PLACE: KTH ROYAL COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY STOCKHOLM
DATE: THURSDAY 18th SEPTEMBER
Around the globe, more and more people are living in urban areas. Also, the world population is growing and the need for areas for cultivation of food and livestock becomes greater. Even though cities are often said to have a great potential in minimizing climate effect, urban activities today generate significant amounts of greenhouse gases from activities such as energy generation, vehicles, industry and the burning of fossil fuels and biomass in households. Cities are also vulnerable to climate change that can change weather conditions, give rise to air pollution, raised sea levels, floods and so forth. Thus, there is a need for cities to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.
How could then a future city like Stockholm plan and allow for a substantial increase in local production of goods and services? How will the land use be distributed? What challenges does that impose to urban planners in planning for sustainable urban areas? Which key goods and services would be necessary to sustain locally? How can an urban area be planned to be attractive for its residents in their leisure time (since high mobility will be very expensive)?
Stephen Hinton will be presenting based on his experience in setting up an eco-village and with his work in Transition Towns in Sweden.
Slides KTH_RAKET
Links
Donella Meadows explains the problems from a system point of view.
http://www.donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/
The site Thwink goes further in analysing why sustainability does not catch on
Stephen Hinton’s site on maths for sustainability with the “famous” horse cart and oats problem
http://maths4sustainability.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/the-horse-and-oat-carts-problem/
Learn more about the eco-village (in Swedish)
And the collection of eco.village articles
Stephen Hinton Consulting 