Lessons for American Cities Hfa
One of the clearest conclusions is that, compared to many of the European initiatives profiled, there is simply not enough attention given in the United States to aggressively promoting ecological design and building. The northern Europeans especially have made major national commitments to advancing ecological building, often with substantial and creative financial underwriting and through other important forms of national and municipal leadership. The priority given by northern European...
Other Important Strategies
Understanding of the actual long-term results or accomplishments of ecological developments or urban ecological renewal remains limited, and is a potentially important area for future research. Substantial savings in energy and other environmental results are well documented. The broader social implications of settlement patterns are interesting, although less documented. Enhancing the environmental qualities of a neighborhood does appear to reinforce its social stability and create feelings of...
Supporting Sustainable Local Businesses
There are a number of impressive local efforts in Europe to promote pollution prevention and resource efficiency within private companies. One of the European cities that has done the most in this regard is Graz, Austria. Since 1991, it has operated an innovative program called ECOPROFIT Graz that is intended to educate local businesses and to help them to identify changes in production processes that could reduce waste and resource consumption, and in turn increase profitability. This is a...
Industrial Symbiosis and Ecoindustrial Parks
There are a number of emerging and promising examples in European cities of industrial symbiosis arrangements in which the wastes of one manufacturer or industry serve as productive inputs to one or more other companies. There exist many partial examples of symbioses in the world, but few full-fledged models. Kalundborg Denmark , discussed at length in Chapter 9, is the most widely studied and widely cited example of an industrial symbiosis in the world, and it represents a powerful and...
Connections between City and Hinterland
An important role played by the concepts of environmental space and ecological footprints is that they help to highlight the inherent interconnections between a city and its hinterland a hinterland that is both regional and global. Many cities are beginning to calculate and be committed to understanding their regional and global impacts. The Sustainable London Trust, for example, in their recent report Creating a Sustainable London, begins with the premise that London exerts tremendous resource...
Public Bikes Programs
The idea of public bicycles bicycles that might be picked up and used by anyone who needs one then deposited back where it was found when the user is done was born in Amsterdam in the 1960s. It was the brainchild of Luud Schimmelpennink, who had written a provocative magazine art i c l e p roposing that 25,000 free bikes be made available as part of a strategy for making Amsterdam car free. He dubbed them white bikes or witfietsen. Schimmelpennink and others simply painted some bikes white and...
Greenroofs Creating Meadows in the Sky
Gre e n roofs, or eco-roofs as they are sometimes called, have become i n c reasingly common in Europe, especially in Germany and the Netherlands, and provide many benefits over conventional roofs. Among their key advantages are the protection they provide from UV rays and the ability to extend the life of a roof, the ability to cool the urban enviro n-ment addressing the urban heat island effect , carbon dioxide sequestration, the control of stormwater ru n o ff, and the provision of...
Urban Wildlife and Habitat Conservation
The case cities also provide good examples of efforts to identify important areas of wildlife habitat in and around cities and to protect and enhance these areas. For many of the study cities, extensive biotope and habitat mapping and protection programs have been established. In London, many of the boroughs have prepared detailed habitat studies and plans. There has been a significant effort to protect important nature and habitat sites in the London area. Beginning in the 1980s, and with the...
Ecological Twinnings and Looking beyond the Citys Borders
One is also impressed with the number and variety of programs in these cities designed to assist or facilitate sustainability initiatives in other cities, often in developing countries. There is a pattern in the most progressive, ecominded cities studied here of recognizing an obligation to look beyond the narrow boundaries of one's own city and a duty to share technical advice and moral support to other communities around the globe. These programs can take many forms and are often quite...
Strategies for Compact Urban Development
Although compact urban form has been a priority for centuries, few countries have embraced the virtues of urban compactness in current planning as much as the Dutch. The Netherlands has implemented an explicit national compact cities policy since the mid-1980s. The vast majority of new development in the country occurs in designated development areas so-called VINEX sites, an abbreviation for Vierde Nota over de Ruimtelijke Ordening Extra, or the Fourth Memorandum on Town Planning Extra , which...
Figure Dutch national ecological network
The national ecological network for the Netherlands. Arrows represent ecological corridors to be developed those having dashed lines are concerning transbound-ary nature areas. Source M0ller, M.S. 1995. Nature Restoration in the European Union, Ministry of Environment and Energy, Denmark. Implementation of the Nature Policy Plan, and realization of the national ecological network, will req u i re a variety of public actions and projects, including acquisition of lands, agreements with farmers...
Carbon Dioxide Reduction Strategies
A distinctive environmental theme in the cities studied is the attention paid to global climate change and the development of local strategies to reduce carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases. Indeed, as mentioned in Chapter 1, there are several European initiatives that have encouraged cities to develop carbon dioxide reduction strategies. These include the ICLEI-sponsored Cities for Climate Protection and the German-based Climate Alliance see ICLEI, 1997 . Participation has been impressive, with...
Cultural and Other Influencing Factors
To be sure, there are important cultural differences and social norms that also help to explain more compact urban form in European cities. These cultural differences vary to some degree from country to country and certainly merit additional research and study. In the Netherlands, a strong egalitarian ethic works against the desire for large American-style single-family homes on large lots see Vossestein, 1998 . A stronger sense of environmental concern in Scandinavian countries undoubtedly...
Cities like Forests
Cities can be fundamentally greener and more natural. Indeed, in contrast to the historic opposition of things urban and things natural, cities are fundamentally embedded in a natural environment. They can, moreover, be reenvisioned to operate and function in natural ways they can be restorative, renourishing, and replenishing of nature, and in short like natural ecosystems cities like forests, like prairies, like wetlands. The urban greening and urban ecology initiatives in many European...
Confronting the Consumer EcoTeams and Green Codes
One of the most impressive and creative approaches to promoting consumer lifestyle changes is the idea of eco-teams, an idea advanced by the Global Action Plan GAP , which has had a strong presence in the Nether lands and other European countries. In many of the case study cities, there are large and active eco-team programs under way. The idea is basically a simple one, involving the formation of teams of households who together strive to understand and modify their environmental consumption...
Greenwalls and Green Streets
There are many other positive and creative examples in European cities of efforts to green existing and new buildings, including balcony gardens, greenwalls, nestboxes, and other habitat enhancements, as well as green-roofs. For a discussion of many of these examples and a review of the benefits and technical aspects, see Johnston and Newton, 1997 . European cities and towns offer many other examples of creative urban greening. Greenwalls are especially common in German cities, and increasing...
Lessons for American Cities Prospects for More Compact Urban Form
There is little question that future development patterns that are much more compact, contiguous to existing developed areas, and considerably denser than existing development would do much to make American communities more sustainable on a number of ecological and social criteria. But how applicable is the notion of a compact city to American communities, and to what extent are Americans interested or willing to live in more compact communities Demographic and economic trends toward...
Figure Canmore carfree housing estate design Edinburgh
A car-free housing estate being built in Edinburgh, Scotland. In addition to access to an on-site car-sharing company, the project incorporates a number of other ecological design features, including solar panels, greywater recycling, and rainwater collection. Front doors are oriented to the pedestrian street, which is described as a social meeting place without cars Rabobank, 1995 . The experiences of residents living there have been very positive the pedestrian street has provided a safe play...
Envisioning a Sustainable Factory
Another notable European example of sustainable business is the company Ecover, located in Oostmalle near Antwerpen, Belgium. The company produces a range of washing and cleaning products designed to minimize environmental impacts. Indeed, the company's philosophy is explicitly based on principles of sustainability. The company dates back to 1987 and has been steadily growing in size and market coverage. It is currently the market leader in the United States for ecological washing products, and...
Lessons for American Cities Msa
One of the key lessons of these European cities is the proactive role that local authorities can play in helping promote more environmentally restorative forms of commerce and business. As this chapter illustrates, there are a variety of opportunities for playing such a role, and American communities can and should consider a similar charge. While few American cities have been as engaged collaboratively with local companies as cities such as Graz, there are in fact American examples that...
The Tram City
Clearly one of the areas where Freiburg has excelled is in innovative transport and transportation planning. Understanding the city's efforts requires going back to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Like many innovations in Freiburg, the development of its policy and approach happened incrementally over a relatively long period. In 1972, the city's Parliament made an important decision to support and expand its street car-based system of public transit which had been around since the early 1900s...
Educating and Engaging the Public Local Agenda and CommunityBased Initiatives
The case cities examined in this book provide a wealth of examples of ways of involving, educating, and engaging the public in the mission of local sus-tainability. This can happen at several different levels and by several means. One of the most significant ways in which participation has occurred in the last several years, specifically around the issue of local sustainability, is through the emergence of local Agenda 21 LA21 efforts. Many local Agenda 21 programs have followed a similar...
Lessons for American Cities Jue
Urban environments can and must become more fundamentally green and natural. Cities ought to be, as discussed in Chapter 1, like forests enhancing, improving, and restoring the natural environment and condition of cities. These European cities and countries taken together provide a tremendous variety of creative and inspirational ideas for greening the urban landscape. These ideas range from strategic tree planting, ecological roofs, and the de-sealing of urban pavement, to the incorporation of...
Reimagining the Built Environment Organic Living Buildings and Urban Landscapes
European cities offer many positive examples of effo rts to incorporate g reen features and nature into the design of the built environment. One of the key notions behind rooftop gardens, green roofs, greening courtyards, and other urban green strategies is necessary compensation for the loss of greenspace brought about through urban buildings and development. In Europe, one of the early advocates of this kind of ecological compensation t h rough gre e n roofs and green buildings was Austrian...
UrbanVillage Living
Many examples can be cited of fantastically attractive and desirable neighborhoods where the density is quite high. European cities show convincingly that density by itself is not the undesirable quality believed by many in the United States. It is actually how this density is configured and designed, along with the package of urban design, green features, access to transit and other amenities, that will be more important. The notion of urban villages has become a mantra of sorts among American...
BicycleFriendly Cities
The cities studied here have achieved impressive rates of bicycle use. In Freiburg, bicycle use accounts for 28 percent of all trips an increase from 18 percent in 1976 , and in M nster 34 percent of trips made daily by residents occur on bicycles. In many cities in the Netherlands, it is not uncommon for the bicycle share of the modal split to approach 40 percent and even higher for shorter distances. In Groningen, a university city in the north of Holland, the percentage of trips by bicycle...
City Farms and Ecology Parks
Other creative examples of injecting nature into the city include the creation of ecology parks as in London and city farms municipal-owned farm s , often on the outskirts of cities, for educational functions see Goode, 1989 . Many of the cities studied own and operate working farms city farms that serve a variety of recreational, educational, and other benefits. In many ways, this is a distinctively European idea. The city of Goteburg, for example, owns sixty farms, encompassing some 2,700...
Lessons for American Cities Tnw
These European cities represent an important laboratory for a variety of ideas and strategies for taming the automobile. A number of the traffic-calming techniques pioneered in European cities, for example, have already been extensively applied in many American communities. This trend will likely continue. A number of Americans have strongly embraced the notion of the Dutch woonerf, or shared streets, and its Danish, German, and British counterparts. Liebman 1996, p. 72 argues for the concept...
ZeroEnergy Building and EnergyBalanced Homes
Europe has been a leader in the development of low-energy housing and in the integration of energy conservation and renewable energy sources into large-scale housing developments. There have been a number of interesting and innovative attempts in various study cities to develop the notion of an energy autonomous or energy self-sufficient house. These attempts have included, for example, the Jenni house in Switzerland and, more recently, the self-sufficient solar house in Freiburg, Germany,...
Environmental Vehicles
Another important area involves the operation of a city's motor fleet e.g., buses, cars, and garbage collection trucks . Many municipalities in this study have taken actions to make their motor fleets more sustainable by purchasing vehicles that are more energy efficient and low polluting and then operating them on renewable fuels. In this way, local governments are able both to reduce their direct environmental impacts and to positively support the development and economic profitability of...
Planning Livable Environments
The cities examined in this study present a variety of creative approaches to providing housing and positive living environments. Several themes have emerged. A key message is the viability and high quality of life that can result from relatively high density neighborhoods and development projects. A number of specific housing options are exemplified by these cases, including inner-city or city-center housing, in the form of housing in dense, highly walkable neighborhoods, typically above...
Ecological Regeneration
There are also examples of cities that have undertaken serious and substantial ecological restoration or regeneration work. The city of Leicester, for example, has taken extensive actions to restore the river corridor that runs through the city. Riverside Park, a 2,400-acre, 12-mile-long park, has been created out of what was largely derelict land in the early 1970s. Under the Leicester Ecology Strategy, and through partnerships with organizations such as British Waterways, the National Rivers...
Compact Growth Districts with a Green Emphasis
There are many examples of local efforts to design and build new housing areas that continue these patterns. Indeed, the major new growth areas in almost every city studied are situated in locations adjacent to existing developed areas and are generally designed at relatively high densities. Good examples of this can be seen in the new growth areas planned in Utrecht Leidsche Rijn , Freiburg Rieselfeld , Amsterdam Ijburg , Copenhagen 0restad , Helsinki Viikki , and Stockholm Hammarby Sjostad ....
Scandinavian Exemplars
Many exemplary Scandinavian projects and designs can also be cited. Indeed, for the major Scandinavian cities studied Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Helsinki the major new development areas in each are being planned and designed according to sustainability principles and in fact the three cities are beginning to work together, to share information, and to collaborate on proposals for funding certain aspects of the projects . These projects are Viikki in Helsinki, 0rebro in Copenhagen, and Hammarby...
Streets Urban Design and the Civic Realm
Especially impressive in these European cities is the attention paid to streetscapes and public space. In addition to pedestrian-only streets, there are numerous examples of street enhancement efforts. Many of these cities have taken a host of actions, including extensive tree-planting, increased places to sit, and public sculptures and other forms of art, to make streets and public spaces more desirable places to be. Understanding one's location and having a clear bearing and orientation when...
Encouraging Ecocycle Balancing The Role of Green Taxes
There is little question that many of the ecocycle balancing initiatives described here, and a greater emphasis on biomass and renewable energy sources are encouraged and fostered in part because of the existence of green taxes or environmental taxes, in European counties. A wide range of green taxes are used in Europe, and expansion of green taxes has been especially apparent in the northern European counties. A variety of such taxes exist, including those that impose charges on sulphur,...
Urban Villages and the Importance of CityCenters
Although there are certainly examples of communities where the city-center is declining in population and intensity of use, European cities on the whole and especially the case study communities described here have been able to maintain and strengthen the vitality of these centers. In no small part, this is a function of density and compactness, but it is also the result of numerous efforts to maintain and enhance the quality and attractiveness of the city-center. In most of the study cities,...
Ecological Urban Restructuring
One of the most interesting model projects for greening the urban environment, yet to be implemented, was prepared for the former East German city of Leipzig. An effo rt to demonstrate the concepts of ecological urban re s t ructuring, the model project was the brainchild of Ekhart Hahn and was funded through the European Union program LIFE. The p roject sought to green a major slice or cross section of the city specifically its eastern district Leipzig Ostraum . A central design element was to...
Many Examples of Ecological Building Projects The Dutch Leading the Way
Many specific examples can be cited that show the potential gain environmental and social from these building strategies. In the Netherlands, significant experimentation with sustainable development projects began in the early 1990s, partially funded by the Dutch government. Three projects are frequently cited as the important examples of the first wave of experimentation Ecolonia Alphen a d Rijn , Morra Park Drachten , and Eco-dus Delft . The author has visited and studied each of these early...
Sustainable Land Use Trends
The relatively high density and compact urban structure of European cities are critical features in determining their sustainability on other measures. These features make possible, or at least much easier, many of the other qualities that have been discussed above, including the high use of public transit, high walkability, vital and vibrant civic spaces, the use of extremely efficient district heating systems, and the protection of large systems of extremely accessible greenspaces. Despite...
Ecological Buildings and Institutional Structures
Examples of a number of larger institutional structures designed and built according to sustainability principles also exist in the case study communities. These include the Queens Building in Leicester , the ING-headquar-ters building in Amsterdam , and the SAS-headquarters building in Stockholm , among others. Examples of mixed residential office buildings designed around green principles can also be cited, including the green building in Temple Bar Dublin . Even major new city-center...
Desealing and Natural Drainage Strategies
Many European cities are working hard to minimize the presence of concrete and hard surfaces. Berlin has been implementing a program to deseal or remove concrete and paved surfaces throughout the city. Under its landscape plan, the city has spent DM 30 million over twelve years about US 16 million to remove pavement and plant vegetation. This has taken place on some 1,400 sites in the city. Saarbr cken has one of the most interesting programs for encouraging green development in the city,...
Land Use and Urban Form Planning Compact Cities
To even the most casual observers visiting Europe from the United States, there are clear and immediate differences between the basic land use patterns and spatial form of American and European cities. Historically, European cities have been fundamentally more compact, with a distinct separation between urban and rural. The cities are walkable, have good public transit, and are generally much less reliant on the automobile. For these reasons these cities are important sources of both practical...
Preservation and Adaptive Reuse
Much of the charm and attractiveness of the European cities studied is the palpable antiquity of the buildings, streets, and neighborhoods. A significant challenge for most of the cities examined is both how to protect and enhance these historic qualities, and how to balance preservation with the needs of a modern and sustainable city. A number of the case study cities offer compelling examples of preservation planning. For example, M nster, Germany, made a conscious choice to rebuild its...
ClosedLoop Economies Industrial Symbiosis in the City
Local economies can also contribute significantly to helping a city achieve a circular metabolism through industrial symbiosis, or the connecting of the wastes and inputs of different businesses and industries. Under such schemes, wastes of one industry become the productive inputs to another. The most notable example in the world of industrial symbosis is the industrial complex at Kalundborg, Denmark. Here, truly symbiotic relationships have been developed between a power plant the Asn s Power...
Housing over Shops
As discussed in Chapter 2, European cities, particularly those on the continent, are characterized by a substantial amount of city-center housing and a relatively high population of residents living there. In the central districts of cities such as Amsterdam, Bologna, and Copenhagen, relatively larg e amounts of urban housing can be found. This housing takes many forms, but one style that remains common is flats, or apartments, over shops. In some cities, especially in the United Kingdom and...
Ecological Networks National and Urban
Many European cities are attempting to bring nature into the city-center and to develop physical and ecological connections between built-up areas of the city and surrounding natural areas and greenspaces. Corridors and ecological connections can be found to various degrees in a number of these cities. Helsinki's central park, as one important green finger, pene trates well into the city-center, and Stockholm's Royal Ecopark former royal hunting grounds a 10-kilometer long greenbelt around and...
Emerging Solar Cities
Solar has gained considerable ground in Germany, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries and is now commonly incorporated into new construction and redevelopment projects. Several cities in the study are even beginning to describe themselves as solar cities, most notably Freiburg, Berlin, and Saarbr cken. Freiburg is promoting solar in several ways, including by incorporating solar technology in new public buildings and facilities and by subsidizing private solar buildings. For a...
The Value of Rural Agricultural and Undeveloped Lands
To be sure, one of the reasons compact urban form is considered necessary in many European countries is the value attached to rural and undeveloped lands. In contrast to attitudes and resulting regulatory systems about land use in the United States, which historically view farmland and undeveloped land as a temporary use, in Europe rural and agricultural lands are not seen as transient or residual activities but as important primary societal uses. To be sure, generous European Union...
The Special Feel of Trams
To fully appreciate the functioning and general utility of Freiburg's tram system requires riding around in it for several days. It is very easy to understand and to use. I encountered much evidence of how well the system works. On the last day of my visit, I saw a man in a motorized wheelchair, who was able to board and exit easily given the new lower cars without any assistance. With the car floor and station platform only a few inches apart, he was able to get on and off with little more...