SP3: Key Urban Structures for Green Urban Reconstruction Processes
Head: Prof. Mark Michaeli
Background
Many measures taken over the past decade have concentrated on enhancing urban sustainability at the level of built elements (building, building elements and materials, planning regulations on plot scale). However, the syntactical spatio-structural properties of the City as Living System still is poorly understood. It is expected that carrying capacity and ecological performance of UGI is highly dependent on the spatial and temporal coherence and continuity of new gray-green infrastructure networks (SP1). Therefore, it is crucial to develop transformation projects which help to establish or enhance these superordinate network structures to enhance performance characteristics of the UGI and raise awareness in society towards environmental aspects embedded in ongoing transformation processes
In a short-term perspective future mobility trends which in the city come along with megatrends like digitization and new forms of housing and work are of particular interest, since they might unfold powerful potential for urban reconstruction which can explicitly be activated for implementation of UGI (SP2). Reciprocally, it is expected that the presence of UGI will have a substantial impact on the use patterns/routines of the city and subsequently catalyze further reconstruction processes and promote new set-ups for urban projects (location, mix, contextual conditions) which need to be mirrored sufficiently in ongoing qualification processes of the networks to assure future connectivity, adaptability, and resilience.
Objectives
The objectives of this SP are to:
(O1): Analyze the potential for cross-fertilization between urban redevelopment projects with concepts for sustainable mobility on the one hand, and UGI qualification, on the other;
- (O2) Increase the reciprocal compatibility of UGI projects and urban renewal by emphasizing the continuity aspects in planning of urban configuration (elemental and urban tissue scale);
- (O3) Evaluate the generalizability and transferability of success factors into other urban project contexts or set-ups.
Main research questions are:
- (Q1) What are potentialities and risks in UGI-projects if coupled, synchronized or phased with renewal projects and maintenance operations in urban infrastructure?
- (Q2) What are urban patterns and layouts allowing for easier integration with UGI?
- (Q3) In which way are the change of lifestyles as well as the technological advancements drivers of change to facilitate the subsequent change of urban structure?
- (Q4) What role play amended planning frameworks and toolboxes for speeding-up implementation processes of UGI? (jointly with SP4)
PhD Candidate: Ishika Alim & Julia Micklewright
Dissertation: Key Urban Structures for Green Urban Reconstruction Processes.
Methods:
Research on ‘carrier’ conditions for UGI-implementation through projects in infrastructural renewal is carried out by literature review (theme-oriented) and case study (context-oriented) approach. The findings feed into a model of (inter-)dependencies (stage 1). In stage 2, the model will be consolidated through expert interviews and workshops where the plausibility of modeled solutions for /paths to UGI potential is discussed in application, through simulation in the scenario approach based on the cases of stage 1. Solutions derived from this then will be examined with regard to connectivity in legal and economic contexts of urban projects in stage 3. This allows for integration into testbed of the Urban Labs, and into model projects tying into the cross-sectoral approach of SP2 and SP4.
Outlook:
SP3 in Period I is limited to reconstruction processes of urban mobility as driver of change, other trend-based processes will be evaluated in Period II with regard to their capacity to be the carrier for accelerated UGI implementation in the urban realm.
Observations on transformatory urban practise show that changes to urban green infrastructure often linked to other investment and upgrading or maintenance cycles of urban infrastructure systems. While the exploitation of these opportunities is widely used practice, the UGI-dimension is often treated secondary or a collateral perspective.
To assure and speed up efficient UGI-transformation a mutual integration of the various transformation perspectives would be required in plans and processes. However, there is only few knowledge about key to successful strategic integration, strategies for priorization or even mixed investment schemes available. As a first step to develop these integrative approaches, the project investigates the conditions for productive linkages and their effects on structural-spatial optimisation processes. (Goal 1). On the basis of these findings, it will be examined whether smart coupling processes can be systematically tapped or accelerated in order to increase the quality of urban green infrastructure (Goal 2)
This project is based on the hypothesis that so-called “carrier projects” (de: “Huckepackprojekte”), namely projects which though potentially following other primary goals also might incorporate the development of and can provide a solution for the aforementioned problematic, thus substantially contributing to advance urban climate adaptation measures. Hansen & Pauleit (2014) and Monteiro et al. (2020) state that the integration of UGI with other urban infrastructures (e.g. transport/water management) is a crucial planning principle of UGI. Similarly, Lennon & Scott (2014) suspecting an “opportunistic” nature of UGI planning often focusing on positive synergies, “recognizing the potential for comparatively non-contributing landscape elements to be managed or structured differently to enhance the assets and functions of a GI network” (Lennon & Scott, 2014, p. 580).
The Research Project at SP3 (in conjunction with SP4) aims to scientifically concretize this approach and address the knowledge gap of UGI synergetic implementation strategies by answering the following research questions: (1) Which kinds of urban projects and transformation processes can incorporate the development of UGI? Accordingly, which types of projects/goals can act as leverage for specific UGI types and ES? (2) Which are the institutional obstacles or favorable conditions which can inhibit or support these kinds of urban transformations? (3) How should larger-scale urban strategies be conceived in order to integrate and profit most from the potential of the “carrier project for UGI” approach?
For (1) descriptive framework will be developed (as suggested for other transformative processes, e.g. Kinigadner et al., 2024), which will be used to typify a large number of reference projects. This will allow us to gather insights into how “carrier project” goals/ characteristics are correlated with specific UGI development and ES provision. This framework will be used to identify typical project constellations and organizational patterns. Based on these patterns, specific case studies will be chosen, whose development and implementation processes will be studied in depth through interviews with involved stakeholders in order to answer question (2). Research work will then be scaled up on a strategic level by analyzing reports on climate adaptation strategies that implement a “carrier” approach (e.g., Rotterdam’s Weerwoord, c.f. Visser et al., n.d.), aiming to address question (3).
Through this research process, this project aims to produce operationalizable knowledge which can act as a basis for guidelines to urban governance institutions aiming to better coordinate urban transformation processes and optimize the development of UGI by strategically using suitable projects as “carriers”.