Transforming the Engineering of Cities to Deliver Societal and Planetary Wellbeing

bf694b66-541c-49d6-bf64-67f3f9ef4d8b

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EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC

£31,624,300

April 30, 2012

Dec. 31, 2017

There is irrefutable evidence that the climate is changing. There also is strong evidence that this is largely a result of human activity, driven by our insatiable consumption of resources, growing populations, unsustainable migration patterns and rapid overdevelopment in cities that are resulting in heavy ecosystem services losses. Humankind's solutions to these problems do not always work, as many rely upon quantities of resources that simply do not exist or that could not support the rate of change that we are facing, behaviour changes that sit uneasily with our current consumption patterns and quality of life aspirations, and government policies that emphasise long-term sustainable gain but potential short-term economic loss for businesses and local people.

A radical revisioning of the problem is needed, not only to reverse current trends, but also to contribute positively to the sustainability and wellbeing of the planet, now and in the future. This proposal is that radical new vision, adopting a 'whole of government' focus to the changes needed in the ways that societies live, work, play and consume, balancing social aspirations against the necessary changes, and using CO2 emissions as a proxy measurement for the harm being done to the planet and the resources (particularly energy) that we use. Through the development of a city analysis methodology; engineering design criteria for quality of life and wellbeing; engineering design criteria for low carbon pathways and; radical engineering approaches, strategies and visioning-all generated in a multidisciplinary context-we aim to deliver a range of engineering solutions that are effective in sustaining civilised life, in an affordable and socially acceptable style.

Our vision is to transform the engineering of cities to deliver societal and planetary wellbeing within the context of low carbon living and resource security. We seek to prove that an alternative future with drastically reduced CO2 emissions is achievable in a socially acceptable manner, and to develop realistic and radical engineering solutions to achieve it. Certain techno-fixes for a low-carbon society have been known for some time (e.g., installing low energy appliances in homes), but are not always deemed successful, in part because they have not been deemed socially acceptable. Current aspirations for material consumption are driven by social factors and reinforced by social norms, yet recent research shows that meeting these aspirations often does not enhance wellbeing. Thus, the challenge the research community faces is to co-evolve the techno-fixes with people's aspirations, incorporating radical engineering strategies within the financial, policy/regulation and technical contexts, to re-define an alternative future. A roadmap is required to chart the path from here to there, identify potential tipping points and determine how to integrate radical engineering strategies into norms. However, this roadmap can only be considered once that alternative future has been established, and a 'back-casting' exercise carried out, to explore where the major barriers to change lie and where interventions are needed.

Our ambition is to create an holistic, integrated, truly multidisciplinary city analysis methodology that uniquely combines engineered solutions and quality-of-life indicators, accounts for social aspirations, is founded on an evidence base of trials of radical interventions in cities, and delivers the radical engineering solutions necessary to achieve our vision. We seek to achieve this ambition by using a variety of innovative and traditional approaches and methods to undertake five research challenges, which are outlined in detail in five technical annexes.

Potential Impact:
The primary impact of this research is to answer the conundrum: "we want to live sustainably, but we don't know how to make a real difference, and how to sell major changes to people while ensuring that the national economy does not suffer?" The audience for our research outcomes ranges from practitioners and entrepreneurs who pick up on the business cases for radical engineering solutions through to policy makers - those responsible for implementing and incentivizing the changes. We aim to have the research outcomes incorporated into core UK Government implementation documents, such as the HM Treasury Green Book, so they become the basis for all future public expenditure. This requires explicit effort in communicating the research from its inception to relevant government officials, politicians, high-level pundits, lobbyists, private sector financial institutions and senior practitioners: those who will need to be convinced if our results are to be widely adopted; our Impact Group will help with this. Topical papers are to be targeted at the Westminster Forum to bring the ideas to government ministers and other national policy makers. The relationships developed through events such as quarterly Candid Breakfasts in London will help secure invitations to contribute to the formulation of policy and government. The deliverables from the project will aid decision makers in creating more sustainable cities and city regions, and ultimately benefit the societies that they serve and the national economy. Impact extends to policy makers, regulators and non-governmental bodies who seek to develop low-carbon cities; City Councils, responsible for managing the sustainable redevelopment of the areas under their control; and Local Enterprise Partnerships, who are responsible for engendering sustainable practices. Stakeholders from DCLG and CABE, for example, helped shape this proposal.

The Expert Panellists will gain new perspectives and we are confident they will introduce the findings into their practice, as happened in Urban Futures where CH2MHill and Environment Agency were early adopters. Commercial partners (e.g. E-ON, CH2MHill, Halcrow, Costain, Network Rail) helped shape this proposal at our recent stakeholder workshop, and foresee positive commercial impact from their participation. Changing the thinking of such a diverse group of senior practitioners and their networks will reap great rewards for the UK economy, especially via the developing UK environmental technologies industrial clusters, which will gain insight into new technology needs, and private sector organisations through the development of innovative commercial products (the engineering solutions).

Specific beneficiaries of the programme include the case study site local authorities, businesses, communities and individuals who will have close insight into the research programme and case specific findings, and involvement in the research process and data collection. We will be working through case studies and focus groups (providing direct dissemination to a few), but we will seek also to disseminate to the many. The use of popular articles, media coverage, and 'mini projects' in which ideas are tested for real will facilitate public exposure throughout the programme. The membership of the 'Candid Breakfast' groups will also give the team direct access to opinion formers in the media and industry so we can expect strong media coverage of the research as results emerge.

The findings will impact also on the universities collaborating on this proposal, all of whom have strategies that resonate strongly with our proposed research (see institutional letters); as the research aim is to be agenda setting, we expect new insights for the international academic community, the EPSRC, EU and other research programmes.