CityReads│Better Infrastructure, Better Life
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Better Infrastructure，
Better Life
Better use of energy through better infrastructure will enable more people to live better.
Source:http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/nov/22/norman-foster-i-have-no-power-as-an-architect-sustainability
Picture Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GSfo4dTjk0
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Urban Age Global Debates
Between November 19 and December 3, 2015, LSE Cities and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society, in association with Guardian Cities, held a series of public Global Debates to celebrate ten years of the Urban Age programme. The debates discussed five core themes that have been the focus of research and debate at the Urban Age since 2005.
Confronting Climate Change: can cities be the solution?
Steering Urban Growth: can planning and architecture manage?
The Politics of Equity: who owns the city?
Designing Urban Infrastructure: investing for now or tomorrow?
Narratives of Inclusion: can cities help us live together?
Speakers included leading environmental and urban experts, mayors and policy-makers, architects, writers, sociologists and urban thinkers who will offer a global perspective on the social and spatial dynamics of 21st century urbanization.
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The OECD estimates that around US$ 53 trillion is required for investment in transport, energy efficiency, telecommunications, and water and waste infrastructure over the next 15 years. Yet, as the world rapidly urbanizes, investment in urban infrastructure is lagging behind. Lack of vision, loss of nerve, absence of public funds and low levels of interest from investors all exacerbate this. Nonetheless some cities across the globe are demonstrating resilience and capacity for innovation. While there is a consensus that investment in physical and social infrastructure can increase productivity, facilitate connection and promote social good, there are severe challenges and barriers to investment. Architect Norman Foster, who has been at the forefront of urban change in cities across the world, focused on the role that design can play in tackling social, economic and environmental futures, providing the context for the examination of the broader challenges of using infrastructure to help improve quality of life and the environment in cities in the UK and abroad.
Norman Foster argued that Infrastructure is not about investing to solve the problems of today but is to anticipate the issues of future generations. “I believe in infrastructure ”, he said.
Norman Foster
Statistics shows that if you take the carbon footprint of London, that’s one seventh of that of Atlanta, so there’s a relationship between density and emissions. The whole climate change issue comes down to urbanism.
The energy that an American consume in one year would equal the energy consumed by two Japanese, 13 Chinese, 31 Indians and 370 Ethiopians. So you start to take the relationship between energy consumed by a society and infant mortality, life expectancy, sexual freedom, academic freedom, freedom from violence. So those societies that consume more energy have more of those desirable qualities, so all those issues are inseparable from the nature of the infrastructure. The connections between these points are not always clear, but the argument seems to be that better use of energy through better infrastructure will enable more people to live better. The benefits of BRT in Bogota Of his own work, Foster says that many of the most important projects are not what are normally considered buildings, but things such as the Millennium Bridge, the pedestrianisation of Trafalgar Square in London, the Millau viaduct in southern France. More statistics: “Millau cut out five-hour traffic jams, which meant that the saving in CO2 from the 10% of traffic that is heavy good vehicles had an effect equivalent to a forest of 40,000 trees.” He has campaigned vigorously for the Thames Hub, a new airport in the Thames estuary with an associated network of huge ambition: an orbital railway around London, a flood barrier, tidal energy generation. He is profoundly disappointed that his plan is likely to be rejected in favor of an expanded Heathrow: “The reality of a hub airport is that you can never ever do that at Heathrow. If you do that at Heathrow now you can absolutely guarantee that we will still be pedaling furiously to stand still. You can never accommodate long-term needs there.” Foster’s proposed design for the Thames Hub airport. Photograph: dbox/Foster & Partners But given what he just said about sustainability, should we be expanding airports at all? In fact, you’re probably going to have your hamburger in spite of the fact that you’re going to make a much greater impact than any travel. Air travel compares well statistically with the amount of methane produced by cows and the amount of energy and water needed to produce a hamburger. Figure Contrast of the new Beijing airport and the new terminal of Heathrow airport The reality is that all society is embedded in mobility. You’re going to take that flight. You’d be better to take the flight out of an airport that is driven by tidal power and which uses natural light, and which anticipates the day when air travel will be more sustainable. What is the role of the architect in what is generally the province of engineers, planners and politicians? Foster says: “I have no power as an architect, none whatsoever. I can’t even go on to a building site and tell people what to do.” Advocacy, he says, is the only power an architect ever has. In the context of infrastructure, the question is also whether it adapts to the political, social and physical conditions that surround it. In answer to Foster’s question, yes, I do believe in infrastructure. Or, rather, I’d compare it to water: essential to existence, life-enhancing and sometimes beautiful, but with the power to damage and destroy if misused. A new drone-port project in Rwanda is one of Foster and Partners’ most intriguing. It is a plan to create a network of cargo drones that can bring medical supplies and blood, plus spare parts, electronics and e-commerce, to hard-to-access parts of Africa, allowing it to become part of local community life. Because of their inaccessible locations, they have to be built using materials close to hand, so techniques have been developed for efficiently making local earth into bricks and stones into foundations. Design for the proposed drone-port project in Rwanda. Photograph: Foster & Partners It is impossible at this point and at this distance to know if the drone-port project will achieve what it hopes, but its ambition to adapt to local conditions seems absolutely to the point. The interesting question is then how to bring the same thinking to infrastructure in a developed country. What is the right infrastructure for the society and culture of this country, at this point? It is a good question for an architect to address. Related CityReads: 57.Confronting Climate Change: City Is Key to A Solution 58.Who Owns Our Cities? （Enter Official Account and reply number “57”or "58" ）
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