The Role of Technology in Cities of the Future

The Role of Technology in Cities of the Future Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

A Brief Overview ‘Elegant Ideas’ confront ‘Messy Real World Complexity’ City Ranking Systems: What’s on our mind? Technology Pull: Visions of Cities and Urban Developers Technology Push: Visions of Technology Companies Challenges: Waste … Energy … Transport … Ageing … Missing Links and Recommendations: … Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

City Ranking Systems: What’s on our mind? • New Geography (Joel Kotkin): Ranking of US cities based on a weighted average of medium and ling term employment growth trends. discusses role of tele-cities and exurbs … • Fast Company Magazine: A marketing, design and technology magazine that undertakes an annual surveys based on interviews and ‘user’ perceptions of the most <insert favorite theme> cities for that year. The exact criteria vary from year to year. It is increasingly global in scope. The most recent one includes candidates from the US and Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia and Africa. There is a focus on dynamism, creativity and sustainability … the loose and unscientific format provides scope for recognizing ‘surprises’ or current and emerging trends … • The Milken Institute: This has carried out a variety of rankings over the years, one based on the role of Technology Parks and Science Parks in the growth of the city, and more recently a series on the growth of Metropolitan regions which is based on 5 year performance in terms of • Job creation, • Wage levels and • Technology intensity of industrial activity … • The results from 2010 survey are interesting in that of the 300 or so US metro areas included in the survey, the ‘usual suspects’ don’t rate very highly … 3 of top 5, 5 of the top 10, and 11 of the top 20 are in Texas! Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

Technology Pull: Visions of Cities and Urban Developers • The “Venus Project” of Jacques Fresco … 1995, The Future by Design, Zeitgeist Movement … • The “Archologies” of Paolo Soleri … “Cities in the Image of Man” … Cosanti, Arcosanti … • The “Archibiotics” of Vincent Callebaut … (LillyPad …) • The “Charter Cities” of Paul Romer … • The “Aerotropolis”of J. D. Kasarda and Greg Lindsey … “They way we’ll live next” … • Etc • Ab-initio green city projects … Dongtang+, Masdar+, KAEC+… • Existing city visions … “Stockholm 2030”, the “Innovation City” vision for Boston … • More specific “city systems” … Retirement Communities … i.e. Sun-City Arizona … • The “Mega Float” project in Japan … • The “Freedom Ship” of … • The “Floating Houses” of the Netherlands … (SE Asia, Peru …) • The “Vertical Gardens” of Patrick Blanc … • The “Vertical Farms” of Dickson Despommier … • Preparation for off-world living The Eden Project, Biosphere 2, the ISS … • The Ansari X-Prize, the Google X-Prize … the Isle of Man … • The Vijay Govindarajan challenge … how to build a $700 house … The Acumen Fund … Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

KAEC … Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

The Dynamic Tower … to be built in Dubai Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

The “Bionic Tower’ … to be built in Shanghai (?) Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

To be built in Korea … ? Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

The “dragon-fly” … a metabolic farm for urban agriculture Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

The “Vertical Gardens” • of • Patrick Blanc • Epiphany: 2,500+ of the 8,000+ plant species in Malaysia don’t need soil to grow … they only need water with the right kind of nutrients and some kind of physical support … • His vertical gardens: • Grow inside or outside, • In artificial or natural light, • Capture carbon, • Clean the air, • Cool buildings in summer, • Warm them in winter … Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

ARCHIBIOTICs of Vincent Callibaut Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

“City Garden Farms” … in Portland Oregon, consists of 12 back-yards … NMYC has more than 600 small farms (large vegetable gardens) … Victory gardens … Whitehouse garden … urban allotments … unused land … gardens … borders … parks … bag-gardens …. Window sills and verandas … … Farms produce vegetable and fruit as well as poultry, eggs and tilapia … also mushrooms, mealworms and other insects, pets, algae etc … supplied to small shops, homes, drop-off points, restaurants and sandwich bars, office kitchens and schools … cellars … shared greenhouses … private … government owned infrastructure … The hidden cost of food is transport … Logistics, storage and processing services … Leasing or using someone else’s land … in exchange for money, produce or the satisfaction … a sense of community involvement … Food delivery and life-style support services … A 1 acre urban farm can produce of the order of 250,000 USD per year Despommier claims that a 21 story urban farm can produce as much as 288 acres of land … building it would cost 84M Euros… Government could encourage … support … sourcing produce from urban farms for own cafeterias … allow income from small plots tax free … (renting …) Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

Vertical farms will allow us to: Grow food 24 hours a day, 365 days a year Protect crops from unpredictable and harmful weather Re-use water collected from the indoor environment Provide jobs for local residents Eliminate use of pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides Drastically reduce dependence on fossil fuels Prevent crop loss due to disease or pests Stop agricultural runoff http://www.verticalfarm.com/blog Meanwhile, Dickson Despommier, a public-health professor at Columbia University, is pushing a way to get population centers to produce a lot more of the food they consume. His Vertical Farm Project envisions hydroponic skyscrapers that would be as productive as 588 acres (238 hectares) of land. A 21-story farm is expected to cost about $84 million to build. That's a lot of cabbage to grow some lettuce, which is perhaps why the first tower in the works is in Las Vegas. Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

Biosphere II … Houston we have a problem (with CO2 and O2)! Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

SECURITY … (Policing +) “War Zone Amsterdam Safe Haven” … 2011 Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

TRANSPORT … Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

The DIMENSIONS of Transport … • Users of the Transport System • Children • Animals • Parents • Workers • Businesses • Retirees • Visitors • Occasions of Use • Day-time • Night-time • Weekends • Holidays • Summer • Winter • Modes of Transport • Trains, Buses and Trams • Taxis • Boats • Scooters and Segways • Bikes and “the No. 11” (walking) • Skateboards and roller-blades … • Robots … • Logistic services – pick-ups, trailers, vans, trucks, lorries • Emergency services – fire, police and ambulance • Infrastructure for parking and storage • Infrastructure fueling, cleaning, repairs and maintenance • Infrastructure for sale and resale, recovery and recycling • Infrastructure • Roads, rails, bridges, tunnels, footpaths and parks • Parking and storage (impact of car sharing and public bikes …) • Fueling, cleaning, repairs and maintenance • Retail infrastructure for sale, resale, recovery and recycling Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

Technologies, Business Models and Innovation Strategies … • In many ways a SUBSTITUTION game • Substitute: • Private transport with public transport … • Cars, buses and trams with cycling or walking … • Owning with sharing, leasing, hiring … • Fossil fuels with bio-diesel, bio-ethanol, electricity, H2, fuel cells, solar power … • Motors with hybrids … and tanks with batteries … • Battery recharging with battery swapping (“Better Place” by Shay Agasi)… • Faster + longer-distance with slower + shorter distance … • Heavy with light … single- and two-person vehicles, short-commute vehicles … • Steel with composites, new materials and designs … • Four wheels with two wheels or no wheels … • Commuting with telecommuting … medicine with telemedicine … • Long commutes with short commutes … (business-hubs and shared workspaces …) • Bike stands with free-standing bikes … (GPS technologies … “SoBi” of New York … 30%) • Products with services (the P&G Mr. Clean car-wash …) • Drivers with robots … (that work through the night to relieve congestion by day) • Uniform taxing with congestion charges, carbon taxes etc … • Car-only days with car-free days … • Car-only roads with a network of pedestrian or car-free / bike-only streets … • BENEFITS in terms of: Noise, air-quality, public-health (obesity, diabetes, loneliness), work-life balance, free-time, commuter safety, energy security, employment … Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

The Role of Technology in Cities of the Future