The Cloud
Neville Mars, He Bowen, Etienne Mares, Erich Schienke, Fiona Liu, Chang Liu, Sam Lockwood.
The purpose of this site is to be a central place to collate research and develop ideas around the Cloud Cities concept. The intention is to use this as a staging environment before publicly sharing any information.
Urban development comprises contradictions, double-binds, and essential tensions. Based on the principle that every contradiction creates the opportunity for innovation, this manifesto moves ever closer to embracing all contradictions as points of departure in re-evaluating the urban fabric. Read through this manifesto as manual for a template of plausible interventions. Again, and before, these are not solutions, but creative problems that we embrace as open-ended potential for the mass of humanity. SITE under construction
CLOUD DISCUSSIONS
--
Aug 2, 2011
SAM
Contradictions in general ‘Cloud Culture’ towards an Urban API
Scale: Algorithmic vs. Human context
How do we mediate this new “choice architecture”? In the face of exponential availability of data sources to collect - via existing and emerging ubiquitous technologies; social, mobile etc - and a new ability to rapidly process data sets at very low cost - how much do we, or can we, rely on human vs. computer algorithms to make sense of it? At scale, can it really be orientated towardspositive interpretive and quantifiable outcomes (ecology etc) or not? Ownership: Corporation Models vs. Open communities
How do policy makers and planners interact or ally with these new formations? Do they require new forms of reflective ownership to effectively deliver services and utilities - social enterprise or co-operative formations? This impacts on which actors need to interact with or use the platforms we create. How political does this all get and is this possible within current contexts?
Design: Games vs. Wikileaks
There are increasingly two types of SaaS cloud (which sometimes merge or interact):
1. The constructed cloud that is heavily mediated by central underlying “design” factor (the Apple or Xbox model) that allow users a consumerist interactive ‘lite’ experience, to design their Apps within the boundaries of policy and SDKs.
2. The deconstructed cloud that often respond to crisis or is becomes de-centred by external imperatives (the BitTorrent model) normally using open source or subverted ‘hacktavist’ toolkits. Where do we position our cloud? How mediated or loose does it become? Which also depends on both our objectives and our stakeholders objectives. Risk: Managing reality vs. Augmented loops
The convergence of choice and propensity modelling together with gaming mechanics helps us to understand scenarios in much more complex way. The increased management of such risk can also create blind-alleys that I call ‘augmented loops’. Similar to ‘augmented loop languages’ in computer science, whereby they are:
‘A classification of all the computable functions is given in terms of sub-recursive programming languages. These classes are those which arise from the relation ''primitive recursive in''. By distinguishing between honest and dishonest classes the classification is related to the computational complexity of the functions classified and the classification has a wide degree of measure invariance. The structure of the honest and dishonest classes under inclusion is explored. It is shown that any countable partial ordering can be embedded in the dishonest classes, and that the dishonest classes are dense in the honest classes. Every honest class is minimal over some dishonest class, but there are dishonest classes with no honest class minimal over them.’ The urban virtual/material space becomes stuck in process loops obsessed by risk/reward - and moves away from, rather than towards, affirmative values.
--
Aug 11, 2011
Neville
Key questions:
*what to expect from the cloud?
- so far we've treated cloud of catch-all of things not solved in the urban proposal.
*secondly, how to define and sell the cloud, not only as an engaging concept, but a tangible, step by step implementable infrastructure, with very distinct benefits?
Overview:
So far our cloud concept seems to revolve around five different technical systems.
1. some form of sensory or smart urban network (SUN?)
- a network of sensors that measure performance (such as pollution, traffic, etc) and data banks joined to share this information across buildings and ideally across cities and regions
2. smart grids
- a network of local / regional / national smart grids, dealing with dynamic energy sources, storage, distributions.
3. cloud computing
- Offering computing power (and licensing solutions) to government and companies in an environment where little infrastructure exists.
- The notion would be serious investment savings would be possible (to be verified) and new small companies can be attracted by this infrastructure.
This would specifically help a shift to more service related industries and support efforts to rid the countryside of small TVEs (circular economy) and streamline logistics specifically important for production so far from the coast (parallel to Walmart / amazon / alibaba).
4. virtual services / internet of things
- Undefined as of yet, but this concept was the starting point of the cloud ideas; that low density urban areas tend to have very low service levels and poor facilities (such as hospitals and schools). City wide broadband and such may provide high level healthcare, education, etc in networks with advanced cities in China and the West online. Or can be geared more to tourists and visitors (sample helsinki http://urbanflow.nordkapp.fi/ ) (notes IOT below)
5. open-source
- Feedback loop with local citizens and local planners and stakeholders or intergovernmental. This could be from the most basic level (www.mypothole.com) to Nanchong@weibo, to full cloud system. Political potentials and concerns where raised. (notes Sam, file Lascoumes attached).
--
Aug 9, 2011
Erich
As to what to expect from the cloud...
I think it is better to start with the ends. What we need is: greater flexibility in the:
identification and communication of needs (citizens, infrastructure, environmental) information detection is used when there is no "speaking subjects" to articulate need (such as most environmental issues);
the ability to quickly assess the basic flow of services across the network (federation and aggregation of policy ready information);
the ability to modulate analysis and flow between local/network and regional/network when needed;
transparency in communication between citizen-citizen, citizen-policy, policy-policy; linkage to service providers and manufacturers;
scalability and resilience of services. (We used to measure labor in "man hours"... it's more based on "service units" now.)
I think we need to add some layer of local direct manufacturing to the virtual services/IoT. The RepRap manufacturing process (which I'm starting to study and develop.)
Second, as to how to define and sell the cloud is going to be a bit difficult on its own, which is why I think we ought to continue to argue for the cloud in conjunction with energy and ecosystem. That is, we cannot obviously leverage smart energy and functional ecosystem management without massive amounts of information to support the monitoring and flow of energy or ecological relationships. (We're not far from pushing the nano-edge on a lot of the env monitoring stuff... so, this could quickly become a reality. 15-20 years.) Again, the value of the cloud approach, in my thoughts, is that it allows many analysis to be flattened along the axis of services. It doesn't matter if its food being grown or energy coming to a plug... it takes us away from a commodities approach to markets, and jacks us into a services approach. The identification and qualification of services (needs/ends) is the thing that really drives the information flow. It's like XML for the world.Seems interesting to me that you mention five technical systems, and none of them are explicitly architectural. HVAC systems and LEED bldgs are part of the bigger smart grid... but is there an aspect of architecture itself that could reflect the cloud. (I think back to the mental map that woman made of the building and where all her various services were.)
--
Erich (first response)
So, this is what I've been thinking about as the justification, it boils down to "bringing the success and density of large cities to smaller urban areas" through "smart agglomeration" via the cloud. To reinforce the density needed in the areas to keep pressure off of the rural regions (for food and ecosystem services), I am arguing this approach is, pretty much, essential to maintaing spatial density and proximity to services.
Agglomerations: Since the early 1980s, urban regions throughout the world have intensified the agglomeration of services, contrary to what one may expect, along with the rise of network access and the ease of money transfer. Through "agglomeration economics," many of the larger urban areas became regional hubs of economic activity, particularly in the services sector though it applies to manufacturing as well. This kind of agglomeration effect has mainly been strongest in the biggest cities (underpinning the global cities idea). Well, these kind of agglomeration economics need to also be leveraged for China's growing mid-sized cities and increasingly dense rurban regions. The efficiency gains of agglomeration experienced by big cities happen through spatial, social, economic, and informatic proximity. While these connections emerge out of the conditions of proximity and demand in larger urban centers (8M+), these proximities, in the case of smaller or mid-sized regions need to be planned or intentionally connected. This can be accomplished, sometimes, through something as simple as a search algorithm, as opposed to just allowing markets and regulations to find the optimization pathways alone.
Cloud density: Taking advantage of agglomeration economics in the mid-size urban and rurban regions can likely only happen with the support of a "cloud" based approach to connecting these services. The basic idea behind the cloud part of the cloud+eco+city concept is to take a services based approach in meeting most, if not all, needs of residents, businesses, and ecosystems. This approach can produce a significant efficiency gains possibly through:
the reduction of administrative overhead;
• increasing monitoring of resources, towards decreasing waste use and increasing recycling;
• increasing participation in commonly owned properties that are better if shared in a dense area, such as cars (as opposed to individual ownership);
• the ability to schedule, pay for, order, deliver, and exchange services in a unified manner (not wasting so much time waiting in lines, c-ticket.com);
• enabling flexible policy instruments, such as implementation of congestion pricing for urban driving;
• investing heavily in bandwidth infrastructure to enable service backends;
• the capacity to scale services on demand;
and/or allowing co-ordination of services to happen on-demand, such as the ebb and flow of riders on certain transport lines. (Examples go on...)
All of these examples extend from current systems in use in various urban centers throughout the U.S., UK, and China. All handling and logistics of these services could reside in the cloud. (Think Amazon + CraigsList)
Mobility: Based on recent statistics emerging from China's 2010 Census, over 256 million people live away from their home (outside of their hukou district). Building better for this new mobility is essential to China's continued capacity to grow and innovate. (Talent, not just labor, needs to flow where the overall demand lies.) Better connecting jobs with demand by providing the information infrastructure and logistics for such connections can lead to more efficient migration, while trying to still assure delivery of essential services to the family, such as access to education and health care, money transfer.
--
Concepts:
Cloud computing is comprised of multiple technologies, such as grid computing, utility computing, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Web 2.0, and other technologies. (2009 Open Cloud Manifesto)
Values of cloud computing.
Ability to scale and provision computing services dynamically in a cost efficient way without the consumer having to manage the underlying complexity of the technology.
The cloud architecture can be private (behind firewall) or public.
Scalability on demand
If an organization has periods of time in which their computing resource needs are much higher or lower than normal, cloud technologies (both private and public) can deal with those changes.
Streamlining the Data Center
An organization can streamline its data center by taking advantage of cloud technologies internally or by offloading workload into the public.
Improving Business Processes
An organization and its suppliers and partners can share data and applications in the cloud, allowing everyone involved to focus on the business process instead of the infrastructure that hosts it.
Minimizing Startup Costs
The new organization starts with an infrastructure already in place, so the time and other resources that would be spent on building a data center are borne by the cloud provider, whether the cloud is private or public.
Security
Consistency around authentication, identity management, compliance, and access technologies will become increasingly important. Cloud providers must offer a high degree of transparency into their operations.
Data and Application Interoperability
Cloud providers need to support interoperability standards so that organizations can combine any cloud provider’s capabilities into their solutions.
Data and Application Portability
Once an organization builds or ports a system to use a cloud provider‚ Äôs offerings, bringing that system back in-house will be difficult and expensive.
Governance and Management
Standardized mechanisms for dealing with lifecycle management, licensing, and chargeback for shared cloud infrastructure are just some of the management and governance issues cloud providers must work together to resolve.
Metering and Monitoring
Providers must supply consistent formats to monitor cloud applications and service performance and make them compatible with existing monitoring systems.
Goals of an Open Cloud
Choice
As an organization chooses a provider or architecture or usage model, an open cloud will make it easy for them to use a different provider or architecture as the business environment changes. If the organization needs to change providers because of new partnerships, acquisition, customer requests or government regulations, they can do so easily.
Flexibility
An open cloud will make it easy for organizations to interoperate between different cloud providers.
Speed and Agility
Using open interfaces allows organizations to build new solutions that integrate public clouds, private clouds and current IT systems.
Skills
With an open cloud, there will be a smaller set of new technologies to learn (especially when existing technologies are utilized), greatly enhancing the chances that the organization can find someone with the necessary skills.
The next decade will see a dramatic centralization of the world’s computing power, as cloud computing delivers new economies of scale. Cheaper devices will seem more powerful, as computing power can be moved to the cloud. Development and deployment of software and apps, multimedia content, and public data repositories to poor and excluded groups will be faster and less expensive. Cloud computing will also drive innovation in new services and experiences that leverage supercomputing capabilities. Data mining and analysis and intensely realistic simulations, for instance, will have widespread applicability in health, education, and business. While in the short term, cloud computing will be served by large, commercial clouds like Google and Amazon, the United Kingdom’s national “G-cloud” initiative is a promising model for the megacities of the Global South. Government clouds will reduce IT costs for governments, and potentially provide a platform for small businesses to deploy services and applications.
1. Cloud providers must work together to ensure that the challenges to cloud adoption (security, integration, portability, interoperability, governance/management, metering/monitoring) are addressed through open collaboration and the appropriate use of standards.
2. Cloud providers must not use their market position to lock customers into their particular platforms and limit their choice of providers.
3. Cloud providers must use and adopt existing standards wherever appropriate. The IT industry has invested heavily in existing standards and standards organizations; there is no need to duplicate or reinvent them.
4. When new standards (or adjustments to existing standards) are needed, we must be judicious and pragmatic to avoid creating too many standards. We must ensure that standards promote innovation and do not inhibit it.
5. Any community effort around the open cloud should be driven by customer needs, not merely the technical needs of cloud providers, and should be tested or verified against real customer requirements.
Cloud computing standards organizations, advocacy groups, and communities should work together and stay coordinated, making sure that efforts do not conflict or overlap.
--
clippings on ICT in ecoplanning
Acknowledging the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) -such as mobile phones, community radios and the Internet- in the adoption of informed decisions and the coordination of efforts during climatic events, as well as their potential strengthening social networks, inclusiveness, and processes of learning and self-organisation, among others, could inspire new strategies and innovative policy approaches in the climate change field, especially in regards to the management of water resources.
ICTs & Strengthened Water Governance
ICT tools can be used to strengthen the capacity of the institutions that govern water use at the national and international levels, improving the management and monitoring of climate related data among different sectors, as well as the access to and dissemination of information for consensus-building (e.g. watershed boundary agreements, international conventions, local laws and regulations, roles and responsibilities of different organisations and institutions involved in water management).
ICTs & Articulated Water Management
ICT applications such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and mapping tools can help to link and prioritize local environmental and social needs with quantities/qualities of water resources required for different uses (e.g. irrigation, consumption, etc). At the same time, ICTs (e.g. e-mail, networking tools, distribution lists, wikis) can foster a more effective coordination of efforts between the institutions that are responsible for the management of water resources in different sectors, and those working in land resources development and planning.
ICTs & Inclusive Water Security Planning
ICTs such as Web 2.0 tools (e.g. blogs, wikis or social media sites) could be used in support of participatory processes in the management of water resources. Plans for drought prevention and water security could be designed, discussed and monitored collaboratively, with the support of ICTs, by community members, civil society organisations and local authorities. Tools such as community videos, radio programs and audio blogs could be used to document local/traditional experiences in water management and adaptation, and foster the inclusion of marginalized sectors in these processes.
ICTS & Equitable Water Adaptation
ICT tools can support processes of mapping, documenting and disseminating information on the key risks and vulnerabilities present in both rural and urban contexts (e.g. mapping settlements in high-risk areas), facilitating the identification of linkages between the quality/quantity of water resources available, and other developmental conditions that are necessary for adaptation. At the same time, ICTs such as the Internet can help to broaden the access to information and resources on water management programs and sustainable practices through user friendly formats (e.g. videos, digital drawings, photo-stories, podcasts), as well as to awareness raising and capacity-building opportunities (e.g. e-learning).
ICTs & User-friendly Hydro-climate Information Systems
ICTs can play an enabling role in the generation and dissemination of locally relevant climate information that can be used by different stakeholders in decision-making processes. Tools such as the Internet, mobile phones and community radios can be used in support of awareness raising campaigns that foster climate change knowledge and preparedness/prevention, and that can be localized (translated and adapted) to respond to local priorities.
In sum, promoting a climate-resilient management of water resources requires, among others, the adoption of innovative policy approaches that enable change by acknowledging the potential of new tools, such as ICTs, to strengthen critical areas of climate change vulnerability. Creative responses supported by ICTs on key issues such as water governance, water management, water adaptation and information systems, are an emerging priority to face the challenges posed by climatic uncertainty, particularly in Developing countries.
The upcoming COP17 meeting provides a window of opportunity to think outside the climate ‘policy-box’ by considering how to take advantage of available ICT tools to foster flexibility, creativity, learning and inclusiveness as key attributes of resilient systems to climate change.
--
The “virtual power station”
The rapid development of information technologies is helping to pave the way for a decentralized energy supply based on cogeneration plants, renewable energy systems and conventional power stations. Manufacturers of small cogeneration plants already offer internet interfaces which enable remote control of the system. It is now possible for individual householders to control their electricity and heat usage so that expensive electricity drawn from the grid can be minimized - and the electricity demand profile is smoothed.This is part of the trend towards the “smart house” where its mini cogeneration plant becomes an energy management centre.We can go one step further than this with a “virtual power station”.Virtual does not mean that the power station does not produce real electricity. It refers to the fact that there is no large, spatially located power house with turbines and generators. The hub of the virtual power station is a control unit which processes data from many decentralized power stations, compares them with predictions of power demand, generation and weather conditions, retrieves the prevailing power market prices and then intelligently optimizes the overall power station activity.Some public utilities already use such systems, integrating cogeneration plants, wind farms, photovoltaic systems and other power plants.The virtual power station can also link consumers into the management process.
--
Aug 15, 2011
Neville and Erich skype
- (UK) G-cloud becomes the Chinese eco-guangxi cloud
- logistics centers can de-pressure road use .. but are based in suburbs
- gaming and planning scenario’s through the cloud
- Cloud supports notions of eco OWNERSHIP / RESPONSIBILITIES introduced through the proposal as eco-zones.
- Importance of physical localities of server centers
- notion that mapping the potential of the cloud probably best way to communicate the different scales on which it operates.
ON SUPPLY CHAINS
The term ‘supply-chain cities’ encompasses two distinct, but related, phenomena in China. The first usage refers to giant, vertically integrated firm factories. Appelbaum (2005), as well as a variety of textile
journals and large textile/apparel companies like Luen Thai (2004), use ‘supply chain city’ to indicate a new breed of ‘super-factory’ that firms are constructing in China Cluster cities. Barboza (2004) and others use ‘supply-chain cities’ when discussing the growing number of single product industrial clusters that have sprung up inChina’s coastal regions.
These clusters also feature large sprawling factories, with factory buildings, dormitories, and limited amenities for workers, but the focus here is on the overall cluster of firms. Illustrative examples include Datang (socks) and Shengzhou (neckties) (Wang and Tong, 2002; Zhang et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2005; Kusterbeck, 2005).
These clusters are based on so-called town and village enterprises (TVEs) that were a major part of the government’s push for economic development in the 1980s and 1990s, and are often in traditionally rural areas.
--
Local governments are supporting foreign investment through the development of industrial land, which often includes construction and leasing of manufacturing facilities, favorable tax conditions, flexible handling of government regulations (including labor laws), and large-scale development of industrial zones like the Guangzhou Economic Trade and Development District or the future mega-project of Nansha Island in the Pearl River.
With 1.3 billion people, a rising middle class, and a booming manufacturing industry, Chinese exports, gross domestic product (GDP), and port development have all seen double-digit growth in recent years. This growth is in part dependent on the continued development of the country’s manufacturing industry, which increasingly is shifting into the rural Chinese countryside along the Yangtze River. Apple Computer’s vendor Foxconn, China’s largest manufacturer of electronics, recently moved their manufacturing facilities out of southern China to inland cities like Wuhan and Chengdu, both situated along the Yangtze River. Intel, Microsoft and several auto manufacturers also have manufacturing plants along the river, such as in Sichuan Province. And by 2020, movements to China’s rural inland areas will create more container activity along the Yangtze River than in all of China in 2009.
Why the Yangtze River?
While Chinese manufacturing traditionally took place in the south, rising labor costs there are causing a transfer within the Chinese economy from the coast to inland areas. Coastal manufacturing has become dependent upon migrant labor to staff their factories. That labor force is heading home, and in most cases, home is an inland province. Manufacturing in inland cities means products must be moved to coastal cities for distribution and export. Yet, Chinese infrastructure is still catching up with modern logistics demands. Currently, the most efficient way to transport goods to and from inland areas is via the Yangtze River. It is the third largest river in world and the world’s largest economic corridor in terms of cargo movement. What is more, over 470 million people live in the municipalities and provinces along the river, and this labor force (more than four times the size of that in South China) is creating a fast-growing consumer market. The Chinese government is also supporting industrialization of its western lands with economic development programs. The “Go West” campaign is a western development strategy focused on building infrastructure, improving the environment and making the western lands attractive to foreign and domestic investors. The Chinese government is also considering incentives for companies to locate in western and central China, such as tax rebates, deferred income taxes and lower land costs.
Implications for the Supply Chain
Coastal cities are becoming more service oriented as manufacturing shifts inland. Shanghai, which sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River, will increasingly become one of China’s logistics and financial gateways, with the city’s GDP increasingly drawn from service industries like logistics, retail and real estate.
Source: Jon Monroe Consulting
The shift in where manufacturing takes place will have a dramatic impact upon companies’ supply chains. As companies move inland, the supply chain will be extended, at least in the short term, which can increase carrying costs and to a degree, transportation costs as well. This is because inland locations lack the direct international flights to global markets and direct access to ports that has made coastal manufacturing so successful. Goods shipped by air cargo must be moved from the inland areas to one of three major coastal airfreight hubs: Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing. Rail and water transportation to these hubs will increase as infrastructure develops, but the key to managing the future supply chain in China will be to manage expectations of cargo movement from western China to the international market.
Source: Jon Monroe Consulting (JMC) specializes in China sourcing, distribution, and technology platforms that support the movement of product through the supply chain.
"The tricky problem is that only a full-developed supply chain can draw big manufacturers " Chien said. "But if there are no big manufacturers here, there won't be enough demand to persuade supply-chain companies to move here."
However, Hu Xiaopeng, deputy manager of CCID Consulting's PC industry research center, said supply chain problems will not stop companies from moving west. He estimated the supply weakness will be overcome in two to three years as rising labor costs in coastal cities force more companies move to the west. In Chongqing, the minimum wage hasn't been raised since 2008 and ranges from 560 to 680 yuan a month, while in Guangdong the minimum wage was raised in May and ranges between 920 and 1,030 yuan a month. Moreover, western China has a larger population pool to draw from, compared with provinces in the east and south. The neighboring six provinces of Chongqing, with a population of 300 million, are home to many migrant workers. In addition to cheaper labor, the cost of running a factory in the west is lower than in the east and south. For example, in Chongqing electricity costs 0.55 yuan a kWh; in Shenzhen in southern China, it is 0.88 yuan a kWh. Also, the central government offers a 10 percent tax reduction to companies operating in certain western areas.
Apart from these advantages, recent analysis by an IT research company of IDC China shows that the go-west movement may focus on the long term. China produces one-third of the world's computers, with 27.6 percent going to the domestic market last year, jumping from 20.4 percent in 2008, CCID Consulting said.
Wang Jiping, research manager of IDC China computing system, said no one should underestimate the consumption power of the west. "The next consumer market of PC will be in western China."
3. Attaching greater importance to sustainable development
After years of tremendous growth, most industrial clusters in China are now facing bottlenecks, as their previous successes were often achieved at the expense of over-exploitation of natural resources and the environment. Severe pollution, high energy consumption and low efficiency are some of the major problems identified in most industrial clusters. Acknowledging the importance of sustainable development, the central government and most local governments are developing comprehensive supporting systems, offering support in areas such as pollution management, intellectual property rights protection, logistics and finance, to promote sustainable development of industrial clusters. For instance, Guangdong province sets up designated funds to encourage enterprises to invest more in environmental protection.
4. The development of producer services is crucial to the further development of industrial clusters
Producer services are regarded as intermediate inputs to further production activities of other firms. They range from financial services, real estate services, to business and professional services such as R&D, design, communications, logistics and marketing. The introduction and development of producer services is highly encouraged in China as the country tries to move up the value chain. Enterprises are encouraged to invest more in R&D and design to generate innovation, improve logistics efficiency so as to lower production costs, and step up marketing efforts to boost sales and revenues.
-----
INITIAL PROJECT OUTLINE - THEORY
- necessity ecoplanning
- Planning is dead .. Chinese density / planning theory / eco-contradictions
- MOM - Towards a (new) value system (accute / scaleble / omni-present / local / social)
- Practical / cultural socio-political hurdles in ecoplanning (daan?)
- bridging scolarly theory and design (two intrinsically apposing methods!)
- Energy patterns ! (role of planning in efficiency / national smart grid / ecology)
- No New Cities / De-urbanize / remediate!
- HOW MUCH urbanization - Pop numbers / KM2 needed
- DD model / numerical example ..
- Proof of intuitive method (MUD sprawl) / space syntax ..
- THE END OF GROWTH ... no m2 left out !
- Define growth zone / green zone / green edge ..
- Then adapt new zone to local conditions // How ?
- Regulatory evolution comparison
TO DO - STRATEGIC PROPOSAL
Strategies per scale
NATIONAL
Overlaying push / pull factors to
- encourage statewide smart grid!
- define + strengthen clusters and compact growth
- define Eco-concept towns (Super Satellites)
- define unique (cross-border areas) of national identity.
or, How (not) to zone? .. % (deailing with abstraction?)
- Main eco-structures / (watersheds) dependencies
- Most urgent sources to clean / protect
- Economic / Job potential
--
REGIONAL
(gravity theory / pole theory / closed bio-resources system)
- Cluster is new cross-border collaborative governance platform!
(like hollands watersheds / polder model / SEZ!)
- Main eco-structures. Strategic remediation potential.
--
URBAN HUB
- Seeding the System: Green Edge / Super Satellite
- Distinct eco-model based on role in the HUB
- Upgrade in metropolis
- Green Edge in cities
- de-urbanization in towns
- de-industrialisation in villages .. (!)
- Transportation strategy
- Eco-corridors ...( flexible infra-veins??)
- Cloud: low dense / high service
- smart grid / ecology / industry (circular economy)
- network of braincenters
- Timebased / remediation based Ecobusiness model
--
BLOCK
(Super Satellite / fabric / cell / typology)
- open / connect existing grids
- include new / small grids
- maximize diversity > EP (BARC) .. ..
- Open-source planning (let locals invlove / choose?)
- local feedback .. the cloud / pot whole method
Phase 2
- Reformulate as handbook
- Put model in Practice
- Retro-engineer regulations
--
Team meeting 11/07/21
The topics discussed yesterday touched ground on ideas of implementation, design, regulations, and distribution methodology.
With regards to the scale of the city, the following topics were talked about:
uban fabric: as china keeps expanding at a unprecedented speed a conscious effort to create a design urban fabric needs to occur, this could be in the form of the grid, growth limit, or uban form.
Growth: As the city starts to expand ideas were developed in the way the city grows, various options, models space syntax were mentioned as possible implementation for urban growth. Out of the examples discussed, a linear model with growing fingers seemed to be accepted since it allows the city to grou and be encapsulated around green areas
Boundary: a set of boundaries has to be envisioned for the city to grow in a healthy way, boundary 1. suburban ring: the existing city center becomes deurbanized, as a decentralication occurs in the urban fabric by the natural condition of a suburban sprawl grouth, as the center deurbanizes, the periferies grow, boundary 2. a natural boundary then is placed on the exterior of the suburbanized growth to the re-densify it and avoid furder field condition. Urban macro remediation-as the city core gets de-urbanized trhough a mega sprawl ring action, the city core gets remediated, nature occupies it and conquers it, a massive remediation occurs and nature becomes in this way infrastructural as it now acquires the memory of the city, as the remediation and sprawl occul simultaneously, when the core is ready to be repopulated again it becomes a new green urban core.
On methodology and information security
-open source- ideas were discussed in terms of open source sharing, in order to allow a variety of eco possibilities the information is shared in the form of a open platform to designers to test the ideas and design eco cties, always following the eco value system applied by the platform.
--
I: URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY
Doesn't really exist in China, because of the local government rely on selling "greenland" for local revenue and no clear property right regulation regarding this part of land.
In order to implement urban growth boundary and protect arable land, the central government need to clearly define the property right, creating the "supervising and contesting" power to contend "urban expansion machine".
This power can be many forms, for example, in France the other parts beyond the physical administrative boundary of one municipality is this power, and in Japan, the farmer's individual property ownership made massive urban expansion prohibitably expensive and difficult.
II FROM PHILOSOPHY TO PLANNING MODEL AND THEORY
The two core Mars philosophy "no plan" [MOM] and "evolutionary planning" corresponde the "self-organized city" philosophy model Qiu Baoxing presented, specifically, the "coexistance of certainty and uncertainty" and "the coexistance of forseeable and unforseeable" principles for urban growth.
The question is how do we design the model and develop the theory that guided by this philosophy, in the new era of eco-city in a fossil fuel depletion, globalization, and information/clean technology revolution?
III DESIGN POLICIES TO ENABLE MODEL?
According United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Urbanization Prospects: The 2009 Revision
China population : 2010 : 1355 / 2030 : 1465M / 2050 : 1415M
China Urban population : 2010 : 635M / 2030 : 905M / 2050 : 1030M
Growth of +300M in 20 years ; +400M in 40 years ; +500M max
The main urban migration will happen in the next 20 years. There is an absolute “emergency” to develop a sustainable solution to urbanize 300M people in 20 years. Base our thinking on existing network and expand the existing urban areas : no more new cities but living/using smarter
Calculate the city sprawl In order to add 300M people. Increase the urban population of 50% > increase the urban footprint of 80/90% ? Means we have to think the city as one entire and global system . Thinking only about the urban edge condition won’t be enough.
------
Bowen Ho
生态动态城市问题集，广求各路英雄解救
1. Evaluation生态城市的评估
每个新城市都在宣称他们是生态城市；
怎样才算真正的生态城市？从人才评估，到大学评估，到企业评估，到全国卫生城市、；旅游城市评估，在工业化产业化社会里，评估成为这个体制里不可绕过的一环。目前，没有存在有效的生态城市评估体系，生态城市也只是一个图景（vision），并没有真真正正被公认的以生态为设计目标的城市被真正建立起来。
这里需要提出的一个观点是，尽管目前有非常多在建设中或者建设初步完成的新城市，都以生态城市示人，但先不论何为生态城市的标准，这些城市尽管拥有了一个城市的躯壳，但真正的城市化过程并未完成，所以一切的生态指标只能作为“规划指标”。
2. 目前常常以碳排放（carbon footprint）作为评价生态城市的标准，合适吗？
碳排放经常被用来衡量城市系统对自然的影响程度，从指标上衡量一个城市的生态程度。如果我们能够在计算机上模拟出整个低碳的城市系统，并不代表整个系统就会以低碳的方式运营：比如说福斯特事务所在中东的MIIT项目，为了平衡整个城市运作的碳排放指标，以大量“种”太阳能板来换取指标的下降，但当这座新城市的富人们开始在里面开布加迪威龙，拥有400平方的全天空调住所的时候，即便有再多的太阳能板在平衡他们的碳排放指标，我们能说他们是生态的吗？
因第2个问题，我们可以引出以下几个问题：
首先：
3. 必须是生态的生活方式（ECO LIFE style）？
生态的生活方式，可能需要依赖自然系统来解决部分基本生活需要（比如用生态堤岸进行灰水净化，尽量减少对空调的依赖，减少石化能源的使用等等）。但这些一原始生活方式的复兴，就真的能带来生态吗？比如空调的应用，很大程度上才实现了建筑的高度密集话，使大进深，密集化的建筑
其次：
4. 必须是宜居的吗？Livable =?= ecological
生态城市必定宜居吗？生态城市，或许需要人们去克制和牺牲，以求获得更高的生态效益，这是否是“以人为本”与“以自然为本”的冲突？而“以人为本”的宜居如何确立欲望的边界呢；“以自然为本”是否就和城市的存在本身就互相对立着；
再者：
5. 必须是市场驱动的（Market-driven）吗？
如果生态城市遵循了生态的生活方式，确保了宜居的环境，但却不能在市场经济条件下良好的运作，甚至在经济上不可维继，那势必走向衰落，或者出现所谓的“生态经济危机”；又或者，处于经济结构的底层（比如，平民窟，乡村，同样拥有某些宜居的，生态的生活方式），我们是否同样可以认可其为生态的? 如果说我们希望生态城市有生态的生活方式，宜居的环境，同时又要在市场经济上取得成功，无疑这将是更高的要求，而且，显然，这么完美的成功不可以复制；那如果退一步而言，我们可以更多地去认可不再发展的现有的较为生态的模式吗——古镇？乡村？贫民窟？
另外：
6. 零碳城市，负碳城市可能吗？（0 / - carbon footprint）
许多的新建生态城市都宣称零碳甚至负碳，
这涉及到对城市的认识，城市是某种集聚的产物，他的出现本身就是自然系统不平衡的结果，更强的集聚创造了更加高级的文明，正如宇宙般，各种维度的不均创造了时空的扭曲，天体的形成，以及整个系统的运作；换言之，城市本身就已经决定了其对城市之外的自然系统的索取和吸收？
回到我们的第1个问题，关于生态城市的评价：
7. 如果我们只能基于现有的生态评价体系（诸如碳排放），那么我们至少需要一个更合理的分母：
我们常将人均和年均作为我们的分母来确立比较指标，但这样至少是忽略了不同城市间城市化（尤指集中消耗资源的城市建设过程），在历史时期，持续时间等等方面的差异：一个经历两百年城市化的城市（比如利物浦），和一个在30年内新崛起的城市（比如深圳），达到同样的城市化水平，那么我们在比较这两者的指标时，或许应该将其整个城市化过程作为一个整体来比较，而不是用每年的指标，人均的指标。
这里面需要引入的观点是，城市化不是一个连续的过程，而是一个阶段性出现的过程，因此，在整个历史时期中，城市化的阶段应该是可以通过若干标志（keypoint）被定义出来的。这样我们的比较方式会成为：
以一个特定阶段的城市化过程为单位，这个城市的生态指标比较。
Bowen Ho / DCF
