Ecodesign for Cities and Suburbs

Week 1: How the usual urban growth model operates and why it needs to change.

• Three growth models that we can learn from: Vancouver, Helsinki, and Portland. The six axioms of Ecodesign
• The four urgent sets of issues that are at the heart of this course.

Week 2: Adapting to climate change and limiting global warming locally:

• Ways to adapt to sea level rise, changing coastlines and storm surges;
• Adapting to other climate risks and to threats to global food supplies.
• Limiting global warming locally by using alternative energy sources.
• Prototypes for urban and environmental harmony – Stockholm’s Hammarby Sjostad, Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City, Vancouver’s Southeast False Creek Village.

Week 3: Balancing cars and other kinds of transportation, assuming, as we do, that the automobile is here to stay.

• Toronto’s Big Move and other balanced transportation systems – where the most energy-efficient mode for each kind of trip is also the most attractive.
• Transit-oriented development – how the Washington Metro is transforming suburban Tyson’s Corner; and how BRT could also restructure suburbs in places where rail transit is not economic.
• Cutting traffic related deaths – the Sweden and New York examples.
• Improving walkability and cycling.
• High-speed rail as the backbone of multi-city regional development.

Week 4: Making cities more livable and environmentally compatible.

• The experiential perspective.
• Blind spots in development regulations which make places less livable, and spread out urban growth far more than is necessary;
• Relating regulations to nature.
• The power of neighbourhood – history and current relevance of a key concept for urban and suburban structure.
• The benefits of mixed use and diversity – managing the mix for neighbourliness.
• Ways to make housing more affordable.
• Making living in compact, urban places competitive with suburban lifestyles.
• The relationship of living and working in walkable places to overall health.

Week 5: Designing and managing the public realm.

• Social demands for public space; maximizing the experiential dimension.
• Economic demands for public space; maximizing quality, utility and value.
• People-oriented public space.
• Creating complete streets with primacy for pedestrians and green infrastructure.
• Managing the public realm as an active place, for safety and to serve people better.
• Recovering forgotten urban places and turning industrial waterfronts into parks and neighbourhoods – Brooklyn Bridge Park, Battery Park City in New York, False Creek North in Vancouver.
• Re-creating a natural environment in urban settings.

Week 6: Implementing Ecodesign.

• Public and private, we all have a role in implementation;
• Public-private collaboration is essential for livable, sustainable cities.
• Implementing adaptation to climate change and reducing causes of global warming locally.
• First steps towards balancing transportation systems.
• Making regulations more discretionary and development management more transactional.
• Financing the public realm - leveraging the relationship between development rights and land values.
• Concluding discussion.