Retrofitting Cities for Tomorrow's World

Abstract

Overview Today, a key challenge for policy and decision makers globally is how best to develop the knowledge and capacity to use resources more sustainably. Governments in the UK and across the world are therefore introducing increasingly challenging targets to reduce the impact we have on our environment, looking to issues such as the use of renewable energies, waste reduction and limits to carbon emissions. However, in what is an increasingly urbanised world, 'piecemeal' change cannot equip cities, as major foci of global population, to rise to the challenges of climate change. What is needed is a new approach, based on futures thinking, which embeds the ideas of ecological and social resilience into the very fabric of the built environment of cities. Set in this wider context, the ambition of 'retrofitting' existing cities has therefore gained increasing prominence within research and policy agendas in recent years as Sir David King notes in the foreword to this book (see also Dixon et al., 2014, and Hodson and Marvin, 2016). Whilst cities are seen as the source of many environmental and resource depletion problems, they are also recognised as centres of major population which offer not only huge potential opportunities in 'scaling up' technological responses to climate change, but also to act as 'hubs' of innovative social practice and learning. However, city level action requires a change in thinking, and rapid intensification of mitigation and adaptation responses, not only in response to climate change, but also to the allied threat of environmental degradation. What is required at city level therefore is a much more coordinated , planned and strategic approach so that cities can transition to a sustainable future over the next 30-40 years. The notion of urban or city-wide 'retrofitting' is anchored in the literal meaning of 'adding (a component or accessory) to something that did not have it when manufactured'

Reflections on disruptive energy innovation in urban retrofitting: Methodology, practice and policy

“…An important challenge is to be able to develop the knowledge, capacity and power for public bodies, businesses and other users in urban areas, particularly in the developed world, to systemically retrofit built environment and city infrastructure to respond to climate change, resource depletion and socio-environmental problems (Dixon et al, 2014a;Eames et al, 2017).…”

“…To implement the systematic change required, we need to consider cities as they exist today: as a complex mix of homes and businesses, and the product of many hundreds of years of evolution and growth. We also need to recognise that cities can become "locked" into patterns of resource use that can no longer be justified, and tried to find ways to change them, and to also respect their social, environmental and economic sustainability (Eames et al 2014a;Eames et al, 2017). This means having a primary focus on understanding 'disruptive innovations' at city level, and combining this understanding within an urban transition framework.…”

“…However, to respond to the challenges and complexities of urban retrofitting at scale means integrating the 'what' (for example, technical knowledge, targets, technology choices, costs) with the "how" of implementation (for example, institutional capacity, public engagement, and governance). Currently, there is still too much of a dichotomy between the "what" and "how" questions, which is characterised by fragmentation of disciplines; absence of suitable governance systems; and a failure in learning, and cross-transfer of that learning (May et al, 2010;Dixon et al, 2014a;Hodson and Marvin, 2016;Eames et al, 2017).…”

“…Urban retrofit transitions can be seen as complex, co-evolutionary, and characterised by nonlinear processes which draw upon a range of actors, and focus on different levels and dimensions over time, and this also draws form ideas and concepts anchored in systems, evolutionary and complexity theories (Geels et al 2008;Elzen et al, 2004: Kemp, et al, 2006Eames et al, 2017).…”

Becoming Urban: Exploring the Transformative Capacity for a Suburban-to-Urban Transition in Australia’s Low-Density Cities

“…GtG was initiated in 2009 as an urban transitions project-an area where there is a growing focus in planning studies [28][29][30][31][32] that reflect the magnitude of challenges now facing cities and the transformative responses required to achieve sustainable urban development. It combines the socio-technical urban transition theories of Grin et al [33] and Newton [1,13] with the transition management methods and sets of participatory processes articulated by Loorbach [34] by which a model for change involving niche innovation is identified, examined and implemented.…”