Urban Transitions Global Summit 2016 in Shanghai
Shanghai
The Urban Transitions Global Summit 2016 was held from 5th to 9th September in Shanghai, China. On this occasion, the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) presented a contribution on the strategies for symbiotic urban neighborhoods, based on the results of the research project entitled "Symbiotic Districts". Led by Dr. Sophie Lufkin, scientific collaborator at LAST, this project has been developed in collaboration with the Industrial Ecology Group of the Institute of Land Use Policies and Human Environment (IPTEH) of the University of Lausanne (UNIL) within the framework of the Collaborative Research on Science and Society Program (CROSS).
Cities are incredibly vibrant centers of innovation, education, employment and commerce. They are the heart of the global economy and as such they continue to attract new inhabitants seeking a better quality of life. Today, more than half of the world population lives in urban areas, and each week, the urban population increases globally by 1.3 million. As urban species, mankind has significant challenges and opportunities to reach a transition towards more sustainable and resilient urban futures. The Urban Transitions Global Summit 2016 brought together researchers, policy-makers, government representatives and practitioners to review and explore these issues.
Within a context of growing efforts to develop sustainability strategies, one of the main challenges is promoting value creation while using fewer resources. In this perspective, how can we design attractive urban neighborhoods generating endogenous economic activity and fostering socio-cultural dynamics, while moving towards local energy self-sufficiency ? Answering that question requires major changes in the way we consider energy in the construction sector, by thinking beyond the scale of a single building and by including a greater number of design parameters.
Filling this gap in current research, the Symbiotic Districts project examines dimensions influencing energy self-sufficiency at neighborhood scale by integrating parameters related to buildings, infrastructure, mobility, food, goods and services. Transposing industrial ecology tools to urban design, it establishes a reliable basis for addressing the issue of energy in future sustainable urban districts.
The poster presents the results of a case study on an urban sector in the city of Yverdon-les-Bains (Switzerland). Taking lifestyles as a starting point, the project explores three scenarios (technological, behavioral and symbiotic) for the future development of this neighborhood for 2035. The scenarios test different design strategies related to industrial symbioses, production, storage, transportation or urban agriculture. To calculate an estimated global balance, an energy flow analysis allows the assessment and comparison of the energy performances of each scenario. In parallel, an urban form adapted to the proposed societal vision evaluates how architectural and urban design is likely to promote the necessary changes in behavior towards the expected energy turnaround.
The results of the research highlight the necessity of using complementary approaches, which simultaneously combine technology, users behavior and urban symbiosis to reach high-energy performances at neighborhood scale.
Sophie Lufkin, Emmanuel Rey, Suren Erkman, "Strategies for Symbiotic Urban Neighborhoods. Case study in Yverdon-les-Bains (Switzerland)". Urban Transitions Global Summit 2016, September 5-9, in Shanghai, China.