Urban Insights (Asynchronous Session)
Adaptation of Urban High-density Neighborhoods in Nodes of Sustainable Mobility: Intelligent Mobility Condensers View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Carlos Prados Gómez, Carlos Rosa Jiménez, Maria José Márquez Ballesteros, Alberto E. García Moreno
In Europe and since the early twentieth century, municipal mobility policies have provided underground parking and public transport to many of the rapidly built social neighbourhoods between 1960 and 1980, which were planned lacking them. However, the climatic emergency requires new approaches that reduce CO2 emissions. This paper sets out the steps for the implementation of an Intelligent Mobility Condenser (IMC) in an existing neighbourhood. IMCs combine connectivity to public transport, together with the creation of a transport cooperative that meets the mobility needs of its neighbours without the need to own a private car. Similar to car-sharing, the IMC offers hybrid, electric, solar cars, along with motorcycles and electric bicycles. This together with a digital platform that facilitates the management of their needs. On the other hand, IMCs are automatic surface parkings, with solar collection and urban gardens, which, being high-access nodes in the neighborhood, allow the incorporation of community, social and commercial spaces. The paper discusses the results based on the economic and environmental benefits of the model, and the threats of its implementation due to the difficulties of giving up the private car.
Urban Vertical Greening through Circular Economy View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ahmed K. Ali, Bruce Dvorak, Patricia Kio
This study investigates alternative materials already in the solid waste stream that were ready for creative reuse. The purpose of this project is to explore if existing sheet metal by-products could be repurposed as green wall systems and provide beneficial ecosystem services. A secondary purpose was to educate the campus community about sustainability through improving the value of industrial by-products thereby reducing waste streams in the production of new materials, energy conservation, and reduced water use for green walls through the use of drought-tolerant vegetation. Initial readings for the living wall system surface was 2.68 to 3.92 and up to 4.6 degrees Celsius cooler than the adjacent concrete wall. One design was refined and was trialed for cutting using a water-jet machine and assembled with manual folding. Three hundred prism-shaped modules were attached to a vertical steel frame. Drip irrigation lines deliver water to each module. Drought tolerant plants were used to minimize irrigation water. It is estimated that compared to conventional living walls, the proposed system uses about half of the volume of water needed for irrigation.
Vernacular Architecture for Slum Upgradation: Road to Cost Effective and Green Local Economy
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Prithvi Chauhan
Slums are informal settlements found in urban regions usually distinguishable by their crowdedness, congestion, and lack of basic amenities like sanitation and water. These settlements erupt due to the large rural to urban migration in search for livelihood and sometimes to escape a detrimental life. And with the world more globalized, this urban problem is expected to increase leaving no other options with the poor settlers but to live in squabble housing and face disgrace along with the risk of eviction from the urban governance structures. Hence, it is proposed that if vernacular architecture is brought in the scenario to convert these squatter dwellings into zones of self-help, local economy and social infrastructure; sustainable urban pockets can be created. Vernacular architecture is the use of nature and local adaptation to the environment by using available natural resources and building structures that are functional, i.e designed to assist in the community’s way of living. If such designs are applied to slums they can introduce cost-effectiveness in up-gradation of the housing due to use of locally available resources that can be recycled and reused, cutting the need of deploying external labour and inclusion of community values to housing that can enhance social infrastructure and simultaneously local economy by ecotourism, markets etc. Incremental housing finance can be introduced by governments to gradually and sustainably transform slums that are made of sustainable materials and utilize minimal resources. To conclude, cities can use primitive yet evolved methods to meet Sustainable Development goals for the future.
