MOM version 1

Neville Mars, Jessica Noyes, Sai Bond Chong


PRELIMINARY OUTLINE

INDEX

0. Introduction

PERTINENCE AND PROBLEMATIC

SPEED AND SCALE VS DIVERSITY AND INTEGRATION

CHINA'S ECO-CONTRADICTIONS

UPDATED PREMISE

1. FUELING GROWTH

RENEWABLES AND THE SMART GRID

2. BROWN FIELDS AND BLACK RIVERS

TOWARDS ACCOUNTABILITY

CITIES AS CENTERS OF REMEDIATION

3. NO NEW CITIES, NO EXPANSION

BEYOND SPRAWL / UNLEARNING PLANNING PRINCIPLES

SEEDING SATELLITES

THE DISCOVERY OF DUPLICATION

Some Questions to be addressed in Seeding Cities Chapter
What is a “seeded city”? How do we define it? What is the difference between a seeded city and other cities?
What is the Chinese government’s policy for seeding cities?
How does MUD affect seeded cities?

Can seeded cities ever be “new” or distinct from other cities?
Need to include: Definitions for different types of sprawl

Appropriate conclusions:
There is no such thing as a new city?
It’s impossible to build an eco-city from scratch?
We need a new process/approach to eco-cities (evolutionary planning)

Also, I think it would be more logical to order this chapter:
SEEDING SATELLITES
THE DISCOVERY OF DUPLICATION
BEYOND SPRAWL / UNLEARNING PLANNING PRINCIPLES

4. EVOLUTIONARY PLANNING

DYNAMIC DENSITY

SIMULATING SLOWNESS

5. BRIDGING THE GAP - FROM POLICIES TO PEOPLE

MOM - CHINA REDEFINES THE ECOCITY

RETROFITTING REGULATIONS

0. Introduction

Thoughts on the fundamentals of planning:

There is no such thing as a perfect plan - all planning involves the making of mistakes

Planning as thinking ahead
Planning as story-telling: What is the future of China and the world going to look like?
Planning as a conversation between people and the built environment. However, you can only have a conversation that someone is ready to have. But:
– China’s commitment to eco-cities in the 12th Five year plan signals that China is ready to have this conversation. Moreover, the Chinese people’s dissatisfaction with the state of their environment can be used to propel this conversation into the future

PERTINENCE AND PROBLEMATIC

  • Issues of its eco-ambitions. why the shift from 400 cities to 100 eco-cities? ecocities: (context, definitions, failures)

• China’s Twelfth Five Year Plan which sets out a radical positioning of environmental and social responsibility alongside economic growth and has a strong focus on quality of life, creating a holistic platform for developing Eco-city practice including:
o commitments to develop strong high-density urban areas
o acknowledgement of need to contain “sprawl” to protect agricultural land
o an explicit target to reduce carbon and energy consumption intensity (per unit GDP) by 17% and 16% respectively
o an increase in China’s urbanization rate to 51.5% by 2015
o increasing forest cover to improve sequestration of carbon.
The Chinese government’s emphasis on eco-cities in the 12th FYP signals a strong commitment to sustainable cities in the future – And the world depends on it.
The institutional context of China (highly centralised government with great control over development) provides great opportunity for the decisive action that is required for the aspirations of
e.g. In the 11th Five Year Plan, covering the years 2006 to 2010, solar photovoltaic energy (along with wind power) was singled out for attention, and grew rapidly through local subsidies and low-interest loans from state banks. Targets were rapidly increased, with the industry anticipated to grow by 10 GW this coming year, and reaching 35 GW by 2015 – making it by far the world’s largest producer and ousting Germany this year as largest consumer as well. (?doesn’t need to be included but is a good example of how things get done)

However: There a distinct problems with the approach of the Chinese Government in the transition towards eco-cities
Seeding cities? Copy and paste planning? No TOD? The non-renewable-grid?
These issues are complicated by the speed and scale of current developments...

SPEED AND SCALE VS DIVERSITY AND INTEGRATION

CHINA'S ECO-CONTRADICTIONS

[by this do you mean the ecological impacts of economic development?]

UPDATED PREMISE

  • shift in conception from designing a new-town articially, instead a focussing on the processes ... time-based

[updated premise outlines the purpose of the manifesto - a critique of current approach to planning and urbanization in China and the argument for a shift to focus on processes? If so, the FUNDAMENTALS the book looks at are policy-based, strategic planning ideas? Is the main point about trying to shape or direct MUD?]

This book seeks to contribute to the conversation about what the future of China is going to look like and how we can get there.
The story we tell is about the process of planning (?) ... The process must change to get us to where we need to go
Each of these chapters is focused on different aspects of the eco-city, the definition of which becomes clearer as we progress...?

1. FUELING GROWTH

{zero carbon in computer, wouldn't be if it would include industry, which remains connected to state grid}

RENEWABLES AND THE SMART GRID

  • design processes in how china can be renewable by 2030, introduction of UHV power grid,
  • acknowledge 12% shortfall to be countered by increasing urban compactness / efficiencies

[transport issues?]

[current CCP policy involves the building of highways and encourages car use rather than more efficient public transport?]

look at:

China’s energy white paper (2012) strong commitment to renewables see: http://english.gov.cn/official/2012-10/24/content_2250497.htm
China's energy and carbon outlook to 2050: http://eaei.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/LBL_4472E_Energy_2050.April_.2011_1.pdf

2. BROWN FIELDS AND BLACK RIVERS

{ecocity on a brownfield is not sustainable for the inhabitants and doesn't help to remediate severely polluted context}
[China needs not only sustainable but regenerative/restorative development to undo existing degradation and conditions]

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/3/4175514/china-rivers-disappear-from-the-map-water-supply-crisis

TOWARDS ACCOUNTABILITY

  • introduce river pollution water-sheds

CITIES AS CENTERS OF REMEDIATION

  • design processes to remediate initial environmental damage, precedence study ,
  • introduction phased development and phytoremediation of Sino-Dutch City, LongGang

3. NO NEW CITIES, NO EXPANSION

{MUD FORMATIONS REVEAL AN ORGANIC NATURE UNDERMINING MANY PLANNING OBJECTIVES}

BEYOND SPRAWL - OR, PLANNING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE PLANNING

  • contradictions of sprawl or sprawl derivatives, reintroduce how MUD defies design

[important here is policy-sprawl - I think we must show that MUD is not random but relates to individuals responding to changed opportunities in their environment. In a lot of cases, those opportunites have been created by the government through specific policies]

SEEDING SATELLITES / CLOUD CITY / THE GREEN EDGE FORMULA

  • introduce the concept of seeding satellites, introduce design processes to accomodate growth (cloud city, green edge)

THE DISCOVERY OF DUPLICATION

  • HTDZ and how urban duplication came to be?
  • Perhaps this should be above the previous sub-topic, as it sets a contextual link to seeding satellites?
  • Q: CAN WE INDEED ACCOMMODATE ENOUGH GROWTH?

[what does the above question mean? Does it relate to housing the number of people that are moving to China's urban centres?]

4. EVOLUTIONARY PLANNING

The only way to regain control over our urban environment is by giving in to the city's organic tendencies.
{MARKET PRESSURE DEFINES SHORT-TERM INVESTMENT CYCLES AT ODDS WITH LONG-TERM SCOPE OF SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS}

DYNAMIC DENSITY AND OTHER CORE PRINCIPLES

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/06/secret-why-cities-are-centers-innovation/5819/
Urban characteristics attributable to density-driven tie formation
Authors: Wei Pan, Gourab Ghoshal, Coco Krumme, Manuel Cebrian, Alex Pentland
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1210.6070v3.pdf

SIMULATING SLOWNESS

  • Benefits/ precedents for a organically evolving city, designing processes to shift China's planning culture from duplication to one of adaptation. Introduce relay process for CFD.

5. BRIDGING THE GAP - FROM POLICIES TO PEOPLE

{SIMPLY SUPPLEMENTING TOP-DOWN WITH BOTTOM-UP PLANNING EFFORTS DOES NOT INCREASE IMPACT IF NOT RELATED TO EACH OTHER, OR AN INTERMEDIARY SCALE}

See farrelly and brown for refs

MANIFESTO UNTED MUMBAI (?)

  • examples of problematic collaboration in Mumbai, between Government/ NGO/ individuals.

COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE (?)

  • examples of problematic collaboration in China, between Municipality level?

MOM - CHINA REDEFINES THE ECOCITY

RETROFITTING REGULATIONS

{POLICIES CURRENTLY PREVENT THE MOST BASIC SUSTAINABLE PLANNING CONCEPTS FROM BEING IMPLEMENTED}

[Policy must (1) seek to provide a framework for eco-city developments and (2)be directed at shaping MUD in a sustainable way. In the same way that the CCP seeks to operate China as a socialist economy "with Chinese characteristics", the CCP must play a guiding role in shaping chinese cities as "eco-cities with Chinese characteristics"?]

  • redefinition something along the lines of how cities can integrate isues of production, consumption (food, energy, gdp, resources/pollutants) with proper acknowledgement of development and geographical location?
  • the move towards the ecocity cannot stem from the nostalgic idealism that seeks to return to some eco-garden of Eden before industrialisation took place (see Campbell, 1996); there can be no return to nature in that sense. The future is undoubtedly urban and industrialised. In order for people across the globe to live in an urban future that maintains any degree of ecological integrity (?) the ecocity must emerge in a form that it has not existed in before. This future will integrate transport; food; water; jobs; and, greenspace for urbanites to achieve the highest possible quality of life.
  • The Ecocity has the potential to (and must) solve many of the current problems within socioecological relations simultaneously: From Richard Register and Kirsten Miller email marked 08/07/2013
"Another key milestone we hope to meet at Ecocity 10 is a common understanding that the ecocity provides a structure for solving many problems at once. Energy and land conserving ecocities make room for agriculture, healthy stocks of natural capital and wild nature. They create the context whereby foot and bicycle access is made easy by design, while at the same time solving local and global pollution problems all the way up to the scale of climate change.

Probably the most desirable ripple effect from the above insights would be for ecocity development - both new city development and remodeling of existing cities over the coming decades - to be increasingly paired with natural sequestration of carbon into the soil by restoring and revitalizing grasslands, forests, peat lands, shallow seas and lakes"


Seeding Cities Outline:

CONTRADICTIONS

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INDEX

0.SEEDING OF A CITY(History of Cities)

CITY FORMS/ THEORIES THROUGH OUT HISTORY

New Town-Spatial Distribution models usually based on Economic, Militarization, Political Capital reasons.
Introduce early models of Social engineering (Roman Towns, Brazilia/ Chardigarh)

1.DISPERSAL OF SEEDS (Spatial Distribution Theories)

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION MODELS.

Three Major Characterizations (Slow-Growth, Rhizomic, Nodal (New Town))
Historical Graph of Urban Theories
Design Rules underpinning all theories

Validating Theories .

Disproving the Urban Extents through sattelite night-time imagery/Documented growth of urban-villages Shenzhen

M.U.D. Economically Influenced Self-Organizational Behavior

Underlying Organizational Behavior of Cities / Theories (Examples of Kaiserrot, Almere),

  • Urban Connections, Planning in-tandem with Economic Factors ( Examples of Einhoven)

3.SEEDS in context

CONTEXT IN CHINA

Economic/ political context of new-towns as forms of control, referencing BARC, MUD in Chinese Dream.
Social engineering for new-towns success/failure, proposing impossibility to implement a new town establishing imposing a new Economy/new town.

4.URBAN GRAVITY

Setting the context for the book.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

Which urban conditions ask for a deisgn framework with certain freedom than fixed design? Degrees of freedom defined, how can this result be evaluated and modified?

0.SEEDING OF A CITY (History of Cities)

Premise: Do urban spatial organizations tend to converge to particular forms? At initial glance, urban spatial organizations is usually categorized into three major forms of the sub-centres/NT/cluster model, although on further inspection this characterisation proves problematic as even then it is a matter of scale and perception in its development. From data, it can be argued that spatial organizations of cities defy conformity to characterization but rather urban gravity.

CITY FORMS/ THEORIES THROUGH OUT HISTORY (types of seed)

Various reasons for implementing a new-town, are separated into various categories, mainly for utopian ideals usually functioning as political capital, economic concerns, and/or for reasons regarding density in relation to transport efficiency.

  • Utopian Models New towns implemented with utopian ideals such as the Brasilia, interfere with the self-organizing properties of the city, furthermore Bertaud (2000) argues that these ideals undermine economic/social values that affect a quantifiable welfare value for its citizens.
  • Economic models; Transport oriented growth or finger model (Boelens, 2009 pp.228-230) examples of in Rotterdam (Boelens, 2009 pp.260-285); Transport efficiency (Bertaud, A, 2004. pp. 16-28)
  • Eco-political models; Models as forms of control. Early ideal models of a new city from roman planners, his towns were forms of have used new-towns as conduits in its imperial influence. According to Le Goff (Boelens, 2009 pp.237), the history of Rome typified as the history of a camp of a conquering army.
    • Most cities have been designed in top-down but lacked control to enable complete implementation of ideals. While many cities occur without any central planning, yet continue to function. Emerging from millions of relatively uncoordinated decisions which Adam Smith expressed as managed by an 'invisible hand’.

2.DISPERSAL OF SEEDS (Theoretical Aspects of Cities)

Illustrate different cities models/ theories/examples chronologically and ideas/ events have influenced them. Arguably possibly separated in 3 different growth models. (Slow growth model, Rhizomic Growth, Nodal Growth).
• *For theories characterization refer to theory-list
• *Although underlying all theories there are underlying rules within them. (Lehnerer, A 2009, pp.244-267) of the natural principles, man-made regulations, and 'grand projets'.
• **Similar forms of growth has been shown in generative logic (diffusion-limited aggregation DLA, cellular automata, with similar forms as (see cities and complexity), where generative design with seeds implanted at particular locations can show strikingly similar results to real-life situation (Stolk, E, & Brömmelstroet, M 2009 pp. 65). Although Batty states that this is simply a graphic way of impressing the notion of uncoordinated changes leads to highly ordered structures. In the sense, what is focus is not the graphical or prophetic connotation of generative logic but what it can bring through the idealization of a 'shifting vision'.
• **This agglomeration can also be seen through satellite night-time imagery as seen in a series research papers by Small, that argue that urban extents are able to be soon to a statically accurate measure and proposes urban nucleation that is similar to DLA growth.
There is argument in infrastructural determinism, where Bertaud argues (2004 pp.24-28)for growth in mono-centric transforming to polycentric models due to market forces, although many cities do exhibit this, polycentric centres as seen in de Hartog's (2010) study of Shanghai, Poly-centres gradually agglomerate and form attract and form Mono-centres. Instead of dictating a designated form the beginning, new theories have been implemented with interesting results
• *Compare time-based frame-work urban planning Almere (INTI 2010, pp. 29 -42) to Longgang district plan (Qi-Xi-Pi plans) through anticipating change (time based planning) and empowerment of people (integration of top-down and bottom-up change)

2.SEEDS in context (The Chinese Context)

Despite plans, there is an un-proportionate rate of growth in cities to population, for example in China.
• *Put forth by Salat (2006), where he states the formlessness of the Chinese city due to rapid expansion, where modernist planning has failed. Shown Satellite imagery by Bouet (in Salat, S. 2006 pp. 28-29) of Shanghai/ Beijing, similarly by de Hartog, expansion new towns/villages on the periphery with rate of expansion 4 - 15 times more of comparable population growth.
• *Rate of growth is understandable, as put forth by the World Bank (Saich, T, & Yusuf, S 2008 pp. 20 -30) cities who lag behind in foresight in this agglomeration for economies of scale , termed 'big push' in nation building similar to Manhattan ((Saich, T, & Yusuf, S 2008 pp. 20). Cities are argued that don't follow this path are usually hamstrung in infrastructural capacity and can lead to slums (although this could be biased, this is the World Bank after all). See Mumbai. "Big Push' possible only with pre-conditions of large amounts of financing, which have been described as strong due to fiscal system, and traditional savings view-point (Saich, T, & Yusuf, S 2008 pp. 135 - 155)
• *This is coincided by periphery urbanization due to cyclical migration. Migrant workers congregate in urban areas and send savings back to rural village, replicating conditions for urbanization and spill-over effects. This has been described as terms of doorstep urbanization* and brickification (Mars, N, & Hornsby, A 2008 pp. 17 - 36). Spatial analysis/ illustration of this phenomena, see (Hao, P. 2012)
• *Possible explanations of this counter-intuitive measure are under the disguises of increase municipality budgets/ benefits seen in (Ping Di Report)
• *From Iron rice bowl to the Steel Cafeteria Tray. Cities as form of geo-political control conduit for the CCCP, China has had a history of using cities as since the Ming-Tang dynasty (Parallels shown in how China historically, during the Ming/ Tang dynasty (Boelens, 2009 pp.230-235. This can also traced to the methodology of lifelong employment and welfare of Maoist-era socialism. With the rational in that benefits channelled and managed through state-controlled dan-wei ensuring political loyalty. The iron rice bowl became brittle during Deng's economic reform (1978-1990s), it is argued by Chen (in Al, S pp. 45-50), industrial towns as replacement of the traditional 'dan-wei'. Cities can be argued to be built as form of eco-political control.
• *When a new-town is successful, it is usually become an amalgamation of next city in a network, no longer defined as a new town. (*)

2.URBAN GRAVITY (All is sprawl or M.U.D.

Context into book

REFERENCES

  • Bertaud, A, 2004. The Spatial Organization of Cities: Deliberate Outcome or Unforeseen Consequence?. UC Berkeley: Institute of Urban and Regional Development. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/5vb4w9wb
  • Bertaud, A. (2000). The costs of utopia: Brasilia, Johannesburg and Moscow. European Network for Housing Research, Gävle, Sweden, 26-30.
  • Brearley, J, & Fang, Q 2010, Networks Cities / James Brearley And Fang Qun, n.p.: [Sl.] : China Architecture & Building Press
  • den Hartog, H. (Ed.). (2010). Shanghai New Towns: Searching for Community and Identity in a Sprawling Metropolis. 010 Publishers.
  • Boelens, L 2009, The Urban Connection : An Actor-Relational Approach To Urban Planning / Luuk Boelens, n.p.: Rotterdam : 010 Publishers
  • Hao, P. (2012) Spatial evolution of urban villages in Shenzhen. PhD thesis University of Twente; Summaries in Dutch and English. ITC Dissertation 205, ISBN: 978-90-6266-295-1.
  • Hulshof, M, & Roggeveen, D 2011, How The City Moved To Mr. Sun : China's New Megacities / Michiel Hulshof & Daan Roggeveen ; [Translation, Martin Mevius], n.p.: Amsterdam : SUN architecture Publishers, c2011.,
  • Lehnerer, A 2009, Grand Urban Rules / Alex Lehnerer, n.p.: Rotterdam : 010 Publishers
  • Mars, N, & Hornsby, A 2008, The Chinese Dream : A Society Under Construction / [Edited By] Neville Mars, Adrian Hornsby, n.p.: Rotterdam : 010,
  • Saich, T, & Yusuf, S 2008, China Urbanizes : [Electronic Resource] Consequences, Strategies, And Policies / [Edited By] Shahid Yusuf, Tony Saich, n.p.: Washington, D.C. : World Bank, c2008.
  • Salat, S. (2006). The Sustainable Design Handbook: China : High Environmental Quality Cities and Buildings: CSTB.
  • Stolk, E, & Brömmelstroet, M 2009, Model Town : Using Urban Simulation In New Town Planning / [Editors: Egbert Stolk And Marco Te Brömmelstroet ; Text Editing: Rachel Keeton ; Visual Essay: Gerard Hadders], n.p.: Amsterdam : SUN

(*) needs more research


Urban Theory Terminology List

Slow Growth/ Mono-centric

Organic city 4
Compact City
Mono-Centric-Cities
Volumetric City? 2
Tetra-City6

Rhizomic Growth/Mono-poly Hybrid

Axial-City
Corridor-City
Perimeter-City3
Finger-structure3
Radial City 4
Athens Charter/ Brasilia8
Helix City, Metabolist Movement, Kisho Kurokawa9

Nodal Growth/ Poly-centric

Garden Cities 1
Poly-centric City
New-Town
Satellite-Town
BroadAcre City?(dispersal with minimum density) 5
Pedestrian Pockets7

Reference List

  1. Howard, E., & Osborn, F. J. (1946). Garden cities of to-morrow / by Ebenezer Howard; London : Faber, 1946.
  2. Shelton, B., Karakiewicz, J., & Kvan, T. (2011). The making of Hong Kong : from vertical to volumetric / Barrie Shelton, Justyna Karakiewicz [and] Thomas Kvan. New York, NY : Routledge, 2011.
  3. http://cargocollective.com/mit/Perimeter-City (accessed 20130312)
  4. Eberstadt, R., & Mohring, B., & Petersen, R., in The Organic City: Method or Metaphor?/International New Town Institute; Amsterdam: INTI, 2010.
  5. Wright, Frank Lloyd. The Living City. New York, Horizon Press, 1958
  6. Marks, R. W., & Fuller, R. (1973). The Dymaxion world of Buckminster Fuller [by] Robert Marks and R. Buckminster Fuller. Garden City, N.Y., Anchor Books, 1973
  7. Calthorpe, Peter: The Pedestrian pocket, in Doug, Kelbaugh (ed.) Pedestrian Pocket Book, 1989
  8. Le, C. (1973). The Athens charter. With an introd. by Jean Giraudoux. Translated from the French by Anthony Eardley. With a new foreword by Josep Lluis Sert. New York, Grossman Publishers, 1973.
  9. 49 cities / WORKac. (2010). New York : Storefront for Art and Architecture, c2010.

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