Transcript Document

The Urban Environment:
Tackling Complexity
Professor Judith Petts
Overview
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The Wicked Problem
 Defining the urban
 Cumulative versus Systemic Issues
 Redefining an ecosystem approach –
understanding the web of connections
 Understanding how cities work
 Fit-for-purpose governance structures
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“…vital cities are not helpless to combat even the most
difficult of problems. They are not passive victims of chains
of circumstances, any more than they are the malignant
opposite of nature”
“But look what we have built…low income projects that
become worse centers of delinquency, vandalism and
general social hopelessness than the slums they are
supposed to replace. Cultural centers that are unable to
provide a good bookstore. Civic centers that are avoided by
everyone but bums…Promenades that go to nowhere and
have no promenaders. Expressways that eviscerate great
cities. This is not the rebuilding of our cities. This is the
sacking of cities”
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Jane Jacobs, The Life and Death of Great American Cities, 1961
The Wicked Problem
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10 Characteristics (Rittel & Webber, 1973)
No definitive formulation
No stopping rule
Solutions are either good-or-bad
No immediate nor ultimate test of a solution
There are not an enumerable set of potential solutions
Every wicked problem is essentially unique
Each wicked problem can be a symptom of another
The choice of explanation determines the solution
The planner has no right to be wrong
Defining the urban?
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2050 >80% of world’s
population in cities
‘Mega’ v ‘super’ cities
v large or small
towns? – in the UK
100,000 - 7 million
Beyond the
mega/super city to
Urban/city regions
Impact of Sustainable
Communities Plan
But – 70% of 2050
houses already exist
Cumulative v Systemic Issues
Cumulative – arise in rural and urban
areas, not distinctly urban but are
exaggerated by agglomeration of people
and functions. Density may actually be an
advantage
 Systemic – arise from unique
characteristics of urban areas
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Built
Environment
Cumulative
Systemic
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Building flexibility
Building energy and water
efficiency
Urban density
Municipal waste
Construction waste
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Natural
Environment
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Brownfield land
Contaminated land
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Health and
well-being
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Vehicle emissions &
respiratory and cardiac health
Social deprivation
Noise – impact on
hearing/stress
‘Sick buildings’
Infection/spread of disease
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Urban form and function
Urban heat island
Connectivity – transport,
infrastructure, CHP
Drainage – sewerage; storm water;
SUDS
Green roofs
Sense-of place
Urban rivers/hydrology
Flooding – particularly pluvial
Urban green space – parks, gardens,
allotments; green corridors
Urban biodiversity
Air pollution hotspots
Heat stress related illness/death
Some aspects of mental illness
Sense of place
Redefining the ecosystem approach
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A socio-physical system – in which
biological/physical features are inseparable from
social organisation and its influencing historical,
economic and cultural factors
“For those who work in any one sector of the
system to avoid evaluating the impact of their
sector’s operation on the rest of the system is
unwise. For those who are concerned either with
technological improvements or social
improvements to pretend that the other is of little
real importance is folly.” (Douglas, 1983, 206)
Inequality?
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In the report not a focus per se nor was
much evidence provided specifically on
inequality.
 Evidence was supplied on what is wrong
with urban environments – solution
correct this and deal with inequality? –
i.e. inequality is where any form of
environmental hazard burdens any
particular social group (Pellow)
Understanding how cities work
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‘One of the unsuitable ideas behind
projects is the very notion that they
are projects, abstracted out of the
ordinary city and set apart’ (Jane
Jacobs, 1961 – 392)
Statistics and indicators do not
help us (even if we have good
urban data)
Examples – why the rural/urban
recycling divide? why higher levels
of psychosis in urban versus
rural?
As yet insufficient time to explain
some of the key social and
environmental differences.
Problem - there is no such thing
as the model city
Health and Wellbeing - 1
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Promote the health and wellbeing of everyone
who lives in cities
The nature of the relationship between health and
place is poorly understood
Difficult to establish whether and how the urban
environment causes poor health outcomes
Problem that health and wellbeing and
environment usually considered separately
Intricate Pathways
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E.g. Residential environments & cardiovascular risk
Accessibility of recreational resources
Transport, cycle lanes, pavements
Aesthetic quality
Availability and cost of healthy food
Food and tobacco advertising
Availability of tobacco
Noise
Air pollution
Safety & Violence
Social support & cohesion
Social norms (behaviours – diet, physical exercise etc)
Health and Wellbeing - 2
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“Current health policy is based on the
proposition that social, economic,
environmental and lifestyle factors,
including access to services, interact to
influence people’s health and that unequal
distribution of these factors contributes to
health inequalities” (National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence)
Some Statistics….
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Scotland – mortality rates for those under 75 in
the 10% most deprived areas are 3 times those in
the 10% least deprived
30% of those in 10% most deprived areas suffer
long-term limiting illnesses compared with 12% of
those in the 10% least deprived
Although it is difficult to separate the effects of
poor environment from low economic status, a
poor urban environment can also add to the
factors that contribute to ill health
Understanding Changes
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Need to understand the urban
environment as characterised
by ‘unnatural’ processes –
understanding the size and
intensity of changes could
help us to define the degree of
urbanisation
Cities provide a major
opportunity to reduce impacts
by taking cognisance of the
extremes
Connecting the Natural and the People
•Natural environment has a key
influence on health and
wellbeing – can provide
essential ecosystem services,
enhanced biodiversity and
social benefits
•River restoration to provide
access to and recreation along
our urban waterways.
•Create and maintain green
spaces that provide for
recreation, exercise, amenity,
local food (allotments).
Priorities for the Built Environment
Integrated approach to:
 Transport
 Energy
 Water and Sewerage
 Waste Management
 Urban Design
Governance – the challenge of ‘wicked
problems’
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Why is conventional wisdom not being implemented effectively?
Is our research adequately addressing governance structures?
Integrated planning required but fragmented planning systems
City regions – functional connections but - environment? what
happens across administrative boundaries?
 Operationalising environmental limits
 Cumulative issues – national intervention; systemic issues - local
 Building flexibility for the long-term – but big scenario thinking?
 Urban sustainability paradoxes:
– Private sector partnerships v regulation
– Individual freedoms v behavioural change
– Working with slogans when the real situation is complicated