The Green Urbanist: Recent Episodes
Ross O'Ceallaigh
The podcast for urbanists fighting climate change. Hosted by Ross O'Ceallaigh, a planner and urban designer based in London, this show explores how architects, planners, policy makers and designers can make cities more sustainable, healthy and happy.
This episode is a conversation with Helen Meech, Executive Director of the UK-based nonprofit The Climate Coalition. We talk about:
- How they are bringing climate action to millions of people through 'The Great Big Green Week'.
- The importance of community-led projects.
- How local climate events can lead to much bigger change.
Links:
The Climate Coalition
The Great Big Green Week
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GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool
The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.
With GatherMap you can create beautiful, interactive maps for public engagement and crowdsourcing data with maps.
Learn more here: https://gathermap.greenurbanist.org/
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GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool
The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.
Everyone seems to love vegetated buildings like 'Bosco Verticale' in Milan (pictured). So, why isn't this a standard building approach for new buildings? Why are there still so few of them?
In this episode I go under the surface and explain three reasons why vertical forest buildings are not commonplace – and why that might not be a bad thing.
Learn more about Urban Wilding Hub: https://urbanwildinghub.com/
Sources:
Stefano Boeri Architects: Bosco Verticale
Dark Matter Labs article: What's guiding our Regenerative Futures?
World Green Building Council article: It's not that easy being green
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The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.
Urban Wilding Hub is a new not-for-profit with the mission to mainstream rewilding in towns and cities across Europe. In this episode I explain why I'm launching this and how you can get involved.
Website
Wilding Partners
Urban Wilding Projects Map
Contact about volunteering or collaboration
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The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.
Biomimicry has the potential to transform the way we design buildings, public spaces and local economies to reduce environmental harm and improve our health.
Architect and author Michael Pawlyn joins me to discuss the newly released third edition of his book 'Biomimicry in Architecture'. We discuss what biomimicry actually means and lots of examples of how it can be applied in the built environment.
Buy the book: Biomimicry in Architecture (3rd Edition)
Listen to my previous conversation with Michael:
41: Michael Pawlyn (Flourish) - Regenerative Design, Biomimicry and Systems Change
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The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.
I'm co-leading a fantastic urban design training on 25 September at the Olympic Park in London, UK. Listen to learn more about the format and what you'll learn.
Learn more and register here: https://course.greenurbanist.org/masterclass-sept-25
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The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.
A conversation with Theo Michell (COO) and Joe Jack Williams (Head of sustainability) at Bywater Properties. We talk about:
- A timber-first approach to development
- A case study of 'Paradise', a six-storey timber-led office building in London
- How timber is becoming more mainstream in UK construction
- Advice for architects and developers getting started with timber
Bywater Properties: https://bywaterproperties.com/
Case Study: Paradise: https://paradise11.co.uk/
Linkedin profiles:
Joe Jack Williams
Theo Michell
Bywater Properties
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The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.
This episode is a conversation with Catherine Barratt, Managing Director of Furnitubes. Furnitubes create modular street furniture that helps to bring communities together. In this episode we discuss how they are innovating with sustainable materials and manufacturing processes to create lower impact furniture at the same price.
Furnitubes Website: https://www.furnitubes.com/
The Green Room podcast: https://www.furnitubes.com/podcasts/
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The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.
This episode is a conversation about the 'Wilding Campuses' programme, led by Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK). We talk about the practicalities of applying a 'wilding' approach on highly altered and designed landscapes on educational campuses.
My guests are:
- Jo Wilkinson, Senior Project Manager, SOS-UK
- Celine Clarke-Miller, Project Manager, SOS-UK
- Liz Morley, Wilding Campuses Project Manager, Nottingham College
- Ben Wright, Biodiversity Officer, Archway Learning Trust
Links
More about Wilding Campuses
Website: Archway Learning Trust
Connect with Ben on Linkedin
This is part of the urban rewilding podcast series. Listen to all the episodes in the series here: https://greenurbanistpod.com/rewilding
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Mike Berners-Lee is a consultant and author of the new book A Climate of Truth. In this episode we discuss the polycrisis and how raising standards of honesty is essential to respond to the challenges we are facing.
Learn more about and purchase the book: A Climate of Truth
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This is a conversation with Elliot Newton and Ben Stockwell of Citizen Zoo, a Community Interest Company that are rewilding urban areas with communities.
We talk about:
- What rewilding in the city means
- Grazing animals in urban green spaces
- Reintroducing water voles and beavers to London
- Bringing white storks back to London
- The challenges and opportunities of rewilding cities
LinksCitizen Zoo website: https://www.citizenzoo.org/
This is part of the urban rewilding podcast series. Listen to all the episodes in the series here: https://greenurbanistpod.com/rewilding
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This is a conversation with Scott McAulay, Regenerative Design and Infrastructures Specialist at pioneering architecture studio Architype. We talk about:
- What 'regenerative design' means in practice for an architecture studio
- Working with clients in a regenerative process
- Circular economy principles as a gateway into regenerative design
- Why regenerative design is also about social justice and local economies
- The role of natural materials
- Co-creating your own job
Links:Connect with Scott on Linkedin
Website: Architype
Instagram: Anthropocene Architecture School
Instagram: Anthropocene Architecture School Library
Website: Architecture Fringe
Book recommendations:Ecominimalism: The Antidote to Eco-bling by Howard Liddell
FutuRestorative: Working Towards a New Sustainability by Martin Brown
The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables from a Planet in Crisis by Amitav Ghosh
Previous episodes with Scott:#31: Scott McAulay - Anthropocene Architecture School
100: Create Sustainable Change through your Work - Advice from 3 Experts
Cover image: Sketch by Architype of the Royal Agricultural University Innovation Campus
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This episode is a conversation with Salem Qunsol, Principal Sustainability Consultant at Verte, about the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard.
Salem was one of the contributors to the standard. He joined me to discuss:
- The best practice approach to Net Zero Carbon building design
- The role of natural materials like timber in net zero
- The role and risks of offsetting emissions
- Combining circular economy and net zero carbon approaches
- Concrete and cement in sustainable buildings
Access the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard pilot version
Connect with Salem in Linkedin
Verte's website
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The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.
My guest is Virginia Cinquemani, a coach, trainer and Director at Green Gorilla. In this episode we discuss strategies from her book The Good Communicator on how to communicate sustainability with clients, communities and colleagues.
This episode is for anyone who wants practical advice on how to promote sustainability by understanding why people are resistant to change and the importance of co-creation in any project.
Connect with Virginia on Linkedin
Green Gorilla website
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My guests today are Rosanna Vitiello, Chief at the Place Bureau, and Domenica Landin, Associate Design Researcher at Place Bureau.
Place Bureau is a research, strategy and design studio that defines new frontiers for places around the world.
We talk about:
- How to meaningfully engage communities with the future of their places and climate adaptation.
- The Collaborative Place Futures Toolkit, a practical tool for engaging communities in the future.
- How coastal communities can create positive plans for the future in response to rising sea levels.
- Their book Natural Futures, which explores the future of human-nature interactions in an era of change.
Learn more about Place Bureau: https://www.theplacebureau.com/
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Register for the webinar on 25 April: Nature-led Masterplanning with EcoResponsive Environments
This podcast is a re-upload of my conversation with Prachi Rampuria and Soham De of EcoResponsive Environments from October 2024. We talk about their approach to designing sustainable and resilient new places based on natural systems.
I'll be hosting a free webinar with Prachi and Soham on 25 April on this topic.
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My guest today is Chris Fitch, author of the upcoming book Wild Cities: Discovering New Ways of Living in the Modern Urban Jungle. In this episode we discuss case studies of cities around the world that embrace wilder nature.
We go beyond the usual case studies like Singapore to explore lesser known examples like:
- Tallinn, Estonia - the city with pollinator corridors
- Tokyo, Japan - mini forests in a hyper-dense city
- Flagstaff, USA - the Dark Skies city
- Wellington, New Zealand - a hotspot for native birds
-
- many others
Pre-order the book Wild Cities here - out on 10 April 2025
More about Chris Fitch here.
*Correction: At 44:10, Chris says that Sydney harbour has more marine species than the British Isles or Mediterranean. He actually meant fish species rather than all marine life. It's also more accurate to say that the biodiversity in Sydney harbour is equivalent to the Mediterranean.
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This episode is a conversation with Stephen Mason, Community Parks Officer at Cheltenham Borough Council. We discuss:
- Urban rewilding projects in Cheltenham - including meadows and orchards
- Reconnecting urban areas with their surrounding landscape
- How the 'rewilding' concept engages communities in biodiversity projects
- Measuring the success of rewilding projects
Don't miss the other episodes in this WILD series: https://greenurbanistpod.com/rewilding
Connect with Stephen on Linkedin
More about projects in Cheltenham: https://www.cheltenham.gov.uk/info/88/urban_greening/1495/improving_our_urban_green_spaces
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Get free tool: https://free.greenurbanist.org/2050climatetool
In this episode I share a free tool you can use to understand what the local climate of 520 major world cities will be like in the year 2050.
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The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.
My guests on this episode are Ian Russell and Jamie Kukadia from the watercourses team at London Borough of Enfield. We discuss:
- 'Rewilding Enfield' - rewilding urban streets, parks and rivers.
- Nature-based flood resilience and sustainable drainage versus traditional engineering.
- Reintroducing beavers to London.
- The benefits of conservation livestock grazing in parks and green belt.
- Advice for others who want to take an urban rewilding approach.
Learn more about the Enfield beavers
Learn more about the conservation grazing project
This is part 3 of the Urban Rewilding series.
Listen to part 1 here:
102: (WILD) Rewilding Urban Parks with Lost Species - Sean McCormack, Ealing Beaver Project
Listen to part 2 here:
105: (WILD) Wilding the City, with Sophie Thompson (LDA Design)
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In this episode I share 4 tips for effectively communicating about sustainability and climate change with a variety of audiences like clients, collaborators and the public. The four strategies I share are:
- Start with empathy and tailor your message to the audience.
- Lead with a positive narrative.
- Make it tangible and relevant.
- Don't preach. Co-create and facilitate.
Research paper I mention: Bastin et al (2019) Understanding climate change from a global analysis of city analogues
En-Roads Climate Simulator
Need help crafting the vision and narrative for your project? Get in touch to see how I can help: Book a Discovery Call
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In this episode I explore Sustainable Placemaking: an 8-step process for creating places that people love and maximise sustainability opportunities.
So many masterplans create soulless and unsustainable places. In this episode I explain how getting the planning and design process right can unlock opportunities for placemaking, biodiversity, circular economy and decarbonisation.
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This is episode 2 of 6 in the podcast series on urban rewilding.
My guest is Sophie Thompson, a landscape architect and Director at LDA Design.
In this episode we discuss:
- How wild nature can be brought into city streets and public spaces
- The importance of working closely with local communities
- Examples of LDA’s transformations of highly urban spaces into places for people and nature.
- How to manage the complexities and constraints of working in cities.
More about LDA Design and the projects we discuss:
LDA Website
Greening London's West End
Alfred Place Gardens
Princes Circus
Cambridge Lawn to Meadow project
Connect with Sophie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-thompson-51b4748/
Further listening:
Listen to all the urban rewilding episodes.
Listen to my previous episode with LDA on their Strand Aldwych project: #81: Reimagining Roads as Public Space, with LDA
Cover image of Princes Circus, London by LDA Design. Photo by Studio Maple, used with permission from LDA Design.
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My guest is Duygu Kutluay, a campaigner at Beyond Fossil Fuels.
We discuss:
- Why local community projects need to be part of Europe’s energy transition away from fossil fuels.
- Beyond Fossil Fuels' new interactive map of community-based energy projects that you can access on their website.
- Six case studies of local energy projects from across Europe.
More about Beyond Fossil Fuels: https://beyondfossilfuels.org/
Local Energy Solutions Map: https://beyondfossilfuels.org/local-energy-solutions-map/
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In this episode I explore the different roles that built environment professionals can play in leveraging systems change for sustainability. This is based on interviewing 122 guests on this podcast and exploring systems change research.
The 5 types of change-makers are:
- Champion and Coordinator
- Researcher and Storyteller
- Topic Expert
- Innovator
- Systems Influencer
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This episode is part of a 6-part series on Urban Rewilding.
My guest is Sean McCormack, Chair of Ealing Wildlife Group. Sean led the reintroduction of harvest mice and beavers into urban parks in London, UK. In this episode we discuss:
- What is 'Urban rewilding' and why we should do it.
- What made these projects successful.
- Getting support from the community.
- What needs to change to make rewilding in cities mainstream.
Previous episodes with Sean:
72: Sean McCormack - Rewilding Urban London (Part 1)
73: Sean McCormack - Rewilding Urban London (Part 2)
More about the Ealing Beaver Project here:
https://theealingbeaverproject.com
More about Sean and Ealing Wildlife Group:
https://ealingwildlifegroup.com/
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This episode is a conversation with Jonathan Rosenbloom, Associate Dean at Albany Law School who has researched and written about sacrifice zones. He is also the Executive Director for the Sustainable Development Code.
We discuss:
- Whether neighbourhoods that have been destroyed by natural disasters should be rebuilt or designated as no-build 'Sacrifice Zones'.
- How US planning departments can use the Sustainable Development Code to ensure new development is low carbon and climate adapted.
Note: This episode was recorded before the LA wildfires in January 2025.
Links:Contact Jonathan: jrose@albanylaw.edu
Sustainable Development Code: https://sustainablecitycode.org/
Article on Sacrifice Zones: https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/the-case-for-returning-disaster-prone-areas-back-to-nature
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This is a recording of a live streamed podcast episode to celebrate episode 100 of the podcast. I was joined by three guests, who you might recognise from past episodes:
- Laura Baron, Head of Sustainability, Purcel
- Scott McAulay, Regenerative Design and Infrastructures Specialist, Architype
- Conrad Richardson, Sustainable Mobility Expert
We discussed how we as built environment professionals can drive sustainable change through the work that we do. We also touch on some of the amazing work that all the guests are doing.
You can watch the episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUS9ukxvtmI&t=2142s
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My guest on this episode is Valentina Petrone, a circular economy expert based in New South Wales, Australia.
In this episode, Valentina gives career advice for those who want to transition from traditional built environment careers into sustainability. We also discuss three of her projects:
- New South Wales Circular Design Guidelines
- Bradfield City Centre Masterplan
- Circular Office Fitout
Connect with Valentina on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentina-petrone/
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This episode is a conversation with Morgan Lewis, Co-Founder and CEO at Material Index.
In the UK, 60% of all waste comes from the construction industry and only 2% of building components in the UK are reused. In this episode, Morgan explains how Material Index are trying to tackle this by working with building owners, contractors and project teams to make material reuse happen at scale.
Learn more about Material Index: https://www.material-index.co.uk/
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In this episode I share some learnings from my recent research project about how climate change is likely to affect an urban nature reserve in London and climate adaptation recommendations for the reserve's management.
I discuss:
- How to make climate change projections tangible at the city-level
- How climate change may impact on some common tree and vegetation species
- General strategies for how urban parks and natural sites can adapt to climate change
References:
- EU Tree Atlas
- Bastin et al. (2019) Understanding climate change from a global analysis of city analogues
- USDA report: Climate adaptation actions for urban forests and human health
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My guest on this episode is Katrin Klingenberg, the Executive Director of Phius. Phius is a non-profit organization committed to decarbonizing the built environment by making high-performance passive building the mainstream market standard. They are mainly active in USA with some international projects.
In this episode we discuss:
- Why passive design principles need to be adapted to different climate zones - and how Phius has done this in their standards.
- The role of passive design in net zero carbon.
- How passive design is becoming mainstream in the USA and what else needs to be done to achieve this.
Learn more about Phius: https://www.phius.org/
Phius Passive Building Foundations Training: https://www.phius.org/passive-building/what-passive-building/passive-building-foundations-training
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This episode is a conversation with Prachi Rampuria and Soham De, co-founders of an urban design practice called EcoResponsive Environments and are co-authors of a book by the same name. They joined me on this episode to discuss the concept of designing settlements with an understanding of natural systems as the starting point. They bring together the knowledge of multiple disciplines like sustainability, landscape ecology and water management and present it in a useful way for designers.
More about their work: https://www.ecoresponsiveenvironments.com/
EcoResponsive Environments book
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Nadina Galle is an ecological engineer, National Geographic Explorer, science and nature writer, podcaster, and keynote speaker. She helps green professionals use emerging technologies to improve urban ecosystems for future generations.
She is the author of the book, The Nature of Our Cities, which is the topic of our conversation. Through rich stories from the book, in this episode we explore:
- The importance of urban nature for climate resilience, health and children.
- The Internet of Nature, emerging technologies that are helping nature to thrive in cities.
- How to improve the survival of urban trees.
- Which cities are leading the way in a technological approach to managing urban nature.
- The potential risks of becoming over-reliant on technology and how to avoid this.
Link: Learn more about Nadina and the book
Link: The Internet of Nature podcast
Link: Nadina also appeared on episode 27 of the Green Urbanist Podcast
Register for Green Urbanist Online Meet Up (3 October): https://forms.gle/bqXLTxaajru9WSEv8
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This episode is all about technology to help us deliver Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG). My guest is Shashin Mishra, VP of EMEA for AiDash.
We explore how a new digital tool called BNGAI has been created to help developers, ecologists and local authorities deliver Biodiversity Net Gain on development sites. We talk through how can the tool be used to help designers and ecologists work together in a collaborative way to get better results.
I ask the key question: Is this going to replace real ecologists? Spoiler: no, it won’t.
If you want to learn more, go to their website www.BNG.AI
Register for Green Urbanist Online Meet Up (3 October): https://forms.gle/bqXLTxaajru9WSEv8
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Doug Voigt, a partner at SOM, discusses the Wild Mile project in Chicago and the importance of rewilding and restoring ecological systems in cities. The project aims to reclaim part of the Chicago River as an ecological and community asset. We also discuss how the Wild Mile inspired an innovative approach to flood resilience in the Pearl River Delta. These projects are part of a larger effort to reimagine and retrofit urban infrastructure for the challenges of the 21st century.
More about the Wild Mile: https://www.som.com/projects/wild-mile/
More about Doug: https: https://www.som.com/person/doug-voigt/
Register for Green Urbanist Online Meet Up (3 October): https://forms.gle/bqXLTxaajru9WSEv8
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Register for the online meet up: https://forms.gle/qEHEGgfaKFa68CBp9
Join the first Green Urbanist Online Meet Up on 3 October, 7:00 - 7:30pm Central European Time / 6:00 - 6:30pm UK Time / 2:00 - 2:30pm New York Time
It will be a chance to meet me and other like minded people around the world, ask questions and share your thoughts on green urbanism! I look forward to meeting you.
Register for Green Urbanist Online Meet Up (3 October): https://forms.gle/bqXLTxaajru9WSEv8
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James is founding partner of HTL Africa, a research-driven architectural firm dedicated to addressing the specific challenges of West African environments. He joined me to discuss what we can learn from traditional west African architecture and urbanism to apply to current challenges of climate change and housing shortages.
Learn more about James and his projects: https://www.htlafrica.com/
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Dr Thami Croeser is an urban planner with a focus on bringing nature back into cities in practical ways, at large scale. He is a Research Fellow at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.
In this episode we discuss practical ways of bringing more nature into cities and helping it thrive through urban planning and design.
Learn more about Thami and his publications: https://cur.org.au/people/mr-thami-croeser/
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Shaun Spiers is the Executive Director of the environmental think-tank, Green Alliance. In this episode we discuss how a stronger planning system in the UK can address the housing crisis and deliver more sustainable outcomes.
Read their report, Build Up: https://green-alliance.org.uk/publication/build-up/
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Alexandra Steed is a passionate landscape architect with a deep commitment to art, sustainability, and the transformative power of landscapes.
We talk about:
- Her new book: Portrait to Landscape
- How to restore landscapes on a large scale to build climate resilience and biodiversity
- How The UK's Environment Act and Biodiversity Net Gain are working in reality
- Project case studies and book recommendations.
Learn more:Alexandra Steed URBAN: https://alexandrasteedurban.com/
Book: Portrait to Landscape: https://alexandrasteedurban.com/project/portrait-to-landscape-a-landscape-strategy-to-reframe-our-future/
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Louisa Whitmore is an architecture enthusiast, TikToker and host of the Nature of Design documentary series. In this episode we discuss her experience making the documentary, the mental health benefits of biophilic environments and case studies of great biophilic projects.
Learn more about the Nature of Design documentary:
The Green Channel: Link
Instagram: Link
TikTok: Link
Louisa's TikTok: Link
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In conversation with Alisdair Ben Dixon (Collective Works), Anna Lisa McSweeney (White Arkitektur) and Isabel Allen (Architecture Today) about the new Regenerative Architecture Index (RAI).
Launched by Architecture Today and UK Architects Declare, the Regenerative Architecture Index (RAI) sets out to benchmark practices progress in the move towards regenerative practice and projects. It recognises the need for a built environment that isn’t merely reducing its negative impacts, but has positive impacts for today and the long term.
We discuss why they created the index, how they define 'regenerative design' and shifting towards regenerative practice in the built environment.
Submissions are open until 17 May 2024.
Links:
Find out more and submit to the RAI: https://architecturetoday.co.uk/the-regenerative-architecture-index/
More about Alisdair and Collective works: https://collectiveworks.net/practice/
More about Anna Lisa: https://nla.london/contributors/anna-lisa-mcsweeney
White Arkitektur: https://whitearkitekter.com/
Bill Sharp's 3 Horizons Model: https://www.futuregenerations.wales/resources_posts/three-horizons-toolkit/
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I sit down with Andrew Bullmore of VU.CITY to discuss how 3D models, digital twins and artificial intelligence tools can be used to do better, evidence-based planning and design and get more sustainable outcomes.
VU.CITY website: https://www.vu.city/
SiteSolve generative AI: https://www.site-solve.co.uk/
This is a sponsored episode. Thanks to VU.CITY for the support.
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Sam Luker is an Associate Sustainability Director at AESG and led on their new report titled 'Net Zero Neighbourhoods'.
In this episode we discuss:
- Why the neighbourhood scale is optimal for decarbonisation and finding local solutions to sustainability
- Principles and case studies for Net Zero Neighbourhoods
- Retrofitting existing neighbourhoods for decarbonisation
- How to get communities involved and realise local benefits
- Examples of innovative funding mechanisms to deliver net zero neighbourhoods
Read the report on Net Zero Neighbourhoods from AESG/LDN Collective: https://westlondon.com/net-zero-neighbourhoods-report-launched-to-further-the-uptake-for-a-low-carbon-future/
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Mohit and Sue Yen are architects and members of Decolonise Architecture, a solution-based group driven to tackle institutional racism and bias within architectural education and practice. In this episode we discuss:
- How architectural education and practice can be 'colonial' in its approach, and the problems with this.
- Expanding architectural education and practice to embrace other cultures and worldviews.
- How the architecture profession can be made more accessible to all.
Learn more about Decolonise Architecture: https://www.decolonisearchitecture.com/
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Jeffrey Rissman is Senior Director at Energy Innovation, where he leads the company’s work on technologies and policies to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the industry sector. He is the author of Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity (2024) and coauthor of Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy (2018).
We discuss decarbonisation pathways for concrete and steel and what urbanists can do to drive down industrial emissions.
Check out Jeff's book: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/zero-carbon-industry/9780231204200
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Welcome to part 4, the final episode in the landscape mini-series. In this episode I sit down with Cannon Ivers CMLI of LDA to discuss their inspiring project The Strand, Aldwych. The Strand was for centuries a busy traffic thoroughfare in central London that has been transformed into a totally pedestrianised and multi-functional public space. Cannon tells me the story of how this came to be, what it means for the people who use this space and how it connects to a larger initiative to transform busy roads in central London into public spaces.
More about the Strand: https://www.lda-design.co.uk/kindling/news/westminster-unveils-reimagined-strand-aldwych/
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Welcome to part 3 in this mini-series on landscape and urban nature. In this episode I spoke with James Virgo CMLI of LUC. He tells me about LUC’s work on Shoreditch Park. This is a nice case study of taking an existing park and working with the local community to improve it for biodiversity while tackling anti-social behaviour and creating a more welcoming and multi-function space for local people.
More about Shoreditch Park: https://www.landuse.co.uk/news/luc-completes-the-shoreditch-park-improvement-works/
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Welcome to part 2 of this mini-series on landscape and urban nature. This episode features an interview with Michael Cowdy FLI of McGregor Coxall. We discuss two of their Landscape Award-nominated projects, a research project on BioUrbanism and the second a design code for green infrastructure for a new community Cherry Hinton North, Cambridge.
More about Biourbanism: https://mcgregorcoxall.com/biourbanism
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Welcome to this 4-part series on the role of landscape and urban nature in creating resilient, sustainable and healthy places. Over the next 4 weeks I’ll be releasing short weekly episodes featuring interviews with landscape practitioners that highlight great case studies in landscape design and discuss the wider role of these interventions in green urbanism.
The interviews were recorded at the Landscape Institute Awards 2023. Thanks to the Landscape Institute for inviting me along and organising these conversations.
This first episode features a conversation with Landscape Institute President-elect Carolin Göhler FLI. The focus of this chat was on responding to the climate and biodiversity crises through landscape interventions and some of the work the Landscape Institute is doing to push this forward.
After the interview I share some more information specifically about nature-based climate adaptation in cities.
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Antonietta Canta is a Principal Environmental and Sustainability Engineer at Arup. In this episode we discuss their recent research report: ‘Addressing overheating risk in existing UK homes’. As dry as that title sounds, the conversation was actually very illuminating and useful. It's also useful for listeners outside the UK!
We discuss:
- How many homes in UK are at risk of overheating now and in future climate scenarios.
- Why new apartments overheat more than houses and older buildings.
- The best strategies for reducing overheating in new and existing buildings and advice for architects, planners and policy makers.
Read the report: https://www.arup.com/perspectives/publications/research/section/addressing-overheating-risk-in-existing-uk-homes
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Jan Kattein is Director of Jan Kattein Architects, a studio that focuses on collaborative, sustainable and community-focused projects. Back in September of 2023 I joined Jan at their project in south London called the Paper Garden, which is a educational building and garden space for the charity Global Generation. Some of they key points we discuss:
- Radically circular building with 60% reused materials
- Built by 3000 volunteers - teaching skills and inspiring sustainability
- Flexible design approach to suit available materials rather than specific design
- Sourcing timber from Epping Forest, London
- Is this the future of architecture?
Giulia Mori joined me as co-host
Learn more about the Paper Garden: https://jankattein.com/projects/paper-garden/
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Kent Jackson is Design Partner at Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) and leads the designs of a wide range of scales and typologies across the globe. Passionate about improving the future of planetary health, Kent is also a leader of SOM’s Climate Action Group, advancing the firm’s commitment for all active work to be net zero whole-life carbon by 2040.
James Woodall is Sustainability Lead at SOM and was a co-editor of the LETI Climate Emergency Design Guide – a groundbreaking publication shaped by over 100 leading design professionals. The guide continues to be referred to as best practice in delivering net zero carbon buildings.
Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) is a global architecture, engineering and urban design practice, responsible for some of the world's most famous landmark buildings.
In this episode we discuss SOM's target for all their projects to be Whole Life Net Zero Carbon by 2040 and their ambitions to promote regenerative design.
Learn more about SOM here: https://www.som.com/
See the companion blog post on Substack.
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Steve Sanham established Common Projects in 2021: a development company led by a purpose to put people and planet at the heart of its decision-making. Steve has an extensive and proven track record in the built environment, specialising in urban regeneration and in using development’s power to deliver better outcomes. Common Projects finances and delivers complex and game-changing development projects in London and the South East with a strong focus on sustainability and social outcomes.
Common is currently delivering two large, complex London sites: the redevelopment of a 1960s ‘utopian’ complex into a community-facing housing scheme for Croydon, retaining and enhancing the original buildings alongside an upcycled community pavilion and garden; and the creative masterplannning of a large former gasworks in the centre of Wandsworth to deliver 650 mixed tenure homes, along with a new creative hub for the music community of south west London.
In this episode we discuss:
- An environmental and social approach to housing development
- The connection between the climate crisis and housing crisis
- Zodiac Court redevelopment in Croyden
- Wandsworth Gasworks masterplan
This is part 1 of my conversation with Steve. In part 2 he gives me a tour of the Zodiac Court construction site and we get more into the details of this project. Part 2 will only be available on this Substack blog, so make sure to subscribe to get access to that and the newsletter.
Click here to see the companion blog post on Substack.
Learn more about Steve and Common Projects: https://common-projects.co.uk/
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Sean McCormack is a consultant Vet, the Chairperson of Ealing Wildlife Group, and an incredibly knowledgeable nature conservationist and educator based in west London. This episode is part 2 of our conversation where we get into more detail on:
- The practicalities of reintroducing beavers to an urban park
- Management of urban nature
- Rewilding vs nature restoration
- The importance of partnerships and collaboration
I also got the chance to speak with Elliot Newton and Ben Stockwell of Citizen Zoo, who are also involved in the beaver reintroduction at Paradise Fields. Listen out for their voices towards the end of this episode.
See photos of the locations being rewilded at the companion blog post: Substack blog
Learn more about Ealing Wildlife Group: https://ealingwildlifegroup.com/
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Sean McCormack is a consultant Vet, the Chairperson of Ealing Wildlife Group, and an incredibly knowledgeable nature conservationist and educator based in west London. In this episode we discuss his work to rewild urban London by reintroducing harvest mice, beavers and (eventually maybe) water voles while supporting native predators like falcons and owls in the city. It’s a really positive and inspiring story of how a community and a local government are working together for the good of nature. We also discuss how reintroducing beavers will mitigate flooding in the local area and advice for others interested in urban rewilding and nature conservation.
Sean was very generous with his time and we ended up talking for 2 hours, so this episode is part 1 of that conversation. Part 2 is coming soon!
See photos of the locations being rewilded at the companion blog post: Substack blog
Learn more about Ealing Wildlife Group: https://ealingwildlifegroup.com/
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Nate Hagens is a systems thinker and educator focused on a concept he calls The Great Simplification. He has spent the last 20 years studying the systems we live in like energy, ecology and economics. He teaches at the University of Minnesota and speaks widely on these topics, including on his youtube channel called Nate Hagens and his podcast called The Great Simplification.
We discuss:
- The Great Simplification and what that means for cities
- What the end of fossil fuels means for the world
- The importance of scenario planning for the future of cities
- Why electric vehicles and renewables are not the answer to climate change
- Why a post-growth economy is inevitable in the coming decades
We discuss some ideas for what post-growth cities might look like. I will follow up with an episode of more ideas, inspired by this conversation with Nate.
Nate is extremely honest and clear about the direction he sees the world going. Some of you listening will likely disagree with his conclusions and may even feel defensive. Of course we're all free to disagree with each other, but I urge you to keep an open mind and consider seriously what he says and follow up with the resources in the episode description. He goes into these ideas in a lot more depth on his youtube channel and podcast, which are really worth checking out.
More of Nate's content:
https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@thegreatsimplification
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This episode is a conversation with Tara and Lanre of Gbolade Design Studio, sustainable architects and urban designers based in London. Reflecting on their 5 years in practice, we discuss a range of topics and projects including:
- City-shaping with masterplans and design codes
- Retrofitting existing buildings
- Zero carbon and regenerative design
- Community-building and co-creating with communities
- Innovation in design, including the use of AI
- Their recent exhibition, ‘Breaking Ground’, and contribution to the Venice Biennale 2023
See the companion blog post for images of the projects we discuss.
Learn more about Gbolade Design Studio here: https://www.gboladedesignstudio.com/
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What is urban rewilding? Can it be done in cities? Is anyone doing it?
In this episode, we explore:
- History of the rewilding concept
- Current best practice in rewilding
- How rewilding can be applied to cities
- Case studies of active and passive rewilding in urban areas around the world
Companion Blog Post - See visuals of the stuff we talk about plus sources and bibliography.
Corrections:
We made a few small errors in this podcast. Around 24:00, Giulia says Sequoia tree seeds come in 'pine nuts' when she meant to say 'cones' (you can see how her mind was working...).
Around 40:00, Ross says Rewilding Enfield is along the River Lea, when it is actually on the other side of the Borough in Enfield Chase (sorry, Londoners...).
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When you donate/subscribe to the Green Urbanist Podcast, 50% of income goes to funding climate action in cities via partner organisations. The rest covers the podcast's operating costs and invests in its growth.
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This episode is a conversation with Jane, Lydia and Tom of architecture and urban design studio DSDHA. We discuss their research project 'Towards Spatial Justice: A guide for achieving meaningful participation in co-design processes'.
We explore what co-design really means, why it’s important and how they have applied co-design processes at their projects: White Horse Square in Wembley Park, London and the extension of the British Library.
Learn more about DSDHA here: Link
Download the Towards Spatial Justice research report here: Link
See images of the projects we discuss on the Substack companion post: Link
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Xavier Smales is an Architect and Andy Tugby is Head of Sustainable Construction at Human Nature, a developer based in the south of England. They join me to discuss their approach to designing sustainable neighbourhoods and how they're putting this into action with a development called The Phoenix.
We discuss urban design principles for sustainable lifestyles, low carbon architecture, circular economy and more.
Click here to see the companion blog post on Substack for visuals of the project!
Find out more about Human Nature and The Phoenix here:
https://www.humannature-places.com/phoenix
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Joe Morris is Founding Director of Morris+Company architects, based in London and Copenhagen. In this episode, he gives me a tour of their newly refurbished London office while we discuss their philosophy and approach to architecture, sustainability, circularity and connection between food and urbanism.
I have collated images of all the projects we talk about in this episode in a companion blog post on my Substack. Check it out while you listen!
https://morrisand.company/
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Civic Square is a Public Square, a Neighbourhood Economics Lab and a Creative + Participatory Ecosystem. They have been doing amazing work around systems change at the neighbourhood level in Ladywood, Birmingham, where they are based. Their main projects to date include creating a Neighbourhood Doughnut based on Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics concept and exploring the invisible infrastructure needed to transition their neighbourhood towards a sustainable future.
In this episode, we also have a long chat about how they are funded and the difficult reality of engaging in meaningful systems change work that doesn’t come with a blueprint.
Civic Square website: https://civicsquare.cc/
Ladywood Neighbourhood Doughnut: https://doughnuteconomics.org/stories/213
Listen to episode #33: Doughnut Economics Explained and What it Means for Cities
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Read the companion blog post to his episode on Substack.
Israa Mahmoud is Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Her research interests include nature-based solutions, co-design and urban governance. Her recent publications include The book Placemaking for Green Urban Regeneration, published by Springer. She is the research team leader together with Prof. Eugenio Morello on CLEVER Cities Project as an expert of Co-creation guidance for cities to implement Nature-based solutions in socially inclusive urban regeneration processes.
We talk about:
- Nature-based solutions
- The need to take a place-based approach to NbS
- Co-designing by immersion with communities
- The sweet spot between top down and grassroots approaches to urban change
- CLEVER Cities project and case studies in Milan
Learn more about Israa and her publications here.
Learn more about the CLEVER Cities project here.
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Read the companion blog post to this episode on Substack.
Dr Helen Pineo MRTPI is an urban planner and Associate Professor in Healthy and Sustainable Cities in the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at University College London. Her research focuses on how property development, regeneration and urban policy can support health and sustainability. She contributes to the evidence base about why and how to do healthy urbanism by using transdisciplinary approaches and amplifying the needs of underrepresented communities and the planet. Her book, Healthy Urbanism: Designing and Planning Equitable, Sustainable and Inclusive Places, re-defines the meaning and form of healthy urban environments.
If you want to buy the book, you can get a 40% discount through end of March 2023. Paste the coupon code HIGHLIGHTS22at checkout. Buy the book here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-9647-3
Find out more about Helen and her work here: https://healthyurbanism.net/
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In this episode I fact check the article "There are a lot of dangerous myths" about sustainability says Norman Foster, which appeared on dezeen.com on 17th January 2023.
The architect made some controversial statements about sustainability and defended Foster & Partner's decision to keep designing airports and leave Architects Declare.
This episode is in no way an attack on the fine people who work at Foster & Partners or the work they do to design sustainable buildings. It is just a fact check of some of the controversial statements made by Foster himself, to help people understand the climate science.
Relevant episode for further listening:#21: Jake Attwood-Harris (Hawkins\Brown) - Whole Life Carbon, Zero Carbon Architecture and Retrofitting for Sustainability
Relevant links and further reading
https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/stories/foster-partners-zaha-hadid-architects-quit-architects-declare/#:~:text=Foster %2B Partners and Zaha Hadid,climate action can be policed.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uks-jet-zero-plan-would-allow-demand-for-flying-to-soar-70/
https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviation
https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/nuclear-waste-pilesscientists-seek-best/98/i12
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinero/2019/11/26/the-staggering-timescales-of-nuclear-waste-disposal/?sh=5ba3bc729cf5
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/fuel-seawater-whats-catch-180953623/#:~:text=Now%2C scientists at the U.S.,plane as proof of concept.
https://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/question192.htm
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See links and images on the companion blog post.
Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network and of Transition Town Totnes, and author of several books including ‘The Transition Handbook‘ and most recently, ‘From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want’. He is an Ashoka Fellow, has spoken at TED Global and at several TEDx events, and appeared in the French film phenomenon ‘Demain‘. He holds a PhD from the University of Plymouth, and is a Director of Totnes Community Development Society and of New Lion Brewery. He also hosts the podcast ‘From What If to What Next‘. In November 2022 he was made an Honorary Citizen of Liège in Belgium by the Mayor of the city. His website is robhopkins.net.
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Climate change is causing local weather patterns and ecosystems to shift and transform. In order to thrive in this new climate era, we will need to transform our cities and urban ecosystems. This is called 'Transformational Adaptation'.
My co-host today is Giulia Mori and in this episode we discuss:
- What is Transformational Adaptation and why we need it
- How ecosystems are transforming due to climate change
- 2 case studies of transformation and what we can learn from them
- Some thoughts on how we could reimagine urban parks for the future
Key Reference:Colloff, M.J., Wise, R.M., Palomo, I., Lavorel, S. and Pascual, U. (2020) ‘Nature’s contribution to adaptation: insights from examples of the transformation of social-ecological systems’, Ecosystems and People, 16(1), pp. 137–150. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2020.1754919.
Barcelona Case Study:
Zografos, C., Klause, K.A., Connolly, J.J.T. and Anguelovski, I. (2020) ‘The everyday politics of urban transformational adaptation: Struggles for authority and the Barcelona superblock project’, Cities, 99, p. 102613. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102613
Select bibliography of other relevant papers:
Brown, R.D., Vanos, J., Kenny, N. and Lenzholzer, S. (2015) ‘Designing urban parks that ameliorate the effects of climate change’, Landscape and Urban Planning, 138, pp. 118–131. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.02.006.
Burley, H., Beaumont, L.J., Ossola, A., Baumgartner, J.B., Gallagher, R., Laffan, S., Esperon-Rodriguez, M., Manea, A. and Leishman, M.R. (2019) ‘Substantial declines in urban tree habitat predicted under climate change’, Science of The Total Environment, 685, pp. 451–462. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.287.
Esperon-Rodriguez, M., Ordoñez, C., van Doorn, N.S., Hirons, A. and Messier, C. (2022) ‘Using climate analogues and vulnerability metrics to inform urban tree species selection in a changing climate: The case for Canadian cities’, Landscape and Urban Planning, 228, p. 104578. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104578.
Gill, S.E., Handley, J.F., Ennos, A.R. and Pauleit, S. (2007) ‘Adapting Cities for Climate Change: The Role of the Green Infrastructure’, Built Environment, 33(1), pp. 115–133. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2148/benv.33.1.115.
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Companion blog post on Substack I speak to Will Poole (Partner) Jack Pritchard (Associate Urban Designer) and Sophia Ceneda (Architect and Sustainability Lead) at Glenn Howells Architects. Glenn Howells Architects are based in London and Birmingham. They’ve designed award winning housing, tall buildings and masterplans across the UK. Our conversation focuses on how over the last few years they have shifted their approach towards sustainable design, and developed their own studio culture and processes internally for delivering sustainable projects.
If you are interested in how to embed sustainability within a design practice, you’ll definitely get some insights from this conversation. We also talk about the challenges of designing sustainable tall buildings and their thoughts on designing for climate adaptation.
https://www.glennhowells.co.uk/
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Laura is Head of Sustainability at Purcell, a practice of architects, heritage consultants and masterplanners working on historic structures. In this episode, we discuss Purcell's work to improve the sustainability of iconic cathedrals and advice for improving the sustainability of historic buildings of all types by taking the right approach.
LinksTed Talk: How to find joy in climate action
Purcell website
Laura's Linkedin
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Joao is a Portuguese architect and researcher, and an Assistant Professor at Wageningen University, Netherlands. His research focuses on climate-responsive urban design and climate adaptation using a research-through-design approach. His motivation is to create and transfer design knowledge to practitioners and decision-makers, in order to prompt the adaptation of urban areas to climate change.
We talk about his research on designing cooling urban environments with water and vegetation, running design workshops with architects in Egypt to spark locally-specific climate adaptation measures and bridging the gap between research and practice.
This episode is full of practical and actionable advice!
Check out the companion blog post to this episode to see visuals of the projects we discuss!
Learn more about Joao here.
See Joao's research publications here.
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Tim Stonor is an architect and urban planner who has devoted his career to the analysis and design of human behaviour patterns – the ways in which people move, interact and transact in buildings and urban places. He is Managing Director of Space Syntax and a visiting professor at several top universities like University College London.
Anna Rose is an architect and urban planner, and Director of Space Syntax, where she leads their consulting activities in the UK, USA and continental Europe. She is also Honorary Senior Research Fellow at The Bartlett, University College London.
Space Syntax are a fascinating and unique group of people. Emerging out of University College London with a robust scientific approach to urban design and architecture, they now work all over the world on building, masterplans and urban strategy projects as well as conducting research and training.
In this episode we discuss:
- Taking a science-based and human-centric approach to urban design
- Why studying human behaviour should be central to urban and architectural design
- The common challenges cities across the world are facing
- The role and risks of technology in the future of cities
Space Syntax website: https://spacesyntax.com/
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Dr Dorina Pojani is a Senior Lecturer at University of Queensland, Australia. An urban planner and urban designer by training, she has experience in both practice and academics. We discuss her new book Trophy Cities, a feminist perspective on new capitals and explore how patriarchal ideology is expressed in urban design, and what a matriarchal or 'eco-feminist' approach may be.
Find our more about Dorina: https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/11894
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Originally an academic at UCL, Ness has a PhD in Greek and Latin, and also worked in the British Museum, honing her interest in research in how societies flourish and how the visual environment informs our behaviours. Way before her academic career she had started selling her landscape and seascape photography, relishing the quiet, healing moments that nature gave to her during her teenage years. It was during her 20s that she started living very “naturally”, eating whole foods, reducing her grid energy consumption, choosing natural materials to wear, etc. When she left academia Ness worked in various industries, including finance and broadcast working across creative, editorial and management roles, culminating in editing a London newspaper and setting up her own media company. Four years ago, she founded The Journal of Biophilic Design to share interviews with thought leaders on how biophilia supports wellbeing for people, planet and place. A serial traveller and professional photographer, Ness creates “Virtual Nature Walls” for healthcare, schools, offices and homes. Ness is also founder of PhotoAid Global Foundation www.photoaid.org.uk and co-founder of The Space Doctors.
Journal of Biophilic Design: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/
Ross on JBD Podcast:https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcast-journal-of-biophilic-design/a-woodland-habitat-in-the-city
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My guest and tour guide today in Divya Hariramani Herrero. She is a sustainability consultant and Associate Director at Longevity Partners, a London National Park City Ranger and runs an instagram page called Fruity Walks, where she is chronicling the amazing and surprising fruit tree of London and beyond. She is fascinated by all aspects of sustainability from low energy engineering to growing fruit trees in her South London neighbourhood.
I joined her for a walk around Bermondsey where she told me the stories behind two urban orchards and how the community has come together to grow fruit on forgotten spaces.
CORRECTION: Around minute 27:00 Divya says that the lemon tree came from Malta. We later found out that it actually came from Cyprus.
Fruity Walks: https://www.instagram.com/fruitywalks/?hl=en London National Park City: https://www.nationalparkcity.london/ Tree for Bermondsey: https://www.treesforbermondsey.org.uk/
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In today’s episode we’re talking about the contentious issue of tall buildings. Some people love them, some people hate them. My guests today have come up with a concept for high rise that could be much more sustainable and adaptable than conventional skyscrapers.
My guests today are Tomas Stokke and Shonn Mills. Tomas is a co-founder of Haptic Architects based in London and Oslo. He overseas Haptic’s international work and has taught, lectured, exhibited and been published internationally.
Shonn Mills is Global Head of High Rise Buildings at Ramboll, with more than 20 years experience as an engineer.
They have collaborated to produce a new concept for sustainable tall building design, which is called Regenerative Highrise. They have taken a really interesting approach in tackling a difficult urban site in Oslo and designing a building that responds to this while being low carbon and extremely adaptable. We talk about all of the interesting details in the conversation so I won’t get into that now.
Episode 16 of this podcast was called ‘Are Tall Buildings Sustainable?’ and I concluded that typically tall buildings have a huge carbon and material footprint and its is clear that they can have a negative impact on a city’s urban design, environment, economy and social life. So I came into this conversation a bit skeptical and ready to challenge them. We ended up having a really good conversation and I think they have done some really useful work here in pushing the design of tall buildings much closer towards sustainability and taking a long term approach.
If you are enjoying the Green Urbanist podcast, the best thing you can do to support it is to share an episode with a friend or colleague who you think might enjoy it. I hope it sparks some interesting conversations for you.
Links:
Dezeen article on Regenerative Highrise: https://www.dezeen.com/2022/05/23/haptic-architects-ramboll-regenerative-high-rise/
Sustainability of Downtown Highrise vs Suburban Low Rise study: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321977968_Downtown_High-Rise_vs_Suburban_Low-Rise_Living_A_Pilot_Study_on_Urban_Sustainability
Haptic Architects: https://hapticarchitects.com/oslo-highrise/
Ramboll: https://ramboll.com/contact/rdk/shonn
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To celebrate the 50th episode and second birthday of the Green Urbanist Podcast, I sit down with Giulia Mori to discuss the question: What has to happen in this critical decade to ensure successful climate action?
We talk about:
- The need for legislation to push the building industry towards sustainability
- Circular economy and 'Circular Score', a concept Giulia developed with some collaborators
- The challenge of giving up oil, and why we need to do it
- Getting excited about the future again
- Climate adaptation
Find out more about Circular Score: https://www.ukgbc.org/inside_innovation/the-circular-score/
Connect with Giulia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giulia-mori-b91492120/
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Reporting live from Footprint+ 2022, a new sustainability conference in Brighton, UK. Featuring interviews with:
- Joe Jack Williams, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
- Barny Evans, Turley
- Amin Taha, Groupwork
- Steve Webb, Webb Yates Engineers
- Tim Pyne, Footprint+ (Footprint Plus)
- U+I
- Q-Bot
- Raw Charging
We discuss a range of topics including the net zero energy transition, building with stone and timber, the sustainability of historic places, retrofit robots and more!
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Gustavo and Younha are both Technical Directors at Atelier Ten, an environmental design consultancy. Combining expertise in architecture and engineering they shape buildings and masterplans to be sustainable and healthy.
In this episode we discuss:
- What is environmental design and how it differs for buildings and masterplans
- Circular design in masterplanning
- Carbon emissions and sinks in landscape design
- How the development and design industry is changing and the need for collaboration and debate
This episode was recorded at the Footprint+ Conference in Brighton in May 2022. We recorded this with a single microphone sitting outside near to the beach so there is background noise. It's not too distracting and hopefully gives you a sense of the atmosphere on the day.
At some points in the conversation we make reference to 'Patrick'. That is Patrick Bellew, Founding Director of Atelier Ten, who spoke at the conference earlier in the day.
Find out more about Atelier Ten: https://www.atelierten.com/
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Biophilia is about how we as humans have an innate love and connection to other living things. It is no surprise then that spending time in natural environments such as forests, mountains and parks, is extremely beneficial to our mental and physical health. But how can we recreate our natural biophilic habitat in urban areas? Can we make cities good homes for other living things too?
Sources (articles):
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/06/studies-on-natures-mental-health-benefits-show-massive-western-bias
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666049022000263?via%3Dihub
- https://www.futureoflondon.org.uk/2020/10/20/parks-and-green-space-does-everyone-feel-welcome/
- https://www.groundwork.org.uk/news-report-finds-severe-inequalities-in-access-to-parks-and-greenspaces-in-communities-across-the-uk/
- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/10/plants-humans-dont-need-extinction-biodiversity-study
- https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ginkgo-biloba-species-history/
Sources (Books):
- Civilised to Death, Christopher Ryan
- Darwin Comes to Town, Menno Schilthuizen
- Flourish, Michael Pawyln and Sarah Ichioka
- From What Is to What If, Rob Hopkins
- Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall-Kimmerer
Green Urbanist website: https://greenurbanistpod.com/
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This episode is a conversation with Samantha Suppiah, Christina Mirasol Sayson, Anna Denardin and Nolita Mvunelo of Possible Futures.
We talk about colonialism and sustainability, the realities of life in the Global South and the need for communities to be able to define their own vision for a regenerative future.
Note: This episode is pretty heavy and may be challenging for listeners in the Global North, who are not used to considering colonialism. I invite you to stick with it and keep an open mind. This is a really important discussion.
Footnotes:
- In the 37th minute there is a reference to "2 degrees Centigrade". Climate scientists typically refer to temperature in Celsius in discussing climate change. Celsius is interchangeable with Centigrade.
- In the 41st minute there is a reference to "10 million people dying from climate emergencies" - there is actually no current consensus estimate on how many people will die at a temperature rise of 2 deg C. This is speculation only. What we do have is a consensus estimate of mass migrations: for every degree increase, 1 billion migrants. The entire issue of mass migration has notably been omitted from IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (2022).
Find out more about Possible Futures:
https://www.possiblefutures.earth/
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In this episode, we talk about Farah's new book Net Zero City, the role of urban design in achieving a net zero city, and a clear process for cities to decarbonise in 10 years.
Farah Naz, is an award winning Climate Change strategist with over 20 years’ experience in the construction sector gained in the USA, UK, Southeast Asia and most recently the United Arab Emirates (UAE). She is a Chartered Engineer (UK), Fellow of CIBSE, LEED and WELL AP and Verified Research Expert for Dubai Future Foundation. Farah Chairs CIBSE UAE Chapter and is an advocate of STEM education for the future generation. Farah recently co authored a book on Net Zero City, which is considered the first book published from the Middle East Region.
Find out more about Farah and the book: https://netzerocitybook.com/
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Steve O'Reilly works in a policy & communications role at Ireland's national centre for the Circular Economy, The Rediscovery Centre. Steve spent over 7 years in the Netherlands, Europe's circular economy hotspot, working on many projects related to circularity and becoming inspired by the circular innovation he saw there. Upon returning to Ireland during the pandemic, Steve took up a position in The Rediscovery Centre in Dublin to help drive circularity back in Ireland.
In this episode, Steve shares insights into the social potential of circularity, how it is blossoming in rural communities and what we can learn from the Dutch.
Learn more about the Rediscovery Centre: http://www.rediscoverycentre.ie/
Connect with Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-o-reilly/
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It turns out what's good for us is also good for the planet.
How can we design housing for human beings that aligns with our evolution? In this episode I talk about how Co-Housing and Eco-Village concepts could be a proxy for hunter gatherer tribes by creating small, cooperative communities within urban settings. This way of living has huge benefits for our wellbeing and can also be an effective way of minimising energy and resource use. A Win-Win for people and the environment.
Resources and further reading:Articles/web pages:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentional_community
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohousing
https://journal.theaou.org/news-and-reviews/the-popularity-of-cohousing-in-demark/
https://cohabitas.com/a-visit-to-saettedammen-co-housing/
https://www.lilac.coop/community/
https://gen-europe.org/podcast/episode-6-lets-build-an-ecovillage-lessons-from-a-life-in-community/
https://laecovillage.org/
Books:
Civilised to Death, Christopher Ryan
Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari
Uncivilised Genes, Gustav Milne
Green Urbanist website: https://greenurbanistpod.com/
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This episode is part 1 of a series about human evolution, our prehistory and Hunter Gatherer ways of life. Why should urbanists be interested in this? In this episode I make the argument that:
- We evolved over 2 million years as foragers and it is the only environmentally and socially sustainable way of life we know of.
- Living this way, embedded within ecosystems, is what what we are optimised for and therefore how human beings thrive.
- Life in our prehistoric past (and in modern hunter gatherer bands) is not nearly as awful as we think. In fact we can learn a lot from their approach to life, work, play and community.
This means that our pre-history should be a key design consideration in architecture and urban design. In part 2 (and maybe 3) I will set out specifically what this means for urban design.
Sources:Civilised to Death, Christopher Ryan
Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari
Uncivilised Genes, Gustav Milnehttps://theconversation.com/hunter-gatherers-live-nearly-as-long-as-we-do-but-with-limited-access-to-healthcare-104157
https://phys.org/news/2016-07-hunter-gatherers-fundamental-human-social-networks.html
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Michael Pawlyn established Exploration Architecture in 2007 and has built a reputation as a thought leader in regenerative design and the circular economy. He has lectured internationally and, in 2011, became one of only a small handful of architects to have a talk posted on TED.com which has since had over 1.8 million views. He is the author of Flourish: Design Paradigms for our Planetary Emergency (with co-author Sarah Ichioka) and Biomimicry in Architecture.
In this episode we talk about:
- Regenerative Design
- Biomimicry
- Indigenous Wisdom
- Systems Change and shifting Paradigms.
All of these ideas are captured in the amazing new book Flourish, which I encourage you to read. More info here: https://www.flourish-book.com/
Michael and Sarah also have an excellent podcast called Flourish Systems Change: https://www.flourish-book.com/flourishsystemschange-podcast
Flourish Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/flourish.systems.change/
Michael's Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelPawlyn
Green Urbanist new website: https://greenurbanistpod.com/
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Today we’re talking about the intersection of of mobility, sustainability, social justice and disability rights.
I am joined by Anna, Micah and Abby from Disability Rights Washington who are part of the Disability Mobility Initiative for Washington State in the US. They are doing amazing work in sharing the stories of how people with disabilities move around and campaigning for systemic change in how our urban environments are designed and built. They want to see people with disabilities in real positions of power and influencing decision making and they talk about the barriers that are currently stopping this.
Learn more about Disability Mobility Initiative:
https://www.disabilityrightswa.org/programs/disabilitymobility/
https://www.disabilityrightswa.org/storymap/
https://twitter.com/dismobility
https://www.tiktok.com/@dismobility?lang=en
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Simon is CEO of the business improvement districts Camden Town Unlimited and Euston Town, as well as being CEO of Camden Collective, & the Camden Highline. He is also Co-Chair of the Cross River Partnership and Chair of Camden Giving. Simon sits on the London Enterprise Action Partnership (LEAP) and is its Champion for Small Business. During the pandemic Simon was seconded to Mayor’s Covid Business Forum and the London Transition Board, where he Chaired the Business Reopening Strategy Group. He now sits on the London Recovery Board. Simon has been leading the Camden Highline project since its inception in 2017.
Learn more about Simon and his Work:Camden Highline Website
Camden Green Loop Website
Simon's Twitter
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Dr Morgan Philips is UK Co-Director of The Glacier Trust, a UK charity that enables remote mountain communities in Nepal to adapt to Climate Change, and Head of Insight at Global Action Plan. He has a PhD in Environmental Education and is the author of Great Adaptations, a new book about climate adaptation.
In this episode we are talking, unsurprisingly, about climate adaptation. What is it, why we need to be talking about it and lots of examples of good and bad adaptations from cities adapting to increased heat to rural communities in Nepal using agroforestry.
Morgan also tells me about two concepts called Deep Adaptation and Transformational Adaptation, which explore how we may adapt to a society level collapse due to climate change. So, we really cover climate adaption from micro to macro scales in this episode.
Learn more about Morgan and his work:http://theglaciertrust.org/
https://www.globalactionplan.org.uk/home
Great Adaptations Book: http://theglaciertrust.org/great-adaptations/shop/great-adaptations
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"So, here's a big problem we need to talk about.
Net Zero Carbon means different things in different situations. We all get to define what we "mean" by net zero (i.e. what we include in our calculations) to suit our project."
In this episode I delve into the problems associated with the term 'Net Zero Carbon', particularly from an urban design and placemaking perspective.
Today's episode was sparked by a Linkedin post I made criticising McDonald's Net Zero Carbon restaurant: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ross-o-ceallaigh_mcdonalds-opens-uks-first-net-zero-restaurant-activity-6878675708114153472-X3HI
It got a lot of traction, with over 40,000 views, 500 likes, 70 comments and 19 reshares so far. Some people supported my criticism while others offered challenges and corrections. This has all fed into a really interesting discussion and informed my thinking further. Rather than responding to all the Linkedin comments, I have laid out further thoughts here on the McDonalds example and on the problems with Net Zero in general.
Dezeen article: https://www.dezeen.com/2021/12/20/mcdonalds-net-zero-restaurant/
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Soils matter! Chris Churchman explains how protecting green areas and improving soil quality is crucial for fighting climate change.
Chris is a landscape architect and strategist, and the founding Director of Churchman Thornhill Finch landscape architects. As well as having decades of experience designing stunning projects like the gardens of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Chris is interested in the role of soil in tackling climate change. He joined me to talk about the potential for soil to play a much bigger role in sequestering carbon, how new development on greenfield sites releases a lot more carbon than we currently account for, and some thoughts on urban greening tactics.
Follow Chris:https://www.churchmanthornhillfinch.co.uk/
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Rachel Hoolahan is an architect and sustainability co-ordinator at Orms Architects, a leading London practice with extensive experience working with existing buildings. For the past few years, the practice has engaged in a series of deep research assignments and is utilising this data and knowledge to push the boundaries of sustainable development – both in refurbishment and new build projects.
Recently, she led a research piece on material passports as part of a wider Grosvenor Estate Innovation Project into material reuse. The outcome of this work is a methodology for encouraging more meaningful material reuse, by creating a material database for the project. The approach is deliberately open source and flexible, allowing design teams of any size or skill set to apply the work to their projects.
Rachel is the recipient of the 2021 AJ100 Sustainability Champion Award
This episode covers:
- What circular economy means for buildings
- Material passports
- Buildings as Material Banks (BAMB)
- Building a culture of sustainability
- Consumerism and fast fashioned
As you may have guessed, this episode is all about Circularity, also called Circular Economy. Rachel explains so clearly why reusing construction and building materials is so important, but also practically how to do it, with examples from her own work. We also talk about how Orms Architects are embedding sustainability in their work culture, which is fascinating. And we end with a discussion on consumerism, the fashion industry and how we need a change in mindset to live within the planet's boundaries.
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George is an urban designer at Create Streets, working to create greener, happier and healthier communities. He believes that designers have a key role to play in safeguarding the long-term well-being of communities and our environment through design that recognizes the value of nature, local context and sustainable connectivity. He has a background in human geography and holds a Masters’ in urban design. George works closely with landowners, developers, councils and neighbourhood groups and has experience of working on masterplans for new settlements, urban extensions and brown field sites, at a range of scales both in the U.K. and abroad.
Today's episode is all about masterplanning for sustainable places but also beautiful places. I do believe that there is a close connection between beauty and sustainability. Places that are attractive and desirable to be in will stand the test of time, will be preserved and adapted into the future. Whereas places that are ugly or inappropriate, like a lot of mid-century modernist tower blocks and estates, are much more likely to be torn down and replaced, which brings with it a huge waste of materials and carbon emissions.
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This episode explains the concept of Doughnut Economics and explores how Amsterdam is using it in its post-Covid recovery.
References:
- https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/25/amsterdam-brussels-bet-on-doughnut-economics-amid-covid-crisis.html
- https://www.amsterdam.nl/en/policy/sustainability/circular-economy/
- https://matchboxstudio.medium.com/designing-the-doughnut-a-story-of-five-cities-8bad04ded5e3
- https://time.com/5930093/amsterdam-doughnut-economics/
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Watch a video of this episode on Conrad's YouTube channel:
Conrad is a mobility and climate activist with an international academic and professional background in urban and transport planning, engineering and design across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East. His experiences span the transport spectrum – he has worked on traditional infrastructure projects, such as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as well as on cutting-edge projects, like the RTA Big Data Platform Project in Dubai, UAE. He also lectures in Universities on a wide variety of transport engineering and ‘Future of Mobility’ topics. He is currently based in Cambodia.
Conrad travels far and frequently, increasingly off the beaten track... shooting photographs and creating short videos telling the stories of different places, which he shares on his instagram account.
Follow Conrad/Urban Dialectic:https://www.linkedin.com/in/conradrichardson/
https://www.youtube.com/c/ConradRichardson/videos
https://www.instagram.com/conrad.richardson/
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Scott is an activist, architectural designer, educator and writer. Disgruntled with the lack of focus on sustainability and climate change within architectural education, Scott began the Anthropocene Architecture School, which fuses architectural education, climate literacies and sustainable design - utilising activist media strategies and educational workshops to catalyse and support responses to the Climate and Ecological Emergency from within the construction industry.
Scott is someone who is dedicated to getting things done and making a difference. He is incredibly knowledgeable and inspiring.
In this episode we talk about:
- His approach to education and why traditional architectural education is failing students
- The importance of unlocking urbanist's imagination and agency to create a better future
- The concepts of Regenerative Design and Degrowth and what that means for the built environment.
Follow Scott:Twitter
Linkedin
Instagram
Link to Sustainable Transport Course (TUMI):https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/introducing-sustainable-urban-mobility
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Ran Boydell has studied and practised architecture in the UK and his native Australia for over three decades, with particular emphasis on sustainability, heritage, and rural architecture. Today, Ran is passionate about delivering on zero-carbon targets, implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and working across disciplines and industry sectors to help drive a rapid and radical transition to a sustainable economy. He was a founder of #ArchitectsDeclare in Australia, teaches university courses on sustainable development, and is a pioneer of sustainable homes for the mass market through his "ecohus" brand.
Ran's article in The Conversation:https://theconversation.com/most-buildings-were-designed-for-an-earlier-climate-heres-what-will-happen-as-global-warming-accelerates-163672
Contact Ran:http://www.ecohus.co.uk/
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Dr Hossein Sadri is concerned with making the planet a better place to live and works as an activist, designer, writer, and teacher to create this change. He is the co-founder of De-Urban Design Studio; the design laboratory that reimagines human settlements as ethical, ecological, and equitable living habitats. He also teaches architecture at Coventry University.
We talk about:
- The concept of De-Urban design
- Why we need a radical paradigm shift to solve the challenges of climate change and ecological destruction
- Thinking in the long term and building for multiple generations
- And what we can learn from indigenous cultures.
Follow Hossein:https://deurban.org/
https://ecodemia.org.uk/
https://twitter.com/hosadri
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Balazs is founder of Green Urbanics, marketplace and blog for innovative, nature-based, urban sustainability solutions. He has a long career in business development and innovation, but with a background in ecology. His mission is to support regenerative businesses and bring the best solutions to city governments so they can quickly deploy them and take action on climate change.
Innovative Solutions mentioned in the episode:Low Tech:
- ancient architecture solutions - latticed screens, buildings painted white, covered with green roofs and vines, cooling ponds, using the wind and nature’s other means of regulating airflow and one of my personal favorites featured on Green Urbanics Business Livecast on June 24: https://greencitysolutions.de/en/
- saving pollinators by not mowing that often, leaving wildflower patches // reforestation in urban settings
- Green Pees of Urban Senses
High Tech:
- Green Fluidics using algae strains and nanofluidics to help regulate building temperatures
- AI supported drones picking up garbage on waterways (RanMarine’s Wasteshark) or building energy efficiency (Enerbrain)
- IoT enabled indoor farming and precision agriforestry
- perovskite-based transparent solar film
Tech for Mindset Shift:
- evocco
- Inchainge
- UCapture and Reforest
Follow Balazs:https://www.linkedin.com/in/balazs-erdei/
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Nadina is an ecological engineer, technologist, and entrepreneur dedicated to working with urban ecologists and planners to apply today’s technology to improve urban ecosystems for future generations of city dwellers. She also runs an excellent podcast called the Internet of Nature, which I highly recommend.
In this episode we talk about:
- What is the Internet of Nature
- How to use technology to ensure better tree survival rates in cities
- And the role of technology in connecting city residents to nature.
I am always a bit skeptical of the idea of smart cities and relying on technology too much to solve our problems. But Nadina explains really well how digital technology can be a vital tool in an era of a changing climate. How we can use existing technology to learn about urban ecosystems and make better decisions.
Follow Nadina and The Internet of Nature Podcast:https://www.nadinagalle.com/
https://www.nadinagalle.com/podcast
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadinagalle/
https://twitter.com/earthtonadina
https://www.instagram.com/internetofnature_/?hl=en
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Dr Brian O'Ceallaigh is a clinical psychologist working for the national health service in England and he also happens to be my brother. I sat down with him to discuss how climate anxiety and climate despair are perfectly healthy responses to the crisis we are facing and how you can manage these feelings through positive action, acceptance and mindfulness practice. We also discuss some of the ways our psychology gets in the way of taking action on climate change and keeps us in the status quo.
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This episode is a conversation with Alice Schmidt.
Alice is an advisor, advocate and author on global sustainability & social transformation. Amongst other things, she is an adviser to organisations like the European Commission and Extinction Rebellion and lectures at Vienna University.
She is the author of a new book, The Sustainability Puzzle, which explores how systems thinking, circularity, climate action and social transformation can improve health, wealth and wellbeing for all.
We talk about all these topics and more.
Find out more about Alice and the book:https://www.sustainability-puzzle.org/
www.linkedin.com/in/aliceschmidt
http://www.aliceschmidt.at/
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This is the first episode in an ongoing series exploring the work of London National Park City Rangers. I go 'in the field' to to meet Rangers Luke Newcombe and Charles Linton in Wood Green, North London, to see some urban greening interventions first hand:
- Green public space at Wood Green Library
- Green roofs
- The borough's first Parklet/Pocket Park
- Nature Reserve
Luke also gives advice for how you can start greening your own neighbourhood.
Luke runs GrowN22, a Community Interest Company dedicated to transforming unlikely, disused and neglected spaces and gardens across Haringey into vibrant community gardens and growing spaces made for and by local people.
Charles works in outdoor education and is a self-professed invertebrate nerd.
Learn more about London National Park City and GrowN22:https://grown22.com/
https://www.nationalparkcity.london/
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An introduction to the concept of Systems Thinking and how it is essential for understanding and taking action on climate change. This episode is inspired by the book Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows. It covers:
- What is Systems Thinking?
- How to get started thinking in systems
- System structure - stocks, flows and loops
- Leverage points for changing systems
Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
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https://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast
Referenceshttps://www.climateinteractive.org/ci-topics/systems-thinking/
https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/how-feedback-loops-are-making-climate-crisis-worse
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3828902-thinking-in-systems
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29214420-doughnut-economics?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ACzKLhIr9Q&rank=1
Today's episode is a conversation with Arthur Kay, Founder and CEO of Skyroom and Bio Bean, and Chair of the Key Workers Homes Fund.
Skyroom is an award-winning technology and urban development company which delivers precision-manufactured homes in the airspace above existing buildings. Their mission is to improve the lives of key workers by delivering affordable, sustainable, beautiful homes near where they work. They aim to create 10,000 homes for key workers in London by 2030 by building above existing buildings.
We speak about:
- The unique challenges of densifying cities by building additional storeys above existing buildings.
- Why living in cities is much more sustainable than living in the countryside.
- Why cities will emerge stronger after the Pandemic.
- Circular economy and the role of biofuels in transitioning to Zero Carbon.
Learn more about Arthur, Skyroom and Bio Bean:https://skyroom.london/
https://www.bio-bean.com/
https://twitter.com/arthurkay_
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Jake is Sustainable Design Advisor at Hawkins\Brown where he led the development of the free open-source Hawkins Brown Emissions Reduction Tool, also referred to as H\B:ERT, which is a whole life carbon calculation tool. Jake works across all project stages; developing and reviewing key sustainability strategies and targets. His work is at the boundary between architecture and engineering; working with passive design techniques to create comfort in buildings before using modern technology where it counts.
In the episode Jake and I discuss:
- The practicalities of achieving net zero carbon by 2050
- Taking an evidence based approach to designing zero carbon buildings
- The challenges of retrofitting existing buildings for energy efficiency, and
- Why it is essential that Architects are trained and educated in sustainable design principles.
Heads up on some terminology we use:
Whole Life Carbon: an approach to designing buildings that takes into account emissions from the building's entire life, including construction and operation. So, it's the most accurate way of assessing actually how many emissions are associated with a building.
We also talk about Hawkins Browns' Revit Plugin for assessing carbon emissions. If you don't know, Revit is basically a 3d modelling software used by architects and engineers, which has a database built in so you can store data in the model.
Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions: Scope 1 relates to emissions directly from burning fossil fuels. Scope 2 relates to indirect emissions from energy use. And Scope 3 relates to embodied emissions, in this case from building materials.
Learn more about Hawkins/Brown:
https://www.hawkinsbrown.com/
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Today's episode is a conversation with Jonny McKenna and Dhruv Sookhoo of Metropolitan Workshop, a leading practice of architects and urban designers based in London and Dublin. Jonny McKenna is Director of their Dublin office, an architect and urban designer and has played a lead role in masterplanning and residential projects since joining Metropolitan Workshop in 2006.
Dhruv Sookhoo is Head of Research and Practice Innovation at Metropolitan Workshop. He is both a chartered Architect and town planner, and a social researcher.
The focus of our conversation today is suburbia. As urbanists we can sometimes be dismissive or snobbish about the suburbs, and often they are portrayed as being unsustainable and soulless places. However, the fact is that they still remain the residential typology of choice for many people in cities. If we want to reconsider the suburbs for modern life and the era of climate change, we need to think about them quite honestly and openly.
Metropolitan Workshop have been designing suburban development and challenging the status quo for years, and they have just finished a long research project on the topic called A New Kind of Suburbia, that brings together their thinking approach with a broad range of perspectives. In this episode, Jonny and Dhruv reflect on what are some aspects of the suburbs we would want to replicate in future and what aspects need to be reconsidered. They then provide some ideas on how we could reimagine the suburbs as mixed, sustainable communities with a great quality of life, particularly in the post-covid world.
Towards the end of the podcast, they offer some advice for other practitioners who want to engage in practice-based research and how this can benefit their work.
Metropolitan Workshop:https://metwork.co.uk/
Reshaped Podcast: https://metwork.co.uk/prospects/reshaped/
A New Kind of Suburbia: https://metwork.co.uk/research/a-new-kind-of-suburbia/
Social Media:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/metropolitan-workshop/
https://www.instagram.com/met_work/
https://twitter.com/Met_Work
Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
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Today's episode is a conversation with Virginia Cinquemani.
Virginia is the founder and director of Green Gorilla Consultants, a unique training and coaching company focusing exclusively on empowering sustainability professionals to become the most confident and assertive version of themselves, and to successfully accomplish their sustainability projects even when their stakeholders think sustainability is a waste of time and money!
Virginia is a qualified architect, project manager and BREEAM AP, with a life long passion for sustainability.
She is the author of SustainABLE: How to Find Success as a Sustainability Professional in a Rapidly Changing World, a practical guide for those that have a passion for sustainability but cannot make an impact.
In this episode Virginia shares advice for anyone who is trying to integrate sustainability into their work and projects but is coming up against barriers. So whether you are just starting out on your sustainability journey or you're an experienced professional, this episode is relevant for you.
Virginia explains how we can better communicate about sustainability, and how we can sell sustainable solutions to clients by appealing to their needs and concerns. This episode is all about the soft skills that we a professionals need every day beyond technical knowledge.
She also gives advice for urbanists who don't necessarily have a sustainability background but who want to bring sustainability into their work. The key message is: just get started, no matter how small or imperfect your first steps are, just get started because we need everyone working towards this.
Learn more about Virginia and Green Gorilla Consultants:https://www.thegreengorilla.co.uk/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/virginiacinquemani/
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Liza is a business consultant, social innovator and advocate for regenerative economy. She's a member of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership network and has extensive experience working in several industries and countries as project manager and consultant. Today she runs her own business called 4D Sustainability helping small and medium businesses on their sustainability journey. She and her co-founder developed a simplified methodology that enables small companies to adopt sustainability measures, as she believes that without small and medium enterprises on board the transition to net zero and better future will not be possible.
We talk about:
- The huge role that small and medium businesses can play in achieving sustainability
- Why sustainability must address social issues
- Regenerative economy
- The UN Sustainable Development Goals, and how Liza uses these to help businesses take action
- Carbon pricing and putting a price a environmental degradation
Learn more about Liza and 4D Sustainability:https://sustainability-canvas.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/4d-sustainability-canvas/
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James grows urban forests around the UK with his company Wild Urban Spaces and with rewilding organisation SUGi. He is an expert in the use of the Miyawaki Method of afforestation, which is a Japanese approach to rapidly creating healthy, native forest ecosystems, and can be applied to small sites in urban contexts.
In this episode we discuss:
- The Miyawaki Method
- The Forest of Thanks, a Miyawaki forest recently planted in London to express gratitude to NHS workers during the pandemic
- How trees make it rain and also alleviate flooding
- The mystery of Biodynamics in soil
- Trees as tsunami defense
- And lots more!
Contact James:https://wildurbanspaces.com/
https://www.sugiproject.com/
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Contact the Green Urbanist:greenurbanistpod@gmail.com
In today's episode we are asking, are tall buildings sustainable? It is often argued that because of their density, tall buildings are essential for sustainable cities to support public transport, walking, cycling and thriving communities. However, once you start looking into it, it is far more complicated than that.
In this episode, tall buildings are analysed based on their environmental, social and economic sustainability with some surprising results.
Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
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Contact the Green Urbanist:greenurbanistpod@gmail.com
Sources:https://nla.london/insights/londons-tall-buildings-survey-2020
Headspace: The Psychology of City Living
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322312012_The_Sustainability_of_Tall_Building_Developments_A_Conceptual_Framework
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jul/11/skyscrapers-wasteful-damaging-outmoded-time-to-stop-tall-buildings
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2017/jun/high-rise-buildings-much-more-energy-intensive-low-rise
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09613218.2018.1479927
https://www.worldgbc.org/news-media/WorldGBC-embodied-carbon-report-published
https://www.transparency.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/publications/TIUK_Faulty_Towers_August_24.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/25/london-empty-towers-very-british-corruption-tainted-wealth
https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/residents_experience_of_high-density_housing_in_london_lse_-_final_report_july_2018.pdf
This episode pulls heavily from two excellent books, The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells and The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac.
I look at the cognitive biases that prevent us from thinking logically and honestly about climate change, and therefore limit our actions, as presented in The Uninhabitable Earth.
Following this I discuss the three "mindsets" put forward in The Future We Choose, that can help us to reframe the problem in our minds and take meaningful action.
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Contact the Green Urbanist:greenurbanistpod@gmail.com
Welcome to the Green Urbanist, the podcast for urbanists fighting climate change. I'm Ross.
The premise of this episode is that the way we currently produce most of our meat, using factory farms and feedlots, is a disaster from an environmental point of view and contributes a small but significant amount to global greenhouse gas emissions. However, there is a potential solution to this problem beyond simply eating less meat, which involves managing livestock in such a way that it contributes to ecosystem restoration and carbon sequestration in soil. That's why the title of this episode is Why Cows aren't Necessarily Evil.
Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
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Contact the Green Urbanist:greenurbanistpod@gmail.com Sources for this episode:
Stanley et al (2018) Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X17310338)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTHi7O66pI&ab_channel=TED
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120327124243.htm#:~:text=Summary%3A,to%20a%20new%20genetic%20study.
FAO - Tackling Climate Change through Livestock (http://www.fao.org/3/i3437e/i3437e00.htm)https://www.globalmethane.org/documents/analysis_fs_en.pdf
https://www.carbonbrief.org/methane-emissions-from-fossil-fuels-severely-underestimated
Rodgers and Wolf (2020) Sacred Cow: The Case for Better Meat (Book)
Today's episode is a collaboration with the Human City podcast. The Human City is a podcast hosted by Stig Terrebonne that focuses on making cities, well, more human. Making people healthier, happier and facilitating community through urbanism.
In this episode Stig has joined me to share his top lessons learned from interviewing some of the leading urbanists in the USA. We cover some really interesting topics including why urbanism needs branding, how communities are formed on interaction and why the solutions for towns or villages are the not the same as those for big cities.
This episode is a collaboration because I am also appearing on Stigs podcast, the Human City, to talk about my lessons learned from hosting the Green Urbanist. That episode is out right now so please head over to the Human City podcast, if not to listen to me, to listen to all the other amazing guests he has had.
Human City Podcast is available on the website below or on all the podcast apps.
Human City Podcast:https://humancity.simplecast.com/
https://twitter.com/humancitypod
https://www.instagram.com/human.city/
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Contact the Green Urbanist:greenurbanistpod@gmail.com
Salem is a Sustainability Engineer who has worked on projects in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. Originally from Amman Jordan, he moved to England to study civil and environmental engineering, and has spent the last 6 years working on exciting international projects.
Salem is a good friend of mine, we used to work together and he was probably one of the first people I met when I first moved to London. With this episode, I really wanted to bring out important insights and lessons he has learned about sustainability in general and more specifically about sustainability in the Middle Eastern context. Being from the Jordan himself and having worked on projects in several Middle Eastern countries, he has some important messages about this often misunderstood region.
We talk about why the Middle East is not just one place, it is very diverse and complex. We talk about how the region is adapting to the impact of climate change and how modern innovative solutions are not always the way forward.
We also discuss the concept of resilience and how cities around the world can bounce forward to a new equilibrium, a new normal, after Covid-19.
Contact Salem:
salemqunsol@live.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/salem-qunsol-ceng-mcibse-252235a8/
Follow the podcast:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
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Contact the podcast:greenurbanistpod@gmail.com
This is a mini-episode covering one very interesting topic: Increased atmospheric carbon is making food grow with less nutrients. I cover the research and some of the implications for global health.
This is a fascinating story I wanted to share but couldn't fit it into a larger episode. So here it is in a short podcast bite.
Let me know what you think of this shorter format on social media:
https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
https://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpod
Sources:
https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/09/13/food-nutrients-carbon-dioxide-000511/
Justin Hunt is a Canadian engineer and entrepreneur, and CEO of an exciting company called Blaise Transit. Blaise is an AI-based software platform that allows transit operators to run on-demand bus services using their existing vehicles. What does that mean? Well essentially, instead of running a traditional bus route on a fixed line, passengers can open a smartphone app and request to picked up. The bus will then alter its route to pick up passengers on the most convenient and efficient route.
You may be thinking that this sounds crazy but Justin explains how using this demand-driven system makes it possible to provide bus services in areas where traditional bus routes do not get enough ridership and don't provide people with a good alternative to using private cars. It can also save money for bus operators because you have less empty buses on the roads.
The discussion also goes more broadly into the wider field of Future of Mobility, how technology is revolutionising movement and how we can leverage this to make cities more sustainable while also offering a better service for passengers and serving more members of society. Topics include autonomous vehicles, V2X Communication and Mobility as a Service.
We talk about some pretty nerdy stuff but don't worry, you don't need a degree in computer science to follow along. A lot of these topics are fairly new to me too and Justin explains them in a very clear, jargon-free way.
Learn more about Blaise:https://www.blaisetransit.com/
https://www.facebook.com/blaisetransit
https://twitter.com/blaisetransit
https://www.linkedin.com/company/blaisetransit/
https://www.instagram.com/blaisetransit/
Follow the podcast on social media:
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Today we are taking a step outside cities to explore reforestation and rewilding in a conversation with biologist Tiago de Zoeten.
Tiago is a conservation biologist at Mossy Earth, a social enterprise on a mission to restore nature and fight climate change. He studied biology at the University of Edinburgh and Biostatistics at UCM in Madrid and has research experience in ecology and conservation genetics.
At Mossy Earth he is working on bringing exciting rewilding projects to life and on applying his love for data to develop resources to help people live more sustainably.
In this episode, we discuss:
- The importance of planting native species and letting forests grow wild.
- What rewilding is all about and how it plays a role in fighting climate change.
- Why we need to create and restore ecosystems.
- The role of wild places and animals in our cultures and history.
- Mossy Earth's projects, including using livestock guarding dogs to protect farms from wolves.
- And finally, how you can approach reducing your own carbon footprint.
Mossy Earth restores wilderness through rewilding and reforestation projects across a variety of ecosystems around the globe. They are currently engaged in tree planting and rewilding projects in Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia. To give you a sense of the scale of their operations, earlier this year, they planted 3000 trees in the Scottish highlands, they are on track to plant 25,000 trees this year in Slovakia and a further 30,000 trees in Romania.
Learn more at https://www.mossy.earth/
https://www.instagram.com/mossy.earth
Follow the podcast on social media:
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References:
George Monbiot Rewilding Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/george_monbiot_for_more_wonder_rewild_the_world?language=en
Reforesting Ireland - Mossy Earth Project: https://mossy.earth/projects/reforestation/foraois-reforesting-ireland
Livestock Guarding Dogs - Mossy Earth Project:
https://mossy.earth/projects/rewilding/supporting-livestock-guarding-dogs
Eagle Nest Platforms - Mossy Earth Project:
https://mossy.earth/projects/rewilding/building-eagle-nest-platforms
This episode provides a summary of the main proposals in the UK government White Paper, Planning for the Future, which sets out a new planning system for England.
I discuss the move away from a discretionary planning system to one based on zoning, how the new system intends to promote design quality and delivering more housing and the changing role of technology in planning.
Read the full White Paper here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-for-the-future
Consultation webpage: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/MHCLG-Planning-for-the-Future/
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References/Further Reading:https://www.centreforcities.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Planning-for-the-future-how-flexible-zoning-will-end-the-housing-crisis-final-online.pdf
https://www.rtpi.org.uk/research/2020/september/planning-through-zoning/
This episode is a conversation with Niall McEvoy.
Niall is Business Development Manager at Scotscape, a leading green infrastructure and living wall provider. He is an educator and speaker with expertise in urban greening, horticulture and the science behind how plants and trees can improve our cities.
Niall leads training courses on the design, construction and maintenance of living walls, provides continuing professional development programmes for architects and designers globally and regularly speaks on these subjects at industry events.
We talk about:
- How "urban greening" is not about planting anything - you have to plant the right species for the right situation.
- How nature works as a system, not as individual elements.
- The importance of plants for air quality, biophilia and biodiversity.
- The economics of green infrastructure.
- The advantages of living walls (or "green walls").
- How to convince people of the necessity for greener cities!
And if you love Irish accents, then this episode is definitely for you!
Learn more about Scotscape and Niall:
https://www.scotscape.co.uk/
Follow the podcast on social media:
https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
https://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpod
Intro music by Tanoi
https://www.instagram.com/tanoiband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5CO2UfOc9jkoImoS6Wmsx4?si=HmxCxRYkTreT7XCTW2G51g
Welcome to the Green Urbanist Podcast. My name is Ross and this podcast is about how urbanists of all kinds can step up the climate emergency.
This episode is Part 2 in a series on Climate Change is affecting and reshaping our cities. The topic is sea level rise and some of the points covered include:
- Why the sea level is rising more in some cities, and dropping in others.
- How melting ice caps shift Earth's rotation.
- The effect of melting glaciars on the oceanic circulation system, and what this could mean, and
- The story of Jakarta, the megacity that is being consumed by the rising tide.
Follow the podcast on social media
https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
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Intro music by Tanoi
https://www.instagram.com/tanoiband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5CO2UfOc9jkoImoS6Wmsx4?si=HmxCxRYkTreT7XCTW2G51g
Sources
Sea Level Rise
https://climate.nasa.gov/blog/3002/sea-level-101-part-two-all-sea-level-is-local/
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends.html
https://e360.yale.edu/features/will_climate_change_jam_the_global_ocean_conveyor_belt
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07052018/atlantic-ocean-circulation-slowing-climate-change-heat-temperature-rainfall-fish-why-you-should-care
Jakarta
https://jakartaglobe.id/context/jokowi-decides-jakartas-time-is-up-indonesias-new-capital-will-be-outside-java
https://www.eco-business.com/news/jakartas-sea-level-prompts-a-move-at-a-price/
https://www.wired.com/story/jakarta-is-sinking/
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/jakarta-sinking
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/21/world/asia/jakarta-sinking-climate.html
https://earth.org/data_visualization/sea-level-rise-by-the-end-of-the-century-alexandria-2/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44636934
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/jakarta-sinks-as-indonesian-capital-and-borneo-takes-on-mantle-20190826-p52kvp.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakarta
Welcome to the Green Urbanist Podcast, hosted by Ross O'Ceallaigh. This podcast is all about how we can design and manage cities to reduce our carbon emissions, adapt to the climate emergency and live happier, healthier lives.
Today's episode is a conversation with Conrad Richardson.
Conrad is a mobility and climate activist with an international academic and professional background in urban and transport planning, engineering and design across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East. His experiences span the transport spectrum – he has worked on traditional infrastructure projects, such as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as well as on cutting-edge projects, like the RTA Big Data Platform Project in Dubai, UAE. He also lectures in Universities on a wide variety of transport engineering and ‘Future of Mobility’ topics.
Conrad travels far and frequently, increasingly off the beaten track... shooting photographs and creating short videos telling the stories of different places, which he shares on his instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/conrad.richardson/?hl=en).
This conversation is very wide ranging but some of the topics covered include:
- Why skateboarders make good urbanists.
- How getting involved in student politics led to Conrad attending the United Nations Climate Conference in Warsaw.
- The magic of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems.
- Why every city has to get walking and cycling right.
- What it means to be a truly Smart City.
- How public transport can facilitate sustainable urban growth.
- Urban technological innovation in the developing world.
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https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
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ReferencesKinshasa traffic robot: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2015/mar/13/kinshasa-traffic-robots-robocops-in-pictures
Research on potential to build housing on car parks in England: https://www.knightfrank.co.uk/research/article/2020-07-15-government-owned-car-parks-could-hold-the-key-to-110000-new-homes
Today's episode is Part 1 of a series about how climate change is affecting our cities. There are four episodes in this series, coming out over the coming months, with a different topic for each.
Today's topic is heat and I cover the following issues:
- What is "Degrees Warming"?
- Extreme heat / heatwaves (Case study: Paris)
- Water shortages (Case studies: Nigeria and England)
- Correlation between heat and increased crime rates
Future episodes in this series will cover water (sea level rise and flooding), food and society. Follow/subscribe to the podcast to stay up to date! Follow us on social media for additional content and news.
Follow the podcast on social media
https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
https://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpod
Intro music by Tanoi
https://www.instagram.com/tanoiband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5CO2UfOc9jkoImoS6Wmsx4?si=HmxCxRYkTreT7XCTW2G51g
References:Many of the facts and figures come from The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace Wells - an amazing book. Specific internet-based resources are shown below.
Heathttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/world/europe/france-europe-extreme-heat.html
https://www.citylab.com/environment/2019/06/paris-trees-famous-landmarks-garden-park-urban-forest-design/591835/
https://www.citylab.com/environment/2019/06/europe-heatwave-paris-climate-resilience-weather-hot/592729/
IPCC, Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report, Summary for Policy Makers
Waterhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47620228
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/london-thames-water-leaks
https://www.circleofblue.org/2018/world/water-scarcity-looms-in-londons-future/#:~:text=In%20recent%20years%2C%20London%20has,is%20influenced%20by%20several%20factors.
Crimehttps://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/mrcbg/files/ranson_2012-8.FINAL.pdf
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab6b37/pdf
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018GH000152
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118517390.wbetc198
Welcome to the Green Urbanist. The podcast for urbanists fighting climate change. I'm Ross.
Today's episode is an interview with Giulia Mori. Giulia is a Senior Energy and Sustainability Consultant with Tuffin Ferraby Taylor in London. One of her areas of expertise is wellbeing in the built environment. The focus of our conversation is how architecture and urban design affects our health.
Wellbeing is a huge topic. To keep this conversation to a reasonable length, we've chosen to focus on three topics: Air Quality, Thermal Comfort and Sedentary lifestyle. If you're unfamiliar with the term, Thermal Comfort is to do with how we experience temperature and the effect of this on our productivity and health.
There are many many more aspects of wellbeing that we didn't have time to cover. For instance we didn't talk about nutrition, mental health, the importance of community or biophilia, our innate connection with the natural world. If you enjoy this episode, and you want to know more, Giulia can come back for another episode to talk about these topics.
We are recording this in July 2020, when Covid-19 is still very much present in the world so we do talk about infectious disease towards the end of the podcast.
Finally, just a point on some terminology. Giulia mentions two things you may be unfamiliar with - these are the Well Building Standard and the Fitwell standard. These are rating systems that you can follow when designing or retrofitting a building to make it as healthy as possible. A lot of what Giulia does is helping architects and developers to apply these standards to their buildings so they can be certified under Well or Fitwell. We don't go into depth on the standards, but just be aware that they exist as we do mention them in passing a few times.
Contact Giulia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giulia-mori-b91492120/
Follow the podcast on social media
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Intro music by Tanoi
https://www.instagram.com/tanoiband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5CO2UfOc9jkoImoS6Wmsx4?si=HmxCxRYkTreT7XCTW2G51g
Many cities around the world have declared a climate emergency and have committed to reducing their carbon emissions to zero. But where should they start? How do cities make the transition from business as usual to meaningful action on climate change? In this episode, I discuss three actions that all cities need to take as they transition to carbon neutrality.
Sources:
https://report.gndforeurope.com/
https://urbantransitions.global/urban-opportunity/
https://energy-cities.eu/project/zero-carbon-cities/
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-life-expectancy-declined-for-third-year-in-a-row-2019-11?r=US&IR=T
Follow the podcast on social media
https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
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Intro music by Tanoi
https://www.instagram.com/tanoiband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5CO2UfOc9jkoImoS6Wmsx4?si=HmxCxRYkTreT7XCTW2G51g
In this episode, I take a look at one scenario for Britain achieving zero carbon emissions put forward by the Centre for Alternative Energy (CAT) in their report called Zero Carbon Britain.
CAT describe the report like this:
"Incorporating work from the last 12 years of Zero Carbon Britain research and the latest scientific and technological developments, the report presents a technically feasible scenario showcasing a future Zero Carbon Britain using only proven technology."
I present a summary of the report with a focus on the elements of most interest to urbanists. Think of it as a primer for understanding the high level actions that need to be taken as we transition to zero carbon emissions.
Read the full report here:
https://www.cat.org.uk/info-resources/zero-carbon-britain/
Follow the podcast on social media
https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod
https://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpod
Intro music by Tanoi
https://www.instagram.com/tanoiband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5CO2UfOc9jkoImoS6Wmsx4?si=HmxCxRYkTreT7XCTW2G51g
A short introduction episode for first time listeners.
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https://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpod