Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge28th of October 2015, 27,000 Arcadians,

13 cities, 24 hours, 1 challenge

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Hong Kong.

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February 2016

Front page: Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge28th of October 2015, 27,000 Arcadians,

13 cities, 24 hours, 1 challenge

One day our city will be better than it is today.We will reverse urban sprawl, freeing more natural areas in which to play.

Families will feel safe knowing the neighborson their street.Skilled commuters will travel short distances using rail, a bike, or their own two feet.

Modern infrastructure will allow businesses to thrive.We will be resilient when the unexpected storm appears or when the stock market takes a dive.

Our city’s local flavor will fill our lives through food, music, and art.People will want to call this city home and hold it near and dear to their heart.

In many places around the world, aspects of this perfect city are already here.We will work together to spread this opportunity and spread more cheer.

The challenges of a growing city are a blessing in disguise.Smart solutions will put quality of life on the rise.

An #UrbanSolutionsPoem by Jordan Rowley, Arcadis United States, New York City.

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Shanghai, China.

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1. IntroductiontoShelter...........................................................................................7 Who are we?

2. The Purpose behind the Workshops......................................................................11

3. WorkshopsaroundtheWorld................................................................................17 Results of the Challenge: What are our ideas?

4. What’s Next?.........................................................................................................61

Colophon...............................................................................................................65

Contents

6Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Republic of Singapore.

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Introduction to Shelter

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São Paulo, Brazil.

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1. Who are we?

UN-Habitat contributes to one of the most urgent challenges in the world: sustainable urbanization. UN-Habitat’s mission is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities by improving the quality of life of citizens around the world. Arcadis supports UN-Habitat in facing these urban challenges by providing pro bono expertise through the Shelter program, a global partnership that makes a real difference.Shelter means much more than providing adequate housing. Shelter creates safer surroundings protects the most vulnerable from the elements and builds a better, sustainable future for all our communities.

The ChallengeAs our towns and cities grow at unprecedented rates, urbanization is one of the most pressing challenges facing the global community in the 21st century. Making sustainable improvements to the urban environment is critical to delivering lasting results for all our communities. As a world lea-ding design and consultancy firm for natural and built assets, Arcadis is well positioned to support UN-Habitat’s efforts to address this urgent challenge.

The TalentArcadis’ industry leading expertise span infrastructure, water, environment, buildings and urban planning. The partnership with UN-Habitat fully integrates with Arcadis’ strategic ambition to play a meaningful role within communities, utilizing internal professional services and expertise to positively impact the world. By combining the global reach of Arcadis and the humanitarian mission of UN-Habitat, we can make a real difference in the world.

The ProgramArcadis and UN-Habitat set up the Shelter Program in 2010. Over eighty missions, trainings and other Shelter activities have been organized in Asia, Africa and Central America. Over 800 Arcadis experts from a range of disciplines have been actively engaged in the program by sharing their knowledge, expertise and providing capacity-building support skills to help bring the UN-Habitat mission forward. The combination of expertise from a comprehenisive range of backgrounds targets the improvement of living conditions in cities around the world, especially for the urban poor.

World Urban CampaignMoreover Arcadis is a main sponsor of the World Urban Campaign, an initiative of UN-Habitat designed to increase public awareness and to address the social, economic and environmental challenges of urbanization.

The World Urban Campaign and Habitat IIIThe World Urban Campaign is the advocacy and partnership platform for cities in the 21st Century. Its goal is to place the urban agenda at the highest priority in development policies. The Campaign is coordinated by UN-Habitat and driven by a large number of committed partners from around the world. The World Urban Campaign serves as the partners’ platform for discussion toward the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), to be held in 2016. Habitat III will take place 40 years after the first conference on human set-tlements. Habitat I was held in Vancouver in 1976, where the world’s ur-ban and housing challenge was first internationally recognised. In 1996, twenty years later in Istanbul Habitat II served as the place of negotia-tion on future policies for sustainable urban development. The Habitat III conference will address sustainable urbanisation and the future of urban spaces. It will also serve as an opportunity to assess the state of our cities, to develop solutions, and to revisit our shared urban future. While cities are at the heart of today’s global crisis, they are also the source of solutions for a sustainable future.

About UN-HabitatUN-Habitat is the lead United Nations agency for housing and urban development headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. The UN-Habitat mandate is to promote socially, economically and environmentally sustainable urban development and adequate housing for all.

LovinklaanFoundationLovinklaan’s mission is to promote the interests of Arcadis people, to provide for the continuity of Arcadis and to stimulate employee ownership. The Shelter Program is financially supported by the Lovinklaan Foundation, Arcadis’ largest shareholder which represents the people of Arcadis.

“We need to demonstrate that change is possible through the genius, creativity and audacity of people and decision makers to make the wisest choices for our urban future. This is the essence of the World Urban Campaign.”

Dr. Joan Clos, United Nations Under-Secretary-General, Executive Director of UN-Habitat.

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Sydney, Australia.

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The Purpose behind the Workshops

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12Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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2. The Purpose behind the Workshops

To celebrate Urban October 2015, Arcadis set up the ‘Urban Thinkers Challenge’ on October 28 2015. The United Nations has adopted 17 new Sustainable Development Goals. One of these goals is focused on the development of sustainable cities and communities. Arcadians all over the world had the chance to share their innovative ideas for the perfect city of the future. How will the next generation live and travel? Over a 24-hour period on the 28th of October, workshops were held in Arcadis offices across cities around the world – New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Rotterdam, Berlin, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney, Dubai, São Paulo and Amsterdam. Hundreds of people from all areas of the business shared ideas, expertise and urban solutions for future cities – our future cities. The sessions focused on three themes that make every city livable, competitive, and sustainable: resilience, mobility and regeneration.

The culmination of this is brought together in this book. The workshops will continue during 2016. As the programme progresses throughout the year, the book will be updated to report Arcadis’ ideas and solutions on how to make the world a better place through sustainable urbanisation.

2.1 The City We NeedDuring the steering committee meeting in September 2013, partners of the World Urban Campaign agreed to contribute to the Habitat III Conference taking place in Quito, Ecuador in 2016. The conference, held every 20 years, aims to promote sustainable urban growth and reduce poverty and inequa-lity in cities. The partnering bodies will engage with the international com-munity including the public, private and civil society partners to establish a new global urban agenda through a consensus document titled, ‘The City We Need’. Habitat III will also aim to reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable urbanisation and focus on the implementation of a New Urban Agenda, elaborating on the Habitat Agenda of Istanbul in 1996.

As the 20-year anniversary of the agenda looms, critical global urban trends continue to lead the debate with increased segregation, inequality and environmental degradation making the next urban agenda a global pri-ority. These fundamental issues need answers, and partners of the World Urban Campaign will discuss the direction that global urban development

is heading over the next 20 years – what will guide governments, their partners and the international community as they prepare for the future?

The first version of The City We Need was prepared by the World Urban Campaign between September and December 2013. It represents the opinions of all partners engaged to date in the global coalition.

Towards a New Urban ParadigmWhen striving for sustainable development, cities can be very helpful in leading the charge. Unfortunately, they can also do a great deal of damage. As we declared in the 2012 Manifesto for Cities, “the battle for a more sustainable future will be won or lost in cities.”

How we plan, build and manage our cities now will determine how sustai-nable and harmonious they are in the future. Well planned cities should provide all residents with the opportunity to lead safe, healthy and pro-ductive lives. Cities should promote social inclusion, resilience and pros-perity. Currently the world is at a crossroads. In the next few decades the population of urban areas across the world will double and account for nearly three-quarters of the world’s population.

To cope, the city we need should be an engine of economic development. It should be central to the new urban era – a place where people can find freedom, innovation, prosperity and resilience. While the city we need must recognise local contexts, cultures and customs, it should be founded on two key principles: the respect of public and private uses of land, and a well coordinated systematic approach. If a city is to function properly, it needs to coordinate land-use, energy, water, waste, mobility, health, edu-cation, economic development, and the promotion of cultural vitality and social inclusion.

To ensure we have the city we need in the 21st Century, our new urban paradigm should be guided by a set of principles preliminarily articulated in the Manifesto for Cities and further refined here. These principles then need to be translated into policy action areas tailored to local conditions.

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The City We Need: Principles for a New Urban Paradigm

Outlined below are nine principles for a new urban paradigm to support sustainable development in the 21st Century. To achieve the goals for the city we need, nations, regions, cities and the UN-Habitat Partners must be encouraged to work together to create their respective policy and legislative frameworks to the following principles:

The city we need is socially inclusive. The city provides spaces for all groups and ages of the population to par-take in social and cultural activities. It eliminates all physical and spatial forms of segregation and exclusion.

The city we need is well planned, walkable, and transit-friendly. Schools are within walking or cycling distance from homes. Offices are lo-cated no further than a few transit stops away from homes. Shopping for daily necessities is within walking distance of residential buildings and lo-cated near transit stops. Open space for recreation is near schools, work and home.

Thecityweneedisaregenerativecity.The city is designed to be resilient through energy efficient, low-carbon and renewable energy sources. The city replenishes the resources it consumes and recycles and reuses waste. The city utilises water, land and energy in a coordinated manner and in harmony with its surrounding countryside in support of urban and suburban agriculture.

The city we need is economically vibrant and inclusive. The city encourages and fosters local economic development; from the smallest entrepreneur to the largest corporation. The city provides a one-stop-shop for streamlined licensing and other administrative services. The city recognises and protects the specific needs of the informal sector of the economy in its economic development policies and strategies.

Thecityweneedhasasingularidentityandsenseofplace.The city recognises culture as key to human dignity and sustainability. The city involves cultural actors to unlock the creative potential of all citizens. It strengthens the bonds between a city and its surrounding countryside.

The city we need is a safe city. The city is welcoming night and day, inviting all people to use the streets, parks and transit without fear of crime. Public officials such as police, fire departments, health and welfare, transit, and environmental services should communicate frequently with neighbourhood residents and com-munity groups to speak with one voice.

The city we need is a healthy city. The city’s parks and gardens are havens of peace and tranquillity, harbouring local flora, fauna and biodiversity. All public and private entities providing public services (water, waste, energy and transport) work together with the city’s residents and have public and environmental health as a common performance indicator.

Thecityweneedisaffordableandequitable.Land, infrastructure, housing and basic services are planned with low in-come groups in mind. Public services are planned together with the com-munities they serve and consciously include the needs of women, youth and vulnerable populations.

The city we need is managed at the metropolitan level. The city coordinates sectoral policies and actions (economy, mobility, bio-diversity, energy, water and waste) within a comprehensive and coherent local framework. Communities and neighbourhoods are active participants in metropolitan decision making.

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (above) andNew York, United States (below).

Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, London, United Kingdom.

2.2 Arcadis’ BUC program

The workshops were held in Arcadis offices in ‘Big Urban Client’ cities around the world. The Big urban Client (BUC) program is Arcadis’ answer to the rapid global pace of urbanization. The program is directed at making cities more attractive by providing sustainable urban solutions for challenges in trans-portation, environment, water supply, urban planning and building design. It seeks to help large urban clients in becoming more competitive when attracting investors, developers, residents, tourists and business to an area.

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Workshops around the World

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Chicago, United States.

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3. Results of the Challenge: What are our ideas?

This chapter summarises the outcomes of the Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge; brilliant innovative urban solutions to create resilient, mobile, and regenerative future cities. The workshops will continue during 2016. This document will be updated as the Shelter program progresses throughout the year.

Below is an outline of the BUC cities in which the Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge took place:

BUC City Shelter facilitator BUCCityExecutiveorRepresentative

1. Chicago Robert Titus Jack Hartman (BUC City Executive)2. New York City Rajendra Shrestha Peter Glus (BUC City Executive) and Keith Brooks (London BUC City Executive)3. Los Angeles Alex Francisco Macaria Flores (BUC City Executive)4. London Jamie Trybus and Nick Hayes Matthew Blaikie (BUC City Representative)5. Rotterdam Radboud Buitenrust Hettema Marc Poorterman (BUC City Representative)6. Berlin Christina Reygers Birgit Detig (BUC City Executive)7. Singapore - Eugene Seah (BUC City Executive)8. Kuala Lumpur Girish Ramachandran and Andrew Kelly Girish Ramachandran (BUC City Representative)9. Hongkong Maysho Prashad William Taam (BUC City Executive)10. Shanghai Lucas London -11. Sydney - Greg Ives (BUC City Representative)12. Dubai Erica Carvalho Laura Hutchings (BUC City Executive)13. São Paulo Jose Lourenção, Fernando Leite and Antônio Carlos Camargo (BUC City Representative) Marcio Luiz Fernandes Lopes14. Amsterdam Dianne Potters and Bert Smolders Carolien Gehrels (BUC City Executive)

Table: Outline of the participating BUC cities of the Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge.

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, São Paulo, Brazil.

21Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, twitter messages.

22Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

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3.1 Resilience

Resilience is the ability of cities and its inhabitants to respond to social, economic and environmental changes and challenges. Climate change is one example, but also the decline in house prices and stock markets. By planning, building and managing cities and buildings in a different, more flexible way, they are more resistant to possible future changes.

Resilience was one of three key themes discussed at Arcadis offices around the world. Resilience is important, because 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050.

There were many interesting ideas some of which repeated across cities. The top best resilience ideas are:

• From a Monocentric to a Polycentric city (Rotterdam).• Essentials of life in the hands of community (Berlin).• Control of rental fees in the city center (Berlin).• Beguines Houses (Berlin).

• Creative Reuse of Existing Buildings (London).• Creating a Sustainable London (London).• Community Gardens (New York).• Utopia bioremediation POD (Hong Kong).• Critical Analysis - Respect the natural conditions of cities

(environmental conditions) (São Paulo).• Your City – Get it right! Street landscape transformation and City

vertical green (Shanghai).• Develop Multi-purpose Public Green Spaces (Los Angeles).

• Future proofing the City of Sydney from Climate Change (Sydney).• Floating cities (Singapore).• Floating Stadium (Hong Kong).• An Underwater World (Singapore).

Further detail of each concept and examples of each idea are provided in the following pages.

From a Monocentric to a Polycentric cityThe Polycentric cityA smart city is a polycentric city. The polycentric city concept is suitable for the integration of sustainability solutions on the topics: Liveability, Clean cities, Smart cities and Renewable cities. The image (on the next page) shows the difference between a polycentric and monocentric (as it is) city.

Cities must develop from the classical monocentric urban model, in which cities start as a core that slowly expands with all classic urban issues to a polycentric city characterized by its quarters, which have their own identity and their centres are complementary to one another.

Clean and liveable citiesBlue-green networks arise by redesigning voids in the urban fabric (brown fields, green fields, etc.) to green recreative zones and by upda-ting existing parks and landscapes. These low-dynamic zones can be linked together in order to bring light, clean air and pleasant spaces to the city. The zones are responsible for better water management, pro-moting urban biodiversity and battling the urban heat island effect.

Renewable citiesNext to the recreative and life enhancing capabilities the blue-green networks have, these networks can also be used as a working lands-cape. The blue-green networks can provide space for renewable energy and low carbon energy generation. Energy can be harnessed through solar, wind, geothermal and hydro technology and distribu-ted directly to users or shared with communities via local networks.

One of the main urban challenges is how to sustainably grow enough food for the dense cities that will mark our future. Urban farming is a key solution to this problem. By using the roofs and unoccupied spa-ces, we can make more efficient use of the square meters the city pro-vides us. The food grown locally provides jobs and can be eaten in local restaurants that vary their menu based on today’s harvest. LED techno-logies can be used to grow plants inside buildings, even at night time, increasing production rates while minimizing energy consumption.

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EssentialsoflifeinthehandsofcommunityIn the city of the future the community exercises control over a basic supply of vital resources like water, so that the distribution of these goods cannot be dominated by economic interests of private businesses:1. (Drinking) water.2. Public space.3. A certain quantity of living space (community determines how much).4. A certain quantity of energy supply (community determines how much).5. Clean air and the right to daylight.

Control of rental fees in the city center• As it is generally known, trade and service is concentrated in the city

center.• Strong transport links in the city center is an attractive feature. For

a sustainable urban development it is beneficial to enable all social classes to live and work in the city center.

• Controlling the rental fees in the city center by setting a maximum limit, it is possible for people of different social classes to live and work together.

• The interaction between different social backgrounds represents the basis for a continuously working urbanization.

• Encourage organic compost city wide.• Reevaluate police strategy to make Chicago safer.• Respond to social and civil issues differently — allow safe demonstrations.• Create an emergency planning / evacuation plan — crowed management.

Beguines Houses Social stability for big cities and efficient use of domestic rooms with the idea of Beguines Houses: Due to migration from rural areas into cities social cohesion extended family ties and local residential communities become fragmented.

There is a culture within cities one-person households for family separa-tion, an increasing consumption of living space, a decreasing responsibility for their direct social surrounding and dependency on external / state be-nefits e.g. for child care or in case of illness and old age. The foundation of Beguines Houses can counteract this development. History: The Beguines were Christian lay religious orders that were active in Northern Europe, particularly in the Low Countries in the 13th–16th centuries.

From a Monocentric to a Polycentric city.

Smart citiesThe polycentric design can be aligned to smart city concepts. One important aspect is the organization of our transport system, which is now completely misaligned and designed inefficiently. Polycentric design means that there are clear quarters that function as a delivery district. Thus; a van is not obliged to drive through the entire city to deliver its product, but will travel smaller distances to multiple addresses, with a combined load from different companies. Deliveries will be made to more addresses per kilo-meter. Whilst more packages are delivered in each journey. Imagine; your postal delivery service, picking up your trash at the same time. This requires the application of innovative software and big data techniques.

26Arcadis House, the London headquarters of Arcadis.

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Their members lived in semi-monastic communities but did not take formal religious vows. The Low Countries is a coastal region in Western Europe, consisting especially of the Netherlands and Belgium, and the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Meuse, Scheldt, and Ems rivers where much of the land is at or below sea level.

Aim of the modern Beguine culture• Overcoming loneliness and isolation of single women as well as the

inclusion of women who prefer to live as single in a community.• Development of a ”family of choice“ as a new constitutive element of

the society.• Humanization of society by mutual aid, solidarity and attentiveness.• Strengthening of women’s self-confidence, encouragement to have

responsiblity in the loca community for.• Realization of gender equality meaning equal participation in all

leading sectors be it in economy, science or politics.• To grow and develop women’s tradition of economic independence.• Recognition of human rights wrote down in the UN Declaration of

Human Rights – the heart of democracy – a standard of values which are binding for everyone.

CreativeReuseofExistingBuildingsWhat is the creative reuse of buildings?The “creative reuse” of buildings is the practice of redeveloping an existing building which has become redundant for its original function, and adapting it to suit an alternative use.

Why will this initiative help in promoting the sustainability of cities?• Embodied energy within the existing materials and construction

process.• By maintaining the building fabric, limited waste is generated,

meaning less pressure on waste management, recycling and landfill.• Retention of cultural identity through retention of links to the past,

which in turn helps to provide safe environments for societies to live in.• Provides vibrant and diverse future cities by ensuring a rich tapestry of

buildings and construction types.• Opportunity to revitalise existing buildings and provide betterment to

the development and surrounding areas.• Transportation links to other areas are generally already established,

although would require upgrading depending on the proposals.

• Limits development of greenbelt, promoting health through retention of green spaces.

• There is potential to promote community engagement, and ensure that the proposed new use is sensitive to the needs of the community.

What considerations are needed when undertaking the creative reuse of existing buildings?The following are examples of the types of things that need to be considered where reusing buildings:• Is the proposed use suitable for the physical structure the building?

Can the design or proposed be changed in order to better suit the buil-ding?

• Is the proposed use suitable for the cultural identity of the building?• Is the physical proposed adaptation flexible for future redevelopment

by future generations?• As suggested in the term creative reuse, careful design of the new

function is required to ensure the maximum benefits are afforded.• Is the building protected by statutory designation and how can we

work with this to provide the best solution for communities and buildings?

Arcadis House, the London headquarters of Arcadis.

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• By understanding the history and evolution of a property, the asset and local community can be better understood and engaged within redevelopment.

• Each building needs to be considered on a case-by-case basis.• The huge variety of existing construction means that creative

design will also be required of how the buildings can be adapted to include solutions which minimise energy loss, and promote energy production.

• Suitability to receive “green” technologies.

Case studyArcadis House, the London headquarters of Arcadis, is an example of a creative-reuse scheme, in which redundant 19th century warehouses were refurbished to create mixed use spaces, including offices, homes, cafes, restaurants, and shops. The site is set within a conservation area, and some of the buildings are listed (protected by law). Using a conservation-led approach, which retained the existing buildings and celebrated the construction of these through careful design of internal areas, Regent’s Quarter enables exis-ting society’s clear links to the past industrial history of the area. Due to the mixed use approach to these buildings, the area is now a safer place as there is greater amounts of people moving round the area throughout the day, 7 days a week. Arcadis House has been constructed in a flexible way, allowing for future redevelopment of the building if re-quired. Through retention of the existing fabric, a significant amount of waste – both in terms of materials and embodied energy – was saved.

Lessons learnt:• Conservation of existing fabric is not a barrier to development.• Economic viability is possible through working with rather than against

the constraints of the site.• Engagement with a wide range of stakeholders – including the wider

planning team as well as local communities – facilitates in creating a successful project.

Community Gardens In response to being asked “how can we create more livable and sustainable cities?” the Long Island City (LIC) office in New York City brainstormed a number of ideas that can improve the lives of New Yorkers, as well as everyone living, working or visiting urbanized areas.

Improving resiliency is a crucial step in developing sustainable and livable cities. In New York City the need to be resilient is heightened by its high population density and its racial, economic, and social diversity. It is important to remember that improving resiliency, or the ability to recover, requires preparation before, awareness during, and a ‘quick to action’ response after an event. With this in mind, the LIC Office proposes these ideas for New York City and all urban areas.

Movement for an Increase and Improvement in Community Gardens• Usable Flood Defense System. For urbanized areas vulnerable to

flooding, the creation of usable flood barriers is important for protecting the city during storm events, while still providing use of and access to the coastal area before and after the event. A recent Arcadis project that incorporates this feature: National Disaster Resilience Competition - New York City Application.

• Improvement in Stormwater Removal Systems. Over 750 cities in the United States have a combined sewer system (CSS) that can overflow untreated human waste, debris and toxic materials into the local en-vironment. In addition to this the stormwater runoff situation in many cities, especially New York City, are poorly maintained and cause back-ups of water and debris on the streets, sidewalks, and recreational areas.

• Readily Available Maps / Signage in Key Urban Areas. In urban areas subject to heavy pedestrian traffic, by locals and tourist, an impro-vement in available maps and signs will help direct people to their destinations. It is also recommended that these signs display the popular attraction in the area, street names, and local updates (i.e. transit updates, storm updates, etc.).

• Decentralized Commercial Energy Industry. A policy driven movement to decentralizing the creation and distribution of energy (i.e. electri-city, gas, etc.). This will provide a higher sense of security for a city - if a critical service is shut down due to a storm event, the city will not be devoid of that service.

• Improvement / Creation of Inter-“Big City” Railroad Transportation. Inspired by the extensive rail systems across Europe, the LIC Office voted this idea to be the most impacting development in the pursuit of improving resiliency. Travel is not only critical to our ability to con-nect ourselves with quick services and relief before, during, and after a storm event; but it is also important for the social and economic situation of urbanized areas.

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CriticalAnalysis-Respectthenaturalconditionsofcities(environmentalconditions)Floods are important features of water ecosystems. The occupation of de-veloping cities sometimes do not consider floodplains as places to avoid for building residential, commercial or industrial estates. Many human grou-pings were developed on or close to floodplains because of soil fertilility or geological properties, São Paulo for instance, is one of them. As popu-lations grow, these areas are occupied. In developing countries, normally, those areas were occupied by low income families.

The municipality needs to identify each area and develop an Urban Drai-nage Plan on how to reduce or avoid recurrent impacts. This plan should be based on engineering considerations (increase the river flow velocity, dams, etc) and an urbanization program to relocate occupiers and create value to the remaining area, whilst limitingthe area from becoming illegally reoccupied.

Your City – Get it right! StreetlandscapetransformationandCityverticalgreenAll the time the landscape designers pursue two simple goals: improve the city environment and green sustainable development. On Chinese streets there are such commercial activities as apartments, shops, restaurants, offices, hospitals and schools making downtown streets very narrow. How do we improve the environment and promote more functions beyond the basic neccessities? Based on landscape ecology, streets could become at-tractive and green in three ways: landscape structure, landscape function and landscape dynamic:• Structure: analyzing landscape space reasonably according to neigh-

bouring land usage, analyzing optimizable portions from a master-planning persepctive.

• Function: optimizing functional landscape based on occupier. For example office park landscape, designers would take advantage of existing streets of office park and municipal facility to create a wide slow traffic system.

• Dynamic: dynamic landscape element and characteristic design. Re-serve flexible space while designing, not only considering the recent landscape implementation but also the landscape variability for the future adapting to the city’s long-term development.

• There is still much space to optimize and green, such as a sunken plaza, under fly-overs, large under utilized areas, vertical walls and roof space.

• Final goal: to achieve high quality, comprehensive, consistent and sustainable greening. As a result the city should be able to guide visitors through trees boulevards from one place to the other – the Green Continuum!

DevelopMulti-purposePublicGreenSpacesPublic green spaces can serve many purposes in the urban environment and development of these green infrastructure resources can provide monetary, ecological and social benefits. Los Angeles should continue to encourage investment in activities that increase the acreage of green space in urban and suburban areas. Green space development can occur through restoration of natural systems that were historically urbanized (e.g. Los Angeles River).

Redevelopment of underused open spaces and or through reclamation of brown fields for natural habitats. Floodplain green spaces serve as natural infrastructure that attenuate stream flows to reduce flooding and provide stormwater treatment to reduce nutrients, metals, bacteria and other anthropogenic impacts. Coastal green spaces provide critical marine an estuarine habitat for flora and fauna and provide coastal protection for areas threatened by the effects of sea level rise. Even small parcels of urban land can be reclaimed to provide wetland habitats that provide stormwater flow attenuation and treatment.

Not only do green spaces provide critical ecosystem services that are lost through typical urban development, but they also provide social benefits. Green spaces in urban areas provide excellent educational opportuni-ties to inform the public of the benefits that coastal, steam and wetland habitats provide. Green spaces provide excellent thoroughfares for pedes-trian and bike traffic, which helps encourage alternative modes of trans-portation. Furthermore, dedicated green spaces need not only be habitat conservation areas, they can provide space for public infrastructure such as parks and gardens that can rebound quickly after being subject to flooding.

FutureproofingtheCityofSydneyfromClimateChangeBackgroundSydney is already starting to experience climate change and its mani-fold effects. It is becoming increasingly clear that the climate is changing and that the effects are likely to be generally negative and far-reaching.

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A changing climate (and the inference of human causes) will undoubtedly affect businesses and communities by increasing risk through the direct and secondary impacts of warming, extreme weather and rising sea levels. This will flow through to increased costs of insurance, asset protection and repair. Urban businesses and those dependent on coastal infrastructure or suppliers are not immune. Sydney is not immune to the potential impacts posed by climate change. Rising sea levels will put parts of Sydney under water and the effects will be worse without strong action on climate change, the pictures below for both 4°C and 2°C of global warming.

The IssueClimate change is a pressing and highly complex policy issue involving mul-tiple causal factors and high levels of disagreement about the nature of the problem and the best way to tackle it. However, there is strong body of evidence that suggest the climate is changing, regardless of the cause be it human or natural. On top of this given the lack of alignment in policies for responding to long term impacts posed by climate change across Commonwealth, State and local governments there is often a lack of action or guidance for the private sector which trigger significant lia-bilities and costs for the private sector.It’s important to recognise that adaptation and resilience are not strictly environmental concerns, they are far more broadrangingand cannot be managed with silo thinking by just one ministry or body.

The Solution: Establish a Climate Resilience Action Plan for the City of SydneyAn effective climate resilience strategy and action plan should be established for the City of Sydney taking a holistic approach to the challenge and develop policies to protect the City’s natural and built assets, jobs and people while creating new opportunities for managed prosperity. In so doing the plan would recognise that effective adaptation starts with mitigation: a contribu-tion to limiting the extent of climate change still remains critically important.Examples of key recommended actions would include:• Boosting our health institutions to better cope with heat wave

emergencies, other weather related disasters and challenges such as the spread of insect borne diseases. An emphasis on prevention of potential health issues from such emergencies would also flow into related areas such as building design and biohazard reduction.

• A clear framework to help guide local decisions around the level of sea level rise (or other exposure) at which “protect and defend” strategies would give way to “abandon and retreat”, and how such approaches would be funded as they pertain to property or infrastructure of

private, local, state or national significance.• A hazard assessment tool, coupled with development guidelines for

new structures and alterations to existing buildings. This approach might be modelled on the concepts of the various bushfire threat levels and associated construction requirements.

• The federal government may also be able to facilitate (with the states) and the City of Sydney the development of a legal framework that will help councils implement changes to local planning instruments while minimising the risk of costly legal action from disgruntled property owners who would oppose such changes due to their impact on values.

• Strategic hazard reduction and emergency preparedness / coordination (for example covering extreme weather risk such as bushfire and flooding) and again harmonising planning considerations for future develop-ment. This would build on the work of the ANZEMC.

Future proofing the City of Sydney from Climate Change.

36Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Hong Kong.

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FloatingStadiumWith the very limited usable land in Urban areas (including, in Hong Kong, extensive reclamation), space is at a premium. Facilities such as large sports stadia take up valuable land but are used sporadically so can stand empty for a considerable portion of their lifetime.

Cultural concerts and major sporting events are a feature of urban life appreciated by many, so large facilities are in high demand. Such events offer entertainment to local residents and international visitors, which is of benefit to the tourism industry. Additionally, major events such as international sports offer a cross-cultural connection.Suggestion: the use of a floating stadium to provide the desired facilities while freeing up land space for public open space or necessary housing and public facilities.

Examples of use of floating facilitiesSingapore, with a similar land shortage problem as Hong Kong, has suc-cessfully put the concept of large floating structures put into practice by building up the Floating Stage in Marina Bay in 2007. This floating stage has already provided many different activities such as sports events, national day parade, concerts, water activities and more.Also, a floating off-shore stadium was suggested for the Qatar FIFA 2022 world cup. This floating stadium could be shiped to another location (by using hybrid energies such as water, wind and solar power), therefore saving the energy and materials for building a new stadium.

Feasibility in Hong KongThe floating stadium concept has a very high feasibility for Hong Kong since there are several locations that are suitable for berthing the stadium, such as the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal and the Tseung Kwan O Bay. The floating stadium would not only provide a sports venue on water, the large space of the base could be designed as guestrooms, shopping malls or a water sports center which would provide a very special experience for visitors. Additionally, the idea of a large floating structure is not limited to a sports facility, it could be used for other purposes such as recreation park, resort or exhibition centre.

BenefitsThe potential benefits include:• Freeing up of land space in urban areas for other purposes.• Minimise the impact of major events on local residents, as none would

be living near the floating stadium so would not be affected by noise or traffic.

• Ability to relocate the stadium around the city to suitable waterfront locations, to support multi-venue events such as the Asian Games, or Olympic Games.

• Ability to move the stadium to other cities who are hosting major events, to reduce the need to construct additional facilities in those cities, thus reducing embodied carbon and construction costs of those events.

• Should be designed to be energy-efficient, water-efficient, material-efficient and include on-site waste handling to be an example of best practice sustainable design.

• Should also be designed to allow universal access, such as providing facilities to suit those of various needs including the elderly, those with children, those with disabilities, people with attendance animals such as guide dogs, and those with particular faith needs (such as wa-shing facilities, prayer areas).

• Provides the opportunity for cities to host major events, even if they do not have the space or money to build additional stadia.

• If the stadium is moved to other cities, it can share the example of sustainable design, universal access design and cultural ideas.

ConsiderationsIn addition to the technical design of the floating stadium structure, other considerations include:• Ensuring resilience to weather conditions in the different locations in

which it might be located.• Protection of the environments of the stadium location(s).• Ensure an understanding of the regulations of the host cities so

the design can comply, such as marine laws, health and safety requirements, barrier free access codes, entertainment licensing, etc.

• Planning for connection to the land to allow visitors to access the stadium, such as floating walkways and boat access points.

• Planning for access for services such as electricity, water, communications, waste handling; even if the stadium can be fully self-sufficient, back-ups would be needed when hosting major events.

ConclusionFor dense, urban areas, a floating stadium can provided a socially and environmentally sustainable, cost effective option that can benefit a number of cities / countries and promote international knowledge sharing and cooperation.

38Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Shanghai, China.

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FloatingcitiesSuggestion: to have floating cities in Singapore. These cities are self sustai-ning and are autonomous. Meaning, floating cities can be run by themselves, produce their own clean electricity and resources such as food and water. These mega ships will be anchored within Singapore waters and can have low buildings built on it. Thus saving sand and casions for expensive reclamation.

An Underwater WorldTo live in the sea in a self-sustaining world similar to a terrarium when the land gets overpopulated.

The world could be in separate domes, which could be split to sectors for living, working, recreation, services, food production, etc.

The domes will be self-sustaining with: Recyclable: 1. air (carbon dioxide = oxygen = carbon dioxide), 2. water (eva-poration and reclaimed used water), 3. wastes and 4. renewable energy.

• Air: The dome nearest the surface could have many plants and trees to reclaim carbon dioxide through photosynthesis with the help of sunlight to generate oxygen.

• Water: Evaporation and condensation could be designed for clean recyclable water. Fungi / water ferns, etc. could be explored for cleaning / filtering water and filtration media to reclaim grey and black water.

• Waste: Wastes should be separated into non-biodegradable and bio-degradable wastes. Biodegradable wastes can be converted to use-ful fertilisers, etc. for recycling and reuse, non-biodegradable wastes will be used as fuel to generate additional electrical power.

• Energy: Solar power energy could also be harvested from the surface of the sea through installation of photovoltaic cells panels on large floating platforms. This could be programmed to orientate with the earth rotation through accurate satellite’s GPS positioning to ensure maximum 12 hours exposure of daylight. The surface and under-water currents in the sea can be harnass to generate renewable power through turbine-generating electrical power. Wind energy from Tidal power can also be harvested through turbine-generation. Large scale optic fibre could be used to transfer daylight to the darker domes be-low the seas. Fluorescent algae, micro-organisms and fish could also be used for decorative lighting at night.

An Underwater World.

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Hong Kong.

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3.2 Mobility

The theme of Mobility is undoubtedly a topic of great importance as we look at urban needs in today’s cities. The global Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge generated some inspiring thoughts on how to improve mobility in cities. Below some of the key mobility ideas and innovative takeaways from the workshop have been summarized.

Many of the solutions are vehicular-based, giving preference to users of bicycles, mass transit, car-sharing and other environmentally-friendly, resource-efficient modes of transportation. Understandably, as roads in world’s cities are congested and even transit systems are at or over capa-city, urban dwellers are seeking alternative solutions that can free them up from the confines of a crowded vehicle and restore the sense of freedom associated with mobility. Increasing infrastructure for the safe use of bicy-cles not only liberates people from congestion, but it also dovetails well with efforts to reduce obesity, hypertension and other health related issues associated with a sedentary lifestyle. Teams from Berlin, Los Angeles, London, New York and Hong Kong all looked to address the hazards of urban cy-cling in their cities by creating dedicated, cycling-only infrastructure, and in some cases even educational campaigns for both cyclists and drivers of motorized vehicles. Teams in Berlin and Shanghai focused on car-sharing, looking to make better use of low-efficiency single-occupancy vehicles on today’s roads – an innovative way to reduce congestion without requiring extensive additional capital to develop new infrastructure or procure addi-tional vehicles. In this way, both cycling and car-sharing do more with less – always an approach of value in cities that are faced with rising demands on capacity and diminishing funds for improving transportation.

The workshop also generated thoughts extending beyond the conventional thinking of ‘mobility as movement systems’ to a more comprehensive ap-proach of ‘mobility as access to information and people’. Numerous work-shop groups, including Singapore and São Paolo, discussed ways to encou-rage flexible / remote working, with the help of high speed internet and cloud computing, to bring more efficiency to the workplace and to people’s lives, reducing carbon emissions and unnecessary commuting. This indirect approach not only offers a solution to the immediate pressing challenges of urban congestion of roads and transit systems, but also links mobility bene-fits with those brought to companies (re-duced overhead) and individuals (more free time) – a win-win situation for all. Furthermore, the idea shifts the burden of investment in improving mobility from the traditional focus on transit systems towards including other services such as information

systems and data technology, which opens new channels for both private and public enterprises to play a role in improving urban mobility. It is a re-minder that mobility is a multilayered urban issue – it’s not just about bus stops or train stations.

Another approach to improving urban mobility is a holistic look at land use and density as it relates to the efficiency of connecting where we live, work and play, as recommended by the Sydney team. The team suggests densi-fying with mixed-use development overground rail infrastructure, including stations and rail lines, in urbanized areas of Sydney. Though this practice has become commonplace in some of the world’s densest cities, such as Hong Kong, New York and London, it is less frequently applied in other burgeoning cities that tend to grow outward rather than upward. The solution to build overground rail infrastructure brings a city’s real estate to a new level, both literally and figuratively, allowing for higher land utilization, bringing people and uses closer to one another and attracting additional investment over time. Thinking of a city’s land as a scarce resource and reinventing existing land uses to serve more than one function is an important threshold to be-coming a high-efficient, sustainable and well-connected city. Using MODEx to evaluate such high density urban hubs overground rail infrastructure, particularly at stations, highlights the improvements that development can bring to the city’s economic prosperity, environmental stewardship and social infrastructure – a winning solution for all stakeholders involved.

Across all mobility ideas, it is clear that there must be strong urban development policy, interdisciplinary thinking and follow-through to support the future mobility-oriented city of less congestion and carbon emissions, higher value development, and healthier, more sustainable citizens. Urban advocacy, design and infrastructure engineering can only go so far at improving the urban condition – ultimately, it takes the political will of a city, region or nation to see big ideas for the benefit of its citizens.

To propel ideas and dreams into reality often requires capital, though as a few of the ideas above have shown, sometimes simple changes to poli-cies can open up new possibilities without requiring extensive investment. For those ideas requiring major funding, an investible approach should be developed to attract new capital and ongoing revenue. This investible approach needs to extend beyond thinking solely about transit capacity and systems, to a more holistic approach. This approach should encom-pass what industries and related urban development a city or region

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

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needs to achieve its targets, and how this growth can enable a transit system as a supporting element of this new economic direction. In this way, we move from the days of ‘build [a rail line] and they will come’ or ‘build [a rail line] and figure out the rest later’ to a more comprehensive look at how mobility can be improved and even funded, while improving the overall quality and economic prosperity of cities and their people.

The ideas presented here highlight the power of collective global thinking and commitment to improving mobility in the world’s greatest cities.

SynergyacrossourBUCs:Overlaps/LinksBetweenCitiesMany of the world’s cities grapple with similar mobility issues. Despite so-ciocultural nuisances in each of these cities, there are universally appealing solutions to urban mobility that cross borders, suggesting that cities have much to learn from one another as they look to improve urban mobility.

Bicycle Infrastructure Improvements• Berlin.• Hong Kong.• London.• Los Angeles.• New York.Car / Vehicle-Sharing Policies• Berlin.• Shanghai.Expansion / improvements of Mass Transit Infrastructure• Chicago.• Los Angeles.• New York.Flexible Working Policies with High-Speed Internet / Cloud Computing• São Paulo.• Shanghai.• Singapore.

TheinnovativeoutlinersHere are just a few of the unique mobility ideas that came up during the Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, responding to specific urban conditions in each of the BUC cities:• Trash Trains (New York).• Emissions-Free Transit (Berlin).• Electricity-Generating Sidewalks (Singapore).• Smart Streets on Natural Corridors (Rotterdam).

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

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ContinuousInterconnectedBicycleLaneSystemReducing automobile use is critical to making significant reductions in United States greenhouse gas emissions. A key part to reducing auto-mobile use is creating an environrment that fosters alternatives modes of transportation for all citizens. Dedicated bicycle transit systems provide opportunities for urban and suburban residents to commute within their environments at a lower cost than developing mass transit infrastructure. However, in order for people to use the system it must provide safe access to the same areas as they could access in personal vehicles.

Therefore, Los Angeles needs to construct a bike lane system that is in-terconnected through the city and outlying suburbs. Bike lanes should be buffered from surrounding automobile traffic to increase bicyclist safety and to encourage bicyclists of all abilities to use the bike lane system. Fear of traffic accidents with automobiles is a leading reason why people choose not to commute via bicycle in high traffic urban and suburban areas. Addition of a public bike share program will also increase use of the bike lane system. Integration of a bike lane transit system into Los Angeles’ infrastructure will help create a more sustainable transit city, and provide ancillary benefits of more exercise and better health for the areas residents.

Modern Interconnected Mass Transit SystemThe Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area (Greater LA Area) is 33,954 square miles in size. However, there is not a widespread rapid transit system, and a large portion of mass transit options are buses that are subject to Los Angeles’ widespread traffic congestion. The Los Angeles Metro Rail system serves limited areas, and accounts for only approxi-mately 0.5% of weekday transit commuter trips in the Greater LA Area. Expansion of a rapid mass transit system in the Greater LA Area would re-duce traffic congestion, encourage greater ridership from outlying counties, reduce commute times resulting in greater worker productivity, and reduce individual automobile trips resulting in lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Keys to the expansion of the rapid transit system include providing destinations from outlying counties into the downtown areas, as well as providing access to high priority destinations such as high demand beach areas. Furthermore, with the abundance of sun and wind in Southern California, the rapid transit system should be built to run on renewable energy sources to provide zero emission transit options.

Smart Streets on Natural CorridorsThe ‘Randstad’ is one of Western Europe’s most dense populated areas, in which economic, residential and (even) recreational functions are com-bined. For regional and urban planning, keeping the balance of these func-tions is a real challenge, so room for new solutions is very welcome. The core of this idea is to connect several main zones with alternative corridors and / or shortcuts, making uses of nature build materials and / or alterna-tive techniques. These connections would function as alternative bicycle paths (including all-terrain bikes), walkways, to replace and delight conven-tional road transport. Also the connections would have a recreational function (fly-overs can be combined with city-agriculture, expositions, sport activi-ties, etc.) Walk ways, gangways and fly-overs can delighting traffic the conventional road intersections. Cable way’s or aerial tramway’s could be designed for specific parts road stretches and congested high ways. The connections could be linked and form (touristic) routes at a larger scale (alternate high ways) but also at small scale (shortcuts). Fly-overs in congested traffic zones could be incorporated , and result in a nice second look of the landscape or city-scape! The connections could even be commercialized and accom-modate (nature related) enterprises and shops.  

Smart Streets on Natural Corridors.

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Berlin, Germany.

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NavigationAppandEmergencyAwarenessAppNavigation App for Walker in Urban Settings Proposed as similar to the Waze app, but for pedestrians. This App would provide location services, the popular attractions in the area, street names, local police presence, and local updates (i.e. transit updates, storm updates, etc.).

Emergency Awareness App or website for urban residents that would pro-vide local updates (i.e. storm updates, security alerts, etc.), fallout shelter locations, transit updates (subway / bus closures), and locations that have 24 / 7 Wi-Fi Service.

ProximityandaccessibilityoftransportlinkstoallcitizensProximity is a measure of the nearness in space, time or relationship. Accessibility refers to the ability to connect activities. Proximity and accessibility of transport links to all citizens facilitates and accelerates socio-economic development as opportunities are increased when the transport links reach out to a wider network of people and to physical areas that were once too far away to incentivise and accommodate growth. By minimising time distances and increasing connectivity between people, areas of economic activity and physical spaces the opportunity for social, physical and economic development of the cities of the future grow. Trans-port has been widely recognised as a critical factor impacting the deve-lopment of cities. The cities of the future that served us well in the past need now to accommodate unforeseen levels of demographic growth within a limited amount of physical space. Regeneration and change in use of land, if well connected through transport links, can reduce spatial (and social) barriers as well as providing flexibility to the rapidly changing fu-ture needs of our cities. When cities serve a growing population and make it more liveable for its citizens new pockets of economic activity are cre-ated, such as new jobs, housing, schools, hospitals, universities, etc. In addition to the economic benefits of proximity and accessibility the so-cial benefits are integration, reduced crime, increased safety and redu-ced marginalisation Potential indicators of these benefits are number of accessible jobs within a determined 60 min timeframe, ease with which an individual can access opportunities, etc. When the transport system and network functions well all this is possible, when it doesn’t frustration and the incentives to redevelop and inhabit a physical area are just not there.

UndergroundDistributionSystemandbetteruseofWaterwaystoavoidCommercialTrafficJamsTo make it easier for commercial transport to reach commercial hubs like Schiphol airport, the port of Rotterdam and the “bloemenveiling” in Aalsmeer, an underground distribution system could be created which will enable commercial traffic to reach their destinations faster and without disruptions. The creation of an underground distribution system will reduce the number of traffic jams and will make it also easier for non-commercial transport to reach their destinations. This idea has been explored already since 1990. However, financial risks appear to be too high to create such an underground distribution system. Therefore, this proposal would be to use waterways in the Netherlands to create this (underground) distribution system. The Netherlands is known for its great number of waterways which could be used more efficiently and effectively. This Proximity and accessibility of transport links to all citizens.

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Hong Kong.

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should reduce the financial risks and would still result in the same benefits: destinations can be reached faster and without disruptions. It should re-duce the number of traffic jams on the highways. To begin with, priority to should be given to a distribution system between Schiphol airport and the port of Rotterdam as these are the main hubs for commercial traffic in the Netherlands. A better connection between these hubs, will make our country more attractive for international trade, and gives a competitive advantage over other countries with large ports (e.g. Hamburg, Shanghai etc). Commercial traffic will only increase in the coming years, which will negatively impact cities (like Rotterdam and Amsterdam) with more traffic jams, noise and CO2 emissions. Global examples of an underground dis-tribution system are the L-net in Japan and the Metrofreight in London.

Trash TrainsThis idea was meant to streamline the transportation of trash utilizing the existing train infrastructure underground. During the night time when commuter trains offer reduced service, the tracks could be utilized to trans-port trash, taking garbage trucks off of the road. This idea extended further to include underground holding areas that serve to remove piles of unsight-

ly garbage from the streets and funnel trash to the trains underground. This would involve building new infrastructure in limited space under sidewalks and redesigning the trash collection system from the consumer disposal side.

Electricity-GeneratingSidewalksPeople should not only have electric cars, but also have human dynomonic equipments to generate electricity through tread mills. Another idea is in-vestment in floors that can generate electricity by capturing kinetic energy from footfall. Pizoelectric and induction technologies has been employed in Rio De Janiero to light a football pitch using Pavegen technology to capture kinetic energy from football players.

The Connected City Free Wi-Fi throughout Amsterdam. Allowing citizens to work from any-where. Travellers to connect right way. Productivity to boost. The inter-net becomes a basic public service, like street lighting or transport. There should be economies of scale to having city-wide access for all, everywhere, anytime, rather than individual users negotiating own internet contracts.

The Connected City.Underground Distribution System and better use of Waterways to avoid Commercial Traffic Jams.

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Hong Kong vertical farming example.

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Sketch Hong Kong vertical living.

3.3 Regeneration

Regeneration is the process which restores, revitalizes or renews an existing space or function. Regeneration was one of three key themes discussed at Arcadis offices around the world. Regeneration is important because in the future many of our buildings stock will remain in use, in the UK 87% of existing buildings will still be here in 2050. Regeneration should be planned and implemeneted in a holisitic approach ensuring social, environmental and economic issues are factored into regeneration solutions. Large scale regeneration masterplans such as Stratford in East London have been suc-cessful in regenerating a deprived area. It is important that local people are supported in large scale masterplans such as these to avoid driving local people and culture out of the area. Despite the focus on cities and urbani-zation it is important not to ignore rural areas. Focusing all investments on city services and expanding urban areas, will encourage all to live in the city.

Regeneration is of vital importance across all cities as we look to develop the cities of tomorrow.

There were many interesting ideas some of which repeated across cities. The top best regeneration ideas are:

• Vertical Living (London, Rotterdam, Hong Kong).• Reinventing Waterways (Rotterdam). • Reuse of Unoccupied Buildings (London).• Pop-up Offices (London).• Solar Pavements (New York).

Further detail of each concept and examples of each idea are provided in the following pages.

VerticalLivingThis concept focuses on vertical living, making use of living, working and commuting at height. The idea originates from Hong Kong which is a verti-cal city with apartments and offices and farming all provided in skyscraper buildings. Vertical farms could enable cities to grow food efficiently and sustainably, saving water and energy while reducing emissions, providing healthy food and new employment opportunities. With up to 130,000 per square kilometre Hong Kong is three times denser than New York.

52Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Hong Kong.

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ReinventingWaterwaysGrowing populations are driving a mega trend: urbanization through migration. In 1800 less than 3 percent of the population lived in ci-ties, yet by the end of 2008 this had risen to more than 50 percent, there are now 26 megacities (cities of 10 million or more inhabitants). Despite the economic success of megacities, governments at every level are preparing for the growing risks that these massive urban centres pose. During the 21st century, megacities across the world will continue to grow, as will other large urban conglomerations that have megacity features. Energy demands will thus increase, since supplies of food, water and re-sources for industries and infrastructure require energy for transportation.

The associated increased carbon emissions are contributing to global warming and pose their own climate risks. The urban “heat island” effect means temperatures are increasing about three times faster than the rate of temperature rise over global and national land areas. Arcadis has developed a comprehensive vision on cities and their relations towards water and water systems. Whereas numerous cities turned their backs towards the rivers; Arcadis has performed several studies showing an new attitude towards rivers and riverfronts will result in unique business cases.• Waterways can be turned into free, low profile transport systems,

unlocking areas not accessible by car or other forms of public trans-portation. But this type of transport isn’t just interesting for scholars, students and commuters. While these users focus on transport during peak hours, the systems will attract other potential users during off-peak times, for instance tourists and day-trippers. Public transporta-tion systems on waterways have the potential to become major tourist attractions.

• Docks, especially with connections to other modalities, will incubate redevelopment of areas and might turn into urban hubs.

• Public transportation on waterways is highly adaptive and has low car-bon emissions. Public waterways make an excellent couple with the most environmental friendly ways of transportation, by foot and by bike! Most scientific research has generally supported the idea that exercise helps to ease stress. Cycling is very much a part of that, but it’s also worth considering that cyclist commuters have reported lower stress levels than their counterparts using cars and mass transit, as found in a New Economics Foundation study in 2014. What’s more, cycling has all sorts of health benefits - physical and mental.

• Hubs and areas will develop, resulting in pleasant environments with theatres, trendy bars and restaurants, small retailers and hotels. Business lounges and meeting places are combined with urban facili-ties for daily usage. A melting pot for different lifestyles in an urban en-vironment where spaciousness and openness is emphasized; interior and exterior blend together. New residential area are connected to the systems of the urban network.

• Combined development and exploitation of water transport systems and urban (re)development.

• Structural direct and indirect employment, for both lower and higher educated inhabitants.

• Emphasizing the image of the cities as post-modern, adaptive and innovative!

Inspiring examples • Hamburg, Rotterdam / Dordrecht Area, Amsterdam, San Francisco,

Istanbul and Bangkok.

Reinventing waterways.

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Pop-up cubicles from recycled cardboard example.

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Reuse of Unoccupied BuildingsUrbanization is changing the way we live and applying pressure upon analready stretched London. With infrastructure reaching capacity, the way we interact with the natural environment, utilities shortages and our social impact are all under the spotlight.

An estimated 1.5 million additional homes will be needed in 2050 when considering London’s current rate of population growth, and with the rate of expansion expected to increase due to global influences, that figure is likely to increase with it.

How will London house this additional population whilst maintaining its’ competitive advantage as one of the World’s most sought after, desirable and vibrant cities?

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) recently claimed that filling the 218,000 empty properties in the United Kingdom would go some way to alleviating the current ‘housing crisis’ however this alone will not solve the problems of tomorrow including continued rising house prices, utility shorta-ges, unsustainable food production and a creaking travel infrastructure.

In addition the Greater London Authority is proposing that no more than 1% of homes should remain empty for any six month period, making a £60m investment to bring empty homes back into use.

Focus on existing housing alone will not solve this problem therefore focus needs to be extended to the redevelopment, removal or filling of London’s many empty office spaces, closed schools, unused churches and council buildings.

In principal this suggestion is a simple one however there are a number of ‘red tape’ challenges, social issues, governmental and tax implications to overcome. That said, some possible solutions are outlined below.

• Development and extension of commercial properties which focus on providing short term accommodation for those who need it by conver-ting them into livable spaces.

• Identify and survey all existing empty commercial properties and ascertain their potential for use as living spaces for the short, medium and long term future.

• Create government incentives for owners of unused commercial properties to make appropriate modifications to their buildings to support he above.

• Extend legislation that was brought into place in 2013 allowing con-version of commercial to residential use in existing buildings to be completed quicker and with less red tape – 17 local authorities were exempt from this including the City of London and the London boroughs of the London boroughs of Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Westminster, Newham, and Kensington and Chelsea.

Pop-upofficesThe traditional office is dying. There is a real need to innovate and create modern office environments to maximise landlord portfolios, meet consumer requirements and provide sustainable outcomes.

There is a growing demand for quality office space within city centres which is often not being met, despite the fact that an estimated 7.4% (16.7 million square feet) of office space remains unoccupied within London alone.Additionally, there is an increasing requirement for greater flexible working, with associated benefits noted by employers and employees alike. This has created an urgent need to re-evaluate how and where we work.Hackney, London former printer works now multi-use.

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Los Angeles, United States.

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This proposal promotes the creation of new ‘pop-up’ office spaces within city centres to meet this growing demand.

‘Pop-up’ offices will provide temporary work stations and meeting rooms in buildings which would otherwise remain vacant. Located within city centres and near transport hubs, these facilities will provide essential work space for start-up companies and enable flexible working on an ad-hoc basis for larger employers. Desk spaces and meeting rooms could be rented as required and booked through an easy-to-use mobile app.

Landlords should be encouraged to adopt this scheme through the intro-duction of tax incentives by introducing business rates relief on all premi-ses which provide pop-up office space.

Key OutcomesLandlords• Provides an alternative source of income for previously vacant

properties.• Mitigates the requirement for payment of vacant building rates.• Potential tax incentives to provide financial viability.• Improve security of property portfolio by ensuring properties are not

left vacant for extended periods.

Companies / Consumers• Flexible and convenient work stations and meeting spaces for compa-

nies of all sizes.• Affordable space in desirable locations for local start-up companies.• Resilience against future inner-city transportation issues (strikes,

major delays, over-crowding etc.).• Convenient locations for client meetings.

Communities / Cities• Re-use vacant office buildings which will help revitalise local micro-

economies and benefit local communities.• Reduce the requirement for additional new-build office spaces within

city centres.• Decrease burden on inner-city transportation systems.

Temporary office using pallet wood (above) and stacked shipping container office space example (below).

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, New York, United States.

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Solar Pavements What are solar pavements?• Prefabricated 8 ft x 10 ft concrete slabs.• Translucent top layer of tempered glass – 0.5” thick.• Crystalline silicon solar cells.• Converts sunlight on the road surface into electricity.• Road surface simulates a solar panel.

Concepts also include solar thermal properties employed to reduce ice and snow disruption for roads in cold climates. The United States based firm Solar Roadways have a number of pilots including train station platforms, airport parking and pavements.

BenefitsGenerates renewable electricity for:• Street lighting.• Traffic systems.• Households and businesses.• Electric vehicles.

The Netherlands solar pavement example (above) and Idaho, United States impact resistant solar car park example (below).

Solar cycle lane example.

60New York, United States.

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What’s Next?

4

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Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, São Paulo, Brazil.

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4. What’s Next?

All the ideas outlined in the previous chapter will be used as input for the World Urban Campaign. The Campaign is the partners’ platform preparing for the Habitat III conference. The Campaign acts as a global advocacy and partnership platform to promote dialogue, sharing and learning about improving our urban future. In essence, the World Urban Campaign is a key part of the Habitat III process. The Campaign provides organizations, cities and countries the opportunity for discussion and to generate the best results at Habitat III, which will shape the future of our urban spaces in the 21st century.

As mentioned in the second chapter, this book will be updated and the workshops will continue during 2016.

Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Berlin, Germany. Shelter Urban Thinkers Challenge, Sydney, Australia.

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Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

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ColophonCommissioned by:Shelter program, an initiative by Arcadis for UN-Habitat.

Compiled by:Kim van den Berg, Jamie Trybus, Radboud Buitenrust Hettema, Lucas London, Maren Striker, Dianne Potters and Bert Smolders.

We would like to thank the BUC Executives and Shelter representatives, the supporting staff, Global Shapers Ambassadors, all colleagues who took the photos and pictures, to everybody who shared the campaign online via Twitter and other social media and to the hundreds of people from all areas of the business who shared ideas, expertise and urban solutions for future cities - our future cities.

Special thanks to:Carina Andersen, Nieke de Bel, Corinna Berger, Matthew Blaikie, Mark Binnenpoorte, Suzanne Broadbent, Keith Brooks, Patrick Buijs, Antônio Carlos Camargo, Heloisa Caprioli, Erica Carvalho, Tan Mei Chen, Andries Dekker, Birgit Detig, Nadia Drozario, Dima Fadda, Macaria Flores, Alex Francisco, Carolien Gehrels, Peter Glus, Nicola Hall, Sarah Halle, Nick Hayes, Jack Hartman, Laura Hutchings, Greg Ives, Andrew Kelly, Weena Koh, Ulrike Lehner, Fernando Leite, Kathryn Lim, Chua Wei Lin, Lim Liang Lingxiao, Gina Littefair, Marcio Luiz Fernandes Lopes, Jose Lourenção, Verali von Meijenfeldt, Raenell Morris, Arno Mulder, Friederike Müller, Jill Murray, Heather Nanninga, Robin Nagel, Marjol Nijnens, Badryah Md Nor, Adam Peers, Emma Phillips, Raquel Polo, Marc Poorterman, Maysho Prashad, Girish Ramachandran, Christina Reygers, Katja Roth-Kroeckel, Jordan Rowley, Eugene Seah, Rajendra Shrestha, Allen Shue, Habsah Shawaluddin, Aurélie Simon, Bosco So, Sandy So, Ben Stanphill, Daniël van Staveren, Ronald Stein, Nikhil Stephen, Jacqueline Huan Chie Sze, William Taam, Anthony Tan, Sunny Tan, Toni Tian, Robert Titus, Cláudia Vieira, Gabriel Mayer Wagner, Kathi Wimmer, Emrys Xie, Serena Zuidema and many others who shared their top ideas.

Contact:For more information about Shelter you can send an e-mail to: shelter@arcadis.com Or contact: Bert Smolders (Program Manager Shelter) bert.smolders@arcadis.com

Please visit the website: www.arcadis.com/shelter and the Shelter movie: https://vimeo.com/145849883.Shelter is on Facebook at: facebook.com/ArcadisShelterProgram, on Twitter(@ArcadisShelter) and LinkedIn.

For more information about the World Urban Campaign you can visit the website: www.worldurbancampaign.org. Please visit the website: www.habitat3.org for further information about the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III). For more information about UN-Habitat please visit the website: www.unhabitat.org.

February 2016