tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/urban-design-3343/articlesUrban design – La Conversation2023-10-30T17:04:07Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2155562023-10-30T17:04:07Z2023-10-30T17:04:07ZJapanese manhole covers are painted with flowers, bridges, mountains and mascots – and now they’re for sale<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556149/original/file-20231026-17-gi6j0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-close-up-of-a-street-sign-with-a-mountain-in-the-background-BWm0RH9I9Ak">Kenshi Kingami|nsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Visitors to Japan are usually primed to look up – at the vast skyscrapers, the ornate temple gates, the traditional timber-framed guesthouses. Those who look down at their feet, though, might have noticed something equally intriguing on the ground. Ornate manhole covers in wrought iron, often plain, sometimes brightly painted, dot the country’s pavements, separating street life from the sewers that run below. </p>
<p>These objects have garnered a considerable following of “manholers” (as the hobbyists are known), who will be delighted to learn that city officials in Kyoto and other local authorities are now <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/11/manhole-covers-become-collectors-items-in-japan">putting up retired covers</a> for sale. <a href="https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20231010/p2a/00m/0na/004000c">For ¥5,500 (£31)</a>, fans can purchase their own 90kg piece of Japanese street furniture.</p>
<p>A construction ministry employee came up with the idea of decorative manhole covers in the late 1970s. It was an attempt to get the public on board not just with costly upgrades to the sewer system, but with the existence of the sewer system itself.</p>
<p>Beyond such efforts at corporate social responsibility, though, these urban ornaments connect to a long-standing historical urban planning concept, <a href="https://www-jstor-org.sheffield.idm.oclc.org/stable/27756649?sid=primo">“<em>machizukuri</em>”</a>. They speak to efforts revive local communities and wider regional economies. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9OYPWgzDBxE?wmode=transparent&start=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<h2>A successful marketing ploy</h2>
<p>Today <a href="https://japantoday.com/category/features/drainspotting-japanese-manhole-covers">more than 90%</a> of municipalities have their own distinctive manhole cover designs. The motifs used are often rooted in local history, geography and culture. </p>
<p>They include the usual traditional <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-media-snaps-map-the-sweep-of-japans-cherry-blossom-season-in-unprecedented-detail-206574">cherry blossoms</a>, landscapes, castles, bridges, birds and, as the <a href="https://jgma.gr.jp/manhole-cover/citizen-recognition-role/">Japan Ground Manhole Association</a> website puts it, the wind and the Moon. Others <a href="https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b06304/">reference</a> sports teams, anime and local mascots. </p>
<p>Yokohama, in the summer of 2023, got <a href="https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/brand-new-pikachu-manhole-covers-coming-to-yokohama-to-celebrate-pokemon-world-championships-2">four new Pikachu lids</a>, when the city became the first in Japan to host the annual Pokemon world championship. These weren’t the first Pokemon-themed covers though. On the <a href="https://local.pokemon.jp/en/manhole/">Pokelids</a> website you can see similar designs mapped out across the country, from Hokkaido in the north to Kyushu in the south. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pokemon-themed manhole covers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pokelids have flourished across the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB:Ibusuki_Evey-Suki_Manhole.JPG">Totti|Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Manhole designs now adorn keychains, t-shirts and mugs, as well as a trading card game. An annual <a href="https://www.gk-p.jp/activity/manhole-summit/">manhole summit</a> has been organised since 2012. The tenth edition, held in Tokorozawa on December 1 2022, attracted an estimated 14,000 visitors. </p>
<p>This popularity is partially down to the successful publicity of the local agencies that manage the sewerage networks. Replacing worn-out covers is expensive. As the sewers are mainly run by local authorities, it is taxpayers’ money that gets spent on replacements – so getting the public on side is crucial. Capitalising on the covers’ popularity could also now be a good source of revenue for debt-laden public bodies. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A colourful manhole cover in Japan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fireman in action in Okayama prefecture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manhole_cover,_Okayama,_Okayama_Prefecture,_Japan.jpg">OKJaguar|Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Community building</h2>
<p>Manhole covers sometimes provide tourist information at sightseeing spots and sports events or outline emergency escape routes in the event of an earthquake or tsunami. Some include QR codes and augmented reality.</p>
<p>This speaks to the urban design trend of <em>machizukuri</em>, a term which combines <em>machi</em> (best translated as “community” or “shared space”, a place both physical and intangible in which community comes together and social activities take place) with <em>zukuri</em> (which means “producing” and “nurturing”). The idea connects urban planning with community building.</p>
<p>By the late 1960s, the environmental damage caused by Japan’s rapid economic growth after 1945 was becoming impossible to ignore. The period was also a time of tumultuous student and anti-war protest. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A colourful manhole cover in Japan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Osaka Castle and cherry blossoms in Chuo-ku, Osaka.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jpellgen/378759850">jpellgen|Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p><em>Machizukuri</em> emerged as an idealistic philosophy that aimed to improve the everyday environment through a bottom-up transformation, involving citizens, experts and local officials. The idea was to enliven urban areas by energising residents and reveal the spirit of the locality.</p>
<p>The term was more widely used in the mid-1970s and through the 1980s, as national economic policy brought increasing free trade in agriculture, relocated large factories overseas and privatised state-owned businesses. These neo-liberal reforms were a major cause of the now well-known problems of rural depopulation and ageing in Japan. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A cherry-blossom themed manhole cover in Japan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sakura on a manhole cover in Mishima.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-manhole-cover-with-a-bunch-of-nuts-on-it-HUp0NOU12hs">Kenshi Kingami|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Ultimately, the responsibility for rural revitalisation shifted on to municipalities. Local authorities were tasked with finding creative ways to sustain and revive local economies. The idealistic philosophical notion of <em>machizukuri</em> of the late-1960s was coopted by the changing economic imperatives of central government.</p>
<p>In the 1990s, tourism – domestic and inbound foreign – became a primary tool for <em>machizukuri</em>. Local authorities in declining rural areas tapped into a national sense of nostalgia in their campaigns to attract domestic visitors. Small towns and villages became the repository of what the popular mass media came to describe as the “real Japan”, the one left behind and forgotten in the rapid transformation of the postwar years. </p>
<p>The bubble economy of the early 1990s saw amusement parks, golf clubs, holiday resorts and out-of-town shopping centres populate the landscape and create jobs. Transportation to major cities was vastly improved through high-speed rail and highway networks. Local specialities – food, farming products, arts and crafts – were commodified and marketed. As elsewhere, the connection between localism and economic ideologies, such as post-developmentalism and neoliberalism, has become central to the growth of consumer society in Japan. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A colourful manhole cover in Japan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The manga character, Chibi Maruko-chan, in Shizuoka.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-sign-with-a-picture-of-a-child-on-it-JtpyslWCU6Y">Kenshi Kingam|unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fans who decide to invest in a manhole cover are not just buying a pretty, heavy piece of artwork but something with cultural significance, that speaks to a feeling of shared belonging and communal life. The fact that they are even for sale also highlights how fragile – how under threat – this feeling is. <a href="https://theconversation.com/japan-is-not-the-only-country-worrying-about-population-decline-get-used-to-a-two-speed-world-56106">Local communities</a>, after all, <a href="https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.sheffield.idm.oclc.org/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/pafo.12043">have been destroyed</a> by the neoliberal economy of the last four decades.</p>
<p><em>Machizukuri</em> effectively creates a marketplace for nostalgia. These decorative manhole covers are simply one more element in the commodification of the spaces and places in which everyday life takes place. A pragmatic approach to sewerage management has become another opportunity to go shopping.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215556/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martyn Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>These popular street ornaments speak to a 1960s urban planning philosophy as well as to the commodification of nostalgia.Martyn Smith, Lecturer in Japanese Studies, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2097642023-07-19T21:55:33Z2023-07-19T21:55:33ZCrawford Lake: What the past can teach us about urban living today<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/crawford-lake-what-the-past-can-teach-us-about-urban-living-today" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>When I heard that Crawford Lake in southern Ontario was selected as the “Golden Spike” candidate for placing the beginning of the Anthropocene epoch in 1950 — essentially, <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-canadian-lake-holds-the-key-to-the-beginning-of-the-anthropocene-a-new-geological-epoch-209576">the best place in the world to show how humans impacted the planet’s fossil record</a> — I was not surprised. </p>
<p>As the Allan and Helaine Shiff Curator of Climate Change at the Royal Ontario Museum, a metre-long sediment core from Crawford Lake was the first object I accepted into the collection as curator in April 2022.</p>
<p>Further, as a <a href="https://www.iisd.org/ela/blog/commentary/back-to-basics-what-is-a-limnologist/">limnologist studying inland waters</a> I have long understood that lakes are <a href="https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2009.54.6_part_2.2283">sentinels of climate change</a>. Small changes in environmental conditions can lead to larger changes in a lake’s physical, chemical and biological processes, impacting the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/bix106">ecosystem services they provide</a>. </p>
<p>In other words, nearly any lake on the planet contains many of the same Anthropocene markers (such as plutonium from nuclear weapons testing) across the same timeline. </p>
<p>This begs the question. Just what is so special about Crawford Lake in Milton, Ont.? And what, if anything, can it teach us about how we interact with our environments?</p>
<h2>A local history of environmental change</h2>
<p>As the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) Golden Spike candidate, Crawford Lake is largely special because its sediments feature visual distinctions between years, known as varving. This varving allows for particularly accurate historical dating of environmental events. </p>
<p>But even beyond its status as a Golden Spike candidate, Crawford Lake’s sediments tell a powerful story of human history that is both local and global. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Core sample from Crawford Lake on a wooden table top." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538339/original/file-20230719-21-qrzk3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538339/original/file-20230719-21-qrzk3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538339/original/file-20230719-21-qrzk3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538339/original/file-20230719-21-qrzk3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538339/original/file-20230719-21-qrzk3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538339/original/file-20230719-21-qrzk3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538339/original/file-20230719-21-qrzk3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Crawford Lake core sample in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum showing particularly striking varving patterns.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Paul Eekhoff)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The annual varving pattern in the sediments essentially <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196221149281">began in the late 13th Century</a>. It was caused by nutrient enrichment due to farming activities associated with an <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2694221">Attawandaron or pre-Wendat village adjacent to the lake at that time</a>.</p>
<p>Moving forward, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196221149281">a major sediment colour shift occurred in 1874</a>. This shift aligned with the acquisition of the land by the Crawford family who cleared trees near the lake and operated a sawmill after immigrating from England. </p>
<p>More recently, the sediments contain evidence of the Dust Bowl as well as the faint impact of the construction of park infrastructure near the lake and two archaeological excavations. Thus, in one continuous sediment core, we witness Indigenous and colonial local histories, as well as the global signature of an inflection point in Earth systems due to human activities. </p>
<p>Among other things, we’re left with an evocative record of how our environments are impacted by humans. </p>
<h2>The impacts of intentions</h2>
<p>The degree to which humans impact Crawford Lake’s conditions over time is not simply a function of the number of people near the lake. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2694221">early villages dating from the late 1200s through 1400s were likely home to hundreds</a>, yet the Crawford family’s lumber business produced <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196221149281">a much starker shift in conditions</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538338/original/file-20230719-29-130tnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Lake core sample still wet from being removed from the lake." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538338/original/file-20230719-29-130tnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538338/original/file-20230719-29-130tnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538338/original/file-20230719-29-130tnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538338/original/file-20230719-29-130tnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538338/original/file-20230719-29-130tnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538338/original/file-20230719-29-130tnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538338/original/file-20230719-29-130tnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Crawford Lake core sample freshly pulled from the lake with especially vivid varving lines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Soren Brothers)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, its place within a conservation area excludes local settlement but it still draws over one hundred thousand visitors to the lake each year.</p>
<p>Ultimately, Crawford Lake’s sediments teach us that humans have always — and will always — change our environments in some way. But it is our cultures, discourses and attitudes towards our environment that ultimately determine what this change will look like. </p>
<p>It’s easy to focus on the negative impacts that humans can have on the environment. However, it’s worth embracing that humans can also live in positive, mutually beneficial relationships with the land, as has been the case with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2451.2006.00605.x">traditional Indigenous environmental management systems practised here in Canada</a>. </p>
<p>Indeed, contemporary Indigenous land management practices are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.07.002">at least as effective, if not more, as conventional protected area approaches at preserving biodiversity</a>. </p>
<h2>Reversing urban impacts</h2>
<p>As we are — for the first time in human history — <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview/">a predominantly urban species</a>, it is now more important than ever to design our cities to help ensure our urban areas create net positive outcomes to local biodiversity and climate impacts. But how can this be done?</p>
<p>The possibilities are as diverse as the landscapes where the cities are situated, compounded with the collective creativity of their inhabitants. </p>
<p>Toronto, the largest urban area close to Crawford Lake, might adopt measures being undertaken by other cities around the world, for instance creating <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/how-effective-are-wildlife-corridors-like-singapores-eco-link/">wildlife habitat corridors</a> connecting its existing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/dec/21/theres-no-major-city-like-it-toronto-unique-ravine-system-under-threat">ravine systems</a>, and expanding the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ecologist-new-bylaw-natural-garden-1.5752995">efforts of locals using their private yards as refuges for native plants</a>. </p>
<p>We could see <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/23/us/california-wildlife-crossing-scn-trnd/index.html">wildlife crossings</a> on highways and streets, pollinator gardens on <a href="https://newsforkids.net/articles/2022/09/29/the-uk-is-buzzing-over-bee-bus-stops/">bus stop roofs</a>, oversized parking lots converted to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-08/act-micro-forests-in-canberra-offer-hope-against-climate-change/100274670">micro-forests</a>, sidewalks widened for <a href="https://www.epa.gov/soakuptherain/soak-rain-rain-gardens">rain-absorbing gardens</a>, and select <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-07/how-amsterdam-is-closing-the-door-on-downtown-cars">streets closed</a> to through-traffic by privately owned vehicles. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bridge for wildlife over a highway with mountains in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538227/original/file-20230719-29-946n5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538227/original/file-20230719-29-946n5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538227/original/file-20230719-29-946n5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538227/original/file-20230719-29-946n5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538227/original/file-20230719-29-946n5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538227/original/file-20230719-29-946n5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538227/original/file-20230719-29-946n5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wildlife bridges, long a fixture in more rural areas, could have a positive impact in urban areas as well.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This would reduce noise and air pollution and provide those living in and visiting the city a safe, convenient, cheap and healthy alternative to driving.</p>
<p>The complex network of streams buried across the city might be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/aug/29/river-runs-global-movement-daylight-urban-rivers">exposed to see the light of day again</a>, cooling down and beautifying neighbourhoods, while drawing down atmospheric carbon from <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/riparian">riparian zone</a> vegetation and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2017.06.037">sequestering that carbon in wetland sediments</a> along the Lake Ontario coast.</p>
<p>The possibilities are endless. While these changes may sound idealistic or idyllic, they are real changes happening in major cities around the world today. In Toronto’s case, they would be building on already-existing <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-07-27/is-toronto-s-port-lands-flood-protection-project-the-future-of-urban-resilience">ecologically-minded projects occurring in the city</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-attain-global-climate-and-biodiversity-goals-we-must-reclaim-nature-in-our-cities-196860">To attain global climate and biodiversity goals, we must reclaim nature in our cities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Repositioning ourselves within our ecosystems, to the point of considering local stewardship practices as a fundamental <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01096-7">component of ecosystem health</a>, may not only be smart, but necessary for our survival. </p>
<p>The Crawford Lake sediments present powerful evidence regarding the relationship between <em>Homo sapiens</em> and the planet we inhabit. Yet, perhaps the most important lesson here is that the relationship between people and planet is not predetermined, but shaped by people’s choices and values. </p>
<p>By positively harnessing our powers today, we can reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and protect local biodiversity. We can tap into the best that our species is capable of, improving our quality of living along the way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Soren Brothers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What is so special about Crawford Lake? And what can it teach us about the urban spaces we live in?Soren Brothers, Allan and Helaine Shiff Curator of Climate Change, Royal Ontario Museum and Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2056742023-05-19T14:52:52Z2023-05-19T14:52:52ZHow mid-century Amsterdam built 700 doorstep playgrounds – and then forgot about them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527059/original/file-20230518-21391-rnc0ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The playground on Zaanhof.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/4f345195-e77d-8575-d42b-3f52c917b87b/media/55a9f9ae-6fc1-8297-943b-e658e7e370e5?mode=detail&view=list&q=speelplaats%20Zaanhof&rows=1&page=2">Amsterdam City Archives/010009008690</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What would a child-friendly city look like? One scenario goes like this: you wake up in the city one morning, there is no traffic, all you can hear are children playing and the occasional dog barking. All around you, muffling sound and covering dirt, is a magical material –- snow. It is malleable. It has endless possibilities. It turns hills into giant slides and you can build with it. </p>
<p>Snow days are, of course, temporary aberrations within urban life. As such, they are rapidly corrected by snowploughs, salt and gravel, or, in warmer countries, simply by the weather. Snow turns to slush, traffic returns, school resumes.</p>
<p>Another possibility was offered by the Dutch architect and playground designer Aldo van Eyck. Between 1947 and 1978, he <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01130/full">designed and built</a> around 700 playgrounds in Amsterdam. Sand, not snow, was his magical material. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An archival photograph in black and white of children playing on a playground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527064/original/file-20230518-21-fucfwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527064/original/file-20230518-21-fucfwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527064/original/file-20230518-21-fucfwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527064/original/file-20230518-21-fucfwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527064/original/file-20230518-21-fucfwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527064/original/file-20230518-21-fucfwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527064/original/file-20230518-21-fucfwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The sandpit at Saffierstraat 34-40.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/0c506be4-7af1-c348-910c-5b07abc3b23d/media/1690aee8-5ec3-4d3b-7d3f-aa0e5b626b8d?mode=detail&view=list&q=Saffierstraat%2034-40%20010009009101&rows=1&page=1">Amsterdam City Archives/010009009101</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The mid-20th century was a period of intense activity around <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-1950s-bombsites-in-the-uk-were-turned-into-adventure-playgrounds-195031">play provision</a> in western and northern Europe, as my research <a href="https://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/46639/">has shown</a>. Aldo van Eyck put children and play at the centre of his humanist approach to modernism.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An archival photograph of children in a sandpit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527062/original/file-20230518-24-lr4mr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527062/original/file-20230518-24-lr4mr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527062/original/file-20230518-24-lr4mr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527062/original/file-20230518-24-lr4mr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527062/original/file-20230518-24-lr4mr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527062/original/file-20230518-24-lr4mr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527062/original/file-20230518-24-lr4mr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Small children dig in the Vegastraat sandpit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/a109b9f0-b1ee-3f8d-2b4d-84d1d150c5e7/media/a37a1807-e5dd-ac7b-1913-044f54b3aa3b?mode=detail&view=list&q=speelplaats%20Vegastraat&rows=1&page=1">Amsterdam City Archives/010009013156</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The magic of a sandpit</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A black and white portrait of a man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527029/original/file-20230518-21019-1wfpa2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527029/original/file-20230518-21019-1wfpa2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527029/original/file-20230518-21019-1wfpa2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527029/original/file-20230518-21019-1wfpa2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527029/original/file-20230518-21019-1wfpa2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527029/original/file-20230518-21019-1wfpa2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527029/original/file-20230518-21019-1wfpa2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aldo van Eyck in 1970.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Architect_Aldo_van_Eyck,_Bestanddeelnr_923-9085.jpg">Fotocollectie Anefo/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Van Eyck belonged to a <a href="https://docomomojournal.com/index.php/journal/article/view/352">generation of architects</a> who were critical of the urban rationalism of the modern movement. They loved many modernist buildings but hated the sort of urban planning that went with them, whereby the city was arranged around zones of dwelling, zones of work, grids of transport and hubs of recreation. </p>
<p>By contrast, van Eyck and his peers wanted to humanise the modern movement. One way of doing that was to insist that children should be at its centre. </p>
<p>Most of the playground he conceived of were small, modest affairs. There was no showy paraphernalia, no zip-wires or intricate climbing frames. Very few of them even had swings. </p>
<p>Instead, they had low walls, benches, sand pits, stepping stones, simple sets of aluminium bars in the shape of rudimentary bridges, cones and what van Eyck dubbed “igloos”. The playgrounds weren’t fenced off from the rest of the neighbourhood. </p>
<p>Adults, with or without children, would stop there and read a newspaper for a while. Children would hang upside down from an aluminium bar or run along a low wall or jump from one stepping stone to the next.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Little boys drag large timbers into a sandpit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527074/original/file-20230518-19-soqwv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527074/original/file-20230518-19-soqwv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527074/original/file-20230518-19-soqwv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527074/original/file-20230518-19-soqwv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527074/original/file-20230518-19-soqwv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527074/original/file-20230518-19-soqwv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527074/original/file-20230518-19-soqwv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sandpit maintenance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/af919ff3-8e1b-4041-5694-362394cf7d53/media/c2c7150c-eeef-bdbb-7e97-6a4610a35590?mode=detail&view=list&q=speelplaats&rows=1&page=211">Amsterdam City Archives/10009A005117</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the centre, there was usually a sandpit, sometimes with concrete islands, and often filled with children. </p>
<p>Sandpits require vigilance and care if they are to avoid becoming harbingers of dirt and disease. They need to be cleaned, and cleared of any animal deposits, and the sand regularly changed.</p>
<h2>‘A launchpad to the outside world’</h2>
<p>Van Eyck thought of his playgrounds as “doorstep” playgrounds. But the doorstep wasn’t just a metaphor for the proximity that they would have to children’s homes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children playing on a playground in a black and white photograph." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527057/original/file-20230518-29-4aq19b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527057/original/file-20230518-29-4aq19b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527057/original/file-20230518-29-4aq19b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527057/original/file-20230518-29-4aq19b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527057/original/file-20230518-29-4aq19b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527057/original/file-20230518-29-4aq19b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527057/original/file-20230518-29-4aq19b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A playground on Laurierstraat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/3244669d-864e-3d0c-9489-ca57172b37ba/media/6f89a952-7d38-0297-2e76-5f07c1bcb379?mode=detail&view=list&q=speelplaats&rows=1&page=328">Amsterdam City Archives/10009A003950</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unlike the abstraction of “dwelling” as a concept, the doorstep was a physical reality. It was an actual step, that children sat on, while a parent talked to a neighbour. It could be a fort or a mountain. It was a bridge, too, between home and the street, between family and something bigger. It was the launch pad to the outside world. </p>
<p>Aldo van Eyck had joined Amsterdam’s <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232928240_The_Creation_of_Play_Spaces_in_Twentieth-century_Amsterdam_From_an_Intervention_of_Civil_Actors_to_a_Public_Policy">Department of Public Works</a> in 1946. By 1951 he had formed his own architectural practice but <a href="https://seventeenplaygrounds.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Shaping-the-New-Reality-From-the-In-between-to-the-Aesthetics-of-Number.pdf">continued working</a> for the municipality constructing playgrounds on a consultancy basis until 1978. </p>
<p>In 1961, the <a href="https://ipaworld.org/">International Play Association</a> was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1974, Arvid Bengtsson, the Swedish landscape architect and then president of the association, published The Child’s Right to Play, in which he campaigned for playgrounds to be close to where children live. </p>
<p>Indeed, he wrote, they “should be within sight and hearing distance of home”. A city like Amsterdam needed 700 playgrounds to meet this target.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An archival photograph of a playground with children on bikes and rubbish." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527075/original/file-20230518-5248-zzqwjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527075/original/file-20230518-5248-zzqwjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527075/original/file-20230518-5248-zzqwjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527075/original/file-20230518-5248-zzqwjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527075/original/file-20230518-5248-zzqwjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527075/original/file-20230518-5248-zzqwjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527075/original/file-20230518-5248-zzqwjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Litter in the Tuinstraat playground.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/5a0e1021-e044-d41c-da61-04a68e0179c0/media/85fab7b4-5c52-11c0-828f-34d0d33c7d51?mode=detail&view=list&q=speelplaats%20Tuinstraat&rows=1&page=1">Amsterdam City Archives/10009A004335</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The playgrounds he established were built on neglected plots of land. Some of these were unloved bits of ground, the dumping grounds that every city has. Other plots had a more traumatic history. </p>
<p>The 1956 playground in the west of Zeedijk, for instance, was built on the footprint of two houses that had once housed Jewish families who had been deported and murdered during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The two homes had been dismantled by local residents looking for anything to burn to keep warm. </p>
<p>Today, only about 17 of Aldo van Eyck’s playgrounds remain. The one on Zeedijk, the street in the old city that runs along the boundary of the De Wallen neighbourhood, featured abstract murals by Joost van Roojen. Though it won awards when it was first built, it slowly fell into disrepair in the 1970s, when the area became <a href="https://bulletin.rijksmuseum.nl/article/view/9870">an enclave</a> for heroin addicts. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tall mural in a playground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527109/original/file-20230518-21-7qdem8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527109/original/file-20230518-21-7qdem8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527109/original/file-20230518-21-7qdem8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527109/original/file-20230518-21-7qdem8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527109/original/file-20230518-21-7qdem8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527109/original/file-20230518-21-7qdem8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527109/original/file-20230518-21-7qdem8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Zeedijk playground mural.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/b02b8cde-88ee-a276-c57f-73cec239d47a/media[…]mode=detail&view=list&q=speelplaats%20Zeedijk&rows=1&page=12">Amsterdam City Archives/OSIM00002003835</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>By the 1990s, nothing was left of the original Zeedijk playground design. Talking at the end of his life, van Eyck noted how these structures, that he had posited as so central to his vision of the modern city, had to be maintained if they were to survive:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>An urban ingredient as vulnerable as playgrounds cannot survive without constant attention and special care.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205674/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Highmore receives funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>One visionary modernist architect saw play spaces as crucial to the 20th-century city. But they have to be cared for in order to survive.Ben Highmore, Professor of Cultural Studies, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2014792023-03-19T12:18:51Z2023-03-19T12:18:51ZWars in cities: three rules for protecting the built environment during conflict<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514768/original/file-20230311-2791-i5k8dp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This is a digitally generated image of what a city might look like after a war.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the course of wars, the infrastructure of cities faces destruction. Fighting, regardless of its intentions, destroys roads, bridges, commercial and residential buildings, as well as the architecture they embody.</p>
<p>Throughout history and around the globe, calls to stop wars have focused on the value of people’s lives. In recent decades, there has been a lot of attention paid to protecting cultural heritage. However, there has been little consideration for the value of public places and people’s memories of these spaces.</p>
<p>Buildings – such as residential and commercial structures, schools and hospitals – are often destroyed in the chaos of conflict, leaving behind psychological trauma that can last for generations. In a recent paper, we set out why cities and their buildings need to be protected. This infrastructure, unique or not, represents people’s history, culture and social fabric. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17549175.2023.2180076?src=&journalCode=rjou20">paper</a>, we coined the term “wartime urbanism” to describe what we believe needs to be done to preserve a city’s distinctive characteristics in times of conflict. </p>
<p>We propose three ways to do this: mapping a city’s real estate development and its relative urban value; enacting national and international laws that criminalise the destruction of physical assets; and raising public awareness about these laws and the importance of city assets.</p>
<p>During times of conflict, cultural heritage and city places can be protected <a href="https://theconversation.com/africas-wars-are-hurting-its-rich-heritage-how-the-law-can-help-180041">under various laws</a>. However, for these laws to be effective, governments must implement them during periods of peace.</p>
<p>We argue that politicians and urban practitioners should incorporate wartime urbanism into city planning and design. This would help protect buildings, infrastructure, services, facilities, and public and private places before, during and after wars. The less severe the material damage (in terms of human lives and physical structures) from conflict, the faster reconciliation can be.</p>
<h2>Protection from destruction</h2>
<p>Conflicts in different parts of the world have caused the displacement of millions of people, and the destruction of hundreds of thousands of buildings and critical infrastructure. When wars intensify, the protection of people is rightly prioritised. Protecting places, however, rarely finds mention.</p>
<p>Wars and the destruction they cause are considered <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/crimes-against-humanity.shtml">crimes against humanity</a>. Prosecution for such crimes is most often enforced by international courts, like The Hague’s <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/the-court">International Criminal Court</a>. However, several countries have listed crimes against humanity under their domestic laws.</p>
<p>But there is more that can be done. For instance, the 1945 <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter#:%7E:text=The%20Charter%20of%20the%20United,force%20on%2024%20October%201945.">United Nations Charter</a>, which lists the actions the organisation can take on a variety of issues, doesn’t include the protection of human property. </p>
<p>The 1972 <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/convention/#:%7E:text=The%20Convention%20concerning%20the%20Protection%20of%20World%20Cultural%20and%20Natural,the%20Cultural%20and%20Natural%20Heritage.">Convention on the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage</a> provides guidelines on securing sites of significant global value. These sites are part of everyday human heritage, and destroying them during peacetime is a crime punishable by law. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ethiopias-war-in-tigray-risks-wiping-out-centuries-of-the-worlds-history-179829">Ethiopia's war in Tigray risks wiping out centuries of the world's history</a>
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<p>However, during war, everything is exposed to extreme destruction. Aggressors often seek to cause irreversible damage to the history and civilisation of the country under attack. If not by genocide, then by destroying people’s homes, memorials and valuable architectural assets. This was seen in <a href="https://theconversation.com/ethiopias-war-in-tigray-risks-wiping-out-centuries-of-the-worlds-history-179829">Ethiopia’s Tigray region</a> during the 2020-2022 war.</p>
<p>Urban planners can play a role in guiding <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/activities/811/">urban conservation and preservation</a> of city places by creating detailed plans that identify the assets that need to be protected – and how they can be protected. They can also develop strategies that mitigate the damage of war by focusing on how to rebuild in the aftermath.</p>
<h2>Three rules of wartime urbanism</h2>
<p>Wartime urbanism emphasises the importance of protecting cities or public places, regardless of their structure. This approach means professionals in architecture, urban planners and urban designers should develop plans that address the possibility of regional, global and international-level conflicts. </p>
<p>To protect city places from the destruction of war – or to restore and rebuild them to normal after a conflict ends – we propose three rules.</p>
<p><strong>1. Pre-documentary mapping</strong></p>
<p>Specialists in architecture and urban planning prepare maps that detail the development of a city, town or urban space. These maps should be kept in safe places physically and virtually. Should a war break out, developers can use these maps to rebuild infrastructure and restore city functions destroyed by conflict. This would help ensure that a city goes back to what it was, which would help minimise people’s psychological trauma. </p>
<p>These maps also preserve invaluable information about a city’s history and culture that can be used to inform future development and restoration projects. Because such maps document city assets, they can be used by international protection agencies to better measure the scale of destruction caused by war. They can also help identify areas of potential conflict – or spaces at risk of being targeted. Maps can further be used to advocate the rights of local populations when rebuilding after war. </p>
<p><strong>2. Criminalising destruction</strong></p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.un.org/en/our-work/maintain-international-peace-and-security#:%7E:text=Preventive%20Diplomacy%20and%20Mediation&text=The%20United%20Nations%20plays%20an,political%20missions%20in%20the%20field.">United Nations</a> and <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/odesa-inscribed-unescos-world-heritage-list-face-threats-destruction?hub=66116">Unesco</a> should add an item to their charters that states that ordinary buildings within a city should not be targeted and destroyed. This would give such buildings the same degree of importance as architecture and cultural artefacts. It would help rally people around protecting ordinary structures, and help reduce the risk of displacement and displacement-related poverty. </p>
<p><strong>3. Raising public awareness</strong></p>
<p>Educational institutions and the media need to raise public awareness on the impacts of war. Conflict not only affects lives, but places too. Destroying people’s homes, for instance, exacerbates poverty and trauma. </p>
<p>Public awareness efforts should also highlight laws around crimes against humanity, and other international and local statutes that punish those who sabotage the structure of cities. This would help deter aggressors from attacking infrastructure, and give citizens a <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/civil-war-to-blame-for-surge-in-online-sales-of-ethiopian-artifacts/a-61069797">greater understanding</a> of the importance of their physical spaces. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/africas-wars-are-hurting-its-rich-heritage-how-the-law-can-help-180041">Africa's wars are hurting its rich heritage: how the law can help</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By following these three rules, politicians and citizens can work together to preserve their cities. This would help reduce the time and money spent on rebuilding what wars destroy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201479/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abeer Elshater is now affiliated with Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Egypt and on temporary leave from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hisham Abusaada does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Urban spaces are a repository of people’s beliefs, memories and collective conscience.Hisham Abusaada, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, Housing and Building National Research CenterAbeer Elshater, Professor of Urban Morphology, Ain Shams UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2008792023-03-02T16:55:41Z2023-03-02T16:55:41ZAnimal architecture: why we need to design buildings for wildlife as well as people<p>How did early humans first learn to build? It’s quite possible that it was by <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Ten_Books_on_Architecture/iu9-WP-5GYAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">observing animals</a> that had already mastered the art. Indeed, when you look at the animal world many birds, insects and mammals are excellent architects and builders.</p>
<p>Beavers are quite literally landscape engineers – they’re being <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/11/beavers-britain-climate-crisis-england-protecting-rivers">reintroduced</a> in the UK to help fight against the increased incidence and severity of flooding caused by climate change. </p>
<p>Social insects like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Blqi5qcGlE">bees</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/wasps-why-i-love-them-and-why-you-should-too-155982">wasps</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-defence-of-ants-186220">ants</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/lets-mimic-termite-nests-to-keep-human-buildings-cool-115534">termites</a> construct what many have described as the animal equivalents of human cities. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/spider-legs-build-webs-without-the-brains-help-providing-a-model-for-future-robot-limbs-153561">Spiders</a> and silkworms have long been regarded as expert builders in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-cant-spin-a-silken-yarn-as-strong-as-a-spider-can-71003">weaving of their silk webs</a>. While other creatures like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIR_vSRASxM">foxes</a>, <a href="https://www.livescience.com/52297-moles.html">moles</a> and <a href="https://badgerwatcher.com/2010/02/21/how-to-recognise-a-badger-sett/">badgers</a> build by excavating the ground. </p>
<p>Then there are the animals that carry their homes on their backs – the shells of <a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-what-is-snail-slime-and-why-is-it-shiny-192424">snails</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-did-the-turtle-get-its-shell-fossil-discovery-gives-us-a-clue-43800">turtles</a>, for example, are both extensions of and protection for their vulnerable soft bodies.</p>
<h2>Beyond human</h2>
<p>We might <a href="https://theconversation.com/meerkats-how-we-used-radar-to-reveal-the-underground-maze-they-call-home-90878">admire and even imitate</a> animal architecture, but when it comes to human-designed buildings, we are usually extremely selective about what kinds of creatures we allow in. </p>
<p>In general, animals are only ever designed for when they are of use to humans – whether as livestock, domestic pets, spectacles to consume in zoos and aquariums, or objects of scientific manipulation in laboratories. </p>
<p>If animals can’t be put to use, they’re usually ignored. And if those animals take it upon themselves to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-red-fox-adapted-to-life-in-our-towns-and-cities-77439">inhabit buildings</a>, they’re invariably regarded as <a href="https://theconversation.com/super-rats-or-sickly-rodents-our-war-against-urban-rats-could-be-leading-to-swift-evolutionary-changes-125902">pests</a> and dealt with accordingly.</p>
<p>In my new book, <a href="https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/animal-architecture">Animal Architecture: Beasts, Buildings and Us</a>, I look at why we should build for animals as well as people. Indeed, wildlife is all around us and is already living in or around most of our homes, anyway. </p>
<p>Examples in the book include spiders spinning their webs in the dark corners of rooms. Swallows finding ideal purchase on brick walls for their saliva and mud-based nest cups. Rats making their homes in the subterranean spaces of the city. And cats and dogs appropriating our furniture and fittings as their own places of rest. </p>
<p>There’s hardly any part of the human-built environment that can’t be inhabited or changed by insects, animals and birds. It’s easy enough to understand how this works in relation to animals that are classed as pets. It’s generally taken for granted that pet owners know how to care for their animals. But it’s much harder to care for animals that are mostly regarded as unwelcome intruders into buildings. </p>
<h2>Animal estates</h2>
<p>A powerful example of the potential breadth of such interspecies awareness is artist Fritz Haeg’s <a href="https://www.fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/animalestates/main2.html">Animal Estates</a> project, which ran from 2008 until 2013. In nine different cities, Haeg organised events to encourage participation in creating structures that would be attractive to a variety of native species, including bats, birds and insects. </p>
<p>As well as building structures for animals to inhabit, the project also hosted events designed to stimulate interest and knowledge about native animals (and, in many cases, to encourage urban dwellers to make structures themselves). This holistic approach to ecological design aimed to foster more care for animals in cities – animals that would probably otherwise go unnoticed. </p>
<p>Other wildlife-inspired architectural projects include the non-profit organisation <a href="http://www.expandedenvironment.org/aboutanimalarchitecture/">The Expanded Environment</a>, which provides helpful online resources on how to care for a much wider range of animals in relation to architecture – most notably in their collaborative design proposals and annual competitions for novel types of animal design. </p>
<p>The material on their website expands ideas about what might be considered appropriate animals for designers to work with as “clients”. Insects appear alongside dogs and cats, birds with lizards and bats with oysters.</p>
<h2>Housing the non-human</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512897/original/file-20230301-24-4ic5cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tower that houses bats" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512897/original/file-20230301-24-4ic5cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512897/original/file-20230301-24-4ic5cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512897/original/file-20230301-24-4ic5cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512897/original/file-20230301-24-4ic5cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512897/original/file-20230301-24-4ic5cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512897/original/file-20230301-24-4ic5cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512897/original/file-20230301-24-4ic5cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A contemporary reconstruction of Charles A. Campbell’s Municipal Bat House (1914), near Comfort, Texas, 2009.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons, Larry D. Moore/cc-by-sa 4.0 International</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ultimately thinking beyond just people is important because all lifeforms create their own environments – and what humans generally call “the environment” is in reality the sum of these creations. Why then does the idea that humans live outside of the environment persist so strongly? </p>
<p>Perhaps, as any therapist will likely tell you, losing a fantasy is always much harder than losing a reality. Yet, as is all too obvious, the persistence of the fantasy of <a href="https://psyche.co/ideas/human-exceptionalism-imposes-horrible-costs-on-other-animals">human exceptionalism</a> is now endangering all life on the planet. </p>
<p>It is humans, and humans alone, who dominate every corner of the environment, while at the same time asserting they are actually removed from that environment. If my book has one core aim, it is to encourage readers to think beyond humans in the way we imagine, design and live in our buildings and cities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200879/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Dobraszczyk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our lives are intertwined with animals, insects and birds – we should consider them more when we design our cities.Paul Dobraszczyk, Lecturer in Architecture, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1951512023-02-01T13:18:21Z2023-02-01T13:18:21ZCity planners are questioning the point of parking garages<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506478/original/file-20230125-3492-8la1n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=681%2C353%2C4940%2C3069&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The typical car is parked 95% of the time.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/underground-parking-background-royalty-free-image/844027654?phrase=concrete parking garage&adppopup=true">Nastco/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the past century, the public and private sector appear to have agreed on one thing: the more parking, the better.</p>
<p>As a result, cities were built up in ways that devoted valuable space to storing cars, did little to accommodate people who don’t own cars and forced developers to build expensive parking structures that increased the cost of living.</p>
<p>Two assumptions undergird urban parking policy: Without convenient parking, car owners would be reluctant to patronize businesses; and absent a dedicated parking spot for their vehicle, they’d be less likely to rent and buy homes. Because parcels of urban land are usually small and pricey, developers will build multistory garages. And so today, a glut of these bulky concrete boxes clutter America’s densely populated cities.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.colorado.edu/envd/john-hersey-aicp">We have been</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lfb0Tu4AAAAJ&hl=en">studying</a> urban development and parking for decades. The car’s grip over city planning has been difficult to dislodge, despite a host of costs to the environment and to the quality of life for many city dwellers. </p>
<p>But we see signs that that’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2021.2002029">finally starting to change</a>.</p>
<h2>A relic of the car craze</h2>
<p>As car ownership exploded <a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/summary95/mv200.pdf">in the first half of the 20th century</a>, municipalities started to mandate a minimum number of parking spaces whenever new stores or apartment complexes were built.</p>
<p>Many of these regulations continue to bluntly guide development.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://library.municode.com/co/boulder/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT9LAUSCO_CH9DEST_9-9-6PAST">Boulder, Colorado</a>, still requires one parking space per apartment, one spot for every three restaurant seats and one spot for every 175 square feet of retail space. Your community’s zoning regulations are likely all too similar.</p>
<p>Yet parking garages and parking lots end up using precious land to <a href="https://ppms.trec.pdx.edu/media/project_files/MovingFromCarsToPeople_Digital_20221128_lowres.pdf">house cars instead of people</a> at a time when cities are confronted with <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2021/09/01/alleviating-supply-constraints-in-the-housing-market/">a severe housing shortage</a> and <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUR0000SEHA">skyrocketing</a> <a href="https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-vs-inflation/">housing costs</a>. <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/eighty-percent-homes-market-arent-affordable-households-earning-median-incomes-or-less">Only 20% of homes</a> for sale are affordable to people making average incomes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bird's-eye view of midcentury parking lots and parking garages." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506479/original/file-20230125-12-leoxs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506479/original/file-20230125-12-leoxs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506479/original/file-20230125-12-leoxs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506479/original/file-20230125-12-leoxs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506479/original/file-20230125-12-leoxs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506479/original/file-20230125-12-leoxs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506479/original/file-20230125-12-leoxs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parking garages and parking lots – like these pictured in downtown Chicago in a 1956 aerial photograph – became a core feature of 20th-century U.S. urban development.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/aerial-view-of-a-parking-garage-located-on-superior-street-news-photo/97461284?phrase=city%20parking%20garage&adppopup=true">Chicago History Museum/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.accessmagazine.org/spring-2016/cutting-the-cost-of-parking-requirements/">A 2016 study</a> found that it cost roughly US$24,000 to $34,000 to build every single new parking space in a garage – an amount that has surely grown. Developers typically pass on this expense to renters or buyers.</p>
<p>Parking requirements are a particular burden at many affordable housing developments, where low-income residents <a href="https://www.planetizen.com/news/2018/06/99313-make-most-transit-oriented-development-include-affordable-housing">are less likely to own cars</a>. Nonetheless, because of these requirements, they receive and inadvertently pay for parking all the same.</p>
<p>Parking garages are monuments to outdated beliefs about what makes cities thrive. They increasingly cater to <a href="https://usa.streetsblog.org/2016/03/10/its-true-the-typical-car-is-parked-95-percent-of-the-time/">cars that are rarely used</a> – the typical car is parked 95% of the time – and ultimately facilitate <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/how-zoning-paralyzed-american-cities/">urban sclerosis</a>.</p>
<p>Do U.S. cities still need to require the construction of parking spots for new residential and retail projects? Aren’t developers, designers and investors better positioned to worry about these issues for customers, clients or tenants?</p>
<h2>Regulation reform</h2>
<p>Thankfully, in some parts of the country, a course correction is already underway.</p>
<p>City planners, developers and designers now <a href="https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/trec_reports/120/">have new guidelines</a> that make parking spots less of a priority and take into account all of the new ways people get around.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/2022-10-shifting-gears-eliminating-off-street-parking-requirements">Dozens of cities</a>, including <a href="https://www.planetizen.com/news/2021/07/114006-denver-reduces-parking-requirements-affordable-housing">Denver</a> and <a href="https://www.governing.com/community/how-important-was-the-single-family-housing-ban-in-minneapolis">Minneapolis</a> – along with the entire <a href="https://www.planetizen.com/news/2022/09/118560-california-makes-planning-history-resets-housing-status-quo">state of California</a> – are reforming <a href="https://parkingreform.org/resources/mandates-map/">parking requirements</a>, promoting <a href="https://mobilitylab.org/about-us/what-is-tdm/">transportation alternatives</a> and amending <a href="https://reason.com/2022/05/11/eliminating-single-family-zoning-isnt-the-reason-minneapolis-is-a-yimby-success-story/">regulations for new construction</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="K8gZz" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/K8gZz/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Developers are also finding ways to accommodate growing numbers of residents who are forgoing car ownership altogether.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>At <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/realestate/12nati.html">The Civic</a>, a condominium complex in Portland, Oregon, builders swapped dedicated parking for 24 households for car-share memberships.</p></li>
<li><p>At the <a href="https://nelsonnygaard.com/five-steps-toward-equitable-inclusive-tdm/">Casa Arbella Apartments</a> in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland, California, residents receive $150 for transport services and shared bikes. </p></li>
<li><p>Mile High Development leased 120 spaces in an adjacent underutilized public garage for Denver’s <a href="https://www.rtd-denver.com/projects/sheridan-station-tod-project">Sheridan Station Apartments</a>, improving the financial solvency of the income-restricted project and passing the savings on to tenants. </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.phila3-0.org/unbundle_parking_and_housing">1213 Walnut</a>, an apartment complex in Philadelphia, <a href="https://www.planetizen.com/news/2018/06/98962-study-unbundle-parking-most-effective-transportation-demand-management">unbundles</a> apartment rents from parking spaces to allow residents to pay for only what they need. </p></li>
<li><p>Even in Tempe, Arizona – a city that’s a poster child for car-centric urban sprawl – a development called <a href="https://culdesac.com/">Culdesac</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/31/business/culdesac-tempe-phoenix-sprawl.html">is being built as a car-free community</a>. As a stipulation of living in the 17-acre development, which includes a mix of stores and apartments, residents must agree to never park a car on site.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Mushroom farms and food markets</h2>
<p>But what to do with existing garages that suck up choice real estate? </p>
<p>Demolishing these garages requires additional energy, emissions and money. Garages’ sloped ramps and heavy concrete <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-12-10/a-brief-history-of-the-great-american-parking-garage">make adaptation</a> challenging; there isn’t a natural transition to, say, loft apartments, like the high-ceilinged, big-windowed mills of the Northeast. </p>
<p>But these impediments haven’t stopped some developers from creatively repurposing existing garages.</p>
<p>For example, in Wichita, Kansas, <a href="https://broadwayautopark.com/about">Bokeh Development</a> retrofitted a mid-20th-century garage into a 44-unit apartment building. In Denver, developers of the <a href="https://www.planetizen.com/node/89281/planned-obsolescence-denver-parking">Denizen Apartments</a> have built ground-floor parking designed to be easily converted to stores or apartments if cars fall out of favor.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="View of white concrete parking garage from street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506492/original/file-20230125-20-wnvmor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506492/original/file-20230125-20-wnvmor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506492/original/file-20230125-20-wnvmor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506492/original/file-20230125-20-wnvmor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506492/original/file-20230125-20-wnvmor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506492/original/file-20230125-20-wnvmor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506492/original/file-20230125-20-wnvmor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Developers of the Broadway Autopark Apartments in Wichita, Kansas, repurposed a parking garage built in 1949.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://sheldenarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/190/Broadway-Autopark-Apartments_4.jpg">Shelden Architecture</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other garages <a href="https://www.treehugger.com/parking-garage-paris-mushroom-farm-5101584">support urban agriculture</a>; in Paris, one garage was recently converted to an urban mushroom farm. The open-air top decks of garages have hosted <a href="https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/reef-to-turn-parking-garages-into-on-demand-economy-hubs/557532/">food trucks and food festivals</a>, <a href="http://www.nicholsonstudentmedia.com/centric/the-not-so-underground-parking-garage-concerts/article_908016da-4cb9-11ec-a4c4-8b2b21ae3626.html">served as concert venues</a> and operated as sites for <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/putting-solar-panels-atop-parking-lots-a-green-energy-solution">solar panels</a>.</p>
<p>These shifts have been spurred, in part, by changes to the way people get around cities, as well as <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_j_krizek_how_covid_19_reshaped_us_cities/">changes to street design</a>. For those who can afford them, ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft <a href="https://www.apta.com/research-technical-resources/mobility-innovation-hub/transit-and-tnc-partnerships/">can alleviate the need</a> to own and park personal vehicles. Effective “<a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/transport/mobility-as-a-service-can-help-developing-cities-make-most-complex-urban-transport-systems-if-they-implement-it-right">mobility as a service</a>” is around the corner in most cities, allowing residents to use a single app to connect to an array of transportation options. <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/spring-2021/02">Electric bicycles and scooters</a> have also expanded the suite of mobility options for city dwellers in a way that regular bikes have struggled to do for generations.</p>
<p>In the coming years, we believe that urban life will rely less and less on providing adequate storage for cars, and the cities of the future will eagerly embrace making urban neighborhoods more inclusive, pedestrian-oriented and climate friendly.</p>
<p>Space in cities is precious. The more human-oriented it can be, the better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195151/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Hersey is affiliated with the Parking Reform Network and the City/County of Denver's Sustainable Transportation Committee. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin J. Krizek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As many cities grapple with the housing crisis, some places are rewriting regulations and finding creative ways to repurpose these hulking masses of concrete that suck up valuable real estate.Kevin J. Krizek, Professor of Environmental Design, University of Colorado BoulderJohn Hersey, Teaching Assistant Professor of Environmental Design, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1987362023-01-29T00:34:52Z2023-01-29T00:34:52ZAuckland floods: even stormwater reform won’t be enough – we need a ‘sponge city’ to avoid future disasters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506930/original/file-20230128-22524-drk2yz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C11%2C3997%2C2666&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We’ve built our cities to be vulnerable to – and exacerbate – major weather events such as the one we saw in Auckland on Friday. While almost no city in the world could fully escape the effects of four months’ worth of rain in 24 hours, there are many things that could have been done to avoid some of the worst impacts.</p>
<p>Buildings, streets and car parks are all impermeable surfaces. When it rains, the water rushes off these surfaces and into gutters. From the gutters, the water drains into a stormwater catch basin, through the stormwater network, and into streams and the sea.</p>
<p>Herein lies the problem. The more we build, the more stormwater we need to drain. Every new building or road replaces the planet’s natural stormwater system: plants and soil, and channels for runoff. </p>
<p>The network of pipes can only hold so much water before it is fully inundated and begins to flood. While every block typically has a catch basin or two, they can easily clog with leaves and other debris even before a storm hits. Add an abnormal amount of rainfall, and neighbourhood flooding is nearly guaranteed.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1619231238056976385"}"></div></p>
<h2>Flooding and contamination</h2>
<p>Even if the way we’ve built our cities and the stormwater system could keep up with big storm events – to be clear, they cannot – the network of basins and pipes is aging. With age, the system’s capacity to capture stormwater significantly declines. </p>
<p>Modernising all the stormwater infrastructure will take decades and billions of dollars. This is what the contested <a href="https://www.threewaters.govt.nz/">Three Waters</a> project is really all about, and we need to quickly get past the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300444760/what-is-three-waters-and-why-is-everyone-so-angry">political sideshows</a> it has inspired.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-auckland-floods-are-a-sign-of-things-to-come-the-city-needs-stormwater-systems-fit-for-climate-change-198723">The Auckland floods are a sign of things to come – the city needs stormwater systems fit for climate change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While the system ages and suffers from reduced capacity, it is also more prone to failure. It’s not uncommon to see news that stormwater has <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dirty-water-sewage-overflows-blight-auckland-beaches-every-time-it-rains/DAUZDRP5L4CNHBXUIUMC6TVJR4/">mixed with raw sewage</a>. This is gross just to think about, but it gets worse. </p>
<p>Because stormwater is not treated, when it gets contaminated that dirty mixture drains into the water around our beaches. It’s why, after a storm, the <a href="https://www.safeswim.org.nz/">SafeSwim map</a> is covered in red “high risk” markers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506927/original/file-20230128-19630-vjwvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506927/original/file-20230128-19630-vjwvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506927/original/file-20230128-19630-vjwvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506927/original/file-20230128-19630-vjwvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506927/original/file-20230128-19630-vjwvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506927/original/file-20230128-19630-vjwvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506927/original/file-20230128-19630-vjwvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dangerous driving: cars abandoned and floating after the deluge of January 27.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Roads become rivers</h2>
<p>From Friday’s rain event, some of the most shocking images were of cars and buses trying to <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/131089348/in-pictures-auckland-flooding-leaves-residents-homeless-and-city-swamped">wade through flooded roads and busways</a>. The irony is that the roads themselves are a significant contributor to the flooding.</p>
<p>With thousands of miles of sealed roads around Auckland, there was simply nowhere for the water to go. Roads act like channels, funnelling stormwater. With a huge rain event, streets quickly turn into rivers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/floods-are-natural-but-human-decisions-make-disasters-we-need-to-reflect-on-the-endless-cycles-of-blame-192930">Floods are natural, but human decisions make disasters. We need to reflect on the endless cycles of blame</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Setting aside the concoction of stormwater and raw sewage flowing down streets (which we more politely call a “combined sewer overflow”), and the impact on homes, businesses and beaches, flood waters also present a massive risk to people in cars. </p>
<p>It’s nearly impossible to tell how deep or fast surface flooding is, so people get into danger.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506928/original/file-20230128-29149-m85ib6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506928/original/file-20230128-29149-m85ib6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506928/original/file-20230128-29149-m85ib6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506928/original/file-20230128-29149-m85ib6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506928/original/file-20230128-29149-m85ib6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506928/original/file-20230128-29149-m85ib6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506928/original/file-20230128-29149-m85ib6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sponge cities: in Qian'an in China’s Hebei province, a natural rainwater reservoir is preserved amid the development.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ‘sponge city’</h2>
<p>There is a better way to design our built environment. In the early 2000s, Chinese architect Kongjian Yu created the concept of the “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666916121000153">sponge city</a>”. It’s a relatively simple idea, but a big departure from the way we typically build infrastructure. </p>
<p>The concept incorporates green roofs, rain gardens and permeable pavements to absorb and filter water. Better catch systems hold rainwater where possible and reuse it. More green space and trees are also incorporated into street and neighbourhood designs.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-sponge-cities-aim-to-re-use-70-of-rainwater-heres-how-83327">China’s 'sponge cities' aim to re-use 70% of rainwater – here's how</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Within the sponge city concept is a way to mitigate flooding using “water sensitive urban design”. With this approach, we create spaces that better manage flooding through systems that mimic the natural water cycle. </p>
<p>This can also include floodable infrastructure and parks to take the pressure off more vulnerable parts of the city. There are already <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220823-how-auckland-worlds-most-spongy-city-tackles-floods">examples of these design principles</a> in Auckland, but they are far too limited to eliminate the impact of major storms.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-a-state-of-sandbagging-what-can-we-learn-from-all-the-floods-here-and-overseas-193011">Beyond a state of sandbagging: what can we learn from all the floods, here and overseas?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Building smarter</h2>
<p>The sponge city concept, and ideas about letting nature handle stormwater, don’t have to be extravagant or expensive. They can be as simple as planting more trees and greenery, using less pavement for driveways or more porous cement for car parks. </p>
<p>In a way, we should do less building and let nature do what it was meant to do.</p>
<p>The stark reality is the flooding we experienced this week, and arguably the storm itself, are of our own making. We’ve built a supercity covered in impervious surfaces, expanded the built environment across sensitive (and flood-prone) areas, and created massive greenhouse gas emissions destabilising the climate. </p>
<p>Climate change will make future storms <a href="https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/what-we-do/our-expert-advice/all-expert-advice-papers/climate-change-implications-for-new-zealand/">more intense and more frequent</a>. Do we cross our fingers and hope the rain goes away? Do we invest billions in bigger pipes that will inevitably fail to control flooding and still pollute sensitive waters? Or do we get smarter and more proactive about designing our cities?</p>
<p>If we don’t want to repeat the week’s events, there’s only one real option.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Welch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The more hard surfaces we build, the more stormwater we need to drain. Auckland must future-proof its urban design as climate change bites.Timothy Welch, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1980692023-01-24T19:18:51Z2023-01-24T19:18:51ZWhy loneliness is both an individual thing and a shared result of the cities we create<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505296/original/file-20230119-26-3pzdvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8674%2C5787&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’re feeling lonely, you’re not alone. Loneliness is an <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en/loneliness-increase-worldwide-increase-local-community-support">increasingly common experience</a>, and it can have severe consequences. People who feel lonely are at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-010-9210-8">higher risk of serious health issues</a>, including heart disease, immune deficiency and depression.</p>
<p>Traditionally, loneliness has been viewed as an individual problem requiring individual solutions, such as psychological therapy or medication. Yet loneliness is caused by feeling disconnected from society. It therefore makes sense that treatments for loneliness should focus on the things that help us make these broader connections. </p>
<p>The places where we live, work and play, for example, can promote meaningful social interactions and help us build a sense of connection. Careful planning and management of these places can create <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/loneliness-annual-report-the-third-year/tackling-loneliness-annual-report-february-2022-the-third-year">population-wide improvements in loneliness</a>.</p>
<p>Our research team is investigating how the way we design and plan our cities impacts loneliness. We have just published a <a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1gNq14pqpjtIuw">systematic review</a> of research from around the world. Overall, we found many aspects of the built environment affect loneliness. </p>
<p>However, no single design attribute can protect everyone against loneliness. Places can provide opportunities for social interactions, or present barriers to them. Yet every individual responds differently to these opportunities and barriers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-ways-we-can-recover-from-the-loneliness-of-the-covid-pandemic-187856">4 ways we can recover from the loneliness of the COVID pandemic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What did the review look at?</h2>
<p>Our review involved screening over 7,000 published studies covering fields such as psychology, public health and urban planning. We included 57 studies that directly examined the relationship between loneliness and the built environment. These studies covered wide-ranging aspects from neighbourhood design, housing conditions and public spaces to transport infrastructure and natural spaces.</p>
<p>The research shows built environments can present people with options to do the things we know help reduce loneliness. Examples include chatting to the people in your street or neighbourhood or attending a community event. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1612065166132400129"}"></div></p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/many-people-feel-lonely-in-the-city-but-perhaps-third-places-can-help-with-that-92847">Many people feel lonely in the city, but perhaps 'third places' can help with that</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>However, the link between the built environment and loneliness is complex. Our review found possibilities for social interaction depend on both structural and individual factors. In other words, individual outcomes depend on what the design of a space enables a person to do as well as on whether, and how, that person takes advantage of that design.</p>
<p>Specifically, we identified some key aspects of the built environment that can help people make connections. These include housing design, transport systems and the distribution and design of open and natural spaces.</p>
<h2>So what sort of situations are we talking about?</h2>
<p>Living in small apartments, for example can increase loneliness. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10901-020-09816-7">For some people</a>, this is because the smaller space reduces their ability to have people over for dinner. Others who live in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X15000112">poorly maintained housing</a> report similar experiences.</p>
<p>More universally, living in areas with good access to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X19001569">community centres</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyab089">natural spaces</a> helps people make social connections. These spaces allow for both planned and unexpected social interactions. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-4-australians-is-lonely-quality-green-spaces-in-our-cities-offer-a-solution-188007">1 in 4 Australians is lonely. Quality green spaces in our cities offer a solution</a>
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<hr>
<p>Living in environments with good access to destinations and transport options also protects against loneliness. In particular, it benefits individuals who are able to use <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glu069">active transport (walking and cycling) and high-quality public transport</a>. </p>
<p>This finding should make sense to anyone who walks or takes the bus. We are then more likely to interact in some way with those around us than when locked away in the privacy of a car.</p>
<p>Similarly, built environments <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21711">designed to be safe</a> — from crime, traffic and pollution — also enable people to explore their neighbourhoods easily on foot. Once again, that gives them more opportunities for social interactions that can, potentially, reduce loneliness.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505295/original/file-20230119-16-3pzdvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505295/original/file-20230119-16-3pzdvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505295/original/file-20230119-16-3pzdvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505295/original/file-20230119-16-3pzdvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505295/original/file-20230119-16-3pzdvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505295/original/file-20230119-16-3pzdvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505295/original/file-20230119-16-3pzdvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Neighbourhoods that make it easier to get around without a car also promote social interactions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Environments where people are able to express themselves were also found to protect against loneliness. For example, residents of housing they could personalise and “make home” reported feeling less lonely. So too did those who felt able to “<a href="https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2002-0010">fit in</a>”, or identify with the people living close by.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/designing-cities-to-counter-loneliness-lets-explore-the-possibilities-104853">Designing cities to counter loneliness? Let's explore the possibilities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Other important factors are less obvious</h2>
<p>These factors are fairly well defined, but we also found less tangible conditions could be significant. For example, studies consistently showed the importance of socio-economic status. The interplay between economic inequalities and the built environment can deny many the right to live a life without loneliness.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19491247.2021.1940686">housing tenure</a> can be important because people who rent are less able to personalise their homes. People with lower incomes can’t always afford to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783320960527">live close to friends</a> or in a neighbourhood where they feel accepted. Lower-income areas are also notoriously under-serviced with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2020.102869">reliable public transport</a>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1471-2458-14-292">well-maintained natural spaces</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2007.11.002">well-designed public spaces</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1605150887269335046"}"></div></p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-really-have-thought-this-cant-go-on-loneliness-looms-for-rising-numbers-of-older-private-renters-118046">'I really have thought this can’t go on': loneliness looms for rising numbers of older private renters</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our review reveals several aspects of the built environment that can enhance social interactions and minimise loneliness. Our key finding, though, is that there is no single built environment that is universally “good” or “bad” for loneliness. </p>
<p>Yes, we can plan and build our cities to help us meet our innate need for social connection. But context matters, and different individuals will interpret built environments differently.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Kent receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marlee Bower receives funding from the BHP Foundation. She is affiliated with Australia's Mental Health Think Tank.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily J. Rugel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A systematic review of thousands of studies around the world has found many aspects of our cities affect loneliness. But people’s relationship with their environment is complex and highly individual.Jennifer L. Kent, Senior Research Fellow in Urbanism, University of SydneyEmily J. Rugel, Honorary Adjunct Lecturer, Sydney Medical School, University of SydneyMarlee Bower, Research Fellow, Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1946362022-11-21T19:16:30Z2022-11-21T19:16:30ZWhat mirrored ants, vivid blue butterflies and Monstera house plants can teach us about designing buildings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495523/original/file-20221116-19-oq2ili.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C950%2C2904%2C1940&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/OZ2rS2zCjNo">Coleen Rivas/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Almost all buildings today are built using similar conventional technologies and manufacturing and construction processes. These processes use a lot of energy and produce <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/2022-global-status-report-buildings-and-construction">huge carbon emissions</a>. </p>
<p>This is hardly sustainable. Perhaps the only way to truly construct sustainable buildings is by connecting them with nature, not isolating them from it. This is where the field of bioarchitecture emerges. It draws on principles from nature to help solve technological questions and address global challenges. </p>
<p>Take desert organisms, for example. How do they survive and thrive under extreme conditions? </p>
<p>One such desert species is the Saharan silver ant, named for its shiny mirror-like body. Its reflective body <a href="https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=111737">reflects and dissipates heat</a>. It’s an adaptation we can apply in buildings as reflective walls, or to pavements that don’t heat up.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="several ants surround a beetle on the desert sand" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495776/original/file-20221117-13-adq7pk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495776/original/file-20221117-13-adq7pk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495776/original/file-20221117-13-adq7pk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495776/original/file-20221117-13-adq7pk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495776/original/file-20221117-13-adq7pk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495776/original/file-20221117-13-adq7pk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495776/original/file-20221117-13-adq7pk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Saharan desert ants have highly developed adaptations to stay cool in the desert heat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saharan_silver_ants_capturing_beetle.jpg">Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are so many aspects of nature we can drawn on. Picture cities with shopping centres based on water lilies, stadiums resembling seashells, and lightweight bridges inspired by cells. </p>
<p>Water lilies can teach us how to design large buildings efficiently with smooth pedestrian circulation. Seashells can inspire the walls of large-span buildings without the need for columns. Cells can show us how to develop lightweight suspending structures. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/building-a-second-nature-into-our-cities-wildness-art-and-biophilic-design-88642">Building a 'second nature' into our cities: wildness, art and biophilic design</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Bioarchitecture works with nature, not against it</h2>
<p>Bioarchitecture can reinvent the natural environment in the form of our built environment, to provide the ultimate and somehow obvious solutions for the threats Earth is facing. </p>
<p>Most industry-led and research-based approaches focus on the “technology to save us” from climate change. In contrast, bioarchitecture offers a more sustainable approach that aims to develop a positive relationship between buildings and nature. </p>
<p>Living organisms constantly communicate with the natural world. They move around their environment, employ chemical processes and undergo complex reactions, patterning their habitat. This means living systems constantly model and organise the environment around them. They are able to adapt and, in doing so, they change their environment too. </p>
<p>Can buildings do the same in cities? If buildings could grow, self-repair and adapt to climate, they might ultimately become truly sustainable. </p>
<p>Early examples of bioarchitecture can be found in traditional and early modern buildings. Their architects observed nature to copy its principles and design more habitable, locally made and environmentally friendly buildings. For example, Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, is inspired by natural shapes that give the church its organic form. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Highly decorative interior of church – Gaudi's Sagrada Família" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495525/original/file-20221116-25-jg8jjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495525/original/file-20221116-25-jg8jjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495525/original/file-20221116-25-jg8jjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495525/original/file-20221116-25-jg8jjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495525/original/file-20221116-25-jg8jjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495525/original/file-20221116-25-jg8jjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495525/original/file-20221116-25-jg8jjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gaudi`s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is an early modern example of bioarchitecture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Z5WBz_9U7sE">Sung Jin Cho/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More recent works showcase bioarchitecture that learnt from nature coupled with technology and innovation. Examples include using bio-based materials such as wood, hemp and bamboo, applying <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/biophilia-hypothesis">biophilia</a> through using greenery on external walls and plants indoors to boost our connection with nature, and restoring the environment by making buildings part of it. </p>
<p>Considering the climate emergency, we should strengthen buildings’ coherence with nature. Bioarchitecture can do this.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bamboo-architecture-balis-green-school-inspires-a-global-renaissance-121248">Bamboo architecture: Bali's Green School inspires a global renaissance</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So what can a butterfly teach us?</h2>
<p>The blue Menelaus butterfly offers another striking example of design solutions from nature. Despite its radiant blue colour, it is not actually blue and does not have any pigments. Producing and maintaining pigments is expensive in nature, as it requires a lot of energy. </p>
<p>The Menelaus butterfly has an ingenious way to achieve its unique colour without pigments. Its brilliant blue shine comes from scattering light, similar to soap bubbles glimmering in rainbow colours under the sun, despite being completely transparent. The light is scattered by micro-grooves on the butterfly’s wings – so small that they can only be seen with an ultra-high-resolution microscope.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Brilliant blue butterfly on dark green leaf" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495522/original/file-20221116-21-a46cwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495522/original/file-20221116-21-a46cwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495522/original/file-20221116-21-a46cwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495522/original/file-20221116-21-a46cwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495522/original/file-20221116-21-a46cwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495522/original/file-20221116-21-a46cwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495522/original/file-20221116-21-a46cwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Menelaus blue butterfly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/jJXN1q7ERks">Damon on Road/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is nature’s way to achieve high performance with cheap forms instead of costly materials. Learning from the Menelaus butterfly, we can have windows with climate-adaptable properties – changing their colour and scattering light according to the position of the sun. Butterfly wings have already inspired the <a href="https://www.cyprismaterials.com/">development of new materials</a>, and the next step is to use these on buildings.</p>
<p>In this way, we can design biobuildings that reflect excessive radiation and reduce cooling needs and glare. And the beautiful part is that this may all be done without obstructing views and without the need for shading devices or tinted windows. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-that-natural-nanotechnology-could-inspire-human-design-100064">Five ways that natural nanotechnology could inspire human design</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>And what does a pot plant have to do with buildings?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495524/original/file-20221116-21-jobvcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Image of four large leaves of indoor plant" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495524/original/file-20221116-21-jobvcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495524/original/file-20221116-21-jobvcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495524/original/file-20221116-21-jobvcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495524/original/file-20221116-21-jobvcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495524/original/file-20221116-21-jobvcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495524/original/file-20221116-21-jobvcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495524/original/file-20221116-21-jobvcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The leaves of the Monstera plant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/70l1tDAI6rM">Chris Lee/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then there is Monstera, a sought-after indoor plant that climbs up the walls. It’s also called the “Swiss cheese plant” for the holes on its leaves. Have you ever thought about how it thrives and grows like no other plant indoors? </p>
<p>Monstera simply needs to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780123858511000044">sustain fewer cells</a> to maintain extra large leaves because of their holes. This enables it to capture more of the sunlight it needs to grow and spread out over a bigger area.</p>
<p>Now imagine if we designed hollow building structures such as columns and beams. This could help minimise the need for materials and cut carbon emissions by reducing the embodied energy that goes into making these materials.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-wings-of-owls-and-hummingbirds-inspire-drones-wind-turbines-and-other-technology-136684">How the wings of owls and hummingbirds inspire drones, wind turbines and other technology</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Nature offers a vast design catalogue</h2>
<p>We can look at nature as a catalogue of designs and solutions to be reimagined as bioarchitecture. So, we could have shiny silver pavements like the silver ant, metallic-coloured but transparent windows like the Menelaus butterfly, and buildings that use the minimum of materials like Monstera’s leaves.</p>
<p>Nature is wealthy, nature is generous. Through bioarchitecture, buildings can dive into that wealth and become a part of the generosity. Truly sustainable biobuildings can be constructed that work with nature and reverse the harm our conventional building technologies have done to the planet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194636/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aysu Kuru does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Bioarchitecture draws on design principles from nature to construct buildings that work in ways that help tackle climate change and reverse environmental damage.Aysu Kuru, Lecturer in Architecture and Construction, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1903842022-09-15T10:39:39Z2022-09-15T10:39:39ZKeep buildings cool as it gets hotter by resurrecting traditional architectural techniques – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484088/original/file-20220912-22-xjnxxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=64%2C70%2C4217%2C2773&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Windcatchers in Iran use natural air flow to keep buildings cool. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/yazd-iran-june-2017-wind-catchers-1912254670">Andrzej Lisowski Travel/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast is now back after a short break. Every Thursday, we explore the fascinating discoveries researchers are using to make sense of the world and the big questions they’re still trying to answer.</p>
<p>In this episode we find out how “modern” styles of architecture using concrete and glass have often usurped local building techniques better suited to parts of the world with hotter climates. Now some architects are resurrecting traditional techniques to help keep buildings cool.</p>
<iframe src="https://embed.acast.com/60087127b9687759d637bade/6321b3cb75a7480014cb839a" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="190px"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-561" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/561/4fbbd099d631750693d02bac632430b71b37cd5f/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>From western Europe to <a href="https://theconversation.com/matter-of-national-destiny-chinas-energy-crisis-sees-the-worlds-top-emitter-investing-in-more-coal-189142">China</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/tunis-hit-record-49c-heat-wave-tuesday-2021-08-11/">North Africa </a> and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/06/1121403326/california-and-the-west-broil-in-record-setting-heat-wave">US</a>, severe heatwaves brought drought, fire and death to the summer of 2022. The heatwaves also raised serious questions about the ability of existing infrastructure to cope with extreme heat, which is projected to <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/chapter-3/">become more common</a> due to climate change. </p>
<p>Yet, for thousands of years, people living in parts of the world used to high temperatures have deployed traditional passive cooling techniques in the way they designed their buildings. In Nigeria, for example, people have long used biomimicry to copy the style of local flora and fauna as they design their homes, according to Anthony Ogbuokiri, a senior lecturer in architectural design at Nottingham Trent University in the UK. </p>
<p>But in the 20th century, cities even in very hot climates began following an international template for building design that meant cities around the world, regardless of where they were, often had similar looking skylines. Ogbuokiri calls this “duplitecture”, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/cities-like-lagos-need-building-designs-that-dont-just-copy-global-styles-144610">says it “ramped up the cooling load” due to</a> an in-built reliance on air conditioners. </p>
<p>Alongside this, there was a massive boom in the use of concrete, particularly after the second world war when the Soviet Union and the US started gifting their cold war allies concrete technology. “It was a competition both to discover who actually mastered concrete and who was better at gathering the materials, the people and the energy to make concrete,” explains Vyta Pivo, assistant professor of architecture at the University of Michigan in the US. But too much concrete can contribute to the phenomenon of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479717303201">urban heat islands</a>, where heat is concentrated in cities. Concrete is also a considerable <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261920303603?via%3Dihub">contributor to global carbon emissions</a>. </p>
<p>Some architects and researchers are working to rehabilitate and improve traditional passive techniques that help keep buildings cool without using energy. Susan Abed Hassan, a professor of architectural engineering at Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad, Iraq, focuses a lot on windcatchers in her work, a type of chimney which funnels air through houses to keep them cooler in hot climates. She’s <a href="https://www.akademiabaru.com/index.php/archives/article/view/811">now looking at</a> how to combining underground water pipes with windcatchers to enhance their cooling effects. </p>
<p>Listen to the full episode to find out about other techniques being used to keep buildings cool without relying on air conditioning. </p>
<p>This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. The executive producer was Gemma Ware. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/?hl=en">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also sign up to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>. A transcript of <a href="https://theconversation.com/keeping-buildings-cool-as-it-gets-hotter-the-conversation-weekly-podcast-transcript-190807?notice=Article+has+been+updated.">this episode is available here</a>. </p>
<p>You can listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a>, or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190384/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Ogbuokiri and Susan Abed Hassan do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vyta Pivo has received funding from the Michigan Society of Fellows, Andrew Mellon Foundation, American Council of Learned Societies, National Academies of Sciences, National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress. </span></em></p>Follow The Conversation Weekly podcast for new episodes every Thursday.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationDaniel Merino, Assistant Science Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1886392022-09-14T04:05:20Z2022-09-14T04:05:20ZWhat is The Line, the 170km-long mirrored metropolis Saudi Arabia is building in the desert?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483653/original/file-20220909-14-a7zbji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C101%2C5192%2C3012&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/net-zero-coalition">climate change</a> rapidly advances, many Middle Eastern states are aiming to make the transition from carbon-based economies to <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/new-revolution-middle-east-0">alternatives</a> that attract people from around the world – for tourism, business, work or to live.</p>
<p>One such example is a development known as <a href="https://www.neom.com/en-us/regions/theline">NEOM</a>, to be built in Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>A key part of the plan is “The Line”, a A$725 billion futuristic city designed to house 9 million residents. It comprises a mirrored, wall-like structure 200 metres wide and 500 metres tall. To be built in Saudi Arabia’s north-western Tabuk province, the project will extend 170 kilometres inland from the Red Sea across coastal desert, mountain and upper valley landscapes. </p>
<p>The Line claims to set a new benchmark for sustainable development. Its footprint is just 34 square kilometres (less than 4 square metres per person), occupying a fraction of NEOM’s 26,500-square-kilometre site. This allows for a lighter touch on the landscape than would normally be expected for a mega city. In addition, the NEOM project includes an airport and shipping port, industrial areas, research centres, sports and entertainment venues and tourism destinations. </p>
<p>The Line is touted as a post-carbon eco-city, but the scale of its ambitions raises serious questions about whether the project can deliver on its environmental, economic and social goals within just a few years.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/liv-golf-sportwashing-vs-the-commercial-value-of-public-attention-185478">LIV Golf: Sportwashing vs. the commercial value of public attention</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0kz5vEqdaSc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">NEOM | What is The Line?</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The devil is in the details</h2>
<p>At first glance, the project appears environmentally impressive. The urban edge is no more than 100 metres from any point in the city. A high-speed electric public transport service ensures no part of The Line is more than 20 minutes away. </p>
<p>Residing in such a gargantuan structure implies a claustrophobic lifestyle. But, in theory, each resident would enjoy an average of 1,000 cubic metres of urban volume. That’s much more generous than most dense city living environments.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, as in many high-density, high-rise buildings, a sophisticated vertical transportation system would be needed. The structure is equivalent to a conventional 125-storey skyscraper.</p>
<p>The project costs also seem modest at US$55,000 per resident. Let’s say this is achievable in a country with much lower employment costs than in developed economies and only relates to infrastructure. Even then, it remains to be seen how ultra-high-speed transit and cutting-edge infrastructure and services within the most massive building ever constructed can be cost-effective.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1566468725880012805"}"></div></p>
<p>The linear design underpinning The Line is not a new idea. The Spanish urban planner <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100518974">Arturo Soria y Mata</a> developed a “linear city” concept in 1882. This concept allowed great efficiencies in infrastructure (such as water, electricity, gas and transport) by incorporating it along a narrow, linear urban corridor. A key plank of the design was to “ruralise” the city and “urbanise” the countryside. </p>
<p>The Line echoes this concept. However, one wonders about its impacts on the countryside. How might a continuous 500-metre-high mirrored barrier, reflecting the desert heat and light and cutting across the landscape for 170km, affect local biodiversity?</p>
<p>The Line appears to be oriented along an east-west axis. This may be optimal for solar thermal management, but is likely to cast large shadows in mid-winter.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484211/original/file-20220913-20-5w3h2v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing the location of The Line and NEOM region in Saudia Arabia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484211/original/file-20220913-20-5w3h2v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484211/original/file-20220913-20-5w3h2v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484211/original/file-20220913-20-5w3h2v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484211/original/file-20220913-20-5w3h2v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484211/original/file-20220913-20-5w3h2v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484211/original/file-20220913-20-5w3h2v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484211/original/file-20220913-20-5w3h2v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Line runs from the Red Sea eastwards for 170km.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Environmental and community impact</h2>
<p>The Line aims for <a href="https://www.dezeen.com/2022/08/11/the-line-megacity-interview-tarek-qaddumi/">zero-emissions living</a>. Energy comes from renewable sources, green hydrogen earns export income, wastewater is recycled, and it features the latest in “smart city” technologies and mixed-use buildings. Car ownership is eschewed in favour of walking, cycling and public transport.</p>
<p>However, the materials and construction of such an enormous project could be very emissions-intensive. </p>
<p>The concept claims no one would be more than two minutes from nature (in other words, the urban edge at ground level). But does this consider the waiting times for a lift? Without careful design, a high reliance on vertical transportation may stymie hopes for genuinely walkable or bicycle-friendly precincts. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1562062348889776129"}"></div></p>
<p>The Line may be developed in modules, but whether these would correspond to neighbourhoods is not clear.</p>
<p>And will individuals, businesses and other entities have creative reign over how their designs are expressed – or will all parts of the city look much the same?</p>
<p>Independent expression of built form is an intrinsic part of conventional cities, but may not be possible with such as rigid structure as The Line. This raises questions about whether people would warm to it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-cities-its-an-idea-worth-thinking-about-for-australia-92990">New cities? It's an idea worth thinking about for Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Creating and maintaining a vision</h2>
<p>The Line was to be completed by 2025 in a desire to revolutionise urban living. With construction yet to begin in earnest, it remains to be seen whether such a complex megacity can be completed so soon.</p>
<p>And the <a href="https://www.neom.com/en-us">project proposal</a> makes precious little mention of important factors such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>community structure</p></li>
<li><p>diversity of household types</p></li>
<li><p>likely demographics</p></li>
<li><p>governance</p></li>
<li><p>individual rights (equality of rights, property ownership, access to social services, civic involvement and citizenship) </p></li>
<li><p>tolerance of diverse religious and spiritual beliefs.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The Line promises to have “human experience” at its heart, that there will be “progressive laws” and healthcare will facilitate “individual empowerment”. </p>
<p>But maintaining this vision may be difficult as new migrants bring their own values.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484161/original/file-20220913-22-9n4249.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484161/original/file-20220913-22-9n4249.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484161/original/file-20220913-22-9n4249.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484161/original/file-20220913-22-9n4249.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484161/original/file-20220913-22-9n4249.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484161/original/file-20220913-22-9n4249.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484161/original/file-20220913-22-9n4249.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484161/original/file-20220913-22-9n4249.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An artist’s illustration of The Line where it meets the Red Sea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.neom.com/en-us/newsroom/the-line-public-exhibition">The Line public design exhibition/NEOM</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-saudi-arabia-women-are-turning-to-business-as-a-form-of-quiet-activism-in-their-feminist-movement-156816">In Saudi Arabia, women are turning to business as a form of 'quiet activism' in their feminist movement</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A nation-building project</h2>
<p>The Line appears to be a massive exercise in nation-building. Its planned 9 million population represents a 25% increase on Saudi Arabia’s current population of 35 million people.</p>
<p>The marketing focus of The Line is on environmental sustainability, technology, luxury and professional lifestyles, innovation and a strategic location. This suggests its planners and designers intend to produce a novel and exemplary urban development that will rapidly transition Saudi Arabia to a post-carbon future.</p>
<p>All the elements are there to do that. But, from a planning and construction perspective, it will require enormous strength of will, financial heft and capability.</p>
<p>And it remains to be seen how successfully The Line will attract the residents it needs to succeed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The city is a A$725 billion wall-like structure running for 170km across the Saudi Arabian landscape. Can it live up to its huge ambitions?Andrew Allan, Senior Lecturer in Transport, Urban and Regional Planning, University of South AustraliaSubha Parida, Lecturer in Management, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1864602022-08-17T20:05:42Z2022-08-17T20:05:42Z10 images show just how attractive Australian shopping strips can be without cars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472740/original/file-20220706-22-2j27q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=711%2C0%2C3693%2C2428&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Think of a typical Australian shopping street: parked cars occupy the prime public space in front of the shops. But we could instead create a place that’s <a href="https://resources.heartfoundation.org.au/images/uploads/publications/Good-for-business.pdf">good for business</a> and is beautiful too. It would attract customers while being good for our physical, mental and social health. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://theconversation.com/triumph-of-the-mall-how-victor-gruens-grand-urban-vision-became-our-suburban-shopping-reality-172393">isn’t a new idea</a>. Realising they can make better use of the space next to businesses to boost sales, shopping centres design places to attract people. That’s why they provide seats, air-conditioning, music, artwork, cafes and plants outside their shops.</p>
<p>Online shopping is even comfier, but it lacks human contact.</p>
<p>We know <a href="https://www.healthyactivebydesign.com.au/design-features/destinations">what works</a> to create people-friendly local shopping streets. Safer <a href="https://theconversation.com/busted-5-myths-about-30km-h-speed-limits-in-australia-160547">speeds</a>, improving <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-street-lights-what-makes-people-feel-safe-at-night-103805">lighting</a>, replacing parking with “<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-next-for-parklets-it-doesnt-have-to-be-a-permanent-switch-back-to-parking-159534">parklets</a>”, planting <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-heatwave-the-leafy-suburbs-are-even-more-advantaged-53307">street trees</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-and-walking-can-help-drive-australias-recovery-but-not-with-less-than-2-of-transport-budgets-142176">widening pavements</a> — these are just some of the ways.</p>
<p>Below we’ll discuss four reasons to reallocate parking space next to shops. But first, we’ve re-imagined ten car-centric Australian streets to illustrate the benefits of reallocating space to people … to shoppers, diners, riders, children, prams and the mobility-impaired. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/japans-old-enough-and-australias-bluey-remind-us-our-kids-are-no-longer-free-range-but-we-can-remake-our-neighbourhoods-187698">Japan's Old Enough and Australia's Bluey remind us our kids are no longer ‘free range’ – but we can remake our neighbourhoods</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Transforming 10 car-centric shopping streets</h2>
<p>These re-imagined streets show thriving liveable communities, supporting friends and families to meet, creating local jobs and providing access to fresh food. (Click on and move the sliders to compare the actual and re-imagined streets.)</p>
<p><strong>1. Chapel Street, Windsor, Melbourne, Victoria</strong></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="308" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=3aa2183c-1dc2-11ed-b5bb-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<p><strong>2. Beaumont Street, Hamilton, Newcastle, New South Wales</strong></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="350" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=a13f035e-1d25-11ed-b5bb-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<p><strong>3. Darby Street, Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW</strong></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="310" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=f76db726-1db5-11ed-b5bb-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<p><strong>4. Hall Street, Bondi, Sydney, NSW</strong></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="321" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=21f87b56-1db7-11ed-b5bb-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<p><strong>5. Princes Highway, Woonona, Wollongong, NSW</strong></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="293" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=63ee8de4-1dbb-11ed-b5bb-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<p><strong>6. Belvidere Street, Belmont, Perth, Western Australia</strong></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="320" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=7eadd7f0-1dbd-11ed-b5bb-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<p><strong>7. Oxford Street, Leederville, Perth, WA</strong></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="304" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=3a2e3cc2-1dbe-11ed-b5bb-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<p><strong>8a. Parklet, South Terrace, Fremantle, Perth, WA</strong></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="337" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=28d33218-1dc1-11ed-b5bb-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<p><strong>8b. South Terrace, Fremantle, Perth, WA</strong></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="337" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=95f61b12-1dc1-11ed-b5bb-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<p><strong>9. Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Queensland</strong></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="294" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=f7207b4e-1dc1-11ed-b5bb-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<h2>The elephant in the room</h2>
<p>Typically a car transports just one or two customers. A <a href="https://theconversation.com/of-all-the-problems-our-cities-need-to-fix-lack-of-car-parking-isnt-one-of-them-116179">parked</a> car occupies about 13 square metres. That’s about the size of an <a href="https://www.dimensions.com/element/african-elephant">elephant</a> lying down. </p>
<p>In the same space, 20 shoppers can be walking, 12 diners can sit outside a cafe, or 12 customers can park their bikes. </p>
<p>Before re-imagining the streets, we calculated that car parking (27%) and travel lanes (46%) took up nearly three-quarters of the street space, comparable to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103339">other research</a>. </p>
<p>Reducing car parking and travel lanes allowed us to increase green space (up 18%), seating (up 17%) and footpaths (up 6%) in our re-imagined streets. </p>
<iframe src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/8608701/embed" title="Interactive or visual content" class="flourish-embed-iframe" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="width:100%;height:600px;" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-scripts allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<div style="width:100%!;margin-top:4px!important;text-align:right!important;"><a class="flourish-credit" href="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/8608701/?utm_source=embed&utm_campaign=visualisation/8608701" target="_top"><img alt="Made with Flourish" src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/made_with_flourish.svg"> </a></div>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/using-valuable-inner-city-land-for-car-parking-in-a-housing-crisis-that-just-doesnt-add-up-168745">Using valuable inner-city land for car parking? In a housing crisis, that just doesn’t add up</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Creating <a href="https://www.streetlevelaustralia.org/">beautiful</a> and <a href="https://www.healthystreets.com/">healthy shopping streets</a> that provide safe and equitable access is key to attracting more <a href="https://resources.heartfoundation.org.au/images/uploads/publications/Good-for-business.pdf">business</a>. </p>
<p>Encouraging motorists to park on neighbouring side streets or in off-street car parks can free up space for people. In any case, motorists rarely find parking right out the front of a shop — the (rising) number and size of cars makes that impossible. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472690/original/file-20220706-25-hjye2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472690/original/file-20220706-25-hjye2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472690/original/file-20220706-25-hjye2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472690/original/file-20220706-25-hjye2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472690/original/file-20220706-25-hjye2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472690/original/file-20220706-25-hjye2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472690/original/file-20220706-25-hjye2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parking on side streets along Belvidere Street, Redcliffe, Perth, Australia. The red lines show where the majority of on-street parking is. The black shaded area shows where parking spaces can be better used for people and businesses.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1530771669727383552"}"></div></p>
<h2>4 reasons to redesign shopping streets</h2>
<h1>1: Local businesses benefit</h1>
<p>Just this week, Perth’s lord mayor proposed <a href="https://twitter.com/7NewsPerth/status/1557671667169742855?s=20&t=ysEmRS-ySGa5gwB-MK1vdg">ripping out a pedestrian mall in the CBD</a> and opening it to cars. But this logic doesn’t stack up to get more customers. </p>
<p>It’s important to remember: cars don’t buy things from shops, people do. Shopping streets that prioritise people and beauty over cars will attract <a href="https://content.tfl.gov.uk/walking-cycling-economic-benefits-summary-pack.pdf">higher sales</a>, higher <a href="https://resources.heartfoundation.org.au/images/uploads/publications/Good-for-business.pdf">retail rental values</a> and reduced <a href="https://content.tfl.gov.uk/street-appeal.pdf">shop vacancy</a> rates. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1418747457295437829"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/parking-isnt-as-important-for-restaurants-as-the-owners-think-it-is-74750">Parking isn't as important for restaurants as the owners think it is</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But where will shoppers park? Shoppers are already used to walking short distances from parking on side streets and in off-street car parks. </p>
<p>Switching to other modes of transport for short journeys to the shops is another option. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1453614664408092673"}"></div></p>
<h1>2. More attractive for COVID-19 dining</h1>
<p>We now know that COVID-19 is <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-must-get-serious-about-airborne-infection-transmission-heres-what-we-need-to-do-164622">airborne</a> — meaning we can <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-how-the-disease-moves-through-the-air-173490">inhale</a> the virus. Improving ventilation is key to reducing the spread, but this can be a <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-must-get-serious-about-airborne-infection-transmission-heres-what-we-need-to-do-164622">challenge indoors</a>. </p>
<p>The evidence suggests gathering outdoors is safer than indoors. </p>
<p>Almost <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=04b744d5-783e-4983-82ba-8c73effcb980&subId=691105">half</a> of Australians have a family dog, so being able to have a coffee outside opens up further business benefits of outdoor dining space.</p>
<p>Trialling more people-friendly streets can be a great way to demonstrate their benefits. <a href="https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/premiers-priorities/great-public-spaces/streets/streets-as-shared-spaces-program">NSW</a> has already run trials of “streets as shared spaces” encouraging outdoor dining. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1484837750310576128"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-next-for-parklets-it-doesnt-have-to-be-a-permanent-switch-back-to-parking-159534">What next for parklets? It doesn't have to be a permanent switch back to parking</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h1>3: For kids and families</h1>
<p><a href="https://www.healthystreets.com/">Great streets</a> are enjoyable and safe places for kids and their families. Streets like this make it easier to get active and have fun. </p>
<p>We should <a href="https://www.telethonkids.org.au/projects/beaches/">listen to kids’ ideas</a> when it comes to building healthy streets — they want their local streets to be active and fun places to meet their friends. </p>
<p>Shopping streets <a href="https://www.healthystreets.com/">should</a> make everyone feel welcome. By this we mean streets that:</p>
<ul>
<li>are safe and easy to cross</li>
<li>have shade and shelter</li>
<li>provide rest stops and benches</li>
<li>are quiet, walkable and rideable</li>
<li>have interesting things to see and do</li>
<li>are relaxing</li>
<li>have fresh, clean air. </li>
</ul>
<h1>4: Boost our physical activity and mental health</h1>
<p><a href="https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/-/media/ProgramsandProjects/PlanningHealthyEnvironments/Attachments/vhtransch3.pdf?la=en&hash=BD49C15BA932B97CF11275C5EE7CEA85A17176F3">More than half</a> of city car journeys are shorter than 5km — and many are even shorter. Ongoing <a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-and-walking-can-help-drive-australias-recovery-but-not-with-less-than-2-of-transport-budgets-142176">under-investment</a> in safe walking and cycling means Australians feel forced into driving short distances, even though they might <a href="https://theconversation.com/3-in-4-people-want-to-ride-a-bike-but-are-put-off-by-lack-of-safe-lanes-172868">prefer</a> to walk or cycle.</p>
<p>Increasing <a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/24/1451">walking</a> is a cost-effective investment to boost Australia’s physical activity levels. It would reduce the <a href="https://www.dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2020-103640">one in ten</a> deaths and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12925">A$15.6 billion-a-year</a> burden of inactivity. </p>
<p>Riding or walking to the shops can be a relaxing and enjoyable experience, and shopping streets can be destinations that people enjoy walking around, staying a while and spending more.</p>
<p>When Australians have better access to local destinations, they <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612007381">walk</a> more. </p>
<p>More people on the streets builds a sense of community, essential for optimal mental health. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1489392105772433412"}"></div></p>
<h2>Take-home message</h2>
<p>For shopping streets to compete with larger <a href="https://theconversation.com/westfields-history-tracks-the-rise-of-the-australian-shopping-centre-and-shows-whats-to-come-89073">shopping centres</a>, they need to be more <a href="https://www.streetlevelaustralia.org/">beautiful</a> places to visit, which provide safe and inclusive access for people to spend money locally. </p>
<p>Towns and cities around the world are realising this. Tens of thousands of on-street car parking spaces are being reallocated to people, including in <a href="https://twitter.com/pippacoom/status/1455671963733557257?s=20">Auckland</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/_dmoser/status/1431879078408302594?s=20">Stockholm</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1386182871530938369?s=20&t=3M-f9_iwets412ceqsh4Gw">Paris</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1412985113143431176?s=20">Amsterdam</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/GeertKloppenbu1/status/1401857666096504832?s=20">Milan</a>. Australia can learn from their successes. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1455671963733557257"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors encourage the open access reuse of the re-imagined streets. They are freely available to <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1F6Sn0toaYmjJexaKcOqWpL4yGYk5rhzn?usp=sharing">download</a> in multiple formats.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186460/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew 'Tepi' Mclaughlin (preferred name: Tepi) is affiliated with the Telethon Kids Institute, the International Society for Physical Activity and Health and the Asia-Pacific Society for Physical Activity.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hayley Christian receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council and Health Promotion Foundation of Western Australia (Healthway). Hayley Christian is supported by an Australian National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship (102549).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jasper Schipperijn has received funding from the European Union, the Danish Cancer Society, KOMPAN, RealDania and TrykFonfen. Jasper Schipperijn is affiliated with the University of Southern Denmark and the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trevor Shilton has received grants from the NHMRC, ARC and Healthway. While working for the Heart Foundation he received grants from the Commonwealth Government and Western Australian Government. He is a member of the Board of the Australasian Society for Physical Activity, and a Member of the Advocacy Committee for the World Heart Federation. </span></em></p>Beautiful shopping streets attract people — and that’s good for business. Images of ten reimagined local shopping streets show how they can become the beautiful hearts of their local communities.Matthew Mclaughlin, Research Fellow, Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western AustraliaHayley Christian, Associate Professor, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Western AustraliaJasper Schipperijn, Professor of Active Living Environment, University of Southern DenmarkTrevor Shilton, Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1872492022-07-27T16:00:43Z2022-07-27T16:00:43ZWe must rethink the way we build along the St. Lawrence River<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474705/original/file-20220718-68563-2ywvhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C35%2C5838%2C3952&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Riverbanks are reinforced to reduce flood risks, but these techniques reduce biodiversity and limit public accessibility.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The St. Lawrence River is immeasurably rich. <a href="https://wwf.ca/stories/5-amazing-facts-about-the-st-lawrence-river/">Draining a quarter of the planet’s freshwater reserves</a>, it forms one of the largest ecosystems in the world.</p>
<p>Since time <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/st-lawrence-river">immemorial, its navigation has played a major role</a> in the cultural, economic and social development of the continent. Today it is the main common heritage landmark of Indigenous people, descendants of the first European settlers and the newcomers inhabiting the region.</p>
<p>However, the <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/2986?lang=en">privatization of its shoreline for residential, commercial and industrial purposes</a> — the main driver of urbanization in eastern North America — continues to undermine future generations. Centred on a logic of exploitation that is exclusive to the richest, privatization causes significant ecological disturbance and considerable risk-management costs for the Québec government. <a href="https://www.planstlaurent.qc.ca/en/">Public access to the river is clearly inadequate</a>.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469058/original/file-20220615-9549-jj1phn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469058/original/file-20220615-9549-jj1phn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469058/original/file-20220615-9549-jj1phn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469058/original/file-20220615-9549-jj1phn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469058/original/file-20220615-9549-jj1phn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469058/original/file-20220615-9549-jj1phn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469058/original/file-20220615-9549-jj1phn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of our series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca-fr/topics/fleuve-saint-laurent-116908">The St. Lawrence River: In depth</a>.
Don’t miss new articles on this mythical river of remarkable beauty. Our experts look at its fauna, flora and history, and the issues it faces. This series is brought to you by <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca-fr">La Conversation</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The future of the river is in the hands of all citizens. We need a wide-reaching project that includes all those concerned: national, provincial and municipal governments, the scientific community, civil society, businesses, as well as the local and trans-local communities that live along the river. My colleagues and I have proposed a project, called Fluvialities, that meets the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15">United Nations Sustainable Development Goals</a>, as well as the principles of human rights and <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html">Indigenous Peoples’ rights</a>.</p>
<p>Led by a group of researchers and professionals at the Université de Montréal, of which I am a member, the Fluvialities project of the <a href="https://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/en/article/2019/10/25/the-unesco-chair-in-urban-landscape-at-universite-de-montreal-builds-bridges/">UNESCO Chair in Urban Landscape</a> brings together scientific and citizen knowledge to identify and implement concrete actions over the next decade, across the entire St. Lawrence watershed, but focusing more on inhabited areas near the banks of the river.</p>
<p>The project will develop a number of landscape and ecosystem design strategies, which address ecosystem integrity and sustainability. It also aims to re-examine constitutional, legislative and regulatory frameworks, as well as the social norms, that define our collective relationship to this vast expanse of water.</p>
<h2>Flooding and erosion</h2>
<p>In recent years, climate change has increased the risk of flooding along the river and its tributaries, due to rising sea levels and increasing rainfall throughout the river basin. In an effort to reduce flood risks, riverbanks have been reinforced. But the stabilization techniques that protect private land and industrial sites from water level fluctuations reduce biodiversity and limit public accessibility.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A row of houses along a riverbank" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473652/original/file-20220712-30699-qtvy73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473652/original/file-20220712-30699-qtvy73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473652/original/file-20220712-30699-qtvy73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473652/original/file-20220712-30699-qtvy73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473652/original/file-20220712-30699-qtvy73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473652/original/file-20220712-30699-qtvy73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473652/original/file-20220712-30699-qtvy73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Riprap stabilization and riverbank protection techniques along the St. Lawrence River reduces the shorlines’ biodiversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">global temperatures continue to increase to 1.5 C or 2 C above pre-industrial levels</a>, sea levels will also rise. Building residential neighbourhoods and industrial sites near shorelines puts many lives at risk from flooding, and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06827-x">could cause billions of dollars in property damage</a>.</p>
<p>All municipalities along the river will be affected, either directly or indirectly, by rising water levels.</p>
<p>In addition, a phenomenal amount of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/ocean-pollution-seafloor-junk-bay-of-fundy-study-1.5360145">debris and chemicals are spread by the flow, polluting not only the river ecosystem</a>, but also the land and the groundwater in the catchment area. This accelerated process of riverbank erosion threatens a growing number of natural riverine habitats, promoting landslides and the release of toxic substances into the environment.</p>
<p>This is now well known among researchers and policymakers. However, despite <a href="https://www.planstlaurent.qc.ca/en/">excellent work</a> to assess the many risks and propose development strategies to mitigate them, there is currently no project that has a long-term development vision for the entire St. Lawrence River.</p>
<p>It therefore essential that current and future knowledge on natural and human risks be implemented quickly. We must radically rethink our relationship with the St. Lawrence River habitat, from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.</p>
<h2>A global trend</h2>
<p>The first project of its kind in the world, Fluvialities, initiated in 2021-22, is part of an <a href="https://living-with-rivers.com/en/">overall trend towards worldwide governance of major rivers</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473651/original/file-20220712-26-jbm29t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473651/original/file-20220712-26-jbm29t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473651/original/file-20220712-26-jbm29t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473651/original/file-20220712-26-jbm29t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473651/original/file-20220712-26-jbm29t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473651/original/file-20220712-26-jbm29t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473651/original/file-20220712-26-jbm29t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of Montréal from the South Shore. Like Montrealers, the majority of Québec residents live on the banks of the St. Lawrence River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We are inspired by such projects as “<a href="https://archive.arch.ethz.ch/studio-basel/publications/books/switzerland-an-urban-portrait.html">Switzerland: an Urban Portrait</a>”, by Studio Basel, research on the <a href="https://submarinechannel.com/lagos-wide-close/">metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria, led by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas</a>, the School of the Anthropocene, led by French geographer Michel Lussault, and Italian urban planner Paola Viganò’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2GvZAWwew4">vision for a horizontal metropolis</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T2GvZAWwew4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Italian urbanist Paola Viganò’s vision for a horizontal metropolis.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These approaches echo a growing practice in the field of urban planning and landscape architecture. By tackling societal challenges on several levels, these disciplines are now generating solutions that benefit society and the environment while promoting economic development. Projects drawn from this knowledge are more likely to reach sustainability goals.</p>
<h2>A multidisciplinary network</h2>
<p>Through 2023-24, Fluvialities will be the subject of an initial consolidation phase. We aim to build a network of university researchers, non-profit organizations, representatives of local communities and companies concerned about the future of the river.</p>
<p>We expect to hold an initial public consultation on citizens’ aspirations in 2024-25. This is inspired by interactive democracy exercises on environmental issues recently <a href="https://www.conventioncitoyennepourleclimat.fr/en/">conducted in France</a> and <a href="https://www.climateassembly.uk">the United Kingdom</a>.</p>
<p>At the same time, we are building a digital atlas of the river’s scientific, social and cultural knowledge. These activities will include university and college teaching activities based on a research-creation approach where students participate in the process.</p>
<p>Educational teams of local and international experts will conduct planning and development workshops on different sections of the river as well as on comparable international contexts.</p>
<p>The sustainable and inclusive development of the St. Lawrence River deserves our attention. If its development continues in its current form, it will have a negative consequences for the people and the environment of North America. We must put in place a transnational strategy for the inclusive and sustainable development of the river and our society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187249/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shin Koseki ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The sustainable and inclusive development of the St. Lawrence River is essential. A prolonged laissez-faire attitude will have harmful consequences on people and the environment.Shin Koseki, UNESCO Chair Professor in Urban Landscape, Université de MontréalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1856202022-07-08T13:49:26Z2022-07-08T13:49:26ZIf we want to build truly sustainable cities, we need to think about how women use energy and space<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472983/original/file-20220707-18-zfdmes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C13%2C8661%2C5761&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women use energy in different ways to men.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-standing-amidst-busy-office-going-1136901929">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women and men balance their different responsibilities in different ways, something the pandemic has brought into <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343828490_The_Differential_Impact_of_COVID-19_on_the_Work_Conditions_of_Women_and_Men_Academics_during_the_Lockdown">sharp relief</a>. But that isn’t always considered by those designing buildings. In fact, buildings designed without considering gender often benefit men and disadvantage women by default.</p>
<p>On top of this are sustainability concerns around how much energy buildings use. To meet <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-glasgow-climate-pact-171799">COP26 targets</a>, energy efficiency of buildings will have to improve by <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/updated-climate-commitments-ahead-cop26-summit-fall-far-short-net">30% by 2030</a>. But if that’s to happen, gender needs to be accounted for.</p>
<p>Buildings contribute to <a href="https://www.iea.org/events/iea-at-cop26-the-role-of-energy-efficient-buildings-on-the-path-to-net-zero-strategies-for-policy-makers">about 40%</a> of global energy consumption and about one third of greenhouse gas emissions, figures that are predicted to continue increasing. </p>
<p>Yet research shows that even when buildings are fitted with <a href="https://theconversation.com/low-energy-homes-dont-just-save-money-they-improve-lives-81084">low-energy tech</a> such as double-glazed windows and heat recovery systems, they can still end up using about <a href="https://www.usablebuildings.co.uk/UsableBuildings/Unprotected/BPEArchive/BPEPFindingsFromDomesticProjects.pdf">three times</a> more energy than originally predicted. This variation is down to the behaviour of the people occupying those buildings: factors not always taken into account by designers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.eceee.org/library/conference_proceedings/eceee_Summer_Studies/2021/1-energy-consumption-and-wellbeing/gendering-practices-and-policies-in-the-south-lessons-for-improved-equity-and-sustainability-in-pakistans-domestic-energy-sector/">My research</a> with colleagues on <a href="https://www.energyaccessandgender.co.uk/publications/">gender and energy access</a> in developing countries, including Pakistan, India, Nigeria and Ghana, has uncovered three key factors that result in women not having the same access to energy compared to men – a situation that makes achieving sustainability all the more challenging.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman wearing a red cardigan and jeans loads the dishwasher in a kitchen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women tend to take on the burden of household chores.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-loading-plates-into-dishwasher-165369386">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.energia.org/assets/2019/04/Gender-in-the-transition-to-sustainable-energy-for-all_-From-evidence-to-inclusive-policies_FINAL.pdf">Research</a> has shown that men and women use energy in different ways, thanks to the way labour is traditionally divided between them. Even today in most societies across the world, men tend to be considered the heads of their households and are frequently the <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/11/20/men-stress-out-if-theyre-not-the-breadwinner-study/">breadwinners</a> for their family. </p>
<p>Yet women are responsible for at least <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw61/redistribute-unpaid-work">2.5 times more</a> unpaid domestic work than men. They undertake the majority of household chores and care work, including cooking, cleaning and laundry, child rearing and elderly care – which is where most of their energy use at home usually goes. </p>
<p>In contrast, men are far more likely to use domestic energy for comfort, convenience and entertainment – such as lighting, fans, air conditioning, computers and TV. And women also tend to be <a href="https://archive.discoversociety.org/2016/01/05/go-ask-gladys-why-gender-matters-in-energy-consumption-research/">more responsible</a> than men when it comes to energy use, often making more <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42955967">eco-friendly choices</a> like using less air conditioning.</p>
<h2>Not gender neutral</h2>
<p>The first of the three factors we found is that we still don’t have enough <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/gender-data-gaps-are-just-the-start-of-the-conversation-93808">gender-specific data</a> showing exactly how and when women need energy. Second, women are underrepresented in the energy sector. According to the <a href="https://www.iea.org/topics/energy-and-gender">International Energy Agency</a>, women account for only 22% of energy workers, with even lower numbers in management.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/transport-apps-are-being-hailed-as-a-sustainable-alternative-to-driving-but-theyre-not-female-friendly-181972">Transport apps are being hailed as a sustainable alternative to driving: but they're not female-friendly</a>
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<p>And third, energy policies that try to be gender neutral usually leave women’s energy needs <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629620301262">marginalised</a>. Without explicitly designing energy systems to benefit women as well as men, we often end up with situations where, for example, limited domestic electricity connections and scheduled power cuts have greater impacts on women’s daily routines.</p>
<p>When it comes to urban planning and development, gender also plays a <a href="https://theconversation.com/sexism-and-the-city-how-urban-planning-has-failed-women-93854">significant role</a> in achieving sustainability. Even though women will make up the <a href="https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/Gender%20and%20Prosperity%20of%20Cities.pdf">majority</a> of urban citizens in the coming decades – with increasing numbers of <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/more-women-have-become-homeowners-and-heads-household-could-pandemic-undo-progress">female-run households</a> – they still face a huge number of <a href="https://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/urban/factsheet.html">barriers</a> in their everyday life in cities. </p>
<p>Part of this has to do with how, according to geographers <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9493.2010.00388_3.x">Sylvia Chant and Cathy McIlwaine</a>, cities around the world are still “overwhelmingly designed <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Cities-Slums-and-Gender-in-the-Global-South-Towards-a-feminised-urban/Chant-McIlwaine/p/book/9781138192782">by and for men</a>”. When it comes to public access, not only do women often have more complex <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11116-015-9627-9">travel patterns</a> than men thanks to their unpaid care work, they also have a harder time accessing or <a href="https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/womens-safety-security_0.pdf">feeling safe</a> on transport.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A balcony with glass doors on the left, with plants around its edges" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Balconies like this offer no private space for women to carry out activities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rihab Khalid</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221462962100431X">my research</a> with my colleague <a href="https://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/research/phd-research/maiss-razem">Maiss Razem</a> shows that even private domestic spaces are often not designed for women, with implications for sustainability. For example, in Pakistan and Jordan, contemporary housing usually follows Westernised modernist designs, with increasing reliance on <a href="https://sciencetrends.com/are-our-houses-demanding-more-from-us/">mechanical ventilation and cooling</a>. </p>
<p>Building regulations in these countries also tend to put restrictions on the heights of walls and roof parapets, often for aesthetic purposes. This means that outdoor spaces are frequently exposed with low walls, meaning that women – who must adhere to <a href="https://guides.library.cornell.edu/IslamWomen/home">cultural codes of modesty</a> – cannot work or relax outdoors in private.</p>
<p>That means women are forced to limit their time spent outdoors. Instead of drying clothes outside, for example, they use indoor tumble dryers, and as a result have to turn on air conditioning and lighting: all contributing to unnecessary energy use. </p>
<p>What’s more, even indoor spaces are now also designed to imitate popular Western building styles, including open-plan designs with large glass windows. This means they not only increase <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-net-zero-strategies-are-overlooking-something-vital-how-to-cool-buildings-amid-rising-temperatures-172080">heat inside buildings</a> (meaning more air con is required), but also end up restricting more religious women’s private access to indoor space.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A balcony viewed from the left, with other houses facing it across the street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Neighbouring windows often overlook domestic outdoor spaces, meaning women mostly feel forced inside to work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rihab Khalid</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Planning regulations also tend to prevent <a href="https://www.kpf.com/stories/mixed-use">mixed-use buildings</a>, where shops or offices sit on the ground floor below people’s homes. But since women already have limited access to public employment, preventing women from working from home means it’s even harder for them to earn money. </p>
<p>Such exclusionary housing policies have a long <a href="https://fee.org/articles/zoning-laws-the-housing-market-and-the-ripple-effect/">history of discrimination</a>. And their continued “gender neutrality” means that we are still far from building what urban historian <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173814">Dolores Hayden</a> imagined as the “<a href="https://www.nowwhat-architexx.org/articles/2018/5/24/dolores-haydens-non-sexist-city">non-sexist city</a>”, designed to allow women’s social and economic empowerment.</p>
<p>Energy, gender and space are closely interlinked. Only by investigating how they intersect can we truly begin to move towards creating sustainable societies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Part of the research mentioned in this article was funded by the Anglia Ruskin University QR-GCRF funded (2020–2021) project: ‘Gender equity and energy access in the Global South’, in collaboration with the 2020 Isaac Newton Trust Research Fellowship at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge.
Part of the research mentioned in this article was funded by the Cambridge Trust PhD scholarships for the University of Cambridge. </span></em></p>My research shows how urban design can make it harder for women in some countries to make sustainable choices.Rihab Khalid, Research Fellow in Sustainable Energy Consumption, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1840792022-07-05T09:04:51Z2022-07-05T09:04:51ZCities: how urban design can make people less likely to use public spaces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471166/original/file-20220627-24-rujbd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C0%2C4618%2C3055&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We only feel free to use spaces that we can identify with. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-man-back-flip-parkour-urban-648917863">Vagengeim | Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Urban beautification campaigns are usually sold to local residents as a way to improve <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43028866">their daily lives</a>. Design elements – from lighting systems to signs, benches, bollards, fountains and planters, and sometimes even surveillance equipment – are used to refurbish and embellish public spaces. </p>
<p>Designers refer to these elements as “urban furniture”. And the projects they’re used in are usually aimed at increasing social interaction, heightening safety, improving accessibility and generally making life in the city better.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.03.004">Some research argues</a>, however, that such <a href="https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/21226980/2019.09.09_PhD_thesis_JALH_.pdf">beautification campaigns can result</a> in public urban spaces becoming <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330910459_Temporary_Appropriation_of_Public_Space_As_an_Emergence_Assemblage_for_the_Future_Urban_Landscape_The_Case_of_Mexico_City">more exclusive</a>. Despite the promises with which they are marketed, if these projects <a href="https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/en/publications/temporary-appropriation-of-cities-human-spatialisation-in-public-">disregard what local people need</a>, they can feel less able, or willing, to make use of these spaces.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An urban canal pathway seen at sunset." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cheonggyecheon canal, in Seoul, South Korea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/oct-27-2013-seoul-south-korea-1151130620">PixHound | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cities aren’t only identified by their monuments or signature buildings. You can tell New York City and Palermo apart just by looking at what people are doing in public. A New York scene is more likely to feature someone on a skateboard eating a burrito, while a Palermo image might include a group of men in a street watching a football match on television through a shop window. </p>
<p>Urban space is where city children learn and play, students read and people work, walk and relax. It is through these different activities that any single city’s urban culture is created. </p>
<p>Quite what city spaces <a href="https://theconversation.com/sunshine-coast-shows-the-way-to-create-good-design-loved-by-communities-and-put-an-end-to-eyesores-140348">look like</a> is down to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334374615_Urban_Design_and_Urbanism">urban design</a>, a powerful tool. </p>
<p>Architects, infrastructural and spatial designers carefully configure the built environment – the constructed fabric of our cities – and this has a lasting <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/83937579.pdf">effect</a> on how we use or inhabit them.</p>
<p>In cities around the globe – from Algiers, Auckland and Chicago to Hanoi, <a href="http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S0188-25032015000100001&script=sci_abstract">Mexico City</a> and Seoul – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.03.004">research shows</a> that transforming public spaces <a href="https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/21226980/2019.09.09_PhD_thesis_JALH_.pdf">markedly affects</a> the diversity of what people do in them, and whether they use them. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.journalpublicspace.org/index.php/jps/article/view/1254/767">In Algiers</a>, the Algerian capital, neighbourhoods were formally designed in the 1970s in a rigid modernist style. Design elements including shady trees, benches and lights at night made people feel comfortable carrying out activities such as playing cards or gathering to chat, but huge buildings, wide streets and large spaces also caused people to feel insecure and <a href="https://www.journalpublicspace.org/index.php/jps/article/view/1254">lost</a>.
Further, the land was landscaped in the kind of homogenous way characteristic of other big cities including Los Angeles, Auckland and Sydney. These <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/place-and-placelessness/book249276">large-scale and non-contextual</a> designs have also been linked to antisocial behaviour.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330910459_Temporary_Appropriation_of_Public_Space_As_an_Emergence_Assemblage_for_the_Future_Urban_Landscape_The_Case_of_Mexico_City">Research</a> conducted in the historic <a href="http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0188-70172013000200003">Alameda Central Park</a> neighbourhood of <a href="http://www.ub.edu/geocrit/coloquio2014/Victor%20Delgadillo.pdf">Mexico City</a> highlight similar patterns of <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-planning-as-a-tool-of-white-supremacy-the-other-lesson-from-minneapolis-142249">exclusion</a> caused by how a neighbourhood was redesigned. </p>
<p>After the area was transformed in 2013, there was a notable decline in the diversity of the activities people undertook there (family and religious gatherings; street art; music; informal vendors). Instead, the law now prioritises touristic activity over local people’s everyday needs and allows the authorities to operate a zero-tolerance approach towards anything deemed disruptive. Vendors have become nomadic, packing up and hiding as soon as the police are nearby. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/progressingplanning/2021/11/29/claiming-their-right-to-the-city-resisting-redevelopment-induced-gentrification-in-seoul-korea/">Cheonggyecheon-Euljiro area</a> of Seoul, South Korea, meanwhile, redevelopment led to 50-year-old workshops being torn down. This in turn has threatened the historical and cultural values of the local population and disrupted social networks.</p>
<h2>How cities are co-created</h2>
<p>In his 1968 book, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328491674_Henri_Lefebvre_and_the_Right_to_the_City">The Right to the City</a>, the French Marxist philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre described the city as a co-created space. This contrasts with the more capitalist definition in which urban space is <a href="https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/217887/1/217887.pdf">a commodity</a> to be bought and sold, Lefebvre saw it as a meeting place where citizens collectively built urban life. </p>
<p>This idea that public space is a public good that belongs to everybody has been increasingly challenged in recent years, with the rise of <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/art-architecture-design/you-cant-sit-us-rise-privately-owned-public-spaces">privately owned public space</a>. Most of the parks in London (roughly 42 kilometres squared) of green space in total) are owned by the City of London Corporation, the municipal body that governs the City of London, but increasingly squares within new developments are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jul/24/revealed-pseudo-public-space-pops-london-investigation-map">owned by corporations</a>. </p>
<p>Urban theorists have long noted the connection between how a city is designed and how life is conducted within it. The US scholar <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/11/the-prophecies-of-jane-jacobs/501104/">Jane Jacobs</a> is famous for highlighting that cities fail when they are not designed for everyone. And Danish architect <a href="https://gehlpeople.com/">Jan Gehl</a>’s output has consistently focused on what he has termed the “life between buildings”. </p>
<p>As Gehl <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL_RYm8zs28">has explained</a>, for a city to be good to its residents, those in charge of designing it have to be aware of how it is being used: what people are doing in its spaces. To be successful, urban designs have to be focused on and geared towards people’s daily lives. Gehl has explained that designing a city for pedestrians – at a walkable scale – is how you make it healthy, sustainable, lively and attractive.</p>
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<p>When we use public spaces, even if only on a short-term basis, we are effectively <a href="https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/temporaryappropriation(62a30252-cbb1-457a-b751-52b66176d8d7).html">appropriating them</a>: <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-32120-8">urban designers</a> and <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429331701-19/understanding-temporary-appropriation-streetscape-design-antonio-lara-hernandez-yazid-khemri-alessandro-melis">architects</a> talk about <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-32120-8">“temporary appropriation”</a> to describe the individual or group activities with which we invest these spaces. </p>
<p>Research has also highlighted how <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.71417!/file/7woolley.pdf">democratic</a> this can be. But it is contingent on those spaces being designed in consort with residents. When a public space, by contrast, is overly designed without people’s needs being taken into account, it does not get used.</p>
<p>Since the 1970s, urban theorists <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000055743">have highlighted</a> that we only make use of those public spaces where we feel <a href="https://core.ac.uk/reader/82653560">represented</a>. For urban design to work, paying heed to <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-give-people-a-greater-say-in-their-cities-62672">what local people actually think</a> of their city is crucial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184079/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cities are defined as much by their buildings as what people do in between them. Designing them comes with great responsibility.Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Senior Researcher in Architecture, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1832072022-05-25T00:29:17Z2022-05-25T00:29:17ZWhose ‘identity’ are we preserving in Auckland’s special character housing areas?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464910/original/file-20220524-21-2rqi2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C8%2C5973%2C3970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A minor culture war has broken out over Auckland’s urban identity since Auckland Council responded to the government’s new housing rules: on one side, defenders of “special character” areas of historic housing; on the other, advocates for higher-density development with fewer constraints.</p>
<p>The debate can be heated, as people identify with their city in different ways and want different outcomes for its future.</p>
<p>To recap, the recently passed Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act seeks to ease the housing crisis by setting “medium-density residential standards” (MDRS) across all of Aotearoa’s major cities. This allows three storeys and three dwellings per site in all residential areas – except where councils can demonstrate “qualifying matters” apply.</p>
<p>In response, Auckland Council has identified “special character” as a qualifying matter that would shield parts of the city from MDRS intensification. But it also reduced special character coverage by about 25% to carve out room for inner-suburban intensification.</p>
<p>A key line of argument against reducing special character protection involves the importance of Auckland’s old housing neighbourhoods – with their Victorian and Edwardian villas and bungalows – to the city’s “identity”.</p>
<p>Appeals to collective identity can pack a pretty powerful punch when it comes to influencing urban decision-making, so they need to scrutinised whenever they’re asserted.</p>
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<h2>Identity politics</h2>
<p>The preservation of our cities’ built form is not a politically neutral remembrance of yesteryear for future generations. Just as history is written by the victors, decisions about what is important to collective identity have always been made by those with the power to decide.</p>
<p>It’s worth remembering that Auckland’s first formal protection of historic places in the 1950s occurred in the same decade as the Crown seized the last papakāinga (Māori housing on ancestral land) of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei at Ōkahu Bay, part of preparations for a visit from the queen.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/using-valuable-inner-city-land-for-car-parking-in-a-housing-crisis-that-just-doesnt-add-up-168745">Using valuable inner-city land for car parking? In a housing crisis, that just doesn’t add up</a>
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<p>Buildings like Mission Bay’s Melanesian Mission were preserved and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei’s remaining ancestral homes were demolished for closely related reasons – preserving “<a href="http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/CityArchives/DistrictSchemes/ACC/ACC339-29/ACC_1961_text.htm">historical interest and natural beauty</a>” on the one hand, and removing “<a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-tai/ngati-whatua-orakei-toru">an eyesore</a>” on the other.</p>
<p>Two decades later, as Auckland Council first created zoning controls to protect “<a href="http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/CityArchives/DistrictSchemes/ACC/ACC340-16/PDFs/01B.%20Scheme%20Statement_160ppi.pdf#scrollbar=true&toolbar=true&zoom=75,0,0">areas of special character</a>”, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei protesters were occupying Takaparawhau/Bastion Point to oppose the Crown’s plans to develop high-income housing on their remnant rohe (tribal district).</p>
<p>While it may be convenient to hold these two legacies separately, it’s an important reminder that buildings have the power to reinforce dominant expressions of identity – and to silence others.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464917/original/file-20220524-90509-41uwvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464917/original/file-20220524-90509-41uwvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464917/original/file-20220524-90509-41uwvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464917/original/file-20220524-90509-41uwvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464917/original/file-20220524-90509-41uwvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464917/original/file-20220524-90509-41uwvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464917/original/file-20220524-90509-41uwvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Disputed heritage: the view from Takaparawhau/Bastion Point with Auckland’s CBD in the background.</span>
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<h2>New kinds of heritage</h2>
<p>Uneven power is nothing new for <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/124280491/whose-heritage-do-we-in-wellington-care-about">Māori in Aotearoa’s cities</a>, and it increasingly plays a role in intergenerational tension as young adults excluded from home ownership – or even an affordable place to rent – challenge the entitlement of those invested in the status quo.</p>
<p>It’s telling that young adults are commonly identifying what used to be called “historic” houses as “<a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/wellington/125460117/young-people-to-wellington-city-council-we-want-immediate-action-on-the-housing-crisis">colonial</a>” houses, a deliberate word shift from neutral to political. It’s also a recognition that built form, like identity itself, does not have a fixed meaning.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wellingtons-older-houses-dont-deserve-blanket-protection-but-6-storey-buildings-arent-always-the-answer-146302">Wellington’s older houses don’t deserve blanket protection — but 6-storey buildings aren’t always the answer</a>
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<p>Auckland’s population is getting younger and more culturally diverse. These trends present an opportunity for new ways of making a future heritage for the city. Cultures, communities and different age groups need be celebrated by more than just festivals, arts and sports. They must be built into new neighbourhoods that can permanently house and home them.</p>
<p>This is already happening in projects such as Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei’s <a href="https://www.ngatiwhatuaorakeiwhairawa.com/land-property/papak%C4%81inga/">Kāinga Tuatahi</a> residential development on tribal land, and <a href="http://cohaus.nz/">COHAUS</a>, a high-density co-housing development in Grey Lynn. Special character may be a part of Tāmaki Makaurau’s identity, but it’s time for other versions of urban life to be recognised too.</p>
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<h2>What identity are we celebrating?</h2>
<p>After all, what are now considered special character areas largely began as part of Auckland’s “ordinary” story – places on the tramlines where people built a house, put down roots, aspired to a stable and prosperous future.</p>
<p><a href="https://akhaveyoursay.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/housing">According to Auckland Council</a>, their built character “shows past social values, influences, fashions and philosophies that have shaped Auckland over time”. What they now most obviously highlight, however, is Auckland’s divide between rich and poor.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-bias-towards-built-heritage-threatens-the-protection-of-cultural-landscapes-in-new-zealand-115042">How a bias towards built heritage threatens the protection of cultural landscapes in New Zealand</a>
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<p>It’s no coincidence special character suburbs are some of Tāmaki Makaurau’s most expensive, commanding a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347422460_The_price_premium_of_heritage_in_the_housing_market_evidence_from_Auckland_New_Zealand">price premium</a> precisely because of the expectation their historical look and feel will be retained.</p>
<p>Also, because of its emphasis on pre-1940s housing, the “special character” designation is almost entirely absent from the city’s poorer areas.</p>
<p>According to the council, special character areas “have importance to people beyond those who live there” due to the role they play in illustrating the history of the city. That may be true, but it’s also important to acknowledge that urban areas are overwhelmingly experienced by those who live there, not by those passing through.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/auckland-is-the-worlds-most-liveable-city-many-maori-might-disagree-162503">Auckland is the world's 'most liveable city'? Many Māori might disagree</a>
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<h2>A city for all</h2>
<p>While historic residential neighbourhoods may be part of the city’s broad identity, it is the residents of special character areas who really get to experience their qualities. The <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/97052851/auckland-inequity-reflected-by-density-of-urban-tree-coverage">good tree cover</a>, proximity to the central business district, high-quality outdoor spaces and access to <a href="https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/07/06/build-bridges-not-walls-make-auckland-equitable-city/">public transport</a> are in stark contrast to other parts of Tāmaki Makaurau. </p>
<p>And yet most of the densification burden will be directed into communities already lacking nature, amenity and infrastructure.</p>
<p>The next two decades will decide Auckland’s future identity. The council’s response to the government’s new directives go some way to opening up new possibilities, but more will be needed to stop social and spatial fragmentation being baked into its character.</p>
<p>Making space, in both the decision-making and the built environment, for radical priorities – housing people, transport reform, reforesting urban spaces – will be essential in forging an identity that brings meaning and security for more people who call Tāmaki Makaurau home.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carolyn Hill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The debate over new urban density rules is further dividing an already divided city. The challenge for Auckland is to stop social and spatial fragmentation being baked into its character forever.Carolyn Hill, Teaching Fellow, Environmental Planning, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1819722022-04-28T11:24:56Z2022-04-28T11:24:56ZTransport apps are being hailed as a sustainable alternative to driving: but they’re not female-friendly<p>The UK’s roads are some of the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/roadtransportandairemissions/2019-09-16">main culprits</a> of its greenhouse gas emissions. And in 2020, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-statistics-great-britain-2021/transport-statistics-great-britain-2021">92%</a> of passenger kilometres travelled in the UK was made by cars, vans and taxis. That means getting around by private vehicle has a disproportionately large negative impact on the environment. </p>
<p>What’s more, only <a href="https://www.smmt.co.uk/2020/03/to-drive-the-transition-to-zero-emission-motoring-we-need-carrots-not-sticks/">5.8%</a> of vehicles on UK roads are ultra-low emission. Even <a href="https://youmatter.world/en/are-electric-cars-eco-friendly-and-zero-emission-vehicles-26440/">electric vehicles</a>, though they create less pollution when driven, have a substantial environmental impact thanks to the materials used to create them. Getting rid of them has an environmental cost, too. And in some areas, car ownership is growing – the county of <a href="https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/media-library/documents/about-the-council/data-and-information/active-travel-strategy.pdf">Hertfordshire</a> is expected to become home to 20.9% more private cars by 2031.</p>
<p>If sustainability and mobility are equally important concerns, how do we make sure they’re both addressed? One solution is encouraging people to share transport through a system known as “<a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/766759/Mobilityasaservice.pdf">Mobility as a Service</a>” (MaaS). </p>
<p>MaaS is essentially a personalised travel management platform that slots together available modes of transport in an area to create a unified journey for its users. For example, Finnish MaaS company <a href="https://www.phocuswire.com/Whim-ground-transport-app-creator-MaaS-Global-secures-11M-round#:%7E:text=The%20Finland%2Dbased%20startup%20is,investors%20NordicNinja%20and%20Mitsui%20Fudosan.">Whim</a> allows people to use shared cars, bicycles and public transport to create a journey that works for them. </p>
<p>In some cases, this has been very successful in reducing the number of private cars on roads. In several cities in Finland, for example, MaaS has pushed private car usage down from 40% to 20%. However, there’s something that’s been overlooked by transport designers (who, at least <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/transport/transport-not-gender-neutral">in Europe</a>, are overwhelmingly male): the fact that women’s transport needs are different to men’s.</p>
<h2>MaaS and gender</h2>
<p>Women, who generally across the world have less access to private cars, face more risks than men when getting from one place to another. <a href="https://ramboll.com/-/media/files/rgr/documents/markets/transport/g/gender-and-mobility_report.pdf">Across Europe</a>, an average of 37% of women (compared to 72% of men) own their own car, while 51% (81% of men) hold a driving license. Yet despite this, women are still less likely than men to use MaaS. In EU countries including Norway, Finland, Germany and Denmark, it’s been tried by <a href="https://ramboll.com/-/media/files/rgr/documents/markets/transport/g/gender-and-mobility_report.pdf">40% of women</a> compared to 49% of men.</p>
<p>Reasons for these disparities are partly tied to <a href="https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/38457/bsa30_gender_roles_final.pdf">gender roles</a>. Women are more likely to be the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4804270/">prime caretaker</a> of their household, meaning that they have multiple errands to run, often requiring multiple journeys within a shorter radius. </p>
<p>For instance, women of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5381933/">child-rearing age</a> typically drive to the supermarket, the gym and to school, as well as ferrying children to different locations. They’re also more likely to need space to carry shopping, prams and car seats – and children – which many MaaS offerings do not cater for. </p>
<p>Another factor is that women typically <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/genderpaygapintheuk/2021">earn less</a> than men, and access to MaaS applications is reliant upon smartphone ownership and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-3g-and-why-is-it-being-shut-down-an-electrical-engineer-explains-176781">4G connectivity</a>: something which may be unaffordable for or inaccessible to lower earners. </p>
<p>Women’s concern for their personal safety also often leads them to choose the relative security of private cars. Even in the UK, where recorded rates of gendered harassment on public transport are comparatively low, <a href="https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/20866/1/FINAL_Gekoski_Gray_Adler_Horvath_October_2016.pdf">15% of women</a> report experiencing harassment on buses or trains. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gender-makes-a-world-of-difference-for-safety-on-public-transport-80313">Gender makes a world of difference for safety on public transport</a>
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<p><a href="https://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/projects/investigating-the-inclusivity-and-safety-issues-of-shared-mobility-which-affect-women-the-case-of-mobility-as-a-service(dabfccb4-5997-41d5-8f07-753dc8e29529).html">Our research</a>, which is being conducted in Hertfordshire, UK, provides even more evidence for these problems. Female participants highlight concerns about sharing vehicles with unknown people and receiving unwanted attention. </p>
<p>Shifts between vehicles (for example, getting out of a car and onto a bicycle), made participants feel particularly vulnerable. And additional risks can arise when transport services are late, exposing the waiting traveller to potentially dangerous situations. These factors put MaaS at a disadvantage compared to private vehicles, which many women view as safe “cocoons” for mobility. </p>
<h2>Making MaaS safer</h2>
<p>It’s vital that these issues are addressed if MaaS is to bring the full range of sustainability and safety benefits it promises. Although more research is needed in this area, it’s clear that if women and men adopted MaaS at the same rate, there’d be a significant positive impact on the environment, with thousands of private cars no longer needed on roads.</p>
<p>Some of our participants proposed strategies to protect and reassure female MaaS users. For example, MaaS providers could build safety features into their apps to keep users’ friends informed of their whereabouts and generate maps based on crime data that show the safest route home. Users could also access driver details if necessary. <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1369847816304107">A study</a> has found that 62% of people – women more than men – would be interested in using features like these, although their privacy flaws remain <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/10/16/top-travel-apps-for-android-and-iphone-fail-privacy-and-security-tests/?sh=13893daf4321">concerning</a>.</p>
<p>Another strategy could be to design smaller and more local MaaS systems that foster a sense of community and trust. <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/8976/htm">In Sweden</a>, for example, carpooling is often used in residential estates and local neighbourhoods, where community and trust networks already exist.</p>
<p>Smaller, localised MaaS systems developed around pre-existing groups like these – where, crucially, sharers would be not total strangers – could help make users feel safer. But ultimately, we need to redress <a href="https://www.rtpi.org.uk/media/4325/women-and-planning.pdf">gender imbalance</a> in the transport sector to ensure that the cities of the future reflect the needs of 100% of their inhabitants: not just 50%.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurizio Catulli receives funding from The British Academy and has previously been funded by DEFRA on a previous project. He would like to thank Robyn Thomas for her input and authorship.</span></em></p>Research shows apps designed to make journeys more environmentally friendly aren’t considering women’s transport needs.Maurizio Catulli, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Innovation, University of HertfordshireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1797632022-03-31T18:59:31Z2022-03-31T18:59:31ZOur cities are making us fat and unhealthy – a ‘healthy location index’ can help us plan better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455352/original/file-20220330-5685-1x07trn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">GettyImages</span> </figcaption></figure><p>As councils and central government consider what cities of the future will look like, a new tool has been developed to map how various features of where we live influence public health.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://ij-healthgeographics.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12942-021-00269-x.pdf">Healthy Location Index</a> (HLI) breaks down healthy and unhealthy elements in cities across New Zealand. It offers important lessons for how we plan and modify our cities to increase physical activity levels and tackle important issues such as obesity and mental health. </p>
<h2>The obesogenic environment</h2>
<p>New Zealand has one of the highest numbers of adults living with obesity <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-defined-as-obese">in the world</a> and the rates are not improving. Data from 2021 showed a substantial increase in both <a href="https://www.health.govt.nz/nz-health-statistics/health-statistics-and-data-sets/obesity-statistics">childhood and adult obesity</a> from the previous year. </p>
<p>Obesity is a major public health concern that is estimated to be responsible for approximately <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/%7E/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/economic%20studies%20temp/our%20insights/how%20the%20world%20could%20better%20fight%20obesity/mgi_overcoming_obesity_full_report.ashx">5% of all global deaths</a> annually. The global economic impact of obesity is estimated at roughly US$2 trillion or 2.8% of global GDP.</p>
<p>Health issues like this are often thought of in terms of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420920315235">personal responsibility</a>. However, this approach diverts focus away from health systems, governments and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17152319/">physical environments</a>. </p>
<p>The global rise in obesity since 1980 has occurred too rapidly for <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10600438/">genetic or biological factors</a> to be its root cause. Instead, it may actually just be a <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)61364-0/fulltext">normal response</a> to environments that provide easy access to energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods and a range of unhealthy options that require us expending very little energy. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/before-pregnancy-even-starts-healthy-weight-in-mums-and-dads-lowers-obesity-risk-in-children-72663">Before pregnancy even starts, healthy weight in mums and dads lowers obesity risk in children</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Think about it: maintaining good health in our current environment requires a lot of effort. Why? Because healthy choices are often more difficult than convenient ones, be that trying to avoid <a href="https://www.otago.ac.nz/wellington/otago020172.pdf">fast-food outlets</a> or conveniently placed <a href="https://www.hpa.org.nz/sites/default/files/HPA%20Outlets%20Report%20January%202017.pdf">liqour stores</a>, the lack of access to fresh fruit and vegetables, or deciding to cycle rather than drive the car. </p>
<p>This is known as an <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/315/7106/477.short?casa_token=irNAWWBQTxUAAAAA:AV7WCM2Ir6XrlI2io-lbgQ0I6n1njhVrzUt8waultmYZmj1gJW5heWoNxDmq2ZCPaikAQFbd5G5A">obesogenic environment</a> and it needs to change.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man holds two packets of takeaway food while siting in his car." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455138/original/file-20220330-17-wxkqn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455138/original/file-20220330-17-wxkqn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455138/original/file-20220330-17-wxkqn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455138/original/file-20220330-17-wxkqn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455138/original/file-20220330-17-wxkqn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455138/original/file-20220330-17-wxkqn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455138/original/file-20220330-17-wxkqn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Access to unhealthy options in a city can increase individual health problems, including rates of type II diabetes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/people-collect-their-takeaways-from-the-mcdonalds-drive-news-photo/1341737666?adppopup=true">Phil Walter/Getty</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Healthy Location Index</h2>
<p>This change begins with an understanding of how things currently stand, which is where the HLI comes in. </p>
<p>Data used in our index includes quantifying access to five “health-constraining” features: fast-food outlets, takeaway outlets, dairies and convenience stores, alcohol outlets and gaming venues. </p>
<p>We also quantify five “health-promoting” features: green spaces, blue spaces (accessible outdoor water environments), physical activity facilities, fruit and vegetable outlets, and supermarkets. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-cities-need-greening-to-stay-healthy-and-liveable-75840">Higher-density cities need greening to stay healthy and liveable</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The index provides a rank for every neighbourhood in New Zealand based on access to these positive and negative features. </p>
<p>Out of New Zealand’s three major urban regions, Wellington shows highly accessible health-promoting and health-constraining environments, Auckland offers relatively balanced environments, and Christchurch shows a high proportion of people living in more health-constraining environments. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454295/original/file-20220325-25-17hps5k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454295/original/file-20220325-25-17hps5k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454295/original/file-20220325-25-17hps5k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454295/original/file-20220325-25-17hps5k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454295/original/file-20220325-25-17hps5k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454295/original/file-20220325-25-17hps5k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454295/original/file-20220325-25-17hps5k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454295/original/file-20220325-25-17hps5k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Healthy Location Index in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Marek and Matthew Hobbs</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Environmental injustice</h2>
<p>The bigger picture created by the HLI supports <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353829217310778">previous evidence</a> highlighting a disproportionate number of features that constrain health, such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620307413#!">fast-food outlets</a> and <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/14797/study-finds-more-alcohol-outlets-in-poor-urban-areas">liqour stores</a> in socioeconomically deprived areas. </p>
<p>Of particular concern in the most deprived areas, the distance to health-constraining features was half what it was in the the least deprived areas, highlighting the persistent over-provision of <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018796928/calls-for-halt-on-new-liquor-stores-after-rising-assaults-in-cities">gambling outlets and liqour stores</a> in some parts of the country. </p>
<p>This phenomenon is well known as a form of “environmental injustice” which ultimately stems from a <a href="https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice">lack of equity</a> in the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies. </p>
<p>The index also highlights how areas of New Zealand with quick and easy access to health-constraining features are worse off in terms of both <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091743520304473">mental</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953622001071">physical health</a> outcomes such as depression and type II diabetes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Outside of a liquor store with open door." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455351/original/file-20220330-5976-fbi9pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455351/original/file-20220330-5976-fbi9pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455351/original/file-20220330-5976-fbi9pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455351/original/file-20220330-5976-fbi9pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455351/original/file-20220330-5976-fbi9pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455351/original/file-20220330-5976-fbi9pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455351/original/file-20220330-5976-fbi9pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Healthy Location Index maps out the prevalence liquor stores, fast-food restaurants and gambling outlets in a community.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/liquor-store-on-great-north-rd-ponsonby-is-seen-on-may-13-news-photo/489932345?adppopup=true">Fiona Goodall/Getty</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the index shows clear evidence that, on average, the most deprived areas of New Zealand often have access to health-constraining features, this finding is not universal. It also varies from place to place. </p>
<p><a href="https://ij-healthgeographics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12942-021-00269-x">Wellington and Christchurch</a> both have a decreasing number of health-promoting environments, with growing deprivation. However, there are remarkably more health-constraining places in Christchurch than in Wellington.</p>
<h2>Knowledge offers a way to change</h2>
<p>This is only our first iteration of the index and we intend to add more features in the future. But we hope the data provided in the index can encourage important conversations to help us better understand how our cities are shaped. </p>
<p>We need to ask whether we really need that additional fast-food outlet or liquor store in the same neighbourhood. We hope the index can help policy makers consider how to shape more health-friendly cities by regulating or adding the right features. </p>
<p>After all, the protection and promotion of public health is a core responsibility of government and it should not be left to individuals, families or communities to create such changes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179763/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Hobbs receives funding from The New Zealand Health Research Council and A Better Start National Science Challenge/Cure Kids. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Lukas Marek has previously received funding from the Ministry of Health, New Zealand Health Research Council, Cure Kids and National Science Challenges.</span></em></p>How we design our cities can make it harder to be healthy. City planners are now able to quantify the different elements that are affecting our health and well-being.Matthew Hobbs, Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Co-Director of the GeoHealth Laboratory, University of CanterburyLukas Marek, Researcher and lecturer in Spatial Data Science, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1734292022-01-12T16:42:22Z2022-01-12T16:42:22ZCities are made from more than buildings and roads. They are also made by ambiences – how a city makes you feel<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437107/original/file-20211213-15-tymzoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3719%2C5612&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ryoji Iwata/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How does a city feel? Energetic, unnerving, invigorating, relaxing? </p>
<p>This is a key question often asked by designers who consider the ambience of a city.</p>
<p>Typically, when we think of a city we jump straight to thinking about its buildings, roads, shops and parklands: the physical things we are surrounded by. But what about all those invisible things in between?</p>
<p>When we speak of ambience, we think of the city in a very different way. We think of the city from the position of our own sensing body. The light that enters our eyes; the sounds that enter our ears; the wind and radiation that touches our skin; the tastes and smells in the air; even the vibrations that pass through us (think of passing trams, and even Earthquakes!). </p>
<p>Each of us is suspended in these ever-shifting mediums, with our perceptions reshaping our world, moment by moment.</p>
<h2>Ambient encounters</h2>
<p>It is very subtle, this thing called ambience. But you can be sure there is a reason your body draws you back to the same place again and again. It’s not simply habit, it is also the ways a place makes our body feel.</p>
<p>Do you have a quiet place you disappear to at lunchtime? A place in a park or a quiet back alley? These are places of refuge in which the senses are less overwhelmed, allowing us to sink into our thoughts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437109/original/file-20211213-25-185ati5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A plant filled atrium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437109/original/file-20211213-25-185ati5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437109/original/file-20211213-25-185ati5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437109/original/file-20211213-25-185ati5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437109/original/file-20211213-25-185ati5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437109/original/file-20211213-25-185ati5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437109/original/file-20211213-25-185ati5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437109/original/file-20211213-25-185ati5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Do you have a quiet place you disappear to at lunchtime?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benn McGuinness/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps you have a café you favour, alone or with friends. What draws you there? The images on the wall, the soft sound of conversation, the smells and sounds?</p>
<p>And what about the lockdown? Trapped in our homes, some more lucky than others, where did you find solace? Telephones and wine! A sprawling backyard? Chatting with your neighbour from your balcony? </p>
<p>Ambiences are key to social interaction – an understanding the lockdowns forced upon us as we struggled with the effects of loneliness and isolation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-isolation-a-feeling-138009">Is isolation a feeling?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Unpleasant ambiences</h2>
<p>Ambiences are not always pleasant. There are frightening ambiences: the train station underpass you need to traverse to get home at night, or perhaps the nefarious night-time uses of those quiet places you escape to during lunchtime. </p>
<p>The political reaction to such issues is usually to flood these areas with light and surveillance cameras. While effective at promoting safety for the vulnerable, they also create vigilant cities accompanied by an ever-present sense of a watchful gaze.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437111/original/file-20211213-23-1lgeljp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A city alley at night." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437111/original/file-20211213-23-1lgeljp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437111/original/file-20211213-23-1lgeljp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437111/original/file-20211213-23-1lgeljp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437111/original/file-20211213-23-1lgeljp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437111/original/file-20211213-23-1lgeljp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437111/original/file-20211213-23-1lgeljp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437111/original/file-20211213-23-1lgeljp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Places that feel safe during the day might feel very different at night.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeffrey Blum/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ambiences are also complex. One person’s joyful ambience can be another person’s nightmare.</p>
<p>Take the issue of noise annoyance from band venues. Many pubs and clubs have been <a href="https://junkee.com/kings-cross-noise-complaints/194008">forced to close</a> due to complaints from newly built housing. </p>
<p>Melbourne was one of the first cities in the world to institute “<a href="https://www.livetoolkit.com.au/guide/agent-of-change">agent of change</a>” laws. It is now the agent of change – whether a housing developer or new venue operator – who is responsible for noise management. The results seem positive: buildings have <a href="https://www.planningventures.co.uk/2021/05/10/how-to-do-how-to-manage-noise-with-your-development/">improved noise protection</a> while both cultural institutions and tenant quietude are preserved.</p>
<h2>First Nations ambiences</h2>
<p>First Nations people had and continue to foreground ambiences in their connections with country. Connecting with country is often described <a href="https://www.miriamrosefoundation.org.au/dadirri/">as a feeling</a> in which the body opens to the expressions of the land.</p>
<p>In his book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/45449501-sand-talk">Sand Talk</a>, Indigenous scholar Tyson Yunkaporta writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are aspects of consciousness, knowledge and knowledge transmission that have not been explained or proven scientifically […] They include the messages that land and Ancestors bring to us – a bird or animal behaving strangely, a sudden wind gust, a coincidence that highlights a deep meaning or revelation, a burst of inspiration – these are the things that make knowledge processes sacred and magical.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yunkaporta’s passage highlights something all but lost in contemporary civilizations: a capacity to connect deeply with the spirit of the land. Designing ambiences cannot (and should not) play proxy to such complex cultural and spiritual understandings; however, it may provide new insights into the ways we can connect with the environments in which we live.</p>
<h2>Designing ambiences</h2>
<p>So how do architects and designers think about designing ambiences? There are many practitioners from many fields doing some beautiful and thoughtful work in this area. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437104/original/file-20211213-15-1olaziw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437104/original/file-20211213-15-1olaziw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437104/original/file-20211213-15-1olaziw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437104/original/file-20211213-15-1olaziw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437104/original/file-20211213-15-1olaziw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437104/original/file-20211213-15-1olaziw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437104/original/file-20211213-15-1olaziw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437104/original/file-20211213-15-1olaziw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peter Zumthor’s Serpentine Pavilion brought nature back into London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanstanton/6181993662">Alan Stanton/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Peter Zumthor is a standout architect, who, influenced by Zen Buddhism, carefully considers the role of the senses in his designs. His <a href="https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/serpentine-gallery-pavilion-2011-peter-zumthor/">2011 Serpentine Pavilion</a> created an enclosure with scented flowers and humming bees, creating an ambience in which people could escape the hustle and bustle of London. He even asked for nearby generators to be switched off, so people could sink more easily into the sounds. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-new-relationship-with-urban-noise-46207">Soundscape design</a> is a developing field seeking positive ways to shape the sounds of the city (like a landscape designer creates new landforms). Public sound artists in particular, have led the way in soundscape design. Bruce Odland and Sam Auninger’s <a href="https://massmoca.org/event/bruce-odland-sam-auinger-harmonic-bridge/">Harmonic Bridge</a> uses tuning tubes to turn the sound of traffic into a calm, melodic drone.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-new-relationship-with-urban-noise-46207">We need a new relationship with urban noise</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Finally, there is the growing importance of the work of <a href="https://theconversation.com/building-a-second-nature-into-our-cities-wildness-art-and-biophilic-design-88642">biophilic designers</a> bringing nature into the city to improve human well-being. I am interested in ways we can bring nature into the city to create healing, restful and collaborative spaces. </p>
<p>I worked with landscape architect Charles Anderson to place our prototype biophilic sound design installation <a href="https://jordan-lacey.com/project/translating-ambiance?index=sonic-gathering-space">Sonic Gathering Place</a> in the forecourt of the Old Melbourne Gaol: a small circular seating area surrounded by plants and sounds from four National Parks in Australia.</p>
<p>If in Melbourne, we encourage you to visit the work and to take a moment to explore an unexpected ambience in the middle of the city.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173429/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Lacey receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>There is a reason your body draws you back to the same place again and again. It’s not simply habit, it is also the ways a place makes our body feel.Jordan Lacey, Research Fellow, School of Design, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1727582022-01-10T19:12:45Z2022-01-10T19:12:45ZWithout urgent action, these are the street trees unlikely to survive climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439769/original/file-20220107-19-wrkl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3745&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cities across the world are on the front line of climate change, and calls are <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/factsheets/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_Urban_areas.pdf">growing</a> for more urban cooling. Many governments are spending big on new trees in public places – but which species are most likely to thrive in a warmer world?</p>
<p>Numerical targets such as “one million trees” dominate tree-planting programs in cities such as <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/research/highlights/highlights_display.php?in_high_id=361">Los Angeles</a>, <a href="https://www.milliontreesnyc.org/">New York</a>, <a href="http://www.mtpchina.org/">Shanghai</a>, <a href="https://greeningthewest.org.au/1-million-trees-melbournes-west/">Melbourne</a> and <a href="https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/premiers-priorities/greening-our-city">Sydney</a>. But whacking a million trees into the ground won’t necessarily mean greener suburbs in decades to come.</p>
<p>Often, not enough attention is paid to selecting the right trees or providing enough water so they survive a hotter, drier climate in future. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15976">recent research</a>, we assessed the effects of extreme heat and drought on urban tree species. Some much-loved tree species, widely planted across our cities, did not handle the conditions well. It shows how important decisions must be made today for urban greening programs to succeed in a warmer world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="City suburb with road and trees" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439770/original/file-20220107-21-1e6knt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439770/original/file-20220107-21-1e6knt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439770/original/file-20220107-21-1e6knt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439770/original/file-20220107-21-1e6knt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439770/original/file-20220107-21-1e6knt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439770/original/file-20220107-21-1e6knt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439770/original/file-20220107-21-1e6knt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We must pay more attention to ensuring urban trees survive climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A hothouse experiment</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Dead tree near tram lines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439931/original/file-20220109-21-1922ifg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439931/original/file-20220109-21-1922ifg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1229&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439931/original/file-20220109-21-1922ifg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1229&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439931/original/file-20220109-21-1922ifg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1229&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439931/original/file-20220109-21-1922ifg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439931/original/file-20220109-21-1922ifg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439931/original/file-20220109-21-1922ifg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Intense heat and drought can damage urban trees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Ellsworth</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In January 2020, following several years of drought, Penrith in Western Sydney hit 48.9°C – the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/sydney-s-penrith-the-hottest-place-on-earth-amid-devastating-bushfires/990f7843-278b-4973-90ab-b6dcb01c97aa">hottest temperature</a> ever recorded in Greater Sydney. Researchers later assessed about 5,500 street trees and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1618866721002466?via%3Dihub">found</a> more than 10% displayed canopy damage. Exotic deciduous species fared the worst. </p>
<p>The event showed how simultaneous intense heat and drought can damage urban trees. </p>
<p>Trees cool down in hot temperatures by losing water through microscopic openings in their leaves called stomata. Sufficiently watered trees can often tolerate extreme hot temperatures, while drought-stressed trees may struggle to survive. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15976">Our research</a> involved stress-testing 20 broadleaf evergreen tree species from habitats ranging from tropical rainforests to semi-arid woodlands. </p>
<p>Seedlings were grown in a coordinated glasshouse experiment. After the plants were established and acclimatised, half of them – five plants per species – were exposed to a gradual, five-week drought. </p>
<p>In the final week of water deficit, all plants were exposed to conditions simulating a six-day heatwave.</p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>The 20 plant species varied widely in their ability to handle these conditions. </p>
<p>Of the plants exposed to both heat and drought, two species suffered modest crown dieback (a decline in health of the canopy) and another four species suffered extensive crown dieback. </p>
<p>Most plants resumed growth after the heatwave but several individual plants died: two swamp banksia (<em>Banksia robur</em>) and one crimson bottlebrush (<em>Callistemon citrinus</em>).</p>
<p>Species with dense wood and small, thick, dense leaves use water efficiently and are drought-tolerant. The species which fared best in our study included orange jasmine (<em>Murraya paniculata</em>), inland rosewood (<em>Alectryon oleifolius</em>) and Australian teak (<em>Flindersia australis</em>).</p>
<p>Even when plant species had access to water, their tolerance of heat stress varied widely. Swamp banksia (<em>Banksia robur</em>) and powderpuff lilly pilly (<em>Syzygium wilsonii</em>) suffered extensive crown dieback even with access to water. This shows warmer heatwaves may threaten urban trees in both wet and dry years.</p>
<p>While some species may fare well in heat and drought, they may not necessarily be the best choice for cooling our cities. Many drought-tolerant species such as leopardwood (<em>Flindersia maculosa</em>) grow slowly and have sparse foliage that provides little shade or cooling. But these species could be planted in sunny, dry areas to create habitat and improve biodiversity.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-green-more-zzzzz-trees-may-help-us-sleep-132354">More green, more ‘zzzzz’? Trees may help us sleep</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So what about trees like the weeping fig (<em>Ficus microcarpa</em>) and London plane tree (<em>Platanus</em> x <em>acerifolia</em>), which are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126746">widely planted</a> in Sydney, Melbourne and other Australian cities?</p>
<p>These trees are at greater risk during heat and drought, because they have soft, low-density wood and thin, large leaves that are vulnerable to heat. But they grow quickly and form extensive canopies that help cool urban areas. </p>
<p>So these trees should be planted where water is available, either from rain or through active management such as irrigation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Microscope image of leaf" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439777/original/file-20220107-17-1u8fd61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439777/original/file-20220107-17-1u8fd61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439777/original/file-20220107-17-1u8fd61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439777/original/file-20220107-17-1u8fd61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439777/original/file-20220107-17-1u8fd61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439777/original/file-20220107-17-1u8fd61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439777/original/file-20220107-17-1u8fd61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Microscopic image of leaf damaged by heat in the glasshouse study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Agnieszka Wujeska-Klause</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looking ahead to a hot future</h2>
<p>Our research highlights how access to water is crucial for the survival of urban trees during hotter and drier summers. </p>
<p>That means urban greening programs must also incorporate elements of so-called “<a href="http://bioveins.eu/blog/article2">blue</a>” infrastructure – retaining water in urban landscapes via engineered solutions and making it available for plant uptake. Such infrastructure comes together under the umbrella of “water sensitive urban design”.</p>
<p>Examples include passive irrigation (where trees draw water from <a href="https://wsroc.com.au/projects/project-turn-down-the-heat/turn-down-the-heat-resources-5">storage pits</a> containing stormwater) or <a href="https://www.sydneywater.com.au/content/dam/sydneywater/documents/urban-typologies-and-stormwater-management-part-2.pdf">raingardens</a> – garden beds that filter stormwater runoff. Planting young trees in locations where such design is applied will improve their odds of survival. </p>
<p>Such methods offer multiple benefits: increasing the health of trees, helping prevent flooding during storms and reducing the need for additional irrigation from local water supplies.</p>
<p>Across the world, extreme heat in cities will affect citizens, infrastructure and natural environments. Effective planning for urban trees is needed now to strike the right balance between trees that cool our cities and those that will survive increasingly harsh conditions.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-years-condemn-australia-is-forgetting-the-sacred-trees-planted-to-remember-our-war-dead-159426">The years condemn: Australia is forgetting the sacred trees planted to remember our war dead</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Renée M. Prokopavicius receives funding from the Australian Government as recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (project DE200100649) and from a NSW Government Greening our City grant (project GoC0000000101); the views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Government or the Australian Research Council. R. M. Prokopavicius worked on the Which Plant Where project from 2017-2020, which is funded by the Green Cities Fund, as part of the Hort Frontiers Strategic Partnership Initiative developed by Hort Innovation, with co-investment from Macquarie University, Western Sydney University, and the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:d.ellsworth@westernsydney.edu.au">d.ellsworth@westernsydney.edu.au</a> receives funding from Hort Innovation Australia via the Green Cities Fund, as part of the Hort Frontiers Strategic Partnership Initiative developed by Hort Innovation, with co-investment from Macquarie University, Western Sydney University, and the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. He also receives funding from the Australian Research Council that can be related to this work.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sebastian Pfautsch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>important decisions must be made today for urban greening programs to succeed in a warmer world.Renée M Prokopavicius, Postdoctoral Researcher in Plant Ecophysiology, Western Sydney UniversityDavid S Ellsworth, Professor, Western Sydney UniversitySebastian Pfautsch, Research Theme Fellow - Environment and Sustainability, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1722262021-12-29T21:28:05Z2021-12-29T21:28:05ZUp on a roof: why New Zealand’s move towards greater urban density should see a rooftop revolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436847/original/file-20211210-21-15vpvw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C4977%2C2813&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>New Zealand has historically been a suburban land. Famously <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/1997/the-half-gallon-quarter-acre-pavlova-paradise">characterised</a> as a “quarter-acre pavlova paradise”, the domestic ideal has long been a single dwelling on a full section. But that is changing fast.</p>
<p>With soaring house prices and homes in short supply, <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300433304/labour-national-announce-sweeping-housing-density-law-threestorey-homes-without-consent">medium-density development</a> is set to fill urban and suburban horizons. Combined with a growing awareness of ecological sustainability, it seems Kiwis may soon be looking up to those green spaces they once looked at through backyard windows.</p>
<p>So, why not a rooftop revolution? Humans have made use of roof spaces since the invention of housing. Legend has it the Hanging Gardens of Babylon that greened the ancient city were created on roofs and terraces by those yearning for nature within their urban landscape.</p>
<p>These days, rooftop gardens and the “green roofs” movement are trending internationally, both as domestic and commercial spaces. Once useful for solar power and collecting rainwater, roofs are now used for food production, growing mini “forests” to mitigate climate change, “wildlife gardening”, leisure and entertainment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436848/original/file-20211210-68670-1hdfld1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436848/original/file-20211210-68670-1hdfld1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436848/original/file-20211210-68670-1hdfld1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436848/original/file-20211210-68670-1hdfld1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436848/original/file-20211210-68670-1hdfld1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436848/original/file-20211210-68670-1hdfld1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436848/original/file-20211210-68670-1hdfld1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436848/original/file-20211210-68670-1hdfld1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s famous roof garden on the restrooms in Kawakawa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rooftops of the world</h2>
<p>Examples of rooftop regeneration are everywhere. Thailand’s Thammasat University, for instance, boasts urban farming on its rice terrace-influenced <a href="https://worldlandscapearchitect.com/thammasat-university-the-largest-urban-rooftop-farm-in-asia/">green roof</a>, a multipurpose organic food space, public commons, water management system, energy generator and outdoor classroom. </p>
<p>The rooftop of the Paris Exhibition Centre is <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2020/06/28/the-world-s-largest-rooftop-garden-has-just-opened-in-paris">now a vegetable garden</a>, aimed at cutting the cost of food miles and feeding locals. With its massive, architectural “supertrees”, Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay invents a lush oasis in the densely populated city-state. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bees-in-the-city-designing-green-roofs-for-pollinators-84688">Bees in the city: Designing green roofs for pollinators</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Closer to home, the artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s famous roof garden on the <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/7817/kawakawa-public-toilets">restrooms in Kawakawa</a> was a precursor to his remarkable Waldspirale building in Darmstadt, Germany.</p>
<p>Typical of his belief in culturally diverse urban forms that co-exist with nature, the apartment complex includes a <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/waldspirale">forest on its spiral roof</a>. Even more ambitious, Whangārei’s brand-new Hundertwasser Art Centre has a <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/452692/hundertwasser-art-centre-due-to-open-in-whangarei">forest rooftop</a> that includes more than 4,000 plants. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436849/original/file-20211210-188518-tv3ice.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436849/original/file-20211210-188518-tv3ice.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436849/original/file-20211210-188518-tv3ice.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436849/original/file-20211210-188518-tv3ice.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436849/original/file-20211210-188518-tv3ice.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436849/original/file-20211210-188518-tv3ice.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436849/original/file-20211210-188518-tv3ice.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The green roof</h2>
<p>Similar ideas inform the the <a href="https://www.greenroofs.com/projects/university-of-auckland-engineering-building/">green roof</a> on the University of Auckland’s engineering building. The project involves six plots containing 3,600 native and succulent plants, chosen for their ability to cope with both drought and flood conditions. Pumice, clay and bark are among the soil substitutes on trial, all part of proving a model for both commercial and domestic buildings. </p>
<p>To the west, the <a href="https://greenroofs.co.nz/projects/waitakere-civic-centre/">Waitākere Civic Centre green roof</a> was designed to manage rainwater runoff, increase energy efficiency and promote biodiversity. The flat 500sqm garden contains ten types of native plant, iris and sand dune coprosma. The roof provides food and habitat for native insects and birds.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/using-valuable-inner-city-land-for-car-parking-in-a-housing-crisis-that-just-doesnt-add-up-168745">Using valuable inner-city land for car parking? In a housing crisis, that just doesn’t add up</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Rooftop development also offers the opportunity to decolonise cities, showcasing local culture and ecology and creating Māori spaces. Part of a renaissance in Māori architecture, Auckland International Airport’s green roof was <a href="https://inhabitat.com/the-cloak-fearon-hay-architects-install-a-maori-inspired-green-roof-at-auckland-international-airport/">influenced by korowai</a> and made from flax fibre with geometric patterning. </p>
<p>And to the south, with part of its intention being to absorb noise pollution from the airport, Remarkables Primary School in Queenstown has a green roof that blends into the landscape and can be <a href="https://greenroofs.co.nz/projects/remarkables-primary-school-queenstown-new-zealand/">used as a classroom</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436850/original/file-20211210-188518-1pudl1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436850/original/file-20211210-188518-1pudl1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436850/original/file-20211210-188518-1pudl1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436850/original/file-20211210-188518-1pudl1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436850/original/file-20211210-188518-1pudl1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436850/original/file-20211210-188518-1pudl1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436850/original/file-20211210-188518-1pudl1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Press Lounge rooftop bar in New York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Drinking in the view</h2>
<p>If there’s a pioneer of the sky-high lifestyle it’s probably the rooftop bar and restaurant. Kensington Roof Gardens in London opened in 1938, and from 1981 to 2018 was the site of Richard Branson’s appropriately named Babylon restaurant. </p>
<p>But the city rooftop bar is now a staple around the world. <a href="https://www.therooftopguide.com/rooftop-bars-in-auckland.html">Auckland</a> and <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/new-zealand/articles/the-best-rooftop-bars-in-wellington-new-zealand/">Wellington</a> boast multiple options, and post-earthquake Christchurch defies the loss of so much of the central city with two bars atop restored heritage buildings. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-cut-emissions-from-transport-ban-fossil-fuel-cars-electrify-transport-and-get-people-walking-and-cycling-154363">How to cut emissions from transport: ban fossil fuel cars, electrify transport and get people walking and cycling</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For those old enough to remember, these rooftop playgrounds might make them nostalgic for the real versions from their childhoods. </p>
<p>Taking their lead from the US, magical department store rooftop playgrounds thrilled generations of Kiwi children while their mothers shopped. On the Farmer’s rooftop in Auckland they could drive model cars, happily caught up in a fairground atmosphere that featured a giant toadstool. </p>
<p>On the Hay’s rooftop in Christchurch there were cheap rides on spaceships and fibreglass dinosaurs to slide down. There was even a popular purpose-built crèche on top of the then new Wellington railway station between 1937 and 1941. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436854/original/file-20211210-25-1gja0wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436854/original/file-20211210-25-1gja0wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436854/original/file-20211210-25-1gja0wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436854/original/file-20211210-25-1gja0wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436854/original/file-20211210-25-1gja0wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436854/original/file-20211210-25-1gja0wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436854/original/file-20211210-25-1gja0wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Embracing Babylon</h2>
<p>All of this suggests we might be ready for the rooftop revolution. The question is, however, is there a political and civic commitment to greening the mass of new medium-density roof spaces now being built? </p>
<p>It will likely take a shift in mindset, supportive legislation and perhaps subsidies. In bucolic “God’s Own Country”, where our mental maps are of wide open spaces rather than vertical ones, roofscapes are going to take a bit of getting used to. </p>
<p>Might embracing a Kiwi Babylon mitigate our nostalgia for low-density living and let us re-imagine green spaces in exciting new ways? Let’s hope so. History tells us rooftops can combine utility with pleasure and sustainability. We just need to look up.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172226/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Pickles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For a long time the roof has been an afterthought in urban design, but the future is definitely looking up.Katie Pickles, Professor of History, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1723932021-12-27T19:02:07Z2021-12-27T19:02:07ZTriumph of the mall: how Victor Gruen’s grand urban vision became our suburban shopping reality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436231/original/file-20211207-140109-1jbz8gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C21%2C4760%2C3516&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The holiday season is a time of merriment and joy, a time to gather with friends and family, when we’re encouraged to slow down and remember the simple things in life.</p>
<p>Ironically, it’s also when we spend hours in a car, driving to the mall for the sales and to spend those Christmas vouchers.</p>
<p>When it comes to mall irony, though, few people have felt it as profoundly as the “father of the suburban mall”, Victor Gruen, whose idealistic urban vision became the suburban reality we know today.</p>
<p>Gruen fled his native Vienna in 1938 after the rise of Nazism, eventually making his way to the United States. A trained architect, he was soon designing storefronts in New York. </p>
<p>But Gruen had a grander vision. He wanted to re-create in microcosm the walkable, diverse and liveable town centres he so loved in Vienna.</p>
<p>Part of his motivation was seeing how reliance on the automobile was affecting cities. In his classic book, <a href="https://archive.org/details/shoppingtownsusa00grue/mode/2up?view=theater&ui=embed&wrapper=false">Shopping Towns USA</a>, Gruen rails against the development of drive-by shopping centres focused on catering to passing motorists:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Suburban business real estate has often been evaluated on the basis of passing automobile traffic. This evaluation overlooks the fact that automobiles do not buy merchandise.</p>
</blockquote>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sZOZOH2RU1w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<h2>Driven to distraction</h2>
<p>Gruen was determined to get people out of, and away from, cars. He didn’t mince words in his dislike for automobiles, stating in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZOZOH2RU1w&ab_channel=guyjohn59">1964 speech</a> to the American Institute of Architects:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One technological event has swamped us. That is the advent of the rubber-wheeled vehicle. The private car, the truck, the trailer as means of mass transportation. And their threat to human life and health is just as great as that of the exposed sewer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>His first big attempt to get people out from behind the wheel and walking was Minnesota’s Southdale Center, hailed as the world’s first indoor shopping mall, part of an ambition to create a pedestrian-centred liveable community.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-and-tescos-checkout-free-stores-are-a-niche-idea-that-wont-save-the-high-street-173113">Amazon and Tesco's checkout-free stores are a niche idea that won't save the high street</a>
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<p>The original plan was for commerce to be broken up by numerous attractions like aviaries, fountains and works of art. The mall itself would be surrounded by residences, offices, medical facilities, schools and everything that made a community.</p>
<p>The mall was inward-looking, not to keep people focused on spending but to shelter pedestrians from cars and away from their fumes and noise.</p>
<p>Here’s the first painful irony, then. Rather than developing the new mixed-use centre envisioned by Gruen, the only thing built was the mall and car parks. The grand vision was reduced to a monoculture of big shopping brands surrounded by massive car parks, all accessible only by automobile.</p>
<p>What was meant as a refuge from the quickly dominating car culture instead became a shrine to automobilia.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436233/original/file-20211207-19-127pdex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436233/original/file-20211207-19-127pdex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436233/original/file-20211207-19-127pdex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436233/original/file-20211207-19-127pdex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436233/original/file-20211207-19-127pdex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436233/original/file-20211207-19-127pdex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436233/original/file-20211207-19-127pdex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wanting to get people out of their cars, Gruen unintentionally gave them somewhere to drive to.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Triumph of commerce</h2>
<p>Irony struck again when many of Gruen’s original plans for interesting features in the mall were whittled away to make room for more stores and merchandise. As the original floor plan became more chaotic and stuffed with goods to buy, shoppers became confused, forgetting their intentions and dropping their spending inhibitions.</p>
<p>Developers and economists found that disorienting shoppers and presenting them with lots of things to buy resulted in much higher revenue. Though Gruen had planned for an efficient mall experience and despised the blatant money grab, the phenomenon was named after him. It’s now known as the <a href="https://gizmodo.com/the-cruel-irony-of-the-gruen-transfer-477602256">Gruen Transfer</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/burnout-by-design-warehouse-and-shipping-workers-pay-the-hidden-cost-of-the-holiday-season-172157">Burnout by design? Warehouse and shipping workers pay the hidden cost of the holiday season</a>
</strong>
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<p>Gruen was disgusted by what suburban malls became and their impact on downtowns. He eventually disavowed malls and became involved in the US urban renewal movement to try to revitalise urban centres.</p>
<p>But he returned to the idea of the mall, creating a pedestrian-oriented redevelopment plan for Fort Worth, Texas, and several pedestrian-only corridors in cities across the US. By this time, Gruen had acquiesced to the idea that cars were likely the future for cities – most residents lived outside the CBD and needed to drive into downtowns. </p>
<p>His idea was to mitigate the impact of cars by planning for ring highways rather than bisecting dense urban developments with massive roads. He planned to use the highways in the way he’d first envisaged the mall, as a buffer between cars and people on foot.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436234/original/file-20211207-140267-dvwyjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436234/original/file-20211207-140267-dvwyjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436234/original/file-20211207-140267-dvwyjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436234/original/file-20211207-140267-dvwyjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436234/original/file-20211207-140267-dvwyjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436234/original/file-20211207-140267-dvwyjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436234/original/file-20211207-140267-dvwyjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gruen was inspired by Vienna and ultimately returned there when his dreams were dashed in the US.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Return to Vienna</h2>
<p>Irony struck again. Gruen’s plans for Fort Worth were set aside. His plans to push cars out of downtowns largely failed. Urban renewal plans instead razed entire blocks of organic development for nondescript big-box stores and massive urban highways.</p>
<p>Worst yet, urban renewal became synonymous with the destruction of whole inner-city neighbourhoods to accommodate the car. Despite Gruen’s hopes and plans for the revitalisation of downtowns, many of the projects he was involved in led to a further decline in urban centres.</p>
<p>In 1964, Gruen lamented what had become of urban renewal, writing many cities:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>have misinterpreted the aims of urban renewal legislation by demolishing whole districts and by replacing lively environments, which could have been rehabilitated, with sterile, inhuman and poorly planned projects.</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-high-streets-and-shopping-malls-face-a-domino-effect-from-major-store-closures-97263">How high streets and shopping malls face a 'domino effect' from major store closures</a>
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<p>Gruen perhaps saw the writing on the wall. His hopes of recreating Vienna had been dashed, so he returned to his hometown in the final decade of his life. Irony dealt him a final blow. Austria’s first and largest mall – Shopping City Süd – was already under construction just outside the old Vienna town centre.</p>
<p>While Gruen’s story is full of cruel twists, it’s not without the possibility of redemption. As malls across the globe die, many are being reborn as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/lifestyle-centers-reinvented-communities-or-dressed-up-shopping-malls-36752">lifestyle centres</a>”. These reimagined malls bring back the elements lost from Gruen’s original plans, adding people and services to once desolate shopping zones.</p>
<p>Alas, the impacts of recessions and a pandemic have slowed grand plans for mall revitalisation. So it remains to be seen whether, in the end, Gruen’s is a redemption story – or whether irony remains his legacy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Welch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If you’re stuck in mall traffic this holiday season, spare a thought for Victor Gruen, whose grand urban vision turned into today’s suburban reality.Timothy Welch, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1709732021-11-10T12:56:01Z2021-11-10T12:56:01ZMore parks and waterways in cities could prevent premature deaths, study finds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431280/original/file-20211110-19-d7k19p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Urban parks and waterways are crucial to the wellbeing of city residents.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/87n4IpQl6c4">Yanapi Senaud | unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en">FAL</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For city dwellers, having access to green space is generally touted as a guardian of <a href="https://theconversation.com/heart-health-design-cities-differently-and-it-can-help-us-live-longer-162038">good health</a>. <a href="https://journals.lww.com/epidem/Abstract/2017/01000/Fifty_Shades_of_Green__Pathway_to_Healthy_Urban.11.aspx">Research shows</a> that spending time in parks and urban woodlands, green streets and gardens contributes to fewer mental-health problems, less heart disease, better cognitive functioning in both children and the elderly, and healthier babies. </p>
<p>This is particularly true for children. Those who go to <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-space-around-primary-schools-may-improve-students-academic-performance-161673">greener schools</a> with more trees and natural play areas <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935121006198?via%3Dihub">have been shown</a> to have better brain development and exams results. <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/10/1809">Research also shows</a> that early childhood exposure to green space can lead to fewer mental health problems in adult life.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00229-1/fulltext">Our research</a> confirms that access to urban parks and other green space contributes to lower premature mortality and longer life expectancy. We have found that up to 43,000 premature deaths could be prevented annually in more than 1,000 European cities if they achieved the recommendations set out by the World Health Organization (WHO) in terms of residential proximity to green space. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Green spaces in between high-rise buildings, seen from above" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431265/original/file-20211110-25-1mfjtth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431265/original/file-20211110-25-1mfjtth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431265/original/file-20211110-25-1mfjtth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431265/original/file-20211110-25-1mfjtth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431265/original/file-20211110-25-1mfjtth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431265/original/file-20211110-25-1mfjtth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431265/original/file-20211110-25-1mfjtth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Green space is only beneficial if designers ensure people can use it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/oqJxJ4TYoQg">CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en">FAL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Official guidelines</h2>
<p>The WHO recommends universal access to green space and recommends that there should be a green space measuring at least 0.5 hectares (3.7 acres) no more than 300 metres from every home. However, <a href="https://isglobalranking.org/">our results showed</a> that 62% of the population in the nearly 1,000 European cities lives in areas with less green space than recommended. Particularly in poorer neighbourhoods, there isn’t enough green space close to where people live. This means people don’t get the health benefits they could. </p>
<p>For urban planners, as a rule of thumb, every citizen should be able to see at least three trees from their home, have 30% of tree-canopy cover in their neighbourhood and live within 300 metres of the nearest park or green space. This is the so-called 3-30-300 rule <a href="https://iucnurbanalliance.org/promoting-health-and-wellbeing-through-urban-forests-introducing-the-3-30-300-rule/">originally proposed</a> by Dutch urban forestry expert Cecil Konijnendijk. </p>
<p>Health professionals increasingly also underline the importance of so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/blue-space-access-to-water-features-can-boost-city-dwellers-mental-health-122995">blue space</a> in urban environments: rivers, lakes, beaches and seafronts. Going for a walk along a canal or being on the water in a boat brings health benefits, as does swimming. </p>
<p>It has been shown to lead to <a href="https://theconversation.com/living-near-water-can-be-beneficial-to-your-mental-health-heres-how-to-have-more-blue-spaces-in-cities-150486">better mental health</a> and more physical activity and, to a less extent, to better general health. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1438463917302699?via%3Dihub">Research has found</a> it helps to reduce obesity and heart disease. It may help reduce <a href="https://theconversation.com/making-cities-cooler-is-a-no-brainer-so-why-are-we-doing-so-little-about-it-95607">urban heat-island effects</a> in cities: city planners have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969717301754">long highlighted</a> the vital contributions bodies of water can play in cooling urban centres. Once again, there is not enough of it near to where people live in cities. </p>
<h2>Missing spaces</h2>
<p>The mere presence of green or blue space, however, is not enough. People need access to them. To maintain good health and wellbeing, at least two hours per week of visits to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44097-3?fbclid=IwAR3G-raHSnyJl6M_wnVYweU_8GmMgiCyKqWTxpVczI6-F5ZvZMfO8yhiWjQ">green</a> or <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-87675-0">blue</a> space are recommended. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A ferry on the Seine in Paris" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431270/original/file-20211110-25-tyiz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431270/original/file-20211110-25-tyiz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431270/original/file-20211110-25-tyiz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431270/original/file-20211110-25-tyiz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431270/original/file-20211110-25-tyiz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431270/original/file-20211110-25-tyiz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431270/original/file-20211110-25-tyiz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Blue space, the city’s underrated benefactor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/mPtVvRj9Kew">Bastien Nvs on Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en">FAL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The EU-funded <a href="https://gogreenroutes.eu/">GoGreenRoutes project</a>, currently underway in cities across Europe, Latin America and China, aims to make city-dwellers more connected to nature. It is looking at how to use green and blue space to enhance inhabitants’ physical and mental health in cities including Burgas in Bulgaria, Tallinn in Estonia and Umea in Sweden. This includes increasing the number of shared walkways, stretches of greenery such as canal towpaths or disused railbeds, and so-called pocket parks, which are the irregular bits of land on street corners or vacant lots that can be landscaped into tiny green spaces. </p>
<p>More generally, European cities should focus on reclaiming urban land to provide more green space. This could take the shape of everything from <a href="https://theconversation.com/biophilic-urbanism-how-rooftop-gardening-soothes-souls-76789">planting gardens on rooftops</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-buildings-can-bring-fresh-air-to-design-but-they-can-also-bring-pests-147838">building garden walls</a> to adding trees and <a href="https://theconversation.com/parks-help-cities-but-only-if-people-use-them-103474">pocket parks</a> to street corners. It is about rerouting traffic, digging up asphalt and replacing it with as much greenery as possible. Similarly, <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-cities-that-plan-for-their-rivers-102670">waterways</a> should be made accessible to all. </p>
<p><em>This piece was updated on February 10, 2022, to correctly place the city of Burgas in Bulgaria and not Romania as was previously stated.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170973/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Nieuwenhuijsen receives funding from the European Union for a number of green space related projects. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Razieh Zandieh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In cities across Europe, 62% of the population doesn’t have access to the amount of nature the World Health Organisation recommends.Razieh Zandieh, Lecturer in urban planning and design, University of ManchesterMark Nieuwenhuijsen, Research Professor ISGlobal Barcelona and Professorial Fellow, ACU Melbourne, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1698222021-10-27T02:50:10Z2021-10-27T02:50:10ZCan artists revive dead city centres? Without long-term tenancies it’s window dressing<p>After 18 months of lockdown, the City of Melbourne is understandably anxious to get people back to the CBD and inner areas. Commercial vacancy rates are high, international student numbers have plummeted and the streets are dead. </p>
<p>The council’s $A2.6 million <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/news-and-media/Pages/Creatives-to-fill-shopfronts-and-bring-back-the-buzz.aspx">plan to provide</a> “creatives and entrepreneurs” with “flexible, short-term licence agreements” should, however, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/empty-shops-an-opportunity-for-creative-revival-but-planning-is-key-20201022-p567im.html">ring alarm bells</a>. </p>
<p>You can’t just add instant culture to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877916614000447">activate an area</a>. These kinds of efforts are not just exploitative, there is no evidence that they work. </p>
<p>Temporary use arrangements in Australia keep artists on the edge of being thrown out at any time. </p>
<p>As the council CEO Justin Hanney <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/one-in-five-cbd-shops-vacant-but-some-are-seizing-opportunity-20211019-p5915s.html">notes</a>, artists will have the space month-to-month and the properties can be “taken back by the landlords/owners at any point in time”. </p>
<p>Serious cultural producers will tell you one of the most important components of their ability to work is security of tenure.</p>
<p>Perhaps unwittingly, though, the shopfront program may hold promise. Economists predict the current <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/short-term-pain-but-economists-predict-long-term-gain-for-melbourne-cbd-20211019-p5915h.html">economic slump</a> will persist for at least a year, meaning temporary users will likely be looking at a more meaningful time frame. </p>
<p>In addition, Lord Mayor Sally Capp’s <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/one-in-five-cbd-shops-vacant-but-some-are-seizing-opportunity-20211019-p5915s.html">extension of the program</a> to “performance, new retail pop-ups, entrepreneurial activities, even community radio stations” opens out the field.</p>
<p>The program is part of the joint state government and council <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/news-and-media/Pages/%24100-million-boost-to-Melbourne%E2%80%99s-reopening.aspx">A$100m recovery fund</a>, in addition to the state’s <a href="https://creative.vic.gov.au/news/2021/new-targeted-support-for-creative-workers-and-organisations">$A15 million package</a> to support the hard hit creative sector. </p>
<p>These are positive initiatives. In crisis there is opportunity. Now, let’s think about how best to use this opening. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-covid-all-but-killed-the-australian-cbd-147848">How COVID all but killed the Australian CBD</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427650/original/file-20211020-66011-1df64vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="empty arcade in Melbourne's CBD" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427650/original/file-20211020-66011-1df64vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427650/original/file-20211020-66011-1df64vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427650/original/file-20211020-66011-1df64vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427650/original/file-20211020-66011-1df64vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427650/original/file-20211020-66011-1df64vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427650/original/file-20211020-66011-1df64vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427650/original/file-20211020-66011-1df64vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Melbourne’s streets emptied during the city’s lockdowns.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melbourne-australia-12-april-2020-one-1702544935">Shutterstock.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What do artists actually need?</h2>
<p>Arts, music, performance and other cultural activities should be treated as neither saviours nor indicators of a city’s economic health. They exist in their own right, with many spin-off and flow-on effects for the city including associated anti-racist, anti-fascist, LGBTI+-welcoming, social, environmental and political activism. </p>
<p>The strength of a city’s cultural scene is not linked to its economic success. The exception is that the more successful the city becomes, the more the scene is at risk.</p>
<p>Some of the world’s best cultural scenes are in poorer cities: New Orleans, Chicago, Berlin. Some of the world’s best scenes that have since died were in cities that became rich: New York, London, Paris. In all of these cities, along with cities like Austin, Seattle, Brisbane and Melbourne, two key conditions existed for the seeds of those scenes to be sown. Plenty of space and cheap rent.</p>
<p>Cities known for their arts and cultural activity today make a point of supporting those scenes – such as in New Orleans with a stream of world famous festivals employing only local artists and paying them well – or still have land available for cultural use and cheap housing, such as in Chicago and Berlin.</p>
<p>But Berlin is changing rapidly. The city celebrated for its alternative scene is gentrifying, with vacancy rates shrinking and property prices and rents <a href="https://www.insidenetwork.com/the-berlin-real-estate-market-and-vacancy-rates/">increasing</a> (due more to the large tax incentives offered to companies to relocate to Germany’s capital than to any cultural activity). These trends place the scene <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2020/mar/15/club-closure-berlin-dance-east-west-germany-gentrification">under pressure</a>.</p>
<p>Cultural entrepreneurs are responding by <a href="https://www.holzmarkt.com/">buying their venues</a>, often with institutional assistance, before the land becomes too expensive. Housing activists are <a href="https://righttobuildtoolkit.org.uk/case-studies/spreefeld-genossenschaft-berlin/#">building their own co-ops</a>, and artists are campaigning effectively for <a href="https://www.themayor.eu/fr/a/view/hamburg-s-alliance-for-housing-is-here-to-fix-the-housing-crisis-8257?trans=en-US">more social housing</a>, <a href="https://www.thelocal.de/20210907/housing-is-a-human-right-rent-activists-step-up-pressure-ahead-of-german-elections">rent caps and freezes</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-09-23/berlin-referendum-targets-city-s-corporate-landlords">renationalisation</a> of private housing companies.</p>
<p>Most of these initiatives are aided by considerable financial or government support, with cultural producers and entrepreneurs recognised and respected members of civil society. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-help-artists-and-cultural-industries-recover-from-the-covid-19-disaster-149815">How to help artists and cultural industries recover from the COVID-19 disaster</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What could Melbourne do?</h2>
<p>Melbourne’s large cultural scene has been fighting gentrification for decades. Organisations such as <a href="http://fairgo4livemusic.com/">Fair Go for Live Music</a>, <a href="https://www.bakehousestudios.com.au/slam">Save Live Australia’s Music</a> and most recently, <a href="https://www.saveourscene.com.au/">Save Our Scene</a> have clearly shown the threats from economic growth to local culture. Until very recently, government support has been sorely lacking. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1446974770634010630"}"></div></p>
<p>But in the current economic climate, with vacancy rates higher and property prices and rents lower than they have been for years in the inner-city and stricken CBD, a real opportunity exists to literally as well as metaphorically embed the scene in the city’s fabric. </p>
<p>Part of the $A100 million recovery fund should provide deposits and guarantees for artist and artist-collective purchases of inner-city property. That would take those places out of the market and secure a place for the arts for the long term. </p>
<p>The state government and council could broker secure, long-term leases for cultural producers, using influence and incentives to negotiate reasonable rentals that would give owners secure, long-term revenue streams. </p>
<p>They could help venues, performance spaces, galleries and cinemas to fully open up again. Permanent arts spaces could be secured in the <a href="https://www.nicholasbuilding.org.au/">Nicholas Building</a> – a hive of cultural production right on the doorstep of the Town Hall. </p>
<p>The Nicholas Building <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/oct/12/the-only-place-like-it-in-the-world-why-the-nicholas-building-is-the-creative-heart-of-melbourne">is on the market</a>, and artists fear they may lose it to development. Could it, instead, enter into public or collective ownership? </p>
<p>The pandemic-induced slump will pass and Australia’s cities will come to life again. They are stable and secure places to invest. Students will return, vacancies will decline and commercial and residential rents will increase, irrespective of the health of arts and culture.</p>
<p>Now is the time to act. If Melbourne’s state and city governments do not take the chance now to value what we are lucky to still have, we may lose it forever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Shaw has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, and the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius Gastwissenschaftsprogramm für Stadtforschung an der HCU (Fellows Program
for Urban Research at HafenCity University Hamburg) .</span></em></p>City centres have been hit hard by lockdown measures - but can artists and entrepreneurs really breathe life into the space?Kate Shaw, Honorary Senior Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1676982021-09-10T05:54:20Z2021-09-10T05:54:20ZHow the terrifying evacuations from the twin towers on 9/11 helped make today’s skyscrapers safer<p>The 2001 World Trade Center disaster was the most significant high-rise evacuation in modern times, and the harrowing experiences of the thousands of survivors who successfully escaped the twin towers have had a significant influence on building codes and standards. One legacy of the 9/11 tragedy is that today’s skyscrapers can be emptied much more safely and easily in an emergency.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420419/original/file-20210910-28-1qqreiu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic showing layout of elevators in the World Trade Center towers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420419/original/file-20210910-28-1qqreiu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420419/original/file-20210910-28-1qqreiu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420419/original/file-20210910-28-1qqreiu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420419/original/file-20210910-28-1qqreiu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420419/original/file-20210910-28-1qqreiu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1299&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420419/original/file-20210910-28-1qqreiu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420419/original/file-20210910-28-1qqreiu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1299&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The twin towers’ elevator layouts meant getting to ground level was more complicated on some floors than on others.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">US NIST</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The 110-storey twin towers, constructed from 1966 to 1973, both had open-plan floor designs, with stairs and elevators located in the buildings’ core. Each tower had three staircases which, barring a few twists and turns, ran all the way from the top of the building down to the mezzanine level just above the ground floor. One of the stairways had steps 142 centimetres wide, but the other two measured just 112cm, which would not be permitted by today’s skyscraper building codes.</p>
<p>As a result of the twin towers’ system of “<a href="https://skyrisecities.com/news/2016/03/explainer-sky-lobby">sky lobbies</a>”, which was innovative for its time, the number of available elevators varied depending on the floor. The system was not designed to be used in an emergency, and today, many towers above a certain height are required to be fitted with dedicated emergency elevators or an additional staircase. </p>
<p>When the planes hit on the morning of September 11 2001, the twin towers were at less than half their full occupancy, with <a href="https://www.nist.gov/publications/occupant-behavior-egress-and-emergency-communication-federal-building-and-fire-safety-0">about 9,000 people in each tower</a>. Many people who worked there had not yet arrived, partly because of a New York mayoral election scheduled for that day.</p>
<p>At 8:46am, American Airlines flight 11 slammed into the north face of the north tower, rendering all three staircases impassable for anyone above the 91st floor. Sixteen minutes later, and after one-third of its occupants had already evacuated, the south tower was hit by United Airlines flight 175, leaving only one staircase available for evacuees above the 78th floor.</p>
<p>Besides the problems posed by fires and damage on floors, and debris inside the stairways, people in both towers also faced issues with communication. The north tower’s public address system, which would have been used to make emergency announcements to the building’s occupants, was disabled by the crash. </p>
<p>In the south tower, three minutes before the impact, occupants were told via the public address system to stay in place and wait for further information. Two minutes later they were told they could evacuate if they wanted. This may have meant more people from higher floors were waiting at the sky lobby on floor 78 when the plane crashed into that floor.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/9-11-conspiracy-theories-debunked-20-years-later-engineering-experts-explain-how-the-twin-towers-collapsed-167353">9/11 conspiracy theories debunked: 20 years later, engineering experts explain how the twin towers collapsed</a>
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</em>
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<p>In both towers, people had only limited information on which to base their decisions. For those closest to the impacts, the seriousness of the situation and the need to evacuate was clear. But for those further away, who may have witnessed only the lights flicker, the uncertainty was palpable. Many people delayed their evacuation to seek out extra information, whether by speaking with colleagues, making phone calls, sending emails or searching online for news updates. </p>
<p>Many lives were saved by the brave leadership of people who took control of the situation, urging others to evacuate and helping those who needed assistance. My <a href="https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/6t053g11g">PhD research</a> revealed these were typically people who were used to taking charge: high-level managers, fire wardens and people with military experience.</p>
<h2>Hazardous exit</h2>
<p>Evacuees faced a dangerous and claustrophobic journey down to ground level. A <a href="https://www.nist.gov/el/final-reports-nist-world-trade-center-disaster-investigation">subsequent US government investigation</a> found 70% of evacuees encountered crowding on the stairs. Some people recalled having to leave the stairwell either because of overcrowding, being told to do so by fire or building officials, or because they needed a rest. Other problems included poor lighting, not knowing which direction to go, and finding the route unavoidably blocked by people with permanent or temporary disabilities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420423/original/file-20210910-17-5o1ihp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="World Trade Center stairwell" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420423/original/file-20210910-17-5o1ihp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420423/original/file-20210910-17-5o1ihp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420423/original/file-20210910-17-5o1ihp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420423/original/file-20210910-17-5o1ihp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420423/original/file-20210910-17-5o1ihp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420423/original/file-20210910-17-5o1ihp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420423/original/file-20210910-17-5o1ihp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the narrow staircases in the north tower, taken during the evacuation on September 11 2001.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NIST</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While people are typically told not to use elevators in an emergency, 16% of those who escaped the south tower used the elevators to evacuate during the 16 minutes between the two impacts. <a href="https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/article/10.1007/s10694-011-0240-y">Simulations</a> of a hypothetical 9/11 in which elevators were unavailable showed that occupants’ use of elevators saved 3,000 lives in the south tower.</p>
<p>Not everyone was so lucky. The <a href="https://www.nist.gov/publications/occupant-behavior-egress-and-emergency-communication-federal-building-and-fire-safety-0">US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) investigation</a> (on which I was an author) estimated that between 2,146 and 2,163 people were killed in the towers, and that more people died in the north tower, which was struck first. Most of those who died on 9/11 were on or above the floors hit by the planes. </p>
<p>Roughly 99% of people on floors below the impacts managed to evacuate successfully. For those who didn’t, the factors linked to their deaths included delaying their evacuation, performing emergency response duties, or being unable to leave their particular floor because of damage or debris. Had the buildings been fully occupied, the consequences would undoubtedly have been even worse.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/20-years-on-9-11-responders-are-still-sick-and-dying-166033">20 years on, 9/11 responders are still sick and dying</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Building better</h2>
<p>The stories of those who experienced the terrifying evacuations have helped to shape important and life-saving changes in high-rise buildings. The <a href="https://www.nist.gov/publications/occupant-behavior-egress-and-emergency-communication-federal-building-and-fire-safety-0">NIST report</a> made several recommendations that were eventually implemented in a range of building codes and standards around the world, notably the <a href="https://www.iccsafe.org/products-and-services/i-codes/2018-i-codes/ibc/">International Building Code</a>.</p>
<p>Emergency stairs in skyscrapers must now be at least 137cm wide, and feature glow-in-the-dark markings on the stair treads that are visible even if the power fails. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Stairwell in building in Taiwan" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420416/original/file-20210910-8898-4a51dt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420416/original/file-20210910-8898-4a51dt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420416/original/file-20210910-8898-4a51dt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420416/original/file-20210910-8898-4a51dt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420416/original/file-20210910-8898-4a51dt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420416/original/file-20210910-8898-4a51dt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420416/original/file-20210910-8898-4a51dt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stairwells in large buildings are now wider and have better signage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rico Shen/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s more, while elevator use is not typically encouraged during building fires, the International Building Code now requires a new “occupant-safe” elevator system or an additional staircase in buildings over 128 metres tall. These new elevator systems are designed to be safely used during fires, offering a vital escape route for people unable to use stairs.</p>
<p>The tragic events of 9/11 changed the world in all sorts of ways. But hopefully, when it comes to the design of today’s skyscrapers, it has changed things for the better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erica Kuligowski currently receives funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Measurement Science and Engineering Grants Program (as a subcontractor). She is affiliated with the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) as a Section Editor for their Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering (Human Behaviour Section) and as a member of the Board of Governors for the SFPE Foundation. Also, from 2002 to 2020, Erica worked as a research engineer and social scientist in the Engineering Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. While at NIST, Erica worked on NIST's Technical Investigation of the 2001 WTC Disaster as a team member of Project 7: Occupant Behavior, Egress, and Emergency Communications. Finally, Erica gratefully acknowledges the UK WTC project HEED, funded by the UK EPSRC (grant EP/D507790/1) for providing access to the HEED database, which was used in her PhD thesis.</span></em></p>99% of people below the floors where the planes struck the twin towers evacuated successfully, although their journey was fraught with danger. Their stories have influenced today’s skyscraper designs.Erica Kuligowski, Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.