Estonia and the capital city Tallinn could not be considered sustainable. In contrast, Tartu, Pärnu, and most counties outside northern and north-eastern Estonia demonstrate a much more sustainable energy policy. The development and adoption of changes in the Common Energy Policy are being discussed and planned in both Estonia and the European Union.

Acknowledgement This study was supported by Target Funding Project No. 0182534s03 of the Ministry of Education and Science of Estonia.

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Hallemaa H., Regional Development and Development Policy in Estonia and European Community. Economical Policy of Estonia in European Union, Tallinn Technical University: Tallinn & University of Tartu; Tartu, pp. 42 – 62, 1996. (In Estonian, summary in English) Bastianoni, S. & Marcettini, N., Emergy/exergy ratio as a measure of the level of organization of systems. Ecological Modelling, 99, pp. 33-40, 1997. Odum, H.T., Environment, Power, and Society. Wiley-Interscience: New York, 331 pp., 1971. Odum, H.T., System Ecology. John Wiley: New York, NY, 644 pp, 1983. Odum, H.T., Environmental accounting, emergy and decision making. John Wiley: New York, 1996. Odum, H.T., Self-organization, transformity, and information. Science, 242, pp. 1132-1139, 1998. Odum, H.T., Emergy evaluation of an OTEC electrical power system. Energy, 25, pp. 389-393, 2000. Jørgensen, S.E., Nielsen, S.N. & Mejer, H., Emergy, environ, exergy and ecological modelling. Ecological Modelling, 77, pp. 99-109, 1995. Patten, B.C., Network integration of ecological extremal principles: exergy, emergy, power, ascendency and indirect effects. Ecological Modelling, 79, pp. 75-84, 1995. Brown, M.T. & Herendeen, R.A., Embodied energy analysis and EMERGY analysis: a comparative view. Ecological Economics, 19, pp. 219-235, 1996. Tiezzi, E., Bastianoni, S. & Marchettini, N., Environmental cost and steady state: the problem of adiabaticity in the emergy value. Ecological Modelling, 90, pp. 33-37, 1996. Zhou, J., Ma, S. & Hinman, G.W., Ecological exergy analysis: a new method for ecological energetics research. Ecological Modelling, 84, pp. 291-303, 1996. Martin, J.F., Emergy valuation of diversions of river water to marshes in the Mississippi River Delta. Ecological Engineering, 18, pp. 265-286, 2002. Bastianoni, S., Marcettini, N., Panzieri, M. & Tiezzi, E., Sustainability assessment of a farm in the Chianti area (Italy). Journal of Cleaner Production, 9, pp. 365-373, 2001. Estersväg, I.S. & Melnik, M., Exergy analysis of the Norwegian society. Energy, 25, pp. 957-973, 2000. Estersväg, I.S., Society exergy analysis: a comparison of different societies. Energy, 26, pp. 253-270, 2001. Huang, S.-L., Lai, H.-Y. & Lee, C.-L., Energy hierarchy and urban landscape system. Landscape and Urban Planning, 53, pp. 145-161, 2001. Energy Balance 1991-2004: Yearbooks, Statistical Office of Estonia: Tallinn, 1992-2005.

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[19] [20] [21] [22] [23]

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Estonian Statistical Yearbooks 1991-2004, Statistical Office of Estonia: Tallinn, 1992-2005. Fuel consumption by county 1991-2004, Statistics Estonia, Regional Development Database, Economy, Energy; Statistical Office of Estonia: Tallinn. www.stat.ee, http://pub.stat.ee Field register; Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board: Tartu. www.pria.ee, http://eng.pria.ee Register of agricultural support; Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board: Tartu. www.pria.ee, http://eng.pria.ee Denafas, G., Revoldas, V., Zaliauskiene, A., Bendere, R., Kudrenickis, I., Mander, Ü., Oja, T., Sergeeva, L. & Esipenko, A., Environmental consequences of the use of biomass and combustible wastes in the Baltic region. Latvian Journal of Physics and Technical Sciences, 2, pp. 24-44, 2002. Kull, A., Post, R. & Selg, V., Conclusions on Renewable Energy Resources, Their Potential and Economic Efficiency. Possible Energy Sector Trends in Estonia, Context of Climate Change, Tallinn, pp. 105127, 1999. Mander, Ü., Strandberg, M., Mauring, T. & Remm, K., Wetlands as an essential basis for sustainable development: the Estonian case. Villacampa, Y., Brebbia, C.A. & Uso, J.-L., (eds). Ecosystems and Sustainable Development III, WIT Press: Southampton and Boston, pp. 459-467, 2001. Mander, Ü., Oja, T., Hallemaa, H., Kull, A., Bendere, R., Kudrenickis, I., Sergeeva, L. & Denafas, G., Environmental pollution analysis of energy production and consumption in the Baltic region. Tiezzi, E., Brebbia, C.A. & Uso, J.L., (eds). Ecosystems and Sustainable Development IV, WIT Press: Southampton and Boston, pp. 835-845, 2003. Estonian Electricity Economy Development Plan for 2005-2015: adopted by ordinance of Government of Estonia No 5 from 03.01.2006. Tallinn, RTL, 18.01.2006, 7, 134, eRT. (In Estonian). Long Term Public Fuel and Energy Sector Development Plan until 2015: Adopted by Riigikogu 15.12.2004; Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications: Tallinn, www.mkm.ee (RTI, 23.12.2004, 88, 601, eRT (In Estonian)). Doing more with less – Green Paper on energy efficiency; European Commission, Directorate – General for Energy and Transport, 2005. www.europa.eu.int/comm/energy/efficiency/doc/2005_06_green_paper_boo k_engl.pdf Estonian Rural Development Strategy 2007–2013: Draft; Estonian Ministry of Agriculture: Tallinn, 26.03.2006. www.agri.ee/mas (In Estonian)

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Emergy approach for the environmental sustainability assessment of the urban water system of Genoa (NW Italy) P. Vassallo1, C. Paoli1, N. Bazzurro2, C. Masciulli2 & M. Fabiano1 1

Department for the Study of Territory and its Resources, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy 2 Fondazione AMGA, Genoa, Italy

Abstract Water has been defined as the oil of the twenty-first century; this is the reason why improving water managing techniques and making them sustainable is the way through which economic growth should be attained. The purpose of this study is to provide a valid scientific instrument to administrations in order to hit this mark. The emergy concept was used to evaluate the sustainability of the water cycle managed by the AMGA group in an area (the province of Genoa, Italy), consisting of 1513 Km2 and 52 municipalities (also comprehending the city of Genoa). Emergy is defined as the available energy of one kind previously used up directly or indirectly to create a product or an energy flow. Analysis has concerned the study of process phases and the calculation of a number of emergetic indices. Some of the emergetic indices calculated for the Genoese system were compared with those obtained by a similar study previously performed on another process of water management (Bologna, Italy). The emergy evaluation shows a good efficiency of the system, a great ability at exploiting natural resources and a low dependence from external sources. Further improvements in the level of sustainability of the process could be foreseen by the reduction of the leaks of water during management, by the improvement of the pipeline design and by the employment of more durable materials and if possible characterized by lower values of transformity. Keywords: water cycle, emergy, environmental sustainability, thermodynamic approach, water management.

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Introduction

Water is a fundamental resource, integral to all environmental functions and human purpose. It belongs to the group of renewable resources that are extinguishable [1] and there are threats to, and pressure on it, all over the world. Developed countries water use is strictly related to a strong management of the resource that has to be carefully planned to avoid possible damages to important environmental features, or permanent loss of the quality level of the resource. A number of different studies focused on the problems related to the planning of water use and recently some approaches to the integrated (e.g. [2–5]) or sustainable management have been performed (e.g. [6–8]). However there is a lack of attention to a practical and adaptable tool for the implementation and evaluation of integrated and sustainable management. There is the need of new indicators able to assess for an ecologically sustainable water management program, in which human needs for water are met by storing and diverting water in a manner that can sustain or restore the ecological integrity of affected river ecosystems [9]. According to the sustainability concept, aiming to reach a better level of sustainability in exploiting the water resource, it is important to evaluate both the quality of the internal resources of the catchment basin and the contribution of the external ones that are involved in the system to maintain its level of activity and its equilibrium. On the other hand it is important to consider the exportations out of the system in terms of refusals and energy degradation. Traditional analyses, usually employed in studying sustainability of systems with great interconnection of both human and natural aspects, generally consider only one of two different aspects: the economic and the environmental one. A methodology that considers both systems (ecological and economic) and that allows defining the importance of products as to a limited amount of resources available is necessary for a sustainable development. Natural and human inputs contribute to the economic growth of the systems, but economics analyses are not able to monetize natural resources. Emergy analysis is a possible answer to this problem, being a method of analysis able to consider both natural and human system and to compare their products. Emergy accounting methodology has developed over the last three decades [10–12] as a tool for environmental policy and to evaluate quality of resources in the dynamics of complex systems. Emergy could be defined as the sum of all inputs of energy directly or indirectly required by a process to provide a given product when the inputs are expressed in the same form (or type) of energy, usually solar energy. Choice of solar energy derived from the consideration that it is the most important energy involved in all biogeochemical processes of the heart. Emergy analysis takes into account the quality of each form of energy multiplying each quantity of energy by its solar transformity. Solar transformity is defined as solar emergy per unit energy (sej/j) [13, 14]. The amount of input emergy (expressed as solar emergy) per unit output energy is termed, solar transformity. Transformity can be considered both a quality indicator, according to Lotka-Odum’s maximum power principle [15, 16] and an WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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efficiency indicator because a lower transformity needed to obtain a product means a lower (and better) exploitation of resources during the process. We could refer to emergy as a sustainability indicator cause it allows evaluating the quantity and quality (in terms of renewability) of resources employed in a process. Moreover by the comparison of inputs and outputs to a process in emergy terms it is possible to assess the efficiency of the entire process or of specific compartments of the productive chain. This paper deals with the application of the emergy analysis for the assessment of the level of sustainability of the urban water management of the city of Genoa (NW Italy), controlled by AMGA group. AMGA Group works on the Italian and international markets offering a series of services requiring highly specialized know-how such as technological support, technical and organizational assistance, and skill building and knowledge sharing programs. Experience consolidated in over 60 years in the business and a rapid process of ongoing technological innovation make the AMGA Group a landmark and a highly qualified reference for utility operators and public authorities looking for a quality response to the problems of environmental protection and network management.

2

Materials and methods

2.1 Study area The study we are going to present deals on the environmental sustainability analysis of the water cycle managed by AMGA in Genoa (NW Italy), and in 51 neighboring municipalities, for a total of ~ 761000 inhabitants living in 1513 Km2 (Figure 1).

Figure 1:

Location of the study area. In white analysed municipalities.

The analysed service manages roughly 6·107 m3 water a year and consists of seven subsequent steps: collection, adduction, purification for drinking, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

524 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability distribution, waste water collection and waste water treatment. The greatest part of collected water is stored in two artificial lakes but a minor extent is pumped from a number of wells or from the main river crossing the city of Genoa (Bisagno River). Collected water is addressed to purification that is performed almost completely in two plants working with sand filters. Just before the purification process the kinetic energy assumed by water is spent for electricity production in turbines. Water distribution in the province of Genoa historically represented a difficult problem to be solved due to the geographical features of the region with a rapid gradient between hills and sea, and to the scattered distribution of the involved municipalities. Finally waste water treatment is performed in eight plants displayed all along the Genoese coast. 2.2 Emergy analysis Emergy is the work that the biosphere has to do, in order to maintain a system far from equilibrium [17]. The higher the emergy flux necessary to sustain a system or a process, the higher is their hierarchical level and the usefulness that can be expected from them (Maximum Empower Principle [13]). Emergy analysis is used to evaluate all the energetic fluxes needed to reach a certain product or to obtain a service and to measure the environmental stress due to the human activities. It considers a system with larger boundaries, including all the inputs that contributed to form a product, including environmental inputs that are regarded as free in energy analysis [18]. The first step in the emergy analysis has been the achievement of a systemic diagram drawn using an appropriate symbology developed by Odum. Natural inputs are represented on the left side of the systemic diagram while moving clockwise along the diagram, resources are ordered following a decreasing rate of renewability. All the fluxes and objects in the diagram have been converted in emergy terms by the application of appropriate transformities or conversion factors. Detailed description of the calculation procedures and related equations are available for the readers on request to the authors. In this research we considered as the total renewable contribution the sum of two different inputs: geothermal heat and chemical potential of rain. Some other natural contributions (i.e. solar radiation, wind, geopotential of water) were calculated and then not added to the total emergy value cause all these source inputs to the system result from parallel processing of the global emergy driving the biosphere. This procedure, widely employed in this kind of studies, avoids counting the same phenomenon twice under different names and has been drawn by Odum [16]. The total emergy value it is a numeral value that needs some comparisons to be discussed, nevertheless it could be better understood calculating some indices for the assessment of the sustainability level of the process. These indices arise from the different nature of the inputs involved in the emergy calculation. The percentages of renewable local sources (R), local non-renewable sources (N) and external (non-renewable) sources (F) combined in a number of ways bring to different results. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Afterwards to reach a better insight in the analyzed water cycle each one of the seven phases of the process has been separately considered. This approach was already followed in a previous similar study applied in six municipalities on the western side of the province of Bologna [19] managed by the SEABO company. However, cause it is not possible to leave out of consideration the sequential nature of the process, the link between phases it has been maintained by means of transformities. In fact the transformity applied to the water, as input to a phase, is the one obtained as output at the end of the previous one. By the analysis of the different phases it is possible to obtain both indices of sustainability and transformities of water at the end of each process and consequently detect those that more affect the level of sustainability and the total emergy of the entire water cycle.

3

Results

The diagram in Figure 2 has been suitably developed aiming to represent the fluxes involved in the process considered in this study. In the diagram it is shown the entire process regarding the water cycle managed by AMGA. The algebraic sum of all the represented fluxes counting both renewable and non-renewable resources brings to the total emergy required to maintain the water cycle. In this case total emergy resulted equal to 3.89E+20 sej/year. Indices calculated for the examined process (and related equations) are reported in Table 1. Table 1:

Emergetic indices for the water cycle managed by AMGA (Genoa).

Index ØR (renewable percentage) Emergy / ind EYR ELR (= EIR) SI

Formula R/U U/(n° ind.) U/F F+N/R (= F/R+N) EYR/ELR

Value 64.56% 5.10E+14 4.08 0.38 10.8

Results can be better understood and depicted through the analysis of the different phases composing the water cycle and detected results are represented through the fulfilment of some pie charts. Emergetic percentage contributions of water and anthropic activities are represented in Figure 3A. In Figure 3B are represented only contributions related with human operations on natural resources.

4 Discussions Indices reported in Table 1 identify a good level of environmental sustainability of the water cycle managed by AMGA. In fact, the sustainability index resulted significantly higher than 1 letting us infer that the examined process have a net contribution to society [20]. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

526 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Figure 2:

System diagram of AMGA productive cycle with Odum’s symbols.

Figure 3:

Emergy percentages of all the contributions in the entire water cycle (A) and in the artificial water cycle (B).

As a direct consequence both ELR and EYR display good values showing an intense exploitation of free, natural, renewable resources instead of a relative low employment of technological inputs (also confirmed by a high ØR value). Moreover these results receive confirmation if compared with the SEABO management of the water cycle (Figure 4). On the contrary transformity and emergy per person diverges from what previously assumed cause the AMGA process displays a strongly higher emergy request for each inhabitant and for WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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each gram of water. The reason could be inferred if the different contributions to total emergy in the two considered processes are compared. In Genoa, in fact, a great quantity of emergy (both renewable and not) is needed to perform the process (Table 2). Table 2:

Different emergetic contributions and comparison with a similar system.

Renewable resources emergy Non renewable resources emergy Total emergy

AMGA Genoa 2.50E+20 9.59E+19 3.89E+20

SEABO Bologna 2.77E+17 7.88E+18 8.16E+18

Nevertheless AMGA process, even if strongly expensive (in emergy terms), displayed a higher level of sustainability cause it is mostly based on the exploitation of renewable resources (~ 65%) while SEABO is to all practical completely dependent on non renewable resources (~ 97%). If the different phases of the artificial water cycle are separately considered it results clear that waste water management needs the highest emergy to be performed (Figure 3). This is in fact the process that more than the others needs anthropic intervention such as reactants, electricity and labour. What is more interesting is the huge contribution of the distribution process strongly affected by emergy contribution due to pipelines covering material (sand, concrete, etc.).

Figure 4:

Emergetic indices comparison between AMGA and SEABO systems.

This result could be linked to the relative old age of pipes that need higher quantity of covering material to support the water pressure. As a consequence of the great quantity of emergy needed for these two phases water transformity suffers huge increases when distributed or treated during the cycle (Figure 5A). On the other hand considering purification for drinking phase it results that it affects lightly the emergetic cost of the entire process (Figure 3) but produces a strong increase of transformity (Figure 5A; percentage of total transformity WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

528 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability increase = 11%). This rise it is not due to a real emergy cost spent in performing this phase but it is ascribable to considerable water losses. The emergy needed till this moment it is thus split up to a lesser extent of water bringing to a noticeable increase in transformity. The final step of the analysis consists in the calculation of the monetary value that can be ascribed to the effort made, in terms of emergy, to carry out the process. This emergetic cost is calculated as ratio of the total emergy of the process to the transformity of current money. Emergetic cost for water at the end of the water cycle is 4.11€/m3, while the price that users bear to profit by water is more than four times lower. This comparison shows that economics undervalue the resource and in Figure 5B it is shown the differences between the economic and emergetic costs for each phase. It is clearly showed that for some phases economy fits well the emergy effort needed for performing (capture, waste water collection) but others (purification for drinking, distribution) are unbalanced with significantly higher emergy costs in respect of the economic ones. Finally it has to be noticed that the natural resource water, considered as free by the economy, displays the highest difference in respect of the cost valued in emergetic terms.

5

Conclusions

AMGA’s urban water management system displayed a good level of sustainability with low environmental loading and great ability in exploiting natural resources. Emergetic indices assessed AMGA water cycle as more sustainable in respect of a similar production in a different Italian province.

Figure 5:

Transformity increases during the artificial water cycle.

Nonetheless by the comparison with Seabo water cycle management it results clear that the AMGA one needs more emergy to be performed showing higher transformity and value for each gram of water. This latter result appeared to be related to a significant unbalance in the emergetic value of the natural resource that in Genoa seems to be more expensive and rare. During the artificial water cycle phases mainly affecting emergy were waste water treatment, affected by a great expense of external resources, and water distribution, marked by an excess of pipeline cover material. These evaluations WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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are supported by the analysis of transformities trend that shows a great increase during waste water treatment and distribution but also during purification for drinking. This latter information can be explained considering water loss characterising this phase that causes a noticeably increase of the ratio between the emergy requested and the quantity of water carried to the distribution. A further analysis brought to the comparison between the economic price and the emergetic one and displayed the underestimation by economics of the real value both of natural resources and anthropic activities. Finally, by the application of this analysis, authors judge that emergy could be employed as a powerful tool for the management cause it is easily applicable to other similar systems, allows to assess the actual level of sustainability (through the comparison with similar productive systems), identifies changes in sustainability level (if applied at different times). The presented approach could thus be proposed as a valid instrument devoted to help local officials and internal decision makers detecting the better ways of development.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

Sustainable Resource Unit (A2), Toward a European strategy for the sustainable use of natural resources. European commission, DG environment, 9 pp, 2002. Mitchell, B., Integrated water management. Integrated Water Management: International Experiences and Perspectives, ed. B. Mitchell, Bellhaven Press: London, England, pp. 1–21, 1990. Viessman, W., Integrated water management. Water Resources Update, 106, pp. 2–12, 1996. Grigg, N.S., Integrated water resources management: who should lead, who should pay? Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 35(3), pp. 527–534, 1999. Braga, B.P.F., Integrated urban water resources management: a challenge into the 21st century. Water Resources Development, 17(4), pp. 581–599, 2001. Mitchell, B., Shrubsole, D.A., Reorienting to achieve sustainability in Canadian water management. Canadian Water Resources Journal, 19(4), pp. 335–348, 1994. Letcher, R.A., Giupponi C., Policies and tools for sustainable water management in the European Union, Environmental Modelling & Software, 20(2), pp. 93-98, 2005. Zacharias, I., Koussouris, T., Sustainable Water Management in the European Islands, Physical chemical Earth, 25(3), pp. 233-236, 2000. Richter, B.D., Mathews, R., Harrison, D.L., Wigingtond, R., Ecologically sustainable water management: managing river flows for ecological integrity. Ecological Applications, 13(1), pp. 206–224, 2002. Odum, H.T., Systems ecology, Wiley, New York, 1983

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530 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]

[19] [20]

Odum H.T., Embodied energy, foreign trade, and welfare of nations, Integrations of economy and ecology, ed. Jansson, University of Stockholm Sweden, pp. 185-200, 1984. Odum H.T., Ecological economics, Encyclopedia of the Environment, ed. Eblen, R.A., Eblen W.R., New York, pp. 159-161, 1994. Odum, H.T., Self-organization, transformity, and information, Science, 242, pp. 1132-1139, 1988a. Odum, H.T., Emergy, Environmental and Public Policy: a guide to the analysis of system. Regional Seas Reports and Studies, 95, United Nations Environment Programme, pp. 109, 1988b. Odum H.T., Pinkerton R.C., Time speed regulator: the optimum efficiency for maximum power output in physical and biological systems, American scientist, 43, pp. 331-343, 1955. Odum, H.T., Environmental Accounting. Emergy and environmental decision making, J. Wiley & sons, New York, 1996. Bastianoni, S., Marchettini, N., Emergy/Exergy as a measure of the level of organization of systems, Ecological Modelling, 99, pp. 33-40, 1997. Bastianoni, S., Nielsen, S.N, Marchettini, N., Jørgensen, S.E., Use of thermodynamic functions for expressing some relevant aspects of sustainability, International Journal of Energy Research, 29 (1), pp. 5364, 2005. Bastianoni, S., Fugaro, L., Principi, I., Tiezzi, E., Implementazione di un sistema di contabilità ambientale su scala provinciale e intercomunale, Provincia di Bologna, 2001. Ulgiati, S., Brown, M.T., Monitoring patterns of sustainability in natural and man-made ecosystems, Ecological Modelling, 108, pp. 23-36, 1998.

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Hydrogen city C. Jefferson1,2 & J. Skinner2 1

Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

2

Sustraco Ltd, UK

Abstract It has been predicted that by the year 2020 the demand for oil and gas will outstrip supply, which is bound to force up prices. At that stage hydrogen will become increasingly important in filling the gap. The market for hydrogen will expand to meet increasing demand. The quest to reduce CO2 emissions will accelerate this demand. Fifteen years is a short time in which to prepare for the change. Many commentators consider we will reach this point sooner while some say we have already reached it. This matter will strongly influence the criteria for sustainability in urban planning and development. This paper seeks to show how innovative transport planning can contribute to sustainability rather than detract from it.

1

Objectives of a carbon free city

The objectives in planning a carbon free city can be summarised thus: • • • • •

Provision of sufficient affordable housing Energy self sufficiency Zero net carbon emissions Car free mobility and accessibility A safe and healthy environment

2

Aims of planning policy

•

To provide compact neighbourhoods of up to 2000 dwellings, of which 30% would be low cost dwellings with low or zero private car dependence, with community based energy supply and good access to open space. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060501

532 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability • • • •

To provide local amenities and effective collective transport to reduce the need for car journeys. To minimise waste by use of existing infrastructure where appropriate and by maximised provision of recycling facilities To maximise energy efficiency throughout the development, including transport. To use hydrogen generated from renewable sources to displace carbon based fuels as far as possible.

In summary, to achieve genuine sustainable carbon neutral development and urban regeneration by integrated land use, energy and transport planning.

3 Urban design With growing population and decreasing land availability it makes obvious sense to plan for high-density development in urban areas. High-density urban planning is more difficult for planners and architects to design successfully than low-density suburban sprawl. But, where it is well done, it can produce the most popular forms of human habitation, whilst minimising the cost of energy and other municipal services. All around the world, it is in the crowded ports and hill towns, where limited space has made high-density development unavoidable, that the best architecture and the most creative urban design are to be found. These are now the places which have become the tourist hot-spots with the highest land values. Today, in large buildings, lifts provide zero emission mobility between floors while solar energy powers the air conditioning. We can extend this idea to a whole city region. Residential, commercial, governmental and recreational development can be planned so that they are connected by permanent transit systems, to each other and to transport interchanges such as railway stations, airports and park-and-ride sites. Clean, cheap, attractive and efficient urban transport is an essential and integral component of any successful urban design. The planning of access routes and public transport systems in urban areas is so often treated as an afterthought, to be added on or inserted into the main body of the design instead of being incorporated into the plans at the very beginning. Planning should be based around the arteries which will enable the whole community to move freely and safely. Effective public transport systems are as essential to successful urban development as lifts are to tall buildings. The capital cost of installing such citywide public transport systems should be considered an integral part of the overall funding of any urban development scheme – as fundamental to its success as the provision of efficient plumbing, heating and electricity.

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533

The urban transport crisis

Urban transport systems all over the world are in crisis. Congestion is damaging both the economy and the quality of life, particularly in urban areas, whilst pollution is killing people and hastening global warming. There is an urgent need to bring about radical changes in urban transport and development to overcome these problems. The principle, over-riding task is to find ways of phasing out our present dependence on fossil fuels. This will be a massive task and we need to start planning for it now. The fossil fuel market is already highly volatile, but over the next few decades it is likely to become increasingly difficult to ensure steady supplies of fossil fuel products at stable, affordable prices. Ultimately, as finite resources dwindle to uneconomic levels, we shall have to rely exclusively on alternative sources of energy, which will need to be renewable. Because this change will be so radical and far-reaching it will take many years to plan and implement. But we have only limited time. Even if resources of fossil fuels were unlimited, pollution alone would provide more than sufficient reason to phase out their use, especially in urban areas, where pollution causes premature mortality (24,000 p.a. in the UK). Global warming has added yet another even more urgent reason for action. Therefore the three over-riding strategic considerations, within which urban planning and sustainable development must be conducted, are namely • • •

energy security – reducing and ultimately eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels public health – reducing and ultimately eliminating toxic emissions from transport climate change – reducing and ultimately eliminating net carbon emissions

These strategic considerations need to be incorporated into any overall strategy in order to create the sustainable towns and cities of the future. The following section describes how such sustainable urban development could take place.

5

Principles of planning for urban sustainability

Warren [1] has proposed ‘urban oases’ comprising mixed use landscaped communities in which all buildings are within 5 minutes walking distance of an efficient central public transport facility and local amenities, from which pedestrian and cycle routes radiate. The area would be largely car free, apart from traffic calmed roads around the perimeter for servicing and to provide access to parking provision for no more than half the residents. Further parking would be available at sites accessible by the public transport system. Figure 1 shows how such a community might be planned. Such ‘oases’ could be linked with shared ameneties such as libraries, clinics, schools etc which could be distributed around a linear or circular transit route, interconnecting with the main railway station as in figure 2. Such clusters will WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

534 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability be referred to as urban areas and will effectively be self contained towns in their own right. This arrangement is described by Barton et al [2] as a way of shaping sustainable neighbourhoods.

Access road Access lanes

Residential area Public space and local amenities

Transit system

Local station Peripheral parking

Figure 1:

(a)

Plan for urban community.

(b)

(c)

Oasis or amenity Railway station Main line railway Local transit route

Figure 2:

Optional distribution of oases and amenities in ‘towns’.

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6 Urban mobility planning 6.1 Planning objectives To provide high-density urban developments, with extensive pedestrianised areas and clean, quiet, quick, safe, energy efficient mobility services. These services should be designed to meet public transport needs, in sustainable ways, by providing generally acceptable alternatives to private cars. Pollution and carbon emissions due to transport should be minimised and public transport easily available to everyone – both able and disabled. 6.2 Walking Urban design should be based on the principle that each individual should have maximum opportunity for safe and undisturbed access to goods and services, recreational, educational, commercial and Governmental facilities by walking or, for longer distances, by public transport. 6.3 Cycling Adequate provision throughout urban areas should be made for cycle paths, which provide cyclists with freedom of movement without threat to pedestrians or to themselves. The cycle paths need therefore to be segregated from pedestrians in busy areas and, as far as possible, from other modes of transport. 6.4 Access routes: zero-emission electric mopeds, minibuses, rickshaws, buggies and taxis Adequate provision should be made for these alternative modes of clean public and private transport to operate in designated shared space throughout the urban area, where they do not threaten pedestrians or each other and have easy access to attractive interchanges with other modes of local and inter-urban transport. 6.5 Public transport provision A comprehensive public transport system should provide the main arteries of the body of the urban area, as shown as the transit routes in figure 2. The system may run from the centre to park-and-ride facilities on the periphery (figure 2a). Easy interchange with the main-line railway station and possibly with other transit routes, as well as connections with private vehicles and taxis, need to be allowed for at intersections. The system must be able to run through open and covered pedestrian areas, at 2-3 minute intervals, without threatening the health or safety of people using those areas. Trams have traditionally served such areas well. However, while the system should be segregated where appropriate, trams, unlike buses, have the advantage that they can provide unobtrusive access to pedestrian central areas and parks. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

536 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 6.6 The vehicles In order to make economic use of the hydrogen fuel, all vehicles must be designed for maximum energy efficiency. Vehicles with steel wheels running on steel rails have reduced rolling resistance and thereby have improved energy efficiency over rubber tyred vehicles. This singles out the tram, which has already gained worldwide acceptance and popularity. 6.7 Park-and-ride Private cars should be provided with parking space in covered park-and-ride facilities at the urban periphery (figure 1), where connections with pedestrian routes and all kinds of enhanced urban mobility systems are easily and frequently available. These facilities could be built under cover, with vegetation growing on top. The costs of constructing park-and-ride interchanges that are unobtrusive and attractive can be met by leasing commercial facilities to take advantage of the activity generated by the interchange. By concentrating parking on the urban periphery, higher value land in the centre can be made available for development and provision of amenities, instead of being used for parking. Such development could be car and pollution free and genuinely sustainable. 6.8 Freight and goods transport Freight distribution centres should be developed in association with park-andride sites and main-line railway stations. Goods can then be distributed within urban areas by more appropriate vehicles than those used for inter-city transport. The light rail infrastructure can be used during off-peak hours for the collection of waste and the distribution of heavier goods, whilst small and medium sized electric vans can be used for other items.

7 Why hydrogen? In the interest of reducing emissions, including CO2, fossil fuels should be excluded from use in urban areas. Hydrogen can be used to produce entirely emission free energy for domestic, industrial and transport use. Local fuel cell combined heat and power schemes can produce heat and electrical power with high efficiency free from all emissions, including noise and CO2. There appears to be a growing consensus that hydrogen will become the principle replacement for fossil fuels, providing the major new energy currency to be used in dealing with future energy demand. This is because hydrogen is not just a fuel but a means of storing electrical energy, which can be generated from any kind of renewable source. Local power generation from renewable sources such as wind, sewage and waste can be used to produce hydrogen in situ to save unnecessary costs in the distribution of fuel and electricity. Hydrogen provides a valuable opportunity for large- scale local energy storage for domestic and transport use. Energy storage capacity is vitally important to the future supply of electricity. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Hydrogen production by electrolysis can take place at off-peak times when electricity exceeds the demand and the electrolyser forms an ideal interruptible load, enabling demand management measures and the integration of intermittent forms of renewable energy, such as wind or sun. This should result in a low tariff for electricity supply at off-peak times or at other periods of abundant supply. At times of high demand, the electrolyser load could be shed, thereby assisting in grid stabilisation and reducing supply costs. Hydrogen fuel cell generators in hybridised drive trains will probably become the most common form of on-board power source for transport and are ideal for the proposed transit vehicles. On-board energy storage systems such as flywheels or supercapacitors can be used to recover brake energy, further improving energy efficiency. Hydrogen can thus be produced and used economically as fuel for the tram system as well as for domestic use. The present state of the technology will already allow energy efficient hydrogen fuel cell powered trams to be used for the local public transport services. The high cost of fuel cells and hydrogen is offset by the very high energy efficiency of the vehicles.

8

Bristol, a case study

Bristol has the potential, mainly on Severnside, to produce up to 9 GWhe/yr of hydrogen energy, without increasing carbon emission, through its renewable energy programme [3]. The potential resource in Bristol is shown in table 1. The renewable electrical power available for hydrogen production is assumed to be derived mainly from wind power as part of a load management scheme and is taken as 33% of the total resource based on the proportion of electricity available at low off-peak tariff. Hydrogen produced directly from waste is additional. Table 1: Renewable source

Potential renewable energy resource, Bristol and Severnside. Electrical

CO2 emission saved *

%

GWhe p.a.

t.p.a.

Power available for H2 production GWhe p.a.

Wind

9.6

3000

3.2

28

CHP

3.7

1200

1.2

11

Waste

22

2000

7

61

Total

35.3

6200

11.4

100

power

*@ 0.43 g/Whe, the rate set by the Climate Change Levy Negotiated agreement.

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538 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Ashton Ashton gate Meadows

Cumberland Basin

Spike Island

Princes Wharf

City Centre

Interchange with heavy rail Figure 3:

Potential transport system for Bristol carbon free development.

Figure 4:

9

Impression of proposed tram.

Zero emission transport

Bristol has the advantage of a disused rail corridor between Princes Wharf, near the centre, and Ashton Gate which could, at modest cost, be developed into a light rail service connecting the Centre with Ashton Vale and beyond, as shown in figure 3. A scheme to convert this railway to a light rail service was incorporated into Bristol’s local transport plan [4] and is now adopted as a component of the City Centre Strategy [5]. This route would serve the area of derelict land available for Hydrogen City and provide the pollution free alternative to car use as set out in the project aims. The light rail service would operate on the hydrogen fuel from the sources in table 1. It is estimated that it would require only 1.2GWhe/yr of renewable power or 38% of the available wind resource. The estimated CO2 emission saving due to reduced car use alone is expected to be 430 t.p.a. The line connects with a proposed local suburban railway and could be extended out to the airport and beyond. At the other end it could be extended to the main rail station and shopping centre.

10 Conclusions (1) There are three strategic imperatives which will inevitably have to dominate the formulation of all future transport policy and planning. These are energy WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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(2)

(3) (4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

539

security, public health and global warming. All of these underline the urgent need to take action now to start phasing out the present dependence on fossil fuels. Successful modernisation of urban transport needs to be carried out with the aim of assuring improvements in the overall quality of urban life by providing easy mobility, accessibility and clean air for all, regardless of income or disability. The design of modern urban development and regeneration should aim for high quality and high density, centred on public transport nodes, and aim at minimising the waste of resources and energy consumption. Energy efficiency will be the essential priority in the selection of transport modes. This means that rail-based vehicles, which are three times more energy efficient than rubber tyred vehicles, will form the basis of future urban public transport. Hydrogen will play a crucial role as the means of storing renewable energy for release in the form of electricity through fuel cells. This increases the viability of intermittent renewable energy (e.g. wind) and of hydrogen as fuel for transport. By reducing the capital cost of urban light rail systems, funding problems can be made more tractable. The capital cost of the vehicles and infrastructure can easily be offset against the land value gain. In some highdensity areas it may even make commercial sense to provide public transport services which are free. By providing tram systems which people like to use, modal shift from cars to public transport will increase, patronage and fare revenue will rise, scarce energy will be saved. Just as they provided mobility solutions for Victorian cities, trams could provide the key to future genuine sustainable development.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Warren R ‘Urban Oases, Dealing with the densities and a role for affordable APM shuttles and loops’ Proc. Urban Transport and the environment, Lisbon, Sept 1998, PP 73-82. Barton H, Grant M and Guise R, Shaping Neighbourhoods, Spon Press, London 2003, pp123-127. Bristol City Council, Energy Management Update, Energy Management Unit, January 2005, pp10-11. Bristol City Council, Bristol Local Transport Plan 2001-2 – 2005/6, July 2000, pp56-58. Bristol City Council, Bristol City Centre Strategy and Area Action Plan, 2005 – 2010, section 1, November 2005, p17.

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Final architecture diploma projects in the analysis of the UPC buildings energy performance M. Bosch1, I. R. Cantalapiedra2, F. López3 & G. Ruiz3 1

Department of Architectural Technology II (EPSEB), Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain 2 Department of Applied Physics (EPSEB), Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain 3 The Interdisciplinary Centre for Technology, Innovation and Education for Sustainability, Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain

Abstract Education is the base for achieving sustainable development. With the purpose of introducing sustainable challenges in terms of climate change, water and energy consumption, the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) has promoted the culture of energy efficiency in new generations of professionals that will work in the field of building construction. A group of 29 students taking the final official Diploma in Architecture were involved in a project of analysis of energy performance of UPC buildings in order to identify and implement cost-effective ways of promoting a greater environmental responsibility. The development of works focused the attention on introducing energy audits in existing university buildings, analysing the following aspects: surveying construction drawings, building characteristics, energy consumption, and use of natural lighting, energysaving lighting controls, water consumption, and high-efficiency HVAC systems. The ultimate goal was to draft a proposal with greater respect for the environment, and for corrective measures aimed at reducing the cities environmental impact. This paper has the objective of publicising the results, from an academic standpoint, of a specific action carried out within the framework of the Energy Efficiency Plan (UPC,* 2002) that is now being implemented and that will allow the existing commitment to greening the university studies in Technical Architecture School to be strengthened. The first stage was performed through the energy audit of 24 UPC buildings, and, in view of the good results obtained, the second stage has now been started through other public office, school and sport buildings. Keywords: curriculum greening, energy efficiency, interdisciplinary, public building performances, energy policies, power audits. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060511

542 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

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Introduction

Sustainable development is an increasingly relevant goal in today’s society, which should involve considerable change in our behaviors. A sustainable society can only be constructed through example, and through specific activities. The European Union (EU) Directive of building energy performance of buildings [1] could play a very important role in the future increase in energy efficiency. In many countries, current building codes have relatively low requirements for energy efficiency and renewable energy, which leads to a higher energy consumption than what is cost-effective. Because most houses are built according to these low standards, the users are laden with these unnecessarily high costs. New, stronger building codes that are enforced, can correct this problem, to the benefit of the users, the constructors and the environment. The new professionals in building construction need to know what are the today’s European standards requirements for energy efficiency and how to evaluate and modify the actual park of buildings.

2 Energy policies, public buildings and University Energy rating started just after the energy crisis. The concern of the industrialized countries about the high energy consumption of the building sector initiated actions and programs aiming to rationalize the energy consumption of dwellings. In the same way as some other European countries (UK, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, and Ireland for example) in Spain the effort of the governmental politics has been focused in the transposition of the energy efficiency of buildings directive. The energy efficiency certificate is designed to evaluate the buildings in two stages. A first certificate is awarded in the design phase and a final one is provided to the finished building. In Catalonia specifically, recent policies integrated in the decree of ecoficiency of buildings have been implemented, in order to establish new requirements for new buildings and major renovations. According to this perspective, the main purpose of this work is the analysis of the energy performance of UPC buildings in order to identify and implement cost-effective ways of promoting a greater environmental responsibility. The work is part of the framework of UPC policies [2] that, in 2003, launched a project for auditing the energy efficiency of the university buildings so as to establish a Resources Consumption Efficiency Plan (focused mainly on energy and water). UPC’s interest in developing an Energy Efficiency Plan for consumption of energy resources, with the aim of auditing the existing buildings and defining policy and objectives for energy savings and efficiency, was seen as an opportunity for establishing links between teaching, research and management of the University. Within this framework, the Environment Plan Office, with the collaboration of the Department of Architectural Technology II and the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Department of Applied Physics, has created a line of projects with the name Resources Consumption Efficiency Plan (PECR) - Energy Audits as a strategy focusing on learning by students. 2.1 The PECR plan The PECR has developed a practical and useful methodology for auditing the energy performance of UPC buildings and assessing their environmental quality. This goal has been pursued on the basis of yearly rounds involving groups of students who receive, over a six-month period, individual and group teaching that obliges them to do research and learn under the interdisciplinary guidance of a group of lecturers with specific knowledge. Projects linked to the PECR arose in connection with the “Guide to Greening Final Projects” [3] purpose and with the proposal of the Environment Plan Office to carry out an energy audit of all UPC buildings to assess their energy performance and establish potential improvements, both in respect of energy efficiency and consumption of resources, and to allow reduction of their environmental impact (Fig. 1, 2).

Figure 1:

CO2 emissions in UE and Spain.

2.2 Methodology The development of the project planning for 6 months in duration, involved 29 students of the Technical Architecture School of Barcelona (EPSEB), 3 lecturers and various staff members from the Environmental and Maintenance Offices and other units. It included a weekly seminar day in order to discuss all the concepts that arose, and to share experiences. In conclusion, it was an enriching experience for the students. Each student was expected to do their own work, but they were also encouraged to co-operate and share their experience, with the aim of ensuring the consistently high quality of all the work done. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

544 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Figure 2:

Daily consumption of energy per head, and CO2 emissions in UPC.

Once the programme was established, students were provided with tools and physical surroundings for their work adapting the different projects to the index or programme (Fig. 3) established in advance consisting of: • • • • • •

Summary of general characteristics, with measurement data, a use specification sheet and architectural information on the envelope, the structure and interiors. Study of energy resources: electricity, gas, water, and other fuels. Analysis of systems: lighting, air conditioning, energy and outfitting, and water pipes, providing plans and sets of data sheets compiling all the information. Monitoring of energy consumption Data analysis and study of the energy efficiency of the building. Proposals for actions to be taken.

All data gathering, working methodology and analysis of the data obtained were carried out in accordance with models and experiences provided by the tutors and experts consulted during the course.

3

Outcomes, results and benefits

Any initiative that it tries to define improvement criteria, saving or power efficiency, it needs to define the scene to begin with. In the case of UPC experience it was necessary to make a previous diagnosis and to define the possible lines of “general” performances: • Substitution of energy resources • Incorporation of green electricity. • Specific actuations on the buildings and • Power audits, included on PECR Plan. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Pre Diagnosis

UPC Campus 1

Campus 2

Campus 3

Phase 1 Data capture

Building1

Building 1

Static Data ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ

Campus n

Building 3

Building n

Dynamic Data

Architecture Building Occupancy and use profile Energetic systems

ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ

Consumption monitoring Occupancy-use rate monitoring Management monitoring Comfort monitoring

Phase 2 Evaluation

Analysis of data Demand assessment

• Thermic demand • Lighting demand

Systems analysis

• Thermic Systems • Lighting Systems

Operations analysis

• Occupancy • Management and maintenance • Comfort Parameters

Resources analysis

• Electricity • Gas • Water

Phase 4. Action Proposals

Phase 3. Diagnosis and Line of actions

Index Building

Comparison of Reference Levels

Diagnostic audit Line of actions 1

Line of actions 2

Design an action plan

Figure 3:

Line of actions 3

ACTION PROPOSALS

Line of actions n

Academic work

PECR Program.

At the end of all this process, we can define the lines of performance in which it is necessary to take part and the specific actions that must be developed. Different proposals are grouped in which we called “lines of performance”, related with the methodology used during the data measurement and the evaluation. At the end, we defined: • Actuations related with the building envelope: architectonic and constructive characteristics of the building, especially focused on the façades and roofs. The objective of this kind of proposals is to reduce the energy performance level. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

546 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability • •

Actuations on the energy resources systems: lighting, air conditioning, and others. Performances related to the management of the power resources: occupation of the buildings, uses and functions (timetables, periods, etc.).

Each one of the performances identified must be valued according technical, economics and logistic viabilities and it’s necessary to provide the priorities framework in order to ensure that available resources will be invested the most effective and efficient way.

Figure 4:

4

Barcelona Architecture University School, Coderch building.

Conclusions

The discussion of sustainability and its relationship with architecture often turns on an evaluation of the impact of the materials and energy consumed in the use of the buildings. But the must important impact that University activities can incorporate in the environmental is to generate new attitudes in the students, as part of their education. Universities must redirect the teaching-learning process in order to become real change agents who are capable of making significant contributions by creating a new model for society. Responding to change is a fundamental part of a university’s role in society. The United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) offers a great opportunity to consolidate and replicate this existing good practice across the international higher education community. The development of this work has permitted to integrate, in a positive experience, the main working groups of the university: investigators, managers and professors. This confirms the need to define the objectives of the sustainability from an interdisciplinary perspective.

References [1]

Directive of building energy performance of buildings 2000/91/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 December 2002. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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[2] [3] [4]

547

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC. Second Environment Plan Projects (2004). Curriculum Greening in final theses and subjects. Second Environmental Plan. www.upc.edu/cities. Environmental criteria in buildings and on campus. www.upc.es/mediambient/vidauniversitaria/edificis.html.

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Section 9 Sustainable transportation and transport integration

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Making liveable and sustainable major urban streets: the case of Begin Road in Tel-Aviv – Jaffa Y. Rofè1, R. Shliselberg2, M. Szeinuk2, R. Adiv2 & R. Ishaq2 1

Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University, Israel 2 PGL - Perlstein Galit Ltd, Israel

Abstract This paper tells the story of the struggle to create a new major urban street that will help liveability and sustainability in the city of Tel-Aviv. Begin Road used to be a major inter-urban road linking the center of Tel-Aviv with its eastern and northern suburbs. With the construction of the Ayalon Freeway, the new suburban rail system, sharing the same corridor, and the planned light rail subway that will run underneath it, this road is undergoing a process of change. It is being transformed into the future main street of the Tel-Aviv CBD. This paper discusses the functions of major urban streets, the detrimental effects of modern traffic engineering practices and the resultant need to revive these streets. This theoretical background guided the design of alternatives for Begin Road. Each alternative has its merits and drawbacks with regard to creating complex major streets and a functioning pedestrian realm. Furthermore, this paper discusses some of the problems of creating such streets in the current regulatory and professional context. Keywords: traffic and transportation, major urban streets, boulevards, street – design, liveability, sustainable transportation, urban design, pedestrian movement.

1

Introduction

One of the major issues in creating more liveable and sustainable cities is to make them less reliant on automobiles, and base them around public transit systems and pedestrian oriented environments (Newman and Kenworthy [1]). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060521

552 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability While techniques for achieving this in residential areas, or historic districts are fairly developed, using limitations on car movement and traffic calming schemes, there is much less experience in transforming major urban streets into more pedestrian friendly environments. This paper presents an attempt to achieve this transformation in Begin Road, a street that is becoming the spine of Tel-Aviv’s Metropolitan Central Business District (CBD). In the following pages we discuss the functions of major urban streets, and why, as a consequence of traffic engineering doctrine, they have declined in the latter part of the 20th century. We discuss two solution types recently proposed to design such streets: a couplet of parallel streets, and boulevards. We show boulevard design alternatives for Begin Road in Tel-Aviv, and conclude with some lessons from the process of planning and designing it.

2

The functions of a major urban street

Major urban streets are the structuring elements of cities. A city’s character and uniqueness is often brought about as a result of the nature of its main streets. As such they need to fulfill complex functions. They need to have identity, and allow orientation in the city. Therefore their connections to other main streets and areas of the city should be clear. They need to provide a safe and interesting pedestrian environment. They usually contain the main public transportation services, and should be made a part of a city’s bicycle path system. They also need to serve through car traffic, as they are a part of the city’s major circulation system. Often these roads serve as truck routes, with the intention of limiting truck movements on smaller roads. In order for them to have a friendly and interesting pedestrian environment, they usually need to have an active street front, served by stores on the ground floor and allowing direct access to buildings from the street. This means also that there is a need for some short term and delivery parking that will serve and be attracted by these uses.

3

The destruction of major urban streets in modern times

In an effort to adapt cities to automobiles and trucks, traffic engineers introduced the functional analysis of streets. Duplicated in many street design manuals, it takes the form of a graph analysing streets as having two functions: mobility or the movement of traffic through an area, and access to land uses along them. The more a street is dedicated to through traffic, the less it should allow access to adjacent land uses. The functional analysis of streets misses completely the social function of the street as a place for human encounter. As shown by Hillier [2], the street fulfils a social function as a result of the potential for encounter between passers-by and between them and the inhabitants of the street. This potential is in fact the product of the movement function and the access function of the street. Traditional major urban streets were places where both movement and access were maximised. As streets converged on the center, the distance between intersections became shorter, entrances more frequent, and ground floors were WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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aligned with shops. Within modern practice however, the opposite holds: the distance between intersections becomes longer along major streets, and buildings are turned away from them and accessed in a circuitous way. The result is the destruction of the city’s social space: as Marshall concludes [3], where there is movement there is no accessibility, where there is accessibility, usually, there isn’t enough movement to sustain economic and social life.

Figure 1:

The functional analysis of streets as practiced in traffic engineering.

The development of hierarchical functional analysis was not an arbitrary notion. It had two key aims. The first was to expedite through traffic from getting bogged down in congestion caused by frequent intersections, or by cars pulling out of parking and private lots. The second was to improve safety by reducing the number of possible conflict points between cars, and between cars and pedestrians. This entailed the reduction in the frequency of intersections, and the reduction of free access to major roads, where many cars were expected. With hindsight, it is possible to say that these efforts may have succeeded in reducing conflicts, but in the process created urban areas devoid of life, with poor orientation, unfriendly for pedestrians, and lacking in character (Murrain [4]). It seems that the pedestrian realm and the need to allow a mixture of accessibility and mobility, is at the heart of successful city streets.

4

Solution types for major urban streets

4.1 Parallel streets – couplets To resolve the inherent conflict between through movement of vehicles, and the need to provide accessibility on major urban streets two types of solutions are under review. The first is the separation of vehicular traffic, as it enters the city, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

554 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability and particularly on reaching urban centres, into two parallel streets. Thus allowing streets of smaller width to carry more traffic, and reducing the complexity of intersections without sacrificing turn movements nor reducing the number of intersections. This solution has been proposed by Alexander and his colleagues [5], and recently by Peter Calthorpe in his Urban Network concept [6]. It has been implemented in the structural axes of Curitiba, where a central street carries the public transit system, with access roads flanking it, and a pair of streets one block away from it on each side, carry fast moving traffic, one in the direction of the city’s centre, and one away from it. Another possibility is to combine this pair with a pedestrian street in the middle. Both of these solutions, however, still embody a separation between vehicular and pedestrian oriented streets. Although the parallel streets on which traffic flows allow frequent intersections, and do not necessarily inhibit immediate access to land uses along them, they do not form by themselves pleasant urban environments, and do not welcome pedestrian activity. 4.2 Boulevards Boulevards have evolved in the 19th century from their origins in the late Renaissance and Baroque periods into complex streets that allow a diversity of traffic flows and activities, and help resolve the conflicts between them. All are characterized by containing within them strong rows of trees that delineate between different realms of movement. Jacobs et al. [7] describe essentially three types of boulevards: the “street boulevard”, which has a similar cross section to an ordinary street, but is somewhat wider, and has a wider sidewalk, the “centre median boulevard” which has a wide pedestrian median in its centre, and the “multi-way boulevard”, which has a central roadway, flanked by tree lined medians of variable width, and with access lanes allowing vehicular access to land-uses. The centre median boulevard is an excellent choice for a street where pedestrian activity dominates (such as the Ramblas in Barcelona, or Tel-Aviv’s Rothschild Ave.). However, in streets where there is more traffic, and the central median is separated from the sidewalks by two or three lanes of fast moving vehicles, it becomes inaccessible and remains unused for pedestrian activity and socializing. The median becomes solely decorative. The street boulevard may provide more grace and room for the complex traffic movements of a major urban street, but it doesn’t resolve the conflicts between access and through movement. Jacobs et al. (op. cit.) show, that the multi-way boulevard, because of its complex cross-section, provides both a pleasant pedestrian environment (see also Bosselman and Macdonald [8]), and an adequate fast moving realm for car movement.

5

Begin Road in its urban context

Begin Road, previously named Petah-Tikva Rd., is a thoroughfare in the heart of the Metropolitan CBD. It is part of the historical road that connected Jaffa and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Tel-Aviv to the first North-eastern suburbs of Ramat-Gan, Bnei-Brak and PetahTikvah. At the north end of the project area, it is joined by Namir Road, which connects the CBD with Tel-Aviv’s northern neighbourhoods and suburbs.

Begin Road Ayalon Freeway

Figure 2:

The project area – Begin Road’s role in its urban context.

The construction of the “Ayalon Freeway” in the early 1970’s relocated much of the inter-urban movement from Begin Road. Begin Road’s role began to change as a distributor road, partly for traffic from the Ayalon Freeway, to the many commercial uses now attracted to the area because of its increased accessibility by road and rail. It also continues to serve as an intra-urban arterial street, connecting the northern and southern parts of Tel-Aviv – Jaffa, and connecting Tel-Aviv to its immediate neighbouring towns: Ramat Gan, and Givattayim. It continues to serve major bus traffic: inter-urban, metropolitan and local. The land uses around the street are changing from a light industrial district into a metropolitan central business area, which will include in the future also a significant amount of new residential buildings.

6

The vision of a boulevard

It took some convincing to get the authorities to consider a boulevard solution for Begin Road. The initial project presented by the Netivei Ayalon Highway Company (NAHC), called for increased car capacity and underpasses at every major intersection. Concerns were raised by NTA, the company in charge of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

556 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability developing Metropolitan Tel-Aviv’s light rail system (the first line of which will pass under Begin Road), and by the public transit division of NAHC, which is promoting a plan to improve the metropolitan bus system. Their concerns were that providing more vehicle capacity on Begin Road will create a duplication of the Ayalon Freeway, that the street was becoming even less congenial to the many pedestrians who will use it as the way from public transit stations to their destinations, and that the initial design did not provide priority to the large volume of buses that will continue to use it, even after the development of the light rail line. Furthermore, designing the street mainly for cars, will necessitate limiting access from it to the buildings along it, and will cause these projects to look inward, projecting a hostile face to the street, contrary to the city’s policy. It was also pointed out, that even with all road improvements in place, an increase of only 6% in car movement was projected, as the problem of the area was not so much congestion on Begin Road, as the congestion of the Ayalon Freeway, which limits the amount of cars that can reach the area.

Figure 3:

The Avigunda Liberdades in Lisbon showing the two aspects of a successful boulevard: the thoroughgoing realm (right), and the pedestrian realm.

We argued that an alternative paradigm to the street was needed, and that the boulevard provided an appropriate paradigm for this street. In this paradigm, one starts from the pedestrian realm of the street. Research by Jacobs et al. [9] suggests that for a boulevard to function well, and to feel safe, at least 50% of the right of way (ROW) has to be at the scale and speed of the pedestrian. Having insured the integrity of the pedestrian realm, one continues to provide for all other uses of the street, as allowed for by available space. We examined alternatives of all three different types of boulevard (with variations) outlined below. 6.1.1 Street boulevard This design contains a “pedestrian realm” (in light grey) which is typically 11.20 meters (7.70+1.50+2.0) on each side. It contains a wide sidewalk for pedestrians, and a bicycle lane between two rows of trees that separate the pedestrian realm from the thoroughgoing traffic area. The traffic facility contains a designated bus lane (in darker grey), and two lanes for private vehicles. The major drawback of this kind of boulevard is that it does not allow for short term WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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parking, and therefore there is a risk of blockage of the bus lane by illegal stopping, parking and delivery vehicles.

Figure 4:

A street boulevard typical cross-section. Pedestrian Realm/ROW = 0.51; Transit Realm/ROW = 0.16

6.1.2 Multi-way boulevard The “pedestrian realm” of the multi-way boulevard contains within it the sidewalk and a service street. This street is planned according to traffic calming standards, recently approved in Israel. Its reduced width and a discontinuous design allow only very slow car movement. It is compatible with cycling and it provides for convenient pedestrian crossing to the bus stops on the medians. The thoroughgoing traffic lanes have a designated right-hand side bus lane, and two lanes for private vehicles. In this case disruption of the bus lanes is minimized, because the access street allows for short term parking and deliveries.

Figure 5:

A multi-way boulevard typical cross-section. Realm/ROW = 0.51; Transit Realm/ROW = 0.16.

Pedestrian

6.2 Design variations Officials at the MOT felt that the multi-way boulevard did not give enough priority to the heavy bus volumes expected on Begin Road. Thus, they asked the Study Team to develop three additional alternatives that provide exclusive and separate right of way for buses. 6.2.1 Multi-way boulevard with busways and parking In this cross-section the pedestrian realm contains the sidewalk, an exclusive busway (3.6 meter wide) and a bicycle lane (1.5 meter wide). In case of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

558 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability emergency, buses can utilize the bicycle lane to pass a stalled bus. The central lanes include two thoroughgoing traffic lanes and may include a short term parking lane. This type of boulevard provides more preference to bus transit, using a physically separate lane, but disrupts through traffic more, because of interference from cars pulling out of parking with the right moving lane.

Figure 6:

A multi-way boulevard with side bus-way typical cross-section. Pedestrian Realm/ROW = 0.23; Transit Realm/ROW = 0.34.

6.2.2 Multi-way boulevard with central busway The Study Team also examined a cross-section, which provides the highest priority to bus traffic. The “pedestrian realm” in this kind of boulevard, contains a sidewalk and a bicycle lane. The thorough traffic area contains two lanes for vehicles and a centrally located exclusive busway. This can be seen as a variation of the central island boulevard, where instead of a central promenade there is a busway. Experience shows that it works well when the car traffic ways are narrow and serve only access traffic. Otherwise, crossing from the sidewalk to the bus stops on the medians across two lanes of moving traffic is dangerous to pedestrians. This kind of boulevard, does not provide short term parking, and while illegally stopped and parked cars on one of the through lanes may decrease vehicle speed and improve pedestrian safety, they may also grossly reduce the street’s capacity to handle through traffic.

Figure 7:

A central bus-way boulevard typical cross-section. Pedestrian Realm/ROW = 0.39; Transit Realm/ROW = 0.32.

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6.2.3 A couplet of one way boulevards – resolving the problem of insufficient ROW width As Begin road approaches the older centre of Tel-Aviv, its ROW becomes limited by existing development, and instead of the 44 meters necessary for a multi-way boulevard, it becomes 35 meters. To resolve this problem, while maintaining the character of the street, the boulevard is split into a couplet of parallel boulevards, each with access and thoroughgoing ways in one direction, while busways are continuous in both directions.

Figure 8:

7

A one-way boulevard with contra-flow busway where ROW is limited. Pedestrian Realm/ROW = 0.59; Transit Realm/ROW = 0.21.

Conclusions

The vision of the boulevard has won over Ministry of Transportation’s officials and the public transit administration of the NAHC. The city was more hesitant fearing that reduced car capacity on Begin Road will create worse congestion, and delay the development projects in the area. We are now, however, progressing to the design development stage, and it seems that the boulevard concept is gaining acceptance. Working on this project and during discussions of design alternatives, we have found that the most difficult idea to convey is the sense of the wholeness of the street. Streets in general, and boulevards in particular, succeed or fail as entire wholes. While not providing the best solution to any one of the requirements of a major urban street, the multi-way boulevard is able to provide for all of them in a balanced way; and while there may be conflicts between uses and movements, if the environment accommodates them, and provides clear information, people are able to resolve these conflicts with ease. This is one of the points that is hardest to get across to engineers and public officials who tend to insist on “fool proof” and “conflict free” designs. The design of Begin Road as a multi-way boulevard is one of several recent attempts in reviving this street form, which has fallen into disfavour in the last 50 years. The design shows it to be an excellent solution where many competing and conflicting uses need to be accommodated on the street, and where there is WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

560 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability sufficient right of way. When right of ways are limited, one can combine it with the parallel roads couplet to create streets with a sizable traffic capacity, but which maintain liveability. Multi-way boulevards are flexible and adaptable, and will be successful as long as the principle of the “pedestrian realm” is maintained. They serve as an optimal solution for the design of major urban streets, for which solutions must be found if we are to make our cities more liveable and sustainable.

Acknowledgements The Ayalon Highway Company, Department of Public Transportation, under the management of Ruti Amir, and Benny Shalita of NTA – Urban Transportation Ways sponsored parts of this work on behalf of the Ministry of Transport.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Newman, P. and Kenworthy, J., Sustainability and Cities: overcoming automobile dependence, Island Press: Washington DC. 1999. Hillier, B., Space is the Machine, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK. pp. 149-182, 1996. Marshall, S., Streets and Patterns, Spon Press: London and New York. pp. 1-19 2005. Murrain, P., Understand urbanism and get off its back, Urban Design International, 7, pp. 131-142, 2002. Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S. and Silverstein, M., A Pattern Language, Oxford University Press: New York. pp. 126-130, 1977. Calthorpe, P., The Urban Network: a new framework for growth. Calthorpe Associates Website, http://www.calthorpe.com/. Jacobs, A.B, Macdonald, E. and Rofè, Y., The Boulevard Book, MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass., p. 4, 2002. Bosselman, P. and Macdonald, E., Livable streets revisited, Journal of the American Planning Association, 69, 2, pp. 168-180, 1999. Jacobs, A.B, Macdonald, E. and Rofè, Y., The Boulevard Book, MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass., pp. 211-218, 2002.

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Development of sustainable traffic planning: analysis of Danish planning visions 2005 and 2015 S. L. Jeppesen & S. Leleur Centre of Traffic and Transport, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark

Abstract Traffic and city planning has for a long period of time been a matter of solving actual problems with specific plans rather than by making visionary long-term planning to prevent new problems from occurring. As the amount of traffic is rapidly increasing and congestion problems are appearing there has, however, been a renewed focus on the interaction between transport and sustainability. To exemplify the advancement of Danish planning methodology this paper in this respect reviews a visionary traffic planning report produced by the Danish Ministry of Transport in 1993 called “Trafik 2005”. On this basis a recent set of planning visions for 2015 is examined and by using a simple counting technique the development in Danish transport planning is monitored. Finally some conclusions are given. Keywords: sustainability, traffic planning, visions, monitoring of planning.

1

Introduction

Over time different issues and contexts have influenced Danish spatial planning and traffic planning. Based on reviewing recent decades of Danish planning three planning bases have been identified and as a consequence of these, three planning methods as well have been identified, see Table 1. The planning bases needs, expectations and possibilities are seen as expressions of different planning drivers. Planning based on needs tends to be short-sighted planning, which will handle existing problems without considering how they can be solved on a longterm perspective. Expectations describe planning which is based on forecasts and calculations. This kind of planning tries to adopt a long-term perspective, but can WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060531

562 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability be faulty due to the difficulties connected with predicting the future. Possibilities make up a planning basis which takes its origin in what might be possible in the future. This will necessitate that some aspects from needs and expectations have been taken care of, but it is not directly dependent on it [1]. Table 1:

Planning bases and planning methods.

Planning bases

Planning methods

Needs

Traditional planning

Expectations

Future planning

Possibilities

Visionary planning

The planning methods have been developed on the outlined planning bases and are referred to as traditional planning, future planning and visionary planning. These planning methods with their different aims can be further characterised as follows. The traditional planning method seeks to solve the instant planning need. Therefore this kind of planning has been - and will still be - necessary for traffic planning and for planning in other sectors. However, this kind of planning will usually be short-sighted and often further planning will be needed within a relative short period of time. Future planning is an attempt to predict the prospect of the development. This planning method does not try to change the development but tries to make room for it based on predictions and forecasts. This method may rely on calculations and simulations, and though these can be rather uncertain this method does try to set up plans with a long-term perspective. The visionary planning, for example by formulating a set of interrelated visions, provides planners with the possibility to model an ideal world by introducing new thought patterns and in that way create new solutions [2]. In the “Brundtland report” from 1987 the concept of sustainability was originally defined as follows [3]: ”Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This has led to many interpretations of the concept. The general assumption has been that sustainability is something related to “green thinking” and environmental goals. To operationalise the concept of sustainability in this context it has been combined with planning and sustainable planning has been defined as [4]: “A planning methodology, where all implied effects are thought of in such a way that all elements are given influence. Hereby a development which takes care of all apparent needs, without preventing future generations’ possibilities for reaching their goals, are sought”. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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The main point raised in this respect is that sustainability considerations should be integrated in the actual planning process and its deliberations instead of being a more or less “green attribute” of a resulting planning document. The paper seeks to demonstrate how a more comprehensive view on sustainability and planning can be obtained. The view is associated with the introduced concept of visionary planning, and its potential is demonstrated by analysis of Danish visions for 2005 and 2015 as treated in the following sections.

2

Analysis of Danish planning visions 2005

Danish traffic planning has over the years been based on the planning bases and planning methods shown in Table 2. In 1993 the Danish Ministry of Transport published a trend-breaking report called “Trafik 2005” (“Traffic 2005”) [5]. The report aimed at giving an overall view of the Danish traffic sector, its goals and possibilities towards 2005. In this respect a set of visions were formulated with the purpose of guiding action from 1993 towards the target year 2005. In order to analyse this type of visionary planning the statements and visions contained in “Trafik 2005” have been evaluated to define which kind of strategy/strategies they were actually aiming at. Two strategies have been worked with for this analysis [6, pp. 80-81]: • passability • environment & safety The passability strategy does to some extent represent a traditional traffic planning strategy, whereas the environment & safety strategy sets more focus on sustainability issues. In total 42 visions were formulated in “Trafik 2005”, see [6, pp. 83-87]. A simple methodology was applied to analyze the two strategies about passability and environment & safety. Thus each vision was categorized as shown on the next page in Table 3 depending on how well it complies with each strategy, and afterwards the two category totals are taken as an indication of the overall match degree between the set of visions and the actual strategy. The actual split of the 42 visions is thereby used to interpret the meaning of the strategy. The strategy columns sums to 42, which is the total number of visions in “Trafik 2005”. When the visions are evaluated with regard to each strategy the rows do not need to sum up to a fixed number. As can be seen the passability strategy has 10 visions in accordance with it and 7 visions against it, whereas the largest part of visions are placed in the categories between. The larger part of the visions (36 of 42) is in accordance with the environmental & safety strategy and none of the visions are counter to this strategy. This indicates that the visions, which were outlined in “Trafik 2005”, are mainly based on considerations towards environment & safety. The presented analysis is based on simple quantitative counting with the content of the visions being evaluated against the two planning strategies. The WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

564 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability distribution on categories is meant to depict the visionary type of planning carried out along the two strategy orientations. This is but a rough picture but has been adopted as a comparison tool for dealing with a set of planning visions formulated for 2015. Table 2:

Visions for 2005.

Vision no.

Keywords of the visions

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

Denmark as trendsetting nation Alternative fuel Quality of life Employment Spatial planning Spread of the rush hour Traffic calming Taxes Technology Road infrastructure Choice of transportation mode Computers in the cars Intelligent traffic control Travel card (to pay with) General traffic safety High speed trains Express busses Financial support to the railway sector Public transport in Copenhagen Competitive power of the public transport Technology in the public transport Taxi as substitute for public transport in rural areas Transport supply in the public transport Contributions to public transport Domestic air transport replaced by transport by train International air transport Train connections to the airport Improved living conditions at the islands “Water busses” Reduction of traffic in the city core Art in the city room Road spaces and path networks City renewal Use of the road spaces Speed limits in domestic areas Shopping centers nearby and combined with stations Parking houses with a “center function” Traffic safety in open land International freight transport Control of freight transport Scandinavian freight transport Distribution of freight

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Table 3:

The 2005 visions related to each of the two strategies. Strategy

Relations between visions and strategies 2005

Passability

Environment & safety

10

~

24% 36

~

Partial accordance

9

~

21%

1

~

2%

Do not work counter to the strategy

16

~

38%

5

~

12%

Counter to the strategy

7

~

17%

0

~

0%

In accordance with strategy

Total

565

86%

The visions in “Trafik 2005” were set out back in 1993 for the year 2005. Now it is possible to take stock of the visions and their implementation level. The status shows that several of the visions have actually been carried out, but some lack behind due to insufficient financial means and insufficient changes in attitude among road users and politicians and maybe a too optimistic time horizon in “Trafik 2005” especially as concerns infrastructure development and life style.

3

Analysis of Danish planning visions for 2015

In a study carried out in 2005 a new set of visions have been set up for the year 2015 [6, pp. 130-135]. These visions, similar to the visions for 2005, are thought to indicate an overall direction for the desired development of the traffic sector comprising also spatial planning. The visions for 2015 were based on a number of brainstorm sessions, where the current state of the 2005 visions from 1993 where mixed with newly identified visions stemming from the sessions. The process was supported by cognitive maps on selected traffic problems [7]. Table 4 shows the outcome as a list consisting of 68 visions. The set of the 2015 visions are examined in the same way as the 2005 visions by using four different match categories for the two strategies passability and environment & safety. The results of the evaluation are given by Table 5. It should be noted that for the 2015 visions the columns sum to 68, which is the total number of the visions. The evaluation once again points out that the larger parts of the visions are in accordance with the environment & safety strategy. Several of the visions are in accordance with the passability strategy and only a few are counter to this. It should, however, be noted that the relative shares for the two strategies are more even for the 2015 visions than was the case for the 2005 visions.

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566 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 4:

Visions for 2015.

Vision no.

Keywords of the visions

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

Formulation of long-term strategies Increased role of the regional units Changed priorities Influence of the experts Maintenance Added capacity to the railroad network Light-rail at “O3” (a ring road around Copenhagen) Construction of a harbour tunnel Metro-city ring line Long-term traffic planning Holistic municipality planning Public Private Partnership (PPP) More comprehensive appraisals Soft values in model calculations Larger accuracy as concerns traffic models Involvement of citizens Environment and safety in marketing Business responsibility Danish 0-vision for traffic safety Traffic safety revision as a standard “VVM” as a standard (Strategic environmental assessment) Planning of speed profiles Dynamic road functionality and classification Improved road user education Evaluating drivers tests Driving school education Improved economic incentives for changes “A-classification” of vehicles (energy certification) Road pricing Vehicle types Noise reduction at residences Curbing of congestion Priority for public transport Parking strategy Enlarged rush our Variable lanes Increased buss passability Increased passability on the rail road network Extended use of trains across Storebælt Transport of freight by train instead of by truck Truck-trains to terminals National zone system (for public transport payment) Free public transport in the cities Electronic travel card (for payment) Improved data related to travel patterns Information during the journey Roads that only allow public transport and taxis

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Table 4: Vision no. 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68

Continued. Keywords of the visions

Better conditions for cyclists Cyclist conditions in roundabouts Dynamic assignments in cars Connection between assignments and roads Search of parking places Variable signs Data co-ordination in the public sector ISA in cars (Intelligent Speed Adaptation) Control systems as punishment Alternative fuel types Black box in cars Improved rescue equipment in cars Restrictions for mopeds Voluntarily use of bicycle helmet Integration of the Øresund Region Suppression of the toll at the Øresund Bridge Fixed link between Elsinore and Helsingborg (H-H) Fix linked across Femer Belt Competitive environmental profile of the Copenhagen Region Traffic closure of the Middle Age town of Copenhagen Improved public transport network

Table 5:

The 2015 visions related to each of the two strategies. Strategy

Relations between visions and strategies 2015

Total

4

567

Passability

Environment & safety

In accordance with strategy

20

~

29% 50

~

74%

Partial accordance

18

~

26%

6

~

9%

Do not work counter to the strategy

18

~

26% 11

~

16%

Counter to the strategy

12

~

18%

~

1%

1

Conclusions

In Danish traffic planning the “Trafik 2005” report from the Danish Ministry of Transport published in 1993 is seen as a trend-breaking report in the way it applies a set of formulated 2005 visions. In this paper a new set of 2015 visions, formulated in 2005 based on brainstorm sessions, have been examined and compared to the 2005 visions. By use of a simple evaluating technique two strategies about passability and environment & safety are compared based on their match degree with the visions. In this respect it is found that the new 2015 vision set obtains a more even distribution between the passability and environment & safety strategies. Thus the more uneven relative shares of the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

568 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 2005 visions have changed. On the presumption that both vision sets represent examples of visionary planning towards sustainable transport this is interpreted as a shift in sustainability perception towards a broader planning framework. Evidently, the simple quantitative counting technique is only indicative, as different visions necessarily cannot be associated with the same degree of importance. The visionary type of planning and the shown evaluation of the results may, however, demonstrate that strategy and sustainability can be monitored as part of transport planning development.

References [1]

[2] [3]

[4]

[5] [6]

[7]

Jeppesen, S. L. and Pedersen & E. S., Regional trafik planlægning frem mod 2015 – Visioner og metoder med udgangspunkt i Øresunds regionen, Centre of Traffic and Transport, the Technical University of Denmark, p. 43, 2005. Jeppesen, S.L. and Leleur, S., Sustainable Development and Strategic Transport Management in the Øresund Region, Centre of Traffic and Transport, the Technical University of Denmark, 2006. United Nations, Development and international economic co-operation: Environment, Report of the World commission on Environment and development – note by the secretary-general, Forty-second session, item 83 (e) of the provisional agenda, United Nations, 1987, p. 54. Jeppesen, S. L. and Pedersen & E. S., Regional trafik planlægning frem mod 2015 – Visioner og metoder med udgangspunkt i Øresunds regionen, Centre of Traffic and Transport, the Technical University of Denmark, p. 4, 2005. Trafikministeriet, Trafik 2005 - Problemstillinger, mål og strategier, Trafik ministeriet, 1993. Jeppesen, S. L. and Pedersen & E. S., Regional trafik planlægning frem mod 2015 – Visioner og metoder med udgangspunkt i Øresunds regionen, Centre of Traffic and Transport, the Technical University of Denmark, 2005. Rosenhead, J. and Mingers, J., Rational Analysis for a Problematic World Revisited, Problem Structuring Methods for Complexity and Conflict, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, pp. 26-38, 2002.

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The ethics of mobility: a framework for assessing mobility paradigms T. Shannon School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University, Australia

Abstract Given the recognised adverse effects of automobility, there is a strong need for a normative assessment framework capable of evaluating the desirability of mobility arrangements, including transport infrastructure and its supportive urban form. The existing decision-making framework, based on technical models, does not incorporate an analysis of what mobility ought to achieve. By adopting the rationale used by moral philosophers, it is possible to construct a framework of norms based on the ends that mobility should achieve. Mobility should produce positive and equitably distributed benefits not just economically, but also environmentally and socially. Keywords: mobility, ethics, automobility, sprawl, reflexive mobility, norms.

1

Introduction

In the ancient Islamic city of Kano in northern Nigeria, government officials are banning women from riding on motorcycle taxis, whose drivers may ‘press their bodies close’. Women’s public transport options will be reduced to public minibuses. The policy is an effort to enforce the strict Islamic legal code [1], and is therefore an example where an ethical issue relating to mobility has been identified and acted upon with the assistance of a moral framework. The rationale is simple: the objective is to reduce contact between men and women while travelling, and the chosen solution is to control women’s mobility choices. Ethics, or moral philosophy, is the junction where philosophy combines values and practical issues, thereby providing a major part of the practical justification for philosophy [2]. A ‘moral’ or ‘ethic’ is a behavioural expectation that arises from our notions of what is right and wrong, and therefore provides a WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060541

570 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability guideline or norm for putting that belief into practice [3]. Ethics is the branch of philosophy that guides decisions and choices, and as such is of particular relevance to the decision-making process. Ethics, politics and planning all deal with choices, and are therefore concerned with the identification of proper ends and the appropriate means by which to achieve them [4]. Unlike Nigeria, in the west we do not have a strict moral code for guidance, and so a different ethical framework is required if decision-makers are to apply ethics to transport issues. Because we do not uniformly subscribe to one ethical framework, ethical issues in a secular society are difficult to identify, and their solutions difficult to agree upon. Ethical norms remain hidden and unchallenged within technical frameworks that appear to be value-neutral. Yet politicians and the professionals that provide information to guide their choices, including planners and engineers, are moral agents – the planner is not simply a bureaucrat or mere technical functionary, he or she is an active participant in the identification of and movement toward that which is considered good [5]. A few scholars have examined the association between transport issues and ethics, most notably the negative consequences of automobility, and the reasons why this paradigm continues to dominate urban development. However, as yet there is no established theory available to form the basis of a transport-focused ethical framework: Three problems can be identified in this regard. First, within philosophical inquiry, transport issues have been largely ignored, because it was felt that transport ethics had no scholarly traditions to lean on. Second, within the camp of transportation researchers, it is a major challenge to explain to engineers and economists the place of ethics in the overall transportation picture. And third, the general public is not interested in listening to the adverse effects of transport, because of the taken-for-granted success of the automobile. These three problems are deeply intertwined. [6] This aim of this paper is to introduce a conceptual framework for transport ethics. First, however, it is necessary to understand the phenomenon of automobile dependence as a paradigm and why it prevails despite heavy criticism of its environmental and social impacts. From this analysis, it becomes clear that a normative approach is needed if decisions that affect mobility outcomes are to contribute towards the achievement of a sustainable mobility paradigm.

2

Automobility: the modern mobility paradigm

‘Transport’ refers to movement between destinations, and therefore encompasses issues of how, when, and why movement between A and B occurs, but not issues to do with the accessibility of A and B. ‘Mobility’ has been defined as: “the ease with which destinations can be reached” [7], and is therefore concerned with potential as well as actual movement. Furthermore, mobility has also been WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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defined as a policy concept, being “infused with meanings, aspirations and potentials” and having “transformed modern culture in its own image” [8]. Mobility outcomes are not merely accidental, they are created by policies and cultural understandings; mobility is paradigmatic. Given the prevalence of the automobile in most industrialised countries, and the growing use of automobiles in industrialising countries, the automobile is undoubtedly the basis of the modern mobility paradigm. The term ‘automobility’ is increasingly used to describe this paradigm, however just as mobility is not just about actual movement, automobility describes not only our dependence on cars, but the various constructs that support it, such as urban form, infrastructure provision, and policy concepts, i.e.; those things that produce the spatiotemporalities that provide the potential for automobiles to move from A to B. These spatiotemporalities encourage the development and reproduction of the paradigm in a process of ‘automobilisation’. Automobility refers therefore not only to cars, but to the infrastructure, policies and urban form that support their use and manufacture. Typically, automobility is supported not only by roads and freeways, but by a particular urban form, and the policies that support this type of development. Urban sprawl is the generic name given to low-density, highly segregated land use. Whilst understandings of what sprawl is – i.e. whether it is organised or unorganised sprawl – differ, it is the basic spatial elements of sprawl that support automobility, and therefore it is these elements I am referring to when I discuss sprawl. The correlations between automobility and sprawl have been discussed by several authors [9–12], most notably Newman and Kenworthy, who discovered a strong relationship between low density urban form, automobile use, and pollution. The negative effects of both sprawl and automobility have also been the subject of much discussion: There are many other pollutants and problems, such as noise pollution, the economic costs of congestion, deaths and injuries to road users and pedestrians, the ruination of urban environments and agricultural and countryside land loss associated with urban sprawl. The approximate contribution of road transport to environmental problems has been estimated as: climate change, 20%; acidification, 20%; smog, 70%; lead pollution, 50–85%; nuisance, 60% and waste, 5%. [13] Automobility and sprawl have not only been identified as a cause of environmental pollution and ecological disruption, but also as a cause of social and health problems, including lung cancers and asthma from air pollution [14], obesity and overweight [15, 16], and depression as a result of traffic stress [17]. Furthermore, transport disadvantage – the inability to travel when and where one needs without difficulty – is a potential precursor to unemployment, personal and family stress, ill-health and personal crisis [7].

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572 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The adverse consequences of automobility are not always overlooked. However, congestion and road safety issues appear to be the only consequences taken seriously in many cities, with increased road capacity being the prevailing solution to these problems. Such solutions further reinforce automobilisation and therefore do not serve to reduce but rather to increase the problems associated with automobility: “Instead of fostering the rise of a different, post-automotive mobility paradigm, their responses often merely lead to a reproduction of traditional ‘auto-spaces’ [18].

3

Reflexive mobility

Automobility is currently reflexive to the extent that problems are often identified and acted upon, however this reflexivity has not created sufficient space for the emergence of other mobility paradigms. The natural scientific approach, whereby we attempt only to understand what is rather than what ought to be, could be largely responsible for such a blinkered, intra-paradigmatic approach. The economic and engineering foundations of transport planning certainly do not encourage reflexivity. For instance, if we predict travel demands by mode based on existing patterns (an analysis of what is), and allocate future infrastructure and services accordingly (with no analysis of what ought to be), we imply that these conditions are acceptable [19]. The ‘measure it, predict it, build it’ approach is purely technical and does not provide the foundation of a truly reflexive analysis of mobility. Low and Gleeson [20] have discussed the value systems and habits embedded in our institutions and rules, in an attempt to explain the barriers to achieving sustainability in transportation planning. They blame the utopian and impossible aim of free-flowing traffic designed to reduce congestion costs and increase economic benefit. Aggregate economic benefit and freedom of movement are the modern goals of mobility. But these objectives are not final ends. Freedom of movement must exist to satisfy some other objective, as must wealth. The belief that transport is a pre-condition for economic growth leads to the dismissal of sustainable transport research at a political level, for fear that the regulation or reduction of transport to improve sustainability is a threat to the economy [21]. Evidence of the economic equity benefits of public transport seems to be ignored by decision-makers in automobile dependent cities. Perhaps it is Bachman’s Inevitability Theorem in action; the higher the cost of implementing the plan, the less likely the plan will be abandoned even when it becomes obvious that it is not a good plan. Each mode of transportation is supported by structures, cultures, constituencies and interest groups that benefit from a modal focus [22]. Mobility should be questioned at a deeper, ought to be level, rather than at a shallow what is level. What is required is a normative framework that specifies mobility objectives and enables the integration of moral information. The example of Kano in Northern Nigeria illustrates how a normative framework can provide a set of objectives for mobility outcomes. However, rather than adopting a religious moral code, we require a rationally defensible normative WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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framework that enables decision-makers to deal objectively with the consequences of automobility. We need a framework that puts our mobility objectives into perspective, framing the ideals of unlimited freedom and car ownership, and the profits car manufacturers and their employees, in perspective against environmental, cultural and social considerations. Normative ethics provides an appropriate rationale for constructing a set of norms that can be applied to mobility.

4

Normative ethics A normative approach may be defined as one which posits one or more moral precepts possessing at least formal (if not some contentful) meaning by which human actions ought to be controlled. [23]

Ethics has two components, meta-ethics and normative ethics. Meta-ethics is the study of ethics itself, rather than the application of standards and guidelines to behaviour, as in normative ethics [24]. Normative ethics is therefore the branch of ethics most relevant to decision-making. Normative ethics can be challenging, given we tend to think of science as a way to describe and understand the way things are, rather than the way things ought to be. Contemporary secular ethics acknowledges that different cultures and societies subscribe to different moral frameworks, and that moral frameworks evolve over time. Such evolution does not necessarily negate that ethics are absolute (that there is only one correct set of ethical principles). In fact, there are some moral beliefs about which almost all societies are in agreement, however this does not imply that they are correct [24]. If six billion people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. 4.1 Constructing rational norms Artistotle was of the view that all knowledge and every pursuit aims at some particular end. His method of analysis was therefore to reflect on the end being sought; “In medicine this is health, in strategy victory, in architecture a house, in any other sphere something else” [25]. An end is that which is always desirable, not for the sake of something else. The first task of normative ethics is to ask what qualifies as an end. Ethics theory provides several distinct possibilities. First, there is the utilitarian view that some form of desirable consciousness is the end we seek, whether this is conceived as the ‘ceasing of woe’ as it was by The Buddha, happiness as in Aristotle’s philosophy, or pleasure in the Epicurean philosophy. The natural law tradition claims we each have within our own nature an inherent guide to what is good, whereas John Locke believed rights exist in a state of nature, and are retained outside of a state of nature, including cities. These approaches are deontological; they focus on intrinsic goods, knowable rather than analytically constructed. The alternative approach is teleological, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

574 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability whereby ethical analysis aims to assess the ends or results of actions (telos: end or purpose). A teleological approach does not rely upon intuition, and can therefore provide a rationally justified, analytical framework. One drawback is that a teleological approach is not necessarily normative. A normative ethic is prescriptive rather than merely descriptive, it commands certain courses of action [23]. Without obtaining further information about how to achieve a desired end, a teleological approach is merely descriptive, therefore it must also be empirical if it is to be normative. Utilitarians appeal to the ‘fund’ of human experience to determine which action will bring about the greatest good, drawing from experience of what has been found to work. Therefore, the teleological approach is concerned with standards (through achieving ends), rather than rules based on intrinsic goods or rights. By appealing to the fund of experience, the teleological approach creates norms. For example, if human health is considered an important end of mobility, and experience demonstrates that automobile dependence has significant adverse health effects, whereas walking produces positive health effects, the ethical solution is to encourage walking over driving. 4.2 An aggregative/distributive approach Utilitarianism is flawed in that its approach is purely aggregative, an action is right if it produces a large net amount of a desirable good. A mobility ethic requires guidance not only as to what constitutes a desirable end, but also as to its proper distribution. This is perhaps a more difficult objective. “Intelligence is the ability to increase efficiency: wisdom is the ability to increase effectiveness” [6]. Mobility has important equity implications; the distribution of accessible destinations, travel costs, transport options, health and social impacts often differ by location and socio-economic status [26]. John Rawls’ theory of justice, ‘justice as fairness’, provides a method of incorporating the proper distribution of goods (justice) into a teleological (outcomes based) ethic [27]. Using a contract ethics approach, Rawls reasons that in an initial, hypothetical position of equality between persons who do not know their relative positions of wealth in society, the principles of justice would be agreed upon. Thus, inequalities can only be just if they result in compensating benefits for all. By considering justice a desired end in itself, goods must be equitably distributed if their existence is to be considered morally acceptable. Justice as fairness counters the foremost criticism of utilitarianism; that issues of justice are ignored. Rawls’ philosophy provides an approach that is not only aggregative, but also distributive; where both the production of net value and its distribution are important in measuring the attainment of an end. 4.3 Ends and their relative importance Within the modern western context, there is some consensus regarding ends [3]. One could assume that there would also be some consensus on the ends that urban development and transport policies should pursue. Although differences may assert themselves in practice, this does not necessarily indicate differences WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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with regard to ends, instead there may only be differences in the approach adopted to satisfy these ends [28]. With no consensus regarding ends, let alone any means of providing relative weights to these ends, how do we decide which ends are desirable and therefore good? The utilitarian approach is flawed in this respect, as it must rely upon intuitionism in order to provide a weighting to ends. Some criteria are therefore required to identify desired ends and decide upon their relative importance, before we are able to measure their attainment and decide whether or not mobility has achieved an ethical outcome.

5

The ethics of enough

Sustainability theory provides a starting point for identifying ends and weighting them. The three pillars of sustainability represent the environmental, economic and social considerations that form the basis of sustainable development. The challenge is to find development solutions conducive to all pillars, so that one does not compromise the other. Typically it is the economic realm that is given greater priority over the others, leading to damaging environmental and social consequences. Applying the three pillars framework to mobility ethics may provide a way to reduce dilemmas by insisting on win-win solutions. The ‘ethics of enough’ provides a logical and straightforward conceptual model, organising ends within the context of sustainability. This conceptual framework is underpinned by two basic premises. First, we need a modicum of wealth to make life worthwhile. This wealth is not necessarily money but simply good fortune, or quality of life. Second, we ought to require needs before wants, or our wants will be met at the expense of our basic needs. Needs are what we desire, or ought to desire, for they are good for us – we really need them. They in turn can be categorised as: 1. Primary needs. These are food, water, shelter, clothing, and health. We need these for our very survival as individual organisms. At a pinch we can provide these ourselves but rarely do so in isolation. 2. Secondary needs. These are love, relationships, freedom, education, safety, other material resources and wealth. We need these for living, to make life enjoyable and provide meaning. We cannot provide these needs ourselves, we need others. Wants are all our other desires. They can be right and wrong desires and can be categorised as: • Innocuous wants. These do not prevent or impede us or others attaining our or their needs. To which we should add, provided they do not reduce the capacity of the earth to sustain us and inspire us. • Noxious wants. These displace or attenuate our desires for needs, particularly secondary needs. Furthermore, they reduce the capacity of the earth to sustain and inspire us. [29] WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

576 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability While this is an anthropocentric approach, it is obvious that human needs are less compromising to natural systems compared with noxious wants. Both affluence and extreme poverty have adverse environmental effects. Combining the ethics of enough with an aggregative/distributive approach provides a framework for weighting ends, and incorporates a strong notion of justice. The value placed upon unlimited personal freedom makes cars particularly attractive. The association between road building and economic growth makes automobility attractive to decision-makers concerned with economic development. If these decision-makers were required to put aggregate economic development into context against other ends, and to look also at equity issues, the outcome would very likely be different.

6 Conclusion: mobility ethics The logical-positivist position is that ethical questions are not resolvable. However, our continued reliance upon the technical, what is approach will result in further entrenchment of the dominant mobility paradigm. Philosophers now recognise that ethical reasoning is not unlike scientific reasoning [30]. If rationally defensible criteria are applied to the evaluation of ethical positions, ethical discourse could be accepted as a rational activity. A rational framework for the evaluation of mobility issues, or mobility paradigms generally, would provide an important normative decision-making tool that is truly reflexive, thereby enabling reform. Some authors have questioned the dominant mobility paradigm, for example John Urry has asked whether the time-space demands of automobility should be allowed to dominate the urban realm [31]. This can be re-written: ‘What ends should mobility achieve, and does the domination of the automobile over the urban realm reasonably meet these criteria in regard to the aggregate achievement of these ends and their equitable distribution?’ If the domination of automobility over the urban realm does not provide an ideal means to our chosen ends, or results in their unjust distribution, the fund of experience can be consulted in search of a more conducive solution. The first ends to be considered should be needs, and noxious wants should also be identified so they can be avoided. By following this rationale, a sustainable and socially just mobility paradigm can be discovered and implemented. Further investigation is required to develop this framework so that an ethical analysis of automobility can be undertaken. First, needs, wants and noxious wants relevant to mobility must be identified. Second, indicators need to be developed based on these needs and wants, so that empirical information can be gathered. Third, existing empirical evidence relating to automobility and alternative paradigms (the fund of experience) should be reviewed so that initial comparisons between mobility paradigms can be made. Finally, using these indicators, further empirical research should be undertaken, addressing the gaps in our knowledge of mobility paradigms so that a comprehensive ethical analysis can be undertaken.

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References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

Timberg, C. Riding too close for comfort. The Guardian Weekly: September 2-8, 2005. Hare, R.M. Sorting Out Ethics, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1997. Singer, P. How are we to live? Ethics in an age of self-interest, Random House Australia: Milson Point, 1993. Wachs, M. Introduction. Ethics in Planning, ed. Wachs, M., Centre for Urban Policy Research: New Jersey, 1985. Bolan, R.S. The structure of ethical choice in planning practice. Ethics in Planning, ed. Wachs, M., Center for Urban Policy Research: New Jersey, 1985. Khisty, C.J. and Zeitler, U. Is hypermobility a challenge for transport ethics and systemicity? Systemic Practice and Action Research, 14(5), pp. 597-601, 2001. Denmark, D. The outsiders: planning and transport disadvantage. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 17(3), pp. 231-245, 1998. Gudmundsson, H. Mobility as a policy concept. Social perspectives on mobility, ed. Thomsen, T.U., Nielsen, L.D., Gudmundssen, H., Ashgate Publishing Ltd: Aldershot, 2005. Duany, A., Plater-Zyberk, E. and Speck, J. Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream, North Point Press: New York, 2000. Newman, P. and Kenworthy, J.R. Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence, Island Press: Washington, 1999. Squires, G.D. Urban Sprawl: Causes, Consequences and Policy Responses, The Urban Institute Press: Washington, DC, 2002. Crawford, J.H. Carfree Cities, International Books: Utrecht, 2000. Carley, M. Settlement trends and the crisis of automobility. Futures, 24(3), pp. 206-218, 1992. Nyberg, F., Gustavsson, P., Jarup, L., Bellander, T., Berglind, N. and Jakobsson, R. Urban air pollution and lung cancer in Stockholm. Epidemiology, 11(5), pp. 487-495, 2000. Frank, L.D., Andresen, M.A. and Schmid, T.L. Obesity relationships with community design, physical activity, and time spent in cars. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 27(2), pp. 87-96, 2004. Lopez, R. Urban sprawl and risk for being overweight or obese. American Journal of Public Health, 94(9), pp. 1574-1579, 2004. Gee, G.C. and Takeuchi, D.T. Traffic stress, vehicular burden and wellbeing: a multilevel analysis. Social Science & Medicine, 59(2), pp. 405414, 2004. Beckmann, J. Automobility - a social problem and theoretical concept. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 19(5), pp. 593-607, 1999. Harvey, D. Social Justice and the City, Edward Arnold: London, 1973.

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578 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [20] [21]

[22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31]

Low, N.P. and Gleeson, B.J. Ecosocialization or countermodernization? Reviewing the shifting 'storylines' of transport planning. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 25(4), pp. 784-803, 2001. Nielsen, L.D. Reflexive mobility - a critical and action oriented perspective on transport research. Social perspectives on mobility, ed. Thomsen, T.U., Nielsen, L.D., Gudmundssen, H., Ashgate Publishing Ltd: Aldershot, 2005. Szyliowicz, J.S. Decision-making, intermodal transportation, and sustainable mobility: towards a new paradigm. International Social Science Journal, 55(176), pp. 185-197, 2003. Giesler, N.L. Ethics: Alternatives and Issues, Zondervan Publishing House: Michigan, 1971. Singer, P. Ethics, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1994. Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, Books I.4-5, 7-8, II.6-7, 9. Powerful Ideas: Perspectives on the Good Society, ed. Webb, J.M., The Cranlana Programme: North Armadale, 2002. Grayling, T. Social Justice in an Upwardly Mobile Society. Sustainability and Social Justice, ed. Foley, J., Institute for Public Policy Research: London, 2004. Rawls, J. A Theory of Justice, Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1972. Burr, J.R. and Goldinger, M. Philosophy and Contemporary Issues, Macmillan Publishing Co, Inc: New York, 1976. Fricker, A. The ethics of enough. Futures, 34(5), pp. 427-433, 2002. Klosterman, R.E. Foundations for normative planning. Ethics in Planning, ed. Wachs, M., Center for Urban Policy Research: New Jersey, 1985. Urry, J. The 'system' of automobility. Theory, Culture & Society, 21(4/5), pp. 25-39, 2004.

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Relevant aspects of automobile users behaviour: a study under the sustainable consumption concept in the transportation sector L. A. Noriega & J. Waisman Department of Transportation Engineering, Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract This paper focuses on the analysis of relevant behavioural factors affecting automobile users under alternative public policies intended to reduce individual transport demand. The theoretical basis of this study is the sustainable consumption concept that, along with the sustainable production concept, leads to the re-definition of existing supply and demand patterns in order to guarantee the future generation’s demands. A conceptual model was proposed, and subjective factors affecting car users’ behaviour were analysed. This model encompasses different behavioural approaches related to the fields of Economics, Psychology, Sociology and Education. A survey was conducted, with an intentional non-probabilistic sample, among 176 auto users, mainly college students and white-collar workers, older than 18 years. The casual relationship between individual mobility and different behavioural factors (“beliefs”, “beliefs”, “social norms”, “easing and boundary factors”), the socioeconomic profile and the weekly distance travelled was verified through the application of factor analysis techniques, multiple regression and structural equation modeling. Results obtained show a close relationship among these factors and the adoption of different behaviours and mobility strategies. Keywords: automobile users behaviour, public policies, urban mobility, sustainable environment. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060551

580 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

The growth of Brazilian economy in the last decades was supported by imports substitution and government incentives to the auto industry and civil works and has influenced both urban and transport public policies. São Paulo Metropolitan Region, with 18 million habitants and a fleet of 6 million vehicles, comprises 38 municipalities and a total area of 8,000 km2. This region concentrates 18% of the Brazilian GNP. The lack of integration between public policies of transport and land use produced strong impacts on mobility, car / public transport usage, urban structure and life quality. In 1967, 32% of all motorized trips were made by individual transport; 35 years later, this value had risen to 51%. On the other hand, public transport trips decreased, in the same period, from 68% to 49% of all motorized trips. Car users are known as agents of the urban scene willing to satisfy (and increase) their individual mobility. According to this hypothesis, the main objective of this paper is the analysis of car users behaviour regarding public and individual transport usage, motorized or not, and the different factors (such as “values”, “beliefs”, “social norms”, “easing and boundary factors” affecting the adoption of a given behaviour and mobility strategy, the “socio-economic profile”, the “average weekly travelled distance” by individuals, in order to support the formulation of public policies that change individual mobility.

2

Relevant aspects of car users behaviour based on sustainable consumption approach

In recent years some studies tested the influence of multidisciplinary factors, like economic and moral factors (Hansen and Schrader [7]); attitudes, abilities, motivation and opportunities (Ölander and Thorgersen [10]; Thørgersen [16]), that influence individual behaviour to accept public policies, specifically the ones that could guide the individual to a more sustainable behavior. Most of the behavioural studies, mainly the ones related with environmental consciousness, began in the 1960`s. Few of them were published in the Journal of Environmental Education and Journal of Environmental Psychology. The insertion of sustainable consumption on behavioural models aims to represents an opportunity to change consumption patterns and to use multidisciplinary approaches to study that problem, as stated at the 1992 Earth Summit on Sustainable Development, in Rio de Janeiro. Multiple approaches from Psychology, Economy and Education, related to individual behavior, and Sociology, related to group and organizations behavior, are important to identify the influence of different factors of intrinsic and extrinsic nature that affect all individuals, mainly, in relation to morality. Their close relation to the problem being studied will be useful to understand the impact of public policies to manage individual mobility in the city. More specifically, it is premised that a transportation demand management policy WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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could be a mix of legal, economic and educational measures, punishing the ones that pollute and preserving the rights of those that did not overdo. 2.1 Conceptual model for sustainable transportation Figure 1 shows a pre-defined set of factors that influence car users behaviour, considering a possible impact on individual mobility by implementing public policies on transport area. This model is an adaptation of Fishbein and Ajzen [5], considering the impact of several intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting individual behavior, like the ones specified by the different approaches listed in the previous section.

Figure 1:

Conceptual model of sustainable behavior in transportation.

“Attitudes”, as a result of interaction between beliefs and values, were considered intrinsic to a human being, while “social norms” and “easying and boundaries factors” were considered of extrinsic nature. The former two factors measure individual perceptions over different angles, like the ones related to regulations, economic enforcements, information availability and structural (politic and cultural) aspects impacting human behavior. Considering its nature, this study prioritizes perception and motivation data for transportation demand analysis purposes, in addition to “distance travelled”, by mode and motive of travel, and “socioeconomic profile”. Values and beliefs are constantly influenced by socioeconomic and political changes, being fundamental total individual is decision making process (Fishbein and Ajzen [5] and Schwartz [12, 13]). Someone perceives its context reflecting over it, even without any rationality or analytical process. The first authors focus his attitudinal analysis on beliefs while the former focuses on moral values. It is important to notice that values and beliefs are complementary and in some cases they could be misunderstood. “Beliefs” are considered subjective truths, recognized by somebody as a habit or an inaccurate image of reality captured by our senses. Sometimes they represent a lack of reflection and hide false ideas, preconceived or manipulated, representing a deep confidence, without rational justification. Fishbein and Ajzen [5] stated that beliefs refer to somebody subjective probability judgments concerning some aspect of his/her world, considering a self-understanding and the environment around him/her. S/he will measure the acceptance of an object or event by stating an attribute, either positive or negative. The attribute represents an assessment that produces a favorable or unfavorable feeling in relation the object or the event. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

582 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Schwartz [14] believes that “values” are trans-situational goals that changes in importance and serves as guide-principles. In addition, values are important for some social institutions, motivate and serve as a justification of acts and are assimilated through socialization. “Values” are derived from human needs, considering their biological and social nature and the preservation or survival of social group. They have specific weights and interact with other values, considering the impact on somebody motivation. The impact on motivation is related to a decision making process and, as a result, the decision could match or mismatch individual values (Schwartz [14]). Values and beliefs determinate attitudes, it means, they will be used to make a subjective judgment of some situations and will be determinant to take a position or attitude over it. Attitudes are also considered a predisposition of behavioural change. In some situations, like mobility management, values and beliefs are important indicators of a predisposition to change car user is behaviour gradually (Jensen [8]). A person also judges the adoption of a behavior by the existence of social norms. They establish the best way to live in society. S/he believes that an act should be socially accepted and other people opinion about the fulfillment of a public policy will serve as a mechanism of acceptance by the group (Campbell [4]; Buchholz [3]). The presence of “easying and boundary factors” is studied (Ajzen [1]) as the existence of a subjective control over his/her behavior. Considering the existence of opportunities or alternatives that impact a perceived behavioural control, their availability assessment will determine the adoption of a new behaviour. An assessment of the structural conditions could be favorable only if the new situation is consistent with his/her wishes or unfavorable when it is not what s/he wishes. As mentioned, depending on the analysis of what somebody do and on the structural conditions that impacts his/her way of living, s/he will be selfsatisfied, not necessarily considering group satisfaction. That analysis also includes the cost incurred in the adoption of any behavior (Salomon and Mokhtarian [11]). Finally, the incidence of a “socioeconomic profile” (sex, family monthly income, background, professional activity, number of car owned) and “weekly distance traveled (by mode and motive), reflects recent trends and changes on the transport area, mainly because an increasing number of trips are due to the access of women to the job market, the need to transport family members under 18 or over 65 years old where they need to go or even the kind of activity a person do during the day increases his/her mobility. All these aspect have an impact on urban transportation, increasing the number of daily trips in the city. In accordance to figure 1, behavior is the result of the impact of all the aspect listed above and their combination. Several arrows are stating the relation between all factors and behaviour. The figure also showed an arrow that indicates the influence of socioeconomic and weekly distance traveled by mode and motive. These factors have a direct impact over behavior, considering that transportation demand is derives from the daily activities s/he do (Mokhtarian and Salomon [9]). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Model evaluation

The research happened in the city of São Paulo. Participants were car users, intentionally in the city of São Paulo and selected to participate on the survey. All participants filled a questionnaire divided in five sections. In each section were used psychometric scales, Likert for beliefs and Semantic Differentiation for values, open questions and metric scales to collect all information needed to analyze the factors mentioned in previous sections. Approximately 600 questionnaires were distributed and 35% of them returned. Only 176 were used. The sample is composed of 124 males and 52 females, aging between 19 and 30 years old (104 – 59.1%). Most of them have a college degree or is enrolled in an undergraduate course (133 – 75.6%). They are mainly students (58 – 33.0%) and employees (46 – 26.1%). They have a mean monthly family income of 6 minimum salaries (162 – 94.7%). The minimum salary at the time the research was performed was US$ 70.00. Those participants with a family monthly income greater than US$ 420.0 only have one car and those with family income between US$836.4 and US$3345.6 have 2 or 3 cars. Only those ones with monthly income superior to US$1672.8 have 4 or 5 cars at home. In a seven day week, in São Paulo city, 38.6% of the participants pointed out that use bus and 33.2% use metro or train as an alternative mode of transportation. An additional information indicates that 75.0% of them use cycles or walk to exercise. The main motives for daily trips are work (95.0%), school (72.0%) and recreation (34.4%). Considering the nature of the data collected, there were used three techniques of analysis to achieve the objective of the study: factor analysis, multiple regression models and structural equation modelling. The packages used were SPSS, version 8.0, and Statistica, version 5.0. 3.1 Multiple regression and structural equation modelling These analytical techniques were chosen to understand individual behavior, considering the relation between two or more independent variables. For multiple regression purposes stepwise and backward procedures were used to determine the right number of variables included in the model. In every set of included variables F, r2 and r coefficient were observed. Other test identified the quality of adjustment of each model, like variance inflation factor (VIF) that tested the inexistence of multicollinearity among independent variables. The most important variables included in the model of multiple regression are statistically represented by the best beta-coefficients. For example, socioeconomic profiles appeared to have beta-coefficients equal to -0.274 for the model, intentionally, called “individual car user behavior” (see table 1) and 0.341 for the model that represents the mobility strategy: change transportation mode, from individual to collective (see table 2).

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584 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 1:

Use of individual transportation – multiple regression.

Dependent Variable Independent Variable Constant Easying and Boundaries Factors Lack of better alternatives Weekly Distance Travelled Automobile Socioeconomic Profile Family Income R2 = 0,258 (R2 adjust = 0,231) F = 9,609 (p= 0,000) N = 87

Table 2:

Car use preference (1 to 7 days). t Coefficient 2,618 4,544

Beta

-0,199

-2,029

-0,198

-0,288

-3,236

-0,308

-0,264

-2,787

-0,274

Change transportation mode: from individual to collective – multiple regression.

Dependent Variable Independent Variables Constant Easying and Boundaries Factors Not necessary Weekly Distance Travelled Automobile Socioeconomic Profile Family Income R2 = 0,308 (R2 ajusted = 0,279) F = 10,552 (p= 0,000) N = 75

Change transportation mode t Coefficient -3,170 -5,115

Beta

-0,167

-1,678

-0,166

0,368

3,563

0,355

0,341

3,423

0,341

This model confirmed the importance of one subjective variable “easying and boundaries factors” related to the behaviour adopted. In addition, two other variables were included, socioeconomic profile and weekly distance traveled. The importance of this subjective-behavioral variable is consistent with prior studies of Mohktarian and Salomon [9], that showed the use of subjectivebehavioral variables, like availability of opportunities or alternatives, to predict the adoption of a specific behavior. Although the regression technique could identify linear casuality among different variables that impact human behaviour, this kind of model is restricted to predict just one relation at a time, and not simultaneously, as the model showed in figure 1. Another alternative technique that allowed the modeling of simultaneous relations between dependent and independent variables is the structural equation modeling (SEM) SEM showed the restriction previously mentioned was reduced and tested by existing theories of different aspects that impact car user behavior. It was used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to obtain the different correlation coefficients between the endogenous, exogenous and latent variables. MLE was preferred because results were not influenced by the sample size (Hair et al. [6]). Considering the use of qualitative variables, all models obtained were validated according to different model fit measures. Those measures were defined based WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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on its utility to this research (Bentler [2]), like goodness of fit index, significance level, Chi-square, between others. These kind of absolute measures are important when considering the relation between correlation matrix and the model obtained, and the sample size. The relation between Chi-square and degrees of freedom, that should be between 1.0 and 3.0, is important to identify the causal relation of the data used (Bentler [2]). Other indexes adopted also establish the model fit. For example, goodness of fit index (GFI), point the best global fit when the index is near one. The root mean square residual (RMSR) and the root mean square error of approximation, that do not pre-define a maximum or minimum limit, considering sample size representation and stated that the model obtained and the correlation matrix fit well (Hair et al. [6]). In the “Car Use Preference” model the socioeconomic profile have a correlation coefficients of -0.31 (figure 2) and Mode Change model have a correlation coefficient of 0.18 (figure 3). There were obtained more than one strategy models to test best fit, not necessarily representing the optimum. In the regression models, car use preference and mode change, socioeconomic profile was the second most important variable, considering only as socioeconomic profile only family income (see tables 1 and 2). The other variable, weekly distance traveled by mode have a correlation coefficient of -0.22 for car use preference and -0.08 for the mode change strategy. In the regression models this variable is the most important between the others. Both techniques showed the importance of socioeconomic profile and distance traveled by mode for the two models.

Figure 2:

Car use preference – SEM.

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Figure 3:

Alternative model: merging attitudes and social norms – change transportation mode.

The most important aspect of SEM model is the correlation coefficients of latent variables showed in figure 2 and 3. In the car use preference model “Attitudes”, “Social Norms” and “Easying and Boundaries Factors” correlation coefficient were 0.28, 0.29 and -0.22, respectively (figure 2). It means that not only the former “Easying and Boundaries Factor” variable is important, as noted by the regression model, but the other variables have an important weight on behaviour prediction. The same results are shown in the model “changing mode of transport” (figure 3), which has a better fit, considering the fact that other models were obtained previously. The new latent variable, with a correlation coefficient of 0.11 (“Attitude/Social Norm”) is an important element of analysis, considering the fact that in some cases social norms could influence attitudes. The other remaining latent variable, “Easying and Boundaries Factor” has correlation coefficient of -0,07. This model fit better, considering the absolute fit measures listed above. The other models merge the three subjective variables into one and excluded the socioeconomic and weekly distance traveled by mode from the models; however the indexes obtained were not the best of all of them.

4

Conclusions

The presented models showed some intrinsic and extrinsic aspects studied in order to understand automobile users behaviour regarding both usage limitations and strategic actions adopted in the last 5 years to improve individual mobility within the city. The models have also confirmed the importance of several aspects that influence users behaviour and the applied modeling techniques – multiple regression and structural equations – showed useful and complementary. According to the answers obtained by interviews, the formulation of public policies to restrain excessive car usage, must consider the following aspects: • survey participants showed more interest towards comfortable transport alternatives. This comfort relates to the acceptance of public policies that guarantee their freedom and satisfy their mobility needs, specially the individual modes of transportation; WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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•

campaigns oriented to increase public awareness regarding car use in the city of São Paulo, such as the campaign “Within the city without my car”, showed few impacts on participants, that did not realized opportunities or alternatives on it. Its more likely these campaigns will result in discomfort to car users, than offering priority to satisfy their mobility needs (Tertoolen et al [15]); • isolated actions, such as the mentioned campaign, have not enough impact to influence car users perception related to benefits resulting from public transport daily usage, if there are no alternatives that allow them to maintain or improve their individual mobility; • car users focus is centered on improving their individual mobility. Then, transport demand should be influenced through actions merging transport and urban infrastructures and the use of several instruments (regulation, economics and information). Efficient tools to orientate behaviour change related to individual mobility must be defined by planners. Even though some effective and immediate tools have reduced individual mobility, such as car shifts and urban tolls, some informative or educational tools can succeed in medium and long terms. The use of these tools would be part of an integrate plan to solve the urban transportation problems in cities with high the levels of traffic congestion, like São Paulo. The authors thank the support from the São Paulo State Research Board (FAPESP).

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Ajzen, I., The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, v.50, n.2, p.179-211, December, 1991. Bentler, P.M., Multivariate analysis with latent variables: causal modeling. In: FORNELL, C. (ed.). A second generation of multivariate analysis. Volume 1: Methods. New York: Praeger, p.121-177, 1982. Buchholz, R. (1998) The ethics of consumption activities: a future paradigm? Journal of Business Ethics, v.17, n.8, p.871-882, June, 1998. Campbell, C., The romantic ethic and the spirit of modern consumerism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 320p.,1989. Fishbein, M., Ajzen, I., Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: an introduction to theory and research. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Pub. 578p, 1975. Hair, J. et al., Multivariate data analysis. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 730p, 1998. Hansen, U., Schrader, U., A modern model of consumption for a sustainable society. Journal of Consumer Policy, v.20, n.4, p.443-468, December, 1997. Jensen, M., Passion and heart in transport - a sociological analysis on transport behavior. Transport Policy, v.6, n.1, p.19-33, January, 1999.

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Mokhtarian, P. L. and Salomon, I. (1994) Modeling the choice of telecommuting: setting the context. Environment and Planning, v.26A, n.5, p.749-766. Ölander, F. and Thørgersen, J. (1995) Understanding of consumer behavior as a prerequisite for environmental protection. Journal of Consumer Policy, v.18, n.4, p.345-385, December. Salomon, I. and Mokhtarian, P. L. (1997) Coping with congestion: understanding the gap between policy assumptions and behavior. Transportation Research, n.2D, n.2, p.107-123, June. Schwartz, S. H. (1970) Elicitation of moral obligation and self-sacrificing behavior: an experimental study of volunteering to be a bone marrow donor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, v.15, n.4, p.283293, August . Schwartz, S. H. (1973) Normative explanations of helping behavior: a critique, proposal and empirical test. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, v.9, n.4, p.349-364, July. Schwartz, S. H. (1994) Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values? Journal of Social Issues, v.50, n.4, p.19-45, Winter. Tertoolen, G., Van Kreveld, D. and Verstraten, B. (1998) Psychological resistance against attempts to reduce private car use. Transportation Research, v.32 n.3, p.171-181, April. Thørgersen, J. (1999) Spillover process in the development of a sustainable consumption pattern. Journal of Economic Psychology, v.20, n.1, pp.53-81, February.

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Effects of a non-motorized transport infrastructure development in the Bucharest metropolitan area M. Popa, S. Raicu, D. Costescu & F. Rusca Transport Faculty, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania

Abstract Since 1990, in Romania and especially in Bucharest there has been a constantly growing tendency towards new expensive residential settlements located in the suburbs. Following this, even more cars have increased the road traffic towards the city centre. In the last few years, the need to extend the metropolitan area of Bucharest City has become more accepted as a solution to relocate some socio-economic activities. Bucharest is a historically developed city and there is no available space to increase the street capacity for cars and traffic. In this paper, we propose a bicycle infrastructure project to support the sustainable development of the new metropolitan area of Bucharest, and develop a model to evaluate the impacts of such a transport infrastructure on the spatial accessibility of the city centre. We reveal the importance of bicycle parking locations and their integration with urban public transport (subway and light rail). Taking into consideration a natural, native disposition of the younger population to use bicycles, in this way, we will provide quite an effective means of attracting them to non-motorized transportation as opposed to car use. Keywords: non-motorized transportation, metropolitan area, bicycle infrastructure, spatial accessibility, public urban transit, bicycle parking.

1

Bucharest metropolitan area and transportation

1.1 The situation today With over 2 million inhabitants (over 10% of the country’s population), Bucharest is the largest town in the country and, with its multiple historic

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590 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability heritage and cultural institutions, it is one of the most important centres for tourism. The total surface area is about 227 square km (urban area), with an average diameter of 21 km. The average population density is 3600 people per sq. km, higher than Warsaw (3400 persons per sq. km), Prague (2400 persons per sq. km) or Budapest (1200 persons per sq. km). Bucharest is located at the crossing point of two axes: one is the East-West axis, which extends from the Black Sea region to West Europe via Hungary and Austria, and the other is the North-South axis, which extends from Istanbul and Athens at the Mediterranean Sea to Russia via Ukraine. Since 1990, there has been a constantly growing tendency towards new expensive residential settlements located in the suburbs. This is because of the natural desire to own a property (after five decades of a controlled economy); the GNP annual growth rate (between 5-6% per year, INS [1]); the new laws concerning land property; heterogeneity of income; increasing congestion in the central area and degradation of the living environment etc. The increase in motor-vehicle ownership in recent years is high: in 2000, there were about 240 cars per 1000 inhabitants and it is estimated that its growth is about 5% per year, JICA [2]. Public transport (the tube, trams, trolley buses, buses) still constitutes the main mode of transport for the residents of Bucharest (Tab.1, JICA [2]) but the number of people transported by public transport is decreasing. Table 1: Transport mode Metro Tram Trolley bus Bus Train Car Mini bus Cab Light truck Cycle and Motorcycle Walking Total

Modal share of people movements. Daily trips (2000) 505.208 1.109.650 331.528 1.015.001 2.786 1.408.834 15.283 233.709 237.114 10.151 896.336 5.765.600

% 8,76 19,25 5,75 17,60 0,05 24,44 0,27 4,05 4,11 0,18 15,55 100

The surface public transport network is radial and ring-shaped. In fact, the new residential neighbourhoods are building in the Ilfov County area and we can see that the old peripheral villages are now becoming real satellite centres in Bucharest City, see Fig. 1. Most of these new residential areas have evolved without a strategic plan, even before the facility infrastructure has been built, Raicu [3]. The transport infrastructure in these new areas is old and poor because of the scarcity of public funds and lack of consistent strategies of residential land use. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Figure 1: The new residential areas of Bucharest metropolitan space. 35,0% 30,0% 25,0% 20,0% 15,0% 10,0% total inhs. female

5,0% 0,0% 0-19

20-39

male 40-59

60 and more

Figure 2: Age and gender structure of suburbs inhabitants. Most of the residents from the new expensive residential areas work in Bucharest City and so they commute daily. The age and gender structure of people from Ilfov County is that of Fig. 2, INS [1]. It is obvious that there are still many traditional residents, especially poor people, who are reliant on and trapped by public transport. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

592 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The state public transport operator (RATB – Bucharest Transport Company) provides low quality services in these suburbs: low vehicle frequency; long usage of buses; low speeds and long vehicles headways etc., Raicu [3]. The new private operators have not changed this with their supply of so-called “microbuses”. 1.2 The new metropolitan Bucharest area project The National Institute of Urban Research and Development and the Bucharest City Hall prepared a General Urbanisation Plan, PUG [4] related to forecasting the general economic environment; the PUG was a main basis for “The Comprehensive Urban Transport Study of Bucharest City and its Metropolitan Area in the Republic of Romania” designed by JICA [2]. This study was selected to promote an intensive multi-centred development pattern (set-up of the suburban centre in the existing urban area to maintain compactness of the city whilst avoiding excessive concentration) inside ring 1 and ring 2. The other two urban development patterns analysed were: • uncontrolled development pattern (sprawl of residential areas to surrounding farmland) • dispersed multi-centred development pattern (set-up of new urban and industrial areas along the Outer Ring Road –ring 3, as Fig. 1 shows). There are at least two plans of action to put into the reality this multi-centred development pattern: one is the projects supporting regional development, and the other is the administrative and social project to help the former. Using these visions, we propose a bicycle infrastructure network (with dedicated and exclusive ways) in the new metropolitan area of Bucharest for the sustainable development of that space, Fig. 3. The most important targets of our project proposal are the younger people. The aim is to educate them in favour of non-motorized transport, and to make them aware of effects of their decisions on such infrastructure projects and on spatial accessibility of their city.

2

The effects of the dedicated bicycle infrastructure on accessibility of the new metropolitan area

2.1 The model The spatial accessibility index defines the level of choice, taking into account both the opportunity and the modes of transport available to people. The assessment of non-motorized infrastructure development effects on the new and traditional metropolitan residents in term of spatial accessibility is a practical and a widely used approach, Smith and Halden [5]. Let us consider a circular city centre with a radial and ring-shaped network of public transport (subway and light rail). There are suburbs around the circular centre.

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Figure 3:

593

The new residential areas and the bicycle infrastructure linked to the public transit network (I# is the bicycle parking space).

Let us also consider a certain place located near the centre of the city centre space, i.e. university campuses. According to the Hansen accessibility index [6], we can measure the accessibility of an entity (i.e. student), from the suburbs as follows: A = ∑ E B , j ⋅ f d (t sB )

(1)

j

where: f d (t sB ) is the deterrence function from reaching the city centre from the suburbs, related to the travel time, having some forms, ∑ E B, j is the sum of all places that could possibly be chosen for the desired j

activity, located near to the urban centre, and in a static economic environment, this is E B . Without losing the generality of the model, we choose the deterrence function: −2 f d = t sB

(2)

Then we have the spatial accessibility from suburbs to the city centre, when there is no dedicated or exclusive bicycle infrastructure: A (0 ) =

EB

(t C ,sub + t C , B )2

,

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(3)

594 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability and the spatial accessibility from the suburbs to the city centre, after the project is carried out is: A (1) =

EB

(t byc + t p )2

,

(4)

with: t C ,sub , t C ,B - average travelling time by car, in the suburbs and respectively in the congested area of the city, t byc , t p - average travelling time by bicycle, in the suburbs and respectively the travelling time by public transport in the city area. We define the accessibility percentage variation as follows: ∆α [% ] =

A (1) − A (0 ) A (0 )

 t  C , sub + t C , B ×100 =     t byc + t p 

2    − 1 × 100     

(5)

If we use the average speeds and distances, respectively in the suburbs and the city area, eqn. (5) can be written as follows:  D 1 1  sub × +  D B S C , sub S C , B ∆α =   D sub × 1 + 1  D B S byc S p 

2        − 1 × 100      

(6)

where S byc , S p is the average speed by bicycle in suburbs, and respectively, by public transport in the city area, S C ,sub , SC ,B - average speed by car, in the suburbs and respectively in the congested area of the city, Dsub - distance of the suburbs, taking a radial way towards town, D B - urban distance to the city centre (the radius of the city space), Dsub like a suburb spreading, related to the centre DB widening. Of course, this ratio is not so near to 1, because of the pressure of the central area (considering central area as a high density area). From one city to another, we have a continuous domain for σ , related to many economic, social and historical variables. Eqn. (6) can be written as follows:

We consider the ratio σ =

 1 1  σ × + S S  C , sub C,B ∆α =  1 1  σ × + S byc S p  

2        − 1 × 100      

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The accessibility variation depends on the suburbs spreading, related to urban centre space, the speeds of a car in the suburbs or the central area, and the speed of a bicycle and public transport. 2.2 The accessibility variation related to car speed and public transport speed in urban areas

Accessesibility variation [%]

Bucharest City is about 21 km in diameter. The average speed of cars at peak times is about 20 km per hour. All the car-ownership forecasts indicate a continuous increase in the motorization exogenous of these new residential relocations. Because of the scarcity of space in Bucharest we expect a continued decrease in car speed throughout coming years. Fig. 4 shows the evolution of the accessibility percentage variation, taking into account this reduction and the spreading suburban areas. The suburbs are more than 3 km wide to the town border, which produces a negative effect on the accessibility variation. People are not willing to ride a bicycle much further than that. As we know, any project to develop public transport in urban areas consequently increases the speed, particularly in the case of subways and light rail transport, which have exclusive ways. Nowadays, the average travel speed by public transport (as a combination of trips by subway and exclusive light rail transit) is about 30 km per hour. Special attention must be paid to the bicycle parking around the end station of the public transit. The parking space and its facility are quite qualitative indicators of the spatial accessibility. In Bucharest City, under the new government, some projects have been initiated to extend the light rail transit with exclusive tracks and to complete the network ring of the tramways. We then studied the impacts of an increase in transit speed on the accessibility variation, Fig. 5. As it is shown, the accessibility variation to the urban central locations is increasing if the urban transit speed is increasing. 200 150

σ= 0.10

100

σ= 0.15 σ= 0.20

50

σ= 0.25

0

σ= 0.30

-50 20

19

18

17

16

15

Car speed in congested urban area [km/h]

Figure 4:

Accessibility variation related to car speed decreasing in congested area, and the residential area spreading.

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Accessibility variation [%]

596 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

120 100

σ= 0.10

80

σ= 0.15

60 40

σ= 0.20

20

σ= 0.25

0

σ= 0.30

-20 30

31

32

33

34

35

Public transport speed [km/h]

Figure 5:

Accessibility percentage variation related to public transport speed increasing, and the residential area spreading.

Bicycle users/owners [%]

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

<5 years

6-10 years

11-15 years

16-20 years

21-25 years

Age classes

Figure 6: Rate of bicycles use related of the user’s age (pilot survey results).

3

Is there a natural tendency towards bicycle use?

We have had the opportunity to develop research related to bicycle use of teenage and young people from schools and universities. We have some results from the pilot stage of our project (Fig.6). We are now improving our survey questions. Our pilot survey was made to investigate 153 medium income households in a medium density area of Bucharest; the younger population was classified into five age classes, taking into account the possession of the first bicycle and bicycle usage.

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We show that there is a natural tendency to have and use a bicycle, for people around 15 years old. This tendency decreases after this age, at least because of the need for a larger space to use it (and no secure facilities to keep it). We are also looking for the main explanations why this tendency towards bicycle usage declines after a certain age. The results will help us at least to promote the non-motorised transport infrastructure (with dedicated or exclusive ways) in the new residential metropolitan area.

References [1] [2]

[3]

[4] [5]

[6]

INS - National Census Institute, The Results of the Population Census 2002 (in Romanian). Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) The Comprehensive Urban Transport Study of Bucharest City and its Metropolitan Area in the Republic of Romania. Final Report Summary, PADECO, Bucharest, 2000, www1.pmb.ro/pmb/primar/transport_urban.pdf. Raicu, S. Researches on the developing of the transport system in areas underserved in Bucharest area (TRANSURBAN), University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest - Centre of Research, Design and Consulting in Transportation (in AMTRANS research national program, funded by the Research and Education Ministry, in Romanian), UPB, Bucharest, 2004. General Urbanistic Plan of Bucharest City -PUG, Bucharest City Hall, www4.pmb.ro/wwwt/pug/pugs.htm. Smith, D. & Halden, D. Identifying Through Accessibility Planning how Sustainable Growth can be achieved in the Compact City: A case study of Edinburgh, www.dhc1.co.uk/features/sustainable_growth_edinburgh.html. Hansen, W.G. Haw accessibility shapes land use. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, vol.25, pp.73-76.

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Is the pedestrian city relevant to the sustainable city? Mobility, urbanization and health K. Maikov1 & M. Pihlak2 1

Landscape Architecture Program, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonia 2 Department of Landscape Architecture, Pennsylvania State University, USA

Abstract For the past one hundred years American style automobile oriented urban development has swept the world. Estonia has adopted free market capitalism and is on the verge of adopting American style automobile dominated development patterns. The tradition of Nordic style planning has ameliorated the American style automobile domination. Small town Pennsylvania, USA as exemplified by the college town of State College, PA is still firmly in the grip of the traffic oriented transportation planner. The big city innovations of pedestrian priority areas and new urbanism have not penetrated to the American hinterlands. Keywords: pedestrian, walking, urban design, obesity, Estonia, sidewalks, Pennsylvania, Toronto.

1

Introduction

The automobile domination of the American City is almost complete (Kuntsler [1–3], Holtz Kay [4]). Post soviet era Estonia is producing similar automobile dominated suburban commercial landscapes. This automobile oriented development pattern is so destructive of traditional urban form that in the United States special national planning initiations are necessary to ensure that children will be able to walk to neighbourhood schools (Safe Routes to School). Safe Routes to Schools is a popular program spreading across Canada and the U.S. designed to decrease traffic and pollution and increase the health of children and the community. The program promotes walking and biking to school through education and incentives [5]. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060571

600 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability This automobile domination is best illustrated in the commercial landscape of big box retail and enclosed regional shopping mall development in suburban locations which generally eliminate sidewalks and pedestrian crossings in favour of speeding vehicular traffic. This automobile dominated landscape contributes to the lifestyle choices, which can lead to obesity and poor health. Central Pennsylvania has the highest obesity rates in the United States. “Obesity is a complex, multi-factorial chronic disease involving environmental (social and cultural), genetic, metabolic, behavioural and psychological components. It is the second leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.” [6]. A healthy life style includes regular pedestrian activity. It is estimated that an average person is required to take 10,000 steps to burn the average calorie intake. It has been found out that town-dwellers of all ages, i.e. children, adults, and elderly people, are, on average, able to walk 204 meters in five minutes. If the elderly inhabitants are excluded, the rate is 294 meters in five minutes, and if the children are also excluded, the rate for adult town-dwellers is 325 meters in five minutes [7]. For the average US resident this level of pedestrian activity is difficult to achieve. One of the authors (Pihlak M) regularly achieved less than eight thousand daily steps, even with walking regularly to work and two daily dog walks. Most Americans do not walk this much and thus risk weight gain. Is this the Estonian future? Access to green landscapes improves overall life satisfaction and wellbeing (Kaplan [8]). In Estonia the green landscape is used for pedestrian movement. A safe and continuous pedestrian environment is one of the factors in encouraging pedestrian movement. The case study of the area planning and pedestrian movement between The Nittany Valley Mall and the Benner Pike Walmart Super Centre will illustrate the common American area planning trend of ignoring the pedestrian in favour of vehicular traffic. In the Nittany Mall example pedestrian movement is actually prohibited. The case study of pedestrian movement in the city broadens to the apartment building areas in Tartu will illustrate the Estonian approach to automobile orientation. This is a typical commercial suburban development.

2 Pedestrian safety and amenity hierarchy “….the definition of Pedestrian [level of service] LOS does not include anything about mobility (except for the possibility of running into another pedestrian) nor safety. This is an inherent bias of the LOS that strongly favours automobiles over pedestrians.”[9] In the United States transportation planning is almost exclusively vehicular oriented. Whatever pedestrian standards do exist they are relatively coarse, with assumptions that pedestrians are clearly a secondary concern to vehicular traffic. In the Greater Hamilton Area (GHA), Canada, pedestrian call buttons immediately stop traffic when pushed by the pedestrian. A simple listing of pedestrian oriented questions can establish the level of pedestrian concern at the site level.

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1. 2.

Simple Access. Can I cross the street? Safety. Is it safe to cross the street? Can I make it to the other side of the street before the pedestrian crossing light turns red? 3. Amenity. Is it pleasant to cross the street? Is there enough time to cross the street comfortably without being menaced by turning vehicles? 4. Priority. Pedestrian walk button immediately stops vehicular traffic. “Justification. The No Pedestrian Crossing Sign ,R9-3, shall be authorized for use to prohibit pedestrians from crossing a roadway at a point which is considered to be hazardous, or when provisions for a pedestrian crossing at a signalized intersection have not been provided.”([10]). For a healthy urban area this no pedestrian crossing sign should be rarely seen. For the sign to be used in the major regional shopping mall prohibiting pedestrian access from a busy book store to the regional mall is inexcusable. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Canada has the greatest legal support for pedestrian accessibility. The street car system, run by the Toronto Transit Commission, (TTC) necessitates automobile controls that give the pedestrian priority when entering or exiting a street car. This system extends to intersections that do not have stoplight control. At these intersections there is an over head yellow light and signage that require vehicles to stop when a pedestrian points their index finger cross the street. Pedestrian merely points finger across road and cars come to a screeching halt. Drivers lose two demerit points on their Ontario driving licence if they are caught failing to stop for pedestrians. Once they lose eleven points their driving licence is revoked. In the nearby Hamilton Greater Area (HGA) certain pedestrian crossing buttons will immediately trigger the walk signal and stop crossing traffic. This occurs on the access road to one of the limited access mid-escarpment roadways. No US city has this level of pedestrian priority street crossing.

3 Copenhagen, Denmark The world leader with regard to pedestrian rights is Copenhagen, Denmark. Since 1962 Copenhagen began banning vehicles from the centre of the historic city. Jan Gehl has documented the successful pedestrianization of previously vehicular oriented roads and car parks within the historic city (Gehl [11]). Anti pedestrian intersections. If there is no space for pedestrians to walk then they will not walk. If it is extremely unpleasant to walk they will be discouraged from walking. These are pedestrian truisms. 3.1

Pedestrian friendly infrastructure

Pedestrian activity is more than doubled if pedestrian facilities are provided. Traffic engineers and urban planners rarely receive adequate training related to non-motorized transportation. Only one out of a hundred highway professionals has taken a college course on non- motorised transportation and these courses were offered in overseas colleges. Federal policy now links pedestrian and bicycle access with funding. Six criteria are required: connectivity, linkage with WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

602 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability other modes, fine grained land use patterns, safety, visual quality and pedestrian path context. Engineering, planning and design collaboration is needed to implement the goal of walkable cities. 3.2

Walking contrast between Estonia and USA

The inhabitants of Tartu divide quite evenly between different transportation modal groups. Almost 43% of them go to work and/or school by bus, 29% on foot, 26% by car, and 2% mostly by bike. By contrast the US in general has much less transit usage. “Public transit use peaked in 1946, when Americans took 23.4 billion trips on trains, buses and trolleys…By 1960, that figure had dropped to 9.3 billion, and it declined further as roads and car culture gripped the nation. In 1972, transit ridership hit rock bottom at 6.5 billion trips. Since then, it seesawed until 1995, when it began steadily climbing.” [12]. Within the State College region “public transit use is over 3%. Surrounding communities are at 2%” [13]. In Estonia the average inhabitant of Tartu spends 21 minutes to reach workplace; there are no great differences between different sections of the town. However the speed depends on the way of travelling. It takes 17 minutes on foot, 14 by car but twice as long by bus – 29 minutes. The best possibilities for pedestrians are in Annelinn, Tähtvere and Vaksali sections. The most negative evaluation has been given to parking arrangements near abodes. In 5-point scale (1-extremely poor, 5-excellent) the general evaluation to parking opportunities near abodes is 2.6. 11% inhabitants mention parking opportunities and the condition of roads as the worst organized fields in town. Extremely poor are the possibilities to park near abodes, the condition of roads and pavement are quite bad. Still the safety of routes to schools is not a big problem in Tartu. Only 14% of inhabitants have said their children’s routes to school are dangerous [14]. Tartu has quite many possibilities to move around. Persons who like to move themselves are the main offers of such possibilities. For example there are routes to observe and listen to birds in city centre, three footpaths outside town limits introducing architectural values of the surrounding. Footpaths must always educate the ones using it. The footpaths are called Karlova, Supilinn and Toometagune. It is strange that the area surrounding river Emajõgi (it is separated from the Old Town area by Vabaduse Street) is not considered to be a footpath. Tartu’s biggest park Toomemägi also has many possibilities for walking, people enjoy being there. The footpaths go through Tartu’s historical sights. The future trend is that city centres (also known as pedestrian sections) should have different thematic streets – streets of restaurants, shops, books, clothes, beauty etc. The pedestrian section of Tartu is relatively quiet and could be meant more for tourists and walkers. Outside the town limits, following the banks of river Emajõgi is Jänese footpath. It is a 5-kilometre easily penetrable path for hikers and walkers. Within town limits there is not yet a network of footpaths. However the city council has strong proposals about it and family parks are under design.

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3.3

603

Apartment buildings

Soviet era apartment buildings are similar everywhere and the older ones follow the same soviet rule – as little space per person as possible and mentality “we ask nothing from nature we just take what we need”. As a result the buildings are designed so close to each other that the sites plan is outbalanced. Centrally the playschool, then primary school and basic school were created in the middle of a town section. Only green areas were the surroundings of playschools and schools where children and teenagers from every age group gathered. Pavements around buildings were not designed, the area was left open and in 2-3 years pedestrians just walked the paths into lawn areas and then these paths were covered with asphalt. These bedroom suburbs built in 1970’s were based on public transportation. As time went by people began to own more cars but this development was not supported by the conception. Therefore in the mornings there are big impasses on the narrow streets and in the evenings parking difficulties. All this lack of natural landscapes excludes the need for walking. That in turns leads to abiding only to one’s own apartment, which is in close relations with stress. All results in declining public health (gormandise, decreased ability to act). People have started using sports centres to compensate the lack of movement. This kind of lifestyle causes rapid life pace which exhaust the organism and exercising is fooling your organism because the energy necessary for recovery is in natural landscapes. The only walking is from the house to bus stop and back and taking out the rubbish. Cars have become commodity and all necessary rides are taken by car. If you would really want to then it would be possible to go jogging around apartment buildings and schools/playschools. Walking at a moderate pace for 30-60 minutes burns stored fat and can build muscle to speed up your metabolism. Walking an hour a day is also associated with cutting your risk of heart disease” [15].

4

Inhabitant sections

In city planning the pressure by owners of private property is so great that city officials cannot afford to keep land for designing green areas. Also the fragmentation of sites allows approaching the sites individually therefore general planning is necessary to determine the amount of green areas. Officials who solve these problems are not qualified enough. These bedroom suburbs cause problems in vehicular traffic because there are not enough parking spaces and streets are narrow. In inhabitant sections the relative importance of available land is 60-80%. That land can be used for designing natural environment. Mostly these sections are about 30 years old and have trees already (1-2 trees per site as a rule). Usually the sites are surrounded by some kind of hedge. In private house areas usually there are no natural environments for public use. Because of that people’s movement is limited – they move in the limits of their own sites. On the plus side there is more greenery. The roads there have less traffic and therefore more opportunities for pedestrian movement. Diffusion of negative ions and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

604 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability energy gives the impression that private house areas are ideal living environments where everybody wants to be. Areas where the sites are under 1500 m² are considered to be bedroom suburbs. There the access roads are the biggest problem. Also these areas do not have unitary design and architects can do what they want. This is why these areas are called “the idiot villages”

5

Dangers

Big shopping centres force people to travel by car because visiting those gives opportunity to buy everything from one place and are accessible only by cars or public transportation. In the city centre the biggest road is Vabaduse Street, which for pedestrian is impossible to cross in rush hours. Surveys have also proved that people tend to visit banks more at the shopping centres and therefore the small branch offices are closed. In the edges of the city centre the extensions of shopping centres are all built to Turu Street but the same situation occurs – there are only two possibilities to cross the street. The street itself is four-lined. Some shopping centres are on the outskirts of Tartu and accessible only by car. Because of this free access to city centre people travel only by car and enjoy weather only through windows. Lõunakeskuse shopping centre is a classical example of not bothering about pedestrians. The speed limit there is 70 km/h and pedestrians are led from pavement to highway without a pedestrian crossing so crossing the highway is hazardous. It is a temporary solution until Tallinn – Luhamaa highway is finished but that could take years and people have to move there every day. The areas next to highways are also dangerous.

6

Conclusion

“Pedestrian-oriented site planning and design can contribute much to the convenience, comfort and enjoyment of daily activities. In addition, energy conservation necessitates reduced dependence on the automobile and encouragement of pedestrian and other energy-efficient alternatives” [16]. Even the US Army has discovered the benefits of a direct and cohesive pedestrian environment. Small town Pennsylvania as exemplified by the State College centred region is still in the grip of a vehicle only transportation planning mentality. Tartu, Estonia has the advantage of a long pedestrian history yet the Soviet Era and the modern capitalist era runs the risk of embracing a vehicular orientation and a lack of pedestrian delight. Another federal agency, the Federal Highway Administration has also attempted to increase professional concern for the pedestrian and cyclist. However “Studies have shown that as per capita income rises, people switch to private motor vehicle ownership and the extent of walking and bicycling decreases.” Estonia is clearly going through this per capita income increase process. A balance needs to be found where the need for vehicular roadway capacity is balanced with the needs of a cohesive and amenity rich pedestrian environment. The Canadian cities of Toronto and Hamilton have shown that the needs of the pedestrian need not be sacrificed in accommodating vehicular needs. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Jan Gehl and the City of Copenhagen have shown that it is a question of urban design values as how space should be allocated for pedestrians and vehicles. A balanced transportation system that includes the pedestrian saves energy provides future flexibility for new rapid transit options creates superior urban form and improves the health and satisfaction of urban dwellers.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

Kuntsler J H. The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape 1994 Kuntsler J H. Home From Nowhere Simon and Schuster, New York 1998 Kuntsler J H. The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition, Simon and Schuster, New York,2003. Holtz Kay. Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How we can take it Back, UC Press Berkeley, 1998 http://www.saferoutestoschools.org/, 03.04.2006 Obesity.org 2006 The Urban Traffic Network 1975 Sweden Kaplan 2001 The Nature of the View from Home. Psychological benefits. Environmental & Behaviour 33 (4):507-542 http://www.walksf.org/pedestrianLOS.html http://www.dot.state.pa.us/ Gehl, J. The Life Between Buildings, Danish Architectural Press, 2003 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/043000-01.htm, 03.04.2006 http://www.catabus.com/board/minutes/2003/82503.htm, 03.04.2006 http://www.tartu.ee/?lang_id=1&menu_id=2&page_id=1136, 03.04.2006 http://walking.about.com/cs/howtoloseweight/a/walkoffweight.htm, 03.04.2006) US Army Area Planning,Site planning and Design p 76 2004

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Evaluating walking promotion policies with regard to mobility representations, appropriations and practices in public space S. Lavadinho Observatory of Mobility, Geneva University, Switzerland

Abstract To effectively encourage pedestrian use, urban planning must meet pedestrian needs. But how do public policies that support human-powered mobility translate into real-life practices? Which built environment factors encourage users to adopt existing pedestrian routes and integrate them in their daily travel? This research reveals pedestrian practices and the way they connect to other daily activities. It gives suggestions for a targeted policy of promotion of pedestrian routes in agreement with different user profiles. It elucidates the mechanisms of appropriation of public spaces that influence walking choices, and which urban planning elements are most conducive of walking behaviour. The research design followed a two-step process: first an onsite evaluation of the objective characteristics of three of the nine walking routes currently proposed by the Geneva Pedestrian Masterplan, followed by an onsite quantitative survey that described users’ walking behavior and their judgements on the adequacy of these routes to their needs, desires and daily practices. Keywords: urban planning, walking, public space, evaluation, human-powered mobility, promotion policies, pedestrian behaviour.

1

Is walking still part of our mobile world?

Though we do seem to live in a very mobile world, our first request goes not towards mobility per se, but rather the wild range of activities being mobile authorizes. Placed within a dense urban tissue, people may not request the car as such, and might even be inclined to refrain from using it. What they ask for is a simple, flexible, fast and effective means of transportation. While for the time being it is undeniable that individual motorised traffic is still seen as the best WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060581

608 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability way to satisfy mobility needs, and may indeed be quite adapted to many daily life situations, this is but the result of our current mobility referential grids. We tend to forget that the automobile appears quite urban-friendly essentially because over the last forty years cities invested titanic means and gigantic sums in becoming car-friendly. Thus when talking about walk-friendly cities today, we are to ask ourselves, as citizens as much as researchers, planners and decision makers, how much money and effort do we want to invest on making them walkable? Though a single means of transport may have framed a certain type of urban network up until now, one could just as easily imagine, and it is already starting to happen in several European cities, to unravel this network back into a raw material from which other transport options may emerge. Future urban mobility trends very much depend on which referential grid we are deciding to adopt right now and which urban solutions are forthcoming to connect us and satisfy our needs and desires in the next decades.

2

Can walking be sexier than driving?

The multiplicity of activities and their scattered functional space distribution tend to fragment urban fabric, thus impoverishing accessibility of most other ways to move about besides the car. As a consequence we tend to think only seldom of human-powered mobility as a viable alternative, be it in terms of speed or in terms of freedom to choose from a wealth of possibilities of connecting various places by surer, quieter and often more direct routes than by car. However, on relatively short distances, walking and bicycling may actually reveal themselves very competitive means of transport precisely because they are individual means of transport. As such, unlike public transport, they are not constrained by predetermined schedules and routes, thus allowing a substantial degree of freedom in planning door-to-door displacements. However, to bring about change in current walking practices, the planning of walking facilities into a comprehensive and effective walking network must not be based solely on offer-based presumptions of what is feasible. It should instead strive to meet the demand by trying to gather knowledge on what is desirable. That means learning more about existing needs and drawing inspiration from existing motivations. To effectively raise the current modal split in favour of human-powered mobility, the act of walking must be made much more attractive than it is nowadays. Instruments and arguments, both material and immaterial, to convince people to walk more are thus being developed by most European cities to raise walking routes’ attractiveness. The Pedestrian Masterplan (http://www.villege.ch/geneve/plan-pietons/index.html) developed by the Town of Geneva since 1995 fits in this current trend.

3

The Geneva Pedestrian Masterplan

Adopted by the City council in 2001 and approved by the Geneva State Authorities in 2004, the Pedestrian Masterplan is the result of a longer process that started out in 1995 following the early signature of the Aalborg Charter that WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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had just been launched by a great number of European cities in the wake of the 1992 Rio conference. The first of the five main axes developed within the scope of the Masterplan is devoted to walking promotion: it aims at encouraging walking by developing and promoting walking routes within and between districts. In addition, the Town of Geneva chose to reinforce the visibility of the Masterplan by editing a series of maps retracing the developed walking routes. The Town has conceived two lines of action: to create walking routes and to promote a coherent network that connects the city with its suburbs and adjacent municipalities, which bypasses administrative borders to focus on the real walking practices.

4

How do we know it’s working? People actually walk there

The present paper evaluates this walking promotion policy near completion, as it has spanned now for almost all of its planned ten year-cycle. To learn more about the Pedestrian Masterplan acceptance we carried out during spring 2004 a survey of 619 walkers at 12 selected spots on three different walking routes throughout the city, and tried to answer the following questions: What kind of people walk? Where, when, and why do they walk? How do they combine walking with their other daily routines? How are the Town’s efforts to promote walking perceived? How well do people know and use the published maps? How do the proposed walking routes influence walking patterns and mobility behaviour choices? Which built environment factors are most important when people engage in the dynamics of walking, setting into motion a fourfold complex process involving perceptions, representations, appropriations and practices of public space?

5

The walker’s profile

5.1 What do people walk for? People tend to walk mainly for leisure purposes (76%), either by themselves (22.5%), with their dog (19%) or with their children or grand-children (10%). Leisure motives are consistently the most mentioned regardless of the age group, though the tendency does increase with age, from 50% of teenagers to 75% of seniors. Taking time off to relax within a public space, namely sitting on benches, during lunch breaks or after work, accounts for 8% of users’ motives. Sports (5.5%) and tourism (2.1%) seem to play only a minor part on leisure motives. On the other hand, transit motives gather a third of all users (33%), mostly on their way to other leisure activities (9%), school or work (7%) and shopping (7%). People with no vehicle at their disposal are twice more likely to walk to work (25% vs. 12%). Other transit motives include socialising practices such as eating out, meeting or visiting friends and accompanying children to their activities. Most people walk for only a relatively short time, remaining within the vicinity of their home or office. Men walk more to go to work (22% vs. 14%) and seem more inclined to mention walking as a physical activity WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

610 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability beneficial for their health (11% vs. 7%), whereas women walk slightly more for leisure (66% vs. 62%) and overwhelmingly more to accompany their children and grandchildren (of a total of 24 people quoting this reason, 23 were women; this motive thus represents a share of 11% of all the motives quoted by women, vs. less than 1% of those quoted by men). 5.2 What makes people walk? The most frequent motivation is to improve health (21% of all answers by 51% of respondents). The older the people, the more sensitive they become to health issues (only 50% of teenagers mention health vs. 50% of adults and 75% of seniors). Interestingly, those with a vehicle at their disposal seem slightly more sensitive to the health benefits of walking (56% against 49%). To be out in the open is also quite appreciated (12% of all answers by 30% of respondents), and walking is seen as more relaxing (11% of all answers by 27% of respondents). The no-stress factor strikes a chord with drivers in particular (29% vs. 24%). Drivers are also twice more likely to walk for the benefit of their children. 23% of respondents find walking more beautiful. Since a person out of four prefers to walk because it is less stressing and one out of five because it is more beautiful, it proves to be meaningful to continue to develop sure and pleasant walking circuits that enhance pleasure while walking. 20% of people choose to walk when their destination is rather close. Likewise, 20% find walking more practical. The younger the people are, the more practical they find walking (a teenager out of four vs. only a senior out of ten). 9% of people quote speed as a reason to walk, which for a reputedly slow means of transportation is not such a bad result, but age matters greatly in speed evaluation (a young person out of five regards walking as faster, against an adult out of thirteen and only one senior out of a hundred). Stating that walking is for free strikes a chord with 8% of people who are price-sensitive. Avoiding congestion (5%) and parking (6%) problems is a motivation for only a relatively scarce number of car drivers, as is avoiding overcrowded buses at peak hours for mass transit users (6%). Public promotion policies should take into account these motives in order to find the most suitable angle of attack for walking promotion marketing and communication campaigns. Health and wellbeing arguments in particular might be effective, when potential target groups can be effectively reached. We recommend carrying out joint communication campaigns sponsored by both mobility and public health services and adequately target specific parts of the population, essentially older adults and young parents worried by the health of their children. Children do represent a powerful lever, and promoting walking within this target-group would deserve detailed attention, especially since parents tend to use their cars much more than people who do not have children. A child who walks often represents one or more adults who walk too, therefore there might be some interest in promoting walking as a family affair. 5.3 What other means of transport is used besides walking? Firstly we would like to observe that according to our results there is an extremely strong fidelity to the usual means of transportation, weakening WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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possibilities of modal split change and posing a great challenge to walking promotion policies. On a more positive note, when users decide to forsake their usual means of transport, they usually do so to the profit of pure walking practices. Fidelity varies according to the means of transport: people are the most faithful to their two wheels and the less faithful to public transport, the car coming somewhere in between. Only 3% of the users declare walking as their usual means of transportation. Half of the respondents usually recur to public transport, one out of four drives a car and 6% ride with someone else. As per two-wheel drivers, 16% are cyclists while 6% prefer the scooter. For the particular walk that was surveyed, more than half of the users (53%) didn’t use any other means of transport. 23% combined walking with public transport, 13% with the car and 11% with the bicycle. Only 2% used a scooter. Cycling was preferred by men (13% vs. 9%), especially teenagers and young adults (17% vs. 7% of active adults and only 2% of seniors), whereas women chose public transport more often (27% vs. 18%), as did teenagers and young adults (31% vs. 16% on average for all other age groups). People who don’t have a car at their disposal are more likely to just purely walk (56% vs. 51%), to use public transport (30% vs. 18%) or cycle (12% vs. 9%). Conversely, people who live in households with two vehicles tend to become people who drive their car more often (29%, vs. only 12% of those living in households with just one vehicle). Children-related constraints weigh high on car dependency as a walking complementary mode. People who live with no children cycle more (12% vs. 8% of those who do) and recur to public transport more often (24% vs. 18%), whereas those who live with children use their cars much more (19% vs. 9%). 5.4 What urban tissue is preferred? People usually enjoy more than one type of urban tissue. Green walking circuits that include parks, natural sites and other green spaces are a definite must: mentioned by 77% of respondents, they take the largest share of all answers at 38%. Thus a planning policy such as the one applied in Geneva, that strives to link parks and other green sites through walking circuits, does seem to be a good strategy that answers people’s needs. Blue walking circuits that follow water courses come second, mentioned by 56% of respondents with a share of 27% of all answers. Therefore rehabilitating waterways and converting them to more human-powered mobility uses not only meets environmentally sound criteria and health promotion recommendations through an increase of physical activity, it also allows for renewed waterscapes more in tune with people’s expectations. Animated walking circuits that include shopping streets lined with cafes and restaurants come third with a share of 13% of all answers mentioned by 26% of respondents, more often than not young people yet single or mature men. Designing better interfaces between commercial venues, services, cafes and restaurants and spaces where people walk and adding porosity to this kind of circuit enhances its qualities. Beyond infrastructure, time issues should be considered, such as opening hours in tune with pedestrian fluxes and increased offer levels during high seasons. Quiet and relaxed walking circuits along residential neighbourhoods come next with 10% of all answers mentioned by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

612 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 20% of respondents, mostly women or parents with children. Cultural or historical walking circuits come last with a total of 8% of all answers mentioned by 17% of respondents, mostly educated women owning a car. This poor result underlines how different citizen needs are from the tourist’s, and shows that traditional circuits are not in tune with an indigenous perception of the city. Thus a real need to innovate arises, giving way to new approaches of walking promotion more respectful of proximity needs. Almost half of the respondents (48%) prefer to compose their own itinerary as they go, on the spur of the moment. While round circuits are quite a success (39%), linear paths are only chosen by a little more than a person out of ten (12%). People, especially women, also tend to combine several existing itineraries (25%), or choose a path because it’s useful to link places where they perform their daily activities (17%). Car ownership and availability, higher income and the presence of children all influence route choice in favour of round circuits or the combination of different circuits, rather than linear circuits. It seems therefore essential, when designing and promoting walking circuits, to inspire and suggest, rather than dictate; to take into account real walking patterns, rather than trying to impose a set pattern; and to include a bouquet of the shortest routes to a series of important destinations, as well as a set of alternative routes for the return trip, rather than trying to bring every possible destination within a single linear route. Ultimately a complete walking network should be provided that optimises route choice while bestowing the largest possible degree of freedom to the user. It then becomes more a matter of providing him with the right representation tools to cope with this network. We are currently working on devising such a tool through the development of a web interface that serves as a personal multimodal itinerary choice calculator. 5.5 How does walking become a habit? Many people walk quite often along the same routes, and it is in fact a habit for 60% of the respondents. One out of four goes for a walk from time to time, one out of ten less often, and only one out of twenty reported being there for the first time. People seem to walk just as frequently when they always have a car available as when they never do, while occasional car users do show a greater tendency to walk occasionally than those who are captive of either the automobile or public transport. People that walk in residential districts and along natural sites tend to know the premises well, while the city centre concentrates most tourists and infrequent users. No matter how old, habitués are always the most important category of users for any given place, always representing more than half of all users. Familiarity however does increase with age, older people being amidst the most frequent users. Familiarity also increases if people dispose of more time to walk, as shown by the fact that 78% of unemployed, 71% of retired elders, 67% of housewives and 55% of part-time employees claim they are habitués, vs. only 53% of full-time employees, 50% of students and 46% of independents. Widows, divorced and single parents tend to visit a place much more often than couples. Young people who are still single, on the other hand, tend mostly to be only occasional users. The presence of children doesn’t seem WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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to influence walking frequency patterns, except when wanting to explore new ground. People with children tend to remain on familiar premises closer to home. Likewise, car availability doesn’t influence walking frequency patterns much, except it does allow for greater freedom to explore new places: those who come to a new place for the first time are twice more likely to have the use of a car. Car ownership, on the other hand, does influence walking frequency in a somewhat paradoxical manner, since people who do not own a car have a tendency to walk less often than those who do (35% vs. 50%). This result can be partially explained by the larger number and greater length of walking trips during weekends, when leisure mobility trends are still very much intertwined with the use of the car to gain access to the leisure sites where people actually start walking. To curb this trend, substantial efforts must be made in terms of leisure site accessibility by public transport and human-powered means. 5.6 Do people keep walking over the years? 48% of respondents declare their walking practices have remained constant over the last five years, and 42% declare that their practice of walking has actually increased. Among these, a certain number quote the arrival of a child or the acquisition of a dog as a determining factor. Only 10% indicate having decreased their time devoted to walking, primarily for reasons linked with health or great age issues. 5.7 Hebdomad walking rhythms People do not seem to have a special day for walking purposes. One out of three usually walks everyday, one out of four mostly on weekdays and one out of six either on Saturday or Sunday. Women tend to walk everyday of the week (36% vs. 30%), in particular on Saturdays (18% vs. 15%), whereas men tend to walk slightly more on weekdays (25% vs. 21%) or not to walk downtown at all (19% vs. 15%). On the other hand there is no gender difference regarding Sunday walks (15%). 40% of everyday walkers are seniors, while a third are active adults and teenagers represent only a quarter of this category. Seniors experience a severe drop in walking patterns on weekends (5% on Saturdays and 7% on Sundays, vs. an average of 16% for other age groups on both these days), while teenagers privilege Saturday walking tours (30%), mostly for shopping and meeting friends. People who do not have children feel freer to walk everyday, while weekends are much preferred by families with children. People who have no vehicle available definitely tend to walk more everyday (39% vs. 27%), while people who have a vehicle at their disposal prefer walking during weekdays (25% vs. 16%), whereas on weekends there seems to be no difference due to car availability. Walking assiduity diminishes as the number of cars increases within a household (37% of people without a car declare to walk everyday, vs. 33% of those who have a car and only 26% of those who have two cars). The total time devoted to weekly walking displacements nevertheless does not vary much, because walks on weekdays are generally shorter than on weekends, and people that have two cars walk more during the weekend (23% vs. 15% on average for WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

614 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability other categories on Saturdays; 21% vs. 13% on average for other categories on Sundays). 5.8 Circadian walking rhythms The preferred period of the day to enjoy a stroll is by far in the afternoon (60%). A person out of five declares to walk any time (22%), one out of six in the mornings (16%), and roughly one out of ten prefer evenings (11%). There are important gender and age differences. Men prefer to walk in the evening (15% vs. 9%) and in the early morning (5% vs. 2%), whereas women opt rather clearly for the afternoon (66% vs. 52%). Older adults and seniors walk mostly in the morning and only very seldom in the evening. People who have children are more numerous to walk in the afternoon (66% vs. 58% of those who don’t). 5.9 How long do people have for a walk? Time for a walk is usually rather short, and only a few people walk longer distances. 75% of the respondents walk for less than an hour at a time. Of these, one out of three walks between 15 and 30 minutes, while only one out of five walks between 45 minutes and 1 hour. After this limit frequencies decrease sharply, with only one out of ten walking between 1 and 1 ½ hours or between 1 ½ and 2 hours, and only one out of twenty walking for more than two hours. Time is thus an important limiting factor in walking choices and relatively short yet attractive circuits would have a better chance to be adopted by potential walkers. Shorter circuits include parks and playgrounds near dwellings or district centres boasting a strong concentration of commercial venues, services and public transport interfaces. Longer circuits tend to follow waterways or go across more natural areas. They can also be due to the larger influence radius of major attractors. Women tend to go for shorter walks than men, and the older the person, the longer she walks. 75% of long walk adepts are retired, while a person out of three that walks mostly on short transit trips is a student. People working fulltime tend to walk longer than people who work part-time, though these two categories both account for a fifth of short transit trips. People who have children are twice more likely to walk between around 1 hour, while people who don’t are four times more likely to go for short transit trips. Single parents tend to go for either rather short or quite long walks (over 2 hours). People who do not use the car walk much longer than those who do, while the latter are twice more likely to go on short transit trips. The more cars a household owns, the less time those who live in it tend to walk.

6

How effectively do public policies promote walking?

Though roughly a third of the respondents declare being acquainted with published maps depicting the proposed walking routes, these seem to have relatively little influence on walking practices, influencing positively only 12% of respondents, the very ones which have in fact actually used the maps. Families WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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are twice more likely to use them, as are 28% of newcomers and first-timers visiting a given place. Tourists and people unfamiliar with the location do happen to be the most likely targets. The more one walks, the less one seems likely to be influenced by these walking routes. These figures, though far from the maps’ true potential, do show how important readily available information can be in order to convince potential walkers to explore new territories for the first time. The Town of Geneva devised a symbol to enhance visual coherence among the diverse Pedestrian Masterplan communication tools, in the form a little green “P”-shaped man people may alternatively see on sidewalks and publicity billboards as well as on the maps themselves and the Pedestrian Masterplan website. A third of the respondents had never seen this symbol, especially seniors (45% have never seen it, vs. 32% on average for other age groups). A quarter of the respondents had already seen it on a sidewalk and a fifth recall seeing it but can’t remember in which context. Though frequent walkers are more likely to have come across this symbol, this has by no means an influence regarding how knowledgeable a person may be of the proposed walking routes. Approximately the same number of people has seen the symbol on maps (13%) or billboards (12%). Only 2.1% have visited the website, but this small percentage does include almost every surveyed tourist, emphasizing how important it is to make that kind of information available online for tourism purposes. A good measure of effectiveness in targeting specific groups consists in asking people whom they feel is being aimed at by the communication campaign tools. Half of the users, and women in particular, estimate that the maps promoting the walking circuits address to everyone. 30% of the respondents, primarily young people, estimate these maps are solely intended for tourists. 15% of the respondents, on the other hand, think they are primarily intended for the inhabitants. Overall a great number of people regret the lack of dissemination of these maps and estimate they deserve to be more widely broadcasted. The tourist office is the first logical choice people have selected (46%). Touristaimed locations and infrastructure such as hotels and restaurants collect 16% of all votes, and trendy places 4%. Transit places collect 60% of all votes, 40% of which for the airport and train station and 20% for local public transport counters, bus stops and display units inside the buses themselves. Proximity favourite places where people go for daily activities gather the second largest bulk vote: upfront come kiosks and tobacco selling shops (38%), food stores and shopping centres come second (35%), the post office comes third (31%), schools come fourth (9%) and libraries and social venues come fifth (7%). Public services collectively gather a quarter of the votes (25%), shared between rather visible services as the police or the town hall (14%) or the municipal information office (8%). Placing the maps directly at walking range is also frequently suggested, the walking route itself being the obvious choice for 9% of the respondents, whereas 7% suggest a system of street distribution boxes similar to that of newspapers, namely in parks and important crossroads. Culture is also mentioned as a point of entry with some potential. Cultural services and ticketing WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

616 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability offices gather 7% of votes, while map handouts during festivals and other large demonstrations is encouraged by 5% of the respondents. Household mailings are suggested by 8% of the respondents. Some people suggest specifically targeting users of other means of transport, for example through bicycle hiring spots (3%) or gas stations and automobile clubs (2%). Other places mentioned included places related with health (hospitals, medical cabinets, pharmacies, etc), with sports (sport centres, swimming pools, fitness centres, etc), with senior-related services (EMS, centres for senior activities, senior clubs, etc), with children (schools, nurseries, etc), with young people (leisure clubs, meeting places, etc) and finally with dogs (dog parks, the caninettes, etc). A distribution within private companies was also suggested, which could be interesting within the framework of a mobility management process, provided the company location is near a walking route.

7 The walkers’ onsite evaluation The respondents had to appreciate the specific site where they were being interviewed according to six different criteria: lighting, texture, route choice, urban furniture, nature & landscape and historical urban value. 60% of the respondents regard the site on the whole as a success, and only 7% consider it bad or insufficient. 31%, however, allot the minimum passing grade, thus showing a certain dissatisfaction with one or the other of the specific criteria of evaluation. Lighting receives the most mitigated evaluation, with 32% of rather negative grades, 25% of average grades and again 33% of rather positive grades. Natural sites tend to be considered as especially under-equipped in this respect, while strong transit nodes gathered the best reviews. Texture is one of the most positively rated criteria, getting a positive grade from 60% of respondents. Route choice is the most positive evaluation by far, with close 80% positive marks. People did give a bad mark to a particular black spot that had already been previously identified by the City Planning Office, thus confirming this diagnostic and the urgent need to redesign this particular route. Urban furniture causes an overall rather positive appreciation though more mitigated than other evaluations. Thus only 54% of respondents consider that it is successful vs. 46% who don’t. 66% of respondents find that both nature and landscape are enhanced in a majority of sites, and 31% even rate maximum grades to this set of criteria, while negatives grades are only given by 15% of respondents. Historical value is considered successfully managed by 45% of respondents, while a quarter think one could do better in this field and 10% actually allot a rather bad mark. 62% of walkers enjoy the proximity of nature or the presence of greenery. Peace and quiet are a must for 36% of them, and a further 14% quote a particular place where they like to relax. 25% of respondents mention the presence of water as an attractivity factor, while 17% mention the landscape as the main attraction. 14% congratulate the route choice. A person out of ten mentions sociability factors. 64% of respondents advances proposals in order to improve pedestrian signing: signposts (37%), ground marks (16%) and route maps posted at WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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strategic crossroads (12%). 32% of the users also claim measures to improve the visibility of park entry and exit points, and 25% suggest facilitating pedestrian and cycling access to the sites.

8 Walking is an inside job From these results we may point out that there is more to walking promotion than meets the eye. It is not enough to plan walking routes, draw maps on paper and stack these at the nearest tourist office. Indigenous walkers expect a whole range of diffusion places, much broader and much nearer to their daily activities, as they usually anchor these walking routes to their daily agendas. Furthermore, users adhere to walking much more strongly when route accessibility, security and attractivity are guaranteed. Although walking for walk’s sake is quite possible, more often than not opportunities for walking are motivated by transit motives and the combination of several other activities besides the leisurely stroll itself. The more walking routes adapt to other reasons for people being there the more they are invested. A successful walking route tends to dissolve against a wider background made up of high-quality urban fabrics that can effectively lodge the multifonctionnality required by users’ daily practices and respond to multilayered users’ representations. Ideally public places along this route evolve into hybrid places capable of hosting leisure motives as well as more utilitarian needs, while these tend to reinforce each other though revolving on different circadian and hebdomad rhythms. Walking settings are more than functional, they are emotional: they provide us with places to grow and to remember, places sit back and relax and enjoy life, places to meet people that we care about, places to fall in love with. Long before becoming an act, walking is first and foremost a social construct. Thus my last and possibly only piece of advice is that before we start building walk-friendly routes, we should devise better ways to start designing walk-friendly minds.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

Dewarrat, J.-P., Quincerot R., Weil M., Woeffray B., Paysages Ordinaries: De La Protection Au Projet, Sprimont, Belgique, Pierre Mardaga, 2003. Grosjean, M., Thibaud J.-P., (Dir.), L'espace Urbain En Méthodes, Marseille, Parenthèses, 2001. Thibaud, J.-P., (Dir.), Regards En Action. Ethnométhodologie Des Espaces Publics, Grenoble, A La Croisée, 2002. Toussaint Jean-Yves, Zimmermann Monique (Dir.), User, Observer, Programmer Et Fabriquer L’espace Public, Lausanne, PPUR, 2001.

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Section 10 Traffic and transportation

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Suburbanisation and commuting modes in the Tallinn metropolitan area K. Leetmaa, P. Metspalu & T. Tammaru Institute of Geography, University of Tartu, Estonia

Abstract Suburbanisation is one of the most important features of spatial population change in Estonia. The aim of this article is to analyse the process of suburbanisation and related changes in commuting modes compared to the late Soviet period in the Tallinn metropolitan area. We use three datasets in our study: individual level 2000 census data, municipal planning documents and a sample survey. The results of the study indicate that most of the people who moved from Tallinn to its suburban areas in the 1990s moved to pre-transition period housing stock. However, the new housing construction is playing an increasingly important role in the suburbanisation process and in the course of time the process has taken the form of uncontrolled urban sprawl lead by the detailed rather than the master plans, and by the interests of real estate development companies. Besides, the sprawl of housing to the former natural and agricultural landscapes has considerably increased the commuters car-dependence compared to the late Soviet period. While public transport was the dominant commuting mode in the Soviet Estonia, today car-based commuting clearly dominates. Keywords: suburbanisation, urban sprawl, commuting modes, Tallinn metropolitan area

1

Introduction

Many Eastern and Central European countries witnessed rapid suburbanisation around major cities in the post-socialist period. In Estonia, the increase in the migration from the cities to their surrounding areas took place as well in the 1990s [1] and the process has accelerated remarkably since the second half of the 1990s. The aim of this article is to analyse the trends in suburbanisation, spatial WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060591

622 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability patterns of the new residential areas and the modal split of commuters in the Tallinn metropolitan area. Two key concepts of the study are suburbanisation and urban sprawl. Suburbanisation in the current paper is defined as the population migration from the central cities to their surrounding areas. The term urban sprawl has been considered as a special case of the suburbanisation expressing many negative connotations that the term suburbanisation meets in the literature: e.g. lowdensity land-consuming settlement development, building new housing areas in the “green fields” rather than infilling and extension of existing settlements, cardependence of the new housing areas etc. As the alternative to the sprawl, the smart growth [2] and compact city concepts [3] have been developed in the field literature expressing the normative view that the suburban population growth could take more sustainable and rational forms than the uncontrolled sprawl around the cities. We study the suburbs of Estonian capital city (Tallinn) metropolitan area. The Tallinn metropolitan area with its 525 000 inhabitants (01.01.2005) is the most populated urban region in the country. Approximately 75% of its inhabitants live in Tallinn proper today and only 25% in the suburban municipalities (those rural municipalities and satellite towns around Tallinn proper from where at least 15% of the workforce commuted to the capital city in the census year 2000). The study is based on three datasets. First, we use individual level anonymous 2000 census data to analyse the suburbanisation process in the 1990s. The census data enable us to clarify the composition of the people who moved from the Tallinn proper to the suburban municipalities between 1989 and 2000. In addition, the census data include information about the dwelling type choices of the new suburbanites. Second, we use planning documents of the suburban municipalities to analyse the quantity and the location of the new planned residential areas. Thirdly, we use data from a sample survey to analyse the determinants of the modal choice for commuting, focusing on public transport versus car commuting.

2

Trends and spatial forms of suburbanisation

The analyses of population trends in the Tallinn metropolitan area reveal the decreasing growth rates for Tallinn and increasing growth rates for the suburbs during the Soviet period (Figure 1). In the 1990s, Tallinn lost a considerable part of its population, while the population of the suburbs stayed stable. However, remarkable inner differences existed within the suburbs (Figure 2). Those municipalities that are bordering with Tallinn witnessed significant population growth. While the municipalities further away from Tallinn suffered from population losses. Satellite towns lost population as well. All parts of the Tallinn metropolitan area lost population due to the emigration of the Russians back to Russia (Table 1). What regards natural population change and internal migration, the situation was most favourable for the inner circle rural municipalities and for the satellite towns, and least

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favourable for the capital city. Negative net internal migration of the capital city was due to the out-migration of its population into the suburbs in the 1990s.

Population change, %

3,0 2,0 1,0 0,0 -1,0 -2,0 1965-1970

1970-1979

Tallinn

Figure 1:

1979-1989

1989-2000

Total agglomeration

Suburban areas

Mid-year population change (%), 1965-2000 (Estonian Statistical Office).

Inner circle Middle circle Satellite towns Outer circle Tallinn 0

25

50

75

100

125

Population change, 1989 = 100%

Figure 2:

Population change (1989=100%), 1989-2000 (Estonian Statistical Office).

Let us now take a more detailed look at the spatial outcomes of the suburbanisation phenomenon in the Tallinn region. The post-socialist suburbanisation took quite a compact spatial form. According to the 2000 census data, only one out of five suburbanisers moved to the new single-family houses WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

624 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability of the 1990s (Table 2). Most of the new suburbanites started to live in the already existing housing stock and the role of the Soviet-time apartment blocks was particularly striking – two out of five suburbanisers chose those houses as their new places of residence. Many people moved into other housing types preceding the transition period: Soviet-time summer home areas around the cities as well as pre-War and Soviet-time single-family houses. Table 1:

Components of population change, 1989-2000 (Estonian Statistical Office).

42 441 16 181

Population change, 1989-2000 7 287 380

Natural change, 1989-2000 629 6

Net internal migration, 1989-2000 8 125 2 406

Net external migration, 1989-2000 -1 467 -2 032

16 147

14 954

-1 193

-913

567

-847

Population, 1989

Population, 2000

35 154 15 801

Inner circle Middle circle Outer circle Satellite towns Tallinn

53 945

48 760

-5 185

335

5 649

-11 169

478 974

400 378

-78 596

-14 499

-4 228

-59 869

Table 2:

Migrants from Tallinn to suburbs by dwelling type (1989-2000).

Single-family houses New (built in the 1990s) Medium aged (built in the 1960–1980s) Old (built before the 1960s) Summer homes (built in the 1960–1980s) Building time unknown Multifamily houses (apartment blocks) New (built in the 1990s) Old (built before the 1990s) Building time unknown Other/unknown dwelling type TOTAL

Number 10 859 4 306 1 721 2 891 1 602 341 9 108 981 7 596 531 357 20 324

Share (%) 53 21 8 14 8 2 45 5 37 3 2 100

Thus, the suburbanisation process in the 1990s took place in a quite a reasonable and sustainable form – instead of occupying new natural or agricultural areas around the city, the existing settlement structure was used by the new suburban population. However, this was neither the concious policy of the institutions responsible for the regional planning nor the concious choise by the suburbanisers. Moreover, the modern democratic planning principles only started to institutionalise since about 1995 when the first planning law was established in Estonia. The explanation rather derives from the socio-economic conditions of the time. Many people were not able to adapt to the new economic circumstances and were faced with the problems of coping in the cities. In addition, there was a great deal of relatively cheaper housing available in the suburban areas, e.g. big apartment blocks were the emigrated Russians lived before and former summer homes, that could be rebuilt for permanent living. And last but not least, there was no mortgage market available yet. All these WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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factors limited new housing construction, especially at the beginning of the decade. Therefore, the suburbanisation in the early transition years rather reflected the situation where the composition of potential out-migrants from the city matched well with the available housing stock in the suburban municipalities. This illustrates the rule that the suburban housing market has direct influence on the forms that the suburbanisation process takes in the region. The lack of suitable housing in the suburban areas could have lead to the migration to the areas futher away from the capital city like it happened for example in Hungary [4]. This principle also partly explains the recent turn in the suburbanisation process from the situation when people moved to already existing dwellings in the most of the 1990s to the situation in the 2000s when more and more people choose the new detached and multifamily houses as their destinations outside the city [5]. Parallel to the increase in wealth in Estonia the trends in housing are increasingly influenced by the pressure from the real estate development and financial sector. The tight competition in these sectors makes it possible to find a new suburban “dream-home” with a reasonable price and the alternative dwellings (existing housing stock) is concidered less likely. The study of the planning documents of the suburban municipalities confirms the turnaround in the spatial forms of suburbanisation. The number of detailed plans designing new residential areas in the suburbs has increased considerably during the period of 1995 to 2004. Summing up all prognoses of new housing in the suburban municipalities, 20.640 new dwellings were planned already by the year 2004 in the suburban municipalities, vast majority of it (83%) as the singlefamily houses. Besides, according to the prognoses of municipalities, about 8800 former summer homes will be rebuilt for permanent living in the future. This would create almost 30.000 new dwellings for potential new suburban population in the time span of about 10 to 15 years. Very rough calculation (if average suburban household size would be 3 persons) shows that it could make more than one fifth of the population in the city of Tallinn today, which clearly refers to the ongoing over-planning. This argument is enforced by the fact that there was about threefold difference between the number of actual building permits and the number of planned dwellings according to the enforced detailed plans at the same period (1995–2004). This indicates that there is a lack of strategic comprehensive planning initiatives in the Tallinn urban region. As a matter of fact the basic tools for stimulating urban containment and for regulating spatial planning in general have been written also into the Estonian planning legislation similar to many other European countries, but their implementation in practice is poor. It appears that the detailed plans are acquiring the role of the superior comprehensive plans and these are used by the interested parties with the purpose “to book” the right to develop a piece of land in the future. In fact, in 2003, by the time when the real estate development boom had started already in Estonia, nearly half of the suburban municipalities had not yet elaborated their master plans, i.e. a holistic strategic vision for the development of their territory. This has considerably

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626 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability helped the planning practice to incline in favour of the real estate development sector and landowners. The tradeoff between the planning legislation and actual planning practice driven by the real estate sector in Estonia becomes strikingly evident when analysing the content of the detailed plans. For example, 73% of the new residental areas designed by detailed plans are located in greenfield land (Figure 3) and are loosely connected to the existing settlement patterns. Such a haphazard development of rural lands has often been considered as a key feature of urban sprawl.

Figure 3:

Existing and planned residential areas, 1995-2005.

Most of the detailed plans (69%) contain neither the planned public space nor the primary services that should necessarily belong to the high-standard residential environment. This means that only a single “bedroom”-function is planned for the new residential areas, which is considered as a typical early stage of suburbanisation in the literature [6]. Such planning principles, however, do not originate from specific zoning laws as it has been the case in the United States. The creation of monofunctional areas is rather related to the interests of the private developers, who want to gain profit as fast and as quickly as possible. Since the old housing stock predating transition period does not meet contemporary requirements, it is still possible to sell new houses without making any investments into the surrounding social infrastructure. Such a “trend-planning” [7], where the whole planning process is lead by market forces, could only be balanced with strengthening the municipal and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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regional planning system. In fact, guiding the spatial trends in the region through the haphazard decisions about the small pieces of land will never contribute to the development of sustainable urban forms. Only the comprehensive strategic decisions about the allocation of the social and physical infrastructure and, therefore, the allocation of municipal and regional resources, could bear this role.

3

Commuting modes of the suburbanisers

An important dimension of sustainable urban development, especially in the context of suburbanisation, is related to transport and commuting. The sprawl of housing to the former natural and agricultural landscapes has brought along a dramatic or four-time increase in the number of commuters from the suburbs to Tallinn [8]. Next we will focus on the availability of public transport and the actual modal split between public and private transport among commuters. It becomes evident that the planned residential areas are quite close to the existing public transport routes and stops (Figure 4). However, it does not necessarily mean sufficient quality of public transport in the region.

Figure 4:

Accessibility of public transport in the new residential areas.

Our study indicates that the commuting modes have changed considerably compared to the late Soviet period. At this time, public transport including the one organised by enterprises themselves, was very important, while today, carbased commuting is of utmost significance. The change to car-based commuting is dramatic. In 1982, only 14% of commuters used a car in the Tallinn metropolitan area [9], which was similar to the average of the Soviet Union [10]. Today about 60% or 19.000 of all commuters use a car as the main mean of transport for traveling between home and work in the Tallinn metropolitan area WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

628 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [7]. 15.000 of the 22.000 commuters from Tallinn to suburbs use a car, which is more than the total number of commuters between Tallinn and suburbs (13.000) in the late Soviet years. About half of the car-commuters live in the nearby inner circle municipalities of Tallinn. Although this means that the travel distances are not long, it brings along congestions in the capital city. The increased car ownership has made the considerable increase in car-commuting possible and alongside with this also the public transport system is inefficient (the frequency is not sufficient, busses and trains are not comfortable etc). Table 3:

Determinants of commuting mode for commuters from suburbs-toTallinn (public transport = 1, car = 0). B

Exp(B)

Sig.

Gender (Reference: Male)

Female

1,961

7,105

,000

Age (Reference: 30–39)

20–29 40–49 50+

,024 ,435 ,760

1,025 1,545 2,139

,936 ,143 ,022

Minorities

,227

1,255

,511

Household size (Reference: 2 members)

1 member 3+ members

,993 -,279

2,698 ,757

,111 ,212

Education (Reference: Secondary)

Primary University Vocational

-,188 -,090 -,137

,828 ,914 ,872

,708 ,789 ,615

Manager Clerk Skilled worker Unskilled worker

-,223 ,685 ,895 1,730

,800 1,983 2,447 5,638

,660 ,021 ,010 ,000

Less than 3000 4000 and more

-,381 -,871

,683 ,419

,171 ,005

Mid-range Distant

,237 ,225

1,268 1,253

,474 ,492

Urban

,812

2,253

,004

-2,761

,063

,000

Ethnic origin (Reference: Estonians)

Occupation (Reference: Specialist)

Income per household member (Reference: 3000–3999 EEK/month) Municipality distance from Tallinn (Reference: Nearby/Bordering) Municipality type (Reference: Rural) N = 590 Constant

The analysis of the commuting modes of commuters by main personal and location related characteristics (Table 3) brings up the following results. Female and older people have the highest probabilities to use public transport (bus, train). Ethnic origin, household size and education do not produce statistically significant differences in commuting modes. People working in higher positions and earning higher incomes prefer the car to public transport. Finally, distance from Tallinn does not have an impact on modal split, while people living in densely populated urban municipalities (satellite towns) have a higher probability to use public transport than the people who live in more sparsely populated rural communities. Thus, compact forms of settlement, independent of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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distance and major personal characteristics, favour a choice for public transport. In the opposite, living in rural areas, where, as we demonstrated above, most of the new planning initiative takes place, increases the probability to opt for cars despite the fact that these settlements are not located too far away from the regular public transport routes.

4

Conclusions

Our study proved that the 1990s in the Tallinn metropolitan area can be labeled as the transition period from the compact form of settlement structure to the more fragmented settlement pattern in the 2000s. Although the migration motives under the Soviet regime were quite different from the motives prevailing in the transition period we can argue that the main spatial features of settlement development were similar in these two periods. In the Soviet years concentrated rather than dispersed settlements emerged around the city, e.g. industrial sattelite towns or centres of agricultural collective farms. Suburbanisation in the early transition years was based on that legacy and on the special conditions of postsocialist transition period: emigration of Russian population left a considerable amount of dwellings free for potential suburbanisers; restitution of land opened up the opportunity to live in countryside, but even more importantly the opportunity to sell the restituted land for real estate development purposes; coping problems typical to the transition period “pushed” many people out of the city to look for cheaper dwellings in the suburbs etc. From the late 1990s onwards the suburbanisation process in the Tallinn metropolitan area has been taking more and more the form of uncontrolled sprawl. Overall increase in wealth and cheap mortgages are the main general factors encouraging this rapid sprawl. The proportion of the suburbanisers who choose to move in a new house is increasing and, at the same time, the capacity of the local governments to steer this development pressure is weak. As a result, the planning practice in the Tallinn metropolitan area is guided by the tight competition of the real estate development and financial sector. Although the Estonian legislation proposes to plan the suburban land-use through regional and municipal planning initiatives, in reality an plot by plot land-use design is taking place. In this way the interests of the community and the region, as for example plannig the infrastructure together with the new residential areas, remain on the background. Moreover, because of such a haphazard development nobody in fact has a thorough overview, which could be the gross spatial influences of the process. As an example, the analysis of choices for commuting modes indicated us that the public transport network in the capital city region of Estonia is not functioning properly. What concerns the accessibility of the new residential areas to the main public transport routes and stops the public transport network seems to be adequate. Nevertheless, there has been a dramatic growth in car-commuting during the post-socialist years. It seems that today public transport is able to offer a reasonable alternative to car-commuting in the suburban satellite towns only, while most of the new residential development takes place in rural areas. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

630 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

[5]

[6] [7] [8] [9]

[10]

Tammaru, T., Kulu, H. & Kask, I., Urbanisation, Suburbanisation and Counterurbanisation in Estonia. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 45(3), pp. 159–176, 2004. Danielsen, K. A., Lang, R. E. & Fulton, W., Retracting Suburbia: Smart Growth and the Future of Housing. Policy Debate 10(3), pp. 512–540, Fannie Mae Foundation, 1999. Jenks, M., Burton, E. & Williams, K., The Compact City: A Sustainable Urban Form? E&FN Spon: London, 1996. Ladányi, J. & Szelényi, I., Class, Ethnicity and Urban Restructuring in Postcommunist Hungary. Social Change and Urban Restructuring in Central Europe, ed. G. Enyedi, Akadémiai Kiadó: Budapest, pp. 67–86, 1998. Raagmaa, G. & Kliimask, J., Keskus-ääremaa lained Eesti elamuehituses [Centre-periphery waves in housing construction in Estonia]. Asustus ja ränne Eestis. Uurimusi Ann Marksoo 75. sünnipäevaks, ed. H. Kulu. & T. Tammaru, Tartu University Press: Tartu, pp. 82–116, 2005. Hartshorn, T. A. & Muller, P. O., Suburban Downtowns and the Transformation of Metropolitan Atlanta’s Business Landscape’. Urban Geography, 10(4), pp. 375–395, 1989. Brindley, T., Rydin, Y. & Stoker, G., Remaking Planning. The politics of Urban Change, Pergamon Press: Oxford, 1996. Tammaru, T. Suburbanisation, Employment change, and Commuting in the Tallinn Metropolitan Area. Environment and Planning A, 37(9), pp. 1669–1687, 2005. Marksoo, A., Kaljulaid, H., Kask, I., Kaup, U., Rull, K., Rõivas, T. Tööjõu territoriaalse mobiilsuse seaduspärasused Eesti NSVs [Regularities of territorial mobility of labour in Estonian SSR], unpublished applied research project, grant T-045, Institute of Geography, University of Tartu: Tartu, 1983. Fuchs, R. & Demko, G. The Postwar Mobility Transition in Eastern Europe. Geographical Review, 68, pp. 171–182, 1978.

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Assessment of the sustainability of the street network in Kaunas city A. Guzys, J. Ilgakojyte-Bazariene & J. Sapragonas Department of Transport Engineering, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Abstract Infrastructural changes in the transport system of the city complicate the characteristics of travel time, traffic safety, air and noise pollution, living comfort, etc. The main causes could be formulated as follows – the actual infrastructure type and the street use are not compatible with a set of street functions, i.e. there are failures in the relations of function-form-use. The origin of this inadequacy is an old and wrongly developed street network, and improper combinations of street functions. The influence of infrastructural modifications on the characteristics of traffic flow were integrated. The model created describes the typical categories of streets, adequate complex functions and their relations. The conclusions show the possibility to apply this model to the evaluation of sustainability of changes in the urban street network. Keywords: street network, function.

1

Introduction

Rapid economic development causes the growth of traffic volume on the major and minor streets of Kaunas city. Economic effects also contribute to the changes in the street infrastructure and in the distribution of road user flows: new commercial and residential zones, and new centres of attraction appear, which change the distribution of vehicle and pedestrian flows. Roads are more or less described in the guidelines and standards of road design. However, the city’s street network is planned not only according to official requirements but also certain realities and shortcomings (historically based street network, lack of funds, lack of knowledge, political and economic interests, etc.). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060601

632 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability From the traffic safety point of view we know a sustainable safety strategy, which is characterised as a proactive and preventive approach [1]. Sustainable safety recognises that 90% of road accidents could be attributed (to a greater or lesser extent) to human error. Consequently, sustainable safety realises that the humans are the weakest link in the road and transport chain. Furthermore, the individuals do not change or adapt themselves and many attempts to influence road user behaviour have failed or have had only short-term effects. The limitations of the individual remain evident [2]. Motivation, attention, emotion, observation, prediction, knowledge and skills are all weaknesses that prevent the humans from being the ideal traffic participants.

2

Methods

Sustainable safety is based on a system approach where all the elements of traffic safety and a transport system are geared to each other. Several levels of interaction were determined: the man-vehicle-infrastructure relation at the highest level and the relation between infrastructure-related characteristics at the next level (see fig. 1). Functionality Form

Legislation Usage Figure 1: Functional relation model.

A general model of sustainable safety is formed according to these functional relations. An attempt was made to expand this functional relation model over the traffic safety issues and to obtain more complex and thorough evaluation of traffic processes and different impacts. Functionality represents the use of the infrastructure as intended by the road authority, Form the physical design and layout properties of the infrastructure, Legislation the regulatory requirements for the use of the infrastructure and Usage the actual use of the infrastructure and behaviour of the road user within the system. Functionality, form, legislation and usage are expressed as separate functions with a certain number of variables (see table 1). The number of variables is not definite, depending on the complexity of the model and the modelling tasks. The origin of variables depends on the modelling goals and available data. The measured values of function variables can be applied in the model of the current situation. For modelling of an alternative situation or making prognosis the values of the variables fij (here i is the index of the function, j is the index of the variable) can be determined by applying different methods and models. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Table 1: Model functions and their variables. FUNCTIONALITY (F1) Through road (f11) Distributor road (f12) Access road (f13) Pedestrian road (f14)

FORM (F2)

USAGE (F3)

Cross section (f21) Access control (f22)

Traffic volume (f31) Average speed (f32)

Type of intersection (f23) Density of intersections (f24) Car parking (f25)

Fleet composition (f33) Volume of ped. & cyclists (f34) Flow directions of road users (f35) …

Speed limit (f26) Traffic calming measures (f27) Infrastructure for ped. & cyclists (f28) Infrastructure for public transport (f29) …

LEGISLATION (F4) Traffic rules (f41) Police enforcement (f42) …

Variables fij can obtain different original values: • the directly-measured (predicted) variables (f31, f32, etc.); • the variables of preset values (f21, f22, etc.); • the expert-evaluated variables (f41, f42, etc.); • the complex values (f11, f12, etc.). Functionality F1 describes the “purpose” of the specific road: • through road (arterial street) f11 – for long distances and high speed; • distributor road (collector street) f12 – for shorter distances between through roads and access roads; • access road (residential street) f13 – to reach of private and public properties and for communication; • pedestrian road f14 – for pedestrians and cyclists (also a service road in rural area). F1 is characterised by the specific design, use and legislation of the road. Thus, the variables of F1 are expressed as the arrays of variables of functions F2, F3 and F4 with preset values f1i = { f 2i ,..., f 2 n , f 3i ,..., f 3n , f 4i ,..., f 4n } . For example, the arterial street (f11) is planned to have a certain cross section (f21) according to a high speed limit (f26) and a large traffic volume (f31). The street can have specific-type intersections (f23), restrictions for car parking (f25), pedestrian/cyclist movements (f35), etc. In practice there exist various intermediate values, thus, the final value 1 or 0 of f1i is under the decision of the experts. The interaction between the functions F1 … F4 describes the whole traffic process. It is considered that sustainability is achieved when values of f1i correspond to the values of the variables of the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

634 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability functions F2, F3, F4 and only one determined.

3

f 1i = 1, i = 1… 4 , othervise failure is

Results

Traffic flows in the city centre were analysed by EMME/2 software to identify the high traffic volume or the congested links in the city centre and to apply the functional relation analysis. Figure 2a shows the traffic volume in the Kaunas city street network.

(a) Figure 2:

(b)

Traffic flows in the transport network of Kaunas centre (a) and detailed view of congested links (b). Table 2: Results of linear regression analysis.

Scenarios 1 – transformed infrastructure of the street network 2 – existing street network

Regression coefficient, R 0.17900

Standard deviation, Std 1.352661

0.33614

2.443941

Linear regression analysis of traffic volumes and times of two scenarios were performed to determine the effect of infrastructural changes on the traffic characteristics (see table 2). The results prove that the traffic volume decreases and the auto time spent in the transport network is longer when the existing infrastructure of a transport network is improved.

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Analysis of the congested and unsafe segment in the street network (see figure 2b) was performed by applying the functional relation analysis. The features (values of the variables) of this section are as follows: • • • • • • •

traffic volume corresponds to the arterial street (f31); in some parts the cross-section corresponds to the (major) collector street (f21); density of intersections corresponds to collector street (f24); type of some intersections corresponds to the residential street (f23); access control is between the residential and collector street level (f22); infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists corresponds to the collector street and is not sufficient (f28); police enforcement is very poor (f42).

As the result of modelling, there are relational failures, since f 11 = 1 , f 12 = 1 , f 13 = 1 . These failures differ along the section due to different infrastructure and different usage. The results of improper interaction of functions are as follows: traffic conflicts, accidents and casualties, travel time, air and noise pollution, living comfort level, etc. In practice on this section we have traffic jams, long travel time, high accident rate, high air pollution and unsatisfactory pedestrian and cyclist conditions. Relational failure takes place very often. The problem is that the degree of failure is unknown. There is only an idea about the output of the failure degree and the origin of failure.

4 Discussions Topics for further discussions and model improvement: • The value of f1i = { f 2i ,..., f 2 n , f 3i ,..., f 3n , f 4i ,..., f 4 n } , which represents sustainable conditions, is a matter of discussion. The major questions are: what should be the number of variables and what values generally represent f1i. • The fine-tuning of values of f1i is performed by experts due to the complexity of this variable. Such evaluation is quite subjective and is influenced by a human factor. • Relational failures occur very often during modelling or making prognosis. Despite the question of composition of f1i, there is a need to evaluate the degree of relational failure. It should be useful both for model development as well as practical decisions to improve the situation on the road section. It is considered that relations for sustainable safety can be successfully used for evaluation of development of a street network, for evaluation of projects for new constructions and improvements.

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636 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

References [1] Schermers, G., Vliet, P. Sustainable safety – a preventative road safety strategy for the future: 2nd edition, Rotterdam, pp. 15-17, 2001. www.swov.nl/en/publicaties/index.htm [2] Hensher D. A., Button K. J. Handbook of transport modelling. Pergamon, p.91–110, 2005.

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Analysis of transport modes in the urban environment: an application for a sustainable mobility system F. M. M. Cirianni & G. Leonardi University of Reggio Calabria, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Electronics and Transportation, Italy

Abstract The paper intends to analyze transport modes in the urban environment, confronting the experience in different settings, urban and suburban, in cities of different sizes. The process introduced aims to improve the quality of life and access for more sustainable patterns of development, while at the same time not harming the urban mobility, proposing a model that can be applied to the different urban areas. The high costs of construction of additional road space, and the consideration that a grater offer of road space is an impulse for a greater demand of private car traffic, leads the planning process in the direction of using existing road space more efficiently, by using traffic control mechanisms, and shifting demand to alternative modes. The spreading of heavy traffic using unsuitable roads has led to the increase of the risks for public health and safety, being the levels of pollution to be dangerously high and the pedestrian mobility to be strongly restricted. The actions discussed in the paper are parking policies, which aim to redistribute on and off road parking, discouraging parking in what is the central area by means of charging policies and the institution of Controlled Traffic Zones, and by doing so shifting long term parking to fringe areas. A key factor of the success of the proposed parking policy is the institution of pedestrian routes promoting walking and cycling. The planning of the Transport System includes a mix of measures designed to encourage people to use public transport (“pull” measures) and, where appropriate, measures to reduce the use of private cars (“push” measures). Push-measures can be divided into financial instruments, and technical and regulatory constraints. In the paper an application to study areas is presented, describing the scenario before the adoption of the proposed policies, and after the application at the date, presenting some results in comparison. The government of cities requires a policy for traffic management, and thus it implies, among the other traffic control strategies, adequate parking policies. Traffic and transport related activities and infrastructures can affect users and non users of the system alike, as in the case of the occupation of public spaces, accidents, noise and air pollution, and congestion of the road network (i.e. transport externalities). Keywords: traffic, environment, parking, pedestrian. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060611

638 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

Traffic pollution in urban areas is part of a wider range of effects that the road network has on the environment. The quality of life in the city environment can, in fact, be considered as the result of the actions of a series of factors that take part, directly or indirectly, in forming the characteristics of the ecosystem ant living conditions, which define the sustainability of the urbanised area. The planning and management choices for the transports system, and the eventual realization of new infrastructures (interchanges, park and ride facilities, cycling and/or pedestrian routes, etc.) are expected to achieve a substantial improvement of the characteristics of the system’s effectiveness, and at the same time to achieve benefits for the environment. It is necessary to asses the strategic choices adopting suitable models of analysis which, with reference to the non-intervention hypothesis (option zero), allows to determine impacts, positive and negative, defining the alternative, among the possible ones, which maximise the utility of teach different action proposed for the system. The option proposed regards the influence which opportune parking management politics have on the transport system, defining a suitable strategy for the improvement of the running conditions of the network.

2 Transport externalities Traffic externalities produce negative effects on the community. In its definition externality is what is had when a subject’s objective function contains a variable which depends on the behaviour of an other subject, whose decisions do not hold account of the first. In economy externalities mark a failure of the market. The prices do not reflect the entire social cost and it becomes necessary to estimate the part of not calculated social cost. In the public sector, the administrator can adopt actions to correct the effects of externalities as: 1) tolls and taxes; 2) regulations and restrictions to limit and to reduce the causes of externalities; 3) subsidies to promote alternative and/or corrective actions. The introduction of taxes or subsidies corrects the externalities since it equals the private marginal cost to the social marginal cost and equals the private marginal benefit to the social marginal benefit. Taxing allows to discriminate the levels of utility, while regulation treats all the subjects in the same way, not discriminating in relation to the marginal benefits. Although there are some redistribution effects that must be considered. In fact, while regulation does not require monetary costs, even if it may be a cause of loss of welfare, application of taxes involves an income for the State and an expense for the user. For example, a regulation which limits the access to an urban area, in relation to pollution levels or congestion when the acceptable maximum limits are WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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exceeded, requires only a decree of the Mayor in order to block the circulation to motorists and adequate law enforcement to be effective. The introduction of a tax, or toll, demands the determination of an efficient level, the institution of an organizational structure that takes care of the tax, toll or fare collection, and control evasion. For the characteristics of the necessary organization the application is therefore not immediate. A consideration on property rights must be added. The use of the roads, and therefore of on road parking, affects a resource of the community, therefore it must be considered as the use of a public propriety. One of the characteristic that distinguishes public assets from private assets is the rivalry in the consumption. Collective services are characterized from the fact that the use by an individual is compatible with the use of the same one by more individuals. In economic terms, it can be asserted that the collective character of a public good consists in the fact that adding one or more consumers does not involve an increase of cost in the production or distribution of the same service. On the other hand, if the use of a public asset by one individual limits it’s use by others, as in the case of road space in parking, a compensation to the community by the individual who benefits of the public asset is required.

3

Parking policies

To reduce these external costs, which weigh on the entire population, some control policies can be adopted, of monetary nature and non-monetary nature. Among these there is urban road pricing, requiring the payment of a toll in order to enter in the zones subject to the greatest traffic pressure (city centre, central business district CBD) and/or in order to engage the street lanes. The amount to be paid is in relation the externality level produced from motorists. Paying for parking, a well-established practice in most countries, applies the principle of road pricing making parking schemes an effective tool of traffic management. In the zones where supply of parking space is inferior to demand, opportune regulation must be adopted in order to discourage the use of private vehicles, especially of those which engage in trips which require long stays in the interested zone, taking up valuable space. Measures in order to contain the use of private vehicles must be accompanied by an integrated policy of public transport and qualification of pedestrian facilities. An integrated parking policy cannot be based exclusively on reorganization of on road parking, but a strategic planning for car parks is required, finding areas and finance for off-road parking space. Policies for parking management are fundamentally of two types: Tariff policies Regulation policies Either of these is useless in absence of an adequate enforcement and repression of illegal parking. Tariff policies basically require the adoption of payment for parking (e.g. pay and display), and the adoption of rates which can be differentiated, between WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

640 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability parking at destination (located in the city centre or CBD) and the exchange car parks, located in the suburban zones. The choice on the adopted tariff for off and on road parking is influenced by financial parameters and the adopted traffic control policies. Regulation policies can require generalized restrictions on parking, in determined areas and in determined time slots (e.g. peak hour), this way discouraging the use of private vehicles (e.g. for systematic trips). Limits can be applied on the length of parking time, as in certain cases the cost of parking is not sufficient as deterrent.

4

Pedestrian routes

Beyond vehicular traffic and consequently the necessary spaces for parking, there are other causes which contribute make pedestrian mobility in the city an uncertain variable. The application of traffic related appliances, such as traffic lights, indication and signal poles, road illumination, barriers and similar, can prove to be a further deterrent to pedestrians. To encourage drivers to use parking outside the congested area, the arrangement of adequate pedestrian routes was considered fundamental. An analysis of the territory allowed the definition of the routes and a project was developed to rearrange all potential obstacles. It must be said that in many cases this aim was reached with relatively low financial expense. Furthermore, part of the road space recovered from spaces freed from on road parking was used to enlarge the sidewalks. The scheme required also infrastructural variations, as at level crossings, ramps and other actions with particular attention to the weaker categories (children, elderly, physically impaired). A particular role in the design of the pedestrian routes is held by raised pedestrian crossings. These can be simply considered as a vertical variation of the geometry of the track on the longitudinal profile of the road axis. The raised pedestrian crossings are uses especially in cases in which it is not possible to eliminate the components from traffic flows of through traffic. The criterion adopted on the choice of location of the pedestrian crossings is generally that one of the continuity of the routes, therefore the preferred location in correspondence of intersections. The location of pedestrian crossings can be decided also based on the intensity and the nature of the service on one or the other side of the road, and act as generators of pedestrian mobility: stores, schools, recreational areas, public offices. In the case of the adoption of raised pedestrian crossings, it must be said that to the function of pedestrian crossing is associated that one of speed moderator. Returning to the characteristics of the raised pedestrian crossings it is the case to speak more exactly of rising of the road track, and the new road code, requires that the width of the pedestrian crossings on local or city roads must be not inferior to 2.50 m.

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641

Application in the study area

The city of Villa S. Giovanni is a small city include in a vaster metropolitan area, the high population rate and density of traffic attractors, combined with the parking by commuters which travel daily to Sicily, causes devastating impacts on the urban mobility, which already suffers for the congestion due to local traffic. Unregulated parking has led to unsustainable levels of congestion, but the size of the city and the distribution of activities, developments mixing residential and commercial units, a high construction rate in the centre against a low density in the suburban area, and the business district operating an attraction influence on an area of significant dimensions, makes the abolition of on road parking a not viable option. In this context a parking scheme was adopted. The study was developed within the guidelines of the Urban Transport Plan adopted by the city, to design detailed actions to reduce congestion and pollution, and increase urban quality. Among the proposed actions, one of the priorities set by the Plan was the adoption of parking policies and pedestrian routes.

6

Analysis on existing parking

In the case in study an analysis was led to determine the characteristics of parking, the parameters, the availability and nature of spaces on road and off road, for the different city zones. An aggregated analysis by great areas (centre, suburbs) showed that parking supply appeared more than sufficient; but a disaggregated analysis by zones shows a supply deficit in the centre. The lack of parking areas resulted in illegal parking, and parking spilling in adjacent areas, with consequent loss of lanes and reduction of road capacity on some strategic arteries, and obstacle to the circulation of vehicles and pedestrians. Table 1:

On road parking supply in urban area.

zone

surface (Ha)

parking spaces

spaces /Ha

A) Tot external crown B) Tot. city centre Total A+ B

321.77 47.50 369.27

2831 1314 4145

8.80 27.66 11.22

In Table 1 the total supply and density of on road parking by zones, central area and external crown, is shown. Before the adoption of the parking scheme all the available parking was charge free. The total supply of parking space in the perimeter of the centre was of 1314 spaces, on a surface of 47.50 hectares, and a total of 4145 spaces on WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

642 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 369.27 hectares of the urban area. The same urban area counted a total of 12,395 residents, 4032 families, with a rate of car ownership of 0.56 on the total of the population, and 0.89 on the population with a driving licence. The employees in the activities of the area are 3589. A survey was led prior to the analysis of the statistical data, in order to assess the parking demand, recording the occupation ratio and length of time of parking. In particular surveys were led on a week for 24 hours in the month of June on main roads and car parks of the study area, counting legal and eventual illegal parking. A campaign of interviews to users, to assess the nature of the trip, the length of average parking and related questions was also run. In table 2 a comparison is given between parking spaces supplied and demand in the zones. Table 2:

zone no. A)Tot ext. crown B) Tot. city centre Total A+ B

Demand/supply ratio measured in the urban zones. parking spaces

vehicle demand

spaces /Ha

presence /Ha

Supply Surplus

2831 1314 4145

1020 1252 2272

8.80 27.66 36.46

3.17 26.36 6.15

1811 62 1873

The estimated parking demand, based on the O/D and survey data, is referred to a hour of high demand, considering 11.00 a.m., in mid morning. In the external crown area demand is contained, parking supply is greater than vehicle presences therefore deficit situations were not recorded; however the more critical situations were found in the central area. The parking demand in all the monitored area shows a growing trend during morning hours reaching the maximum value in the interval 10.00-12.00 a.m. to then fall abruptly at 2.00 p.m.; in the afternoon hours after 3.00 p.m. demand started to increase again with a peak between 5.00 – 6.00 p.m., in particular in the roads next to the railway station, to decrease subsequently up to the minimum values during the night (residential parking). In the survey the number of parking spaces was counted. A further parameter to evaluate the demand/supply ratio adopted is vehicle spaces*time, assuming as time unit the hour, and for the particular area 12 hours in the day, therefore with 1341 parking spaces we considered 16092 spaces*hour.

7

Application of the proposed scheme

In the zone where the main city centre falls, the need of higher standards for parking and pedestrian facilities required a reduction of on road parking spaces, and the parking demand to be compensated involving a modulation of the time – density parking supply. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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The pursued aims (discouragement of long stay from the higher demand zones and greater supply for short stay stops) are the base for the policies proposed, with regulation and dissuasion of parking, using a mix of tariff and time restrictions in the entire city centre which includes a Control Traffic Zone (ZTL) introduced by the Urban Traffic Plan. Subsequently to the study, on the base of the results and the indications contained in the directives of the Transport Plan, the infrastructural and regulatory actions were proposed. The plan requesting the facilitation of pedestrian mobility and the elimination of the parking on some arteries, contain the indications for the construction of off road parking in the areas adjacent to the centre, and the a scheme of payment parking extended to the whole of the Limited Traffic Zone, and a time restring policy on the adjacent zones, to discourage spilling of parking to the confining residential areas. In the Limited Traffic Zone and in the surrounding crown 800 spaces of on road parking were dedicated to the payment parking scheme. On the base of the study on the actual demand payment is limited to two time periods, from 7.30 to 12.30 a.m., and 16.30 to 19.30 p.m., excluding the payment at noon and the first hours of the afternoon, and night hours. This is due to the drop of request which corresponds to the closing time of offices and commercial activities, and consequent fall of parking demand. The reduction of the pay and display time allows a reduction on the running costs of the parking scheme, and proved more popular with residents, not affecting with parking costs a period which involves people returning home for lunch. Sunday parking is free. A concession to residents was introduced, allowing a free parking pass per family for the first car, and the opportunity to buy a yearly pass at a reduced rate (150 euro) for the second car. The use of all available parking spaces is free to vehicles in service for official use, (i.e. public forces, doctors on visit), and vehicles of people with limited physical abilities, which can also use the reserved spaces, which were introduced in a minimum of 1 every 50 spaces, and close to all main building and offices. The tariff was fixed, by indication of the City Administration, in 0.50 euro per hour or fraction. The limited extent of the area discouraged the idea of a tariff differentiation for zones. For the management of on road payment the system of Parking Vouchers, was adopted, being the system economic, simple and offering a prepaid service. The use of the Parcometers would present some advantages for user and administrators, but were not adopted for the set-up cost of system weighing on the operating costs. The good functionality of the parking scheme depends directly on the presence and vigilance of operators designated to enforcement. In order not to distract the municipal police from other services, a team of traffic wardens was enrolled. The first phase of the scheme has seen the application of the on road parking scheme, the pedestrian routes are in the phase of construction, while the procedures for the definition of the off road car parks are in course. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

644 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability After the activation of the parking scheme a survey was led, to measure the parking demand/supply with the applied scheme. During the hours in which the pricing scheme is in function, the average parking time has fallen significantly compared to the values measured before the regulation, with an average value on the total of 2.08 hours. This is more evident if referred to the single roads, were there has been a reduction up to half the parking time, which implied a higher number of vehicles meeting demand satisfaction. The scheme reduced on road parking spaces of 140 spaces within the central zone, counting as spaces also those which previously had been used even if not respecting size standards. The reduction of supply of parking spaces, did not reduce the satisfaction of demand, by the combination with the reduction of average occupation time. It was estimated that there has been an increase in satisfied demand of up to 34%. However the choice assumed from the City’s Administration must hold in account the revenues in reference to the running costs for the management of the Scheme, as the costs for the running of the scheme should not weigh on other sectors of the urban government. On the other hand if and where there are “revenues”, these have to be reinvested in mobility to sustain the scheme, as the functionality depends on it being part on an overall integrated transport policy. From interviews, it was observed that as a collateral effect there was a reduction of time on the system researching for parking space, which translates in less congestion and less pollution. Even if illegal parking has not been completely eradicated, it is reduced to a more limited set of points of the network and time of day, but on the overall there has been an increase of accessibility. Completing the pedestrian routes and with the use of further 350 off road parking spaces further results are expected.

8

Conclusions

A sustainable approach to the government on urban mobility is based on general aims, which have to be followed by defined strategies. To improve the transport and mobility systems, limiting externalities, a set of policies and actions have to defined and applied. The process of design and application of an Urban Transport Plan developed for the town of Villa S. Giovanni, presented in its aims and strategies, in the analysis of the system before and after shows that optimization of traffic control is directly linked to the adoption and enforcement of specific parking policies. The design and adoption of the plan was preceded by the analysis of parking demand and supply, road occupation, requiring a specific survey. Unregulated parking has led to unsustainable levels of congestion, and the analysis of the system showed. During the hours in which the pricing scheme is in function, the average parking time has fallen significantly from an average value on the total of 3.13 to 2.08 hours.

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The reduction of supply of parking spaces, did not affect the satisfaction of demand, by the combination with the reduction of average occupation time. It was estimated that there has been an increase in satisfied demand of up to 34%. The adoption of a proposed Public transport system would allow to take in consideration a significant reduction of on road parking space, but until there are the conditions of an efficient LPT system any proposal of road parking reduction would require great cost in terms of law enforcement, with a small chances of success, therefore low levels of effectiveness.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

Ministero dei Trasporti (1992) Codice della strada, Decreto Legislativo n. 285 del 30 aprile 1992, G.U.R.I., Roma; Di Mino G., Lo Bosco D. (1993), La progettazione integrata delle infrastrutture viarie, Le Strade, n.1295, luglio/agosto 1993; Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici (1995), Direttive per la redazione, adozione ed attuazione dei Piani Urbani del Traffico (art. 36 del DL 30 aprile 1992, n. 285 Nuovo Codice della Strada), G.U.R.I., Roma; Ministero dell'ambiente Mobilità sostenibile nelle aree urbane, Decreto 27 marzo 1998, G.U.R.I., Roma; Comune di Villa S. Giovanni (1998), Rapporto del Piano Generale Urbano del Traffico, Villa S. Giovanni; De Luca M. (2000), Manuale di pianificazione dei trasporti, CNR, Progetto Finalizzato Trasporti 2, Collana Trasporti, Franco Angeli editore, Milano; INFRAS-IWW (2000), External Costs of Transport Accident, Environmental and Congestion Costs in Western Europe, Consulting Group for Policy Analysis and Implementation, Zürich; Cascetta E. (2001) Transportation System Engineering: Theory and Methods, Kluwer Academic Publishers; Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti (2001), Nuovo Piano Generale dei Trasporti e della Logistica D.P.R. 14 marzo 2001, G.U.R.I., Roma; European Commission (2001) European Transport Policy for 2010: time to decide; Richards M. (2003) La politica nella tassazione della congestione a Londra, Proceedings of Mo.Ve. Forum internazionale sulla mobilità sostenibile nelle aree metropolitane, 23-24 /10/2003, Verona; Roth A,, Kaberger T. (2002), Making transport systems sustainable, Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier; Eurostat (2003), Development of a database system for the calculation of indicators of environmental pressure caused by transport, Luxembourg; International Energy Agency (2002), World Energy Outlook 2002, Paris, France. Zachariadis T. (2005), Assessing policies towards sustainable transport in Europe: an integrated model, Energy Policy 33, Elsevier. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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First study on mobility for a medium size town: Ciudad Real, a Spanish experience B. Guirao & D. Briceño Department of Transportation, Castilla-La Mancha University, Spain

Abstract Ciudad Real is a medium size Spanish town of 70,000 people located 190 kilometres South of Madrid and enjoys collective public transportation and a high-speed rail link with Madrid. This paper presents and analyses the results of the first study on mobility and public transportation’s acceptability carried out in this town. Consequently, the methodology proposed is based on a household survey campaign (more than 995 valid questionnaires), main streets counting, a survey campaign at the main entrances and exits of town (1050 surveyed cars at the rush hour) as well as a sampling of travel time and occupancy of bus lines. Along with an analysis of city mobility, a detailed study is presented in which the relationship between the city’s interurban mobility with Madrid by high-speed train line is depicted. Keywords: urban mobility, transportation planning, public transport.

1

Introduction

In Spain, according to the census conducted in 2001, 24% of the population lives in towns with less than 10,000 inhabitants, 26% in towns whose population ranges from 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants and another 26% who lives in towns whose populations range from 50,000 to 250,000 inhabitants. In short, more than 75% of Spaniards live in small or medium size towns. These percentages vary between different countries but most of the population is concentrated in medium size towns. The concern to improve public transport efficiency and efficacy in these towns is directly linked to their level of development. Therefore, comparing towns of similar size but with different mobility guidelines does not seem to be fruitful. The local mobility of a given town should not be studied apart from its interurban mobility, especially for those medium size towns which have a very WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060621

648 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability immediate connexion with a big town (more than 250,000 inhabitants). This is the case of Ciudad Real (see Fig. 1). Its peculiarity inside the national transport system lies on the fact that it was the first provincial capital of Spain to be provided with more than 20 daily high-speed rail shuttles (50 minutes travel time) to Madrid since 1993. A research paper carried out by the Transport Department of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, (Menéndez et al. [1]) tried to analyze the mobility in European medium and small size towns that would be similar to Ciudad Real: located in a high-speed train line, connected with an attracting centre in a trip time shorter than 90 minutes and with a connexion frequency of at least 9 daily services (both ways). The timetables should be compatible with work activity in order to facilitate the existence of commuters. As a result of the criteria mentioned above, the chosen cities turned out to be twelve: Mâcon, Le Creusot, Montbard, Vendôme and Valence (France); Göttingen, Würzburg and Fulda (Germany); Arezzo (Italy); Katrineholm (Sweden); and Ciudad Real and Puertollano (Spain). For all of them, the existence of commuters had modified some aspects of local mobility according to the place where the station was located in relation to the city centre (central station, external station and station located at the edge of the city). Nevertheless, the strategies used by the local authorities for mobility improvement were very different. Ciudad Real is one of the Spanish towns included in this research but some data regarding its local mobility remain unknown. This is due to the fact that local authorities, though they knew that the town suffered from certain trafficrelated problems at some specific points of its road network and that the use of public transportation was very low, had never carried out a transportation integrated study. The promotion of this type of transportation is intrinsically related to the knowledge that the potential traveller has regarding the characteristics of alternative ways to travel from a point of town to another. Information providers assume that users make reasoned choices between and behave rationally when considering alternative modes, making a rational trade off between the costs and the benefits of travel by each mode. Thus, if information about the true costs and benefits are revealed, travellers would choose to travel by the most cost-effective mode, where cost is seen to encompass factors including comfort, convenience, financial cost, journey duration and reliability, (see Ortúzar and Willumsen [2]). In spite of the information supplied by the local administrations, the role of habit in modal choice and the presence of symbolic affective motives behind modal choices have a lot of weight, especially in medium or small size towns. These cannot only affect the acceptance and the use of the information that is provided, but they can actually prevent the user from seeking the information about alternative modes (Kenyon and Lyons [3] and Abdel-Aty et al. [4]). The household surveys carried out in Ciudad Real showed the great extent to which the population ignores the way bus lines work as well as their own transportation habits. This is the source of the second research work whose results are contained in this paper that is complementary to the former which deals with the Madrid-Ciudad Real interurban mobility. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Zaragoza



Madrid



Guadalajara

Lleida 



 Barcelona

Tarragona

Ciudad Real 

 Huelva





Kilometers

Sevilla Cádiz 

Figure 1:

2

SPANISH RAIL NETWORK HIGH SPEED RAIL LINE CONVENTIONAL RAIL LINE HIGH SPEED RAIL LINE (Const) 0 60 120 180

Córdoba

Málaga



Location of Ciudad Real on the Spanish rail network.

The case of study: Ciudad Real

Getting to know the urban structure and the planning evolution of a certain town is the first step that needs to be taken in order to understand the way its inhabitants move. The old part of the town which is currently the town centre is located inside a ring-road called “Ronda” which runs along what used to be an old roman wall and which has been surpassed by the town’s growth. 28% of Ciudad Real employment is located inside this ring road which explains the great attracting power of this part of town. The Ronda works as well as a distributor of all entry and exit moves around the centre. The train station and the bus station are both located outside the Ronda and are over 3 kilometres far from each other (see Fig. 2 left). The average expense per person in 2001 was 8.028’89 euro and the activity rate of the population is 50%. In order to work with the basic road network of the town, all data was geographically expressed through a geographic information system (GIS), identifying for everyone the traffic direction (unidirectional or bidirectional), the number of lanes for each traffic direction, the type of pavement and the type of parking available. Only 45% of the road network is bidirectional and practically all the intersections with traffic lights are located in the Ronda. There are two parking areas in the town centre which offer 472 parking places with an average hourly fare of 1’10 euro. There are 5 urban lines in the town, 2 of them stop at the high-speed train station. In 1987, there were only 4 urban bus lines in Ciudad Real, but in 1992, due to the new high-speed train station, services increased with a new line which connects the town centre directly with the station that is located in the periphery and whose time tables are coordinated with those of the shuttle trains.

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650 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability In order to analyze the mobility, the town was divided into 25 zones (see Fig. 2 right) organized in compacted neighbourhoods according to the local census. This zone division allowed the organization of each neighbourhood’s household survey. The number of households was already known. The survey allowed us to obtain among other data the average number of people living in a household, the number of workers, students and vehicles per household. An approximation was made to obtain the number of student posts and jobs available in each neighbourhood, this taking into account the work place and study place of everyone of the people interviewed, with a dependent expansion factor of the surveyed analysis household neighbourhood.

24 Ring Road

13

High Speed Rail Line

0 3

15 CIUDAD REAL

2 

4 6

16

1 Interurban Bus Station  2 Rail Station

1

1

University UCLM 0 .2 .4 .6



Kilometers

5

9 8

7

18 17

23



10 12

11

03



3

1 2 14 

20

25 22

CIUDAD REAL

ZONING SYSTEM 0

21

Zones .2

.4

.6

Kilometers



19



Figure 2:

3

Urban structure, main streets and location of stations (left). City zoning system (right)

Household travel survey

This information gathering consists of a collection of data related to daily trips made by people living at a certain household on a typical day and inside the urban zone. This data collection is done through a survey with the people living at a certain household that has been previously selected. The goal of this method is to define the characteristics of those trips that start at the household of the surveyed population. The household, which is considered as the basic unit for information collection, allows the possibility of characterizing the trip generation and trip attraction rates referred to the residential zone as the known point of permanent departure and arrival, (see Taylor et al. [5]). Regardless of the sampling procedure used, the sample size is a basic function of the two important factors: the standard deviation and the estimation error. The Spanish National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE) suggests that there were 28,784 households in Ciudad Real in the year 2001. This information was complemented by the town council database associated to the control of household units in the administrative perimeter of Ciudad Real in the year 2003. Likewise, the information issued from the town council was also useful to eliminate the registers related to towns outside the built-up area of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Ciudad Real, since it has been suggested that a study be done of the mobility of these towns with Ciudad Real by means of a cordon survey. After having eliminated this data, a sampling frame of 27,793 households was established for the year 2004. The sample’s values of trips average and standard deviation still remain unknown for the case of Ciudad Real. This means that they must be obtained either through the results of similar researches or through a pilot survey which could allow approximating these values. The sources of information for this simplification that are already known are the household’s trips average in similar towns which amounts to 7,98, and also a standard deviation of 24,39. According to the town conditions and apart from the budget restrictions that could limit the number of surveys to be done, a selection of a sample size of 982 household is suggested which match up with an estimation error of 3,80% with 95% of availability. Taking into account the fact that a part of the information that is available includes the geographically referenced localization of each of the households in Ciudad Real (thanks to the town council’s data base), the number of households of a certain zone can be associated to each zone of transport analysis. In this way, we can know the geographical distribution of the households and we can also estimate the housing density of every zone. Thanks to that, it seems to be appropriate to use the stratified sampling procedure in order to carry out the sampling selection. The stratified sampling methodology, where each statistical stratum matches up with a transport zone, aims to distribute with equity the total number of surveys to be done according to the size of each stratum. After having determined the number of surveys to be done in each of the transport zones, the selection of the households to be surveyed in each stratum matches up with a simple contingent sampling. In order to carry out this process, the use of the Fan et al. [6], methodology, the selection sampling echnique, is suggested. Once each individual has been given a contingent number a, this methodology presents the following election criteria:

a<

ni − j i N i − ki + 1

(1)

where ni is the number of elements that are to be selected in the stratum i, Ni is the stratum size i, ji is the number of elements that have been selected up to now in the stratum i, and ki is the consecutive that has been assigned to each element of the stratum i. After having selected the households where the work was to be carried out, a first pilot survey showed very little receptiveness from the part of the families towards the interviewers. This was in part due to the fact that they had never submitted to a questionnaire meant to know their mobility. In order to alleviate this effect, the Ciudad Real town council sent a letter to every household to inform them about the possibility of them being interviewed. Likewise, the local radio station began an advertising campaign informing about the objectives of the household survey that was being carried at that time. After having adopted

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652 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability these actions, the results of household responses improved remarkably. Finally, the surveys campaign was carried out between 19th May and 11th June 2004. Once the survey forms were computerized, 6,448 trips having been registered, a trip histogram was done with the trips already expanded (237,909). The purpose of a histogram is to graphically summarize the distribution of a univariate data set. The cumulative histogram is a variation of the histogram in which the vertical axis gives not just the counts for a single bin, but rather gives the counts for that bin plus all bins for smaller values of the response variable. The calculation of this histogram was obtained by evaluating the percentage of each trip belonging to each period of 15 minutes during an entire day. The estimation of the total number of trips that occurs in the town within each studied amount of time can be achieved by knowing the percentage of each trip belonging to each period of 15 minutes and its respective expansion factor. In order to improve the analysis and to be able to define the hours of maximum demand, the 15 minute periods were grouped into one hour periods displaced every 15 minutes. As the histogram shows in Fig. 3 there are three daily peaks on trip periods the most important being that of the morning, followed by the one at noon and, finally, the evening period which, though it presents fewer trips per hour, is the longest interval. Differently from a big city, the peak period of the morning starts later although, as we see later on when we study the cordon survey, there are towns less than 10 kilometres from Ciudad Real that are beginning to play the role of true dormitory towns. 30000

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Figure 3:

Trips histogram (2004).

Regarding the resident profile, 43% of the population is employed, 27% are students and the rest falls within the group of retired people, unemployed and housewives. The economic sector where most of the active population is located is clearly the services sector (68%), followed by commerce (9%) and finally the industry sector (7%). It is plain that we are talking about a tertiary population. The motorization rate of the population is high. 76% of the surveyed households WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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are motorized. From the total number of vehicles available in the surveyed households, 88% are private cars, 5% are motorbikes and 5% are bicycles. Only 23% of the resident private vehicle parking space belongs to the vehicles owner, 4% is rented, 60% of the people literally leave the vehicle “in the street” and the rest of the people resort to reserved public parking areas which are normally payable per hours. In relation to travel purpose, 45% are related with household needs, 19% are work-related, 7% are purchase-related and the rest fall within the group of “personal business”. Concerning modal split, of all the trips made by the surveyed residents, (6,448 trips), 61% were on foot, 31% by car, 4% on bus and 1% by motorbike. The use of public transportation is normally greater in big towns (over 250,000 inhabitants) and with a type of user who is very different from that of small towns. When a more thorough analysis of bus lines services is carried out by counting the number of travellers that get on and off at every stop and by comparing the running speed with the travel speed, the counters discover that the most numerous group of users consists of elderly people, children and students, a captive demand that does not own a private vehicle or that cannot drive anymore. There is also a less numerous group of users that travel from the centre of town to the high-speed train station. Even as the first group of users is characteristic of small or medium size towns, the second group appears as a consequence of the railway connexion between Ciudad Real and Madrid and it should be promoted so that more travellers can be attracted.

4

Analysis of the urban bus services

As we have already seen in the survey’s data analysis, the use of public transportation is very low (only 4% of trips are by bus), and this first data encouraged us to carry out a series of trials aimed at knowing more in depth the way bus lines work. These trials allow establishing system operation characteristics such as trip duration, travellers that get on and get off the stops, speed of circulation, causes of delays on difficult points of the routes, etc. Two people in charge of counting are required for each chosen vehicle as part of the sample. One of the counters registers the number travellers get on and off the bus. The other counter registers the starts time, the stops time, the end time or the starting of the vehicle at each place of control or at each place where delays occur. The sample selection is made separately for each of the bus routes that are currently operative. Taking into account the duration of the trip and the frequency of passing, this sample shouldn’t be inferior in each case to 10% of all services (the characteristics of the operation of the city bus services are shown in Table 1). In order to know the behaviour patterns, this selection must be made taking into account the peak hours mentioned in the previous pilot trial as well as some off peak hours. Since there are not different frequencies of passing on a day in the operation mode of the public transportation routes in Ciudad Real, the selection of the buses was made only taking into account the rush hours and the off peak hours which resulted from the standard stations.

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654 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Afterwards, both the running and the travel speed of the selected buses were measured by each stretch of the route. By running speed we imply the relationship between the distance covered by a vehicle and the time taken to cover that same distance while it was moving. This means that the time that the bus was stopped wasn’t measured. By travel speed we imply the relationship between the distance covered by a vehicle and the time taken to cover that same distance including the times when it was stopped. At those times when the vehicle stopped or reduced its speed in a significant way to a speed that would be similar or even lower than walking speed (4 or 5 km/h), with all the subsequent delays, the observer had to identify that point and he had to register the time of start, the time of stop, the end time and the starting time as well as the cause for the delay (traffic jam, red traffic light, turn to left, travellers getting on or getting off), by using the appropriate convention or code included in the field format. Table 1: Line

Timetable

1 2 3 4 5

7:00–22:30 7:22–22:37 7:25–22:25 7:15–22:17 6:30–23:30

Features of Urban Bus Transportation in Ciudad Real. Frequency (min) 15 15 25 22 20

Length (km) 9,7 11,6 11,2 14,5 5,6

Travel (min) 60 60 48 60 20

km (2003) 215,958 250,719 136,792 211,692 53,682

Passengers (2003) 754,306 735,842 165,101 261,124 176,740

Pass/km 3,49 2,93 1,21 1,23 3,29

Most delays take place in unidirectional streets inside the Ronda and at some points on it. The two main causes for delay are people getting in and getting off the bus and also red traffic lights. When we analyze more in detail how the traffic lights placed in the Ronda work we find that their coordination was practically inexistent. When there are several traffic lights close to one another along a street or a road, it is necessary for them to work in coordination in order to avoid other cars crossing an intersection from having to stop again at a new intersection after having waited for the previous traffic light to change into green. Therefore, the gap or the time gone by between the change of phase of two successive traffic lights must be determined in such a way that the vehicles can cross a number of intersections without being obligated to stop several times, (see Cedar and Wilson [7]).

5

Effects of the high-speed train

As has been mentioned, one of the particularities of Ciudad Real as a medium size town is the fact of being connected with Madrid since 1993 through a high-speed railway line with more than 20 daily trips. In fact, railway mobility between Madrid and Ciudad Real amounted to 892,744 travellers in 2002 and the induced traffic generated by the new infrastructure has been also estimated (Guirao et al. [8]). This type of transportation offer, perfectly compatible with the work activity of both cities, gives place to a group of commuters which is also favoured by the existence of monthly tickets which are economically very WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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advantageous compared with the simple tickets. In March 2000, a survey to the high-speed shuttle users was carried out to analyze the users’ mobility patterns for this stretch of the line. The surveys were carried out during the last week of March 2000 (4245 valid questionnaires) and the questionnaires consisted of two different blocks of questions. The purpose of the first one was to define the shuttle user’s profile. The second one was exclusively directed to the “commuters” and its purpose was to know the characteristics and certain stated preferences of these daily users who are also called “abonados” (from the Spanish word for monthly ticket “abono”). One of the aspects that was analysed in the survey was whether there was a relationship between the commuters and the sudden growth of the neighbourhood next to the train station. Ciudad Real’s train station is located in the periphery and there is much land available for construction around it. Fig. 4 (left) shows the percentage of commuters living in Ciudad Real according to their home’s postcode. These values are especially remarkable when compared with those of Fig. 4 (right) which expresses the percentage of commuters living in Ciudad Real who stated in the survey that one important reason why they chose their place of residency was the closeness to the train station. This fact confirms the extent to which the high-speed train station favours the development of these zones in the city. These data affect local mobility because the commuter residency determines the route of certain urban bus lines in Ciudad Real.

High Speed Rail Station

Figure 4:

High Speed Rail Station

Percentage of commuters living in Ciudad Real according to their home’s post code (left), and percentage of commuters living in Ciudad Real who stated in the survey that the most important reason why they chose their place of residency was the closeness to the train station (right).

The survey also gathered information regarding the time it takes for the users to arrive at the station as well as the transportation mode they use for that purpose. While most of the commuters living in Madrid can reach Atocha highWIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

656 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability speed train station in less than 25 minutes, to the Ciudad Real residents it takes around 10 minutes to reach the station. Taking into account the fact that most Madrid users live mainly in the city centre (80%), the distance from their homes to the aforementioned station allows good communication mainly by the underground and suburban train, and also, but not as importantly as the former, by bus. Therefore, the transportation mode used by Madrid residents in their home-Atocha trips is mainly private car (29%), underground (24%), bus (13%) and suburban train (23%). Only 9% of the travellers walk to the station and the rest of all must arrive by taxi or taken by a car driven by another person. Nevertheless, 19% of Ciudad Real commuters go to the station by private cars (the station is located in the periphery), 52% use the urban bus because of the existence of a service between the town centre and the high-speed train station and 24% walk to the station.

6

Conclusions

This paper shows the main mobility problems in a medium size town as well as the most appropriate methodology to detect them and to measure them. The household survey carried out in Ciudad Real, as well as a number of private cars counts in the main streets and a thorough analysis of public transportation made up a key tool for this research. The low use of public transportation is a common characteristic in this type of towns. Therefore, it is important to define those routes with most possibilities to attract passengers, to promote public transportation use and to coordinate the bus routes’ timetables with those of interurban transport stations (Ciudad Real high-speed train station). The town connection with Madrid through the high-speed train line does not just condition the town’s urban mobility to a great extent but it also conditions its land planning (residence of commuters). Precisely, because of this very reason, it cannot go unnoticed. Cordon surveys are useful to detect the presence of small dormitory towns located around the analyzed town as well as the repercussion it has on urban traffic. This fact, together with the knowledge of the town peak hours through a trips histogram, implies a vital tool for the transport planner. In this way, traffic calming measures can be implemented for the urban centre, giving thus true preponderance to pedestrian transport, which must be favoured in small and medium towns. The promotion of pedestrian transport also implies the improvement of life quality in the town centre and avoids the geographical population spreading. Lastly, the usefulness of this kind of studies lies on the fact that they can show problems still unknown by small town councils because they lack the professional equipments specialized in transportation that big towns do have. An example for this is the lack of coordination among the different traffic lights of a given street or the fact that they don’t know the commuters’ place of residence nor their transportation needs in the access to the high-speed train station.

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Acknowledgments The conclusions drawn in this article are the consequence of a research project, (completed in May 2005), which was financed by Ciudad Real Town Council and carried out by the Department of Transportation of the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. Ciudad Real Town Council made significant contributions to its progress, authorising the campaign of surveys carried out the survey campaign carried out door to door and placing the local police at the disposition of the research group in the counting process both in the road and on the buses.

References [1]

[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Menéndez, J.M, Guirao, B., Coronado, J.M., Rivas, A., Rodríguez, F.J., Ribalaygua, C. and. Ureña, J. M., New High-Speed Rail Lines and Small Cities: Locating the Station, Proceedings of the Conference The Sustainable City Wessex Institute of Technology, pp. 810-820, 2002. Ortúzar, J. de D. and Willumsen, L.G., Modelling Transport. 3rd edition. Chichester. John Wiley & Sons. 2001. Kenyon, S. and Glenn Lyons, The value of integrated multimodal traveller information and its potential contribution to modal change, Transportation Research Part F, vol. 6, pp.1-21, 2003. Abdel-Aty, M.A., Kitamura, R. and Jovanis, P.P., Investigating Effect of Advanced Traveler Information on commuter tendency to use transit. Transportation Research Record, 1550, pp.65-72, 1996. Taylor, M.A.P. et al. Designing a large-scale travel demand survey: new challenges and new opportunities, Transportation Research A, vol.26 A, nº 3 Fan, C.T., Muller, M.E. and Rezucha, I.., Development of Sampling Plans (Item by Item) Selection Techniques and Digital Computers, Journal of American Statistical Association, vol.57, pp 387-402, 1962. Cedar, R.B. and Wilson, N.H., Bus network design, Transportation Research, 20B (4), pp.331-344, 1986. Guirao, B.; Menéndez, J.M. and Rivas, A., New Spanish High-speed Rail Lines: An Opportunity to Analyse Induced Traffic. Transports, Vol.419, pp. 98-123, 2002.

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Sustainable urban transport development: a modelling approach M. H. P. Zuidgeest & M. F. A. M. van Maarseveen Centre for Transport Studies, University of Twente, The Netherlands

Abstract Current transport systems and transport planning methods and models are not necessarily compatible with the requirements of sustainable transport development. Adequate transport systems can only be obtained by use of a sustainable transport paradigm and an accompanying analytical framework. Therefore, this paper presents a theoretical framework, which is based on a paradigm for sustainable transport development. This paradigm advocates a comprehensive decision-making that anticipates and manages scarce resource use, including environment and finance, while developing the transport system in terms of quality of access and/or person throughput. Furthermore, a simplified version of a dynamic optimisation model that can assist in the complex and political decision-making process with respect to sustainable transport development is introduced, based on the conceptualization and characterization of the sustainable urban transport development problem as a constrained optimisation problem. Based on Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle, the dynamic model reveals control paths for achieving a sustainable and developed transport system. The model in its present form can be applied directly to strategic networks of limited numbers of (aggregated) zones and (aggregated) links. Keywords: sustainable development, urban transport, dynamical modelling.

1 Introduction Mobility of people (and freight) is an essential prerequisite for social - economic development. In most cities throughout the developed and developing world, however, motorised vehicles, notably cars and trucks, have become the most important means of mobility, at the cost of non-motorised transport as well as public transport. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060631

660 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Because of this motorisation, congestion, traffic unsafety, air and noise pollution, changing land-use patterns, social isolation etceteras, have become common and widespread images in cities. The usual solution to these emerging problems and changing requirements in transport is to build extra capacity, make better use of existing infrastructure, discourage and/or promote other means of transport or even influence travel patterns of people as well as freight, following the principle of predict-provide-manage. Decisions to do so are supported by best-practices, theories, and tools of transport planning. However, by doing so, current transport systems and transport planning methods and models (used in developed as well as developing countries) are not necessarily compatible with the requirements of sustainable transport development. In this paper a sustainable and developed urban transport system is postulated to be: ‘a transport system that meets the people’s transport related needs in terms of mobility, accessibility and safety, within limits of available or affordable environmental, financial and social resource capacities’ as defined in Zuidgeest [1], following the Brundtland definition in [2]. This definition is based on the basic idea of sustainable development and its taxonomy that characterises sustainable development as consisting of two distinct elements, that is sustainability as well as development, while having three different dimensions, that is economic and financial sustainability, environmental and ecological sustainability as well as social sustainability, furthermore having an analytical, a normative as well as a strategic level of discourse. Such taxonomy is well described in Gudmundsson and H¨ojer [3]. On the basis of this, a framework for sustainable urban transport development can be constructed that adopts a multi-directional conception of sustainable transport development, which tries to answer two important main questions, i.e.: 1. How can basic mobility and accessibility options to people be sustained or enhanced ? [the development question]; 2. How can limited transport related resources, that is environmental, social and economic resources capacities, be used to guarantee intergenerational equity? [the sustainability question]. In addition, sustainable systems, like ecological systems, are not steady-state systems, but rather dynamic systems with many feedback loops to provide selfregulation and to keep growth of each part of the system coordinated with the other parts as the system evolves, as stated by Replogle [4]. Similarly, Brundtland [2] defines it as ‘sustainable development is a process, not a fixed state’. Therefore sustainable transport development as compared to sustainable development should also be regarded as a process, being intrinsically dynamic, as it is the coevolution of travel demand and infrastructure supply (and management) that makes a sustainable transport development. Adopting this framework, transport professionals should be able to aim directly at reaching certain transport development objectives through their transport policies and plans, while maintaining non-declining levels of transport system performance as well as keeping resource-use levels below those maximally acceptable, in other words affordable or available, levels. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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To implement this in transport planning and modelling practice, four requirements can be derived and should be implemented, see also [1]. The first requirement relates to policy objectives. Transport system performance (over time), which is the quality of functioning of the transport system at a given level of travel demand and infrastructure supply, should be explicitly related to the political direction chosen, which is accordingly translated into a (quantifiable) transport policy objective and implemented directly into the modelling. These objectives of transport system performance may vary from a mere motorised traffic orientation, in terms of level-of-service, to social indicators, in terms of equity, or even (weighted) combinations of objectives. The second requirement deals with transport dynamics. Travel behavioural rules and transport system mechanisms have been studied in transport science, and implemented in transport models, extensively. A distinction is usually made in mechanisms of travel demand and infrastructure supply, which are considered to be in equilibrium. Travel demand is directly related to the social-economic realities of people (in terms of utility of trip making) as well as the transport network accessibility available to the people (in terms of disutility of trip making). Hence, travel demand is elastic to changes in both the social-economic realities as well as accessibility, and should be implemented in the modelling as such. Furthermore, these different mechanisms operate at different time-scales. A change in route choice-behaviour might require a relatively short period to transpire, whereas a change in infrastructure capacity might take a longer period to be accomplished. Therefore, it seems unlikely that an equilibrium between demand and supply exists in a dynamic model. A disequilibrium formulation is thus considered to be more appropriate. Hence, a system dynamics approach, including lagged-adjustment, disequilibrium models, should be used. The third requirement is about resource capacities. Quantitative targets, preferably related to international standards for resource-use, for example those of the WHO or the legally binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions of the Kyoto protocol, should be set and internalised in transport models. To do this within the framework derived in this research, available resource capacities should be known. In particular, deriving environmental capacities for a demarcated urban area can be very difficult. In addition, non-point source emission models should be applied to estimate pollution levels. Likewise, financial capacity and spending, but at the same time also revenues from, for example, road pricing, should be internalised in the modelling. The fourth and last requirement is about policy measures. Transport planners have several transport policy measures available. A distinction can be made in demand-side measures (related to the affordability of travel options) as well as supply-side measures (related to the availability of travel options). To control transition paths of state variables, as guided by the transport policy objectives, these measures can be deployed (if necessary, bounded by constraints) in a prescribed sequence and timing. Transport modelling should be able to derive these paths.

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662 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Incorporating all these requirements, sustainable transport development planning is objective-driven and resource-bounded for both current and future generations, while being infrastructure supply-limited rather than demand-driven. Hence, a proactive approach that can be characterised as one of provide (manage -) predict (hence ‘prevent’), unlike the common principle of predict provide (- manage), remains. The remainder of this paper discusses an abridged version of a dynamic optimisation model [1] that can assist in this process of planning sustainable transport development.

2 Model description Based on the requirements put forward in previous paragraph a dynamic optimisation model can be defined that optimises a transport policy objective over time (time t0 until t1 , which may be years) given the dynamics in travel demand (link travel demand Vl (t)) and infrastructure supply (effective link capacity Cle (t)). The latter can be controlled by adding or distracting (continuous and bounded) capacity Ulc (t). Furthermore, total emissions E(t) are monitored and bounded by environmental capacity E ∗ . This model is demonstrated for a small network as displayed in figure 1, where, for simplicity of the example, the exogenous socialeconomic and land-use variables, trip production Q(t) and trip attraction X(t) are assumed to be stable over time. The dynamic optimisation problem is given below (eqn. (1)).
min

t1

t0

  2   Vl (t) c 2 ∗ 2 − δl + α7 Ul (t) + χ1 max (0, (E(t) − E )) dt Cle (t) l

  dVl (t) = γ1 Vˆl (t) − Vl (t) , ∀ l, dt dCle (t) = Ulc (t), ∀ l, dt   dE(t) ˆ − E(t) , = γ1 E(t) dt and 0 ≤ Ulc (t) ≤ Ulc max , ∀ l, s.t.

boundary conditions at t0 and t1 . (1) Before discussing the actual minimization problem, i.e. the transport policy objective, the three equations of motion for the main variables Vl (t), Cle (t) and E(t) will be described. If travel demand is regarded to be elastic to changes in accessibility, the equilibrium level Vˆl (t) should also include a measure of elasticity. This implies that the potential trip generation capacity of a zone needs to be known. Hence, starting with a disequilibrium travel demand model, expressing the changing WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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XII(t0)=600

III

XIII(t0)=700

* II I,

C

II

663

2 QI(t0)=2500

I

3

Figure 1: Test network with directed links l ∈ L = {1, 2, 3}, trip production QI , and trip attractions XII and XIII in [persh−1 ] at time t = t0 . Variable c∗I,II indicates the composite costs for the corridor I − II. state of travel demand (in person-car units [ pcuh−1 ]) between the equilibrium traffic volume Vˆl (t) and actual traffic volume Vl (t) is, following Donaghy and Schintler [5]:   dVl (t) = γ1 Vˆl (t) − Vl (t) , ∀ l, dt

(2)

with γ1 the lagged-adjustment of travel demand to changes in accessibility. The equilibrium link demand function Vˆl (t) is assumed to be built-up of: 1. the time-varying potential trip generation capacity of a zone i, based on social-economic characteristics of the zone, Qi (t); 2. a demand elasticity factor Dij (t), representing the induced effect of accessibility between zones i and j on trip generation; 3. a simultaneous mode m, destination j, and route r choice model, Gijmr (t). Hence, part Dij (t) of the exogenous time-varying potential trip generation capacity Qi (t) in zone i in [ persh−1 ] is distributed over the different mode and route choice-options for the corridor (i, j), using a discrete-choice model Gijmr (t) and converted to vehicles in [ pcuh−1 ], applying a vehicle occupancy factor θ1m , converting person-trips to vehicle-trips ([pcuh−1 ]): Vˆl (t) =

   

θ1m (Qi (t) Dij (t) Gijmr (t)) , ∀ l,

(3)

i∈I j∈J i m∈M r∈Rlij

with Rlij the route serving origin-destination pairs that contain link l, or: Rlij = {r ∈ Rij | ∃n : rn = l}, and: r = (1, 2, · · · , lr , · · · , Lr ) ∈ NNr , as well as J i the destination set excluding destination j = i, or: J i = {j ∈ J |
n : jn = i}. Note that the set of origins i is: I = {1, 2, · · · , i, · · · , I} ∈ NNi , whereas the destinations j are: J = {1, 2, · · · , j, · · · , J} ∈ NNj . Furthermore, a mode-set is defined as: M = {1, 2, · · · , m, · · · , M } ∈ NNm . WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

664 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The chance of simultaneously selecting a certain destination j, mode m and route r is obtained using a dynamised version of the well-known doublyconstrained gravity model, which is distributing trips on the basis of the utilities uijmr (t) for the different mode m, and route r choice-combinations as well as the exogenous time-varying trip attraction value Xj (t): Xj (t) exp(−λ1 uijmr (t)) , ∀ i, j, m, r,



j
∈J i m
∈M r
∈Rij
Xj (t) exp(−λ1 uij m r (t)) (4) with scale parameter λ1 , and Xj (t) the destination attractiveness, or trip attraction. The utility function uijmr (t) for generalised costs of travel is in this simplified example expressed as a linear equation of route travel time τr (t) alone:   β 1  Nr  Vlr (t)  , ∀ i, j, m, r, uijmr (t) = β3m τl0r 1.0 + α1 (5) Cler (t) Gijmr (t) =



lr =1

with β3m a mode-specific parameter (note that routes lr are mode-specific as well and may use the same link). Parameter β3m is the value-of-time parameter for conversion of time to monetary units. Route travel time is a summation of link travel times that comprise route r, which are expressed as strictly increasing, continuous and nonlinear functions of the volume Vl (t) to effective capacity Cle (t) ratio and free-flow travel time τl0 , by applying the well-known BPR equation with parameters α1 and β1 . The maximum amount of revealed travel demand on a corridor (part of it may actually go to another destination j), or origin-destination pair (i, j) is equal to: Qi (t) · Dij (t), where the elasticity factor Dij (t) is formulated, based on De la Barra [6], as:    Dij (t) = a1 + b1 exp −λ2 c∗ij (t) − c0ij , ∀ i, j.

(6)

Parameter a1 represents the ‘captive’ trips that will be performed irrespective of the composite costs and (a1 + b1 ) the maximum ratio, i.e. 100% of the trips that can be performed in ideal circumstances, or free-flow conditions. The composite cost, or logsum cost c∗ij (t), on a origin-destination pair (i, j) are calculated by aggregating generalised costs (expressed in the utility function uijmr (t)) over all modes m and routes r that serve the origin-destination pair:     1 c∗ij (t) = − ln  exp(−λ3 uijmr (t)) , ∀ i, j, (7) λ3 m∈M r∈Rij

where λ3 is the scale parameter to obtain the expected maximum utility of the choice-set: C = (Rij , M). The ‘free-flow’ composite costs c0ij can be derived by calculating the generalised costs for all choice-options under free-flow conditions. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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The performance of a road link in terms of the volume-over-capacity ratio can be improved by expanding (or decreasing) the capacity of the existing road link l: dCle (t) = Ulc (t), ∀ l, dt

(8)

where Ulc (t) is a continuous control variable u(t) for new capacity with dimension [ pcu h−1 T−1 ], where T is the time-scale of optimisation. Hence, Ulc (t) is changing the functionality of the road link as in a Continuous Network Design Problem (CNDP). To calculate the total non-point emissions for pollutant p ∈ P the following equation may be used:   dE(t) ˆ − E(t) . = γ1 E(t) dt

(9)

ˆ is calculated as the number of mode The disequilibrium level of emissions E(t) specific trips multiplied with a mode and pollutant-specific emission factor m|p , link length dl , and a speed factor (that assumes emissions are lower at higher speeds in network), using parameter β8m|p , which is also applied in Kim and Hoskote [7]: ˆ =α4 E(t)

    

θ1m (Qi (t) Dij (t) Gijmr (t))

i∈I j∈J i m∈M r∈Rij lr ∈r



m|p dlr

dlr τlr (t)

(10)

−β8m|p

,

with route travel time τlr (t) and route distance dlr . Eqn. (10) is formulated for use of one, possibly dominant, pollutant type only. If necessary, a composite emission factor representing several types of pollutants p ∈ P can be introduced. The environmental capacity is represented through E ∗ , and is implemented in the model by use of an exponential penalty function that penalises exceeding the threshold E ∗ . The cost criterion in this example (several others can and have been formulated [1]) aims to keep or bring the level-of-service for a road link or all links in the network at a certain volume-over-capacity level δl (for example δl = 0.80, representing high density stable traffic flow) over the time horizon (t0 − t1 ), which is, again following [5]:
min

t1

t0

  Vl (t) l

Cle (t)

2 − δl


dt ≡ max −

t1

t0

  Vl (t) l

Cle (t)

2 − δl

dt.

(11)

The implication of this cost criterion is that the control paths are chosen as such that all existing infrastructure is used homogenously, that is links with a low WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

666 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability volume-over-capacity level Vl (t)/Cle (t) will be increasingly used to reach level δl , whereas the contrary applies to links with a high volume-over-capacity level. The solution to the optimal control problem has been characterised using the Pontryagin Maximum Principle [8]. The Maximum Principle is very useful as it provides a set of necessary and sufficient conditions that are required to find the state variable trajectories, in other words transition paths for the state variables, and the optimal set of controls, which maximise the objective function. These conditions are derived from the Lagrangean equation and also provide other important, call it economic, information on marginal valuation of the state variable at some point in time in terms of costs and benefits, through the costate variables.

3 Example The small network in figure 1 is used to demonstrate the dynamic model. Here, an elastic travel demand model is considered, which is sensitive to changes in network performance. Furthermore, the objective function aims at a 80% level-of-service, implying high-density stable traffic flow. An emission state constraint to E(t) (in this case E ∗ = 81kg CO emissions) is applied using a penalty function. Applying this model, one would expect a control path for Ulc (t) that minimises the cost criterion as much as possible, while taking consideration of the elastic demand, though not violating the emission constraint. On urban roads, the emission factor is monotonously decreasing with increasing speeds, which can a/o’s be accomplished through capacity enhancement.

1 2 3

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Figure 2: State variables Vl (t) and Cle (t), as well as Level-Of-Service Vl (t)/Cle (t) and control variable Ulc (t). In figure 3 the transition paths for the state variables Vl (t) and Cle (t) are depicted and show an increase and stabilisation of these variables over time. It can be noticed that the cost criterion for the volume-over-capacity ratios is not minimised at: δl = 0.8, but slightly above that, which is obviously caused by the emissions constraint, that forces the control path for Ulc (t). These control paths WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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5

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x 10 7.7

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2000

1800

1600

5

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Figure 3: State variables P (t), K(t) and E(t), as well as (potential) trip generation T t.

switch between lower and upper bounds, showing the bang-bang nature of the model. A so-called smoothing effect of α7 that minimises spending on Ulc (t) is slightly visible as well. The smoothing parameter is: α7 = 1.0 × 10−6 , whereas: χ1 = 0.05. Figure 3 shows the transition paths for some external effects (person throughput P (t), kilometres travelled in the network K(t), and emissions E(t)). Alike the general character of the penalty function, the target E ∗ is slightly exceeded, in particular near the endpoint. Furthermore, the increase in generated trips over time, due to improved accessibility, is shown. The revealed travel demand over time increases to a level close to 2100 persh−1 , because of the elasticity function Vˆl (t). Also the potential travel demand Q(t) is shown, which would be revealed if conditions were improved to free-flow conditions and the environmental capacity was set sufficient high.

4 Conclusion It is shown that the notion and definition of sustainable development can be integrated into urban transport planning by advocating a comprehensive decisionmaking that anticipates and manages scarce resource use, while developing the transport system in terms of quality of access and/or person throughput, hence stimulating social-economic development, based on an explicit and integrated transport policy objective. This is done by characterising the sustainable transport development problem as a dynamic and constrained optimisation problem, while incorporating a quantified transport policy objective as well as resource bounds. By applying this to an example network, the use of a dynamic optimisation model that shows where, when and by how much transport measures should be applied in order to steer the system in the direction of the maximised sustainable WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

668 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability transport policy objective, is demonstrated. A more effective and efficient (scarce) resource allocation can be observed. Because of the dynamics in the model there is continuous feedback between the different sub models of the transport model, hence also incorporating generated demand. Implications of measures in terms of transport system performance, but also the number of generated trips in time and total emissions, are thus known. In addition, ‘marginal costs’ associated with erecting boundaries to some control and state variables are explicitly known to the transport policy maker.

References [1] Zuidgeest, M.H.P., Sustainable Urban Transport Development: A Dynamic Optimisation Approach. TRAIL Thesis Series T2005/3, The Netherlands TRAIL Research School: The Netherlands, 2005. [2] WCED, Our Common Future. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED): Oxford, England, 1987. [3] Gudmundsson, H. & H¨ojer, M., Sustainable development principles and their implications for transport. Ecological Economics, 19, pp. 269–282, 1996. [4] Replogle, M., Sustainability: a vital concept for transportation planning and development. Journal of Advanced Transportation, 25(1), pp. 3–18, 1991. [5] Donaghy, K.P. & Schintler, L.A., Managing congestion, pollution, and pavement conditions in a dynamic transportation network model. Transportation Research, 3D(2), pp. 59–80, 1998. [6] De la Barra, T., Integrated Land Use and Transport: Decision Chains and Hierarchies. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, New York, USA, 1989. [7] Kim, T.J. & Hoskote, N.G., Estimating mobile source pollutant emission: methodological comparison and planning implications. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 3, pp. 1 – 12, 1983. [8] Pontryagin, L.S., Boltyanskii, V.G., Gamkrelidze, R.V. & Mischenko, E.F., The Mathematical Theory of Optimal Processes. John Wiley & Sons: New York, USA, 1962.

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Section 11 The community and the city

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The burglar as a space explorer in his own neighborhood A. van Nes Section of Urban Renewal and Management, Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Abstract An area’s social and spatial composition influences burglary rates in built-up environments. A more adequate understanding of the relationship between an area’s social and spatial composition requires data about burglars’ home addresses and about the homes they intruded. For consideration, exemplary investigation data of 39 burglars caught operating in the Dutch town of Haarlem were obtained from the regional authorities. In 32 of the 39 cases the burglar lived within a radius of 3 km away from the homes they burgled. In most cases, the burglars operated in those areas in their neighbourhood that were spatially most segregated and that had the most broken up street network. As this initial investigation suggests, burglars have a detailed practical knowledge of the areas in which they operate. Apparently, their know-how results not just from information about their victims and their neighbours’ presence, but also from information on comprehensive spatial conditions. The more burglars living in an area, the higher the burglary rates. However, the burglaries take place in the spatially most segregated and unconstituted part of the burglars’ own neighbourhood. Keywords: spatial configuration, burglars home addresses and their break-ins, urban segregation.

1 Conditions for break ins Being able to burgle a home, a burglar must somehow break into it unnoticed by neighbours or passers by. Similarly, the burglar must leave the home with the stolen items unseen. He needs alternative escape routes in case he meets someone on his way. Moreover, he must hide away the stolen items as soon as possible at a safe

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060641

672 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability place. In this context burglars have to know the area where they operate in very well. In most cases it seems to be in the neighbourhood where they live [1, p. 237, 237, 337-344] and [2, p. 423–435]. Before burglars act, presumably careful planning and registration are done in advance. They register to what extent inhabitants or their neighbours are present, whether they have dogs, the quality of security locks and alarms, the degree of cover from bushes and fences, and the location of the best invisible points of entry [3, p. 2]. A planning of this kind implies frequent walks through an area in order to explore all the spatial possibilities with reference to the temporal conditions it offers. Few people in the streets and few people at home in an area seems to be preferred by burglars. Dwelling areas with few people in streets indicate an easy identification of strangers. All above-mentioned aspects taken into account, it is likely that the burglar must be among an area’s inhabitants. Burglars are space explorers driven to gain marketable goods. For this purpose, they depend on an area’s manifold conditions. In an interview of caught burglars, Bennett and Wright conclude that burglars are obviously concerned with two main risk issues: Degree of visibility and occupancy of the dwelling [3, p. 85]. The first aspect depends on the area’s spatial composition while the second one requires local knowledge about the degree of presence of an area’s inhabitants. If a burglar must be invisible, what kind of areas does he prefer? From a burglar’s perspective, traditional urban areas favour his criminal interest by the way he can mingle with the passers by frequenting these areas. He can carry out his careful planning and registration unnoticed by the inhabitants [4, p. 51]. A feature of traditional urban areas is a distributed street structure with a complex network of movement routes, which allow for several escape route possibilities. However, the frequently high number of people in the streets might cause an obstacle. Post War areas are frequented less and nevertheless offer many escape routes. The street structure is mostly non-distributed as regards the car traffic routes in dwelling areas, while it is distributed on the main routes between the dwelling areas. Inside the dwelling areas the escape routes are many where there exist a network of footpaths. The number of people frequenting these areas is low. However, in these contexts the burglar is easily recognised as a stranger. In order to be successful in these kinds of areas, he must then likely to be one of the inhabitants. Hence the question as to whether a burglar is himself a local inhabitant affects the issue under concern.

2 Earlier research on space and crime Empirical research on crime and space is marked by the controversy between Jacobs’ conception of lively, permeable urban environments and Newman’s conception of closed, defensible space. For extended reports on this debate cf. Hillier and Shu [5], Newman [6, 7] Jacobs [8]. In Jacobs’ view passers-by, i.e. strangers as well as inhabitants, function as a natural form of surveillance. In WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Newman’s opinion just strangers count as possible intruders. The inhabitants’ behaviour, and the look and structure of their dwellings are taken to be effective means of defence against them. In general research with space syntax method shows in what ways segregated streets have more complex routes to all other streets in a city. Empirical research with a configurative approach shows that areas with segregated spaces, with urban grids visually broken up and with few dwelling entrances constituting streets are often affected by crime and social misuse [5, p. 232]. The same investigations prove that spatial organisation can generate movement according to co-presence and co-awareness in a built environment [9, p. 29–66]. In her article Crime and space in the inner city, Valerie Alford identified the spatial features of different types of crime. Her main conclusions are that different types of street crime takes place in different kinds of space and that crime and pedestrian flow are clearly linked [10, p. 64–67]. In his PhD thesis Housing Layout and Crime Vulnerability, Chih-Feng Shu investigated the correlation between the spatial configurative layout of housing estates and urban areas with the spatial distribution of property offences. Three different areas were investigated over a two years period. His findings provide evidence against the defensible space and territoriality ideas. Property crime tends to take place in segregated urban areas, especially in cul-de-sacs or enclosed clusters favoured by Oscar Newman [11, p. 2, 444–446]. Shu’s research differs from earlier research in that he provides detailed spatial studies on dwelling areas with a wide range of different types of dwellings, streets, or of spatial and social composition. Causes for social misuse of a given area can be understood from an intrinsic or topological spatial point of view. It depends on at least the following conditions: Bad correlation between street connectivity and spatial integration of the vicinity, the segregated areas are many topological steps away from integrated streets, and the topological spatial structure of the area is deep, in itself and as regards both the whole system. Likewise enclosed spatially systems with high privacy, but without general social control lack natural co-presence and mutual surveillance [12, p. 188, 194, 201]. These conclusions are so far based on a few cases studied in the UK. In research on crime in built environments one has to be aware of the fact that spatial factors can be overrun by social ones. In this respect research from criminologists has to be taken into account. According to the routine activity theory promoted by Felson and Cohen [13, p. 389–405] as well as the crime pattern theory promoted by Brantingham and Brantingham [4] criminals operate in the areas where they live, recreate and work. The spaces along their daily movement routes are named awareness space. Inside the awareness space opportunity spaces are located. The present inquiry identifies the spatial configurative features of the opportunity spaces with the help of space syntax method. The results from the Haarlem study show that the opportunity spaces are the most segregated and unconstituted streets within a radius of 3 km from a burglar’s home address.

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674 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

3 The study of Haarlem In an ongoing research project for the Dutch police, the criminologist Manuel Lopez is developing and testing out a method in order to localise where burglars live based on the location of burgled homes. He provides data of 39 caught burglars in Haarlem. In 80% of the cases the burglar lives and lived within a radius of 3 km from the homes they burgled. Lopez drew a radius of 3 km around the burgled homes. In most cases the home of the burglar was in the area covered by the largest overlap of the circles [2, p. 423–435]. The analysis could be compared with spatial configurative analyses of Haarlem. The latter were carried out with the purpose of identifying the spatial features of streets where burglars operate in their vicinity. Apparently, burglars tend to prefer housing layouts designed in accordance with Newman’s assumptions. These results tacitly favour Jacobs’ position. The present study scrutinises this stance by considering the previous and past home addresses of caught burglars. Burglaries are reported in all detail at police offices as regards point of entry into private space and escape routes back into public space. Moreover, Lopez’ study on burglars’ home address and of the area which they operate can provide more precise evidence on the correlation between spatial configuration and social composition than previous ones. The space syntax method consists in calculating the degree of a street’s integration in relation to all other streets in a built environment. In order to visualise the degree of integration colour codes are used in order to represent the various integration values of the streets. The black lines show the 10% most integrated streets, while the light grey lines are the most segregated ones. A global integration analysis shows how each street relates topologically to all other streets in a whole city, while a local integration analysis shows how centrally a street is located in comparison to other streets in its direct vicinity. Research has shown that streets with high integration have high number of pedestrians while the number is low in streets with low integration [9, p. 31]. Another way to study the topological depth of an area in relation to the whole city consists in marking the main routes through a city. They can be identified from a tourist map over a city and its region. In the Guide Michelin, for example, these routes are highlighted in order to inform strangers for way finding through a city. Inhabitants use these roads regularly. Stephen Read uses the concept middle scale network for these main routes [14, p. 343]. In historic city centres the middle scale network goes through different urban areas, while in post war areas it goes between urban areas. If one marks the middle scale network in black, all the streets directly connected to the middle scale network in grey and the remaining streets in light grey, the results indicate the topological depth of a city’s various areas. If one has to change directions many times from a middle scale network into an area, the area is topological deep. If one has to change directions few times, the area is topological shallow. As this study shows, burgled homes are located in topologically deep areas - thus along the light grey coloured streets.

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These results indicate where burglaries occur in built environments. However, micro spatial measurements like the degree of inter-visibility of entrances seem to influence a street’s burglary rate. In this study four different degrees of entrances’ inter-visibility were used. A street is highly inter-visible if the density of entrances is high and more than 75% of them are inter-visible to one another. An inter-visible street has a low density of entrances, but more than 75% must be inter-visible for one another. A street has little inter-visibility if and only if the density of entrances is high and more than 75% of them are located on one side of the street. A non-visible street has low density of entrances and less than 75% of them are inter-visible for one another. Likewise, streets with no entrances at all or in which the entrances are covered by high hedges and fences are defined as non-visible. In order to review the role of entrances’ degree of inter-visibility, studies of four criminals have been done in detail. The following spatial properties will be discussed: Global and local integration, depth from the middle scale network and the entrances’ degree of inter-visibility. Figure 1 shows the dispersal of burglaries and of previous or old home addresses of the criminal named Jan. As can be seen in the figure, Jan chooses the most segregated areas within a radius of 1.5 km from one of his homes. Most of his burglaries are concentrated in a dwelling area where urban renewal took place in the 1980’s. The streets in this area are not only spatially segregated and broken up, but they also have a low degree of inter-visible entrances. The area itself is topological deep of the middle scale network, and the entrances of the intruded homes are inter-faced with high fences and hedges from back gardens. Presenting another criminal, named Piet, figure 2 shows the dispersal of burglaries in a quite different area. The affected streets are not as segregated as in figure 1. However, a feature of the streets where Piet relate to the way some entrances are covered by high hedges, these houses have a rear access through the back gardens. About 500 meter north of these streets, lies a working class area where the streets are inter-visible and constituted by a high density of entrances. All streets have high local and global integration. Moreover, the area is topologically shallow from Haarlem’s middle scale network. The blocks are clearly defined and the entrances are directly connected to the street. There are no rear accesses to the dwellings. In the study of all the 39 burglars almost no burglaries are registered in this area - even though one of the burglar’s home address is located inside it. The criminal Jack lives in a modern Dutch Post War dwelling area with separate pedestrian and vehicle street nets. As figure 3 shows, the whole area is segregated and topologically deep as regards the middle scale network, entrances are not intervisible to one another, and the density of entrances constituting streets is low. The car traffic routes are non-distributed, while the pedestrian routes are distributed and unconstituted. Jack’s break ins are located in the low-rise dwelling areas with rear access to back gardens. Due to their concealed indirect entrances the high rise flats are not

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676 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

Global integration

Middlescale network The burglar's homeadresses The burglar's burglered homes

Local integration

Intervisibility of entrances High intervisible street, high density of entrances Intervisible street, low density of entrances Low intervisible street, high density of entrances Non intervisible street, low density of entrances

Figure 1: Criminal Jan (Global, local, Middle-scale, inter-visibility).

affected at all. The whole area offers several escape routes through a network of unconstituted footpaths and bicycle routes. The criminal Bas operates in a pre-war suburbia traditional dwelling area consisting of typical Dutch working class row houses mostly built in the 19201930’s and of some high rise flats. His preferences are houses located topologically deep of the middle scale network, houses located in locally segregated streets, and in corner houses. The corner houses offer more escape routes and have less visible neighbours than other houses in the area. As illustrated in figure 4 the area itself has a low global integration, but the street net is distributed. As this detailed study of four burglars shows, they presumingly prefer to operate in streets with low inter-visibility of entrances, low local and global integration, and in streets located topologically deep from the middle scale network. Furthermore, dwellings with rear access to back gardens or where the entrances are covered by high fences or hedges are preferred. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Intervisibility of entrances High intervisible street, high density of entrances Intervisible street, low density of entrances Low intervisible street, high density of entrances Non intervisible street, low density of entrances

Figure 2: Criminal Piet (Global, local, Middle-scale, inter-visibility).

4 Conclusions as regards Haarlem In the first instance burglars have a certain kind of local knowledge of the areas they operate in. It seems not only to depend on knowledge about when people are not present at their homes, but also in knowledge on the spatial conditions on where these homes are located. Essential are the very local spatial conditions of break in points and escape routes. Secondly, burglaries seem to occur in the most segregated and topologically deepest section within a radius of about 3 km from the burglar’s home. They seek for the most segregated streets with the greatest potential of escape routes and the lowest degree of inter-visibility with neighbours. The spatially weakest points in a burglar’s neighbourhood are affected most. In most cases it occurs in segregated streets with little inter-visibility. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Global integration

Middlescale network The burglar's homeadresses The burglar's burglered homes

Local integration

Intervisibility of entrances High intervisible street, high density of entrances Intervisible street, low density of entrances Low intervisible street, high density of entrances Non intervisible street, low density of entrances

Figure 3: Criminal Jack (Global, local, Middle-scale, inter-visibility).

Thirdly, not the density of entrances but inter-visibility is significant. Burglars favour invisible break in points invisible on account of high fences and hedges or of few neighbours across the street. As regards escape possibilities, unconstituted footpaths and segregated streets are preferred. The same pertains to spatially broken up street structures with no natural surveillance. The conclusions above are only based on caught criminals. One could ask what the result would be if unsolved cases could be taken into account. Do professional burglars operate within a large radius from their home address? Or do they cooperate with less professional criminals who know their own neighbourhood very WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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High intervisible street, high density of entrances Intervisible street, low density of entrances Low intervisible street, high density of entrances Non intervisible street, low density of entrances

Figure 4: Criminal Bas (Global, local, Middle-scale, inter-visibility). well? Or are their professional skills at such a high level that the spatial conditions do not play a role at all? Analyses of known criminals, combined with a space syntax analysis allow for an understanding on criminals’ choice preferences in relationship to their own homes in built environments. Furthermore, an analysis of this sort allows to gain knowledge about how an area’s social composition in correlation with spatial composition affects the dispersal of burglaries. The study of Haarlem based on information provided by the Dutch police roughly confirms Shu’s work, but WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

680 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability seemingly indicates that one should account for the chance that one’s neighbour is a burglar.

References [1] Brantingham, P. & Brantingham, P., Patterns in Crime. Macmillan Publishing Company: New York, 1984. [2] Lopez, M., The spatial behaviour of residential burglars. Proceedings 5th International Space Syntax Symposium, ed. A. van Nes, Techne Press: Delft, pp. 423–435, 2005. [3] Bennett & Wright, Burglars on Burglary. Prevention and the offender. Gower Publishing Company Limited: Aldershot, 1984. [4] Brantingham, P. & Brantingham, P., Environmental Criminology. Sage Publications: Bevery Hills, Aldershot, 1981. [5] Hillier, B. & Shu, S., Crime and urban layout: the need for evidence. Secure Foundations. Key issues in crime prevention, crime reduction and community safety, eds. K.P. S. Ballintyne & V. McLaren, Institute for Public Policy research: London, 2000. [6] Newman, O., (ed.) Defensible Space. Crime prevention through urban design. Macmillan Company: New York, 1972. [7] Newman, O., (ed.) Community of interest. Anchor Press: Doubleday, New York, 1980. [8] Jacobs, J., (ed.) The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Pimlico: London, 2000. [9] Hillier, B., Penn, A., Hanson, J. et al., Natural movement: or, configuration and attraction in urban pedestrian movement. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 20, pp. 29–66, 1996. [10] Alford, W., Crime and space in the inner city. Urban Design Studies, pp. 45– 76, 1996. [11] Shu, C.F., Housing Layout and crime vulnerability. PhD thesis, Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London: London, 1984. [12] Hillier, B., Space is the Machine. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1996. [13] Felson, M. & Cohen, L.E., Human ecology and crime: a routine activity approach. Human Ecology, 8(4), pp. 389–405, 1999. [14] Read, S., Flat city; a space syntax derived urban movement network model. Proceedings 5th International Space Syntax Symposium, ed. A. van Nes, Techne Press: Delft, pp. 341–357, 2005.

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New Urbanism and Chicago N. M. Truog Sustainable Development, LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO, USA

Abstract Urban centers throughout the world are places of commerce, tourism, education, and, most importantly, a residence for many. In a time when urban development and re-development are on the minds of government and citizens alike, it is worthwhile considering how important the principles of New Urbanism are to our modern-day cities, specifically Chicago, Illinois, USA. Keywords: sustainable development, new urbanism, smart growth, Chicago, sustainability, greening, community development.

1

Introduction

New Urbanism is defined on the website www.newurbanism.org as “Giving more people more choices about where and how they want to live;” and the movement entails creating a better future for all. It is a way to reform the design of the existing environment, and raise the quality of life for all. It looks at both how to fix existing cities and how to create compact new towns and villages. Chicago is a city in a constant state of development. The leadership of Chicago is committed to developing Chicago in a manner that will help Mayor Daley achieve his sustainability goal of making Chicago the greenest city in the nation, if not the world. The greening of Chicago could be achieved by following the principles of New Urbanism, as one of these principles is sustainability, and focuses on the environment within a community. New Urbanism presents an opportunity for cities to improve the quality of life for residents, help the environment, create more livable space, and improve how space is used from a single building to an entire community. This paper will explore the principles of New Urbanism and the principles that are applied in Chicago. Edmund Bacon, an urban planner whose vision shaped current-day Philadelphia, said, “The building of cities is one of man’s greatest achievements”

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682 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability (Ed Bacon Foundation [1]). New Urbanism can ensure that these achievements are sustainable and livable.

2 Principles of New Urbanism New Urbanism consists of ten principles which can be followed to achieve goals of making cities more livable and giving people more choices about where and how they want to live. These can be applied to a project that focuses on building a new school, one that looks at how to re-build an urban center, or the development of a housing subdivision. 2.1 Walkability Walkability calls for having amenities within a 10-minute walk of home and work and pedestrian friendly street design. Many of Chicago’s residents cannot imagine living in a space where you cannot walk to the dry cleaner or grocery store. Residents of Los Angeles, though, only know a way of life where getting from point A to point B includes a vehicle. Walkability of an area ensures that residents are pedestrians of an area and more people and fewer cars use the space. In a time when gas prices are at record highs across the country, walkability is very valuable. Pedestrian-friendly communities also offer more opportunities to get to know ones neighbors. In Chicago, for example, popular places for socializing include the farmer’s markets. The markets exist throughout the city because there is land to hold them on, and residents want this opportunity in their neighborhoods throughout the summer and fall seasons. The majority of the markets are in walkable neighborhoods, and people come by foot to buy produce. Chicago is an example of an urban center fortunate to have green space set aside for use by people. The Chicago Tribune recently conducted a poll and wrote a special report to name Chicago’s seven wonders. The #1 ‘wonder’ that Chicago was defined by is the lakefront. One poll respondent from New York City wrote that he has never seen such a beautiful lakefront, but also he has never been in an urban city where tree-lined streets and sidewalks were the norm. Residents throughout most Chicago neighborhoods are lucky to have sidewalks that give them the opportunity to walk. However, in some neighborhoods the environment is not conducive to walking due to concerns regarding traffic & general safety. The walkability principle of New Urbanism works to ensure that access and safety are the standards in neighborhoods; residents do not have to feel lucky to have a sidewalk, but rather expect that walkability is part of everyday life. 2.2 Connectivity Connectivity refers to creating interconnected streets that disperse traffic and ease walking. This includes use of narrow streets, boulevards, and alleys, and it creates a network of streets that are pedestrian-friendly. Eased walking means that people have a safe distance between where they are walking and where cars are, and that more direct walking routes are created. Connectivity also refers to WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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the “directness of links and the density of connections in a path or road network” (Victoria Transport Policy Institute [2]). As the connectivity of an area increases, travel distances decrease, and options for getting places increase allowing more direct travel between destinations. Chicago is a good example of a connected network of streets. The great Chicago urban planners (Daniel Burnham, for example), created the city on a grid of north/south, east/west streets. 2.3 Mixed-use and diversity Mixed-use developments include a mixture of shops, offices, apartments, and homes in one development site. Mixed-use buildings are more common in Europe than in the United States due to U.S. zoning laws which deter mixed-use development. Nonetheless, developers and investors find value in the fact that a mixed-use development’s success does not hinge upon one factor, but instead, has an opportunity for success within the commercial and residential aspects of a building. Diversity in New Urbanism refers to creating space that incorporates and is welcoming to a diverse population – recognizing age, culture, race, and social “class” as the factors for diversity. This principle calls for a range of housing opportunities as well as uses within each neighborhood. It advocates mixing income groups in what some may call a new way of thinking about communities. Mixed-use development is a principle that is rarely realized in practice, but is a central tenet of New Urbanism, and it sets a direction quite different from most sprawl and urban renewal programs. Diversity in New Urbanism works to create space where low and moderate income individuals and families can acquire affordable housing amongst market-price housing, and where a mixed population lives side-by-side. 2.4 Mixed housing What may be right for some is not always right for all, and neighborhoods with mixed housing options can attract a more diverse resident population. New Urbanism calls for a range of the type, size and price of housing within close proximity and it encourages developers to create and provide various housing designs. 2.5 Quality architecture and urban design This New Urbanism principle emphasizes beauty, aesthetics, human comfort, and creating a sense of place. Particular attention is given to the placement of civic-use space and sites within a community. New Urbanism also touts that human scale architecture and beautiful surroundings will nourish the human spirit. More green space can be created and citizens’ access to culture is increased.

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684 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 2.6 Traditional neighborhood structure In a traditional neighborhood structure, it is physically possible to walk to stores, schools, and businesses. The New Urbanism neighborhood structure puts public space at the center of a town or neighborhood, includes public open-space, and density is characteristic of the center of city space. 2.7 Increased density This principle is closely aligned with number 6, as a critical feature of traditional neighborhood structure. Increased density suggests locating more residences and businesses closer together because money will stay in the city or neighborhood where businesses and people are concentrated. 2.8 Smart transportation On an average workday in Chicago, nearly 1.5 million rides are taken on Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) train and bus routes (Chicago Transit Authority Online [3]). New Urbanism promotes a network of high-quality trains that connect cities, towns, and neighborhoods and increased use of bicycles and walking as daily transportation. 2.9 Sustainability Sustainability means how resources are used today so as not to deplete or permanently damage them for the future. More U.S. corporations and households are recognizing the importance of conducting business and life in a sustainable manner. New Urbanism defines sustainability as developing land and space with a minimal environmental impact, creating energy efficiency, using less fuel, producing more goods in a local environment (local business and agriculture), and more walking & less driving. 2.10 Quality of life The final principle - quality of life - envelopes the preceding nine principles into a tenth that says that all of the principles create a “high quality of life worth living” and places that “enrich, uplift, and inspire the human spirit” (New Urbanism Online [4]).

3

Pros and cons of New Urbanism

New Urbanism, at times referred to as ‘smart growth’, is a movement working to improve quality of life. The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) is a Chicago-based non-profit that was founded in 1993, and is currently run by John Norquist (former mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin). The organization works with architects, developers, and planners to implement the New Urbanism WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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principles, and has over 2,000 members throughout the world. It was founded to “restore existing urban centers and towns within coherent metropolitan regions, reconfigure the sprawling suburbs into communities of real neighborhoods and diverse districts, conserve natural environments and preserve our built legacy” (Norquist [5]). 3.1 New Urbanism critics Not everyone is amenable to living in a downtown center, an urban neighborhood, or a mixed-use building. There are scores of people who enjoy suburban living and the auto-centric way of life. Those choosing to live in the suburbs may feel that the type of space and amenities offered in their location are better for raising a family, and offer a more “relaxed” way of life. New Urbanism design and development encourages the creation of density of people and businesses. But linked with the density principle is the assumed result of more walking and less driving. If driving is not reduced, then the concentration of autos can lead to a greater amount of air pollution. Cars idling while drivers wait for traffic lights to change to only move a block or two can wreak havoc on air quality. If anti-sprawl projects increase gridlock in a densely packed urban core, they may have harmful effects on the environment. 3.2 Rebuttal Evidence suggests that a growing numbers of cities, developers, business owners, and government leaders do see the value of New Urbanism and are becoming more open to implementing the principles within their neighborhoods. Norquist says that “cities have always been the source of wealth and culture” and that the only way to save them, is if “people value them” (City Journal [6]). He takes the position that the only way to restore civility and culture in America is to rebuild cities. Great cultures have come out of cities such as Rome & Athens and one could argue that Chicago is a more current-day example of an evolving culture that developed (and continues to develop) because of its urban environment.

4 Chicago and New Urbanism Mayor Daley has vowed to make Chicago the greenest city in the nation, if not the world. Prior to the Richard M. Daley era, Chicago grew out of the success of manufacturing with production and jobs the key concerns. Protecting the City’s natural resources was not on the agenda of most of the businessmen/manufacturers of the late 1800s, like Cyrus McCormick or Philip Armour. This was a time of profits before protection. Chicago was fortunate, though, that other non-manufacturing business people, such as Aaron Montgomery Ward and Daniel Burnham, also made Chicago home. Montgomery Ward made his money with his mail-order catalog business, but he also helped save Chicago’s Lake Michigan Shores. Ward’s office was located across from property that was unsightly and full of abandoned junk. Ward WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

686 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability fought to not have Marshall Field’s new museum of natural history placed on the property. In 1909, all of Ward’s work toward saving the lakefront was rewarded when the Supreme Court of Illinois judged that the lakefront would remain a public space. Architect Daniel Burnham was a driving force behind the City Beautiful movement during the Progressive Era. Burnham believed that one should “make no little plans” as they would not be inspiring. Burnham left his mark on many cities, and a couple of his local accomplishments included building the White City for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the Chicago Plan. In his Chicago plan, Burnham called for replacing crowded streets with landscaped boulevards, a park that would stretch along the shore of Lake Michigan, and for the relocation of the city’s railroad lines and depots. Journalist Lincoln Steffens wrote in The Shame of the Cities (published in 1904) that Chicago was “First in violence, deepest in dirt; loud, lawless, unlovely, ill smelling…” (Spinney [7]). It was men like Montgomery Ward and Burnham who helped begin Chicago’s climb out of the dirt and their legacy is still visible today. Hence, Richard M. Daley did not invent this commitment to greenness and open space in Chicago; he had a great base to build upon. Unlike many of the country’s large cities, the majority of Chicago’s waterfront property was preserved as beach and public parks. But equally important, there are nearly 600 parks within the city limits and thousands of trees act as a canopy over the city. Nevertheless, he had new reasons to pursue greenness and beautification. By the 1980s, sections of the city had devolved into an industrial wasteland with industrial environmental clean-up sites and abandoned factories that once provided thousands of jobs. Through the 1990s Chicago began to experience what shaped up to be one of the most spectacular urban renaissances in modern history. This renaissance is equated to such things as urban and suburban population growth, immigration, and an environmentally-pleasant urban habitat. In 1989, newly elected Mayor Daley was trying to figure out how to bring Chicago out of the post-industrial “slag heap” and decided that planting trees was the best way to do this. Since 1989, the city has spent $5.2 billion improving Chicago’s walkways, streets, parks, and neighborhoods. Mayor Daley developed a new industry to replace the old. Much has been written about the mayor’s “obsession” with tourism as the industry of the 21st century. In the summer of 2005, Daley announced that he would consider bidding to host the 2016 summer Olympics in Chicago. Such an event would cost the city a great amount of money to prepare for the Olympics, however, the tourist, athlete, and sponsor dollars flooding the city economy could be worth the expense. A more recent sporting event that brought dollars to Chicago was the White Sox victory in the Major League Baseball World Series. Mayor Daley says he is a Sox fan because he grew up in Bridgeport (Southside Chicago), however, the green brought in by the “White”, could be the reason he is supporting the team who brought attention to the Second City. These other types of income are examples of business development that the Mayor may focus his attention on when other businesses are not flourishing.

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5 New Urbanism in Chicago One cannot travel through Chicago and see signs pointing out the New Urbanism principles present; however, the principles do exist. 5.1 Transportation Smart Transportation is one of the New Urbanism principles that is key to connecting cities and towns and neighborhoods. Walking as daily transportation is ideal in a New Urbanist environment, however, cannot be a reality in all places and public transportation is key to keeping Chicago moving. For those who have to depend on their car it is no longer limited to Chicago’s expressways. Many neighborhood streets are becoming thoroughfares and New Urbanism looks to eliminate this congestion and provide better transportation alternatives. New Urbanists will be the first to tell anyone who will listen that highways destroy cities. In 1957, U.S. Congress passed the Interstate Highway Act (signed by President Eisenhower). The purpose of the act was to augment state highways with a network of limited-access highways. A federal gas tax paid for 90% of highway construction and maintenance costs, and states paid the remaining 10%. The construction of highways has cut through urban areas and extended the reach of suburbs while using federal funding that is taken away from urban transportation systems. The reality is that without motorways, people would not be as connected as they are today with access to existing highways. The problem that New Urbanists point out is that on most highways throughout the U.S., a driver can see that they are driving through what used to be a neighborhood. In many European cities, for example, highways limit access to and bypass the central parts of cities. New Urbanists argue that density is needed to make an urban economy productive, and by spreading people and activities over greater distances, highways undermine this productivity. Smart transportation calls for trains that connect cities and neighborhoods, and pedestrian-friendly design that allows for a walkable community. New Ubanists recommend that a solution to the problems caused by being too dependent on autos as a mode of transportation is rebuilding existing cities and densifying existing suburbs into compact, walkable cities connected by an extensive train system. Trains can solve many congestion problems that cities face; for example, a six-car train can carry as many people as 100 city blocks of moving cars. Chicago’s downtown public transit options are numerous. The Chicago transportation system was built during a time (1870s) when downtown Chicago was the focus of business, shopping, services, and it made sense that all trains would come to a central point in the city. CTA is often in the news due to management issues and budget problems and is continually asking state government for more funding, yet riders do not see any improvements in their daily commute.

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688 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Three years ago, Mayor Daley began to resurrect his father’s plan of building a Cross-town Expressway. The vision has been to create a mini-Cross-town for trucks only to help divert trucks that now clog Chicago’s expressways. A bus lane or rapid-transit line has also been part of the picture. In August 2005, the City announced that consultants are working out many of the logistics of this plan. The City proposed five mass-transit alternatives along what is known as the Mid-City Line (an area that stretches from Jefferson Park to Ford City). The most popular alternative (with a projected 95,280 riders per day) would be a bus rapid-transit line between River Road and 95th Street (Chicago Sun Times [8]). This would run along railroad right-of-way and surface streets using an intelligent transportation system to change traffic lights to green as buses approach. This type of system helps buses quickly get through traffic and avoid congestion. The City has yet to address construction costs, residential displacement or fares for such a system, however, it is promising that the Mayor is addressing existing congestion and transportation issues that face the City on a daily basis. When cities begin to think about functional types of transportation, they are taking a step toward creating opportunities for economic and social development and thus will create more livable communities.

6

Greening

New Urbanism has helped put an emphasis on environmentally-sensitive construction as part of the walkable, livable communities that the NU principles recommend. The U.S. Green Building Council, a coalition that promotes environmentallysound building construction and practices, devised a building standard called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) that building developers and managers can work toward achieving as part of new and existing developments (USGBC [9]). LEED is voluntary and offers a set of guidelines to help develop and rehab buildings so they are designed to last and perform better than non-LEED certified buildings. Green office and living facilities are built with more recycled materials and tend to be more visually appealing. These buildings also tend to be more costeffective in the use of utilities such as water and electricity. Studies have shown that green office buildings bolster worker productivity and employers whose offices are green promote that their employees are happier and healthier working in a green environment. This New Urbanism principle of a sustainable environment (sustainability) is another example of New Urbanism creating economic and social opportunity. Mayor Daley is working toward increasing the number of green commercial and residential buildings throughout the city. He built the first municipal rooftop garden on City Hall and opened one of only five LEED Platinum-certified buildings in the country: The Chicago Center for Green Technology located at 445 North Sacramento Boulevard. This center uses solar and geothermal energy, has a rooftop garden, and a natural habitat to filter storm water. More city WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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buildings are planned to be LEED- certified, including libraries, fire stations, and a refueling station for the city’s fleet of natural-gas vehicles. Mayor Daley was named the 2005 Design Patron by the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. He was recognized for his efforts over the past 16 years to “transform Chicago into a green city, planting 400,000 trees and beginning an effort to attract renewableenergy companies” (Daniels [10]). On November 8, 2005, Mayor Daley received an award from The Nature Museum and The Chicago Academy of Sciences in recognition of his commitment to making Chicago a green city. Chicago sets an example that building sustainable communities and attracting green businesses makes economic and social sense.

7

Conclusion

Chicago, like many other urban centers, is in a constant state of development and redevelopment. Throughout multiple neighborhoods and sections of Chicago, Quality Architecture & Urban Design is represented. This principle emphasizes beauty, aesthetics, human comfort, and a sense of place. Millennium Park is a good example of this and it presents civic-use space for the community in the form of concert space, a garden, and the park itself. Another New Urbanism principle that Chicago is incorporating and recognizing the importance of is Sustainability. Aside from greening (which Chicago is doing quite well), sustainability refers to producing more in a local environment and this includes local businesses. One way that this is being addressed in Chicago is via the Local First campaign. Local First works with local business owners to promote buying local and will encourage consumers to buy, for example, their morning coffee at a locally-owned café or to buy reading material at a woman-owned bookstore rather than big-box name. This will lead to economic growth and job creation through the vehicle of local purchasing in Chicago. The City cannot tout that it is a center of New Urbanism. Critics of Chicago could point out that the city is not walkable, it is not connected in a manner that eases traffic congestion, it lacks a large number of mixed-use developments, mixed housing is not part of every neighborhood, and smart transportation is something that needs more attention. In a time when urban landscape is being changed by nature and human nature, there is a recognized need in the U.S. for New Urbanism. The question of New Urbanism is not, smart growth vs. no growth. Rather, it is smart growth vs. sprawl. All cities and towns start out with lower densities, and eventually evolve into denser places to accommodate growing populations. The only alternative is to grow endlessly outward and that can destroy a region's quality of life as it consumes farmland and wilderness, creates very high levels of vehicle use, and moves homes further and further from jobs, schools, and parks.

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690 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The sustainability of our cities, towns, businesses, and lifestyles is dependent upon how we use our existing resources today and this will determine the future. New Urbanism presents a sustainable way of designing and living that will ensure we have resources, homes, and businesses today and tomorrow.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

The Ed Bacon Foundation, www.edbacon.com. Victoria Transport Policy Institute, www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm116.htm. CTA Overview, Chicago Transit Authority, www.transitchicago.com. New Urbanism, www.newurbanism.org. Norquist, John, The Wealth of Cities, Perseus Books, Cambridge, 1998. City Journal, www.city-journal.org. Spinney, Robert G., City of Big Shoulders: A History of Chicago, Northern Illinois Press, DeKalb, 2000. Herrmann, Andres, “Searching to reclaim the city’s inner soul”, Chicago Sun Times, August 26, 2005. United States Green Building Council. LEED, Washington DC, www.usgbc.org. Daniels, Mary, “The jolly green mayor”, Chicago Tribune, October 30, 2005.

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Community-based quality of life indicators for urban areas as derived in Galway City, Ireland F. Fahy & M. Ó Cinnéide Department of Geography, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

Abstract Promoting quality of life and well-being of citizens is increasingly recognised as an essential component of sustainable urban development. The use of indicators is considered by many to be a key element in giving practical effect to the concept of sustainable cities. However, an emerging body of literature acknowledges that indicators are unlikely to be acceptable or particularly useful unless they are developed in close consultation with their target populations. Community-derived indicators allow individual citizens and communities to express and measure the most important determinants of quality of life for them. This participatory approach raises awareness of elements of the urban environment that are highly valued by citizens and has the potential to contribute to improving local governance. The derivation of quality of life indicators and their observation in urban settings, together with the compilation, analysis, and interpretation of related databases, are highly problematic, not least because the indicators tend to be qualitative in nature and difficult to measure objectively. The use of community-derived quality of life indicators in sustainable urban planning is reviewed in this paper. The process of developing such indicators in Galway (Ireland), one of the fastest growing cities in the EU (as part of a project sponsored by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency), is examined in detail. The manner in which the municipal authority may utilise these indicators to monitor quality of life trends and as a practical tool for bolstering participatory democracy is discussed. This enhanced governance is demonstrated to be a potentially influential process of promoting sustainability practices in cities. Keywords: quality of life indicators, sustainable urban communities, participatory democracy and governance, Ireland.

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Introduction

Academics and policy-makers formulating sustainable cities initiatives are increasingly concerned with liveability and quality of life issues [1]. Indeed, there is an emerging body of research investigating the measurement of quality of life in urban areas. The use of indicators is considered by many to be a central element in giving practical effect to the concept of sustainable cities [2] and the process of developing such indicators in Galway (Ireland) (as part of a project sponsored by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency), is reported in this paper. This research project is unique in the context of Ireland but draws upon international examples of related research on quality of life and sustainable cities. The study area, namely Galway City, and the city’s progress with regard to sustainability and Local Agenda 21 (LA21) is examined initially. The international literature associated with the use of sustainability indicators and with quality of life indicators is then reviewed. In particular an emerging body of research highlighting the importance of community/citizen involvement in indicator development is reviewed. Difficulties involved in measuring aspects of quality of life, which are generally qualitative in nature, are identified. The methodology undertaken to develop community-based quality of life indicators for Galway is outlined in the third section. Preliminary results are presented in the penultimate section of this paper and the manner in which the municipal authority may utilise the research design that has been developed and associated results as a practical tool for measuring quality of life of the citizens of the city and for bolstering participatory democracy, are explored. The potential to influence the process of promoting sustainability practices in cities is considered in the final section.

2

Galway: a sustainable city?

Galway is situated on the west coast of Ireland. It is one if the fastest growing urban centres in the EU and had a population of 66,000 people in 2002 [3]. The municipal authority, Galway City Council, has been involved in a local process of sustainable development since the establishment of the Galway City Development Board (CBD) in 2000. In the preparation of the CBD’s Strategy for Economic, Social and Cultural Development 2002-2012 a Galway City Atlas was produced and a range of indicators were developed to monitor and promote progress towards specific economic, social and cultural goals. For example three indicators were developed to measure progress towards the CBD’s objective of “a safe and healthy city”. These indicators are a) number of crimes per annum, b) waiting time for medical and surgical services, and c) membership of sports clubs. However, the indicators that are cited in the strategy are based on quantitative data, that are readily available to the municipal authority and do not include the more general liveability and quality of life issues associated with urban areas. In July 2005, as part of the research project upon which this paper is based, Galway City Council undertook an evaluation on their progress towards WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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sustainable development. The evaluation, entitled Local Evaluation 21, is available to all local authorities in Europe. It was created as a follow-up to the research project LASALA [4] (Local Authorities’ Self Assessment of Local Agenda 21), which was funded by the European Commission, DG Research (for more detailed information see www.localevaluation21.org). Although the comparative element of this evaluation is limited, (in that few additional local authorities of similar population size to Galway have undertaken the exercise), the evaluation indicated some of Galway City Councils’ strengths and weaknesses with regard to the LA21 and identified opportunities to progress the LA21 process through the local authority. In particular, the evaluation identified several areas within the City Council’s LA21 process requiring improvement. For example, a detailed assessment of local priority concerns is currently lacking in Galway City Council’s local process for sustainable development. In addition there are currently no mechanisms in place to feed back results of the local process for sustainable development to stakeholder groups or the general public. Specific recommendations to improve the City Council’s local process for sustainable development, outlined in the evaluation, include i) the introduction of an evaluation scheme to examine the long term effects of the local sustainability process ii) a need to include targets and measures in order to successfully steer progress towards local sustainable development and iii) increased participation across sectors in order to integrate different perspectives into Galway City Council’s local process for sustainable development. Indeed, these recommendations have also been observed at the national scale in Ireland; in the context of Irish sustainability policy two priority areas have been identified, namely, developing practical tools for sustainability assessment and improving public participation in sustainability processes. The need to develop more effective tools to both promote and assess the process and practices of sustainability has been identified by the EPA as a priority for Irish environmental policy. At national level, the EPA has produced Key Environmental Indicators for Ireland [5]. At local government level, little research has been conducted on sustainability indicators and related sustainability assessment tools. In addition, developing greater public participation in decisions about local places is problematic. In the Irish context, consultation exercises are quite limited and consultation and consensus building exercises on environment and development tend to relate to existing models of environmental policy rather than LA21 per se [6]. Commentators such as Mullally [6] note that one of the most discernible obstacles to measuring LA21 in Ireland is the lack of a systematic approach to increasing community participation. It is within this context that the current research project is formulated. Key issues arising from the recommendations outlined above, represent major research foci. The primary aim of the research is to develop a set of community derived quality of life indicators for the city of Galway. This participatory approach is utilised not just as a method to raise awareness of elements of the urban environment that are highly valued by citizens but also as a practical tool for bolstering public participation in policy-making and improving the levels of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

694 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability trust between local communities and the local authority – in effect shaping sustainability practices through enhanced governance. The development and deployment of sustainability indicators as essential tools for planning and assessing sustainable cities are now examined.

3

Measuring sustainability in urban areas

Chapter 40 of the Agenda 21 document calls for the development of indicators for sustainable development [7]. Since then, indicators have become one of the key tools for assessing sustainability [2, 8, 9]. A sustainability indicator “captures and measures a particular aspect of sustainability policy in an easily communicable form, allowing monitoring and subsequent ‘steering’ of policy, whether by internal management or external political pressure” [10]. A review of the large body of literature on sustainability indicators reveals that many benefits may be achieved through the use of this tool. By measuring specific phenomena in a community e.g. crime rates, recycling rates, car ownership, green land acreage, indicators provide vital information about trends in key environmental values and assist in tracking progress towards stated goals. Indicators are also a method of engaging the community in working towards shared aims and objectives. In addition, researchers such as Gahin et al. [8] perceive indicators as a means of generating community consensus. There are many ways in which indicators can be used including as i) a planning tool, ii) a learning tool iii) a communication tool and iv) a collaborative tool [11]. The process of developing indicators is often viewed as a participatory process that fosters community ownership, builds group credibility, and educates participants. Indicators are unlikely to be as acceptable and used as effectively if they have not been developed in consultation with their target audiences and users [10]. However, the extent to which full engagement and dialogue with citizens occurs is contested. Research conducted by McAlpine and Birnie [12] on the development of indicators for the Island of Guernsey reveals that although best practice literature advises that communities should be involved prior to the development of the indicators, this is not always possible. For example, local communities are not always willing and ready to contribute to the development of sustainability indicators [12]. Over 25 large cities in the United States have developed indicators to track progress towards sustainable development including Portland, San Francisco, and San Jose [9]. The popularity of sustainability indicators within Europe is almost inescapable [12]. For example, the European Commission launched a comprehensive benchmarking in 2003 entitled European Common Indicators: Towards a Local Sustainability Profile. Sommer [13] discusses how indicators are being used in initiatives by local authorities with local groups and communities at the neighbourhood level, to raise awareness of sustainable development and to encourage behavioural change. As they provide information, indicators can ‘inspire action’ and lead to better decision making. They are regarded as educational tools that can be utilized to raise awareness. Hence, they are viewed as a tool to empower both citizens and decision-makers. However, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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some indicators are easier to identify and maintain than others [9]. Several relevant indicators are collected on a regular basis by government agencies and local authorities e.g. housing, welfare and crime figures. Although attention was focused initially on the relatively technical task of the development and design of indicators, more recently, questions are being raised about the effectiveness of indicators [2]. It appears that there is a dearth of research examining the outcomes of indicator use. Overall it appears that it is difficult to “discern clear links between the development of an indicator programme and actual changes in decision-making and policy outcomes” [10]. Hence the sustainability indicator research agenda has shifted from design and development towards investigating the links between indicator development and policy action. This new research agenda also highlights the necessity to understand the local context in which the indicators are being developed (this is a marked shift away from the technical approach). A bottom-up approach (where a wide variety of actors are involved) is advocated as opposed to a top-down approach (where local authorities themselves devise and use indicators). Similarly, from this new research perspective, the relations between lay person and expert become very important [10]. Indicators need to be socially constructed as discussed in Journel et al. [14]. Consequently, enabling communities to identify the important issues is vital and this is a fundamental tenet of the research project for which this paper relates.

4

Quality of life indicators

Quality of life considerations have only recently emerged in the literature on indicators. Bell and Morse [2] highlight that sustainability is primarily about people and therefore there may be “little point achieving a sustainable system that reduces the quality of life of the people in that system”. However, the inclusion of such indicators gives rise to the difficult questions relating to what should be incorporated as quality of life. As noted above, some indicators are easier to identify and maintain than others. Many indicators of quality of life are qualitative in nature and according to Wheeler [9] may be more difficult to measure. One reason for this is that there are a large number of diverse definitions for quality of life. For example, Cutter [15] defines it as “an individual’s happiness or satisfaction with life and environment including needs and desires and other tangible and intangible factors which determine overall well being”. For Kline [16] quality of life, at a minimum, needs to measure the ability of citizens to get adequate health care, housing, child care, public safety and education. Increasingly, quality of life is being broadly accepted as an essential element of sustainability; however, there is not much consensus on what exactly it is or how it should be included [2]. As a result only limited research has been conducted on quality of life indicators though Wheeler’s [9] review of quality of life indicators by the local government in Jacksonville, Florida in 1986 and a more recent project is the Pierce County Quality of Life Benchmark Project, as reported by Devuyst [17], are noteworthy in this respect. At the local level in the UK Bristol City Council has very successfully developed WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

696 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability quality of life indicators for the city in recent years. Local Agenda 21 Strategy for Bristol provides “a frame-work and set of principles by which the city can move into a more sustainable future” (www.bristol-city.gov.uk).

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Research methodology

The traditional approach to developing quality of life indicators is to conduct quantitative surveys where people are asked for their subjective ratings [9]. However, as Kline [16] notes, quality of life concerns are a reflection of people’s beliefs, perceptions and opinions and, as such, indicators need to be developed that can be measured through interviews, focus groups and other qualitative methods. This section discusses the quantitative and qualitative methodologies employed in developing quality of life indicators for the city of Galway. A major criticism levelled at quality of life projects is that they typically reflect expert opinion about what constitutes quality of life i.e. traditionally these projects do not incorporate how citizens perceive the communities and cities in which they live [18]. Hence, the current research project is situated in the contemporary movement of critical social science which aims to examine issues of quality of life and sustainability from the perspective of the community – the “non-expert voices” [19]. Primary emphasis is on developing a communityderived set of quality of life indicators for Galway which enable individuals to express what is important to them in their city and to allow citizens and policymakers to make decisions based on the results obtained. In addition, the project strives for the involvement of traditionally underrepresented groups, for example, youth. To fulfil these aims both qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilised. Indeed, there are a variety of studies which advocate the combination of methodological approaches in a mixed methods approach. Central to this is the idea that quantitative research facilitates and complements qualitative research and vice versa. One of the primary difficulties associated with the examination and measurement of quality of life factors in a city is that they are difficult to define because of their qualitative nature. Hence, in addition to the need to identify trends/progress with regard to quality of life in the city, this project recognised that the investigation of quality of life issues requires a qualitative understanding of the subject matter. Consequently, the first stage of this research project employed focus group discussions to enable the public to identify and collaboratively discuss a variety of quality of life issues that are pertinent to living in Galway. The second stage of the research utilised an extensive questionnaire survey of a large number of respondents (200) researching quality of life in their neighbourhoods and in the city as a whole to produce a large body of quantitative data for statistical analysis and comparative research. Both stages are discussed in more detail below. In addition, as citizens across every urban area reside in very varied circumstances the research sample for both stages of the project were chosen from various geographical areas, encompassing a full range of socioeconomic groups from across the city. Focus groups, or group interview, are increasingly being adopted and developed as a powerful technique in policy-making and academic research [20]. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Krueger [21] notes that this tool differs from other research methods in that it facilitates group interaction and a deeper insight into the reasoning behind opinions. For the purposes of this research nine focus groups were conducted to discuss the topic of quality of life in Galway. They included groups representing school children, third level students, the chamber of commerce, retired citizens, and a variety of residents’ and community organisations. In particular, utilisation of the focus group methodology facilitated the inclusion of the often silent voices of youth by gaining an insight into young people’s perspective of quality of life issues in Galway. A schedule of questions was formulated prior to the focus group sessions outlining the key topics for discussion including perceptions of what factors make up quality of life in Galway and opinions on current quality of life in the city. Each discussion varied in length and lasted approximately between one and two hours. The results from the nine focus group discussions are presented in Table 1 and are considered further below. Comparison of the focus group results with existing local authority indicators revealed a number of gaps with regard to quality of life indicators in Galway City. Building on the information from the focus group research, a questionnaire survey was established to both access and assess previously unavailable data. The aim of the survey was to establish new baseline information about quality of life in Galway City. The topics contained within the questionnaire covered a wide range of quality of life issues, including perceptions of community, crime, facilities, environmental and economic aspects of life in both the respondent’s neighbourhood and throughout the city of Galway. In addition to issues identified through the focus groups, topics were also derived from previous international quality of life studies such as Bristol City’s Annual Quality of Life Reports (see www.bristol-city.gov.uk) and the European Urban Audit Perception Survey (see www.urbanaudit.org). Using the city’s electoral register a nested random sample of 200 addresses was selected from five city wards that included a diverse range of socioeconomic classes. Depending on the respondent each questionnaire took approximately 10-20 minutes to complete. The fieldwork and analysis of the data gathered was conducted between January and March 2006. In accordance with the goals of sustainable development, the face-to-face format of the questionnaire survey and use of visual aids meant that the survey did not exclude individuals traditionally marginalised from conventional written questionnaire surveys, such as persons who are functionally illiterate. In addition to questions relating to quality of life, the final section of the questionnaire survey covered demographic and household characteristics of the sample population. The questionnaire respondents were 48.5% male and 51.5% female. This is in line with the most recent national census data which revealed that the city’s population compromised of 47.1% males and 52.9% females in 2002. 63% of respondents were aged 15 - 44 years and only 7% were 65+ years of age. However, Galway has a relatively young population and these figures correlate with data from the national census which reveals that 25.9% of Galway City’s population is aged 15-24 [3]. Almost 88% of questionnaire respondents had a Leaving Certificate or third level qualification. This figure directly relates to the relatively young age structure of the respondents. The 2002 national census WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

698 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability shows that recent generations are better educated. The percentage of the Galway population (aged 15 or older) who completed their education with a third level qualification was 40.8% in 2002 which compares favourably with the national figure of 26% [3]. Finally, in contrast to the national census data which depicts a strong tendency towards privately owned housing (77% of households in Ireland are owner occupied), only 50% of the questionnaire respondents resided in owner occupied housing, while 42% lived in privately rented accommodation, and 8% lived in social housing. As one of the objectives of the research is to examine variations in perceptions of quality of life across different neighbourhoods within the city, it is critical to note that the profile of the residents responding to this survey reflects, for the most part, the broader profile of the five electoral divisions chosen for this research. Table 1:

Quality of life themes identified from the focus group discussions.

Critical Quality of Life Themes and Examples

Examples of Qualitative and Quantitative Indicators Qnt = Quantitative Qual = Qualitative

Transport E.g.: issues with bus service, cycling facilities in the city, traffic, pedestrian crossings Size /Compactness E.g.: population size, distance to walk within the city Community E.g.: sense of community, cohesion and integration, older people/children Identity E.g.: character of the city, buildings, traditions associated with the city Facilities E.g.: availability and access of facilities, facilities for older people, for children Planning and Development E.g.: building development, neglected plots of land Environment E.g.: availability/accessibility of green areas, litter, recycling Economic E.g.: cost of living, employment opportunities Social E.g.: homelessness, non-national integration

Qnt – bus route service Qual – perception of cycle lanes Qual – perception/accessibility of bus service Qnt – population data Qual – perceptions of compactness of the city Qnt – no of community groups registered with local authority Qual – sense of belonging in a neighbourhood Qnt – no of traditionally based businesses in the city Qual – perceptions of the character of a city Qnt – No of leisure and health centres in the city Qual – perceptions of accessibility and quality of facilities Qnt – no of recent completions Qual – perception of building development Qnt – no of parks Qual – usage of parks, quality of green areas Qnt – unemployment figures Qnt – national GDP Qual – perception of cost of living within the city Qnt – figures for residents in homeless shelters Qual – perceptions of integration

Status

(Available = pre existing data available from Municipal Authority/ Not Available = no data exists prior to questionnaire results) Available Not Available Not Available Available Not Available Available Not Available Available Not Available Available Not Available Available Not Available Available Not Available Available Available Not Available Available Not Available

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699

Results

The results of the focus group discussions (summarised in Table 1) reveal a range of quality of life themes and indicators as identified by the public. Nine key themes emerged from the focus groups: transport, size of the city, community, identity, facilities, planning and development, environment, economic, and social. These themes were formulated following the transcription and analysis of the focus group discussions by citizens involved in the focus group sessions. These classifications are flexible; they are not regarded as definitive and some factors/indicators could be included in more than one of the categories identified. The focus group discussions revolved around the topic of what determined quality of life in Galway and the respondents identified both positive and negative features of each of the themes listed in Table 1. ‘Environment’, for example, was one of the nine critical themes which participants identified as influencing quality of life in the city. Discussions relating to this theme encompassed dissatisfaction with litter and the poor appearance of some city streetscapes. Within the same theme obvious satisfaction with recycling facilities operating within the city was strongly expressed. It is also interesting to note that within the ‘Environment’ theme, availability of and accessibility to green areas was a recurring issue which surfaced in most of the focus group discussions. While the municipal authority has data outlining the amount and size of green areas available within the city boundary, participants expressed a variety of opinions about usage of these green areas and access to them. These community-derived themes were investigated and tested further in the second stage of the research, the questionnaire survey. An overview of questionnaire survey findings relating to a select number of factors examined is presented here. The factors reported on include overall satisfaction with neighbourhoods, perceptions of belonging, and crime in respondents’ local areas. For the purposes of this overview, results for the five electoral districts are presented collectively. The vast majority (91.5%) of all respondents were ‘fairly satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their neighbourhood as a place to live. Indeed, only 13% of respondents felt that their neighbourhood had got worse over the past two years, while 15% felt that it had improved, and 46.5% felt that it had not changed. (25.5% had lived in their neighbourhoods less than two years). Overall, 67% of respondents felt that they belonged in their neighbourhoods, while 25.5% felt they did not and 7.5% really did not know. Of those respondents that felt they did not belong in their neighbourhoods 51% resided in privately rented accommodation and 25.5% had lived in the neighbourhood for less than two years. In total, 82.8% of all respondents ‘strongly agree’ or ‘somewhat agree’ with the statement ‘I trust most of the people living in my local area’. With regard to crime and safety 17% of respondents felt that their neighbourhoods were ‘very safe outdoors after dark’, while 52.5% felt they were ‘fairly safe’, 18% felt that they were ‘neither safe nor unsafe’, 10% felt they were ‘fairly unsafe’ and 2% felt they were ‘very unsafe’. On the topic of crime and safety in Galway City as a whole, 79.3% ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘somewhat agreed’ with the statement ‘I feel safe in the city’. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

700 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Regarding other quality of life issues in the city, only 26.3% of respondents ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ agreed with the statement that ‘it is easy to find good housing at a reasonable cost’ while 65.6% ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ disagreed with this statement. With regard to employment 40.4% of respondents ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ agreed with the statement ‘it is easy to find a job in Galway City’ while 35.4% ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ disagreed with this statement. With regard to environmental factors, 72.8% of respondents ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ disagreed with the statement that ‘air pollution is a big problem in Galway’ and 59.6% concurred with the statement that Galway ‘is a clean city’. On the issue of integration 56.9% of respondents felt that ‘non-nationals who live in Galway are well integrated’. In answer to a later question 27.9% felt that there was either ‘a lot of tension’ or ‘some tension’ between different racial and ethnic groups in the city. Overall, 70% of all respondents ‘strongly agreed’ with the statement ‘I am satisfied living in Galway’ and a further 27.5% ‘somewhat agreed’ with this statement. In addition to questions relating to quality of life issues at the local neighbourhood level and at the wider city level, respondents were asked to rank (on a scale of 1-10 where 1 indicates dissatisfaction and 10 indicates very satisfied) their satisfaction with personal quality of life factors. The results (presented in Table 2) indicate a high level of personal satisfaction on most counts. Table 2:

Satisfaction with personal quality of life factors.

Satisfied (i.e. ranked the factor 8, 9 or 10) with… Current job Education Accommodation Social life Health Family life Current standard of living

7

% 53 51 68 62 75 73 73

Conclusion

The focus group discussions identified a number of themes and indicators the participants considered significant to quality of life in the city of Galway. When these are considered in light of existing data and indicators previously available from the municipal authority, it is interesting to note the discrepancy between what Moller terms as ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ indicators (objective indicators are tangible facts that can be readily observed and subjective indicators are personal judgements of objective conditions [18]) and in particular the dearth of data relating to subjective indicators in Galway. It is evident from the results, presented in Table 1, that additional indicators are required to represent a holistic view of quality of life in the city of Galway. These additional indicators were identified and tested through the use of the questionnaire survey. In addition to establishing new baseline data, drawing on the research of Cutter [15], the survey examined perceptions of personal quality of life. The results suggest that, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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by and large, high levels of satisfaction exist with regard to many elements of quality of life in Galway City. The preliminary results presented in this paper relate primarily to the city as a whole and do not differentiate between the various city neighbourhoods that were surveyed. Further analysis and statistical breakdown of results by electoral ward will address this matter. In addition, research studies concentrating on quality of life in urban areas present a clear opportunity to examine the interface between subjective and objective relationships [18] and this aspect of the research will be developed with further analysis. Central to this project is the engagement of Galway City Council in dialogue with citizens and communities in order to gather relevant information and shape sustainable development practices. The sustainable development discourse places heavy emphasis on the need to develop more democratic mechanisms for decision making. In this sense, regardless of the final tangible outputs – the final set of quality of life indicators – the actual process of collating the data is an end in itself. Community-derived indicators allow individual citizens and communities to express and measure the most important determinants of quality of life for them. These indicators may be monitored in Galway City on an ongoing basis into the future. The development and deployment of communityderived quality of life indicators as outlined in this paper represent a significant step towards the goal of sustainability in Galway City.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Portney, K.E. Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2003. Bell, S. and Morse, S. Sustainability Indicators, Earthscan: London, 1999. Central Statistics Office 2002 Census of Population: Preliminary Report. Central Statistics Office: Dublin, 2002. LASALA (Local Authorities Self Assessment of Local Agenda 21) Accelerating Local Sustainability - Evaluating European Local Agenda 21 Processes, ICLEI: Freiburg, 2001. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Environment in Focus 2002: Key Environmental Indicators for Ireland Environmental Protection Agency: Wexford, 2002. Mullally, G. Starting Late: building institutional capacity on the reform of sub-national governance Sustainable Communities in Europe ed. Lafferty, W. Earthscan: London, 2001. UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) Agenda 21 – Action Plan for the Next Century, UNCED, Rio de Janeiro, 1992. Gahin, R., Veleva, V. and Hart, M. Do Indicators Help Create Sustainable Communities, Local Environment, 8(6), 661-666, 2003. Wheeler, S. Planning for Sustainability: Creating Livable, Equitable, and Ecological Communities Routledge: UK, 2004.

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702 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [10] [11] [12]

[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]

Rydin, Y., Holman, N and Wolff, E. Local Sustainability Indicators, Local Environment 8(6) pp. 581-590, 2003. Hoernig, H. and Seasons, M. Understanding Indicators Community Indicators Measuring Systems ed. Phillips, R. Ashgate: UK, pp. 3-32, 2005. McAlpine, P. and Birnie, P. Is there a Correct Way of Establishing Sustainability Indicators? The Case of Sustainability Indicator Development on the Island of Guernsey, Local Environment, 10(3) pp.243-257, 2005. Sommer, F. Monitoring and Evaluating Outcomes of Community Involvement – the LITMUS Experience, Local Environment 5(2) pp. 483491 2000. Journel, C., Duchene, F., Coanus, T., and Martinais, E. Devising Local sustainable Development Indicators Local Environment 8(6) pp. 615-626 2003. Cutter, S.L. Rating Places: a geographers view on quality of life, Association of American Geographical Research Publishers: USA, 1985. Kline, E. Indicators for Sustainable Development in Urban Areas How green is the city? ed. Devuyst, D., Columbia: USA, pp. 275-298, 2001. Devuyst, D. How green is the city? Columbia: USA, 2001. Moller, V. Monitoring quality of life in cities: the Durban case Development Southern Africa 18(2) pp 217-222, 2001. Hobson, K. Thinking habits into action: the role of knowledge and process in questioning household consumption practices Local Environment, 8(1) pp.95-112, 2003. Davies, A.R. Where Do We Go From Here? Environmental focus groups and planning policy formation, Local Environment, 4(3) pp.295-315, 1999. Krueger, R.A. Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research. Sage: USA 1994.

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Space for community – the study of resident involvement in neighbourhood space management P. Castell Built Environment and Sustainable Development, Department of Architecture, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden

Abstract The objects of study of this paper are groups of residents that are engaged in gardening and other management tasks in their neighbourhood. Such participation processes are sometimes promoted as a salvation of decline and eroded social capital in marginalised urban communities. This paper summarises experiences from previous Swedish case studies of resident involvement in open space management. It also proposes a revised classification model for the analysis, description and comparison of processes of resident involvement in neighbourhood space management in rental housing areas. The new typology is based on the level of autonomy, the management tasks, the type of contract and the type of compensation. Keywords: participation, community garden, open space management, housing.

1

Introduction

This paper is an early outcome from the transdisciplinary research project “Sustainable open space management in rental housing areas” – aiming to collect knowledge on different management forms in relation to sustainable urban development, with a special focus on social and economic aspects. The purpose of the paper is to give an overview of different types of resident involvement in open space management in Sweden and present a model for their classification. Participative management is promoted by different actors for a variety of reasons, but still often understood in practice by managers at housing companies as something unconventional and complicated or even strange [1]. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060671

704 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability As an area of research, resident involvement in neighbourhood space management deals with (a) the social structures within the neighbourhood; (b) the human-environment interaction in the daily outdoor activities; and (c) the institutional arrangements connecting the local community and its individuals to the housing company and the rest of the society with its cultural, economic and political macro-structures. The paper is partly a literature review and partly built on my own empirical investigations carried out in the year of 2005: telephone interviews with different actors; observations in residential areas; questionnaires to residents; and deep interviews with residents and management staff.

2 Definitions I will provide a brief explanation of the most central concepts of this paper. See Castell 2005 for a more elaborated discussion of the different terms [1]. The neighbourhood space is here a term for the public open space used for different types of everyday activities by the residents in a housing block or in a part of a residential area with rental apartments. In Sweden, rental apartment houses are in general organised in a way that each house or group of houses is connected to an open space, providing a nice view for the residents, tools for children’s play, places to sit down, etcetera – a space shared by the residents. In many cases, this space is more or less enclosed by the buildings, whereby it forms a yard. Involvement here refers to when local residents are engaged in the management of their neighbourhood spaces, doing practical work tasks such as planting, weeding, lawn moving, painting etcetera, but also tasks such as planning and designing the yard, or arranging social events for the neighbours. It may be regarded as a form of community gardening, which is a commonly used term for related phenomena. More organised forms of resident involvement are often called self-management. The participating residents are here referred to as active residents and the term process will function as a general term for the single project or active group in an area.

3

Overview of Swedish case studies

Resident participation in planning, design and decision-making has been an issue for research projects in Sweden since the 1970s. Very few projects, however, have aimed at investigating the specific role and functions of residential involvement in gardening and management of common open spaces. I will here briefly present some results from those projects and some related studies. 3.1 Grassroots mobilisation and cooperative self-management in Eriksbo As the Social Democratic Party reassumed the power after six years of a rightwinged government in 1982, there was a lot of political debate on how to reorganise the public sector in Sweden. In connection to this, there were a WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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number of members from the social democratic youth league who got interested in local community self-management. Some of them lived in the rental housing area Eriksbo in Göteborg, where they started to practice these ideas. They initiated a garden group, a sports club and a local magazine, and 1983 an areabased cooperative association was constituted. The process grew and led to institutionalised agreements. By the mid-1990s a school and a supermarket was run cooperatively and the association managed a public park in the area as well as indoor and outdoor maintenance through self-management contracts. However, the motivation fell for many of the active residents by the end of the 1990s and the open space management is now contracted to a garden firm [3–8]. The case of Eriksbo is described in a number of reports highlighting the rather unique and highly developed local cooperative organisation. As sociologist J-E Lind points out, the researchers usually focus on the collaboration aspects, while the conflict aspects are less visible in most reports. According to Lind, collaboration and conflict are both inherent elements in any social process, and in the case of the self-management processes of Eriksbo, the collaboration patterns have been superior to the conflict patterns most of the time, until some years ago, when the conflict patterns became more visible [6]. 3.2 Self-management in Holma – a demonstration of urban revitalisation Holma was in the beginning of the 1990s a rather declined and stigmatised housing district in Malmö, even described in the newspapers as a ‘human dump’. In an attempt to turn the vicious circle, the housing company looked for new ways of involving the residents. The district was divided into four management areas, with one local manager responsible for each. These areas were in turn divided into yard-wise ‘self-management areas’, and the residents were encouraged to form groups to involve in the management of the yards. Soon, most of the yards had self-management groups taking care of the maintenance. The Holma project was a great success and has inspired many other companies. One thing that contributed to the renown of the project was that it triggered a political discussion on taxation on compensations, which eventually led to a new tax regulation (the ‘Lex Holma’). Since then, it was made clear that untaxed economic compensation was acceptable, but only to a certain extent. The evaluations and studies of Holma show the high potential of resident involvement in breaking a process of suburban decay and turn it to a positive rejuvenation process. They also show that it is possible to make economic arrangements to formalise and institutionalise resident involvement [7,8]. 3.3 The Poseidon project and the role of the Union of Tenants The Swedish Union of Tenants has played an important role in the development of different forms of resident empowerment in rental housing areas, and the collaboration between tenants and their landlords. The Union of Tenants has had a strong position with negotiation agreements with all municipal and most private housing companies. A prerequisite for many of the participation processes is the tenant influence agreements between the Union of Tenants and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

706 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability many of the companies, which provide a framework for collaboration. Despite being opponents in negotiations of rent levels and different types of conflicts, the two parts have very similar interests when it comes to social cohesion and the overall appearance of the residential area. Both the landlord and most residents benefit from a nice looking environment and good neighbour relations. One of the outcomes from the collaboration between companies and the tenants’ union, is the Local Democracy and Self-management (Lokal demokrati och självförvaltning) project of the municipal housing company Poseidon in Göteborg, which has been an object of a thorough evaluation. Since the start 1997, about thirty yard associations have formed, of which half are working with open space maintenance and management. The residents active in these groups do not get any direct compensation for their work. However, they are encouraged to apply for funds to purchase material and cover other expenses. The evaluation of the Poseidon project gives an overall very positive view of the achievements, stating that a minimum of formal regulation (such as the relatively simple administration agreements of the yard associations) may give the residents a decent influence on their living situation. It also concludes that this kind of organisation involves some marginalised groups to a larger extent than traditional organisations; there is a fairly high amount of immigrants and women among the active in the yard associations [9]. 3.4 Community garden network in the centre of Stockholm As a step in the Agenda 21 work by the end of the 1990s, the project Green Living Yards (Grönskande levande gårdar) was set up in Stockholm’s inner city, aiming to start and support what we may refer to as community gardens, where residents, school children or other user groups engaged in the development of management of a yard, playground, garden or such. Within two and a half year, more than 50 ‘yard groups’ were formed who worked along with the project’s process model in four steps (visioning, knowledge building, planning and implementation). There were some possibilities for the groups to apply for investment funds, but in general the money needed has been raised locally. The intention was that strengthening of democratic collective action for the improvement of local environments would increase the overall awareness of environmental problems through. The evaluation of the project concludes that there was an increase in environmental awareness and engagement among the involved, although not remarkably high. It also highlights that the project was successful in creating nice and flourishing local environments and strengthening the social cohesion among the neighbours at the yards [10,12]. 3.5 Some comparative studies of successful self-management processes There has been some few attempts learn from comparing different selfmanagement processes. One such study was carried out in the mid-1990s by the research institute Movium in Alnarp. They compared six processes in different parts of the country, of which three was in rental areas and three in tenantowners’ associations areas. The focus of the study was to look at social effects, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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technical and environmental quality, and economic consequences. The presented results were very convincing in all aspects; the self-management had increased the social cohesion, the maintenance level was excellent and there were considerable economic savings compared to the estimated costs if the work would have been done by professionals [13]. More recently, a dissertation was published on participative management of municipal parks, based on eight case studies. It stressed that civic involvement can lead to improved maintenance and increased use. However, it also warned about some risks and problems connected to an uncertain division of responsibilities. This warning is probably less relevant for semi-public residential yards, with a more easily defined user group, than for fully public parks [14]. 3.6 A new research approach, comparing participative with nonparticipative management The last set of case studies I refer to here is the pre-studies made for the research project I am involved in together with researchers from other disciplines. My inventory of rental housing companies in Göteborg 2005 concluded that it was still unconventional with processes where the residents are involved in an organised way with the management of their yards. The 21 more organised processes of self-managed residential yards concerned less than 2% of the rental housing stock. They represented a broad variety of areas in terms of socioeconomic and demographic statistics as well as spatial configuration. However, all of them were within areas owned by municipal housing companies. Reasons to why there were no such processes in the privately owned rental housing areas could be (a) the generally smaller size of the private companies; (b) their weaker tradition of collaboration with the Union of Tenants; and (c) differences in business concept, where the politically decided commission of the municipal companies clearly encourage participative initiatives [1]. My colleague’s comparative study between two areas, where one had resident self-management of the yards and the other was managed by a garden unit within the housing company, showed that the general feeling of responsibility was higher and the sense of anonymity was lower in the self-managed area [2]. Lastly, a still unpublished study where four yards in the same area, but with different types and levels of resident involvement, shows that there seems to be a strong connection between participative management and usage of the yard. However, it also points at potential problems with involvement processes as the empowerment of one group may create tensions and discord between the active and other residents. Or rather, when a group of neighbours start to meet regularly on the yard, hidden conflicts may come up to the surface and some groups may feel excluded. 3.7 Conclusions from earlier experiences The direct impression when looking at all those case studies, and also when looking at similar studies from other countries, is that they are in general very WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

708 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability optimistic about the phenomenon resident involvement in neighbourhood space management. There seem to be no reason to question that it may be a source to social capital building and diversified green living environments. One might wonder then, why such processes still are relatively uncommon. The debate on self-management and resident involvement has been dominantly (and sometimes even naively) focused on the opportunities with collaboration rather than the risks for emerging conflicts and how to handle these challenges. The conflicts may be within the groups of active residents. Even more overlooked, are the conflicts between the active and other groups of residents. In many case studies, only the inside actors of a process are interviewed. Therefore it is of great interest to study the conflict part of resident involvement processes, and to be more careful of bringing in the perspectives of the non-active residents. One example of where the case studies have made quite different conclusions is in the discussion on the role of economic compensation as a motive for residents to involve. Some studies state that economic compensation is an important incentive in the beginning of the process, but as it matures, the social exchange becomes the main driver [7,13]. Some studies rather count off economic incentives as being neglectable [9], while some sources stresses their importance also in the long term [6,8]. What is clear is that there are many different kinds of processes of resident involvement in neighbourhood space management, and a more elaborated typology would be needed to understand, compare and discuss the differences. Even though there are some attempts to categorise different kinds of resident influence on general decisions about the management of the dwelling and residential area [15], there are hardly any models or typologies of different kinds of resident involvement in neighbourhood space management. Some models for analysing different kinds of resident involvement are presented in Castell 2005 [1], which will be developed further in this paper.

4

A revised model for classification and studies of resident involvement in neighbourhood space management

In Castell 2005 [1], four parameters are proposed for the analysis and description of a participative management process: (a) level of autonomy; (b) management tasks; (c) type of contract; and (d) type of compensation. A high level of autonomy means that the resident group control the process; that they independently can decide on how they want to work and what they want to do. A low level of autonomy means that the group has less control; that they are dependent on conditioned support or need approval from the housing company on their decisions. There is a formal component of the control, which is connected to the existence of written agreements (see below), but the factual level of autonomy may be very dependent on informal circumstances. There is a broad set of management tasks included in the management of residential yards. Some residential groups engage in just some parts of the management work, such as e.g. planting and tending some flower beds. Other WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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groups have a more comprehensive responsibility for the yard, including planning, design and economical prioritisation. In formalised involvement processes there are different types of contracts, in which the responsibilities and economic frames are regulated. A contract refers to a written agreement signed by the resident group and the housing company. Some groups may have more or less explicit and detailed oral agreements with representatives from the housing company or a contracted manager. In this paper, oral agreements are counted as non-contracted, as they give a very low degree of formal regulation in a conflict situation. A self-management process without any recognition by the formal management organisation is not probable in the contemporary Swedish context. There are also different arrangements for giving the residents compensation for their involvement. Active resident groups usually get some support from the housing company, even though there are examples of groups working totally independent of the formal management organisation. Common is that the company pays for flowers and other material, and that they sponsor some social arrangements. What is here called compensation, however, is when the residents in a regulated form receive economic compensation for the work they do. I may be in form of a yearly management fund; it may be in form of rent reduction or payments to the active residents; or sometimes to all the residents within the area. Often there is a combination of collective and individual compensations. Except from those four parameters, there are a number of other highly relevant aspects for describing and analysing participative yard management processes, such as (a) the number of involved residents and how much time they spend in the management; (b) the size of the residential area in terms of population and land; (c) its spatial configuration; (d) its geographical location in connection to the city centre; (e) the size of the maintenance area and its content; (f) demographic composition; and (g) the initiative and history of the process. These are interesting aspects that may complement the four parameters described above. 4.1 A proposed classification system A good start for describing and comparing processes of resident involvement in neighbourhood space management is thus to look at which level of autonomy the group of residents have in the process; which management tasks they take responsibility for; and which type of contract and compensation they have. These parameters also constitute the foundation for the typology presented below, where the parameters have been used for classifying different types of processes. It is important to note that we have already narrowed the scope to treat continuous management processes and not than just temporary projects such as participative planning processes in connection to renovations etcetera; we deal with residential yards within rental housing areas and not tenant-owner’s associations; and we keep to processes of collective action and not involvement by single individuals. The classification first differs between three main types of collective resident involvement: (a) self-management; (b) supervised self-management; and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

710 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability (c) garden groups. This first categorisation is based on the level of autonomy and the width of management tasks undertaken. Secondly, there are sub-categories within each of the three main classes, which depend on the type of contract and compensation (see figure 1).

Figure 1: Classification of participative residential yard management processes. A. Self-management refers to processes where the residents have full control of prioritisation within the overall management budget frames. This means that they work with a broad set of management tasks compared to the garden groups. It is difficult to find studies of this kind of fully autonomous processes, except from the extensive cooperative self-management in Eriksbo during the first part of the 1990s. However, my studies show that there is a number of this kind of processes existing in Göteborg, representing sub-category A1 and A2.

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B. Supervised self-management refers to processes where decisions on investments and changed designs must be agreed on by the housing company; thus a lower degree of autonomy than the self-management processes. However, they still work with a broader set of management tasks compared to the garden groups. Most of the cases referred to as self-management processes in the literature belong to this category as they do not have full autonomy. I have found examples of the sub-categories B3 and B(i) in Göteborg. The processes in Holma represent the sub-category B1. C. Garden group refers to processes where the residents’ contribution to the management is only a complement to the maintenance work done by the housing company. Often the tasks are additions to the ‘normal’ maintenance, as a result of new functions requested by the residents, such as tending new flower beds or taking care of a compost bin. Within the limited set of management tasks, the group may be more or less autonomous in decision-making. There is a number of garden groups in Göteborg, representing all four sub-categories.

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Final remarks and conclusions

As repeatedly stated in the debate on sustainable development, it is of high importance to refine existing and to develop new forms of civic participation in local decision-making and planning processes [16,17]. We must move from a culture of top-down government to a more communicative governance [18,19]. The civil unrest leading to violent riots in France in October and November 2005 gave news-watchers over the world an illustration of the vulnerability of a society with highly stigmatised and segregated suburban residential areas. For many, those events were strong arguments for increasing the efforts to empower marginalised groups and support constructive local initiatives. Resident involvement in neighbourhood space management exemplifies such positive grassroots engagement initiatives, and has proven to diversify the green environment as well as improve the social cohesion. Previous research has proven that, but there are still knowledge gaps that need thorough investigation to fill. There is a need to better understand the challenges involved with such processes, particularly from a democracy and social conflict perspective. There is also a need to get an overview of which different arrangements are in use and how common they are. And what contextual factors support or hinder initiatives of participative management processes and their institutionalisation. The intention with the proposed analytical model and classification is to provide a useful tool for such studies.

References [1]

Castell, P., Resident involvement in neighborhood space management; a survey among housing companies in Göteborg. Proc. of the International Conference for Integrating Urban Knowledge & Practice, Göteborg 29 May - 3 June, 2005, www.urbanlife2005.com/proceedings/E/209_Pal_Castell.pdf WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

712 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [2]

Lindgren, T., How can management of estate grounds make a difference to people's quality of life on brownfield sites. Proc. of Cabernet 2005 The International Conference on Managing Urban Land, Belfast, 2005. [3] Modh B., A housing area developed in a complex cultural context, in Krantz B., Öresjö E. & Priemus H., eds., Large scale housing estates in North-West Europe: problems, interventions and experiences, Delft University Press, Delft (NL), 1999. [4] Modh, B., Eriksbo; lokalt engagemang och bebyggelseförändringar, Chalmers, Göteborg, 1996. [5] Törnquist, A., Till förortens försvar : utveckling och organisering i de tre stadsdelarna Hjällbo, Hammarkullen, Eriksbo 1970-1995, Department of Social Work, Göteborg University, 2001. [6] Olsson, S., Lind, J.-E. & Björck, L., Framtidens stadsdelsutveckling : 1993-2004, Förvaltnings AB Framtiden, Göteborg, 2005. [7] Alfredsson, B. & Cars, G., De boende som medarbetare; självförvaltning i Holma, SABO Utveckling, Enskede, 1996. [8] Sundling, J., Levande självförvaltning; ett reportage om bostäder och demokrati, Boinstitutet, Stockholm, 1999. [9] Bengtsson, B., Berger, T., Fransson, N., Lind, J.-E. & Modh, B., Lokal kontroll och kollektivt handlande; en utvärdering av självförvaltning i Bostads AB Poseidon i Göteborg, Uppsala University, 2003. [10] City of Stockholm, Slutrapport för projektet Grönskande levande gårdar Agenda 21 innerstaden, Stockholm, 2002. [11] Ericson, U., Gårdar och livsstil i förändring, Stockholm Office of Research and Statistics, City of Stockholm, 2002. [12] Cele, S., Förändringsprocesser på gårdar, Stockholm Office of Research and Statistics, City of Stockholm, 2002. [13] Berglund, U., Hansson, T., Hägg, T., Jergeby, U. & Söderblom, P., Vi vårdar vår gård, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, 1995. [14] Delshammar, T., Kommunal parkverksamhet med brukarmedverkan, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, 2005. [15] Bengtsson, B. & Berger, T., Gräsrot, språkrör och träffpunkt : lokal organisering och demokrati i boendet, Institutet för bostadsforskning, Gävle, 2005. [16] United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). Agenda 21. United Nations, New York, 1992. [17] United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). The Habitat Agenda Goals and Principles, Commitments and the Global Plan of Action. Proc. of United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), Istanbul 30-31 May, 1996. [18] Healey, P., Collaborative planning: shaping places in fragmented societies. Macmillan, Basingstoke, 1997. [19] Malbert, B., Urban planning participation: linking practice and theory. Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, 1998.

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The neighbourhood imperative in the sustainable city W. Humber & T. Soomet Centre for the Built Environment, Seneca College, Canada

Abstract The idea of the neighbourhood describes more intimate local places in the contemporary city but it remains an illusive and therefore contested term with less use than it might have in creating more sustainable cities. It is depicted as one of the more significant foundations for building greater equity in the distribution of public resources and social capital, even as the “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY) syndrome often paralyzes public action through community disengagement from larger obligations. Its contradictory nature reflects its place in everyday life as, on the one hand, defined by its familiarity and special distinction to residents, but on the other as a commodity for the real estate industry and individual property owners. The real contested character of the neighbourhood however makes it the ideal setting for examining, experimenting with, and implementing a coherent program of sustainability. This paper examines the modern character of the neighbourhood, its roots in garden cities, its three distinct formations, and the challenge to its authenticity as either no more than a sentimental abstraction with no social meaning or one whose limited legitimacy is undermined by continuing privatization and the hyper technological connectivity of individual life. The neighbourhood is a place that can support more indigenous economies, sustainable technologies and infrastructure, and genuine forms of public participation, as part of the renewal of contemporary cities. Keywords: governance, city regions, infrastructure, creative city, social capital, regeneration, new urbanism, neighbourhood, NIMBY, sustainability.

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Nature of the modern world and the city

We live in an urbanizing world. General estimates place urban residence as the living place of 60% of the world’s population and this figure could reach 70% by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060681

714 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability mid century. World population will, given current trends and expectations, continue to grow from its 6.5 billion figure to over 9 billion by 2050 (Scientific American [1]) before it begins a gradual decline. The idea of the city, particularly in North America, is evolving within a megapolitan region stretching over a hundred miles from historic city centres and within which formerly quasi independent small towns are now micropolitan places sharing all of the interests, jobs, and car dependency of the jurisdictionally defined big city, the borders of which are often 80 or more kilometres away. Governance structures at both the municipal and state/provincial level are struggling to adapt to this reality (Courchene [2]). There are as well contesting ideas as to the appropriate future direction of these city regions. Urban development has moved away from central city, walkable, and traditional neighbourhood places, to an economy based on dispersed, decentralized industry, non-fixed path transportation and living places as commodities (Johns [3], Rae [4]). The flow of capital investment to places with good rates of return often doesn’t conform to concerns for social equity or environmental health. (Donald [5]) Logistics management, in which “just in time” delivery is based on low wage production, cheap transportation and, at the end of that chain, product sale in a big box store, is wedded to car dependency and threatens traditional main street survival. The ideas below describe the developed world, but they have relevance for the developing world where odd combinations of primitive infrastructure, alongside advanced electronics, and inhabitants’ newness of residency and hence likelihood of living beside strangers, partake more of a modern world of neighbourhoods than a familiar and ancient residential lifestyle.

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Origins of the modern idea of the neighbourhood

Contemporary social critics acknowledge the historic distinction of the modern city. More often their attention is focused on programs and policies at a macro level; nevertheless the local or neighbourhood level has been a scene of action for some. In the 19th century the Neighbourhood or Settlement House best represented social service delivery, based at the geographic level of the inner city. Other reformers however were less sanguine about the possibilities of inner city improvement and while accepting the neighbourhood as an idealized representation of persons living and working within close proximity of each other, they saw this occurring in newly designed communities on the edge of the old city. Ebenezer Howard’s concept of the neighbourhood as a founding piece of new garden city communities was an explicit acknowledgement of this geographic entity’s legitimacy. (Hall and Ward [6]) Clarence Perry further developed it in his work for the Regional Plan of New York in 1929 and in his 1939 book, Housing for the Machine Age. His neighbourhood unit contained about 5,000 people and conformed to the size required to support at least one elementary school within reasonable walking distance of most children. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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2.1 Critics of the neighbourhood idea Despite this apparent legitimisation of the neighbourhood idea, our locationspecific concept is more often rooted in sentimental attachments, personal impressions and our conflicted sense of the value of place. Critics question whether the neighbourhood has any real meaning as an entity connecting geographic space with social life (Gandy [7], Pahl, [8]). Such criticism might appear, from a historical perspective, to be odd. The nearby residence of persons in a relatively stable location, a defining feature of the modern neighbourhood idea, has been a major characteristic of the evolution of human living from nomadic to settled existence. Our contemporary idea of the neighbourhood however has limited application to earlier forms of nearby living. Those places had a much different history, economic reality, and complexity of living arrangements, with personal ties based on kinship and survival. Premodern mobility, as well confined most humans to lifetime residence within a few miles of their birthplace. 2.2 Contemporary features of the neighbourhood Our modern idea of the neighbourhood is rooted in the rise of a property owning middle class for whom a home has been their largest investment. Its protection and the enhancement of its value are major features of their security and wealth accumulation (Hayden [9]). This has bred a “Not in My Backyard” (NIMBY) attitude among many homeowners, who often unite in neighbourhood connection only in reaction to external threats, such as a new development or crime. The property industry furthered this evolution by defining value as a factor of location to which neighbourhood branding by use of a name and its implied identity gave further definition and meaning. The neighbourhood idea accordingly remains confused and contested. It lacks, in most cases, any formal governance definition. Modern living in the developed world, and most often the desired goal of developing countries, is towards a lifestyle of consumption in which private cars go off to work, or shopping for even a jug of milk, or driving the kids to school. Public encounter is sacrificed to increasingly private lives in isolated recreation and media rooms. Low residential densities and a lack of street connectivity have eroded the possibility of other forms of mobility including public transit, and walking to nearby places. These precious enclaves with no noxious uses, and a single use identity, bereft even of small stores and other non-harmful functions, are a product of increasingly restrictive zoning. Children and the elderly whose lives are limited by a lack of car access and the restricted radius of safe walking are marginalized residents of dead streets. The hyper connectivity of modern technology from cell phones and iPods to blackberries enhances the privatizing character of everyday life.

3 A new neighbourhood model The neighbourhood has three significant features – as a social unit, as a spatial unit, and as a network of relationships and patterns of use (Chaskin [10], WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

716 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Keller [11]). The question of its value for policy initiatives and environmental intervention however is also important. Recent literature supports its validity as an emerging focus for these issues (Bradford [12], Katz [13]). 3.1 Creative cities and social capital Diversity, tolerance, and artistic variety are key attributes of such a focus in the emerging idea of the creative city (Florida [14]). Such cities require intriguing, differentiated mixed-use neighbourhoods with retail, residential and other uses. As well the social and economic consequences of declining social capital (Putnam [15]) are increasingly associated with lifestyles driven by urban sprawl, and reduced attention to neighbourhood connection. There is increasing recognition as well of the significance of place in achieving greater social equity. Often this is as simple as investigating the level of public services delivered in a particular neighbourhood as opposed to a more affluent one. Organizations liked the United Way [16] in Toronto have defined the neighbourhood as an organizing setting for social intervention. Regeneration strategies throughout the world focus on rebuilding local institutions and improving the quality of the urban experience through better public spaces, as well as pursuing private investment in shopping options from grocery stores to second hand shops. 3.2 Social equity and the lives of children The lives of children are either constrained or enhanced by the opportunities within their reasonable walking distance, and neighbourhoods are recognized as a venue of either good or bad health outcomes for all ages (Epstein [17]). While residents need access to the full employment and lifestyle possibilities of the greater city region, for many people the nearness of such opportunities is important for personal considerations (avoidance of car dependency and associated cost) public health (walking), family (social capital), and environmental (air quality).

4

The neighbourhood in the building of sustainable cities

Neighbourhood features have environmental consequences. The use of the neighbourhood idea for instance as a founding principle of modern urban planning influenced, for better or worse, suburban places built in the immediate post war era. More recently, the planning philosophy of the Congress for the New Urbanism, along with a rating system for neighbourhoods, currently being developed through the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accreditation process, reflect a greater attention to the environmental impact of neighbourhood design. 4.1 The pedestrian dimension At the root of a neighbourhood’s authenticity is its most fundamental feature, namely that for most human living the walking distance of residents has been a WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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key element in community design. A 400 to 800 meter radius, within which residents are prepared to walk for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on attractions and purpose, has universality. People do walk longer distances, or drive around the corner for small errands, but the distance cited is an existential piece of preferred human physical tolerance. It is significant in the design and our experience of the urban world. Not surprisingly traditional cities throughout history have grown as a series of “urban quarters” of around 800 meters, in diameter, or about 40 hectares (Hardy [18]). They generally consist of a place of worship, town meeting hall, market, school and public buildings. 4.2 The shared commons The local neighbourhood is as close to a sense of shared commons many will experience. The roads, verges, parks, even lighting and infrastructure, are shared attributes which in combination with memory, personal connection and informal encounter, as well as urban sensations as simple as the light at certain times of the day, burning leaves in the fall, the sound of a train whistle, and other shared experiences, sights and references, make up what might be described as a metaphysics of place. 4.3 Neighbourhood types The neighbourhood’s real value may be its future use as a significant aspect of sustainable cities. No matter how bleak or dreary, its familiarity in a large, cruel world, supports its evolving possibilities. By describing the main types of neighbourhood structure, we may determine their appropriate environmental role. 4.3.1 The street neighbourhood The “street neighbourhood” (Jacobs [19]) describes those closest to one’s residence. In a traditional, largely residential neighbourhood it is those living places on one’s street or within a few blocks perhaps numbering 250 residences or fewer, and no more than 500 to 1,500 residents, depending on area densities. In an apartment it might be those on one’s floor, though such settings have their own dynamics, which are beyond the scope of this paper. It is of a size that persons can maintain casual and often recognizable encounters with others. It is at a level at which people are most comfortable providing assistance to each other. Decisions can generally be reached on common issues. It is based on co-operation in advocating a particular interest for an area. It is walkable, knowable, and provides the opportunity for many eyes to be on the street. Finally, essential services may be nearby, though in single use low-density subdivisions this is unlikely. 4.3.2 The neighbourhood unit The next order of magnitude is the neighbourhood unit. It might average between 64 to 80 hectares, a substantial, though not overwhelming walking breadth of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

718 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability shared space (with the exception of the needs of mobility-challenged adults and small children). Individuals generally experience a multitude of such neighbourhood units for which the concept of the “roving neighbourhood” is applied (Riemer [20]). One unit may contain a school, another retail and still another, medical services. All of this depends on the level of mixed use available in any one unit. 4.3.3 The neighbourhood district The final order is the neighbourhood district, generally beyond a walking distance size. It may be home to over 10,000 people, and often as many as 100,000 or more, most of whom are strangers to each other. Along with residential uses it has commercial and citywide amenities. It is often known as a destination for tourists or for those from other parts of the city region. Its distinct geographic identity is based on a name, a history, and positive or negative associations. It is of a size sometimes sufficient to have a basic governance structure or political representation. While it may best describe the public understanding of what a neighbourhood is for outsiders, in some ways it is the most sentimental and least real to its residents, except as a branded commodity, which improves the sale value of a property, or as an income-defined territory for social intervention.

5

Integrating the environment with the civic and economic

Each of these neighbourhood types is an organizing setting within the evolving city region, whose size, economic integration, and befuddling character, requires a more intimate connection. Each type can be allied with new ideas of civic inclusiveness, economic diversity, and environmental innovation to create a tripartite model of successful sustainability. 5.1 Civic implications At the civic level the changing character of urban governance, as in some ways more important than the nation state and in virtually all cases more significant than the state/provincial level, finds an emerging need for regional/megapolitan governing structures to handle issues of mobility, energy use, and water quality protection. Such structures however are even further removed from the everyday understanding and connection of citizens. The neighbourhood in all three of its forms provides an opportunity for experimenting with different styles of more intimate and local authority, while generating awareness of broader obligations beyond a “Not In My Backyard” exclusivity. 5.2 Economic implications Economically the integration of global economies, the increasing concentration of sectors like retail among fewer alternatives, and the sprawl inducing features of logistics management, create their own counter reaction of underground economies and community-based activities. These may have short lives or WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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struggle to survive but they continue to appear and occasionally flourish. They respond to our market interest in diversity, new ideas, and individual initiative. Third places (Oldenberg [21]) in local communities, despite the prevalence of home electronic entertainment, or the homogenizing aspect of regional entertainment and shopping, speak to our need for familiar encounter, convivial spots for dining and drinking, and places for sharing information and access to new services and products. 5.3 Environmental implications The neighbourhood is at the service of environmental opportunity. It is a key observation of proponents of the Congress of the New Urbanism (Duany et al [22]) that settling the issue of human habitability may be the most important piece for renewing environmental health. The argument can be summarized as follows - to the extent we find satisfaction in our living places, confront the continuing privatization in our lives, measure the matters that are meaningful to healthy families and friendships, and limit our dependence on cars, global resources (with their impact on local places far away) and excessive consumerism, we will tackle environmental quality. The ways of addressing these issues have often been disconnected from daily lives except for small measures like weekly recycling. In combination with civic participation and economic inventiveness however they provide for a confrontation of ideas in which cost savings from greater energy efficiency are not an excuse for larger homes or commuting longer distances to work. Designing locally for human scale (Sale [23]) provides for personal comfort, a sense of shared intimacy, a place for meaningful encounters, and the ability to reinforce and expand social capital.

6

The neighbourhood opportunity

Residing as it does between individual initiatives, which are often undone by other lifestyle choices, and broader public and private initiatives conflicted by contradictory policy measures, the neighbourhood is the local place in which the essence of community initiatives are starkly revealed. They are the place in which our ideas of responsibility and obligation for others either geographically separate from us, or for those who will inherit the world we build, are most real and explicit. 6.1 Technology tools Emerging forms of technological infrastructure, particularly hybrid and green options, are one opportunity for a neighbourhood imperative. Local wastewater treatment, renewable, local, and demand-driven energy initiatives can operate at a disaggregated level (Moffatt [24]). They provide work opportunities, the chance to enliven and broaden the kinds of uses within walking distance, and a new set of facilities potentially managed by some form of neighbourhood governance. These measures are applicable in both developed and developing WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

720 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability countries and allow for decentralization and distribution of resources downward to those using such resources. These kinds of places broaden public choice beyond those which are aesthetically dull, environmentally harmful, dangerous to health, and lack the kind of spirited animation of historically successful and vibrant places. 6.2 Personal considerations Walkability is a primary focus for a neighbourhood planning respecting sustainability. Mixed uses, street connectivity, and regard for human scale and safety contribute to a renewed public health strategy, countering the car’s dominating presence. Beneficiaries include children and others without private transport or accessible public transit. Success requires engaging emergency service providers in thinking beyond wide streets.

7

Renewing the neighbourhood imperative

There are at least four possible outcomes for a renewed neighbourhood imperative. The first is market driven as privatizing communication technologies create opportunities for local connection, or as new products (locally grown food) and services (home delivery and neighbourhood retail) make this imperative the preferred choice. The second is imposed, as environmental degradation and depleted energy sources force market transformation and government action, either by targeted taxation or strategic use of resources for best end uses, thus forcing people to work and shop closer to home. In the third, fear or antipathy to outsiders, perceived threats from terrorists or petty crime, and self-interest, promote covenanted communities in which homeowner associations and deed restrictions impose obligations from paint colour to hours of swimming pool operation. Lastly however is the intentional route in which attention is directed to matters of civic participation, economic control, and environmental damage causing a deliberate shift to a neighbourhood-based sense of responsibility and obligation. The verdict is still unclear.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Cohen, J.E., Human Population Grows Up, Scientific American, 293 (3), pp. 48-55, September 2005. Courchene, T. J., Citistates and the State of Cities: Political-Economy and Fiscal-Federalism Dimensions, 2004. Johns, M., Moment of Grace: The American City in the 1950s, University of California Press: Berkeley, 2003. Rae, D., City: Urbanism and Its End, Yale University Press; New Haven, 2003. Donald, B., Economic Competitiveness and Quality of Life in City Regions: compatible concepts?, Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 10 (2), 2001. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

[13]

[14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]

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Hall, P. & Ward, C., Sociable Cities: The Legacy of Ebenezer Howard, John Wiley and Sons: Chichester, 1998. Gandy, M., Concrete and Clay: Reworking Nature in New York City, MIT Press: Cambridge, p.113, 2002. Pahl, R.E., (1969) Whose City? And Further Essays on Urban Society, Penguin: Middlesex, p.293, 1969. Hayden, D., Building Suburbia: Green Fields And Urban Growth, Pantheon Books: New York, 2003. Chaskin, R.J., Defining Neighborhood: History, Theory and Practice, Chapin Hall Center for Children, University of Chicago: Chicago, 1995. Keller, S., The Urban Neighborhood, Random House: New York, 1968. Bradford, N., Place Matters and Multi-Level Governance: Perspectives on a New Urban Policy Paradigm. McGill Institute for the Study of Canada Annual Conference, “Challenging Cities in Canada”, February 11-13, 2004. Katz, B., Neighborhoods of Choice and Connection: The Evolution of American Neighborhood Policy and What It Means for the United Kingdom Metropolitan Policy Program, The Brookings Institution Research Brief, 2004. Florida, R., The Rise of the Creative Class, New York: Basic Books, 2002. Putnam, R., Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Simon and Schuster: New York, 2000. United Way - Poverty by Postal Code: The Geography of Neighbourhood Poverty - 1981-2001, A Report Prepared Jointly by United Way of Greater Toronto and the Canadian Council on Social Development, 2001. Epstein, H., “…Enough To Make You Sick”, New York Times Magazine, October 12, 2003. Hardy, M., Renaissance of the traditional city, Axess Magazine, retrieved on line 4/5/2004, www.axess.se, 2004. Jacobs, J., Death and Life of Great American Cities, Random House: New York, 1961. Riemer, S., Hidden Dimensions of Neighborhood Planning, Land Economics, 26 (2), pp. 197-201, 1950. Oldenburg, R., The Great Good Place, Marlowe and Company: New York, 1989. Duany, A., Plater-Zyberk, E., & Speck, J., Suburban Nation, North Point Press: New York, p.151, 2000. Sale, K., Human Scale, Perigee: New York, 1980. Moffatt, S., Closing the Loop: A Guide to Green Infrastructure for Canadian Municipalities, Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Sheltair Group: Ottawa, 2001.

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Linking perceptions of health to neighbourhood environment in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Portugal H. Nogueira, P. Santana & R. Santos Department of Geography and Centro de Estudos Geográficos, Coimbra University, Portugal

Abstract The past century has seen the rise of an urban environment that differs greatly from anything that has gone before. Urbanization has brought many benefits, but has also raised concerns about sustainability. Urban/suburban sustainability goes hand in hand with physical and social environment sustainability, i.e. the challenge of creating sustainable, healthy communities. Development must occur with a sense of place, history and cultural distinctiveness, with a view to reducing inequality between groups. In other words, proper development and planning can create healthy communities. Research into the role of the social and material environment in determining healthy communities has highlighted the need to use more innovative data in describing geographical areas, in spite of the difficulty and time involved in the collection, utilisation, comparison and interpretation of such data. This paper is based on a case study of empirical data collected in Portugal. Logistic regression models were used to measure the relationship between the material and social environment and self-rated health (representing quality of life and wellbeing). We used new contextual measures, created through PCA and individual data from the National Health Survey for Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA). The results show the importance of neighbourhood (social and material environment) in determining health, alongside traditional factors such as age, social class and lifestyles. In LMA, a high level of political engagement and community participation, and good access to public transport and to health services improve self-rated health scores. Associations were found to be independent of gender, age, social class (occupation and education), economic activity and lifestyle (physical activity or smoking). Moreover, both the features of social and material environment and the magnitude of association with self-rated health are different for both genders. Keywords: neighbourhood, self-rated health, individual explanations, ecological explanation, Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Portugal. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060691

724 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

Researchers and policy makers are increasingly coming to accept the role of the neighbourhood (material and social context) in shaping individual and community health. Studies into how place influences health have become more and more common, supporting a range of interventions to improve health and reduce health inequalities at the area level [1, 2]. However, there still remain the tasks of accurately identifying the characteristics of place that influence health and of determining how they can be properly measured. Hoping to highlight the inside of the “black box of places” [1, 3, 4], some authors have suggested the use of a conceptual framework of universal human needs as a basis for thinking about specific chains of causality that might link place of residence with health outcomes. In this paper we aim to go beyond the usual global measures of deprivation in order to investigate the role of a range of social and material infrastructures on self-rated health. Although self-rating is a subjective tool, it is nevertheless a powerful predictor of healthy life expectancy, well-being [5] and future morbidity and mortality [6]. Moreover, self-rating appears able to capture the sum of cumulative contextual effects that affect human health. This is an important characteristic, since our approach is based precisely upon a concept of cumulative exposure and access to local social and material resources. Current research into neighbourhoods and health has examined the role of area deprivation on health [1, 2, 7]. Area deprivation often arises from individual data or a composite of socioeconomic data such as unemployment, income, education or overcrowding. The Carstair and Townsend Deprivation Indexes are perhaps two of the best-known applied composite measures of deprivation. Several studies have concluded that there is a close relationship between these deprivation measures and health [8–10]. In the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA), a previous study has shown unequivocal correlations between a deprivation index and premature mortality [7]. However, a summary index of deprivation is not so useful for distinguishing the specific features of the residential environment that impinge upon health. Deprived areas may suffer from poor infrastructures and a lack of resources, such as inadequate public transport, housing, sport and recreation facilities, health and educational services, etc [1]. On the other hand, socioeconomically deprived areas are less attractive, and most of the individuals entering these neighbourhoods did not actively choose to live there. Thus, they may be less prone to take care of the maintenance of their houses, which results in structural degradation. Civic engagement, trust, and reciprocity may be undermined and crime may become more prevalent [11]. This spiral of specific environmental risk factors is not reducible to a global measure of area deprivation.

2

Data and methods

The sampling universe consisted of individuals living in LMA. Trained interviewers collected a representative sample of 5004 individuals from 143 WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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wards (National Health Survey - NHS - 1998/1999). Within each selected area, data on self-rated health status and other individual variables were drawn from the NHS for men and women aged 15 or over. This interview supplied data on self-rated health, measured on a five-point scale: excellent, good, fair, bad, very bad. Age, sex, occupation, economic activity or inactivity (unemployment), education, tobacco consumption and physical activity were also obtained at interview. 4577 individuals made up the final sample, of whom 60.5% rated their health as less than good; 44% had less than 4 years of education; 53.7% were manual workers; 21.8 % were current smokers, and only 32.7 % did any physical activity. To each of the 4577 people in the 143 wards in this study we applied two kinds of measures: a composite index of area deprivation and 19 neighbourhood factor scores reflecting some specific features of the local material and social environment. We proceeded to create a deprivation score, by selecting three variables from the 2001 Census that reflect the multi-faceted nature of deprivation [8]. These are related with occupation (i.e. male unemployment and unskilled jobs) and living conditions (i.e. percentage of people living in shanties). The generation of this ecological data began with a consideration of what humans need in their local environment in order to lead a healthy life [1, 3, 4]. We drew up a list of 14 domains concerning these needs: 1. Housing environment (indoor); 2. Residential Environment (outdoor); 3. Health services; 4. Leisure and Recreation; 5. Sports facilities; 6. Family support services; 7. Local resources; 8. Housekeeping; 9. Work and employment; 10. Educational services; 11. Crime and policing; 12. Traffic security; 13. Transport Accessibility; 14. Social capital and cohesion. The next step was the selection, analysis and interpretation of data reflecting those domains. Over 240 variables were collected and assigned to the previously established domains. Following the method of Carstairs and Morris [12], each variable was standardized to give a population-weighted mean of zero and a variance of one (z-score method) [7], meaning that each variable has equal influence on the resultant score. The deprivation score results from the sum of the new standardized variables. The large amount of data created and assigned to the previously determined domains, reflecting the local context, had to be processed effectively. So we used Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to explore the data and extract factor scores for each of our constructs. As the aim of PCA is to reduce the number of variables to be used in statistical analysis, some components were rejected as irrelevant using Kaiser’s Criterion. All components were rotated, using varimax rotation to maximise factor loadings. Those variables, with a low loading onto components, were discarded from the construct. Our aim was to create a single strong component in each construct. However, some domains revealed a bidimensional structure, which resulted in 19 factor scores, with 82 variables. The next step was to evaluate the internal consistency of the extracted factors and the ability of the factor scores to measure the latent contextual domains. Reliability was measured with standardised Alpha Scores, which ranged from

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

726 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 1:

Characteristics of 4577 Health Survey for LMA respondents. Characteristic

Number (4577) Percentage (%)

Sex Male

1830

40.0

Female

2747

60.0

Age 15-24

416

9.1

25-34

591

12.9

35-44

752

16.4

45-54

920

20.1

55-64

849

18.5

65-74

685

15.0

75+

364

8.0

Level of education < 4 years

2029

44.0

5 - 12 years

1884

41.2

13 + years

664

14.5

Economic activity Employed

2423

52.9

Unemployed

240

5.2

Other

1914

41.8

Occupation Manual

2117

53.7

Not manual

2460

46.3

Self-rated health Very bad

181

4.0

Bad Fair Good

583

12.7

2004 1592

43.8 34.8

Very good

217

4.7

Physical activity With physical activity

1495

32.7

Without physical activity

3082

67.3

Tobacco consumption Smoker

996

21.8

Non-smoker

2873

62.8

Ex-smoker

708

15.5

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0.98 to 0.51. These high values show that variables within each factor are strongly related and this gives us confidence that the scores reliably capture something unique about the local environment. To examine the relationship between self-rated health and individual and contextual characteristics, we used the ordered logistic model. We started with a simple model, considering individual factors as independent variables. In this model, we selected the variables with a conventional significance of p ≤0.05. In a second stage, we developed this model by entering ecological variables that were selected if they were significant (p ≤0.05). Two models were achieved: one with individual factors and the 19 neighbourhood factor scores (table 1), and another with individual factors and area deprivation index. Using the estimated coefficients of these models, and attributing to the individuals living in the worst quintile the value that represents the best conditions in the LMA, we estimated, using the latent variable, the probabilities for each category of self-reported health for the individuals living in those areas. Finally, the model with the 19 neighbourhood factor scores was developed for male and female (results not shown).

3

Results and discussion

Table 2 shows: a) the association between self-rated health, individual factors and neighbourhood factor scores (model 1); b) and self-rated health and area deprivation (model 2). Coefficients of individual variables in model 2 are very similar to individual coefficients in model 1. As expected, women tended to assess their health worse than men (1.7 times more likely); age was found to have a detrimental effect on self-rated health, and the odds of individuals reporting poor health increased by 51% for each additional 10 years. Manual labour was a significant factor in increasing poor health ratings, with the odds of a negative health status increasing by 47%. Education level also played a part. Individuals with lower levels of education were 97.5% more likely to report a negative health status. Tobacco consumption showed similar results, with the odds of smokers reporting worse health status increasing by 21%. Employment has a positive effect on self-rated health increasing the odds of a positive health status by 68%. Physical activity also had a positive influence, and active individuals were 73% more likely to report positive health status. As to contextual determinants, a significant correlation was found between self-rated health and health services, transport accessibility, social capital and cohesion (measured by civic engagement and political participation) and area deprivation. Individuals that lived in more deprived wards were more likely to report poorer health (approximately 10% more). The positive association between self-rated health and the availability of health services was also confirmed, with the odds of reporting better health increasing by 12%. The relationship between a poor health and poor transport accessibility, long distances between facilities and automobile use is also shown in the model by a 9% increase in the odds of reporting negative self-rated health. Individuals living WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

728 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability in wards with lower levels of civic engagement were 11% more likely to report worst self-rated health. Political participation showed a similar influence; lower levels of political participation increased the odds of reporting worst self-rated health by 15.5%. Table 2:

Logistic regression models for examining contextual characteristics as determinants of health. Variables a

Coefficient

95% IC

Coefficient

95% IC

Model 2

Model 1 Sex

-.530***

-.65 ; -.41

-.524***

-.65 ; -.40

Age

-.041***

-.05 ;-.04

-.041***

-.05 ; -.04 -.52 ; -.24

Occupation

-.388***

-.53 ; -.25

-.038***

Physical activity

.546***

.42 ; .68

.538***

.41 ; .67

Economic activity: employed

.517***

.39 ; .64

.511***

.39 ; .64

-.193*

-.34 ; -.05

-.181**

-.33 ; -.04

Education: < 4 years

-.680***

-.83 ; -.53

-.676***

-.83 ; -.53

Education: 13 + years

.604***

.42 ; .79

.599***

.42 ; .78

Accessibility of public transport and automobile use

-.087*

-.17 ; -.01

Ancillary services

.112**

.05 ; .18

-.144***

-.22 ; -.07

-.105*

-.18 ; -.03 -.046***

-.07 ; -.02

Tobacco consumption: smoker

Social capital - political participation Social capital – civic engagement Area deprivation index Model 1 Model Fitting Information: Pseudo R-Square

Log Likelihood Ratio = 1733.55*** Cox and Snell = .32 Nagelkerke = .34 McFadden = .15

Model 2 Model Fitting Information: Pseudo R-Square

Log Likelihood Ratio = 1702.65*** Cox and Snell = .31 Nagelkerke = .34

McFadden = .15 a) We show only the significant variables; * p<0.05; ** p<0.01; *** p<0.001. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Finally, in models developed for males and females, we found that contextual influences were different for men and women. In women, self-rated health was also sensitive to housing (lack of conditions like water, electricity, toilets and sewage systems) and family support services (like day-nurseries, nursing home, day-care centers and child day-care centers), while men were more sensitive to a large range of local resources, like banks, ATMs, dentists, opticians and bookshops. These results can allow us to assess the theoretical improvements to health that might arise from interventions at area level. In fact, on the basis of developed models, we can indicate some possible strategies to improve health and quantify this theoretical improvement. To do this, we applied to individuals living in worst quintile the opposite value, representing the best conditions of the whole metropolitan area. Then, we estimated what would happen to the health ratings of the population living in the worst areas. Table 3 summarises the improvements in health ratings achieved by a modification in environmental features. Table 3:

Percentage of people living in worst quintiles reporting good to very good self-rated health: real cases and estimated cases after an improvement of material and social features of local context.

Contextual determinants of health

Real cases (%)

Cases estimated with better environmental conditions (%)

Ancillary services

38.8

60.4

Accessibility to public transport and automobile use

41.7

54.4

Political participation

38.1

44.0

Civic engagement

40

49

Area deprivation

34.8

36.5

Interventions aimed at reducing socioeconomic disadvantage, improving the availability of local health services, improving accessibility of public transport and reducing automobile use, and improving social cohesion need to be implemented.

4 Conclusions and proposals for healthy urban planning We created a set of neighbourhood attributes that attempted to capture different features of local environment, by using data from routine and non-routine sources. The results are in keeping with public health literature about the effects of place on health. Lower access to public transport and higher automobile use, poor health services (ancillary services), lower political engagement and lower civic participation were all associated with poorer health ratings, over and above individual characteristics [2, 12–14]. At all levels, planning should improve both geographical and social proximity. Opportunities, facilities and formal support services should be easily WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

730 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability accessible, providing good alternative ways of travelling, in particular by stressing mobility through walking, cycling and public transport. This implies changes to land use and urban design policies, promoting diversity of use and supporting alternative means of transport to reduce the number and length of trips people need to take every day [15]. But there are other arenas, and planning for health promotion also implies planning for equality, reducing socioeconomic disadvantage and promoting civic engagement and political participation at the community level. Identity, a sense of belonging and reciprocity should be improved, by creating attractive, safe, healthy communities [16]. Neighbourhood is vitally important for health and well-being and it could be reinvented in order to create spaces for opportunity. This goal is especially important in more disadvantaged neighbourhoods, which have poor access to the basic facilities required for a healthy life. On the one hand, the place where people live significantly affects their health outcomes; on the other, people shape the neighbourhoods in which they live, and healthy people create healthy neighbourhoods. Places form people as much as they are formed by them. Improving the local environment is a powerful way of improving health. It is important to note that this research is part of a larger project, which intends to investigate the relationships between places and health at different levels in the LMA. We began by studying the whole metropolitan area and this paper presents our results. We have now turned our attention to just one municipality - Amadora. Amadora was chosen as a case study due to its specificity: it is a small ward located near Lisbon, with an area of 24 Km2 and a population of 175 872 inhabitants, which gives it one of the highest densities in the country (7390 inhabitants/Km2). It is also very diversified, with socially contrasting neighbourhoods and people of different cultures, nationalities and ethnic backgrounds.

Acknowledgments The research for this paper was supported under grant POCTI/GEO/45730/2002 from Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) “Healthy Urban Planning”. The authors would like to thank Pedro Pitta Barros for the support provided by him.

References [1] [2] [3]

Macintyre, S; Ellaway, A & Cummins, S., Place effects on health: how can we conceptualise, operationalise and measure them? Soc. Sci. Med., 55, pp. 125-139, 2002. Macintyre, S.; Mckay, L. & Ellaway, A., Are rich people or poor people more likely to be ill? Lay perceptions, by social class and neighbourhood, of inequalities in health. Soc. Sci. Med., 60, pp. 313-317, 2005. Cummins, S; Stafford, M; Macintyre, S; Marmot, M & Ellaway, A, Neighbourhood environment and its association with self-rated health:

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[4]

[5] [6] [7]

[8]

[9] [10] [11]

[12] [13]

[14] [15] [16]

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evidence from Scotland & England. Journal of Epidemiol. Commun. Health, 59, pp.207-213, 2005. Cummins, S.; Macintyre, S; Davidson, S & Ellaway, A., Measuring neighbourhood social and material context: generation and interpretation of ecological data from routine and non-routine sources. Health & Place, 11(3), pp. 249-260, 2005. Congdon, P., Health status and healthy life measures for population health need assessment: modelling variability and uncertainty. Health & Place, 7, pp. 13-25, 2001. Stafford, M.; Cummins, S.; Macintyre, S.; Ellaway; A. & Marmot, M., Gender differences in the association between health and neighbourhood environment. Soc. Sci. Med., 60, pp. 1681-1692, 2005. Nogueira, H. & Santana, P., Geographies of health and deprivation: relationship between them. Atti dell’ VIII Seminario Internazionale do Geografia Medica,a cura di C. Palagiano & G. De Santis, Edizioni Rux: Roma, Perugia, pp. 539-546, 2005. Boyle, P.; Gatrell, A & Duke-Williams, O., Do area-level population change, deprivation and variations in deprivation affect individual-level self-report limiting long-term illness? Soc. Sci. Med., 53, pp. 795-799, 2001. Huff, N & Gray, D., Coronary heart disease inequalities: deaths and the socio-economic environment in Nottingham, England. Health & Place, 7, pp. 57-61, 2001. Stafford, M.; Bartley, M.; Mitchell, R e Marmot, M., Characteristics of individuals and characteristics of areas: investigating their influence on health in the Whitehall II Study. Health & Place, 7, pp. 117-129, 2001. Van Lenth, F:, Brug, J. & Mackenbach, J., Neighbourhood inequalities in physical inactivity: the role of neighbourhood attractiveness, proximity to local facilities and safety in the Netherlands. Soc. Sci. Med., 60, pp. 763775, 2005. Carstairs, V & Morris, R., Deprivation and health in Scotland. Aberdeen University Press: Aberdeen, 1991. Skrabaski, Á. Kopp, M. & Kawachi, I., Social capital and collective efficacy in Hungary: cross sectional associations with middle aged female and male mortality rates, Journal of Epidemiol. Commun. Health, 58, pp. 340-345, 2004. Wilson, K.; Elliot, S.; Law, M.; Eyles; J; Jerret, M. & Keller-Olaman, S., Linking perceptions of neighbourhood to health in Hamilton, Canada, Journal of Epidemiol. Commun. Health, 58, pp. 192-198, 2004. Fitzpatrick, K & LaGory, M., Unhealthy Places. The Ecology of Risk in the Urban Landscape. Routledge: Londres, 2000. Barton, H.; Mitcham, C. & Tsourou, C., Healthy urban planning. WHO healthy cities in Europe: a compilation of papers on progress and achievements, eds. A. D. Tsouros & J. L. Farrington, OMS: Copenhagen, pp. 149-157, 2003.

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Community in the city? Social exclusion in neighbourhoods in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada J. Eyles1, K. Wilson2, S. Keller-Olaman3 & S. Elliott1 1

School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Canada Department of Geography, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Canada 3 Sunnybrook & Women’s College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada 2

Abstract While an important concern in much of Europe, social exclusion is only now emerging as a significant academic and policy issue in north American cities. This paper examines the nature of social exclusion in two parts of a neighbourhood in Hamilton. The northern part is characterised by lower social status (as measured by employment, education and house ownership) than the southern part. Through a survey and in-depth interviews, individuals in the two sub-neighbourhoods were asked about social interactions, sense of belonging and lifestyle characteristics. Social exclusion was more prevalent in the north and had a negative impact on health. Keywords: community, social exclusion, Hamilton, area programs.

1

Introduction

Community remains a powerful but elusive idea despite its presence in academic and policy discourse for many decades. Its continuing power is well-expressed by Amin and Thrift [1, p. 41]. It is worth citing them at length: “Why has community held such a power to fascinate in the urban literature? There are, we think, five main reasons. To begin with, the history of community has been bedevilled by the idea of a collective, whose members move together and think as one, in a naturalized codependency (Buck-Morss [2]). Then, the community is usually seen as WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060701

734 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability able to exist precisely because of the intimacy of face-to-face communication. The community is therefore present to itself, in a world where meaning is unmediated. Then again, the community extends into the past. As tradition, memory plays a crucial role: the present lies heavy under the weight of its legacy. It follows, then, that community is invariably ‘local’. Messages pass from hand to hand. Protest takes the form of gatherings. And there is one more reason. Community is able to exist precisely because these kinds of characterizations have allowed it to be visualized, mapped, surveyed, pinned in place. A whole set of knowledges of community has come into existence – in part because of the devotion of an idea of community. Communities’ attitudes and values are continually surveyed through various technologies that ensure that communities exist and can be measured (Rose [3]).” Thus as Milligan [4] notes although identities are now largely based on globally available categories and experiences they remain highly local enactments of these categories and experiences. Place-based communities still matter. Important in this matter are then those spatially understood and referenced experiences. Early work on community of course understood this with Sussman [5] emphasizing the importance of social interactions to meet needs and obtain goals. Similar concerns are also found in recent discussions on the continued significance of the neighbourhood, a geographically-bounded ‘community’, seen as potentially important in an increasingly individualized world with few interactions beyond the household and a small circle of friends. Kearns and Parkinson [6] point to the contextualizing role that neighbourhood plays in shaping personal identity and social position. In greater detail, Forrest [7] examines the different roles that neighbourhood can play. For our purposes, his ideas of neighbourhood as context and as community are most relevant. Thus as context, neighbourhood can affect the quality of local services that can be accessed. It is also important in shaping exposure not only to crime and violence and environmental hazards but also to the processes of socialization in general and whether relationships with broader society might be positive or negative. As community, neighbourhood is shaped by social interactions, networks and neighbourliness. It can help determine patterns of cohesiveness and participation in institutions and social processes. This seems to remain important even in most local social ties are weak rather than strong, helping individuals to feel secure with a sense of belonging rather than forming the basis of most social interactions (see [8]). Being part of a community or neighbourhood that provides at least weak social ties, an adequate social position and therefore a local basis for person identity seem key characteristics for individuals in the modern city. It is not surprising therefore that neighbourhood has become a vital arena for research and policy with respect to social inclusion/exclusion.

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Social exclusion in the city

While a relatively recent idea in Canadian discourse, social exclusion has a lengthier history elsewhere. It has been adopted and expanded across Europe as there is dissatisfaction with the narrow focus of such concepts as poverty, deprivation and material welfare [10,11]. While social exclusion is related to poverty and unemployment, Atkinson [12], p.v cautions against equating these terms: “People may be poor without being socially excluded; and others may be socially excluded without being poor”. In fact, social exclusion focuses on the processes that prevent individuals from participating in economic, social, and political dimensions of society. Social exclusion has thus been defined as “a short hand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime, bad health and family breakdown” [13, p. 11] with an individual being socially excluded if he or she does not participate in key activities of the society in which he or she lives. Social exclusion is also thought to have indirect costs for society at large, such as, a lack of social cohesion, higher crime and fear of crime, increased pressure on the social services system and increased stigma associated with particular neighbourhoods or geographic areas. And from an economic perspective, exclusion is argued to be a key component of increased public spending to combat crime and substance abuse, reduce homelessness, and provide social and health services [13]. This paper contributes to this growing area of research by examining social exclusion within the context of neighbourhoods. While international research has documented the links between neighbourhood environments and social exclusion e.g., [14] very little research conducted in Canada has addressed the relationship between neighbourhoods and social exclusion. As such, we examine the extent to which processes of social exclusion differ between two adjacent but socially contrasting neighbourhoods in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

3

Data and methods

This research is part of a larger project designed to examine social determinants of health at the neighbourhood level. The project collected data through a crosssectional neighbourhood telephone survey conducted in four neighbourhoods in Hamilton. A detailed description of the neighbourhood selection process is found in Luginaah et al. [15]. One neighbourhood, Chedoke-Kirkendall, represented a diverse one and in fact contained two distinct sub-areas – a north and south neighbourhood – differentiated by social and population characteristics. Data from the 1996 Census of Canada reveals that the population in North Chedoke-Kirkendall is characterized by lower levels of education, income and higher levels of unemployment as well a higher percentage of the population rents their dwelling (see Table 1). While both neighbourhoods contain a similar percentage of immigrant populations, there are more members of the population from visible WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

736 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability minority groups in the north neighbourhood. Thus in close proximity there appears to be two areas that might exhibit different types of social exclusion/inclusion. To explore this, our research was carried out in two stages. Table 1:

North and South Chedoke-Kirkendall, 1996 census characteristics.

Characteristics High school or more Below Low Income Point ($30,000) Unemployed Housing Tenure (Rent) Visible Minorities Recent Immigrants Foreign Born Single Source: 1996 Census of Canada. Table 2:

South (%) 85 33 11 22 5 2.5 21 67

North (%) 53 56 12 33 8 2 19 60

Aspects of social exclusion in North and South ChedokeKirkendall.

Dimension of Exclusion

South (%)

North (%)

14 22 14 9 1 5 12 6 24 24 27

28 36 23 22 5 4 18 12 30 29 34

Consumption/Production Below Low Income Point ($30,000) Unemployed Does not own home Worry monthly about bills Not enough food due to lack of money Does not have a regular family doctor Seen/talked with doctor in past 2 weeks Unmet health care needs No Insurance for prescription medication No Insurance for dental expenses No Insurance for primate/semi-private hospital room

Neighbourhood Engagement/ Social Interaction < median number of close friends (6) 39 < median number of close relatives (5) 43 Little or no involvement in organizations 68 Dissatisfied with neighbourhood 1 Considered moving in past 12 months 30 Want to move outside neighbourhood 41 Does not like anything about their neighbourhood 4 Dislikes at least one thing about their neighbourhood 64 Source: Hamilton, Ontario Neighbourhood Health Survey, 2001-2002. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

42 41 73 6 28 51 7 64

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In the first stage, we analysed the neighbourhood survey data by exploring differences in neighbourhood perceptions, social and community networks, as well as other measures of exclusion/inclusion between the two areas. In the second stage of the research, 40 in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 men and 10 women in the north and south sub-areas. The purpose of the interviews was to examine residents’ participation in formal and informal neighbourhood events/activities, connections with neighbours, as well as perceptions of their neighbourhood. We analyze both the survey and interview data by drawing upon the framework of social exclusion proposed by Burchardt et al. [16]. They outline four main activities from which individuals may be excluded: Consumption the ability to purchase goods and services; Production linked to involvement in social and economic activities; Political Engagement involvement in local or national level decision-making; and Social Interaction involvement with family, friends and the broader community. Since our focus is exclusion at the neighbourhood level, we replace the category of Political Engagement with Neighbourhood Engagement, referring to an individual’s participation in formal neighbourhood activities and decision-making processes, as well as their overall satisfaction with their neighbourhood environment. From the survey we include a number of variables to represent each of the four dimensions.

4

Findings

4.1 Consumption and production Differences in production and consumption activities are quite evident between the two neighbourhoods (see Table 2). Approximately twice as many residents in the north have a household income that is below $30,000 (Statistics Canada Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO)), a higher percentage are unemployed, and a lower percentage own their own home as compared to residents in the south. A higher percentage of residents in the north report that they worry every month about being able to pay their bills and that they have experienced times when they did not have enough food to eat due to a lack of money. In terms of health care use and access few respondents in both neighbourhoods report that they do not have a regular family doctor. However, almost 20% of individuals in the north have seen or talked to their doctor in the past two weeks as compared to only 12% of those in south. Interestingly, twice as many respondents in the north than in the south neighbourhood report that they did not receive health care when they needed it. In general, interview respondents from the north neighbourhood have lower rates of home ownership and education and higher rates of unemployment. The north neighbourhood also contains a lower quality housing stock. Some individuals mentioned that while they do not like living in their neighbourhood they are forced to because of the inexpensive price of housing. Julia, who is unemployed and has been living in the north neighbourhood for 17 years,

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738 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability commented that she wants to move from this neighbourhood but cannot afford to leave: “I want a place that is mine. What I can afford in the city, is not worth buying because they are in areas I will not live in or a dinky little house that isn’t much bigger than my apartment.” In contrast, no one in the south stated that they disliked living there. In fact, many decided to move there because of its attractive qualities. For example, Arthur has been living in the south neighbourhood for 16 years. He moved to the area because of its good reputation: “It is a pleasant setting to live. It is a scenic road. It is called the most attractive street in Hamilton. It is not quite rural but it is not quite central city and yet we are very close to the highway, close to downtown, close to anything you want to do. Sharon described South Kirkendall as one of the best neighbourhoods in the city: “Well, southwest has a lot of character. The people are nice. They are usually in a white collar, fairly educated and it’s a very friendly neighbourhood really. You walk down the street, they say ‘hi’ to you and I’m fond of very old homes. I love this neighbourhood. I’d have to say this is one of the nicest, the best in Hamilton.” 4.2 Neighbourhood engagement and social interaction Neighbourhood engagement and social interaction are interrelated constructs, although the former tends to be more formal (e.g., sports teams, church membership) and the latter more informal (e.g., day-to-day talks with neighbours). The survey data show few differences between the north and south neighbourhoods with respect to number of close friends and relatives (see Table 2). The data also reveal that, in general, a higher percentage of respondents in the north are unhappy with their neighbourhood. For example, approximately 6% of north residents are dissatisfied with their neighbourhood as a place to live as compared to only 1% of respondents in the south. Similarly, a higher percentage of individuals living in the north report that they do not like anything about their neighbourhood. Even though the street-by-street neighbourhood inventory revealed more opportunities in the north to participate in neighbourhood-level activities (i.e., the existence of parks and recreation centres), in general, more individuals from the south reported that they are involved in various clubs and activities both within and outside their neighbourhood. Individuals from the south are members of a variety of formal organizations including religious, political, cultural, athletic and environmental groups. For example, Stacey, who has lived there for 9 years, describes her involvement in numerous neighbourhood activities: WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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“Well this is quite an area. It is called Kirkendall and there is a Kirkendall Association. You get together. They have various activities through the year. There is some fund raisers we have in the park that raise money for...we bought playground equipment at the Triple-A grounds. You know, there are some activities and we have local soccer in the park. They have put together their own soccer league and I have coached that.” While not all individuals in the south are involved in formal activities and organizations, few individuals in the north reported any participation in formal neighbourhoods clubs or organizations. Even more interesting is the finding that reasons for lack of participation are very different between the two areas. When asked about the factors that prevent them from participating in neighbourhood activities, respondents in the south cited a lack of time due to work commitments or a lack of interest. “If I was around more, I would participate more. I would join the running club.” (Peter) In contrast, residents from the north most often mentioned financial constraints or health problems as factors that prevent them from joining clubs. For example, Paul is a former Cub Scout leader and he discussed how registration fees are a financial barrier to participation for many households in the north: “There’s a few Scout troops around our house. A lot but the price of the Scouting is getting so high… Scouting for two kids, three kids you’re looking at three hundred bucks, just to say ‘You can go’, not to mention buying their uniform.” Individuals in both areas interact informally with their neighbours although the degree and type of interactions are quite different between the north and south. Residents in the south interact frequently with their neighbours. Although there are fewer restaurants and coffee shops in the south than in the north neighbourhood, many residents from the south meet for daily walks or at local coffee shops each morning or evening. In addition, some women in the south have organized a book club: “The nature, the greenery, the space, the sense of space, are all very, very positive…There is a regular brigade of people that walk their dogs down on the golf course. A lot of them especially in the winter when it is dark they go down to protect each other. I think they appreciate the closeness of this as well”. (Katie)

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740 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Many residents in the north also indicated that they have friendly interactions with their neighbours. Individuals can rely on one another to keep an eye on their houses while they are away and some will engage spontaneously in conversation but very few indicated that they interact on a regular basis with the neighbours. In contrast to circumstances in the north, it appears that the regular, often daily, interaction with neighbours has allowed residents in the south to create a sense of community: “We certainly felt that we were part of the community…You become part of the school, and then part of that community, part of the church community, and then you start to know other people. That’s where we really started to meet people in the neighbourhood…The women – Moms – that I met the very first year are the ones that I still know and am friends with.” (Barbara) “It (interacting with friends at Tim Horton’s) gives us a sense of community. It’s not just stuck in the middle of a big city. There’s this little community that keeps the pulse on what’s going on…We’re very comfortable here. We feel very secure.” (Richard) This sense of community appears to allow residents in the south to work together to make changes in their neighbourhood. For example, Barbara talked about her involvement in raising money to redevelop the neighbourhood park: “The city was putting forth money to redevelop the park and something came in the paper saying that they were putting on a presentation about what that might be. The neighbourhood association ... so I thought, well, I'll go because I live across from the park to see what's what. ...I ended up becoming the Chair of the fund raiser committee, because I have a hard time saying no.” Very few residents in the north mentioned that they felt a strong sense of community in their neighbourhood. Perhaps this lack of a community feeling leads some to feel like they cannot make positive changes to their neighbourhood. For example, Jim has lived in the area for 9 years but feels that he cannot make a difference when it comes to solving problems in his neighbourhood: “There are people who come at night and they will rifle through your car to find anything inside it, like open the cigarette ashtray looking for change, under the seats, if it’s not locked…it bothers me a lot, but there doesn’t seem to be too much we can do about it except lock stuff up…we reported it to the police every time, which gets us nothing.” WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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741

Discussion and conclusion

Our research confirms that exclusion involves the interconnection of a lack of economic productivity, consumption of necessary goods and services, neighbourhood engagement and social interaction. If anything, our results suggest that exclusion may or may not involve the combination of any of the four dimensions. For example, there are individuals in the north who do not feel socially excluded and conversely those in the south who do not feel socially included. Further, there are individuals in the north who are economically productive yet do not feel a part of their neighbourhood. In contrast, there are those who are not economically productive, do not have the means to acquire many of life’s basic necessities but feel like they are an important part of their neighbourhood. Perhaps then, as Burchardt et al. [16] suggest, exclusion/ inclusion is part of a continuum, with individuals potentially falling below some threshold level on some items and above on others. Regardless of what combination of factors produces exclusion/inclusion, various aspects of it exist in both neighbourhoods and may have important affects on health. Furthermore our research shows that positive interactions with neighbours and engagement with the local community enhance health in a number of ways, including the encouragement of healthy lifestyles and the building of strong communities. Recent research in deprived neighbourhoods in the UK suggests that neighbourhood environments shape local social capital and this in turn shapes health (see [17]). European governments have not only addressed social exclusion but also recognize its devastating effects on their citizens and have implemented policies to minimize the effects. In Canada, the intellectual engagement as a political precursor of policy development appears to be beginning. As Evans and Advokaat [18] note for the Law Commission of Canada, inclusion and the struggle against exclusion are necessary elements for strong public life and vitality. Much effort has been expended in Europe on area programs to combat exclusion [19] but there is always political pressure to extend these initiatives and they need to be integrated with other regional strategies concerning infrastructure, employment and so on. It is uncertain how well area programs are working. They may improve access to resources and decision-making. But combating exclusion and reinventing community are long-term goals.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

Amin, A. and Thrift, N. Cities: reimagining the urban, Polity Press: Oxford, 2002. Buck-Morss, S. Dreamworld and Catastrophe, MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2000. Rose, N. Powers of Freedom, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1999. Milligan, M. Displacement and identity discontinuity, Symbolic Interaction 26, pp. 381-403, 2003. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

742 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

Sussman, M.B. Community Structure and Analysis, Crowell: New York, 1959. Kearns, A. and Parkinson, M. The significance of neighbourhood, Urban Studies 38, pp. 2103-2110, 2001. Forrest, R. Who Cares about Neighbourhood? Community Neighbourhood Research Paper 26, 2004. Henning, C. and Lieberg, M. Strong or weak ties? Scandinavian Housing and Planning Research 13, pp. 3-26, 1996. Burchardt, T., LeGrand, J. and Piachaud, D. Introduction, Understanding Social Exclusion, eds. J. Hills, J. LeGrand and D. Piachaud, Oxford University Press: Toronto, pp. 1-12, 2002. Guildford, J. Making the Case for Economic and Social Inclusion, Atlantic Regional Health Office, Health Canada, 2000. Littlewood, P. and Herkammer, S. Identifying social exclusion, Social Exclusion in Europe, ed. P. Littlewood, Ashgate Publishing: Aldershot, 1999. Atkinson, A.B. Preface, Exclusion, Employment and Opportunities, eds. A.B. Atkinson and J. Hills, Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion: London, 1998. Social Exclusion Unit, Preventing Social Exclusion, Cabinet Office: London 2001. Buck, N. Identifying neighbourhood effects on social exclusion, Urban Studies 38, pp. 2251-2275, 2001. Luginaah, I. et al. Health profiles of Hamilton, Geoforum 53, pp. 135-147, 2001. Burchardt, T., LeGrand, J. & Piachaud, D. Degrees of social exclusion, Understanding Social Exclusion, eds. J. Hills, J. LeGrand, D. Piachaud. Oxford University Press: Toronto, pp. 30-43, 2002. Cattell, V. Poor people, poor places and poor health, Social Science & Medicine 52, pp. 1501-1516, 2001. Evans, H. & Advokaat, E. The language of communicating in Canada, Law Commission: Ottawa, 2001. Parkinson, M. Combating Social Exclusion: Lessons from Area-Based Programs in Europe, Policy Press: York, 1998.

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Sustainability knowledge, attitude and practices of Malaysians M. S. Aini, P. Laily, Y. Nurizan, H. Sharifah Azizah, J. Zuroni, & S. Norhasmah Department of Resource Management and Consumer Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

Abstract Malaysia has progressed and developed at an unprecedented rate and has transformed herself from an agrarian to an industrialized nation. As a corollary to development and industrialization, the nation is facing a tremendous challenge in ensuring sustainable development as not only patterns of production but consumption and lifestyles have been transformed accordingly. A survey was conducted to gauge the level of sustainability knowledge, attitude and practices of the public officers of the nation. A total of 1246 respondents were randomly selected from nine government departments. They were 52.9% males and 47.1% females with ages ranging from 23 to 50 years old. Data indicated that the main sources of environmental knowledge were television, radio, magazines and books. The environmental knowledge of the respondents was very commendable where 70.1% of the respondents had all the answers correct. The environmental attitude of the respondents was found to be positive with a mean of 3.86 on a scale of 1 to 4. Adoption of sustainable practices among the respondents was rather laudable with a mean of 3.44 which indicates that those activities were somewhat regularly performed. However efforts to conserve particularly water and electricity were rather dismal both in the work place and the home. Relationships between variables were also investigated. Strategies and approaches to enhance sustainable commitment and participation were discussed and proposed. Keywords: sustainable practices, environmental attitude, environmental knowledge, public officers.

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744 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

Environmental problems have been recognized and acknowledged at the United Nations Conference held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, which culminated in Agenda 21. However a review by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP, [18]) asserted that the global system of environmental management is moving in the right direction but much too slowly. It is predicted that if the present trend of economic growth and consumption pattern continues, the natural environment will be increasingly stressed. Among the full scale environmental emergencies recognized by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) are water supply, land degradation, forest destruction, loss of biodiversity, urban air pollution and global warming. Among the key environmental problems faced by Malaysia are: about 73% of Malaysian rivers are polluted (ranging from slightly to very polluted); solid waste problem with a generation rate of 1.0 Kg/day per person but a very low recycling rate of about 5%; air quality problem particularly in the urban areas; and an increase in the amount of toxic and hazardous waste emanated by industries (Eighth Malaysia Plan, [8]). In order to address these environmental problems, the Malaysian Government had started to integrate environmental considerations in the formulation of projects and programs since the Sixth Malaysia Plan (1991-1995). This is to ensure efficient management of the environment and its natural resources in order to attain sustainable development. Various strategies have been undertaken by the Government to address the tenets of Chapter 36 of Agenda 21, which is promoting environmental education, public awareness and training: broad base campaigns through the mass media to encourage the life-long process of environmental education; infusing formal environmental education in school curriculum; incorporate environmental education subject in teachers’ training syllabus; establishment of Research Center for Environmental Health; active participation of public and private sectors including non-governmental organizations in promoting environmentally responsible practices; and developed partnership with various countries such as Denmark and Japan on capacity building, training and research in environment and environmental education (Seventh Malaysia Plan, [15]). Malaysia, which is at an intermediary stage of development, is facing tremendous challenge in ensuring sustainable development. Since independence in 1957, Malaysia has transformed herself from an agrarian to an industrialized nation and envisaged to be a fully developed and industrialized country by the year 2020. Industrialization has induced changes not only in patterns of production but has resulted in high urbanization rate (55.1% in 1995 to 66.9% in 2005) (Eighth Malaysia Plan, [8]) and consequently in consumption and lifestyle of the populace.

2

Literature review

It was found that failure to overcome environmental problems or failure to preserve a healthy environment is a result of overemphasis in technical, socioWIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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economic and political factors and inadequate attention given to non-economic value of the environment (Tikka, et. al., [17]). Studies have shown that the most significant factors affecting nature is not the official government policy but public awareness (Chukwuma, [6]) or public concern for environment and the readiness to bear the cost of minimizing the adverse impacts of their activities (Ramsey and Rickson, [12]). Thus the root causes of environmental problems are related to human activities, consumption and production patterns, many of which are unaffected by environmental policies. Environmental degradation is a global concern for its effects are borderless and the quality of life of the present and of future generation depends on the protection and preservation of ecosystems. Many studies have investigated factors related to sustainable such as behaviour, knowledge, attitude, awareness, concern, nature related activities and demographic factors. Studies by various scholars have demonstrated that the quality of the environment depends critically on the level of knowledge, attitude, values and practices of the people (Schulitz and Oskamp, [14]; Mansaray and Ajiboye, [9]). However findings on relationship between these variables have been mixed. Environmental knowledge is an important factor in consumer behaviour but the findings were shown to vary from knowledge to have significant positive relationship (Laroche et al., 2001; Bartkus et al., [4]; Vining and Ebreo, [19]) to non-significant relationship (Aini et al., [3]; Synodinos, [16]). Studies by Aini et al. [2,3] had found that Malaysian teachers and students had a fair understanding but generally poor in the identifying the underlying causes of environmental problems. Concern for environment is a global phenomenon, emerging from multiple sources such as direct observation of environmental degradation, personal experience of its negative impacts and effects environmental education through formal or informal means. This was substantiated by an international survey by Dunlap et al. [7] which indicated that citizens of many developing countries were highly concerned with the environment. Studies by various scholars in Malaysia have generally found that the attitude towards environment or level of concern for environment of the public was high; however it was not in concert with sustainable practices (Norhasmah et al., [10]; Othman et al., [11]; and Aini et al., [3]). Previous studies in the country have gauged environmental knowledge, attitude and practices of students, teachers and general public but none on public officers. Public officers are the backbone of Malaysian Government in ensuring that the development plans are implemented and realised. It is thus appropriate that environmental gap of the public officers with respect to attitude, knowledge, and practices are assessed. Understanding of the relationship between these variables would enable various relevant parties to develop effective policies and measures in order to enhance adoption of sustainable lifestyle of individuals and society. This research was funded by a grant from the Government of Malaysia.

3 Methodology The research design was a descriptive type of study utilizing survey method. The population of the study was public officers of the Malaysian Government. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

746 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Samples were selected from nine departments ranging from the Department of Health, Education, Environment, Transport, Agriculture, Human Resource, Finance, Statistics and Primary Industry. A total of 1246 samples were randomly selected representing officers of various ranks and categories. Data was collected in June 2005 and a response rate of 100% was achieved because the questionnaires were distributed and collected back through the assistance of the office of Heads of Departments. The instrument was in Bahasa Melayu (National language) and consisted of four main sections: demography; environmental knowledge; environmental attitude and sustainable practices. There were 22 questions on environmental knowledge encompassing fundamental concept (such as aim of sustainable development), underlying causes (e.g. sources of environmental pollution), and effect (e.g. loss of bio-diversity). The response category was yes, no or not sure of the answer. Attitude towards environmental was gauged through 11 statements, with a response format of a four- points Likert scale ranging from strongly agree (4) to strongly disagree (1). Sustainable behaviour refers to consumption practices in which a person takes into consideration the impact of his purchasing, utilization or choices of his action to the environment. It was assessed through 12 statements with a response format of 4 for all the time, 3 for always true, 2 for sometime true and 1 for never true. . Pilot study was conducted and the wording of the questionnaire was amended accordingly. The post-test value of reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s Alpha) of the instrument was 0.62 for both attitude and behaviour scale. There were two open ended questions where the respondents were asked to list three sustainable practices that are most often done at the office and at home.

4 Findings and discussion The respondents consisted of 52.9% males and 47.1% females. The age ranges from 23 years to maximum of 50 years, with almost 50% of the respondents were in the age group of between 23 to 35 years. As for the ethnic distribution, Malays accounted for 60.8% of the respondents while 25.3%, 12.4% and 1.4% were Chinese, Indians and others respectively. In terms of job categories, 48.1% of respondents were professionals, 27.4% were white collar workers (Diploma holders) and the rest (24.5) were blue collar workers. The salary of the respondents ranges from RM 500 (USD 125) to RM5560 (USD 1390) per month. This salary range reflects a typical salary scheme among Malaysian civil servants. Table 1 shows the data of some selected demographic variables. Membership of social and environmental clubs and sources of environmental knowledge of respondents is shown in Table 2. More than 50% of the respondents were members of Kelab Pencinta Alam (Love Nature Club) and slightly more than a quarter of them were consumer club members. Television, radio, books and magazines were the main sources of environmental information and knowledge for almost all the respondents. This finding differs slightly from an earlier study which was conducted among households in the State of Selangor where newspaper, television and radio were WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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the primary sources of environmental information (Nurizan et al., 2004). A sizeable proportion of respondents (66.4%) stated that environmental knowledge was obtained from formal education (Table 3). A cross tabulation is made to compare between three different categories of educational background of the respondents (group 1= up to secondary education; group 2= college/ diploma; and group 3= tertiary education level i.e. Degree and postgraduates) with formal education as a source of environmental knowledge. It was found that 85.3% of those in group 3 education level stated that environmental knowledge was gained through formal education, while 47.9% and 5.9% of group 2 and 1 stated so. Similar percentage distribution was found with regards to the use of Internet as a source of environmental information. Thus formal education and Internet as sources of environmental knowledge seem to be more popular among higher educated respondents. Table 1:

Percentage distribution of selected demographic variables.

Variables Gender Male Female

Percentage (%) 52.9 47.1

Age (years) 23-35 36-45 46-50

50.2 32.9 16.9

Ethnic Malay Chinese Indians Others

60.8 25.3 12.4 1.5

Education Level Primary Secondary Diploma Degree Masters/PhD

8.3 7.4 6.6 47.1 30.6

Job Category Professional/ Officers Blue Collar (Nurses, clerks) General workers (cleaners)

54.9 42.9 2.2

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

748 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 2:

Percentage of Membership in social and environmental clubs.

Club Membership Love Nature Club Consumer Clubs World Wildlife Fund Welfare Club Friends of the Earth

Table 3:

Yes (Percentage) 53.0 26.7 13.5 9.6 6.7

Sources of environmental knowledge.

Sources Television Radio Books Magazines Formal education Internet Newspaper Seminars/talks DVD

Yes (Percentage) 100 100 100 99.8 66.4 66.4 16.8 9.7 0

Environmental knowledge of the respondents was very commendable where 70.1% of the respondents had all the answers correct. Only 4.0% of the respondents scored 19 and less from a total 22 marks. Among the items that were answered wrongly or unsure were those related to the effects such as that of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, washing soap to environment. The above sources of environmental information seem to be able to impart basic environmental knowledge well but less effective on advance aspects such as the effects and impacts aspects. Environmental attitude of the respondents was found to be positive with a mean of 3.86 on a scale of 1 to 4. Adoption of sustainable practices among the respondents was rather commendable with a mean of 3.44 (1 never true to 4 all the time true) which indicates that those activities were performed rather regularly. This is somewhat promising as compared to previous studies (Aini et al., [2]; Norhasmah et al., [10]; Aini et al., [3]) where the mean score of sustainable practices was found to be below 3.0 on a similar scale. Table 4 shows the mean of each the item of sustainable practices. All the items had a score of mean above 3.0 except for two, which is with regards to trying to reduce waste production and electricity consumption. The respondents were also asked to list three types of sustainable practices with regards to minimization of resources that they regularly undertook at the office and at home. At the office, it was found that 44.9% of respondents indicated that they tried to maximise the use of paper (using both sides of paper, reuse it) while minimization of electricity and water was mentioned by only 2.7% and 3.7% of them. As for practices at home, 13.5%, 6.3% and 4.5% tried to minimize the use of water, electricity and reuse of bottles consecutively. On the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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whole, the figure reflects that efforts to conserve particularly water and electricity was rather dismal both at work place and home. The findings illustrates that only a small percentage of respondents were concerned with water conservation and this corresponds with the figures whereby on average a Malaysian uses 300 Litres Per Day (LPD) of water, and urban dwellers use a lot higher at 500 LPD (Chan, [5]). This is almost doubled to that recommended amount by the United Nations which is 165 LPD. This may be due to among other factors, a relatively low water and electricity tariff in the country. Table 4:

Mean of items measuring sustainable practices.

Item Recycling household wastes Reuse of items (bottles, containers) Use both sides of papers Use own container/bags when shopping Use natural resources as insect repellent Always trying to minimize amount waste generated Purchase items wrapped/placed in reusable cases Use public transport where possible Purchase products that would last long Switch off fan or lights when unused Close the pipe when brushing teeth Reduce electricity consumption Overall mean

Mean 3.74 3.67 3.51 3.40 3.67 3.00 3.27 3.67 3.65 3.33 3.33 3.00 3.44

One-way ANOVA was tested to investigate the differences between means of three groups of educational background with three main variables of the study. Results are as displayed in Table 4. There were no significant differences in knowledge among the three groups but significant differences between groups were found for attitude and practices. Higher educated respondents had more positive attitude but it was not translated into more sustainable practices. Data indicated that although the less educated ones (group 1) had slightly lower environmental knowledge, less positive attitude towards environment but they were more involved in adoption of sustainable practices. Table 5:

One-way ANOVA output for attitude and sustainable practices. Education Group

Sig.

1 1

2 3

.022 .001

1

2

.038

Attitude Sustainable practices

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Conclusions and implication

Overall the findings showed that the respondents possessed good basic environmental knowledge and a positive attitude towards environment. With regards to sustainable behaviour, there is a lot of room for improvement particularly with regards to minimization of the use of water and electricity particularly at work place and waste reduction. In the wake of the recent fuel hike in the country, the Prime Minister had asserted and appealed to the civil servants to reduce consumption particularly electricity at the office and the public in general to do so. Waste reduction practices are also not encouraging although solid waste is one of major environmental problems faced by most municipalities in the country particularly in the urban areas. Mass media such as television and radio which represent main sources of environmental knowledge could be exploited by the policy makers to develop a comprehensive environmental education of the masses via this media besides enhancing it through formal environmental education at government offices. Adoption of environmentally responsible practices could further be enhanced through active participation in environmental related activities such as environmental seminars and campaigns. New approaches such as experiential learning, ‘in’ and ‘with’ nature experiences and problem-based education can further be explored. The world is currently facing an array of planetary environmental emergencies such as pollution, environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources. As such it is pertinent that sustainable behaviors are reinforced and intensified at all levels of the society. Some environmental behaviors are matters of personnel habit and routine but some are highly constrained by other external or contextual factors such as technology, laws and regulations, social policies, social values and norms within the society. Thus it is proposed that studies are undertaken to understand those barriers that inhibit behavior change of the public so that useful and practical principles for intervention can be identified. Consequently, an integrated approach to effective formal and informal environmental education of the Malaysian society may be developed.

References [1] [2]

[3]

Aini, M.S., Fakhru’l-Razi, A., Lau, S.M., & Hashim, A.H., Practices, attitudes and motives for domestic waste recycling. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 9, pp. 232-238, 2002. Aini, M.S., Fakhru’l-Razi, A., Paim, L. & Masud, J., Environmental concerns, knowledge and practices gap among Malaysian teachers. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 4(4), pp. 305313, 2003. Aini, M.S., Norsaadah, J. & Siti Suhana, M.S., Understanding and participation of Malaysian youth in environment. Proceedings. 4th KUSTEM Annual Seminar on Sustainability Science and Management, Kuala Terengganu Malaysia, 2005.

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Bartkus, K.R., Hartman, C.L. & Howell, R.D., The measurement of consumer environmental knowledge: Revisions and Extensions. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality, 14(1), pp. 9-18, 1999. [5] Chan, N.W., 1997/98 nationwide water crises in Malaysia: What are the real causes and lessons to be learnt? Proceedings of the International Conference on Disaster M, Lessons to be Learnt, Langkawi Malaysia, 2000. [6] Chukwuma, C.S., Environmental issues and our chemical world- the need for a multidimensional approach in environmental safety, health and management. Environmental Management and Health, 9(3), pp. 136-143, 1998. [7] Dunlap, R.E, Gallup, G.H & Gallup, A.M., Results of the Health of the Planet Survey. Environment, 35(9), pp. 7-39, 1993. [8] Eighth Malaysia Plan, Kuala Lumpur: Percetakan Nasional Malaysia Berhad, 2001. [9] Mansaray, A. & Abijoye, J.O., Environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in Dutch Secondary School. Journal of Environmental Education, 30 (2), pp. 4 – 11, 1998. [10] Norhasmah, S., Aini, M.S., Laily, P., Sharifah Azizah, H., Nurizan, Y. & Naimah, S., Environmental attitude and practices. Malaysian Journal of Consumer and Family Economics, 7, pp.54-65, 2004. [11] Othman, M.N., Ong, F.S. & Lim, M.H., Environmental attitudes and knowledge of teenage consumers. Paper presented at MACFEA Seminar, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, 2003. [12] Ramsey, C.E. & Rickson, R.E., Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes. Journal of Environmental Education, 8, pp.10-18, 1976. [13] Salequzzman, M. D; & Stocker, L., The context and prospects for environmental education and environmental career in Bangladesh. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 2 (2), 104121, 2001. [14] Schulitz, P.W., & Oskamp, S., Effort as a moderator of the attitude behavior relationship: general environmental concern and recycling. Sociology Psychology Quarterly, 59(4), pp. 375-383, 1996. [15] Seventh Malaysia Plan (1996). Kuala Lumpur: Percetakan Nasional Berhad. [16] Synodinos, N.E., Environmental attitudes and knowledge. Journal of Business Research, 20: 161-170, 1990. [17] Tikka, P. M., Kuitunen, M.T., & Tynys, S. M., Effect of educational background on students’ attitude, activity levels and knowledge concerning environment. The Journal of Environmental Education, 31(3), pp. 12-19, 2000. [18] United Nations environment Program (UNEP), Global Environment Outlook 2000, UNEP, 1999. [19] Vining, J. & Ebreo, A., What makes a recycler? A comparison of recyclers and nonrecyclers. Environment & Behavior, 22: 55-73, 1990.

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Community participation in urban renewal projects: experiences and challenges of the case of Johannesburg, South Africa W. Didibhuku Thwala Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract Urban renewal and inner city regeneration have become serious issues for the South African government which has invested in several structures to stem the tide of decline in its nine major cities. Commitment to alleviation of poverty has become very high on the government agenda and will stay one of the focal points of government. This is motivated by the fact that currently around 24% of the population lives on less than $1 a day, below the poverty line defined by the World Bank. The Central Government has made numerous public commitments to development, a part of it concerning extensive infrastructure investment and service delivery. Communities are supposed to participate fully in the planning and implementation of urban renewal projects. Participation is a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives, and the decisions and resources which affect them. Participation may be a means or an end, but in reality it is usually both. Involving people in order to increase awareness, empower, build capacity, or expand rights and duties may be an end in itself, but it may also function as an instrumental means for accomplishing a specific task. Similarly, working with people to accomplish a specific task may enable them to expand their confidence and ability to address other issues in their lives. Community participation should be aimed at empowering people by ensuring that skills are developed and that employment opportunities are created. The paper will firstly explore the concept of community participation. The paper will then look at some past experiences in relation to community participation in urban renewal projects. Furthermore the paper will outline the challenges and problems of community participation in urban renewal projects in Johannesburg. Finally the paper closes with some recommendations for the future. Keywords: community participation, urban renewal, poverty, unemployment. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060721

754 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

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Introduction

In South Africa, the levels of unemployment and poverty are extremely high and two of South Africa’s most pressing problems. The levels of unemployment have been rising steadily over the years. The level of unemployment was 7% in 1980, 18% in 1991 (McCutcheon [11,13]) and 28% in 2003 (Statistics South Africa [17]). Commitment to alleviation of poverty has become very high on the government agenda and will stay one of the focal points of government. This is motivated by the fact that, currently around 24% of the population lives on less than $1 a day, below the poverty line defined by the World Bank [19]. In addition to high levels of unemployment, there is also a widely acknowledged need for housing and municipal infrastructure (water supply, sewerage, streets, stormwater drainage, electricity, refuse collection). But most importantly, it is crucial to realise that there is a great need for physical infrastructure in both urban and rural areas. In addition there is a lack of capacity and skills at institutional, community and individual levels. This problem of infrastructure backlog is aggravated by the apparent lack of capacity and skills at institutional, community and individual levels. According to the World Bank [19] infrastructure can deliver major benefits in economic growth, poverty alleviation, and environmental sustainability - but only when it provides services that respond to effective demand and does so efficiently. According to Thwala [18] over the past 25 years several projects have been initiated in South Africa to counter unemployment and poverty. It is envisaged that there will be others in the future. From a theoretical perspective supported by experience elsewhere in Africa, there are reasons for considering that properly formulated employment creation programmes based on the use of employmentintensive methods could be established to construct and maintain the required physical infrastructure, thus creating employment, skills and institutional capacities. The Urban Renewal Infrastructure Projects have the potential to redress this problem of disportionately high unemployment levels in South Africa and also to correct the skill deficits in disadvantaged communities. Among other things, these may be achieved through an efficient institutional set up, effective community participation, and construction technology that is pragmatic and innovative in nature. The paper will firstly explore the concept of community participation. The paper will then look at some past experiences in relation to community participation in urban renewal projects. Furthermore the paper will outline the challenges and problems of community participation in urban renewal projects in Johannesburg. Finally the paper closes with some recommendations for the future.

2

Community participation in urban renewal projects

The World Bank [19] defines “participation is a process through which stakeholders’ influence and share control over development initiatives, and the decisions and resources which affect them”. The concept of community WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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participation originated about 40 years ago from the community development movement of the late colonial era in parts of Africa and Asia. To colonial administrators, community development was a means of improving local welfare, training people in local administration and extending government control through local self-help activities (McCommon et al. [10]). However, during this era, the policy failed to achieve many of its aims primarily due to the bureaucratic top-down approach adopted by the colonial administrations (McCommon et al. [10]). Out of these experiences various approaches were developed that have been more successful and have gained broad support from all the major players in the development field (Abbott [1]). Community participation generally is more successful when the community takes over much of the responsibility than when higher level public agencies attempt to assess consumer preferences through surveys or meetings. In order for community participation to work, projects must include special components addressing it. Villagers can be recruited to help in all phases of designing, implementing, maintaining, supervising, and evaluating new water supply and sanitation systems, but only if the time, effort and money is spent to do it right. Special attention must be paid to the development of local committees and governance structures that can adequately oversee local participation. The direction and execution of development projects rather than merely receive a share of project benefits. The objectives of Community Participation as an active process are: • empowerment; • building beneficiary capacity; • increasing project effectiveness; • improving project efficiency; and • project cost sharing. • • • •

The framework identifies four levels of intensity of participation, namely: information sharing; consultation; decision making; and initiating action.

This framework has been largely accepted by development agencies worldwide. However, a criticism of the model is that it is “project based” and does not include the full spectrum of Community Participation approaches. As such, the framework can be defined in planning terms as “means” orientated (Abbott [1]). The “means” approach views community participation as a form of mobilisation to achieve a specific, generally project related goal (Moser [14,15]). The alternative paradigm is the “ends” approach. This approach views community participation as a process whereby control over resources and regulative institutions by groups previously excluded from such control is increased, namely: • the legitimacy of the authorities; • the nature of development. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

756 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability In other words, situations in which the legitimacy of the authorities is in question will result in projects where participation is identified as an “end”. Situations in which the development of services and housing is the main objective and require meaningful participation at a grassroots level are more likely to adopt the “means” approach. It is also possible that a situation will require a combination of the two approaches; such as in South Africa prior to the democratic elections in 1994. The government was not seen as legitimate by the majority of the population, however the provision of services and housing were key issues to be addressed; (since South Africa now has a legitimate national government it is now moving towards a means approach, but this is still complex at community level).

3

Urban renewal infrastructure programmes in Johannesburg, South Africa: experiences, problems and prospects

Urban renewal and inner city regeneration have become serious for the South African government which has invested in several structures to stem the tide of decline in its nine major cities. One of the projects is the Alexandra Urban Renewal project. The Alexandra Township was established in 1912 and is close to the centre of Johannesburg. It covers an area of over 800 hectares and its infrastructure was designed for a population of about 70,000. Current population estimates vary widely and have been put at figures ranging from 180,000 to 750,000. There are estimated 34,000 shacks of which approximately 7,000 are located in “backyards” (Gauteng Provincial Government [7]). The significant, unplanned population has overloaded the infrastructure such that water pressures are low and sewers frequently block and overflow. Maintenance of such systems is very difficult because the high densities and congested nature of the backyard shack development makes access for maintenance very difficult or impossible in places. At the official opening of Parliament in February 2001, the State President announced a seven-year plan to redevelop Greater Alexandra in Johannesburg. The estimated budget for the Alexandra Renewal Project is R1, 3 billion over 7 years (Gauteng Provincial Government [7]). The Project is one of the eight original nodes forming part of the Government Integrated Sustainable Rural Development and Urban Renewal Programmes. These programmes are one of the main vehicles through which the Government is implementing its objectives of sustainable development and poverty alleviation. The projects are suppose to be labour-intensive in their nature so that more people can be employed and at the same time building new infrastructure for the community. The Johannesburg Alexandra Renewal Project seeks to fundamentally upgrade living conditions and human development potential within Alexandra by: • Substantially improving livelihoods within Alexandra and wider regional economy • Creating a healthy and clean living environment WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Providing services at an affordable and sustainable level Reducing levels of crime and violence Upgrading existing housing environments and creating additional affordable housing opportunities and Dedensification to appropriate land.

The following are the problems that hinder community participation in the Johannesburg Urban Renewal Projects which must be avoided in order for future projects to be successful in South Africa: • •

•

• • •

• • •

4

There has been a lack of clear objectives linking the short and long-term visions of the programme. There were no pilot projects with extensive training programmes or lead-in time to allow for proper planning at a national scale. This should have allowed sufficient time to develop the necessary technology, establish training programmes and develop both the institutional and the individual capacities. The project has seldom been scaled to the magnitude of national manpower needs. Very often they have been introduced in an unsystematic and fragmentary style. This often led to technical hastiness, which was compounded by incompetence and inappropriate technology selection. There have been organisational infirmities and inappropriate administrative arrangements. There has been an imbalance between centralisation for higher level coordination and decentralisation for local decision-making and execution of works. Inadequate post-project maintenance arrangements often undermined the efficacy of the projects. This is largely attributed to the failure to ensure there would be an authority with a sufficient stake in the projects and in their continuing effectiveness (that is lack of community participation and ineffective local government). The projects have been over ambitious. This was a result of the lack of appreciation of the time it takes to build the necessary individual and institutional capacities at various levels. There has been a lack of clearly defined and executed training programmes that link medium to a long-term development plan. Individual skills were not improved. Training, where present, was not particularly appropriate or focussed and has not shown it to be carried through into post- project employment.

Lessons and recommendations from the Johannesburg urban renewal projects

One of the most important contributions of the Johannesburg Urban Renewal Project is that it resulted in an improved awareness of community participation WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

758 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability issues and a better understanding of the mechanisms for achieving successful and sustainable projects. A number of key components had been identified in the research as important for the successful implementation of Urban Renewal programmes. There is a need for: • Targeting the poor; • Targeting women; • Institutional training; • Appropriate technology; • Community participation; • Community management; and • Cost recovery. Much of the success in the Urban Renewal Projects was achieved by using appropriate technologies and community-based approaches to projects. The conventional approach to infrastructural development adopted from urbanised, western, developed countries was found to be unsuitable because it was overly centralised and did not reflect local traditions and the needs for community participation. The Johannesburg Urban Renewal experience found that one of the main issues relating to project sustainability is the management of the projects after completion, and not just involvement (or participation) in construction. As an attempt to articulate the responsibilities and management requirements necessary to promote local management of projects, the community management approach was developed. In practice, and for a variety of reasons, planning cannot be left totally to officials, specialists, administrators or experts. Some form of participation in planning is essential (Atkinson [2]). Development is not about the delivery of goods to a passive community, it is about active involvement and growing empowerment. Development is satisfying basic needs such as housing, water, health care, jobs and recreation in a way that changes economic, social and power relations (SANCO). Community participation has proved to be a success in a number of countries such as in Kenya, Botswana and Ghana where community participation was promoted in roads constructing, stormwater drainage, etc (McCutcheon [11,13]). In Tegucigalpa (the capital of Honduras) the community is involved in planning to meet their own needs and then take on management function which, ensures that the neighbourhood has safe water at a price they can afford (Choguill [3]). Therefore community participation in South Africa would also play a major role in alleviating the enormous lack of services such as sustainable clean water to rural communities. It is argued that conventional services have not been or cannot be extended to the poor, as quickly as required. Therefore communities will have to organize to meet their own needs (Crook [5]). If participation is pursued there will be greater possibilities for self-reliance, which will lead to self-perpetuation of initiating projects. In addition, participation means services can be provided at a lower cost (Crook [5]). Therefore community participation should be promoted, especially for poor communities who have nothing to offer but their labour. According to Citicon [?] experience has taught us that decisions arrived at in boardrooms and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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applied at grassroots level are not usually received positively by target communities. Some of these problems in Urban Renewal Projects in South Africa might be avoided by a careful approach to community participation. The validity of claims to be representative must be tested as early as possible. All interest groups in the community should be identified and consulted. Holding public meetings or advertising in newspapers may do this. Publicity material about a proposed programme can be distributed at public meetings. It should not be assumed that spokespeople at public meetings represent the majority or all of the community. Spokespeople may also say what they think outsiders want to hear in order to further their own positions or to be polite. What must be realised is that in practice, planners may find that they play both roles interchangeably, depending on where they are in the planning process. Linking learning situations to the planning processes is one way in which one can ensure that what people learn is relevant to their situation and to ensure that what is learnt is applied and reflected upon as something that can be adapted or re-applied. Friedmann [6] believes that social learning approaches are appropriate to community self-empowerment since they require substantial departure from traditional planning practice which is typically imposed from above rather than generated within the community of the disempowered themselves. This has been evident in the kind of planning practiced during apartheid.

5

Conclusion

Phillips et al. [16] assert that community participation is required for work to be done which is required by the community. Although a technology may be appropriate to the available funds and the social conditions and operating and maintenance capacity in the community, the community may reject it as inferior because it differs from that used in wealthier areas. The community should participate in assessment of its resources and subsequently in the choice of technology. Communities are highly complex and not single cohesive units. In the absence of legitimate and effective local government, other representatives of the community have to be identified. It may be difficult to determine whether an individual or organisation is representative of the community. A community organisation which is unrepresentative can cause resentment and conflict which may curtail a programme. Alternatively a development committee may be formed. Problems may also arise if the leadership of organisations representing the community changes or if other organisations become more powerful during a programme.

References [1]

Abbott, J. 1991. “Community Participation in Development”. University of the Witwatersrand Course Notes, Environmental Health Engineering. Department of Civil Engineering. Johannesburg. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

760 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

[11] [12]

[13] [14]

[15] [16]

Atkinson, D. 1992. Let the People Decide: Public Participation in Urban Planning. Centre for Development Studies, University of the Western Cape. Choguill, C.L. 1994. Crisis, Chaos, Crunch? Planning for Urban Growth in Developing World, Urban Studies. Vol. 31, No.6. Coukis, B. et al. (1983) Labour-Based Construction Programmes – A Practical Guide for Planning and Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press for the World Bank. Crook, C. 1991. Government and Participation: Institutional development, decentralisation and democracy in the Third world, Chr. Michelsen Institute, Department of Social Science and Development. Friedmann, J. 1993. Towards a NonEuclidian Mode of Planning. American Planning Association Journal. Autumn. Vol. 54. No.4. pp. 482 – 485. Gauteng Provincial Government (2004) Alexandra Project: Review Summit 2004. Johannesburg: Gauteng Provincial Government. Jara, R.A. (1971) Labour Mobilisation and Economic Development: The Moroccan Experience. Ann Arbour, Center for Economic Development, April. Kalbermatten, J.M. and Middleton, R. N. 1992. Future Directions in Water Supply and Waste Disposal. Washington DC: Kalbermatten and Associates. McCommon, C. et al. 1993. Community Management of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Services; Water and sanitation for Health (WASH) Technical Report No. 67. Washington DC: United States Agency for International Aid (USAID). McCutcheon, R.T. (1995) Employment Creation in Public Works: Labour-Intensive Construction in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Implications for South Africa. Habitat International, Vol. 19, No. 3 pp. 331-355. McCutcheon, R.T. and Marshall, J. (1998) Institution, Organisation and Management for large-scale, employment-intensive road construction and maintenance programmes. Construction and Development Series, Number 15, Development Bank of Southern Africa Paper No. 130, February. McCutcheon, R.T. (2001) Employment Generation in Public Works: Recent South African Experience. Construction, Management and Economics Journal. Moser, C. 1983. Evaluating Community Participation in Urban Development Projects. Proceedings of a Workshop held at the Development Planning Unit Barlett School of Architecture and Planning. London. University College of London. Moser, C.O. Community Participation in Urban Projects in the Third World, Progress in Planning, Oxford : Pergamon Press, Vol. 32, 1989, pp. 71-133. Phillips, S.D. et al. 1992. Employment Creation, Poverty Alleviation and the Provision of Infrastructure. Urban Forum. Vol.3, No.2. p.18.

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[17] [18]

[19]

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Statistics South Africa (2003) Labour Force Survey for March 2003. Statistics South Africa, Pretoria, 23rd September. Thwala, W.D. (2001). A Critical Evaluation of Large-Scale Development Projects and Programmes in South Africa 1980-1994. Unpublished Msc Thesis, School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. World Bank (1994). World Development Report 1994. World Bank, Washington.

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Section 12 Socio-economic issues

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Small and medium-sized enterprises, employment generation and regional development in Estonia U. Venesaar1 & Ü. Marksoo2 1

Tallinn University of Technology, School of Economics and Business Administration, Estonia 2 Tartu University, Institute of Geography, Estonia

Abstract The issues of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) development and employment generation in regions have attracted much attention in Estonia because of considerable regional differences in the number of enterprises and the labour market situation (e.g. job creation, unemployment) and because regional economic development has been strongly polarised to the territory around Tallinn, the Capital City. The aim of this paper is to assess the contribution of SMEs in the regional economic development of Estonia, focusing on their potential for generating employment through firm formation and job creation. The paper is based on empirical evidence drawn from the database of the National Tax Board and supplemented by a review of secondary data from other studies undertaken in Estonia. Entrepreneurial activity across regions indicates differences in the entrepreneurship environment and possibilities. Counties with larger centres have developed faster than others, and a number of peripheral regions are lagging behind all of the rest. The analysis showed spatial variations in firm formation rates explained by differences in economic structure, size of enterprises and other factors. The analysis also showed that job flows vary considerably across enterprise groups classified on the basis of various characteristics. Based on the results of analysis, the regions and enterprise groups can be distinguished for policy support to achieve the increasing contribution of SMEs to the regional economic development. Keywords: SMEs, firm formation, job creation, regional differences. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060731

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1

Introduction

The important role of small and medium sized enterprises (SME) includes the potential of generating employment through firm formation as well as through survival and growth performance of SMEs. Many surveys have indicated differences in SME inputs in employment among countries and regions. These differences have been explained by variations in external environment and factors hampering development but also by differences in strategies used by managers and owners of enterprises. Resulting from different impact of SME roles (e.g. employment generation, innovation, economic growth, reduction of unemployment) several surveys have indicated spatial variations in business formation rates by countries as well as within countries (Reynolds et al. [1]; Johnson [2]). It is therefore important for every region to understand more thoroughly the reasons of spatial variations, which may have important implications for entrepreneurship policy. For policy interest it is needful to know, in which regions (counties) and enterprise groups it is appropriate to facilitate firm formation and job creation. The impact of SME sector has been assessed in general as a positive factor in Estonia’s economic development since the early years of transition, based on the fast growth of new enterprises and the role of SMEs in generation of employment (Smallbone et al [3]; Venesaar [4]; Estonia Country Assessment [5]). As a result, the share of employment in SMEs achieved nearly 80% of total employment in business sector in 2004. However, the growth of job creation led to a growth of overall employment only from 2001 (Statistical Office of Estonia [6]) because the period of transition brought along a considerable decline in the participation rate of the working-age population in the labour market and caused a growth of unemployment and inactivity. But together with the improvement of business environment and continuous rejuvenation process of the stock of enterprises have improved the performance of enterprise sector as a whole and also the labour market situation. Several authors have analysed the significance of labour market flexibility for Estonian economy by evaluating labour market flows. They have noted a relatively high job relocation rate, which is a result of fast reforms in Estonia (Faggio and Konings [7]; Haltiwanger and Vodopivec [8]). The mobility of jobs in Estonia has been compared with respective indicators in the US and UK (Davis and Haltiwanger [9]). Although, in connection with the changes in the entrepreneurship environment, these assessments need to be further specified, the job relocation analysis could provide information on how much the entrepreneurship environment promotes development of one or other group of enterprises and which are the enterprise groups that could be supported by new jobs creation. Entrepreneurial activity across regions in Estonia indicates differences in entrepreneurship environment and possibilities, especially between the capital Tallinn and other counties as regional economic development has been strongly polarised to the territory around the Capital. Tallinn is the business centre of Estonia. With its close to 400,000 population (29% of the Estonian population) WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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the capital city is the heart of the national economy – over half of the Estonian enterprises which produce all together ca 50-60% of the gross domestic product and nearly 3/4 of enterprises’ profit are located there. A third (33%) of employed persons of Estonia are living and 38% of employed persons are working in Tallinn. Attracting with good infrastructure, institutional development and favourable external business environment more than half of the foreign capitalbased Estonian enterprises are also located in Tallinn, owing to what the export turnover per enterprise is the biggest in Tallinn. All these circumstances are supporting the growth of the number of operating enterprises in Tallinn, which has been in recent years constantly slightly higher than the Estonian average, or 6.3-6.7% per year. The tertiary sector has grown rapidly in Tallinn’s economic structure. Therefore, the share of Tallinn and the surrounding Harju county in the total number of operating enterprises has been gradually rising. The Survey on an entrepreneurial initiative of Estonian people [10] also indicated differences in entrepreneurial initiative across different regions in Estonia. This survey showed that the initiative to set up own enterprise is the biggest in Tallinn and Harju county. It also suggested that every second potential entrepreneur comes from this region. Big differences can be found in the economic structure of counties. One of the reasons for this is definitely the legacy of planned economy but also different paths of development in the transition period and the firm formation rate among sectors and regions. The aim of the current article is to examine regional firm formation activity, focusing on their differences compared with the average firm formation rates in the country and to understand why such variations are existing. Firm formation analyses in counties and among sectors are studied for explaining the regional differences. Taking into account several other structural differences (e.g. size of enterprises, labour market indicators), the article makes references to the previous studies defining also directions of job flows in different groups of enterprises (on the basis of ownership, size, age and other factors). The structure of the article is as follows. The next section describes the data and methodology of analysis. The third section presents the results of regional analysis on firm formation, the differences in labour market indicators in counties and the differences in the flows of jobs in enterprises with various characteristics (e.g. ownership, market orientation, enterprise’s size). The final section concludes the study.

2 Data and methodology Current research is based on the database on National Tax Board for the period of 1999-2004, where the registrations of enterprises are used as for the number of births and the number of enterprises at the end of the year is treated as the stock of enterprises. As the database includes enterprises then some inaccuracies are connected with under-representation of self-employed. Nevertheless, the database is the best basis for assessing business formation rates in regions. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

768 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The firm formation rates are calculated and used in the analysis in two ways. First of all, the firm formation rate is defined as average annual number of registrations per 1000 in the adult population (B1). This indicator is measuring the activity of population in setting up new businesses. Age group between 1864, which reflects the more real activity of citizens in new firm formation, has been used in calculating the indicator. Secondly, the firm formation rate is calculated as a number of new firm registrations as a proportion of the registered stock of businesses at the end of the year (B2). This indicator shows the extent to which the business sector has being rejuvenated. The subject of the research includes 15 counties of Estonia and their activity in firm formation. As Tallinn exceeds several times the number of firms and the formation activity per 1000 inhabitants compared to several counties, for more clearly explaining the differences in entrepreneurship activity among counties, Tallinn has been excluded for calculating the average figures. The average figure of counties has been used in the analyses, whereas the contrast of Tallinn from the counties average has been brought out. Based on the firm formation rates per 1000 in adult population, the studied counties have been divided into two: these, whose activity of firm formation in the period of 1999-2003 was above the average (without Tallinn) and others, whose respective figure was below the average. Differences in economic structures of counties and firm formation by fields of activity in counties have been looked upon as significant factors for firm formation activity. In this case the firm formation rate has been calculated as a percentage from the stock of enterprises.

3

The analysis of firm formation rates by regions and sectors

In the period of 1999-2003 over 35 thousand firms were formed in Estonia, 59% of those in Tallinn. The firm formation activity has constantly increased its relevance in Tallinn’s entrepreneurship sector. There was a difference of more than five times between Ida-Virumaa, the county with the lowest figure, and Tallinn. Based on the county’s average firm formation rate (excluding Tallinn) the counties can be divided into two groups: firm formation activity in 19992003 was above the country’s average in Tallinn, Harju, Hiiu, Pärnu, Saare and Tartu counties. Rapla and Lääne-Viru counties, where the firm formation rate was relatively close to the country’s average, can also be included in this group. The second group of counties with below the average firm formation rate includes the rest of eight counties (Ida-Viru, Jõgeva, Järva, Lääne, Põlva, Valga, Viljandi and Võru counties). The grouping is also supported by the increase/decrease of the number of employees, whereas the number of employees increased in counties with higher firm formation rate and decreased in counties, where it was below average. This rule does not imply for Valga and Võru counties, where the firm formation activity is below the average, but where the number of employees has increased on account of bigger firms. The second indicator (B2) for characterising the firm formation rate expressing the extent of rejuvenation of the stock of enterprises, is different but WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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in correlation with the first indicator (B1). Some exemptions of this indicator become obvious in the counties with the number of enterprises less than average, for example in Ida-Viru and Viljandi counties, where the firm formation rates per 1000 in adult population in general is one of the lowest and the firm formation activeness is also low, but number of enterprises formed in the period in question reached the average level of the republic (Ida-Viru 52%) or exceeded it (Viljandi 54.1%). Such renewal on enterprises allows one to suppose that the business activity in these counties will increase. Analysis indicated, that the counties with lower firm formation rates have more frequently lower employment and higher unemployment rates, but some exemptions are referring to the impact of other factors like change in a number of employed persons by two economic sectors, which maybe connected with some other external influences which has to be studied in the future (Table 2). Table 1:

Business activity and employment change in enterprises in 1999-2004. Firm formation 1999-2004

County

B1 (per 1000 inhabitant 18-64) 78.4 32.6 26.6 14.5 18.5 17.3 17.9

Firm formation Change in 1999-2003 the number of (B2) Variation Variation employees % from from in from total average ± average enterprises number of ± ± enterprises 6437 64.7 12.6 53.7 4130 56.2 4.1 8.0 -21 45.5 -6.7 1.9 -8426 52.0 -0.1 -10.2 -1299 51.8 -0.4 -6.2 -1532 45.7 -6.4 -7.4 -187 37.9 -14.2 -6.7 438 51.3 -0.8 -0.9 -711 41.8 10.3 -7.2 -1244 54.6 2.5 8.5 -314 52.4 0.3 -1.0 178 47.7 -4.4 4.8 1326 55.3 3.2 10.3 145 46.6 -5.5 -6.2 -1 54.1 2.0 -4.5 445 42.4 -9.7 -7.4 -636 58.8 6.7 16.6

Total Tallinn 20597 Harju 2632 Hiiu 165 Ida-Viru 1605 Jõgeva 414 Järva 403 Lääne 307 LääneViru 957 23.8 Põlva 327 17.5 Pärnu 1808 33.2 Rapla 536 23.7 Saare 624 29.4 Tartu 3283 35.0 Valga 378 18.5 Viljandi 683 20.2 Võru 393 17.2 Total 35112 41.2 Without Tallinn 14515 -7073 52.1 24.7 0.0 Source: National Tax Board; Statistical Office, author’s calculations. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

0.0

770 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 2:

Selected labour market indicators by regions.

Share of Employment Change in Change in Unemployment working rate 2004, number of number of rate 2004, Firm age (15-64) (15-64) employed employed formation population persons in persons in % % County per 1000 (15-64) secondary tertiary inhabitant from total sector sector (18-64) in population 200020001999-2004 2004, % 2004, 2004, % % 70.6 66.9 10,8 -0.1 10.3 Tallinn (capital) 13.1 69.6 64.1 -9.5 13.8 8.3 Harju 5.4 66.2 66.8 0 4.2 5.8 Hiiu 4.4 68.3 56.2 -6,1 4.0 18.1 Ida-Viru 2.4 64.7 50.2 45.8 -1.6 14.0 Jõgeva 3.1 66.3 66.2 30.6 4.2 9.7 Järva 2.9 66.1 64.1 36.4 9.2 5.5 Lääne 3.0 65.6 60.0 1.1 17.4 7.5 Lääne-Viru 4.0 64.0 51.7 65.2 -1.7 15.0 Põlva 2.9 65.8 61.5 25.6 -5.7 6.5 Pärnu 5.5 66.2 64.4 0 24.6 6.9 Rapla 3.9 65.3 63.1 -9.6 16.4 4.3 Saare 4.9 67.4 64.9 34.7 5.2 5.2 Tartu 5.8 63.5 57.3 43.9 -18.4 11.4 Valga 3.1 64.8 62.6 4,8 0 9.3 Viljandi 3.4 63.6 54.6 -25.0 15.7 7.1 Võru 2.9

Source: National Tax Board; Statistical Office, authors’ calculations. Next we look on factors impacting the firm formation activity in counties. The differences in economic structure of the counties and in firm formation activity by sectors in groups of counties mentioned above are considered as substantial factors influencing to the employment generation and development of regions. It is convenient to apply the firm formation indicator as a ratio of firms from overall number of firms in the sector, which shows the share of firm being renewed in the investigated period. The firm formation has been more active in retail and wholesale trade, service and agriculture. In the group of counties, where the firm formation rates per 1000 in adult population are over the average, the firm formation rates by sectors are also higher than in other county groups. The biggest differences are in retail and wholesale trade, service and agriculture (Table 3). If we analyse the formation rate of firms by sectors in more detail, in addition to the more active firm formation rate in four sectors listed above, the firms in the first group are formed more actively also in manufacturing (Tallinn and other WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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big cities), construction (Tallinn, Tartu) and other sectors. In the counties with the general firm formation rate below the average in some sectors the rate exceeds the average of the republic. But in both groups there are counties in which the firm formation rate in some sectors is very low. The present analyse enables to identify those sectors where the implementation of entrepreneurial policy measures could contribute the increase firm formation rate and mitigate regional contrasts. Table 3:

Firm formation rates by groups and economic activity in 1999-2003, %, (B2). Firm formation rate, %

Economic activity

Variation ± Group 1 Group 2 Mining, electricity etc 4.2 3.3 0.9 Manufacturing 6.5 5.7 0.8 Construction 7.2 6.8 0.4 Wholesale 19.7 15.7 4.0 Retail trade 9.2 6.3 2.9 Transport, communication 8.3 7.8 0.5 Services 12.4 10.6 1.8 Education, health 8.4 9.0 -0.6 Agriculture, forestry 11.1 7.9 3.2 Total 12.6 9.7 2.9 Source: Source: National Tax Board; Statistical Office, authors’ calculations. Note: 1) Some discrepancy in the table is connected with 8% of unknown enterprises by sectors. 2) Group 1 includes counties with firm formation rates above the average (Tallinn, Harju, Hiiu, Pärnu, Saare, Tartu, Rapla, Lääne-Viru); Group 2 includes counties with firm formation rates below the average (Ida-Viru, Jõgeva, Järva, Lääne, Põlva, Valga, Viljandi, Võru). The business activity of the counties can also be influenced by the size structure of enterprises and several other factors (ownership, market orientation, etc). For example, the previous analysis of job flows across groups of enterprises showed enterprise groups with different job creation potentials. On the basis of ownership, the job creation rate of foreign-owned enterprises was higher than that in Estonian-owned enterprises (Venesaar [11]). Better growing capacity of foreign-owned enterprises is due to the higher number of their employees and turnover in the sample studied, as well as their location in a region with better infrastructure (in Tallinn). By orientation to markets, restructuring has been faster in exporting enterprises, which is expressed by high rates of job creation. By size of enterprises, as a rule, the job creation rates are expected to be higher in micro-enterprises, although few of them are able to survive in the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

772 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability market. The findings of previous research indicated that the average job creation rate was higher in small enterprises (with 10-49 employees) than in microenterprises, followed by medium-sized enterprises (Venesaar [11]). Although both labour policy and entrepreneurship policy in Estonia have promoted creation of new enterprises, the entrepreneurship environment has not favoured, if to regard labour market flows, job creation in micro-enterprises. In conclusion, the firm formation and job creation rates vary considerably across counties and enterprise groups classified on the basis of various characteristics, and there are a number of enterprise groups which could be the subject of entrepreneurship policies with the aim of bringing more new jobs to the market.

4

Conclusion

The current article is an introduction into the analysis of regional firm formation in Estonia and the assessment of the impact of enterprise sector, mostly SME, to employment generation in counties. The article includes the analysis of employment generation through regional firm formation and job creation in the enterprise groups with different characteristics. Based on the firm formation rates per 1000 in adult population, the counties vary considerably, which allows one to suggest differences in entrepreneurship environment and possibilities. Differences in economic structures and firm formation as a percentage from the stock of enterprises by sectors in counties have been looked upon as a significant factors for firm formation activity. The low firm formation rate in a number of counties and groups of enterprises (e.g. manufacturing, construction) allows assuming that the regulation influencing the establishment and activity of enterprises and other policy measures during the period under study have not encouraged formation of firms and creation of jobs. In the development of entrepreneurship policy in Estonia we should take into consideration differences between regional and sectoral firm formation rates. First of all, the counties with below the average firm formation rates, such as Ida-Viru, Jõgeva, Järva, Lääne, Põlva, Valga, Viljandi and Võru counties, can be suggested for policy support to facilitate SME development and employment generation. It is useful to study more thoroughly these groups of counties, where firm formation rate was lower than average, which may help to discover deeper problems in different enterprise groups that need to be solved to make the entrepreneurship environment more acceptable. In the development of entrepreneurship policy in Estonia we also have to consider the prescriptions made in the Lisbon Agenda to the member states to simplify legislation regulating the establishment and activity of enterprises. Although the establishment of enterprises in Estonia has been regarded quite simple, enterprises still see possibilities to reduce bureaucracy. In a number of previous studies enterprises have frequently mentioned obstacles in regulating taxes, field of activity and licences (e.g. Kluth Drescher Partners [12]).

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References [1]

[2] [3]

[4]

[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

[12]

Reynolds, P., Bygrave, W., Erkko, A. & Hay, M., Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2002 Summary Report, Babson Park, MA: Babson College, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the London Business School, 2002. Johnson, P., Differences in regional Firm Formation Rates: A Decomposition Analysis. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, pp. 431-445, 2004. Smallbone, D., Piasecki, B., Venesaar, U., Todorov K. & Labrianidis L., Internationalisation and SME Development in Transition Economies: An International Comparison. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Henry Stewart Publications, 5(4), pp. 363-375, 1999. Venesaar, U., Development of SME Policy in Estonia and the Role of Government, Paper to the 22nd ISBA National Small Firms Policy and Research Conference: "Small Firms: European Strategies, Growth and Development", 17-19th November, 1999, Leeds, UK: pp. 1395-1411, 1999. Estonia Country Assessment. OECD Forum for Enterprise Development. Baltic Regional Programme, 2002. Statistical Office of Estonia. Labour Force 2002. Tallinn, 2003. Faggio, G., Konings, J., Gross Job Flows and Firm Growth in Transition Countries: Evidence Using Firm level data on Five Countries. CEPR Discussion Paper, October 1999, No. 2261. Haltiwanger, J., Vodopivec, M, Gross Worker and Job Flows in a Transition Economy: An Analysis of Estonia. Policy Research Working paper, No. 2082. The World Bank, 2001. Davis, S & Haltiwanger, J, Gross Job Creation, Cross Job Destruction and Labour Reallocation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(3), pp 819863. 1992 Eesti väikese ja keskmise suurusega ettevõtete arengusuundumused. Saar Poll OÜ uuringu aruanne, Tallinn, 2005. Venesaar, U. Job Creation and Job Destruction in Estonian Enterprises. Business Administration in Estonia and the European Union. Reportspapers of the I scientific and educational conference (Pärnu, 7-8. February 2003), pp. 236-243. Tallinn-Pärnu. Mattimar. 2003. Kluth Drescher Partners. Company Registration Procedures in Estonia: A Comparative Study of the Danish, Estonian and EU Procedures for Company Registration. Project Manager: Danish FEU Advisor Jorn Bang Andersen, 2003.

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Sustainable Scotland: putting environmental justice at the heart of the policy agenda? E. McDowell1 & C. McWilliams2 1 2

Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland Heriot Watt University, Scotland

Abstract The Scottish Executive has declared its intention to ‘put environmental concerns at the heart of public policy and secure environmental justice for all communities’. By way of secondary analysis, we explore two high-profile community campaigns which convey a fundamental tension between the rhetoric and practice of environmental justice within an urban framework. A number of concerns from local communities suggest that the proclaimed enthusiasm for sustainability conceals the true cost of its implementation at a local level. We are of the view that environmental justice – flaunted as a core policy government commitment – throws up a range of contradictions and misconceptions, which implies the need for a more progressive and inclusive approach to the implementation of policy. Keywords: city, sustainable development, environmental justice, Scottish Executive.

1

Introduction

The question of who pays and who benefits from current industrial and development policies is central to any analysis of environmental justice. Despite improvements in environmental protection over the past several decades, many people continue to live in unsafe and unhealthy physical environments. Numerous economically impoverished communities and their inhabitants are exposed to greater health hazards in their homes, their jobs and in their neighbourhoods when compared to their more affluent counterparts (Bullard [1]; Adeola [2]). The most polluted urban communities are those with crumbling infrastructure, ongoing economic disinvestment, deteriorating housing, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060741

776 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability inadequate schools, chronic unemployment, a high level of poverty and an overloaded health-care system. Incinerators and other polluting facilities tend to be cited in low-income, disempowered neighbourhoods. The ideal site, according to some analysts has nothing to do with environmental soundness but everything to do with lack of social power (Walker et al. [3]). In this section that follows, we aim to summarise evidence of environmental inequalities and injustice within a Scottish context - highlighting in particular, the case of the Greengairs community, which has suffered the worst aspects of the planning system for decades. Following this we will consider an ongoing and highly controversial campaign involving the extension of the M74 six-lane motorway through the south side of the city of Glasgow.

2

Environmental justice: the early days

According to Warner [4] as recently as thirty years ago the term environmental justice was unknown. However, since then it has become something of a rallying cry for community groups, the focus of academic research and an orientating principle for public bodies. Bulkleley and Walker [5] state the concept of environmental justice came to prominence through the growth and development of the environmental justice movement in the US, where in the late 1970s increasing evidence indicated that racial minorities and low-income groups bore a disproportionate burden of environmental risks. The link between social justice and environmental issues was clearly made by communities objecting to the siting of toxic chemical plants, land-fills and waste incinerators close to their homes (McWilliams and Walton [6]). The movement for environmental justice grew as a reaction to the limitations of mainstream environmentalism, which was viewed as being dominated by elitist ‘white upper-class environmental’ individuals and reflected their narrow range of views. Further, many argued (e.g. Bullard [1]) that the traditional environmental movement was not adequately addressing issues such as race, power and inequality. Environmental justice can be regarded as a heterogeneous movement as it seeks incorporate anti-racist, feminist and anti-corporate and post-colonial politics. Overall, the movement has sought to include the most marginal and excluded groups in society, those least able to defend themselves or articulate their thoughts against more powerful private sector companies or state institutions. While it might be a policy area whose time has come, within the UK the gaps in comprehensive analysis are substantial (Walker et al. [3]). In addition to this, Agyeman [7] maintains that the terms ‘environmental’ and ‘justice’ do not easily sit together. This is supported in other quarters, such as the Institute for Public Policy Research [8] who suggest that despite the synergies between sustainable development and social justice it is peculiar to find a lack of political awareness regarding the parallels between the environmental justice movement and theories of social justice. However, we echo the views of Dobson [9] who argues that the concepts of justice and sustainability are not so divergent that cannot be brought together, particularly if policies of sustainability have distributive consequences

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and justice is essentially about distributing benefits and burdens in the political community (Miller [10]; Lucash [11]).

3

The Scottish Executive: a commitment to environmental justice?

‘Too often the environment is dismissed as a concern of those who are not confronted with bread and butter issues. But the reality is the people who have the most urgent environmental concerns in Scotland are those who cope daily with the consequences of a poor quality of life, and live in a rotten environment, close to industrial pollution, plagued by vehicle emissions, streets filled with litter and walls covered in graffiti. This is true for Scotland and also true elsewhere in the world. These are circumstances which would not be acceptable to better off communities in our society, and those who have to endure such environments in which to bring up a family, or grow old themselves are being denied environmental justice’. Speech by First Minister, Jack McConnell at ERM environment lecture, Edinburgh 18th February, 2002 [12]. With the establishment of the Scottish Parliament on 1st July 1999 the opportunity to deal with issues ‘close to home’ became a reality within a Scottish context. It is also notable that Jack McConnell’s (First Minister for Scotland) inaugural policy speech was on environmental justice. Maintaining this message, the Scottish Executive proudly announce that ‘the benefit to the environment is best delivered by strong communities’ with a Government committed to the philosophy of ‘connect and involve’ (Scottish Executive [13]). Although activists and green politicians welcomed such official recognition of environmental justice, they also emphasise that much more needs to be done to rectify the situation and that addressing the unjust environmental impact that developed countries such as Scotland place on people in other parts of the world and on future generations is a critical challenge to the delivery of sustainable development (Dunion [14]). In this sense the struggle for environmental justice is not just local but increasingly global. The crucial links between the environment and health have also be acknowledged by the Scottish Executive: If we improve life circumstances, improve our air quality and water quality, if we reduce noise pollution and ensure healthy living, then our health service itself becomes more sustainable and the quality of life in Scotland is enjoyed for longer (McConnell [12]). Within the context of environmental justice, alternatives to using a car have also been stressed. Thus, a focus on using public transport and an improvement in these services (bearing in mind the large numbers of people from less affluent areas who do not own cars) has been a key component of government discourse. Finally, as part of the commitment made to the Aarhus convention, the Scottish Executive requests that its public institutions should take the lead in providing more information to the public; development plans must have a suitable

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778 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability timeframe; and the public should be encouraged to participate in relevant debates. As the Scottish Executive acknowledges: ‘local people often better understand than anyone else, the pressures on their area and their contribution to the actions and choices made by public bodies is invaluable (Ross Finnie [15]). Despite the growing government rhetoric, general policy initiatives often fail to accommodate local specificities. Over the past decade there has been a significant rise in evidence correlating to the proximity of environmental degradation with an individuals/groups social class, ethnic status and geographical location (Walker et al. [3]). In terms of the big ‘three Es’ – environment, economy and equity - central to a sustainable society, equity has been the poor relation and least represented in policy debates. In this context, the evidence to date points more towards acts of environmental injustices rather than environmental justice.

4

Environmental justice in Scotland: unpacking the evidence

Over the past decade, there has been a substantial rise in evidence correlating the disproportionate proximity of environmental degradation with deprived communities (FoE Scotland [16]; Scandrett et al. [17]; Dunion [14]; Agyeman and Evans [18]; Fairnburn et al. [19]; Hastings et al. [20]). Scotland has a long history of industrial and urban development and subsequent pollution (Adams [21]). Studies demonstrate the directing of hazardous developments to ‘toxic sacrifice zones’ - where dirty industries are enticed, simply because the community has lived with it for decades and where there is least resistance (McDowell and Chalmers [22]). A recent study by researchers at Glasgow University, established a significant gap between the environmental amenity of deprived and less deprived neighborhoods, which was reflected in service standards and ‘unintended biases’ in resource allocation Hastings et al, [20]. However, further research is necessary to establish exactly why this inverse relationship in services for deprived areas is taking place. Many deprived areas in Scotland (and the rest of the UK) reveal the highest levels of pollutant concentrations (Walker et al. [3]). Other more recent studies (Hastings et al. [20]) show that people living in the most deprived areas, overwhelmingly but not exclusively urban Scotland, experience by far the worst environments – not just in terms of pollution, but with respect to more general problems of litter, derelict sites, graffiti; gaps in amenity and services, often in more densely populated areas, with higher levels of high-rise buildings and undefended open space (Hastings et al. [20]). Evidence also suggests that deprived communities bear the brunt of dangerous factory pollutants (emissions to air of chemicals recognized as being carcinogenic). It is significant that the highest percentage of industrial factories are located predominantly in more deprived local authority areas resulting in the higher levels of pollution in these areas (Walker et al. [3]; Warner [4]). Agyeman and Evans [18] note that Scottish communities located in the worst environments are more likely to be those with least power, mainly caused by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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their poverty, unemployment, isolation or more likely a combination of these. The growing recognition and attempts to address environmental injustices has led to the emergence and adoption of an environmental justice agenda. For example, environmental justice has been adopted by Friends of the Earth Scotland, to provide an alternative discourse to sustainable development, which emphasizes commitment to the struggle of communities who suffer most environmental damage. Dunion [14] outlined a present day definition of environmental justice in Scotland as follows: People perceive environmental injustice when authorities fail to afford or uphold rights. Where people are unable to adequately participate in the decisionmaking processes that affect them and where the means of redress are inaccessible. In particular environmental injustice is experienced as a result of practices, or policies which, intentionally or unintentionally, disparately impact on the living conditions of low – income groups. Prior to devolution, many Scottish people felt disenfranchised from a centrally controlled government in Westminster. Ironically, there is now evidence of a renewed sense of disenfranchisement towards a centrally controlled agenda based in Edinburgh. Sustainable development is (or at least should be) a challenge to the traditional model of governance, based on the assumption that policy elites located in central government have the capacity to prescribe standard solutions across diverse localities. However, if anything, devolution appears to have developed a tendency to prescribe policy and impose standard solutions that have few bearings on the distinct needs of communities (McDowell [23]). Conflict may be regarded as an indicator of underlying unsustainable social, economic, and environmental relations in society, as they are manifest in a particular community. Yet, it is incongruous that the people who challenge environmental justice issues are often viewed by officials as ‘trouble-makers’ (Dunion [14]). The way in which communities relate to conflict, their interpretation of it, the extent to which it mobilizes the community and leads to knowledge demands, has a strong bearing on how well communities move to a more critical, just and sustainable form of development.

5

Greengairs: a community mobilized for action

‘A lack of voting and financial powers to make any changes for ourselves mean we bear a disproportionate burden of the waste for the whole of Scotland’. (Anne Coleman, Greengairs campaigner). Located in the coal rich region of the Central Belt of Scotland, Greengairs is a traditional working class community in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, with typically low involvement in the process of decision-making. Local communities in the Greengairs suffered harsh social and economic consequences from the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

780 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability closure of most of the deep mines in the UK coalfields in the 1980s and 1990s. However, further indignities were to follow, with the expansion of open-cast mining, which generated few employment opportunities and significant environmental harm due to the heavy machines and goods vehicles, dynamite blasting and associated liberation of dust into the atmosphere. Once worked out, open-cast mines are required to be reinstated and one of the ways in which this can be achieved is by using them for landfill. In the Greengairs area there are now nine landfill sites and open cast mines. Clearly, the noise and visual (local eye-sore) pollution, vibration, unwanted smell and dust emanating from the landfill and open cast mines militate against the Scottish Executive’s goal of promoting environmental justice for all communities. In addition to this soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was brought to one of the Greengairs landfill sites from Hertfordshire (England), because contamination levels were higher than would be permitted anywhere nearer. FoES released the information and the community mobilized to blockade the site. Following several days of action, senior management (Shanks and McEwan the landfill operator) met with the community and agreed to a number of concessions including an end to the toxic dumping; an independent inspection of the landfill site; and improvements to its safety. By 2002 in part recognition of the serious environmental impact which the open-cast and landfill sites were having in and around Greengairs, Scotland’s First Minister pledged that there would be no more landfill sites in the area. However, in 2004 planning permission was granted for the creation of a new landfill, in the face of local objection. Local residents and pressure groups claim that the First Minister has reneged on his pledge to protect the local environment. The case of Greengairs is not alone in illustrating a failure of implementing a sustainable development agenda through the contemporary Scottish planning system. The absence of ‘third-party right of appeal’ against planning decisions is viewed as major weakness of the planning system in Scotland. Public agencies and developers can appeal against decisions, but residents of Greengairs could not directly challenge the permission for the latest landfill site in 2004. Environmentalists, such as FoES have consistently called for a ‘third-party right of appeal’, for local communities to object to unwanted developments. However, these calls have already been rejected by the Scottish Executive. Instead, Ministers have said local people would be involved in the planning process, on a consultation basis only, at an earlier stage than previously (BBC News [24]). Many claim this is a missed opportunity to genuinely allow for the voice of the people to be heard and to give power to local communities.

6

The M74 extension: a road too far?

‘There is much to support the view in Hickman’s forensically damming analysis the policy in support of environmental justice would be breached by the proposed road. The impact on the communities would be very severe because they would be divided, polluted and assaulted by noise’. Chairman of JAM 74 (anti-road campaign) cited in Edwards [25]. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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The Scottish Executive was recently taken to task by a powerful coalition of 26 environmental groups – the ‘Everyone Campaign’ who acknowledged that while the First Minister, Jack McConnell had shown a personal commitment to sustainable development also stress that ‘his current enthusiasm for economic growth could be forcing Scotland in the wrong direction’ (Edwards [25]). The proposed M74 motorway extension in Glasgow has raised serious doubts about the Executive’s pledge to environmental justice. Despite a lengthy public enquiry, stressing the ‘potentially devastating effects on the local and wider community, which would be at variance with policies to include social inclusion and environmental justice’ - the five mile, £500m extension was given the go ahead by Scottish Executive Ministers (Edwards [25]). The rejection of the independent Hickman inquiry by Ministers contradicts the Executive’s commitment to reducing road traffic, encouraging public transport and cutting climate change pollution (the focus of the G8 summit hosted in Gleneagles, Scotland in July 2005).

7

Rethinking environmental justice: the policy challenge

New ways need to be found that include rather than exclude. A more inclusive progressive sustainability agenda must make all citizens, especially the most marginalised, integral to policy making. Decision making will need to become more transparent, inclusory and participatory. Government needs to move away from what Harvey [26] calls ‘after-the-event’ action towards more pre-emptive or proactive interventions to address environmental injustices. Concerns for environmental justice are still too subservient to concerns for economic efficiency, economic growth and capital accumulation. Harvey [26] also argues that the dominant view of government with respect to the environment is the ‘standard view of environmental management’. This anthropocentric position involves the pursuit of profit and development at the expense of the environment. Thus, rather than preventing environmental damage from happening in the first place, problems are considered when they arise, which suggests a denial of the irreversibility of some environmental damage (Harvey [26]). However, that is not to suggest there is no contestation. The case of Greengairs and the proposed M74 motorway extension demonstrates the need to put inequalities at the top of the environmental agenda will directly challenge the dominant discourses (be they of sustainable development or ecological modernization variety). Is the Scottish Executive willing to do just that? As Harvey [26] argues ‘there is a long and arduous road to travel to take environmental justice movement beyond the phase of rhetorical flourishes, media successes and symbolic politics into a world of strong coherent political organizing and practical action’. Environmental justice requires policies which treat people equitably. Arguably, without environmental justice there can be no sustainable development. The challenge is for the Scottish Executive to move from sustainability rhetoric to sustainable just policies.

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Conclusion

This paper argues that environmental problems are vested disproportionately upon the poor. The examples given of Greengairs and the M74 extension demonstrate this fact. In addition, while the policy agenda in the UK (and Scotland the focus of this paper) appears to be shifting in the direction of promoting an environmental justice agenda it is, in our view, in its early infancy. While there is an obvious theoretical commitment (evident in government rhetoric) much has to be done in practice. It is noteworthy that the First Minister in Scotland has shown that the Executive can go its own way with respect to selected devolved issues, for example, taking a decisive lead to ban smoking in public places, due to come into effect on 26th March 2005. Why not with environmental justice? The challenge is to develop and pursue public policies that do not disproportionately disadvantage any particular social group over another. This will require a re-engagement with questions of social and environmental justice and whether existing policies produce a fair and defendable distribution of benefits and burdens in society.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

Bullard, R., Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots, Boston: South End Press, 1994. Adeola, F., Environmental hazards, health and racial inequity in hazardous waste distribution, Environment and Behaviour, 26, pp. 99-126, 2002 Walker, G; Fairburn, J, Smith, G and Mitchell, G., Environmental Quality and Social Deprivation, Environmental Agency: London, 2003. Warner, K., Local sustainability initiatives with environmental justice, Local Environment, 7, pp. 35-47, 2002. Bulkleley, H. and Walker, G., Environmental justice: a new agenda for the UK, Local Environment, 10 (4), pp. 329, 2005. McWilliams, C and Walton, J., Environmental rights and justice, (chapter 6). The Essential of Human Rights, eds. R.K.M Smith and C, van den Anker, Hodder Arnold: Oxford University Press, pp. 122-125, 2005. Agyman, J., Constructing environmental (in)justice: transatlantic tales, Environmental Politics, 11, pp. 31-53, 2002. IPPR., Sustainability and Social Justice. IPPR: London, 2004. Dobson, A., Fairness and Futurity: Essay's on Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice, Oxford University Press, 2004. Miller, D., Social Justice, Oxford: Claredon Press, 1976. Lucash, F., Justice and Equality Here and Now, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986. McConnell, J., Environmental Justice http://www.scotland.gov.uk/ News/ NewsExtras/57. Scottish Executive., Down to Earth: A Scottish Perspective on Sustainable Development, Scottish Executive: Edinburgh, 1999. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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[14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22]

[23] [24] [25] [26]

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Dunion, K., Troublemaker: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003. Scottish Executive, A Partnership for a Better Scotland, Scottish Executive: Edinburgh, 2003. FoES, The Campaign for Environmental Justice: Thinking of Scotland’s Environment. FoE Scotland, 1999. Scandrett, E, Dunion, K and McBride, G., The campaign for environmental justice in Scotland, Local Environment, 5 (4), pp. 467 – 474, 2000. Agyeman, J. and Evans, B., ‘Just sustainability’: the emerging discourse of environmental justice in Britain? The Geographical Journal, 170 (2), p 155, 2004. Fairburn, J. Walker, G and Smith, G., Investigating Environmental Justice in Scotland: Links between measures of environmental quality and social deprivation, 2005. Hastings, A, Flint, J, McKenzie, C and Mills, C., Cleaning Up Neighbourhoods, Environmental Problems and Service Provision in Deprived Areas. Bristol: The Policy Press, 2005. Adams, I., The Making of Urban Scotland, Croom Helm: Edinburgh, 1978. McDowell, E and Chalmers, D., Sustainable development in Scotland: responses from the grassroots, (Chapter 5) in Environment Scotland: Prospects for Sustainability, eds. McDowell. E and McCormick. J., Ashgate Publishers, pp.80-99, 1999. McDowell, E., Sustainable development at the periphery: responding to problems of socio-economic marginalisation, in the sustainable city, ed. Marchettini et al, WIT Press, UK, pp. 431-441, 2004. BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4544058.stm. Edwards, R., The Sunday Herald Tuesday 15th December, 2005. Harvey, D., Justice, Nature & the Geography of Difference, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1996.

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Urban environmental quality: perceptions and measures in three UK cities G. Moore1, B. Croxford1, M. Adams2, M. Refaee3, T. Cox2 & S. Sharples3 1

The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London, UK The University of Salford, UK 3 The School of Architecture, The University of Sheffield, UK 2

Abstract The recent promotion of city centre living within UK policy has led to commensurate interest in the quality of the urban environment, particularly the impact and influence that environmental quality has on quality of life and urban sustainability. This paper presents an overview of a study into environmental quality, looking at the environmental conditions and the opinions and experiences of people who live in three of the UK’s major cities; London, Sheffield and Manchester. Environmental quality is both subjective and objective in its nature, and it is this combination that is of particular interest to this study. An innovative multi-method approach, combining qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques, has been developed and employed. Environmental monitoring (indoor and outdoor air quality and noise levels) was undertaken alongside participant lead photo-surveys, sound-walks and semistructured interviews with city centre residents. The case studies provide a detailed insight into the components that influence environmental quality; both perceived and measured. The collection and analysis of data has led to the production of ‘local environmental quality maps’ - spatial representations of local and expert knowledge on urban environmental factors. These maps offer a way to feed different perspectives on environmental issues to decision makers for future policy development. The findings of this study help to understand the influence environmental quality has on quality of life, this in turn can aid urban policy, planning and design. The wider implications of this study to the concept of urban sustainability are also discussed. Keywords: urban environmental quality, subjective & objective accounts, local environmental quality maps, urban sustainability. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060751

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1

Introduction

“The qualities of urban living in the 21st century will define the qualities of civilisation itself” (Harvey [1]). The quality of the urban environment is of fundamental concern to many. The majority of the world’s population live in cities, taking up 2% of the world’s land surface they are homes to over half the world’s population, and urbanisation is increasing (Jopling [2] and Pacione [3]). Urban living and working has been promoted in recent UK government policy. Nevertheless problems specific to urban areas exist. Issues such as poor air quality, increased road traffic, social segregation, accessibility to open spaces and socio-economic deprivation are a common occurrence in many urban areas. The prevalence of such issues has led to the formation of initiatives and research agendas aiming to understand the influence environmental quality has on quality of life, and in turn the impact of urban policy, planning and design on the quality of the environment. Urban environmental quality as a concept is difficult to define; it is multidimensional, multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary in its nature. A useful attempt states; ‘environmental quality is the resultant of the quality of composing parts of a given region but yet more than the sum of parts, it is the perception of a location as a whole’ (RMB 1996, cited by van Kamp et al. [4]). This definition successfully manages to convey the notion of interaction - the idea that any assessment of the environment requires the integration and exploration of a variety of elements, thus one indicator alone cannot measure environmental quality. At present there is no clear, coherent or consistent system in place to measure or evaluate environmental quality, however many studies have urged for an integrated approach to the subject, incorporating both objective and subjective measures (van Kamp et al. [4] and Marans [5]). Alongside these developments there is a growing body of research examining how different viewpoints can be incorporated into environmental assessment. Many studies have highlighted how ‘expert’ accounts of physical conditions have conflicted with local people’s knowledge and that, rather than local knowledge being inferior or defective, it has proven in some cases more sensitive to local situations (Yearley et al. [6], Forrest and Kearns [7], and Wynne [8]). Indeed, in the context of urban environmental studies, within specific geographical areas, the public may be considered ‘local experts’ about aspects of their neighbourhood and its conditions. This is emphasised by Bush et al. [9] who states that ‘experiences of environmental pollution (referring to air) can vary dramatically at local levels therefore it is particularly important to acknowledge and respond to local knowledge’. The incorporation of local knowledge and multiple viewpoints in research may therefore improve the understanding of certain environmental topics. As van Kamp et al. [4] points out ‘objective conditions (alone) do not convey true quality’; echoing the notion to link different forms and types of knowledge in the assessment of urban environmental quality. This paper presents an overview of a project exploring urban environmental quality within three of the UK’s major cities: London, Sheffield and Manchester. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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The aim of the project is to provide a detailed understanding of urban environmental quality, encompassing both the subjective and objective elements. The project can be divided into three key aspects for which data is collected and examined: -Outdoor environmental quality; the physical environmental conditions in the built environment, -Perceived environmental quality; the experiences of city dwellers, -Indoor environmental quality; the physical environmental conditions in a number of residential buildings. The relationships and interactions between these three aspects are of particular interest to this project. This paper focuses upon the methods developed and employed within this project, alongside how the data gathered can be used to understand the influence of environmental quality on sustainable urban environments. The project forms part of the EPSRC funded ‘VivaCity2020: urban sustainability for the 24-hour city’ research project (see www.vivacity2020.org).

2

Project methodology

An innovative multi-method approach combining qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques has been developed and employed in this project. Case studies have been undertaken in three UK city centre areas: London (Clerkenwell), Sheffield (Devonshire Quarter) and Manchester (City Centre). As the project concentrates upon the experiences of city centre living, the areas targeted for study were mixed use areas with housing located near the main daytime and night-time commercial and leisure activities. Within each case study area there are a variety of amenities (shops, offices, entertainment facilities) located within close proximity to residential areas, which themselves are varied, incorporating social housing, privately owned flats and houses. The environmental conditions were also rather varied; with mixed traffic and pedestrian levels and a number of small open spaces within each case study. The project methodology can be divided into three fundamental components linking with the three key aspects of the project: (i) the outdoor environmental monitoring, (ii) the experiences of city centre dwellers, and, (iii) the indoor environmental monitoring. 2.1 Outdoor environmental monitoring The outdoor environmental monitoring involved the intensive monitoring of an urban road system at a number of locations (kerb-side) within each city centre. Noise levels (dB(A)), carbon monoxide (CO, ppm), temperature (°C) and particulate matter (TSP, PM2.5) were monitored at a number of sites within the case study areas over a summer and winter period. The monitoring sites were purposely located near the residential premises of participants, to enable comparisons between the data. Other considerations for the location of the monitoring equipment included the practicalities of installation, the threat of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

788 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability vandalism and how representative the site was of the surrounding area. The monitoring sites provided a range of conditions (high/low traffic/pedestrians level and mixed land use). A specially designed noise and air quality monitor, the Streetbox (Learian, www.learian.co.uk) was developed and used; a sound level meter has been incorporated into a standard carbon monoxide Streetbox to enable the continuous monitoring of noise and air quality simultaneously (see Croxford and Penn [10] for more information on the Streetbox). A Met One ESampler (light scatter aerosol monitor) was used to monitor the particulate matter. Average temperature, CO and PM levels were collected at 15-minute intervals, however average noise levels (Leq) were collected at differing intervals (15min, 3min or 1min), depending on the Streetbox used. 2.2 The experiences of city centre dwellers A variety of qualitative methods were utilized in this study to understand residents’ experiences of urban environmental quality. Residents from each city were involved in a photo survey, a sound walk and a semi-structured interview. Approximately two weeks before each scheduled interview date a disposable camera (27-exposure, 35mm film, 400 ISO with flash), a log sheet, prepaid envelope and instructions were sent to the participants. Participants were asked to take photographs of their local area, noting the time, date, location and a short description of the photograph on a log-sheet provided. We did not want to be too prescriptive in telling participants what to photograph, so the instructions simply stated: ‘we would like you to take photos that record both the positive and negative aspects of your area. Please bear in mind how things sound and smell when taking the photos as well as what they look like’. They were given approximately one week to take photographs before sending the camera back to a researcher in the prepaid envelope provided (the photo-survey). The photographs were then developed and numbered and brought along to the scheduled interview. Prior to the start of the interview participants were asked to complete a short questionnaire (on personal data, household characteristics and local information) and to mark a 5 to 10-minute walking route around their local area on a map supplied. This walk was undertaken by a researcher and the participant, and recorded with a DAT recorder (the sound-walk). Participants were asked not to talk during the walk, but to listen and observe. On return to the participant’s home a semi-structured interview was conducted. The interview was based upon a number of general questions about the urban environment made specific to the resident’s locality. Questions were open to interpretation, they included; how would you describe your urban environment? What do you think the air is like outside your home? How would you describe the sound of the area you live in? How would you describe the environmental quality of this area? Participants were also asked to refer to their photographs and to the sound-walk at any stage during the interview.

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2.3 Indoor environmental monitoring The indoor environmental monitoring involved the monitoring of a number of environmental parameters within each participants home. A portable Quest AQ5000Pro monitor was used to monitor levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and thermal conditions (°C). A HOBO U12-012 was used to measure light intensity. Respirable-size particle counts (0.5 to 5 microns) were determined using a portable laser diode particle counter (Met One model 227A). In addition, noise levels were recorded by using a Quest 2900 Integrating/Logging sound level meter. All equipment was placed in the living room of each home, specifically in the breathing zone of a person sitting on a sofa (approximately 1.5 m above the floor level) and away from open windows and heat sources. Each participant was asked to complete a daily log sheet, recording certain behaviours (occupancy, smoking, cooking, opening windows) and there approximate time of occurrence. These measurements were taken during a summer and winter period within each home, with data collected for a two-day to one-week period depending on the home monitored.

3

Data collection and routes of analysis

A multi-method approach was employed in this study, combining environmental monitoring with participant-led photo-surveys, sound-walks and semi-structured interviews, with the aim to gauge both objective and subjective accounts of urban environmental quality. As a result a vast amount of data has been collected for each case study area. Table 1 presents a summary of the data gathered within each city, showing the multi-faceted set of data over different scales and perspectives, from the individual to area based. The scope of this paper is not analyse the individual components but to see how the whole dataset can be utilised to understand urban environmental quality. As interest lies in exploring the relationship between these accounts a unifying approach to analysis and presentation is deemed necessary. A spatial analytical framework can be used to examine the data, as all have elements that relate to space. For instance, with the participant led photo-survey the location where each photograph was taken can be mapped. The location of the photographs may indicate how the residents’ use and move around their local area, as well as revealing what geographical area they perceive as ‘local’. It is also possible to thematically map the photographs by their content and evaluative categories (through information collected via the photo-survey log sheet, devised into coding system) to explore the spatial distribution of certain environmental issues. This is a further dimension to the knowledge produced, leading to an indepth understanding of participants’ spatial and social relations. Figure 1 shows the Clerkenwell (London) photo-survey mapped, with each photograph coded into a category that refers to their main content. The photograph locations show a varied and somewhat surprising distribution, scattered across a relatively wide geographical area (much wider than the case study area), with some clustering around main roads or facilities, with groupings of certain issues. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

790 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 1: Case Study London Clerkenwell, located in the north east of the city centre within the borough of Islington

Sheffield Devonshire Quarter, located to the west of the city centre

Manchester The city centre, area within the ring road

Outline of data collected.

Participant Interviews

Photosurveys

Soundwalks

Outdoor monitoring

Indoor monitoring

30 semistructured interviews conducted

680 photos taken

28 soundwalks undertaken

7 kerb-side locations monitored during winter; 3 kerb-side locations monitored during a summer period

30 homes monitored during winter; 20 repeated for monitoring during a summer period

20 semistructured interviews conducted

481 photos taken

11 soundwalks undertaken

5 kerb-side locations monitored during summer; 3 kerb-side locations monitored during winter

20 homes monitored during summer and winter

30 semistructured interviews conducted

Number of photos currently unconfirmed

29 soundwalks undertaken

4 kerb-side locations monitored during a winter period

30 homes monitoring during winter (repeated monitoring yet to be undertaken)

Each part of the data collected can be mapped independently e.g. the environmental monitoring sites, the situational comments within the interview, the sound-walks. Nevertheless, only by linking the individual datasets can we look at the relationships between the different aspects and perspectives of environmental quality. The use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as the route of analysis enables the data to be easily combined. The example shown in Figure 2 illustrates how different forms of data (quantitative, qualitative, objective and subjective) can be presented in one arena. This ‘local environmental quality map’, focusing again on an area within Clerkenwell, incorporates the outdoor pollution monitoring (the black circles and graph), the sound-walks (represented by the thick black lines) and the photographs (the coloured dots and images). The indoor environmental data and the quotes from the semi-structured interviews can be similarly presented in this way, providing spatial representations of local and expert knowledge on urban environmental factors. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Figure 1: Example of photo-survey mapping.

Figure 2:

A ‘local environmental quality map’.

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Discussion

The methodology developed and employed within this project was extremely effective for bringing together both subjective and objective aspects of urban environmental quality. The combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches enabled the triangulation of knowledge; for example, by using multiple qualitative methods we were able to successfully tap into residents’ experiences of city centre living; their daily, local and sensory experiences. The methods provided the right stimulus for encouraging people to think about how they understand the environment - the photo-survey focused on visual daily encounters, the sound-walk aided people to concentrate on their thoughts and feelings whilst in the built environment, and the semi-structured interview invited people to explain and reflect. Beside this, the monitoring campaigns gave rise to detailed information on the current environmental conditions (and spatial and temporal trends), outside and within participants’ homes. The spatial analysis of the data through GIS makes it possible to examine the differences and similarities of these perspectives within each case study area. For instance, the experiences of the people that live in urban areas can supplement the monitored environmental data, providing information on the micro-scale, with details of specific sources and the personal effects of these conditions. Using GIS also gives rise to standardisation for the comparative analysis of each city case study; which will be explored at a later date. We have developed and used a number of practical tools and techniques for the extraction, presentation and communication of different forms of knowledge (subjective, objective) on urban environmental quality. The methods and processes presented within this paper have a number of implications upon environmental quality research. In particular, there is potential for the method to be used as a tool for residents to highlight and communicate concerns, wishes and positive aspects of their local area to fellow residents or decision makers (e.g. local authorities, planners, policy makers, community organisations). Greater participation in local decision-making is an important ingredient to the sustainability of cities. People have valuable understandings of their local environment that would be beneficial to decision makes if it were adequately tapped into. Thus mechanisms that encourage participation, or make the participatory process more accessible and inclusive, have a valuable role in urban design decision-making. However, it is important to note there are some limitations with the methods. Some aspects of city living and environmental quality may be sensitive (e.g. crime, anti-social behaviour), personal (e.g. family, friends) or non map-able in nature, and therefore not ‘captured’ or ‘represented’ easily by these methods. Also, the data collected, like the urban environment itself, is temporal in nature (the environmental conditions and people’s feelings change over time); this should be made clear in any outputs generated. These limitations alongside restrictive time scales and budgets may limit widespread use in practice.

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793

Conclusion

The quote at the start of this paper by Harvey [1] emphasises the impact urban areas have on civilisation - the urban environment has wider social-cultural reproductions. The complex nature of the urban environment, with its myriad of issues requires an integrated approach across both research and policy to truly understand the processes that are occurring. Multi-disciplinary projects, such as VivaCity2020, give rise to exciting research opportunities, innovations in methodologies and wide-ranging analytical approaches. Within this paper we have presented a project that is exploring environmental issues within 3 UK city centres, through combining different disciplinary approaches. We have found that through combining varying approaches and accounts a comprehensive knowledge base for certain environmental issues can be constructed. There is potential to develop the methods used in this study further; providing tools and techniques to enable and assist communication between city centre residents and professionals about environmental issues, to facilitate the construction of action plans and recommendations for areas, or as even as a way to encourage public participation in research. Future work should develop prospective opportunities to use these techniques in practice, linking with GIS-P (GIS-Participation) studies to aid urban policy, planning and design. The links between environmental quality and the wider aspects of urban sustainability also needs to be considered. The nature of this study encouraged the participants to openly interpret the concept of ‘environmental quality’; through using innovative, non-prescriptive methods we discovered rather sophisticated, complicated views and understandings of the environment, incorporating social, political and economic aspects of the city. This was particularly noticeable in the information gathered by the photo-survey technique, which asked participants to focus upon the positive and negative aspects of their local environment. Participants took photographs of a variety of aspects of the built environment, not just those necessarily ‘environmental’ in definition. Photographs taken included specific architectural features, favourite pubs, open spaces, friends and family, incidents of litter, and urban management issues. Open, all-embracing interpretations of the quality of the urban environment were clearly demonstrated; this draws attention to the complex nature of environmental quality, emphasising that a holistic approach needs to be taken in future studies, focusing on the wider relationships and connections between the environment, society and the economy.

References [1] [2]

Harvey, D., Justice, nature and the geography of difference, Blackwell: Oxford, 1996. Jopling, J., London Pathways to the Future: Thinking Differently, Sustainable London Trust: London, 1999.

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794 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [3] [4]

[5] [6]

[7] [8]

[9] [10]

Pacione, M., Urban Environmental Quality and Human Wellbeing – A Social Geographical Perspective, Landscape and Urban Planning, 65, pp. 19-30, 2003. van Kamp, I., Leidelmeijer, K., Marsman, G. and de Hollander, A., Urban Environmental Quality and Human Well Being Towards a Conceptual Framework and Demarcation of Concepts; a literature study, Landscape and Urban Planning, 65, pp.5-18, 2003. Marans, R. W., Understanding Environmental Quality through Quality of Life Studies: The 2001 DAS and its Use of Subjective and Objective Indicators, Landscape and Urban Planning, 65, pp. 73-83, 2003. Yearley, S., Cinderby, S, Forrester, J. Bailey, P. and Rosen, P., Participatory modelling and the local governance of the politics of UK air pollution: A three-city case study, Environmental Values, 12, pp. 247-262, 2003. Forrest, R. and Kearns, A., Joined up places? Social Cohesion and Neighbourhood Regeneration, York Publishing Services Ltd: York, 1999. Wynne, B., Misunderstood misunderstandings: social identities and public uptake of science, in Irwin, A. and Wynne, B, eds, Misunderstanding science? The public reconstruction of science and technology, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1996. Bush, J., Moffatt, S. and Dunn, C.E., Keeping the public informed? Public negotiation of air quality information, Public Understanding of Science, 10 (2), pp. 213-229, 2001. Croxford, B. and Penn, A., Siting considerations of urban pollution monitors, Atmospheric Environment, 32 (6), pp. 1049-1057, 1998.

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Section 13 Public safety

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Pedestrian safety at urban crossings in Estonia D. Antov1,2, T. Rõivas1, H. Rõuk2 & Ü. Mander1 1 2

Institute of Geography, University of Tartu, Estonia Stratum Ltd, Tallinn, Estonia

Abstract Road accidents and their consequences are a significant social problem. This topic can also be considered to be one of the indicators of the sustainable development of urban systems. More than 10,000 pedestrians and cyclists are killed every year in EU countries, representing more than 20% of all road deaths. The small proportion of pedestrian and cyclist casualties that occur in rural areas are relatively severe and should not be forgotten, but this review is concerned with the majority, which occur in urban areas. Pedestrian safety is also one of the most serious problems in Estonian traffic, especially in urban areas. If one compares Estonia’s figures with those of neighbouring Finland, pedestrian road traffic risk in Estonia is 2-4 times higher, for some reason. It is important to note that a number of road accidents occur at or near non-signalized pedestrian crossings. It is a well documented fact that the road traffic risk of pedestrian fatality or injury is related to drivers’ behavioural aspects, such as speed choice when approaching the crossing, and a driver’s willingness to yield to pedestrians at non-signalized crossings. The paper gives an overview of the survey of drivers’ behaviour, in which drivers’ attitudes to giving way to pedestrians were studied. Vehicle speed in the vicinity of zebra crossings was measured using the in-flow moving method and GPS receivers installed in vehicles. Keywords: drivers’ behaviour, pedestrian crossing, road safety, speed.

1

Introduction

Road accidents and their consequences are a significant social problem. At the same time, this topic can be considered to be one of the indicators of the sustainable development of urban systems. More than 10,000 pedestrians and WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060761

798 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability cyclists are killed every year in EU countries, representing more than 20% of all road deaths. The small proportion of pedestrian and cyclist casualties that occur in rural areas are relatively severe and should not be forgotten, but this review is concerned with the majority, which occur in urban areas. Pedestrian safety is also one of the most serious problems in Estonian traffic, especially in urban areas. If one compares Estonia’s figures with those of neighbouring Finland, pedestrian road traffic risk in Estonia is 2-4 times higher, for some reason. It is important to note that a number of road accidents occur at or near non-signalized pedestrian crossings. It is a well documented fact that the road traffic risk of pedestrian fatality or injury is related to drivers’ behavioural aspects, such as choice of speed when approaching a crossing and also the driver’s willingness to yield to pedestrians at non-signalized crossings. The main objectives of this study are: (1) to analyse accidents at pedestrian crossings in Estonian cities, (2) to give an overview of drivers’ speed behaviour at pedestrian crossings, (3) to make recommendations concerning measures that should be introduced when planning safety measures for pedestrian crossings in Estonia.

2

Comparison of the situation in Estonia and the EU-15 countries

After the re-establishment of Estonian independence, the level of motorization has risen rapidly (from 211 to 387 automobiles per 1000 inhabitants). At the same time, the differences in the road safety situation between the old and new EU members remain great. Even if Estonia has achieved visible progress in road safety, the country remains among those with the poorest road safety statistics in the EU. One of the most alarming issues in road safety in Estonia is pedestrian safety The per capita risk of pedestrian death in the EU-15 countries in 1996 is shown in Table 1. These figures represent pedestrians’ per capita risk of the activity. In order to obtain a better understanding of the risk to pedestrians, each country needs to collect information on the amount of walking. During the period from 1998-2002, the police reported 1142 fatalities on Estonian roads. Of these, pedestrians accounted for 361 fatalities. Thus every third person killed on the road is a pedestrian. In Estonia, the police only record pedestrian accidents in which at least one vehicle was also involved. The police do not record single accidents, such as falls. Thus taking into account the risk data of the old EU countries in 1996 and comparing the pedestrian risk indicators with Estonian ones, we can determine that the pedestrian fatality risk is, for some reason, on average three times higher than in the old EU, and even 7 - 8 times higher than in the countries with the best safety characteristics, such as the Netherlands and Sweden. The share of pedestrian accidents is extremely high at urban crossings, contributing more than 90 percent of casualty accidents.

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Table 1: Country

799

Per capita risk of death of pedestrians in EU-15 countries in 1996 [1] and in Estonia (1998-2003) [2]. Population, mill.

Number of fatalities Total Pedestrians

Fatalities per million population Total Pedestrians

AUT 8.02 1027 157 128 BEL 10.18 1336 155 131 GER 81.90 8758 1178 107 DAN 5.29 514 68 97 ESP 39.68 5483 960 138 FRA 58.21 8541 1043 147 FIN 5.13 404 70 79 GRE 10.48 2063 469 197 ITA 57.25 6688 987 117 IRL 3.58 453 113 127 NED 15.60 1180 109 76 POR 9.82 2730 624 278 SWE 8.82 537 74 61 UK 58.29 3740 1039 64 EST* 1.35 228 72 169 * Estonian data - annual average from 1998-2003 [1,2].

20 15 14 13 24 18 14 45 17 32 7 64 8 18 53

Percentage of fatalities where pedestrians involved 15 11 14 13 18 12 17 23 15 25 9 23 14 28 32

The Estonian national Road Safety Programme was passed in the Estonian Parliament in 1988. This plan contained a clear goal: the number of fatalities should be reduced by at least 50% by the end of 2015, and thus the number of fatalities should not exceed 100 in 2015. The goal is absolute, i.e., it must be attained even in the event of changes in traffic conditions, such as increasing motorization and traffic. It is also a quantitative goal, which means, for instance, that no attempt will be made to attain it in certain groups of road users in preference to other groups.

3

Pedestrian risk and motor vehicle speed

The choice of exposure is crucial to any comparison of own risk across different modes of transport. The reason for this is that the speeds and durations of the individual trips differ between the various modes of transport. Figure 1 illustrates how the fatality and injury risk of pedestrians depends on the motor vehicle’s speed in a collision situation. It could be deduced that pedestrian fatality and injury risks are highly dependent on collision speed. Thus the probability of staying alive in a collision is about six times higher when collision speed is 30 km/h instead of 50 km/h. In the case of a 70 km/h collision WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

800 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability speed, the probability of being killed in an accident is almost 95%, but only 15% at a collision speed of 40 km/h. All of these speeds, however, are common at zebra crossings, since speed limits, and the actual speeds of individual motor vehicles, could be much higher that that.

100 80

%

60 40 FAT 20

INJ

0 0

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 KM/H

Figure 1: Probability (%) of pedestrian fatality (FAT) and injury (INJ) depending on motor vehicle’s collision speed [3].

4

International risk evaluation of zebra crossings

According to the Estonian Road Traffic Act, a zebra crossing is a part of the road that is provided for pedestrians to cross the carriageway and is specially marked. If there is a zebra crossing in the vicinity, pedestrians must use it when crossing carriageways. Drivers approaching a non-signalised zebra crossing must adapt their speed so that they can stop in order to give way to pedestrians who are just entering the crossing. If necessary, drivers must stop in order to allow pedestrians to pass. Drivers approaching a zebra crossing must not overtake or pass another vehicle if that vehicle obstructs full view of the crossing. The risk to pedestrians crossing roads at various points in traffic systems has been studied in a series of studies from England [4, 5] and Sweden [6]. The same method was used in all of these studies. The number of accidents in which crossing pedestrians was involved was compared to the number of pedestrians crossing within a fixed period (12 min. counts were used outside the rush hour). One study found that the risk involved in crossing road sections at up to 45.7 metres from a zebra crossing including the crossing itself was 30% higher than that at over 45.7 metres from a zebra crossing, whereas three other studies found that the risk was up to 50% lower. Three studies found that the risk involved in crossing roads at or near non-signalised junctions, at distances of up to 18.3 metres from the junctions and up to 45.7 metres from a zebra crossing was up to 127% higher in comparison to that at non-signalised junctions lacking zebra crossings, although two other studies found that the risk was up to 35% lower. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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The effects of other circumstances, such as central islands, road lighting and road width were not eliminated in the studies. In New Zealand, the risk to crossing pedestrians has been found to be 15% lower at non-signalised zebra crossings, in comparison to crossing roads at any other point. Pedestrian exposure was estimated through interviews. No allowance was made for possible differences in the occurrence of other measures, quantities of car traffic and speed of car traffic [7]. Draskóczy and Hydén [8] point out that the give-way rules possibly influenced the effect of the pedestrian crossings. Even though most studies indicate a negative safety effect of pedestrian crossings, there are exceptions, e.g. from England and Norway. England and Norway have clear give-way rules which require vehicles to give way to pedestrians, whereas other countries, such as Sweden, had no such rules. Draskóczy and Hydén thus suggest introducing clear give-way rules in the Swedish Road Traffic Act, so that zebra crossings should reduce the number of accidents in which crossing pedestrians are involved. Swiss traffic regulations were amended in 1994, so that vehicles must give way when the behaviour of a pedestrian clearly indicates that he or she intends to use a zebra crossing. Earlier, pedestrians needed to signal to drivers that they wished to cross the road. It was possible to conclude on the basis of behaviour studies that the average number of vehicles that drove past before waiting pedestrians crossed the road dropped from 2.6 in the before period to 1.5 in the after period. The proportion of motorists who stopped/braked and allowed pedestrians to cross the road increased from 12.5% in the before period to 31.6% in the after period one year after amendment of the give-way rules [9]. Based on the literature, Varhelyi [10] writes the following about nonsignalised zebra crossings: • • •

The presence of pedestrians at zebra crossings has little or no influence on the speed of approaching vehicles Between 4 and 30% of vehicle drivers give way to pedestrians at zebra crossings. Drivers are more willing to slow down or stop for crossing pedestrians when the approach speed of the vehicle is low.

A Swedish interview survey showed that crossing pedestrians feel safer at zebra crossings than they are away from them [11]. This should possibly be considered in the context that pedestrians walk about 10% faster when crossing a road away from a zebra crossing than they do at such crossings [12].

5

Materials and methods

5.1 Motor vehicle user speed at the vicinity of zebra crossings The former surveys contain indications that, when installing zebra crossings and road lighting, the safety effects obtained for pedestrians depend on the speed WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

802 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability level of vehicular traffic and the quantity of traffic. It is thus important to determine the speed values at crossings, but especially to determine whether the crossing itself has any influence on drivers’ speed choice when approaching the crossing. It should be highlighted that the technical data were obtained from a special survey that aimed to analyse data about real speeds and delays when moving in the urban street network. The car, which was equipped with a GPS receiver, video recorder and data storage devices, used the in-flow driving method at previously chosen routes in Tallinn. The car’s speed and location was fixed every second while in motion. Later the location of non-signalized crossings on the chosen routes was assigned, and thus it was possible to survey actual driving speeds at the vicinity of zebra crossings. It is important to understand that situations involving waiting for crossing pedestrians (contacts) were eliminated from the survey this time, as we were interested only on the influence of empty crossings on speed choice. Each route was driven at least six times, mainly at off-peak hours, where speed choice was relatively free. In eliminating situations involving contact with pedestrians, the total number of measured situations was 120 at 29 crossings, at 24 of which the speed limit was 50 kph, and at 5 crossings it was 70 km/h. The speed was measured at 4 locations in the vicinity of the crossing - at 100 m (coded here as -100) and 50 m before the crossing (coded as -50), at the crossing (coded as 0) and at 50 m after the crossing (coded as +50).

6

Main results of the study

The average speeds at crossings are quite high. In almost 60% of runs the measured speed was greater than the speed limit. The measured speed was less than 40 kph at only 12% of runs. The situation was especially dangerous at crossings where the speed limit is 70 km/h. The lowest measured speeds were between 55 and 60 km/h. The running speed distribution measured at crossings is presented in Figures 2 and 3. The change in speed at the vicinity of zebra crossing is minor. It is important to note that in comparing speeds at -100 and 0, the speed at the crossing was less than that at -100 in only 59% of cases. The respective data at -50 and 0 represent 57% of cases. Thus in nearly half of measured cases the speed was not lowered at the crossing in comparison with the speed at 100 and 50 m from the crossing. The data obtained from the survey also shows that braking, if ever, starts very near the crossing. After passing, the speed regularly rises again a very short distance after zebra crossings. The typical speed change in the vicinity of crossings is illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. The main conclusion of the survey is that the existing shape of non-signalized pedestrian crossings does not cause drivers to lower speed to a safe speed, and in the case of collision, the risk of injury or fatality remains very high. The results of this study are in almost full compliance with previous studies by Draskóczy and Hydén [8] and Varhelyi [10].

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40

Per cent of runs

35 30 25 70

20

50

15 10 5 0 25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

Speed gap, kmh

Figure 2: Distribution of running speed at pedestrian crossings at speed limit of 50 and 70 km/h.

Average speed, km/h

75 70 65 60

50

55

70

50 45 40 -100

-50

0

+50

Location

Figure 3: Typical speed behaviour in the vicinity of zebra crossings at different speed limits (50 and 70 km/h). The situation is especially critical at crossings with a speed limit of 70 km/h. At these locations the average speed is dangerously high in the whole vicinity of zebra crossing and does not allow for safe braking when the driver notices a pedestrian waiting at the roadside. Thus these sites do not follow the traffic rules of giving way, and should be discarded. This recommendation is an important point to be followed in the new version of urban street design standard. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

804 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 60 +50

Per cent of runs

50

-50 -100

40 30 20 10 0 -20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Change in speed, km/h

Figure 4: Speed differences comparing running speed at different distances (+50, -50, and -100 m) from pedestrian crossing (km/h).

1.0

Speed change, km/h

0.5 0.0

-100

-50

-0.5

0

50

-1.0 -1.5 -2.0 -2.5

50 70

-3.0 Distance to crossing, m

Figure 5: Typical speed curves in the vicinity of pedestrian crossings at two speed limits, 50 and 70 km/h.

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805

Conclusions

This report is based on field surveys and data analyses about pedestrian safety. The key topics are: accident and risk developments for pedestrians, motorists’ behavioural aspects at zebra crossings, particularly their obligation to give way, and also speed choice in the vicinity of a zebra crossing, as well as the safety effect for pedestrians of zebra crossing design. The key results are summarized below. • The pedestrian casualty risk in Estonia is on average approximately 2…6 times higher than in other older EU countries. • 44% of pedestrian casualties occurred in urban areas during the period from 1998-2002. Pedestrian accidents are predominant in urban areas. • Urban non-signalized pedestrian crossings remain one of the risky sites for pedestrians. • The average speed and speed distribution of motorized vehicles has a major influence on pedestrian safety. There is a clear relationship between the permitted speed and the severity of pedestrian injuries in accidents. The proportion of fatalities among pedestrian casualties increases in step with increasing permitted speed. In other words - speed kills. • The existing shape of pedestrian crossings does not have a great influence on drivers’ speed choice. The average driving speed at pedestrian crossings is high, and this speed is not significantly lowered when approaching the pedestrian crossing. • An especially bad situation is recognized at pedestrian crossings where the speed limit for motorists is 70 km/h. The normal rule of giving way to pedestrians does not usually apply here. Drivers regularly ignore give way obligations, do not lower their speed, and in the event pedestrians cross the road, they just have a sufficient gap between motor vehicles. • There is an urgent need to reconstruct pedestrian crossing in a modern and safe way. Some crossings should be liquidated or replaced by signalized ones, especially where it is impossible to apply safety standards, or it is considered necessary to maintain the higher than usual speed limit. Altogether, the main task for pedestrian safety is to lower the casualty rate for crossing pedestrians. Most pedestrian accidents occur in urban areas. Elderly pedestrians, intoxicated pedestrians and pedestrians crossing in darkness are also important target groups in implementing measures against fatal accidents. Thus this is greatly needed to introduce new modern standards in pedestrian crossing design, in order to lower speeds and improve driver visibility in the vicinity of pedestrian crossings.

Acknowledgement This study was supported by Target Funding Project No. 0182534s03 of the Ministry of Education and Science of Estonia. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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References [1] [2] [3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10] [11] [12]

IRTAD (International Road Traffic and Accident Database). http://www.bast.de/htdocs/fachthemen/irtad/english/irtadlan.htm) Statistics of Fatal and Injurious Road Traffic Accidents in Estonia 2004. Estonian Road Administration, 2005. Nilsson, G., Relationship between speed and safety: Calculation method. The Speed Review: Appendix of Speed Workshop Papers, Federal Office of Road Safety, Report CR127A, Department of Transport and Communications, Canberra, 1993. Mackie, A.M. & Older, S.J., Study of pedestrian risk in crossing busy roads in London inner suburbs. Traffic Engineering and Control, vol. 7, pp. 376-380, 1965. Jacobs, G. & Wilson, D., A Study of Pedestrian Risk in Crossing Busy Roads in Four Towns. Road Research Laboratory, Report LR 106, Crowthorne, UK, 1967. Ekman, L. & Kronborg, P. Traffic safety and pedestrians and cyclists at signal controlled intersections. Institutet för transportforskning, Stockholm, Sweden, 1995. Keall, M.D., Pedestrian exposure to risk of road accidents in New Zealand. Accident Analysis and Prevention, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 729-740. 1995 Draskóczy, M. & Hydén, C., Pedestrian safety measures - past and future. ICTCT’s 7th Workshop on Pedestrians Problems, Prague, Czech Republic, 1994. Ewert, U., New pedestrian-crossing regulation: Changes in the behavior of pedestrians and car drivers. ICTCT’s 8th Workshop on Safety of Urban Transport With Focus on Pedestrian Problems, Paris, France. 1995. Varhelyi, A., Drivers’ speed behavior at a zebra crossing. KFBMeddelande 16. Lunds Tekniska Högskola, Lund, Sweden, 1996. Pedestrian Safety. Analyses and Safety Measures. Report 148. Danish Road Directorate, 1998. Dewar, D., Knoblauch, R., Nitzburg, M., Pietrucha, M., Templer, J., Older pedestrian characteristics for use in highway design. Federal Highway Administration Report, USA, 1995.

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Towards an integral accessible public area in the city E. De Winne Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil Techniques, Ghent University, Belgium Road and Traffic Administration, Ministry of the Flemish Community, Belgium

Abstract It must be possible for everybody to participate in mobility. One condition is that accessibility must be easy enough not only for vehicles but also for children, pedestrians, cyclists, disabled people, blind people or persons with a restricted visibility, and people moving in wheelchairs. Road managers must pay attention to all the movable restrictions. To be able to assure an integral and safe accessible public area, many measures are necessary, e.g. comfortable pedestrian paths without obstacles, safe crossing points for pedestrians and cyclists, accessible public transport facilities, etc. A practical guide for those who are interested in safety and comfort in all (restricted) road users is necessary to guarantee a better quality of life. This paper describes: - why integral accessibility is an essential condition for mobility management and how to assure reachability for everyone; - how to elaborate design criteria for an integral accessible public area, related to traffic safety, a freely movable area, a flat and rough surface, with not too many differences in levels, orientations and other measures for blind people or people with restricted visibility, information and service initiatives and measures; - patterns of pedestrians, links between pedestrians and car drivers or car passengers, links between pedestrians and public transport users, etc; - conclusions: suggestions for road design, management and maintenance illustrated by some practical and realized cases. Keywords: public area, traffic safety, reach ability, integral accessibility, public transport.

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1

Introduction

Participation in mobility must be available to everyone. Some years ago, the Flemish government took a legal initiative in order to guarantee an obstacle free area for pedestrians. However, more measures are necessary to obtain obstacle free pedestrian paths, safe crossing points and a better accessible public transport system.

2

Integral accessibility: an essential link for mobility management

Several reasons for inaccessibility could be, e.g., - a wheelchair obstructed by a drains or parked car - an unmovable pedestrian path - privatisation of public areas - obstacles by building works in progress which are unsafe - insufficient gaps between street furniture - slopes and uneven paths - blocked pavements and drains in bad condition - traffic lights which are not recognizable by blind people and people with restricted visibility. These examples show why an integral accessible public area is necessary to guarantee mobility for everybody so they can reach a destination independently under the same and similar conditions for all groups of road users.

3

Recommended design criteria for an integral accessible area

3.1 Traffic safety as reference Increasing road safety requires paying consideration to all the sub-systems, people, road and vehicles, which cannot be analyzed separately but through their interactions. In order to understand how elements of road infrastructure should best be placed, it is important to combine an understanding of the interactions between the sub-systems with an understanding of the driver’s behaviour. Measures in road engineering in different situations can contribute to the improvement of road safety: - geometric and design of road infrastructure e.g. increased safety resulting from spatial road alignment - road equipment including electronic traffic guidance - pavements and safety e.g. special pavements. The road aspect and the integration of measures are defined mainly by the allowed speed limits: - zone 30 areas: more moveability for pedestrians and cyclists - zone 50 areas: special measures must be taken in order to assure the safety on pedestrian crossing points (zebra) WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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- zone 70 areas: traffic lights are recommended for pedestrian crossing points combined with special measures included walking paths for blind people and people with restricted visibility. 3.2 Free movable pedestrian space - the free passage width (normal user intensity) has a minimum of 150 cm (fig. 1) - the free space to be able to turn around for wheelchairs users is 150 cm (fig. 2) - the free passage height has a minimum of 210 cm - if the pedestrian area is larger than 2,00 meter, an obstacle free area of 1,50 m wide must always be guaranteed - if the pedestrian area is between 1,50 and 2,00 m wide, an area of 0,50 meter can be used for obstacles - pedestrian areas less than 1,50 meter wide can only be constructed on roads with a building line less than 9,00 meter - pedestrian paths have always an obstacle free runway of 1,00 meter wide and a free height of 2,10 meter.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

3.3 Evenness and roughness requirements - the walking surface area must be obstacle free and flat - there are conditions to satisfy concerning the choice of the materials and the method of execution - rough and/or flat means little unevenness < 5 mm - the transversal slope must be less than 1:50 meter - the mesh of grills must be less than 2 cm so that wheelchairs and baby carriages and buggies are allowed to cross over. 3.4 Differences in levels (Fig. 3) - differences in levels have a maximum of 2 cm for wheelchair users at crossing points

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810 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability - differences in levels of more than 2 cm can be executed with a slope less than 1:25 - differences in levels of more than 1,00 meter, can be executed with a slope of more than 1:25, but an additional horizontal rest area is necessary - the optimal relation between the difference in level and the necessary minimum length of the slope is given as: Length = {(height – 0,1) x 11,1 + 10} x height (with length and height in terms of meters) (Fig. 4).

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

3.5 Orientation and measures for blind people and people with restricted visibility - designers must create or repair as much as possible the natural guide-lines to assure the orientation and must be attentive with artificial guide-lines which are sometimes necessary because of a lack of these can be dangerous for visual handicapped people due to total disorientation (Fig. 5) - rattle systems are preferable for comparing e.g. crossing points with traffic lights. The green phase must be calculated with a walking speed of a maximum of 0,5 m/sec at the start of the green phase (Fig. 6) - warning markings are only desirable and advisable at dangerous crossing points for visual handicapped people. The designer must be logical and economical when using warning constructions at crossing points e.g. there should be no warning constructions at traffic lights with rattles in service during the night, no warning constructions if there are no zebra crossings in zone 30 areas, on an elevated continuous pedestrian path, or in residential areas with restrictions to slow down traffic (residential street) - warning markings exist of squared bump paving which is placed in a perpendicular pattern in the walking direction (Fig. 7) - colour contrasts are advisable to mark transparent or glass walls - rubber pavings are information markings (Fig. 8)

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- steps going down in garages, parking areas, or underground are very dangerous for visually handicapped people. These dangerous areas must be marked with a uniform warning system

Figure 5.

Figure 6.

Figure 7.

Figure 8. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

812 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability - fences as warning measures are necessary to indicate construction sites on the walking area, e.g. construction sites and sites of cable companies - information and service: the placement of operation elements must take into account tall persons, small persons and wheelchair users. Operation elements used for rattles, phones, etc. must be useable by everybody – this means at a correct height, with correct readable information, which is reachable and located in a logical way.

4

Practical cases

4.1 Pedestrians 1.

A comfortable walking area is passable, with sufficient movable space and is obstacle free (Fig. 9)

Figure 9.

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2.

813

Safe and comfortable crossings (Fig. 10)

Figure 10. - guarantee low speed combined with a ground level construction - the difference in level between road and pedestrian path can be eliminated by increasing the height of the crossing point or a part of the road - the pedestrian path can be elevated on the side roads - differences in levels must be linked in a comfortable way (Fig. 11) - the crossing distance must be restricted and a low contact speed between pedestrians and drivers guaranteed - safe measures must be taken on crossing points with dense traffic

Figure 11.

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814 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 4.2 From pedestrian to car driver or car passenger 1.

Number of parking places: the number of accessible parking places for handicapped people is a minimum 4% of the total number of parking places (Fig. 12)

Figure 12. 2.

location of the parking places: - parking places for handicapped people must always be located at the end of the parking areas in order to guarantee accessibility. - parking places in buildings for handicapped people are located as near as possible to the entrance of the building. A parking place in a parking garage is located as near as possible to the elevator or the pedestrian exit. - directives: the free space around the vehicle to allow moving in/out the vehicle must be more than 1,50 m.

Figure 13. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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4.3 From pedestrian to user of public transport (Fig. 13) 1. 2.

3.

accessible low platform entries in buses accessible and comfortable waiting areas with ground level access to hiding places with dimensions 3,00 x 1,50 m (type A) ; 4,00 x 1,50 m (type B) or 4,8O x 1,80 m (type C), incl. exact slope and maximum difference in level of 2 cm and seating with a seat level of 45–50 cm. comfortable entrance/exit with minimum distance between vehicle and platform or stop place, and good accessible and logical located hiding places and sufficient and clear information.

5

Suggestions for management and maintenance of the public area

a. b. c.

Regular maintenance of the walking area Efficient use of the walking area Special measures to take into account construction sites.

References [1] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Naar een Integraal Toegankelijk openbaar domein, Ministerie van de Vlaamse gemeenschap 1999.Toegankelijkheidsbrochure, Belgische Confederatie van blinden en slechtzienden vzw Brussel 1999. Ministerieel besluit van 7.5.1999 betreffende het signaleren van werken en verkeersbelemmeringen op de openbare weg. De waarneming van geleidelijnen en markeringen, Kooi. F.I., Walraven J., Nederlandse organisatie voor toegepast natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek TNO, Soesterberg 1998. Algemene bouwverordening inzake wegen voor voetgangersverkeer – Belgisch Staatsblad 1997. Handboek voor toegankelijkheid, Wijk Maarten, Misset, Doetinchem 1997.

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The survey of drinking water supply in Estonia from the point of view of public health E. Indermitte1,2, A. Saava1 & A. Kull2 1 2

Department of Public Health, University of Tartu, Estonia Institute of Geography, University of Tartu, Estonia

Abstract Access to a sufficient supply of safe drinking water is essential in maintaining public health. The quality of water and associated health risks vary throughout the world with some regions showing contamination of drinking water by pathogens or high levels of chemical compounds, whereas elsewhere these are very low and present no problem for human health. Considerable variations also occur on a more local level within countries. The purpose of the study was to analyse the status of public water supply and drinking water quality in towns and rural settlements of Estonia and its possible impact on public health. The basis of the study was the Health Protection Inspectorate database on the water suppliers and water quality. A special study was carried out to determine fluoride content (the main toxic chemical of concern in Estonia) in drinking water. All towns and rural settlements with water supply systems serving at least 100 inhabitants were visited and water samples were taken. The access to public drinking water supplies by counties was analysed. The exposure of the population to selected chemicals of concern was determined. Estonia is characterised by a large proportion of small water supplies. It makes the safeguarding of water quality and control complicated. The percentage of the population exposed to toxic compounds (fluoride, boron) was small and this occurred mainly in the case of small water supplies. At the same time a considerable amount of the population is influenced by undesirable chemicals (iron, manganese, etc.). These substances are non-toxic but disturb the conditions of water usage and quality of life. The priority in planning and improving public water supply should be given to activities minimising the health risks from toxic components in drinking water. Keywords: drinking water supply, health risks, Estonia, fluoride.

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/SC060781

818 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1

Introduction

Serving the population with adequate drinking water is an important prerequisite for a healthy life. Inadequate access to clean drinking water directly and indirectly affects health. Adverse health outcomes are associated with ingestion of and contact with unsafe water as well as with lack of access to water (linked to inadequate hygiene) [1]. The contamination of drinking water by pathogens causing diarrhoeal disease is the most important aspect of drinking water quality. During 1986-1996, 710 outbreaks of waterborne diseases with 52 000 cases were reported in 19 European countries [2]. There are many sources of chemical contaminants in drinking water. Many environmental contaminants in drinking water have clear evidence of adverse effects on human health. The most important contaminants from a standpoint of health are naturally occurring environmental contaminants (arsenic, fluoride, selenium, boron) in drinking water. At high exposures, these chemicals can cause serious toxic effects or chronic diseases in humans [3]. Waterborne diseases not only cause preventable illness and death but may also have substantial economic effects on the affected people and their families and society as a whole, including expenses for healthcare and loss of productivity. The quality of drinking water and possible associated health risks vary throughout the world with some regions showing, for example, high levels of toxic chemicals or contamination of drinking water by pathogens, whereas elsewhere these are very low and present no problem for human health. Similar problems may occur within countries [4]. Differences in health risks that local level variations represent lead to different priorities for the provision and treatment of drinking water. To be able to set priorities, good survey on access to water supply and quality data on the levels of contaminants in water and related health risks are needed. The purpose of current survey was to analyse the status of public water supply and drinking water quality in towns and settlements of Estonia and its possible impact on public health.

2

Materials and methods

2.1 Study area Estonia is the smallest and the northenmost Baltic country with an area of 45 227 km2 and population of 1,35 million people (01.01.2004). Administratively Estonia is divided into 15 counties. Located in northern Europe, geologically Estonia is situated in the north-western part of the EastEuropean Platform. Surface water in two big towns (capital Tallinn and Narva) and deep groundwater from drilled tube wells in other towns and rural settlements are the main sources of drinking water. Groundwater sources rely on five aquifer systems (Middle-Devonian, Middle-Lower-Devonian, SilurianOrdovician, Ordovician-Cambrian and Cambrian-Vendian) which differ from

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each other in distribution and chemical composition [5]. In addition, groundwater from shallow dug wells in suburbs and rural areas are used. 2.2 Data A survey of public water supplies was performed all over Estonia. Data on access of population to public water supplies and water quality was obtained from Estonian Health Protection Inspectorate database on drinking water “JVESI”. Public water supplies were categorised into 5 groups according to their size (number of consumers served): <500; 500-1999; 2000-9999; 10 000-49 000; ≥50000 inhabitants. Drinking water quality was analysed from three aspects of public health: microbiological safety; chemicals affecting water properties and quality of life (iron, manganese, chlorides, sulphates and nitrites); and toxic chemicals causing direct health effects (fluorides, boron, nitrates). Data was grouped into two categories according to the Estonian drinking water requirements [6]: parameter level not exceeding the threshold value; and parameter consistently exceeding the threshold value. Depending on parameter the data were available for 1062-1074 public water supplies. The exposure of population to selected chemicals of concern was determined by linking the parameter level in water to the number of consumers in corresponding water supply system. 2.3 Special study A special study to determine fluoride content in drinking water was carried out in 2004. Fluoride has a special public health interest because of its anti-caries effect at low concentration, but excessive levels may cause serious adverse effects including dental and skeletal fluorosis, bone fractures and other diseases [7–9]. All towns and rural settlements with public water supplies serving at least 100 inhabitants were visited and water samples were taken. SPADNS colorimetric method was used to determine fluoride concentration [10]. This method is accepted by WHO for field studies [3]. Standard reference solutions were analyzed before and after mesurements, the relative error during measurements was 2,0%. Altogether 735 water samples were collected in 47 towns and 471 rural settlements in all 15 counties throughout Estonia. Data was grouped into 3 categories according to their health effects: 1) high-fluoride content drinking water (over 1,50 mg/l) – causing adverse health effects; 2) 2) optimal fluoride content drinking water (0,51-1,50 mg/l) – having protection against dental caries with the least risk of producing dental fluorosis or other toxic effects; 3) low-fluoride content drinking water (up to 0,50 mg/l) – insufficient to prevent caries. For data processing and analysing a statistical package SPSS 10.0 for Windows was used.

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Results

3.1 Access of population to public water supplies (PWS) Population of Estonia is well provided with drinking water – 82,9% rely on public water supply facilities. Access to drinking water among urban population is 95,6% and among rural population 55,9%. There are altogether 1233 PWS. The large proportion of PWS is small by size (Figure 1). Up to 86,1% of PWS serve less than 500 inhabitants. It makes the safeguarding of water quality and control complicated. Up to 21,9% of PWS are so small (<50 consumers) that they are exempted from water quality and control requirements [5]. Only 3 PWS (0,2%) have each over 50 000 consumers. Altogether they serve 41,1% of population. The access to PWS differs by counties as well as by towns and rural settlements. The population in more industrialised regions (Harju and Ida-Viru counties) has significantly higher access to PWS in comparison with population in marginal borderland Võru and Põlva counties (over 90% and about 60%, respectively). Among towns the access to PWS ranges from 35 to 100% (average 83%), at the same time in some rural settlements the access was even less than 20%. Dispersed rural families depend almost entirely on groundwater from private wells for their potable water supply.

Figure 1: Distribution of water supplies by the number of consumers. 3.2 Drinking water quality 3.2.1 Microbiological quality of water The parameters analysed were: content of Escherichia coli (E. coli), Enterococci, total coliforms and colony count at 22ºC. The number of studied PWS ranged from 1072 to 1074 depending on parameter.

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Drinking water did not satisfy the requirements for microbiological parameters in 13 PWS (1,2%). All four analysed parameters were exceeded in one PWS (rural settlement Roosna-Alliku with 155 consumers), two parameters (E. coli and Enterococci) – in 5 PWS, only one parameter – in 6 PWS. All these PWS were small (<300 consumers). 3.2.2 Chemical quality of water Among chemicals deteriorating organoleptic properties of water and affecting quality of life iron exceeded the limit value most frequently. In total 495 (46,6%) PWS had constant high levels of iron. The highest number of PWS exceeding the limit was in Harju followed by Ida-Viru, Viljandi and Lääne-Viru counties (Table 1). The threshold value for manganese was exceeded in 136 and for chlorides in 30 PWS. Most of PWS exceeding the limit for manganese also had high iron content. Poor water quality was detected mostly in small PWS serving rural settlements and borough-towns. Content of sulphates and nitrites in water satisfied the requirements in all PWS. Table 1: County

Harju Hiiu Ida-Viru Jõgeva Järva Lääne Lääne-Viru Põlva Pärnu Rapla Saare Tartu Valga Viljandi Võru Total

Number of PWS exceeding the limit for iron by settlement type. No of PWS 129 22 78 54 77 32 109 73 60 73 57 91 66 80 61 1062

No of PWS exceeding the limit value Towns BoroughRural Total towns settlements 11 26 39 76 11 11 14 14 35 63 1 10 12 23 1 7 20 28 3 1 9 13 5 12 34 51 1 4 12 17 2 16 23 41 2 16 16 34 2 10 12 2 15 32 49 2 3 11 16 5 7 40 52 4 5 9 49 137 309 495

Among toxic chemicals only fluoride and boron exceeded permissible level: fluoride in 102 and boron in 21 PWS. There was a correlation (r=0,80) between fluoride and boron content in drinking water. Level of nitrates was in compliance with drinking water requirements in all PWS. Table 2 presents the exposure of population to drinking water not satisfying the quality requirements by the settlement type.

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822 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Table 2:

Exposure of population exposure to chemicals exceeding threshold values.

Parameter

Iron Manganese Chlorides Fluorides Boron

No of PWS 495 136 30 102 21

Total 411 116 110 028 60 350 42 571 8 398

Exposed population Towns BoroughRural towns settlements 306 003 60 620 44 493 73 790 25 963 10 275 52 093 6 935 1 322 8 115 19 037 15 419 1 530 3 570 3 298

3.2.3 Fluoride content in drinking water Fluoride content in drinking water varied in a large scale: 0,01-6,95 mg/l with a mean of 0,88 mg/l (SD 0,90). In 306 (41,6%) samples the fluoride content was below 0,5 mg/l. Optimal concentration (0,5-1,5 mg/l) was measured in 323 (44,0%) samples. The permissible limit – 1,5 mg/l – was exceeded in 106 (14,4%) samples. Fluoride content varied greatly both between and within counties (Table 3). Table 3: Name of county Harju Hiiu Ida-Viru Jõgeva Järva Lääne Lääne-Viru Põlva Pärnu Rapla Saare Tartu Valga Viljandi Võru Total

Fluoride concentration in water samples by counties. Number of samples 119 17 48 38 49 29 65 31 63 42 28 73 30 56 47 735

Min 0,01 0,38 0,21 0,06 0,05 0,54 0,10 0,08 0,08 0,12 0,22 0,10 0,06 0,05 0,08 0,01

Fluoride concentration, mg/l Max Mean 2,06 0,72 1,92 1,12 1,29 0,59 3,28 0,81 3,12 0,82 5,60 2,25 1,81 0,49 1,10 0,34 6,95 1,84 3,68 1,25 5,50 1,14 3,48 0,82 1,58 0,35 2,56 1,02 0,45 0,26 6,95 0,88

SD 0,39 0,44 0,24 0,78 0,71 1,46 0,32 0,27 1,53 0,97 1,11 0,65 0,31 0,70 0,10 0,90

Higher values as well as higher proportion of high-fluoride water samples were collected from Pärnu, Lääne and Rapla counties in West-Estonia. On the other hand, natural low-fluoride groundwater was prevalent in Võru, Valga and Põlva counties in South-Estonia (Figure 2). The low-fluoride drinking water was also prevalent in capital Tallinn and town Narva. Both towns use mostly surface water. The analysis of PWS providing high-fluoride water by number of consumers revealed that this type of water is mainly a problem in small water WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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supplies. In majority (77,4%) of cases each supply serves less than 500 inhabitants. Nevertheless, there are still 11 (10,6%) supplies that serve each over 1000 inhabitants. The biggest of them has 4000 consumers (town Türi). 100% 90% 80% 70% 60%

up to 0,5 mg/l

50%

0,51-1,50 mg/l

40%

> 1,5 mg/l

30% 20% 10% Võru

Valga

Viljandi

Tartu

Saare

Rapla

Põlva

Pärnu

Lääne-Viru

Järva

Lääne

Jõgeva

Ida-Viru

Hiiu

Harju

0%

Figure 2: Distribution of fluoride levels in water samples by counties.

4

Discussion

Water is an essential factor in the maintenance of human health; poor availability and quality can have severe effects on the health of populations and their quality of life. Population of Estonia is well provided with drinking water which is derived from surface sources in capital Tallinn (lake Ülemiste) and town Narva (river Narva) and from several groundwater aquifers in other places. Water contains natural contaminants, particularly inorganic chemicals that arise from the geological strata, through which the water flows, and a varying extent, anthropogenic pollution both by micro-organisms and chemicals. In general, groundwater is less vulnerable to pollution than surface waters. Overall access of population to PWS is high – 82,9%, but variations between geographical regions as well as between towns are significant. Access to PWS may be overestimated to certain extent due to decrease of population during last decade. Database on water suppliers was established in 2002. In settlements where schools or other establishments have separate water supply system there was possibility to consider the number of water consumers twice (at school and at home). Rural population has lower coverage of PWS than urban population (55,9% and 95,6%, respectively). This can be due to logistical difficulties, relative cost and political priorities. The prevalence of small PWS is characteristic for Estonia. This complicates the improvement and control of water quality. No regulations of water quality and control exist for the PWS serving less than 50 consumers [6]. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

824 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability The quality of drinking water in PWS depends on many factors, including the quality of the raw water source, the extent and type of treatment and disinfection used, the materials and integrity of the distribution system, and maintenance of positive pressure within the network. The water supply systems in many towns are obsolete. During recent years, drinking water supply has improved to great extent, especially where EU support has become available for modernising water supply systems and water treatment. The provision of microbiologically safe drinking water supply is the most important step that can be taken to improve health of a community. The pathogenic organisms directly responsible for the spread of disease are of concern, but detecting them is difficult, expensive and time-consuming. Instead, water is examined for bacteria Escherichia coli and Enterococci that indicate the presence of faecal contamination. Total coliforms and colony count at 22ºC serve as the indicators of general pollution of water. The analysis of bacterial quality of drinking water showed that there is no significant risk from faecal contamination of water. No waterborne outbreaks have been occurred in Estonia during last decade. Occasional epidemiological hazard was identified in 7 PWS. In remaining cases (6 PWS) only indicators were detected. The contamination was caused by an inadequate supply process or by a lack of maintenance of distribution pipelines. The bacterial quality of drinking water depends on a number of factors – the depth of the aquifer, the condition of the distribution network, the efficiency of treatment and disinfection in particular. Through improved monitoring and surveillance, increased understanding of distribution system deficiencies may focus limited resources on key areas in an effort to improve public health and decrease disease burden [11]. The problems associated with chemicals in drinking water arise from their ability to affect the organoleptic properties of water and quality of life (iron, manganese, chloride) or to cause adverse health effects after prolonged periods of exposure (fluorides, boron). In Estonia drinking water quality is acceptable for majority of the population which is served by the larger PWS. Iron is the most frequently occurring chemical exceeding the threshold value in drinking water, preferable in small PWS. Iron salts are unstable in drinking water supplies. They are precipitated as insoluble iron hydroxide, which causes colour and turbidity of water and settles out as rust-coloured silt. Iron also promotes undesirable bacterial growth in waterworks and distribution systems, resulting in the deposition of a slimy coating on the piping. The taste and appearance of water will usually be affected below the level, which can present a hazard to health. Iron removal technology is not complicated and expensive. Appropriate treatment equipment is already installed or planned to install by many PWS. Fluorides exist naturally in groundwater. They enter groundwater systems through dissolution and leaching of mineral deposits and rock formations. The beneficial effect of fluoride in drinking water has a very narrow range. Low concentrations provide protection against dental caries (especially in children), but excessive intake of fluoride via drinking water may cause serious toxic effects [12]. Low fluoride drinking water is prevalent in southern Estonia (Võru, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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Valga and Põlva counties), where the major source of drinking water is terrogenous Middle-Devonian aquifer system. High fluoride content (over 1,5 mg/l) was detected first of all in the West-Estonia (Lääne, Rapla and Pärnu counties), where the only drinking water source is Silurian-Ordovician aquifer system. Elevated fluoride content was also found in some PWS of central Estonia (Tartu and Järva counties) scooping water from Devonian-Silurian aquifer system. In these areas, there is no industry or any human activity that can cause anthropogenic contamination of fluoride into the groundwater. High levels of fluoride are due to geogenic source – natural Silurian and Ordovician rocks [13]. It is difficult and expensive to reduce a natural high level of fluoride in water. The first option should be to find an alternative source with lower fluoride level. Surface water would be preferable. Also, mixing water from different sources can lower the fluoride level in drinking water. If there is no other possibility or cost-effective solution, de-fluoridation must be attempted to avoid the toxic effects. The best method depends on local circumstances.

5

Conclusions

Population of Estonia is well provided with drinking water, but access to public water supply system varies significantly between towns and counties. Urban population has higher coverage than rural population. The drinking water quality problems are associated with high levels of iron, manganese and fluoride naturally occurring in ground water. The obsolescence and bad technical conditions of water supply networks are an additional factor to contribute deterioration of drinking water quality. It is of a particular concern in small supplies. In conjunction with building new and renovating existing housing complexes, a stepwise extension of public water supply systems and improvement of the hygienic conditions in urban and surrounding rural areas could be achieved. Protected source of water and modern, well-maintained drinking water treatment plants can provide water adequate for human consumption.

Acknowledgements This study has been supported by the Target Funding Projects No. 0182143s02 and No. 0182648s04 of the Ministry of Education and Science, Estonia and by the Estonian Dental Association.

References [1]

EEA and WHO. Water and Health in Europe: a joint report from the European Environmental Agency and the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Ed. J. Bartram WHO Regional Publications. European series; No 93, 2000, 222 p. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

826 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability [2]

[3] [4] [5] [6]

[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

WHO/EURO. Health and the environment in the WHO European Region: Situation and policy at the beginning of the 21st century. Ed I.D. Ivanov. Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, Budapest, Hungary, 23-25 June 2004, Geneva, 2004, 203 p. WHO. Guidelines for drinking-water quality. 3nd edn, vol. 1. Recommendations, World Health Organization, Geneva, 2004, 455 p. Karro, E., Rosentau, A. Fluoride levels in the Siluarian-Ordovician aquifer system of western Estonia. Fluoride 38(4), pp. 307-311, 2005. Karise, V., Metsur, M., Perens, R., Savitskaja, L., Tamm, I. Eesti põhjavee kasutamine ja kaitse [Use and protection of groundwater in Estonia]. Eesti Põhjaveekomisjon, Tallinn (in Estonian), 2004, 81 p. Ministry of Social Affairs, Estonia. Joogivee kvaliteedi- ja kontrollinõuded ning analüüsimeetodid [The quality and monitoring requirements for drinking water and methods of analysis]. SoM RTL 2001/100/1369, Tallinn (in Estonian), 2001. Moturi, W.K., Tole, M.P., Davies, T.C. The contribution of drinking water towards dental fluorosis: a case study of Njoro Division, Nakuru District, Kenya. Environ. Geochem. Health 24, pp. 123-130, 2002. Xiang, Q., Liang, Y., Chen, L., Wang, C., Chen, B., Chen, X., Zhou, M. Effect of fluoride in drinking water on children’s intelligence. Fluoride 36(2), pp. 84-94, 2003. Alarcon-Herrera, M.T., Martin-Dominquez, I., Trejo-Vazquez, R., Rodriquez-Dozal, S. Well water fluoride, dental fluorosis, bone fractures in the Guadiana Valley of Mexico. Fluoride 34(2), pp. 139-149, 2001. APHA. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 2nd edn. Washington, DC, American Public Health Association, 1998. Lee, E.J., Schwab, K.J. Deficiencies in drinking water distribution systems in developing countries. J Water Health 3(2), pp. 109-127, 2005. Connett, P. US National Research Council Subcommittee on fluoride in drinking water. Fluoride 36(4), pp. 280-289, 2003. Karro, E., Indermitte, E., Saava, A., Haamer, K., Marandi, A. Fluoride occurrence in publicly supplied water in Estonia. Environmental Geology, DOI 10.1007/s00254-006-0217-1 (in print), 2006.

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Author Index Abbaspour M...............................457 Abdel-Gawad A. F. .....................433 Adams M.....................................785 Adiv R.........................................551 Ahas R.........................................127 Aini M. S.....................................743 Antov D.......................................797 Bargwanna S. ..............................357 Bastianoni S. ...............................345 Bazzurro N. .................................521 Besen G. R. .................................409 Bizzarri G....................................419 Bosch M. .....................................541 Briceño D. ...................................647 Brizio E. ......................................199 Caligaris M..................................379 Cantalapiedra I. R........................541 Carlo Magnoli G. ..........................71 Carneiro da Silva V. A. ...............467 Castell P. .....................................703 Cinnéide M. Ó.............................691 Cirianni F. M. M. ........................637 Coelho D. ....................................179 Cossarini G..................................399 Costanzo S.....................................39 Costescu D. .................................589 Cox T. .........................................785 Croxford B. .................................785 Cusumano A..................................39 Demajorovic J. ............................409 De Vicente V.................................83 De Winne E.................................807 Didibhuku Thwala W..................753 Di Donato M. ..............................499 Edvardsson K. .............................477 Elliott S. ......................................733 Eren F..........................................367 Eyles J. ........................................733 Fabiano M. ..................................521 Fahy F. ........................................691 Fukukawa Y. ...............................209

Galli A.................................345, 499 Genon G. .....................................199 Giaconia C.....................................39 Giaconia G.....................................39 Gil L. .............................................83 Gómez F. .......................................83 Granà A. ......................................115 Guirao B. .....................................647 Günther W. R. .............................409 Guzys A.......................................631 Hallemaa H..................................509 Horne R. ........................................29 Humber W. ..................................713 Hung Y.-T. ..................................239 Hwang I. S. Y..............................283 Ilgakojyte-Bazariene J. ................631 Indermitte E.................................817 Ishaq R. .......................................551 Jacobi P. ......................................409 Järv O. .........................................127 Jefferson C...................................531 Jeppesen S. L...............................561 Jordán R. .......................................71 Karbasi A. R................................457 Kazimee B. A. ...............................49 Keiner M. ....................................169 Keller-Olaman S..........................733 Khadivi S.....................................457 Kleizen H. H................................303 Kull A..........................................817 Laily P. ........................................743 Lauritzen E. K. ............................273 Lavadinho S.................................607 Leetmaa K. ..................................621 Leleur S. ......................................561 Lenzen M. ...................................229 Leonardi G...................................637 le Roux E.....................................445 Lodi J...........................................251 López F........................................541 Luckman P. G..............................155

828 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability Maganov P. .................................229 Maikov K. ...................................599 Mander Ü...................... 3, 509, 797 Marchettini N. .............................263 Mark Ü. .......................................127 Marksoo Ü...................................765 Masciulli C..................................521 McDowell E. ...............................775 McWilliams C. ............................775 Melaku Canu D. ..........................399 Metspalu P...................................621 Meyer T. C. .................................445 Montero L. ....................................83 Moore G. .....................................785 Moore S.......................................389 Niccolucci V. ..............................345 Nogueira H..................................723 Norhasmah S. ..............................743 Noriega L. A. ..............................579 Nuga M. ......................................127 Nurizan Y....................................743 Oja T. ..........................................509 Özbek O. .....................................105 Özcan K. .....................................367 Ozden P. ......................................313 Paluoja R. ....................................389 Paoli C.........................................521 Parlewar P. ..................................209 Pelozo G......................................379 Pihlak M......................................599 Plaut J............................................71 Poggio M.....................................199 Popa M. .......................................589 Pulselli F. M................ 263, 489, 499 Pulselli R. M. ................71, 345, 489 Quaranta N. .................................379 Raicu S. .......................................589 Refaee M. ....................................785 Ribeiro G.....................................467 Ribeiro H.....................................409 Rofè Y.........................................551 Rõivas T. .....................................797 Rotmeyer J. .................................293 Rõuk H. .......................................797

Ruiz G. ........................................541 Rusca F........................................589 Ruth M. .......................................179 Saava A. ......................................817 Sánchez I. G. ...............................273 Santana P. ....................................723 Santos R. .....................................723 Sapragonas J................................631 Schmid W. A. ..............................169 Sepe M. .......................................137 Setshedi G. P. ................................19 Shannon T. ..................................569 Sharifah Azizah H. ......................743 Sharma A.....................................147 Sharples S....................................785 Shliselberg R. ..............................551 Sifre V. ..........................................83 Simeonova V. ..............................219 Simoncini E. ................................489 Skinner J......................................531 Solidoro C. ..................................399 Soomet T. ....................................713 Speed C. ......................................323 Szeinuk M. ..................................551 Tammaru T..................................621

Teemusk A................................... 3 Tiezzi E. ................................71, 263 Truog N. M..................................681 Tsou K.-W...................................239 Turgut S.......................................189 Unsen M. .....................................379 van der Toorn Vrijthoff W. ...........61 van Maarseveen M. F. A. M........659 van Nes A. ...................................671 Vassallo P....................................521 Venesaar U. .................................765 Vitsur H. ......................................509 Waisman J. ..................................579 Wang J.........................................333 Wang X. ......................................333 Wennersten R. .............................333 Wilson K. ....................................733 Yıldız P..........................................95

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Zoklot A.-S. A.............................433 Zuidgeest M. H. P. ......................659 Zuroni J. ......................................743

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Sustainable Tourism II Edited by: F. D. PINEDA, Complutense University, Spain, C. A. BREBBIA, Wessex Institute of Technology, UK Tourism has become a major international industry, with many countries all over the world relying on the income it produces. The demands of tourism can however contribute to the destruction of the natural and cultural environment upon which it depends. It is essential to find ways to protect those environments for the present and future generations. Publishing papers from the Second International Conference on Sustainable Tourism, this volume explores issues concerned with achieving environmental, social and economic sustainability of tourism alongside the governance mechanisms needed to support sustainable tourism. Featured topics include: Tourism Impact; Tourism Strategies; Sustainable Tourism; Eco-tourism; Cultural Tourism; Coastal Issues; Tourism and Protected Areas; Tourism, Infrastructure and Hotels; Surveys and Analysis; IT in Tourism; Tourism and Protected Nature Areas; Tourism and Transportation; Environmental Risk and Impact; Tourism as a Factor of Development. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Volume 97 ISBN: 1-84564-044-6 2006 apx 400pp apx £145.00/US$265.00/€217.50

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Management of Natural Resources, Sustainable Development and Ecological Hazards Edited by: C. A. BREBBIA, Wessex Institute of Technology, UK, E. TIEZZI, University of Siena, Italy, M. E. CONTI, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Italy The state of our planet continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate. We have arrived at a situation where we need to determine urgent solutions before we reach a point of irreversible deterioration. Much has been written in different contexts about reaching sustainability but the concept itself needs to be defined in the framework of all different disciplines in order to arrive at optimal solutions. Hence this book is essentially trans-disciplinary in order to find appropriate sustainable solutions, involving collaboration across a wide range of disciplines. Publishing papers from the First International Conference on Management of Natural Resources, Sustainable Development and Ecological Hazards, the book features articles encompassing topic areas such as: Water Resources; Air; Soil; Ecology; Health Risk; Energy; Planning and Development; Political and Social Issues; The Re-Encounter; New Technologies; Learning from Nature; Safety. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Volume 99 ISBN: 1-84564-048-9 2006 apx 500pp apx £180.00/US$325.00/€270.00

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