Local Ecommerce & the Shape of Places

2011 may be remembered for some dramatic natural disasters and their impacts on our urban environments but, another tipping point is underway that may well be even more dramatic as it provides a ‘once in a generational’ opportunity to transform regional settlements.

Local Ecommerce has arrived and it is driven by the passionate embrace of all consumers (city & bush) of purchasing goods and services over the internet.

The remarkable and unheralded penetration of smart phones and social media has created a new consumer force that is reshaping the sustainability of urban communities. This is a verdant expression of the new power of consumers as we move from a transactional economy to one of relationships and reputation. Businesses who miss this trend will fail and urban design that ignores this shift will provide urban form that is irrelevant to the future and condemn communities to economic and social decline.

This paper will draw from current practice to explore and reveal the latest insights to how urban design needs to respond and shape places to nurture a new economy based on knowledge and experience.

Robert Prestipino,Director, Vital Places
The 4th International Urban Design Conference 2011 - Resilience in Urban Design
22nd and 23rd of September, Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort and Spa, Queensland

The ultimate test in urban design resilience - Christchurch's Earthquake

On 22 February 2011, Christchurch was struck by an earthquake. Already damaged from earthquakes in September 2010 and December 2010, as well as numerous aftershocks, the city was then faced with a massive rebuilding task.

This paper will outline what measures were put in place, both in terms of legislation and in other ways to deal with the aftermath of the earthquakes and the rebuilding. It will also look at what was done to ensure resilience of urban design, including the redesign of the CBD and other areas, and the steps to ensure building resistance to future earthquakes. The integral issue following the earthquake was how will the CBD be rebuilt and can and should a new design be mastered?

This paper will look at whether these things were achieved and what changes, if any, will occur to the design of the city.

Amanda Douglas, Partner, WynnWilliams & Co, Christchurch NZ

The 4th International Urban Design Conference 2011 
22nd and 23rd of September, Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort and Spa, Queensland

Embodied Carbon of Commonly Specified Materials in Architecture

Tim Griffin

Buildings consume 50% of the world’s energy resources. Much attention has been devoted to operational energy use in buildings with increasingly stringent legislation, guidance and standards over the last two decades. Energy efficiency is a commonly used term which is now familiar to most home owners. Less well understood is the concept of Embodied Energy (EE); the energy needed to transform raw materials in the ground into a completed building, including raw material extraction, processing and manufacturing, transportation, and construction.

It is the energy which has been constructed into a building and which cannot be recovered during the lifetime of the building, regardless of operational efficiencies. Architects and designers are currently handicapped by a lack of usable information in the right form, which can be used to quickly and effectively assess the energy, carbon and/or environmental impact of materials specified. As progress is made towards zero carbon buildings, research shows that the embodied energy of a building will increase both in absolute and percentage terms.

By 2019 embodied carbon, in theory, will make up 100% of a building’s footprint. This paper describes the status quo in embodied energy of materials: its research, policy status and application within the built environment. The paper also describes how the authors adapted current published embodied energy and carbon values, materials ratings and environmental product information into a useable set of pro formas for architectural specification in new build and retrofit projects. A number of commonly specified materials are discussed, and examples of how low carbon design information can be used to inform projects are given. To advocate truly sustainable and low carbon architecture requires skilled designers to champion low carbon building design issues, and ensure that data is easily applied and information presented in a useable format.

Tim  Griffin, B.Arch (Hons) Dip.Arch RIBA ARIAS
Director, Michael Laird Architects, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

The 4th International Urban Design Conference, September 2011, Gold Coast, Austalia

Designing - Sustainable Precincts

Mr Mark Allan

Sustainable Precincts of the future - what might look like?

This presentation will explore current projects and actions addressing ‘how we might plan and design sustainable precincts within cities that are truly self-sufficient in energy, waste, water, health, employment, culture, transport and food’.

Australian cities enjoy a high level of ‘liveability’ based on massive levels of consumption of goods and resources, including land. This significantly impacts on our future, not only the built and natural environments, but indeed the entire planet. Although some in-roads have been made towards improving the sustainability of our built environment, we are living beyond our means. Maintaining liveability, promoting commerce, employment, recreation, education, and health, whilst at the same time reducing consumption, is central to sustainable city futures.

Think more broadly – upscale the rewards
The Australian property industry has shown leadership in the development and delivery of green buildings, particularly in the commercial office sector, with an on-going legacy for city centres. Utilising the expertise associated with individual green buildings and applying these on a broader precinct-wide scale offers opportunities to upscale returns and to increase the benefits of greening the built environment.

Multi-centre metropolises
A cohesive future for Australian cities relies upon planning and urban design strategies which develop solutions for a low carbon future. Managing urban change processes to promote competitiveness, efficiency and diversity is key; as is implementing new approaches to planning and urban design, promoting a mix of uses, higher density, walkability, and access to local jobs and services; embracing technological innovation to promote changes in community behaviour.

In the context on the current debate about Australian’s rapid urbanisation; this presentation will review successful approaches in central Melbourne including Docklands and the potential of sustainable precincts to create places that are liveable, economically, socially and environmentally efficient – places for communities of character and resilience.

Mr Mark Allan
Assocaite Director
Billard Leece Partnership Architects, Melbourne

4th International Urban Design Conference September 2011