Green Cities

[danny la rouge]

I'm looking for links about how to design cities around human beings rather than industry or traffic. Old stuff like Colin Ward's The Child in the City or Welcome, Thinner City , or up-to-date stuff like this article on traffic evaporation Traffic Evaporation: What Really Happens When Road Space is Reallocated from Cars? | or this about replacing urban motorways: https://www.fastcompany.com/90520485/this-bridge-used-to-be-a-highway-now-its-for-pedestrians or rethinking cities in the light of the pandemic: Rethinking Cities in a Post-COVID19 World | ORF

Public Spaces in an Era of Climate Change

Resilience is a result of connections between people, not a physical feature of a place. So, as we adapt to a changing climate, public spaces are the key to strengthening the community ties that help us bounce back from disaster.

www.resilience.org

So, hive mind, what's out there that we should read?

 

[rutabowa]

This is not exactly deep but might be worth looking at. They look a bit grim in real life, like they just put a bit of grass carpet on some walls but all the pollution is still there.
Mexico City's vertical gardens: seeds of change or cynical greenwashing?

I guess it is an example of something that actually happened rather than a vague plan though.

 

[danny la rouge]

Well, it's a bit sticking plastery. I'm looking more for rip it up and start again stuff.

 

[rutabowa]

Barely even a sticking plaster

 

[BigTom]

I'm attending* this seminar tomorrow for work on 20 minute neighbourhoods: The 20-minute neighbourhood

idk if this is the kind of thing you are interested in, it's a free set of seminars, virtual so as per my * I'm having it on in the background and paying attention for the bits which are relevant to a project I've just started to work on, which is about creating low carbon neighbourhoods. I doubt it'll be that radical but you might be interested.

 

[planetgeli]

Not sure if relevant because whole cities is a grand scale but...

...old friend of the family (dead now) Brian Richardson, architect, anarchist, contributor to Freedom did a lot of work on eco self builds. He was part of the Lewisham self build project that built 14 homes. These were working class people building their own homes (1979). He teamed up with a guy called Walter Segal (also now dead) and wrote The Self-Build book - these ideas were taken on by Housing Associations and are all eco-friendly.

Dunno. Google any of that. Might be on a much smaller scale than you're thinking of.

 

[stavros]

I'm looking for links about how to design cities around human beings rather than industry or traffic. Old stuff like Colin Ward's The Child in the City or Welcome, Thinner City , or up-to-date stuff like this article on traffic evaporation Traffic Evaporation: What Really Happens When Road Space is Reallocated from Cars? | or this about replacing urban motorways: https://www.fastcompany.com/90520485/this-bridge-used-to-be-a-highway-now-its-for-pedestrians or rethinking cities in the light of the pandemic: Rethinking Cities in a Post-COVID19 World | ORF

Public Spaces in an Era of Climate Change

Resilience is a result of connections between people, not a physical feature of a place. So, as we adapt to a changing climate, public spaces are the key to strengthening the community ties that help us bounce back from disaster.

www.resilience.org

So, hive mind, what's out there that we should read?

Do your own homework, newbie!

More seriously, without checking I'd have thought Transport for Quality of Life might've written something on this subject.

 

[Red Cat]

Not sure if relevant because whole cities is a grand scale but...

...old friend of the family (dead now) Brian Richardson, architect, anarchist, contributor to Freedom did a lot of work on eco self builds. He was part of the Lewisham self build project that built 14 homes. These were working class people building their own homes (1979). He teamed up with a guy called Walter Segal (also now dead) and wrote The Self-Build book - these ideas were taken on by Housing Associations and are all eco-friendly.

Dunno. Google any of that. Might be on a much smaller scale than you're thinking of.

I love this. Here's a video about it:




Of course, these houses go for loads of money now. I don't know how much this one was but the close attracts architects and others with similar incomes: For Sale: Segal Close, London SE23 | The Modern House.

 

[lazythursday]

I completed a masters on this very topic last year, but already the knowledge is fleeing my brain. I'd recommend Paul Chatterton's Unlocking Sustainable Cities as a good all round introduction (Paul is a great Leeds activist as well as an academic, and was the guy that got wrongly accused of punching a Tory during the election)

Some interesting stuff in this recent Twitter thread from former Hackney councillor:

On public transport, what interests me most is the new generation of ultra-light-rail tramways. There is a pilot in Coventry for a new tram system that runs entirely on batteries (so no overhead wires) and light enough to run over existing streets - you just lay the tracks on top, no need to dig everything up. In China they have gone one step further and created a sort of tram / bus hybrid that follows a painted line automatically, so no rails either.

 

[yield]

Public Spaces in an Era of Climate Change

Resilience is a result of connections between people, not a physical feature of a place. So, as we adapt to a changing climate, public spaces are the key to strengthening the community ties that help us bounce back from disaster.

www.resilience.org

So, hive mind, what's out there that we should read?

The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. They've a quote from her in the link.

Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers by Stephen Graham

 

[lazythursday]

And in terms of making cities greener in terms of nature / green infrastructure, this is a real cross-EU project (including Liverpool as began pre Brexit) that is doing some cool stuff: Urban GreenUP

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Harvey ‘Rebel Cities: Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution

Dawson: Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change

Sennett and Sandra: Designing Disorder: Experiments and Disruptions in the City

Southworth: Listening to the City

 

[lazythursday]

Well, it's a bit sticking plastery. I'm looking more for rip it up and start again stuff.

Sadly I don't think you will find much in reality that isn't either sticking plastery or very incremental change, aside from a few very high profile replace-the-motorway projects that get mentioned again and again (there's one in Seoul Seoul tears down an urban highway and the city can breathe again). Just isn't the political will, just look at the fuss over LTNs (I haven't been able to face reading the thread on here, but I can't imagine it's fun). A small narrow road close to me that is only used as a rat run was shut for Covid as it also provides access to the canal and cycleways and the anger about it is completely insane. But quite a few cities are gradually closing more and more of their city centres to cars - Leeds is shutting a lot more streets soon for instance.

 

[yield]

Well, it's a bit sticking plastery. I'm looking more for rip it up and start again stuff.

Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. Scott

 

[Doodler]

Although not specifically about cities, Murray Bookchin's 'Our Synthetic Environment' from 1962 might be of interest.

 

[hash tag]

There is a new city being built in Saudi DISCOVER NEOM

 

[danny la rouge]

I completed a masters on this very topic last year, but already the knowledge is fleeing my brain. I'd recommend Paul Chatterton's Unlocking Sustainable Cities as a good all round introduction (Paul is a great Leeds activist as well as an academic, and was the guy that got wrongly accused of punching a Tory during the election)

Some interesting stuff in this recent Twitter thread from former Hackney councillor:

On public transport, what interests me most is the new generation of ultra-light-rail tramways. There is a pilot in Coventry for a new tram system that runs entirely on batteries (so no overhead wires) and light enough to run over existing streets - you just lay the tracks on top, no need to dig everything up. In China they have gone one step further and created a sort of tram / bus hybrid that follows a painted line automatically, so no rails either.

Thanks for the heads up on Unlocking Sustainable Cities. There's a website allied to Chatterton's book, with some additional material and summaries. A manifesto for real change

 

[zahir]

There is a new city being built in Saudi DISCOVER NEOM

‘It’s being built on our blood’: the true cost of Saudi Arabia’s $500bn megacity

It has been billed as humanity’s next chapter, but beneath the glitzy veneer of Neom lies a story of threats, forced eviction and bloodshed

www.theguardian.com

The death of Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti on 13 April highlighted the tension between the tribe and the kingdom’s development plans. A resident of the town of Khuraibat, he had become the face of the tribes’ criticism of their forced eviction, voicing complaints in videos posted to social media, and appearing in others’ videos. One piece of footage showed him confronting a Saudi official who visited the town to speak with residents.

Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti made one of his last videos in mid-April. “They have begun the process of removing people, beginning with surveying homes with the intent of removing people and deporting them from their land,” he said, referring to the security forces in his town. “They arrested anyone who said they’re against deportation, they don’t want to leave, they want to remain [in] their homes, that they don’t want money.

“I would not be surprised if they come to kill me in my house now, and place a weapon next to me,” he added.

Later the same day, he shot a video from his rooftop of the police down below. “See them? The police have come to get me,” he said.

Others from Khuraibat recorded videos of gunfire from outside his house. Later, they recorded footage inside his house, pockmarked with bullet holes. In a statement, the Saudi authorities claimed he’d been killed in a shootout with regional security forces, stating that Abdul Rahim injured two after he shot back.

His supporters have described the shooting as “an extrajudicial killing”. So too have rights groups.

“They killed him to set an example – anyone opening their mouth gets the same treatment,” says Alia al-Huwaiti.

 

[ska invita]

Green Books - The Transition Handbook

The Transition Handbook - From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience

www.greenbooks.co.uk

Green Books - The Transition Companion

The Transition Companion - Making your community more resilient in uncertain times

www.greenbooks.co.uk

local, grassroots and practical, transition town "handbook" - its quite big

Green Books - Communities, Councils and a Low Carbon Future

Communities, Councils and a Low Carbon Future - What We Can Do If Governments Won't

www.greenbooks.co.uk

 

[BigTom]

The 20-minute neighbourhood - Town and Country Planning Association

Around the world there is growing interest in creating places in which most of people’s daily needs can be met within a short walk or cycle. The benefits of this…

www.tcpa.org.uk

I haven't looked at it yet but in the link there is a guide for creating 20 minute neighbourhoods, aimed at councils/local planners.
This is from the seminar I attended yesterday which as I expected wasn't very radical but might be of interest as should be pretty practically aimed.

 

[lazythursday]

Thanks for the heads up on Unlocking Sustainable Cities. There's a website allied to Chatterton's book, with some additional material and summaries. A manifesto for real change

Re-reading some of that, what strikes me is that the two cities I know best are beginning to haphazardly move towards some of what Paul is arguing for, and in particular there is increasingly a civil society nexus between elements of the local authority, the universities, campaigning groups etc that is both making the case and patiently explaining what a net zero city looks like in the local context - not always successfully of course but there's a base there to build on and some arguments are being won. I think it's the towns that are far far behind on this agenda and where it will be so much harder to achieve change. I wish I'd done my dissertation on that, in retrospect.

 

[stavros]

Have you looked at what Waltham Forest did? I understand that, despite initial reservations, the retailers experienced an increase in patronage and business.

 

[stavros]

I'd also like to ask what you think about the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre.

 

[Funky_monks]

There's some proper interesting stuff on urban agriculture if you get yourself on Google scholar. Read a proper interesting paper about some study in Australis which found it to be more efficient at veg production than conventional ag., as well as numerous other bits about the positive social aspects, especially in countries with large scale rural immigration to cities...

 

[teuchter]

Nah, urban agriculture is mostly nonsensical I reckon. Call it what it is - gardening.

 

[Funky_monks]

Nah, urban agriculture is mostly nonsensical I reckon. Call it what it is - gardening.

Which is what I thought until I started reading studies. One of it's efficiency aspects is being able to garden upwards - something machinery can't cope with (think climbing peas, beans etc).
Yield/ha is pretty amazing and with no diesel required, just graft.

 

[teuchter]

I'm looking for links about how to design cities around human beings rather than industry or traffic.

I'm interested that you specify industry and traffic as the baddies. It depends quite what you mean by industry of course, but isn't industry part of what cities and people are all about?
I could go on for some time about the big failure of modernist town planning being in my opinion all to do with the way it dealt with transport, and transport and traffic are a big part of what I'd say needs to be fixed in order to make urban environments designed around people, but I think that industry needn't be incompatible with that.

 

[teuchter]

Which is what I thought until I started reading studies. One of it's efficiency aspects is being able to garden upwards - something machinery can't cope with (think climbing peas, beans etc).
Yield/ha is pretty amazing and with no diesel required, just graft.

Graft by who though? The small subset of the population who want or have the time to do it. Usually known as gardeners.

 

[lazythursday]

I don't think there's any doubt that under the right conditions urban agriculture can be highly productive, Cuba proved that. But whether you can achieve it without that pressure of scarcity is a different matter.

 

[Funky_monks]

Graft by who though? The small subset of the population who want or have the time to do it. Usually known as gardeners.

That's where the time and motion studies fall down - "workers" are very inefficient because it's their hobby, so they stand around chatting - but the surprising thing is that even with this, yield/ha is still higher.
However, some papers highlight those social interactions as being really good for integration within rural communities.