TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization (Contemporary Urban Design Thinking) 3030619761, 9783030619763

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Contemporary Urban Design Thinking

Rob Roggema  Editor

TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization

Contemporary Urban Design Thinking Series Editor Rob Roggema Cittaideale, Office for Adaptive Research by Design Wageningen, The Netherlands

This series will investigate contemporary insights in urban design theory and practice. Urbanism has considerably changed and developed over the years and is about to undergo a transformation moving into a new era. In the 1990’s and early 2000’s economic driven urban design was prevalent in many countries around the world. Moving forward it is no longer feasible to continue to develop in the same way and new ideas for creating urbanism are urgently required. This series will publish titles dealing with innovative methods of urbanism including, sustainability driven urbanism, smart urbanism, population driven urbanism, and landscape based urban design. The series will include books by top researchers and leaders in the fields of urban design, city development and landscape urbanism. The books will contain the most recent insights into urbanism and will provide actual and timely reports filling a gap in the current literature. The series will appeal to urbanists, landscape architects, architects, policy makers, city/urban planners, urban designers/researchers, and to all of those interested in a wide-ranging overview of contemporary urban design innovations in the field. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15794

Rob Roggema Editor

TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization

Editor Rob Roggema Cittaideale, Office for Adaptive Research by Design Wageningen, The Netherlands

ISSN 2522-8404     ISSN 2522-8412 (electronic) Contemporary Urban Design Thinking ISBN 978-3-030-61976-3    ISBN 978-3-030-61977-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

How Nexus Can We Go? In a world that is increasingly suffering from threats, uncertainties and disruptions, the essentials of life become ever more important. Family, health, and a caring environment are amongst the highest priorities we can aim for. With social distancing driving family and social contacts further away, pandemics that are life threatening, and an environment that is further exploited, the danger is apparent. The fact that the Earth Overshoot Day occurred this year by the end of August, meaning as a global population we live in extra time for more than four months, using more resources than we have, the problem is clear, harsh but seems to be snowed under in daily discussion on social media, global leaders that are in the blame game more than caring for their citizens. This results in ongoing degradation of landscapes, ecology, water systems and natural environments, the sources of life for all humans. The sectoral focus of much academic research programs does not contribute to cross sectoral thinking, and this is necessary when it comes to living holistic lives. No one is happy with renewable energy when their water is polluted, and no-one is surviving in a smart city while sea levels rise to flood levels. Therefore, the nexus is crucial. Nexus is an interesting word as it assumes connectivity of different elements that are usually not linked. The FEW-nexus connects food, energy and water, which is a good start as the co-benefits of exchange and supporting mutual systems are necessary as well as efficient. But there is more that needs to be achieved. The nexus of FEW is not complete enough to create an impression of a trustworthy future, in which man and nature can live together in harmony and in which the natural environment provides the surroundings for healthy living. To achieve this, at least two elements need to be nexed. First of all, the role of ecology, nature-based solutions and (agro-)forestry is structurally neglected in discussions and planning for urban environments inclusive of their utility systems. Even stronger, without an eco-systems basis, urban systems are only parasites to their environment, carving out the resources they need for their (short-term) v

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existence. A fundamental rethought of the systems in which we operate is therefore needed; instead of extracting stuff from outside, we must return the favour and give resources back to our environment. This implies that we understand the ecological functioning of our environment and being modest about the role of humans. As if the building of any dike or coastal protection will in the end be stronger than the powers of nature. Secondly, social networks are reduced to a virtual exchange of dots and soundbites. Where has the affinity of people with others gone, with their beloved ones, the human and non-human beings that make up, in essence, everyone’s personal life? How do we integrate social dimensions in our technical nexus systems? If at all? Asking the question is suggesting an answer, as we are hardly recognizing that the way people interact has got something to do with the way our utility systems operate. We are still stuck in trying to grasp behavioural sciences and aiming to influence people’s willingness to change sustainably. Understanding the network, the interactions, the connectedness, and nodes and linkages of social networks could help us create self-organising systems of FEWE (food-energy-water-ecology)-nexuses, and we’ll see the FEWES-nexus emerging. The final addition to the FEW-nexus is design. Design is not (or is it?) science. It is not a complete rational exercise, nor is it magic. During design processes, the magic moment happens, that something that was not there before, suddenly appeared. This collective experience is binding the rational with the emotional, the conscious with the unconscious and the calculative with the imaginative. Design is integral, by definition, and it brings a novel view, a novel proposition and a novel solution to a complex problem that would never have emerged by analytics alone. Therefore, this book is full of design-led approaches to the urban FEW-nexus, connecting regions, biosystems, spatial scales and people. A design-led methodology is presented in which this magic moment is brought closer, and the chances of it happening is increased. The examples described in this book are diverse and illustrate the many different outcomes of such a magical process. Let’s nexus all the way! Wageningen, The Netherlands

Rob Roggema

Acknowledgments

The work presented in this publication has been made possible through project support from the Belmont Forum and JPI Europe’s Sustainable Urbanisation Global Initiative (SUGI) Food-Water-Energy Nexus program. In this publication, results are presented of the M-NEX project, a grant-funded project of the Collaborative Research Area Belmont Forum (No. 11314551) led by Wanglin Yan (Keio University) in a consortium of partners from Japan, including Keio University and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies; Qatar (Qatar University); the United States, led by Geoffrey Thün (University of Michigan); the Netherlands, led by Andy van den Dobbelsteen (Delft University of Technology); the United Kingdom, led by Greg Keeffe (Queens University Belfast); and Australia, led by Rob Roggema (Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen).

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Contents

Part I Framework 1 The Moveable Nexus, Transforming Thinking on Cities����������������������    3 Rob Roggema and Wanglin Yan 2 A Moveable Nexus: Framework for FEW-­Design and Planning��������    9 Rob Roggema, Wanglin Yan, and Greg Keeffe 3 M-NEX Methodology: A Design-Led Approach to the FEW-Nexus������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   39 Rob Roggema Part II Design for Food in M-Nex 4 Nature Driven Planning for the FEW-­Nexus in Western Sydney��������   59 Rob Roggema and Stewart Monti 5 The Flexible Scaffold: Design Praxis in the FEW-Nexus ��������������������   95 Greg Keeffe and Seán Cullen 6 Spatialised Method for Analysing the Impact of Food ������������������������  107 Seán Cullen and Greg Keeffe 7 Synergetic Planning and Designing with Urban FEW-Flows: Lessons from Rotterdam ������������������������������������������������������������������������  125 Nico Tillie and Rob Roggema 8 Le Fouture de Groningen; Towards Transformational Food-Positive Landscapes�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  145 Rob Roggema 9 Mapping the FEW-Nexus Across Cascading Scales: Contexts for Detroit from Region to City��������������������������������������������������������������  171 Geoffrey Thün, Tithi Sanyal, and Kathy Velikov

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10 Redesigning the Urban Food Life Through the Participatory Living Lab Platform: Practices in Suburban Areas of the Tokyo Metropolitan Region��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  209 Wanglin Yan and Shun Nakayama 11 The Regenerative City: Positive Opportunities of Coupling Urban Energy Transition with Added Values to People and Environment����  235 Andy van den Dobbelsteen 12 Pig Farming vs. Solar Farming: Exploring Novel Opportunities for the Energy Transition������������������������������������������������������������������������  253 Nick ten Caat, Nico Tillie, and Martin Tenpierik 13 Proposal for a Database of Food-Energy-­Water-Nexus Projects��������  281 Will Galloway, Kevin Logan, and Wanglin Yan 14 Linking Urban Food Systems and Environmental Sustainability for Resilience of Cities: The Case of Tokyo��������������������������������������������  313 Bijon Kumer Mitra, Ami Pareek, Tomoko Takeda, Ngoc Bao Pham, Nobue Amanuma, Wanglin Yan, and Rajib Shaw 15 TransFEWmotion: Designing Urban Metabolism as an M-NEX��������  327 Rob Roggema, Wanglin Yan, and Greg Keeffe Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  333

Contributors

Nobue  Amanuma  Nobue Amanuma is a sustainable development policy expert at Sustainability Governance Centre of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). Prior to IGES, she worked for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific where she supported the regional process of formulating, implementing, and reviewing the progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Pham Ngoc Bao  Dr Pham Ngoc Bao obtained his PhD degree from the University of Tokyo in Japan in the field of environmental engineering and management. He has more than 15 years of working experience in conducting, managing and leading international policy-oriented research and capacity building projects in Asia, especially related to water supply and sanitation, water-food-energy nexus, resource conservation and recycling, tackling marine plastics pollution. Dr Bao is currently working as a senior policy researcher/senior water and sanitation expert at IGES, leading a number of international projects funded by various international development partners and donor agencies. In addition, he is now serving as a member of the Secretariat of the Water Environment Partnership in Asia (WEPA) Programme funded by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan.

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Seán  Cullen  Dr Seán Cullen is a lecturer and research fellow in the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University Belfast. His research focuses on how architecture and design can tackle the challenges of climate change in a globalised, accelerated culture. He teaches architectural design in the undergraduate programme and runs a masters studio unit, Architettura Superleggera, with Professor Greg Keeffe. He is a co-founder of The Holding Project and Belfast Housing Lab, social enterprises formed to increase housing affordability and accessibility in Northern Ireland. Previously, he has worked for Burckhardt+PartnerAG and Sult Design on a range of commercial and public design projects. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers and previously a British Council Fellow at the Venice Biennale. Will Galloway  Will is trained both as an architect and urban planner and is interested in how to manage massive change in the built environment. He is a principal of the design firm frontoffice tokyo, an assistant professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, and lecturer at Keio University in Japan. After graduating with a Master of Architecture degree in Canada, Will practised professionally in Japan and in the UK before earning a PhD in urban planning from the University of Tokyo in 2008. Since then, he splits his time between professional practice and education. In both realms, the focus is on building resilience and uncovering opportunities for innovation through analysis of existing conditions. He recently co-edited a book on resilience, which includes a close look at the disaster in Japan, called Rethinking Resilience, Adaptation and Transformation in a Time of Change. His current focus is on how to scale design solutions, making use of economics, climate science and the normal mechanisms of architectural practice to have a significant impact on the myriad problems facing the planet today.

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Greg Keeffe  Greg Keeffe is an academic and urban designer with over 30 years’ experience in sustainability, energy use and its impact on the design of built form and urban space. He is professor of architecture + urbanism and head of the School of the Natural and Built Environment at Queens University, Belfast, UK, which is a large interdisciplinary school, concerned with investigating the complex problems of the Anthropocene. Previously, he held the Downing Chair of Sustainable Architecture at Leeds School of Architecture, UK.Greg has extensive experience of working closely with architects, engineers and planners to develop exciting ways of re-invigorating the city through the application of innovative sustainable technologies, informing his work on the sustainable city as synergistic superorganism. In this way, he has sought to develop a series of theoretical hypotheses about our future existence on the planet through a series of technological and spatial interventions. Most of his work comes out of a free-thinking open-ended discussion about how things could and should be. Kevin  Logan  Kevin is an urbanist and urban designer, and a director of Maccreanor Lavington Urban Studio, a design-led architecture and urbanism practice in London and Rotterdam. He is responsible for leading many of the office’s award winning large-scale urban and regeneration projects.Kevin has extensive experience in the production of urban strategies, policy, masterplans, urban regeneration and mixed-­use projects. His work is defined by a multifaceted approach to solution development, which considers the dynamic interaction and fluidity of urban conditions in cultural, social, political and economic contexts. He is highly skilled in strategic thinking and consensus building, which, combined with his rigorous process of information gathering and analysis, underpins his creative and robust approach to design.Kevin is actively engaged in teaching and research, with current activities focused on the creation of sustainable liveable cities in socio and economic terms, and urban resilience in light of resource pressures and climate change.

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Bijon  Kumer  Mitra  Dr Bijon Kumer Mitra is a senior water resource specialist at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) in Japan. He has more than 15 years of experience in the field of water resource management. His research interests include water-energy-food-climate nexus, climate change adaptation in water, water environment management and rural-urban linkage for collective resilience. He uses quantitative assessment framework to assess natural resource allocation trade-offs, aiming to provide guidance for optimal decisionmaking. He holds a PhD degree in science of biotic environment from Iwate University, Japan. Stewart Monti  Stewart Monti is trained as an architect and researcher and an environmental designer at Atelier Ten focused on masterplans and transdisciplinary projects. He has a varied history across design, construction and research in the built environment both locally and internationally. His expertise is in ecological urbanism and resilience.

Shun Nakayama  Shun Nakayama is a researcher at Keio Research Institute at SFC and a master’s student at Keio University. From 2019, his research has focused on urban food systems in the Tokyo region.

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Ami  Pareek  Ami Pareek obtained her master’s degree from Keio University, Japan, in the field of media and governance. She has more than 5 years of experience in the field of natural disaster prevention/ disaster risk reduction. She is a researcher at Social Design for Disaster Prevention Laboratory at Keio University (SFC). She is former intern of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) in Japan. She has a wide experience of assisting research in the Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre (UNESCO-IOC / IOTIC) Jakarta, Indonesia. She has also worked for more than 9 months as a research assistant at the National Institute for Civil Defense (INDECI Cusco) in Cusco, Peru. Rob  Roggema  Dr ir. Rob Roggema is landscape architect and professor of spatial transformations at NoorderRuimte, Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, the Netherlands, and distinguished visiting professor at Western Sydney University. Between 2010 and 2013, he resided in Melbourne as the inaugural visiting research fellow of the Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research, University of Melbourne, RMIT and Swinburne University. From 2014 to 2016, he was appointed as professor of design for urban agriculture at VHL University, and between 2016 and 2018 he was professor of sustainable urban environments at the University of Technology Sydney. Before 2010, he worked for the province of Groningen and municipalities such as Almere, Breda and Rotterdam. Rob is currently series editor of Contemporary Urban Design Thinking (Springer).

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Tithi Sanyal  Tithi Sanyal is a research associate at RVTR, a research-based practice at the University of Michigan. She received an MArch from Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a professional BArch from Balwant Sheth School of Architecture, Mumbai. At RVTR, Sanyal has been undertaking design research work on sponsored projects, examining the applications of complex systems theory to urban design, focused on increasing urban access and the food-energy-water nexus. Before moving to Michigan, Sanyal was a junior designer at Anukruti, a non-profit organisation developing community play spaces in the slums of Mumbai. Her design research work at the organisation and on community play design has culminated into an exhibition, Mumbai Lets Play: Children as Creator of Informal Playspaces, exhibited at Studio X Mumbai (a Columbia GSAPP initiative) and published in Plat 8.0: Simplicity. Rajib  Shaw  Rajib Shaw is a professor in the Graduate School of Media and Governance at Keio University, Japan. He is also the senior fellow of Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan, and the chairperson of SEEDS Asia and CWS Japan, two Japanese NGOs. He is co-founder of a Delhi-based social entrepreneur start-up Resilience Innovation Knowledge Academy (RIKA). His expertise includes disaster governance, community-based disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, urban risk management, and disaster and environmental education. Professor Shaw is the co-chair of the Asia Pacific Science Technology Academic Advisory Group (APSTAAG). He is also the CLA (Coordinating Lead Author) for Asia chapter of IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report. He is the editor-inchief of the Elsevier’s journal Progress in Disaster Science and series editor of a Springer book series on disaster risk reduction.

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Nick ten Caat  Nick ten Caat is a PhD candidate in the research chair of Climate Design and Sustainability in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at Delft University of Technology. During his MSc thesis research, he focused on synergetic energy systems between rooftop greenhouses and the surrounding built environment. He continued research on this topic during his PhD, where he expanded with the subject of CO2 emission accounting of the urban dweller, focusing on the addition of food consumption to the carbon inventory. Currently, he is responsible for the development of the FEWprint tool, a CO2 emission calculator and urban farming assessment tool for quick appraisal of design moves. Moreover, he is supervising MSc thesis students that explore innovative concepts of urban farming and carbon emission–free cities. Martin Tenpierik  Martin Tenpierik is an associate professor of building physics and services and head of the section Environmental & Climate Design, both in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at Delft University of Technology. Furthermore, he is a registered architect in the Netherlands. Over the past decades, his research has focussed on innovations in the field of climate responsive design, materials and building elements for energy positive and comfortable buildings. These innovations include the integration and development of systems and products with new materials like vacuum insulation, aerogels, phase change materials and liquids. Examples are his PhD research integrating VIPs in facades (“VIP ABC”), an adaptable Trombe wall based on phase change materials (“Double Face”) and 3D printed sound absorbers (‘ADAM’). He has (co-)authored more than 40 scientific journal papers and more than 30 conference papers. Moreover, he is supervising/has supervised 12 PhD candidates and around 55 MSc thesis students on the aforementioned topics.

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Geoffrey  Thün  Geoffrey Thün is professor of architecture and senior associate dean for research and creative practice at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan. He is a founding partner in the researchbased practice RVTR. He holds an MUD from the University of Toronto and a professional BArch and BES from the University of Waterloo. Thün's work ranges in scale from that of the regional territory and the city to responsive envelopes that mediate energy, atmosphere and social space. These operational scales are tied together through a complex systems approach to design questions. His work has been awarded, published and exhibited widely. He is a recipient of the Architectural League’s Young Architects Award and the Canadian Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture. Thün is co-author of Infra Eco Logi Urbanism (Park Books, 2015) and represented Canada at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. Nico Tillie  Dr ir. Nico Tillie holds a PhD in synergetic urban landscape planning from Delft University of Technology (TUDelft) where he is research fellow in urban ecology and a professor of landscape architecture. He leads the Urban Ecology & Ecocities graduation lab.In recent years, he worked on issues like low carbon cities, climate change, urban agriculture to biodiversity. He has master’s degrees from Wageningen University in landscape architecture as well as in plant taxonomy, which he finished in Kew Gardens. He worked over 14 years for the city of Rotterdam. He is in the scientific Board of NL Greenlabel and senior fellow of the Global Cities Institute at the University of Toronto. He has written numerous publications and lectured in over 30 countries and advised local and national governments, the World Bank, African Development Bank and UN bodies. He is conference chair of the 2021 Ecocities World Summit in Rotterdam.

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Takeda  Tomoko  Tomoko is a water and disaster risk reduction specialist at the Natural Resource and Ecosystem Services Area, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies. She has over 10 years of professional experience in water management and engineering as well as disaster risk reduction. Prior to IGES, Tomoko worked for the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) where she was supporting implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Andy  van den Dobbelsteen  Andy van den Dobbelsteen is full professor of climate design and sustainability in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft, and he is principal investigator with the AMS Institute. Among others, Andy chairs the scientific advisory board of NL Greenlabel and is advisory board member of the Dutch Green Building Council. Together with his team, Andy has led and conducted many national and international research projects. He is faculty advisor to the successful TU Delft Solar Decathlon teams and responsible for the EDx Zero-Energy Design online courses. Andy lectures and participates in workshops, nationally and internationally, and has written numerous publications. For his work in the field of sustainability, Andy became Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion. In 2019, he received the Academic Society Award from the Dutch Royal Institute of Engineers for the way he communicates scientific knowledge to society. Kathy  Velikov  Kathy Velikov is an architect and associate professor at the University of Michigan's Taubman College and the current president of ACADIA.  She is founding partner of the researchbased practice RVTR, which serves as a platform for exploration and experimentation in the intertwinements between architecture, the environment, technology and sociopolitics. Her work ranges from material prototypes that explore new possibilities for architectural skins that mediate matter, energy, information, space and atmosphere between bodies and environments to the investigation of urban

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infrastructures and territorial practices, working through the techniques of mapping and analysis, speculative design propositions, physical prototyping, exhibitions and writing. She is a recipient of the Architectural League’s Young Architects Award and the Canadian Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture. Kathy is co-author of Infra Eco Logi Urbanism (Park Books, 2015) and is currently working on a new book, Ambiguous Territory: Architecture, Landscape and the Postnatural (Actar, 2020). Wanglin  Yan  Wanglin Yan (PhD) is professor, Faculty of Environmental Information Studies, Keio University, and head of programme for Environmental Design and Governance, Graduate School of Media and Governance at the University. Prof Yan is a distinguished scholar in environmental and geo-informational science for urban and regional planning by multi-disciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. He has led the sub-regional node of Asia-Pacific Adaptation Network of UNEP and devoted to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Japan and northeast Asian countries. Currently, he is leading the consortium of M-NEX and studying cocreative design for community-based sustainable urbanisation.

Part I

Framework

Chapter 1

The Moveable Nexus, Transforming Thinking on Cities Rob Roggema and Wanglin Yan

Abstract  Thinking about the future city the way food-energy-water generation, distribution and supply is organised may well make a difference for urban dwellers’ quality of life. The urban context is unprecedented and cannot be predicted very well. When uncertainties increase the demand for simple responses seems to be the preferred way of treatment. This is however an implicit flaw because when the complexity of the problems is getting higher the responses can no longer be simple. Responding as if the city is stable while it is increasingly dynamic would only bring fake solutions that last for a short time. The opposite is the way forward: when problems are wicked, self-organising processes and responses that do not bring definite solutions are preferable as they can adjust themselves should the problem change along the way. For FEW-nexuses this implies that a moveable approach, in which the solutions are flexible, and benefit from all other components in the system, will decrease uncertainty, in particular on the longer term. In this context a design-led approach is extremely useful, as it is able to create something out of nothing that was before, presenting opportunities to be continuously adaptive. As a city, as a landscape and as a society. Keywords  M-NEX · FEW-Nexus · Design approach · Moveable nexus · Dynamic

R. Roggema (*) Cittaideale, Office for Adaptive Research by Design, Wageningen, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] W. Yan Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_1

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1.1  Introduction The food-energy-water nexus (FEW-Nexus) is a crucial interconnected system that holds the key to a successful urban transformation and potential improvement of the urban liveability. The study of urban flows is often limited to a single flow, is quantitative or technically tagged and does not really aim for a direct improvement of the spatial quality of the urban environment. The urban environment is changing all the time and, under influence of climate change, pandemics, migration, move towards the city and many more mechanisms, seems to be transforming at ever faster paces. The way these processes are approached is often by reducing them to simple problems for which a straightforward solution is possible. This is a misconception. For static problems a simple solution suffices, is even needed to let society function properly. But at the same time when problems are unstructured, or wicked, a simple solution often proves to be making problems worse. When the sea level was, within margins, a stable phenomenon, the response to building dikes as a protective structure made sense. Nowadays, due to the wickedness of climate change, the future levels of the sea are uncertain, and can be surprisingly high, even accelerate at a pace traditional responses no longer can keep the pace of change: adaptation in well-known ways, i.e. by raising dikes, turns out to be risky. The sea can surprise us by rising faster and breaking the highest projections for dike levels. In this case a dynamic approach to dealing with change is needed. Looking at the coast as a self-­ organising system regulating its coastal protection by itself could give us insights how to encourage coastal land-forming processes, in order to establish a safer and more protected coastland. Recent projects such as the Sand Engine, and the Marker Wadden have proven this approach can be very fruitful and rich. Learning from this, the way cities are presently supplied with food, energy and water, could imply a risky future as well. Linear systems supplying basic needs to urban dwellers could impact the environment negatively or even come to a standstill. Again, pandemics have proven the current urban systems are vulnerable, and require a multiplicity approach in order to be ready for uncertainty, ready to jump ship whenever needed. Seeing the FEW-nexus as a stationary system which will remain the same in the future will almost certainly create problems. Therefore, the FEW-nexus should be seen as a moveable nexus, which is capable of transforming its parts, its shape and its capabilities. In several ways and meanings, the nexus is to become moveable. Fixed features of coal-based energy supply, a monopolised global food chain or the sourcing of the best water for secondary applications and turning it into unusable waste is no longer the way to sustain the earth, the environment and our economic wellbeing. The costs of degrading the natural qualities and the capacity to regenerate are getting higher and higher hence an alternative for this depletoratory treatments we as humans still undertake is needed. In this book the moveable nexus will be presented as a way of thinking that brings this alternative within reach, with examples from around the world, in different contexts and at different scales. As a moveable philosophy befits, all perspectives can be used elsewhere and the knowledge is meant to move around.

1  The Moveable Nexus, Transforming Thinking on Cities

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1.2  Moveable Geographies Not every region in the world has the same characteristics. Every bioregion has a different climate, landscape, natural resources, culture and economic and social system. By moving around six bioregions, the Great Lakes, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Qatar, Tokyo and Sydney, food, energy and water systems have been investigated in those typical environments. The findings, when combined with each other, create a wide range of applications that illustrate the richness and different solutions possible. The specificity of every geography allowed to generate a unique perspective on the FEW-nexus, but together they create an integrated image of the potential interconnections and synergies of the F the E and the W, a true nexus.

1.3  Moveable People Expertise of different people with different backgrounds should be able to move around in order to mutually cross-fertilise hence creating new knowledge. The expertise in the Moveable-nexus consists of designers of several sorts, environmentalists, geographers, technical experts in the fields of energy, food and water, urban flow experts and people that are able to bring knowledge together and integrate it. In living-labs local stakeholders and citizens are involved in the design-led process contributing their knowledge, but also generating new insights. The fact that people from different bioregions and cities exchange their insights makes it fruitful and is enriching everyone’s own results in their own contexts. The moving of people’s brains from their own context in, at least five other urban environments and cultures has the effect on the local projects in each city: bringing the perspective from other cities to one other is generating wonder at both sides. The host is challenged by the questions that point at taken for granted policies or habits, and the learnings from each individual city are brought back to one’s home city.

1.4  Moveable Thinking The thinking about urban flows is moving. It emerges during the process and the increase of the complexity in the problems, tasks and type of solutions makes it indispensable to not constantly adjust thinking. The minds of participants need to be flexible, because new information is permanently being generated and added. This makes the spectre of potential viewpoints rapidly growing during each of the design workshops. In every design workshop in one of the cities, the design task is challenged, the (climatic) context is causing profound questions for long-term adjustments and the local infrastructure may seem stable and for ever lasting but obviously this is also being questioned. Moreover, the involvement of local participants is

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bringing the need to think beyond the academic discourse and step into the daily reality of the urban environment at stake. The enforced adaptivity of mind causes unrest at the same time it allows people to step up in their capacities to think differently. As a result, this gives everyone new power to find innovative solutions for local challenges.

1.5  Moveable Flows It is obvious though by far not reality that the flows of food, energy and water interact. The flows move naturally but should these be seen as singular movements from A to B only they continue to be ‘treated’ as the way it is organised currently. In some twinned cases the exchange and intertwining of flows is common sense, such as generating energy out of the effluent of sewage plants, but a stronger linkage between all three or, if one would include the waste flow in the equation, four flows would increase the opportunities to become circular or even reciprocal. In this way, a moveable nexus implies that no single rest product in any of the separate flows is waste but is always a resource in one or more of the other compartments of the nexus. Following network theory, the more connections and moves are made possible the stronger the network becomes, and the more interactions take place. Therefore, more opportunities arise to profit from one of the other available substances.

1.6  Moveable Knowledge During the Moveable-nexus project a range of exchanges took place and in every participating city local research is undertaken. The constellation of teams, cities, problems and creative solutions leads to a surge of new knowledge, which will move around in the form of contributions to local initiatives, the broader academic community, at conferences and in written outputs, but maybe the more significant as an ongoing thought process that is continuing moving ahead. The principal objective of the project itself is to make the new knowledge applicable in other places and because the leading cities are located in different bioregions, they together cover a broad spectre of situations and contextual problems. The summing up of ideas, solutions, ways to collaborate and design is showing the possibilities to establish integrated FEW-nexuses at different scales and in different places, using a similar approach, and establishing the starting points of further collaborative work. In this sense the moveable-nexus project is igniting new initiatives in the p0articpating cities, but also in many other places around the world.

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1.7  Moveable Inventions The unique feature of M-NEX is the movability of its inventions. The fact it is a design-led project makes sure that for every new situation a generative process is undertaken. Design is magic, as it is creating something that was not there before. It is a creative mindset, that leads to unforeseen ideas, solutions and experiments. It is important to stress that making mistakes is an essential part of these processes, because without exploring the unexplored no new conceptions are possible. The fact we are living in a time where many established convictions ramble and are at the brink of needing replacement makes the movability of inventions more necessary than ever before. The creativity happens only when people are together, confronted with a near to impossible to solve problem, positioned in a situation they can deliberate freely and feel no constraints other than a brilliant outcome. This process is entangled with a learning attitude that is principally collaborative, for people to learn from each other instead of learning from the master. Where everyone’s contribution is valued, and everyone is equal. No idea is wrong, strange or unusual. Stronger the most unusual ideas could well be the best contributions to generating something which was not there before: designing.

1.8  Moveable Platform The moveable nexus is considered as an innovative methodological package for FEW-management and utilization that makes use of the spatial, temporal and service linkages of natural and social resources. The package of knowledge techniques including design method, evaluation tools and participatory programs developed through a series of practices in six cities offers an indication as how to practice nexus thinking in a way that will lead to its integration with urban planning, architectural design and environmental policy. Ultimately, it is a communication platform that can be moved to a design site with the support of scientific data and knowledge.

1.9  Conclusion In disturbing times and circumstances a response that promises an easy simple solution to problems is a fake presentation of things. There is no easy size fits all to a developing world which is unstructured, unclear and at the maximum can be described as a fuzzy future. Treating food, energy and water systems as if these or disconnected systems, that can be optimally treated to serve urban dwellers is a misconception and a missed opportunity to benefit from underestimated qualities, and substances within the interlinked flow systems. Therefore, the mindset should

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lie on creating moveable imaginations. Establish a context in which information, data, creativity, encounters and planning processes become moveable, unfixed and are open to interpret as new sources both in the sense of new identities as well as unexpected resources derived from flows that used to end up as waste. The designerly way of thinking allows for bringing together the technical and quantitative approach, with the creativity needed for finding new solutions to complex problems and open the way for the general public to understand, see and discuss the future in a tangible way. What should be prevented from happening? The major pitfall in designing the future of FEW in urban contexts is that one of the components of urban development is taking a dominant position. Hard facts in particular have the urge to prove what is the best outcome. The interplay between soft skills, imagination, contemplation and real collaboration however should be as important. In the moveable nexus the balance between design the future and creating the unknown, sharing and creating new insight while collaborating and engaging and assessing the results is carefully negotiated. However, it requires a continu awareness not to be drawn in the detail of the performance. Therefore, it is crucial to guide assessments towards direct usability in the design work. Not as a judgement ex-post but as a contribution while the design process is ongoing. Design is attractive, a moveable nexus even so.

Chapter 2

A Moveable Nexus: Framework for FEW-­ Design and Planning Rob Roggema, Wanglin Yan, and Greg Keeffe

Abstract  The current state of supplying food, energy and water to urban dwellers is often top-down organised and approached in a sectoral way. This means people in cities have lost connection to what and how they get their resources supplied. The implementation of food, energy and water systems is a siloed exercise and systems operate apart from each other. The solutions are found at an ever-increasing technological complexity and scale and are not easy to understand for consumers. This makes it hardly possible for them to decide on interventions, change the supply if they would want to or take integrated action on more than one of the pillars by themselves. Finally, the approach is laced with jargon, paperwork and technical drawings, but little inspiration or design-oriented practices. This has led to an unsustainable situation of resource depletion, pollution and the passing on of problems to other places or generations. The Moveable Nexus is introduced as a way to integrate the flows of food, energy and water in a design-led way in order to overcome these systemic misfits and to develop resilient systems that are agile enough to deal with future change and uncertainty. By connecting engagement and evaluation directly to the design steps the Moveable Nexus solves problems at the lowest scale possible, supported by urban dwellers and in an inspirational way. The Nexus is moveable in the sense it allows flows to merge, scales to connect, the process to be collated and knowledge to flow freely. Keywords  M-NEX · FEW-Nexus · Design-led · Urban metabolism · Engagement · Appraisal

R. Roggema (*) Cittaideale, Office for Adaptive Research by Design, Wageningen, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] W. Yan Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan G. Keeffe School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_2

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2.1  Introduction In the current era the global population is urban, and cities are the main entities of social organisation (Nature 2010). Currently, over 55% of the population in the world lives in cities, reaching an expected 68% in 2050 (UN 2018). The pressure on resource and land use resulting from this way of living is rising at an even steeper curve, and as a result may cross critical capacity thresholds, such as for the availability of food, energy and water (FEW) at all scales (Hoff 2011) and leads to fear of exceeding planetary boundaries (Steffen et al. 2015). Specifically, in developing countries safeguarding and sheltering an adequate amount and quality of food, energy and water from environmental pollution and ecological system degradation is seen as a large threat and big challenge (Abdul et al. 2017; NDRC 2008; Siddiqi and Anadon 2011). FEW-issues, on the other hand, are not a day-to-day concern in developed countries as the social infrastructure is generally well-developed and maintenance of the urban environment is up to standard. The FEW-supply is seen as a utility that comes with living in the city and citizens generally are not as much interested except when it comes to the costs of these provisions. However, it becomes increasingly more challenging for the urban utility providers, as well as governments to provide stable, sustainable and prevalent services (Romero-lankao et al. 2017), booth in regular times as preparing for disastrous circumstances or fall-­ outs. This poses a risk to the sustainability of a safe and secure FEW-supply in cities, which in developed countries (IRENA 2015; White et al. 2015) only intensifies through impacts of climate change, an ageing population and the quality of infrastructure being under pressure (IPCC 2014; Moss et al. 2010). The prevailing model of urban sustainability is very narrow (Powell 2016), as planners and designers often work on a part of sustainability, motivated by their individual professional skills and driven by specific techniques such as a smart energy system, the Edible City (Bohn and Viljoen 2011) or the design of green paths and rooftop gardens (Engelhard 2010). Similarly, policymakers usually address single issues in a single administrative division even though social, economic and ecological factors are in fact intertwined at all scales (Powell 2016) and cross-­ sectoral. This implies that the awareness of the existence of a nexus at intersections of coupled FEW sectors is often weak. In real life, food, energy and water sectors are highly intertwined, even parametrically related and there are substantial trade-­ offs and synergistic effects (Haase et al. 2014; Vogt et al., 2010). These intrinsic connections between these sectors is referred to as the FEW-Nexus. Because food, energy and water systems are indispensably connected in social and ecological systems, approaching the matter as a nexus could improve sustainability. Nexus approaches simultaneously examine interactions among multiple sectors and uncover synergies and detect trade-offs among sectors. If well implemented, nexus approaches have the potential to reduce negative surprises and promote integrated

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planning, management and governance. Moreover, as a result, interlinking sectors in nexuses may contribute to dismantling the current status quo of singular problem solving while urban issues are complex (Liu et al. 2018). Initially, in academic literature nexuses were established for two sectors maximum such as for food and energy (Sachs 1980, 1988) or water and food (and trade) (McCalla 1997) or appraising water as a virtual entity (Allan 2003a; Merrett 2003). The essence of FEW-Nexus is about doing more with less by improving the efficiency of investment in resources and land-use (Hoff 2011; Kurian and Ardakanian 2015; Martínez-Martínez and Calvo 2010). This way the human footprint on planetary boundaries could be diminished (Kurian and Ardakanian 2015). However, ‘the application and implementation of a nexus approach is (still) in its infancy’ (Liu et  al. 2018). This is particularly true in urban contexts while the majority of the research focuses on how FEW resources can be secured in response to a growing global demand, entirely putting the supply at its core of thinking. Few studies delve deeply into urban space and design solutions or take the perspective of end users and consumers as the point of departure. When aiming for increasing the sustainability by means of an adjusted FEW-Nexus a strategically underpinned understanding of the urban nexus is required. FEW-systems in cities are not only an issue of resources and stocks and flows, but also of adapted land use, striving for resilience and the quality of life of the urban population (Urban Nexus 2013a, b, c). The Sustainable development Goals (Cabinet 2018; Liu et al. 2018; UN n.d.) reflect this way of integrative thinking in multiple and multidisciplinary ways, enhancing the thematic FEW objectives by formulating cross-sectoral ambitions (Table 2.1). In this sense the FEW-Nexus becomes central to realising the SDG’s (Fig. 2.1). In the context of complex urban systems and a multitude of related problems, the FEW-Nexus can be characterised as a wicked problem (Rittel and Webber 1973). However, this is often not reflected in the way governments and utility companies treat problems, as they generally see each sector as an independent entity (Bettencourt and West 2010) instead of comprehensively looking at food, energy and water as one interdependent whole. As each of the individual sectors treat their own problems by themselves, it is rare the systems are dealt with in a broad and integrated way. A design-led perspective on this could break the deadlock as it, by its very nature, offers a trans-disciplinary approach to problem solving. The features of a design-led process, such as imagination, intuition, logic and systemic reasoning are able to explore a multitude of innovative solutions to problems (Kimbell 2011). A designer is perfectly positioned to integrate knowledge in a tangible way by bringing together theory and practice and developing novel solutions for emerging purposes (Buchanan 2010). This allows him/her also to include opinions and needs of a diverse range of stakeholders. Designing is surrounded by the mystical connotation of a romantic, personal and creative process, but increasingly design propositions becoming a culmination of shared knowledge aiming for consensus on a specific issue (Kimbell 2012) hence are placed in the heart of societal debate. As a result, design is particularly appropriate to address wicked problems. As far as the FEW-Nexus is concerned no established design methodology is applied in practice. The reasons FEW-Nexus is not a common denominator in urban planning and

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Table 2.1  Relevant FEW objectives connected to the SDG’s SDG

Relevant goals End hunger, ensure access to food Double agricultural production Ensure sustainable food production systems & resilient agricultural practices to maintain ecosystem, adapt to climate change and improve land and soil quality Maintain genetic diversity of seeds Increase investment in rural infrastructure, research, technology and gene banks Access to safe and affordable drinking water Access to sanitation and hygiene Halve proportion of untreated wastewater, increase recycling and safe reuse Increase water efficiency Integrated water resource management Protect and restore water-related ecosystems Support and strenghten participation of local communities Access to energy Increase renwable energy Double rate of improvement in energy efficiency International cooperation for clean energy research and technology Expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for renewable energy supply Develop reliable, sustainable, resilient infrastructure Inclusive, sustainable industrialisation Upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable: Increase resource use efficiency, clean tech Enhance scientific research Access to adequate, safe and affordable housing Access to safe, affordable, sustainable transport Enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanisation, capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning Safe cultural heritage Reduce deaths caused by disasters Improve air quality and waste management Access to safe, inclusive green and public space Strenghtening national and regional development planning Adopt plans for inclusion resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation resilience, holistic disaster risk management Efficient use of resources Halve global food waste retail and consumer, reduce food loss during production and supply chain, including post harvest Reduce release of chemicalsreduce waste generation: Prevent, reduce, recycle, reuse Sustainable tourism Rationalise inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies (taxation, remove harmful subsidies Strenghten resilience and adaptive capacity Integrate climate change measures in national policies, strategies and planning Raising capacity for effictive climate change related planning and managment (continued)

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Table 2.1 (continued) SDG

Relevant goals Prevent marine pollution Protect marine and coastal ecosystems Minimise acidification Regulate harvesting and end overfishing, restore fish stocks Conserve at least 10% of coastal and marine areas Eleminate adverse subsidies Ensure conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems Promote implementation sustainable managment systems Combat desertification, restore degraded land Conserve mpuntain ecosystems Reduce degradation of natural habitats End poaching and trafficking of protected species Prevent invasive alien species Integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values in national and local planning Increase financial resources Sustainable forest management

design are the intrinsic complexity of the problems related to FEW-systems, the uncertainty of outcomes and communication difficulties between scientific, theoretical research and practice-based design. In response to the question ‘to move stakeholders to action through dialogue from a sector oriented technocratic approach to one that recognizes more diverse viewpoints and rationalities’ (SUGI 2016), the Moveable Nexus is supportive to designers and practitioners how to use, structure and apply procedures, knowledge and techniques in design practices with regards to FEW. This moveable platform operates as an emergent knowledge base, accumulating methodologies and technologies across cities and countries to make them available to practice. M-NEX mobilises natural and social resources in urban spaces with integrated tangible and tactile technological knowledge to uncover and carry out FEW-innovations.

2.2  Object of Study: The City While most of the food, energy and water is consumed in urban environments, these resources are often supplied from outside urban agglomerations. In the built environment a broad spectrum of aspects of the FEW-systems are relatively well-known and understood, in particular energy supply and water provision. More recently, the growth of food in urban contexts is gaining ground. However, upscaling food production in a more commercial manner is still challenging due to its feasibility. The limitations are such that only few types of food are currently put in practice and there is a lack of space for substantial growth of food within cities. Linking the

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Fig. 2.1  FEW at the heart of the SDGs. (Source: Liu et al. 2018)

generation of energy and water supply could open up enhanced opportunities to improve the amount and quality of food produced. Adding the social component of community cohesion regarding joint urban agriculture initiatives, this might lead to a larger uptake of these potential practices. Socio-economic pressure as result of rapid population growth and accelerated climate change might, though not the most positive driver, generate the effective incentives to trigger change at scale. Given the subject, the lack of regional or large-scale systems approaches is remarkable. A holistic, integrative perspective on the FEW-Nexus could well serve as the connective platform between smaller and sectoral initiatives at the local urban scale. Working from both directions, upward from small community driven initiatives and downward from an integrated FEW-perspective could synergise the benefits from both sides. The city, no matter at which scale it specifically is defined would therefore be the playing field for design the spatial propositions, evaluating their performance and offering the community the change to get involved from the start.

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2.2.1  Urban Challenges Cities are characterised as places where population is concentrated and the surrounding lands, which were used before for food, energy and water provision, is converted into industrial activity. The rationale behind modern cities is economic efficiency rather than the quality of life. Producing food and providing the energy and water to sustain these places continue to be of importance but became dispersed and decentralised. On the one hand side citizens enjoy greater convenience in their daily life, but they increasingly consume farther away from the sources of food, energy and water (Loftus 2009). This caused a reversed exergetic gap in metabolism of the city: the use of resources city exhausts the surroundings rather than replenish their stockpile (McClintock 2010; Sanyé-Mengual et al. 2016; Tornaghi 2014). This process of slow depletion uncovers the limits to ongoing development and economic growth. This results in an increased environmental pressure and growth of climate induced disasters. The sustainability of the conventional system can be seriously questioned and requires rethinking its basic concepts. To become really sustainable, the current way of urban development must step away from the path dependency many changes, transformations and processes in urban life are attached to (Bai 2018; Romero-lankao et al. 2017). Firstly, cities are an overly consumer of resources, a glutton. Around 50% of the global urban population consumes two-thirds of the total energy used and is responsible for more than 70% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions (Nature 2010). Buildings and industry in cities use between 37% and 86% of the energy and fuel used in US urban areas count for 37–77% (Parshall et al. 2010). Additionally, cities are a major driving force of global warming hence have a major task (World Bank 2018) in cutting global CO2 emissions by 50% in 2030, and 80% in 2050 to limit global average temperature rising to 2 °C or less by the end of this century (Rogelj et al. 2016) which recently is set at a more ambitious level of 1.5 °C (IPCC 2018). On the other hand, cities offer also the best opportunities to improve economic efficiency through transformative actions because of high concentration of production and consumption patterns found in cities. Secondly, cities are vulnerable. They were established as a modernistic comprehension of urban life, separated from rural life. As a result, urban planning distinctly separated local agriculture as obsolete (Barthel and Isendahl 2013). In zoning plans for urban areas farmland and farming activities were excluded and this encouraged landowners to convert their lands to industrial, commercial or residential use (Yokohari and Amati 2005). Consequently, food, energy and water need to be transported from far, leading to an increase of food miles (Tanaka 2003), CO2 emissions (Munksgaard et al. 2000) and virtual water (Allan 2003a, b) usage. The production, distribution, consumption and waste treatment of FEW is carried out in separated sectors and the relationships between food, water, and energy are not yet mutually beneficial. The required infrastructure in intense and dense metropolises is expected to operate effectively, with little redundancy (Yan and Galloway 2017). This implies

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they are more vulnerable to natural hazards than distributed systems (Artioli et al. 2017; Carpenter et al. 2015). Finally, cities become increasingly suffocated. Urban life has not spontaneously improved when cities and their economies grew. Many urban dwellers suffer from commuting, congestion and high pressure at work. Slums, crimes and poverty increase in parallel. The 1.1 billion poor people lacking access to water and food are predominantly the same as the 1.5 billion people who lack access to electricity and the 1 billion slum dwellers in the developing world (Hoff 2011). Simultaneously, cities in the developed world have to deal with an ageing population, of which many do live in food-deserts, around one million in the UK (The Guardian 2018), more than seven million in Japan (Choi and Suzuki 2013) and even more in the USA (Walker et  al. 2010). Handicaps, unaffordability or aging are the main causes (Lawson 2016). Therefore, the stocks and flows of food, energy and water systems are interconnected simultaneously on the scale of urban-rural as well as global-local (Fig. 2.2). However, currently these flows are ill-understood and not organised as such and, moreover, are increasingly affected by climate, population, policies and the economy. Policy enacted in one area of this nexus has unforeseen consequences in another (Fig. 2.3; Clement 2016).

Fig. 2.2  Interconnected FEW-stocks and -flows

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Fig. 2.3  Integrated systems thinking. (Source: Clement 2016)

2.3  The Essence of Nexus-Thinking: Where, How, Who From a global perspective FEW-resources are indispensable for survival and their conservation and efficient use are necessary for the sustainability of society. Once FEW is delivered to cities, they are separated into sectors such as food, water services, electricity and gas. For urban residents, FEW provides the basis of living, but it demarcates also their relationship with governments and businesses as services providers. This dual linkage is often not explicit or clear. Citizens are often only approached as passive ‘receivers’ or ‘users’. This makes them unaware of the interrelations within the FEW-Nexus and will most likely not enhance behaviour change. This implies the urban basis for nexus policies and analyses remains weak (Artioli et  al. 2017). Urban plans rarely address the FEW-Nexus directly. Conventional planning, design and governance systems, despite their high ambitions, do often not lead to cities as the most prosperous places in the modern world. Therefore, an alternative perspective on FEW is needed and the Nexus in cities should integrate its components into urban spaces. By doing so, the FEW-Nexus can become a mainstream element creating new opportunities (Kurian and Ardakanian 2015). The essence of nexus thinking can be found in three guiding principles (Hoff 2011): 1 . Invest in ecosystem systems to secure FEW-provisions; 2. Create more with fewer environmental costs; 3. Ensure accessibility to food, water and energy to all residents.

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2.3.1  The Relationship of Production and Consumption The majority of modern cities are large and sprawl vastly. In a spatial sense this implies that conducting sustainability research and policymaking should focus on urban regions and global networks of production, consumption and distribution (Powell 2016). The FEW-Nexus is nested in multiple spatial scales (Verburg et al. 2013). The extent to which local production for local consumption can be realised depends on the potential reduction of distances between production and consumption. Every city is unique in the context of land, people and relationships to ecosystems (Stead and Pojani 2018; Thomas et al. 2018). Trading can still be an efficient option to mobilise local resources and add value to commodities (FAO and UNEP 1999). The question however is to find the appropriate scale provide FEW to all communities. A crucial question in this context is how small-scale projects can have large scale impacts. Many small projects, such as solar sharing, small hydropower generation, local production for local consumption, plant factories, community gardens, urban farming and others (Hussey and Pittock 2012) are typically unsustainable as they are designed for a small number of people, a small scale hence lack substantial support. By approaching this paradox with a design-led approach synchronized outcomes can be propelled, developing symbiotic relationships between FEW.  Instead of siloed concepts from production to consumption, stakeholders emerge as prosumers (McLean and Roggema 2019). These persons and groups collectively own urban spaces and co-design circular solutions at different urban scales.

2.3.2  The Relationship Between Costs and Benefits Costs and benefits are not solely a monetary issue. For example, car dependency is such due to the convenience it brings to many, while at the same time causing the bulk of CO2 emissions (Farr 2012, p. 23). This personal lifestyle can be seen as a representation of moral value (Al-Saidi and Elagib 2017). Reducing environmental costs while keeping the same lifestyle requires awareness of and contribution to common values (Ames and Hershock 2015). Designing urban form, transportation systems and buildings, creating home gardens or farming organically enhance (or not) ecosystem services (Costanza et al. 1997) hence shape shared values (Gómez-­ Baggethun and Barton 2013; Haase et al. 2014; Tratalos et al. 2007). The principle of nexus thinking is therefore how to create more with less. Can smaller infrastructure systems, decentralised and distributed have a large impact? It is yet to be uncovered if smart cities (City of Chicago 2009; Gondhalekar and Ramsauer 2017; Townsend 2013; Wolsink 2012) are well-placed to support this transition. However, most of the experiments are oriented on technology aspects. The majority of these focus on energy (Wongbumru and Bart 2014), some on water (Venkatesh et  al. 2014) and very few on food or FEW-Nexus themes (Gondhalekar and Ramsauer 2017; Wolsink 2012). To excel beyond the superficial tech-paradigm, the natural costs of production and supply of resources shall play a crucial role in the design of

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cities to ensure that choices are beneficial to both ecosystems and human beings, individuals and businesses. Only then the common value of urban resilience, citizens’ health and accesebility to resources can outpace costs.

2.3.3  Relationship Between Working and Living With the Industrial Revolution, wealth transited from the countryside to the city (Cusinato 2016). Urban living has become a symbol of material wealth and younger people increasingly migrated to urban concentrations, especially in developing countries (The Economist 2011). In fact, the wealth of modern cities was built on the marginal effect of cheap labour forces and external costs to the environment. In many cities around the world working and living places have been spatially separated to use land efficiently. FEW-systems ended up being centralised large-scale facilities. Currently, factories are departing expensive cities to relocate closer to cheaper natural and human resources, leaving polluted vacant land behind. This land becoming available in ageing and shrinking cities (Thieme and Kovacs 2015) offers new opportunities, such as using it for urban agriculture (Moreno-Peñaranda 2011; Morgan 2009; Mougeot 2000; Tornaghi 2014) on rooftops (Engelhard 2010; Whittinghill and Rowe 2012), in home gardens (Barthel and Isendahl 2013), as formal landscapes (Bohn and Viljoen 2011) and in the form of shared farmland in peri-urban areas (Hara et al. 2018; Meeus and Gulinck 2008; Mok et al. 2014). It is a longing perspective to use FEW-Nexus planning as for future urbanism, where work and life along with FEW production and use, are more closely interrelated. This also means that urban sustainability should not only be understood as environmental conservation but thrives the future of urbanism and urbanised civilization. FEW would then be a service and a carrier of social ecological memories in cities at small scales (Andersson and Barthel 2016; von Heland 2011). The FEW-potentials become a trigger for urban regeneration, wealth redistribution and the improvement of well-being. Using a design-led approach the nexus principles can be integrated in urban design.

2.4  A Moveable Nexus The volume of research as well as design practice on food, water, and energy by sector is considerable. The majority of research is conducted in specific pairs of the FEW-triangle: Food and Energy, Energy and Water (IRENA 2015; Varbanov 2014) and Food and Water (White et al. 2015). Besides these attention has been given to climatic impacts related to one or more of the sectors (Carpenter et al. 2015; Johansson et al. 2010; White et al. 2015) or all three pillars (Endo and Oh 2018; Endo et al. 2014). The focus of these studies often is on determination and ambition but lacks grounded evidence on the essential elements, such as

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operational definitions that can link research and practice, particularly within urban systems (Romero-­lankao and Gnatz 2016). The majority of studies views FEW-issues from the supply side of resources, investigating the scientific mechanisms of material flows or aims to predict the increase of FEW-risks associated with population growth and development. These studies typically survey the availability of ecological resources (Daher and Mohtar 2015), model the urban metabolism of production, consumption and disposal (Bazilian et  al. 2011), investigate the shift to a low-carbon circular economy (Bears 2017; Bhaduri et  al. 2015) and identify how external inputs from outside the region can be reduced while local production for local consumption is encouraged (Siddiqi and Anadon 2011). At the same time, this scientific knowledge is not widely used in designing the built environment. Similarly, the design community is also divided in separate disciplines, each focusing on their own niche. Architects design buildings to save and manage energy. Urban designers work on the redevelopment of urban neighbourhoods to improve liveability. Landscape architects design urban landscapes, urban agriculture and green infrastructure aiming to create a greener urban life. City planners study land use policies to improve the efficiency of transportation and distribution chains. Across these design disciplines participatory design is then introduced as an event-driven professional and educational activity, but within these processes the ability to transfer the gained knowledge to a large scale of practice is often minimal. The FEW-nexus being complex and holistic in nature does not easily fit in each design profession. The limitations of scope that every discipline carries with them need to be bridged both in breadth and scale. Therefore, the moveable nexus (M-NEX) projects to bridge NEXUS Principles with Design Solutions (Fig. 2.4).

Fig. 2.4  The Moveable Nexus linking NEXUS principles with Design Solutions. (Source: Yan and Roggema 2019)

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2.4.1  M-NEX Objective M-NEX is a design-research based effort that aims to deliver greater access to FEW-­ system assessment tools to prototype and iterate a FEW-driven design process across multiple scales and contexts. The objectives of the M-NEX project are: 1 . To implement existing FEW-research in cities through design practice; 2. To aggregate existing FEW-tools into one analytical decision-support tool; 3. To use existing knowledge and the aggregated tool in a series of design-led participatory workshops in urban living labs. M-NEX aims to develop three research platforms: a design platform, an evaluation platform and a participation platform through participatory workshops in a row. Each of the platforms will assemble, structure and synthesize existing knowledge, tools, data, innovation practices, co-design methods, implementation models and case studies of systemic and applied solutions across the FEW-Nexus. The Moveable Nexus offers solutions that are adaptive to change. The non-static transformations caused by climate change and urbanisation require long-term scenarios for short-term extremes. This way solutions are able to deal with the changing boundary conditions of food, energy and water in the urban environment. Secondly M-NEX visualises solutions at multiple scales from the rooftop garden to entire urban regions, giving shape to the inherent complexity of the FEW-Nexus. Finally, the Moveable Nexus is an interface between the human and nature, motivating and providing incentives to a broad range of stakeholders such as citizens, academia, the public and private sector and policymakers.

2.4.2  M-NEX Principles The Moveable Nexus adheres to three principle lines of thought: integration, nested scaling and collation. Existing food, energy and water systems are often seen as distinctive systems. However, these systems are to a certain extent integrated (Fig. 2.5). The point at which their stocks and flows overlap is the nexus. This is taken as the point of departure for the M-NEX project. Presently, the nexus is relatively small. For instance, many waste streams are generated from each individual area. This waste is then treated as a burden, which requires additional resources to treat. M-NEX explores ways to re-integrate these waste streams and using them as resources. By closing loops, the nexus are extended. All aspects of the FEW-systems operate at varying scales and import and export resources between them. This happens at the local to the regional and global scales (Fig.  2.6). M-NEX seeks to understand the stocks and flows of each system and their mutual relationships by mapping interactions between the scales. By understanding this the weaknesses in the system can be identified and addressed.

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Fig. 2.5  M-NEX as the integration of FEWsystems (Source: M-NEX team, Sydney workshop)

Fig. 2.6  Nested scales (Source: M-NEX team, Sydney workshop)

Redundancies can be implemented to increase resilience and effective strategies at one level can be up- or downscaled to others. The three integrated knowledge platforms (design, evaluation and participation) are used to capture inter-disciplinary approaches. These approaches also guide the approach to participatory workshops. Outputs and lessons learned are publicly shared via the open M-NEX platform. These in turn go on to refine each platform as

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Fig. 2.7 Connecting evaluation and participation to the design momentum (Source: M-NEX team, Sydney workshop)

the project progresses. Ultimately, this will lead to practical design solutions which are translatable (moveable) amongst other bioregions. The current separation in time between conceiving the design, engage the stakeholders and evaluate its performance is herewith collated and brought together to establish greater singularity of the integrated FEW-development (Fig. 2.7).

2.4.3  M-NEX Design Approach The Moveable Nexus consists of design methods, evaluation tools and participation mechanisms to be used in practical participatory planning practice. The implementation of the FEW-Nexus and urban agriculture in urban environments could take a diversity of forms, such as an innovative technology or policy, an advanced building or a landscape, commercial products or public engagement programs. Design methods applied within M-NEX provide guidelines to explore potential solutions with stakeholders. The elements of the design method consist, in general, of the following steps (Fig. 2.8): 1. Make an inventory of FEW-related existing or potential resources and undertake an analysis of the availability of space for urban agriculture, which includes rooftops, vacant houses or abandoned, improperly used or void lands; 2. Design solutions to improve the efficiency of land-use and the use of space for food production and ecosystem services while less energy and water is consumed through the integration of FEW-technology and -knowledge; 3. Compose Nexus matrices to mobilise materials and flows of resources across sectors and disciplines in the social-ecological context; 4. Evaluate the environmental costs and the added benefits of the solutions through enhancement of spatial, temporal and service connections among specific social-­ ecological systems; 5. Deliver alternative solutions and reiterate the design process with stakeholders. This process applies co-design principles and establishes a reflexive practice together with stakeholders. The inventory includes natural, social, financial and

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Fig. 2.8  Framework of the Moveable Nexus (Yan and Roggema 2019)

industrial aspects. The mobilisation of resources implies the activation and connection of existing and potential resource capitals cutting across industrial, administrative and academic boundaries with more flows and services.

2.4.4  M-NEX Partnerships In six bioregions around the world (Fig. 2.9) knowledge is collaboratively built up in two to four projects in each city/bioregion. These projects are conducted at different scales, from rooftop to region. In the design process local stakeholders are involved and instant feedback is captured on how the FEW-systems perform. The six location are Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Belfast in Northern Ireland, Detroit in the US, Doha in Qatar, Sydney in Australia and Tokyo in Japan. Each of the selected regions have different characteristics (Table 2.2). Their landscape and availability of natural resources can vary, the problems encountered are different and the typical spatial scale at which the city approaches the FEW-Nexus is at another level in every context. This has led to a thematic focus which determines the main direction of thinking. For instance, in Belfast the crucial question in their maritime bioregion is how aquaponics could be implemented to improve the quality and variety of local food production, while in Sydney the fridge city is explored dealing with extreme heat in summer periods and create cooling circumstances to increase the growth of local food. The M-NEX process runs for three years and holds six subsequent living lab workshops in each of the partner cities. The findings and experiences in the first workshop are summarised and used in a repeated manner however adjusted to the

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Fig. 2.9  Six collaborating cities in different bioregions (Source: M-NEX team)

Fig. 2.10  Accumulation of knowledge and experience. (Source: M-NEX team)

local circumstances in each of the other cities. This cyclic way of working leads to accumulated knowledge that is applied six times. Eventually the results are brought together in three wiki-platforms, one for the design approach, one for engagement processes and one for evaluation and assessment (Fig. 2.10).

2.5  Design-Led M-NEX Approach In each of the six cities a similar process is conducted. Design, engagement and evaluation are tightly linked and influence each other constantly (Fig. 2.11). At the start a first design iteration is instigated from the involved participants and stakeholders as well as the basic data that is available in order to conduct an urban

Source: M-NEX team

Data

Existing technologies in the city Baseline data

‘The Aquaponic city’ Technologies

Motto

Take away Goal

F: Diet E: Algae W: Flood

Desert Arabian Desert Bioregion

Maritime Northern Ireland Bioregion Neighbourhood

Detroit Vacancy and capacity building Continental Great Lakes Basin bioregion Metropolitan region/urban farm F: Urban production E: Waste to energy W: Great lakes

‘The post-industrial city’ People Engagement Regional synergies Scalar cascades Expanding the effectiveness of How to overcome food production in the city with jurisdictional barriers minimal water availability Place based data (QU campus) Regional jurisdictional data

‘The urban water machine’

F: Local plantation lowering UHI E: Solar W: Drought, reuse

Precinct: Uni-campus

Qatar Food security

Belfast Divided city

FEW-­ focus

Scale

Partner City Main theme Climate Bioregion

Table 2.2  Characteristics of the six partner cities

Tropical Kanto plain Bioregion Roof / vacant land F: Food-roof E: Solar panel W: Water-tank

Tokyo Ageing

‘The hyperlocal city’ Far future design Building integration Using landscape as cooling Closing FEW cycles at machine through plantation, crops and water building level Regional landscape data Building data

‘The fridge city’

Large greenfield: Third City F: Regional food-bowl E: Large and small hydro W: Heat

Sydney Urban development process Subtropical Sydney Basin bioregion

Flows of FEW data

Design with flows for far future Close FEW cycles at city level

F: High tech, vertical E: Wind & integrated renewables W: Flood, controlled ‘The circular city’

Amsterdam Co-creation of spatial plans Maritime Atlantic mixed Forest Bioregion Neighbourhood

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Fig. 2.11  Design-led approach within the living labs. (Source: M-NEX team, Sydney kick-off)

analysis. The second step is to evaluate the potentials and impacts of this analysis for the required food data and the type of actors that are necessary to instigate the next design iteration: the food design. This enhanced design is then again evaluated, and questions are posed on the required data and actors for the next iteration, working towards an energy/food design. This process is repeated to advance towards a water, energy, food design, before the economic analysis of the design outcomes are investigated. Depending the results, the design process can jump back to a specific topic and run several iterations if necessary. The final stage is to integrate reflections on the evaluation of performance and the role and opinion of participants in a final design proposition. It is clear the design process is central to this approach and leads, evaluates and instigates next steps and iterations. Additionally, a strong emphasis in the design-led approach is on the desired linkages between scales and connections of food, energy and water aspects at the same scale and in between scales.

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Both analytically as well as designerly, propositions are made during the process. Spatially, from the city centre to the urban region a range of aspects are taken into account: 1. Consumers: the place where people eat (restaurants, home), the number and size of households and their diets; 2. Distribution: the way food and resources travel to and from producers and consumers, such as the location of supermarkets, convenient stores, the appearance of street food stalls, and the places where people can buy direct from the farmer; 3. Providers: the type of companies and utilities, such as the farmer, the water and energy generation companies and network and grid exploiter, possibly energy alliances and collectives at neighbourhood or urban level, and the location of community gardens; 4. The availability, amounts and places of resources, energy, water and nutrients; 5. The spatial characteristics, being the density, the amount of green space per person or the type of landscape and soil quality. These characteristics are linked and are connected as a network, implying they are dependent on each other. Therefore, the analytics are crucial to understand the potential land-use, and security of food and resource supply. Each of the scales and the local manifestations, closer or further away from the city centre, have to be taken into account when proposing spatial interventions for the typical category in the diagram (Fig. 2.12).

2.6  The M-NEX Design Process A typical M-NEX process is cyclic and iterative. In subsequent steps an engaged group of experts, stakeholders and citizens collaboratively follows the process of analysing, design, evaluating and redesigning (Fig. 2.13). The first phase comprises of undertaking different analyses. It aims to make an inventory of the FEW-related existing or potential resources and the availability of space for urban agriculture, including rooftops, vacant houses or abandoned, improperly used or void lands. It further: • Analyses the flows, the amounts and volumes of FEW flows, visualized in diagrams or flow charts. The result of this analysis is to identify the current amount of space used to supply the resources for living and how this could be changed to a sustainable equilibrium, in which all resources used are compensated for. In other words, translating the used resources into carbon equivalents will give the area required to compensate in the form of planted forests. Taking this size as the starting point the ambition to reduce the impact of consumption on the environment then subsequently could reduce the area required by living differently, using less, or eat another menu (Fig. 2.14). The chart represents the ambition of reduced use at the left-hand side of the diagram as compared to the current use, explicitly showing the reduced space required for compensating forests.

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Fig. 2.12  Diagram of categories of aspects of the FEW-Nexus and the spatial distribution in distance from the city centre. (Source: M-NEX team)

Fig. 2.13  Typical M-NEX process: cyclic and iterative. (Source: M-NEX team)

• Analyses the urban context. (spatial eg. sizes, available space, land use, accessibility to food/other resources), functional (number of people, households, industries, including their average use of resources), visualized on maps

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Fig. 2.14  Diagram representing the reduction that can be reached in an average Dutch diet. (Source: M-NEX team, Belfast workshop)

Fig. 2.15  Linkages between scales and flows. (Source: M-NEX team, Detroit workshop)

• Analyses the current local trends, such as population growth or decline, severity of climate change and their local impacts, technological advancements and opportunities. Secondly, relationships and potential synergies within and between flows, the benefits of using rest products from one flow in another are conceived (Fig. 2.15). This way the connection between scales and flows is established, both analytically as projective. It makes it possible to spatially design with an eye on the quantitative and qualitative relationships, mutual benefits and synergies between scales and sectors.

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Table 2.3  Matrix showing the sequence of impactful measures for each of the flows: reduce, reuse, produce, synergise

Source: M-NEX team, Belfast workshop

After these linkages become clear the concrete and most effective possible measures can be identified that bring achieving the goals closer. For each of the flows, food, energy and water, as well as the integration of flows a sequence of measures is defined (Table  2.3). The more effective measures resort under the category Reduce, then Reuse, and finally Produce. The chosen combination of measures is a synergy of the most applicable combination, which functions as a program for design. Thirdly, the program that follows from the estimated most optimal combination of measures is designed in the concrete experimental area. Here the working of the different measures is synergised. Through design new insights of unexpected combinations, application of technical measures in a spatial way and specific contextual characteristics determine the developed design proposition. The designed solutions aim to improve the efficiency of land and space use for food production and ecosystem services with less energy and water consumption by integration of FEW technology and knowledge. This way the types of measures are projected in an integrated way, spatial and flow-wise, in the space available. The design proposition exemplifies the way the landscape, neighbourhood or building needs to change spatially, visualised on drawings and maps. Fourthly, the design proposition is evaluated in two steps. The first iteration deconstructs the design in separate layers. This deconstruction aims to estimate the effect the design has on different aspects of the (urban) landscape. For this, M-NEX uses a combination of the layer-theory, launching the abiotic, biotic and occupation layers (Van Schaick and Klaasen 2011), the ‘stacked’ layer approach with separate layers for Earth, Cloud, City, Network, Address, Interface and User (Van Timmeren and Henriquez 2015) and the Swarm Planning layers, consisting of layers for

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Networks, Focal points, Unplanned Space, Space for Resources and Emergent Occupation Patterns (Roggema 2012). The deconstruction of elements of the design allocated to specific layers illuminates their features and benefits, also their flaws. In a second step these elements can be retrieved from the layers and reconstructed as FEW-systems highlighting their thematic coherences, their benefits for the foodscape, energy-scape and waterscape respectively. The reconstructive work emphasises the functioning and effectiveness of the individual systems. Once this is analysed the working of the design can be really tested and assessed. Fifthly, the respective FEW-scapes are integrated in one coherent Flowscape, in essence a comprehensive version of the design proposition. For the Flowscape the matrix (Table 2.3) of impactful FEW-measures is recomposed for this specific area and proposal. This integrated model of a new realty is the detailed enough to be evaluated. Sixth, the evaluation of the detailed, spatial and technical model can be undertaken. The environmental costs and added benefits of the solutions as a result of enhanced spatial, temporal and service connections among the specific social-­ ecological systems can be calculated and qualitatively appraised. This gives an insight in the satisfaction of the spatial proposition whether it meets the ambition set out in the beginning. Because this assessment is conducted in detail it is possible to decide whether it is good enough hence it can be actioned or has certain flaws which need to be improved in a second, or third, design iteration. Finally, the decision whether the proposition is satisfactory determines whether the spatial proposition can be turned into an action plan to be implemented or the design process requires another iteration delivering alternatives for solutions and reiterate the design process, again involvement of stakeholders. The second-sixth phase are then revisited and und3ertaken again.

2.7  Conclusion In this chapter the Moveable Nexus has been introduced. It is reasoned why a Moveable Nexus is essential for the quality of life in cities especially, but also for the holistic well-being of all life on this planet. The Nexus is moveable for several reasons. It makes flows moveable. The urban flows of food (nutrients), energy and water need to become more flexible and able to move between sectors, scales and sectors in the urban environment. Moreover, flows must not end in waste, but somehow be re-integrated in the environmental systems to replenish lost resources. Food, energy and water must therefore be able to transform from one state of being into another. Water becoming energy, becoming food, becoming cleaning water. A constant moving flow enhances the adaptive capacity of individual and, so far, often separated systems. It makes it possible to move between scales. It is obvious though not very often practices that volumes and capacities of all flows at lower scales, are added up and

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transpire in larger systems. The other way around, larger scale systems put pressure on individual and local often small-scale places and projects. The sum of many effluents from individual houses will undoubtedly hamper the larger water cleaning systems, while a large water systems capacity can be too small to prevent exhaustive water becoming problematic in public spaces and individual homes. The Moveable Nexus connects the flows through the scales in order to develop a higher agility and greater resilience of the entire urban region. It creates a more flexible process. Where current planning and design processes are often sequentially organised, with firstly designing the plan, then involving stakeholders, and finally evaluating performance, the Moveable Nexus collates these steps in a continuous and iterative design process. This implies that engagement is arranged in every phase of the design evolution and design ideas can be evaluated instantly. Both improve the acceptance and understanding of the designs proposed. The knowledge developed within the moveable nexus is free to move in between the six partner cities, but also globally. Because the six pilot cities are located in very different bioregions the knowledge is expected to be applicable in many other regions around the world. Additionally, the knowledge gained is emerging during the project, as it moves from one city to the next, piling up and stacked in the wiki-platforms. Finally, the Moveable Nexus delivers practical solutions that are the product of a design-led process. This implies they are fit for the context, can be adapted easily to changing circumstances, and are applicable in other places. The design process itself is open and transparent, but also stimulating through the visualisation of exiting futures ahead, which makes it attractive to the participants involved.

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Urban Nexus (2013a) Health and quality of life in urban areas. Urban nexus WP3 synthesis report. Urban Nexus. Retrieved from http://www.ectp-ceu.eu/images/stories/PDF-docs/Health%20 and%20Quality%20of%20life%20Sythesis%20Report%20WP3.pdf Urban Nexus (2013b) Competing for urban land. Nexus synthesis report. Urban Nexus. Retrieved from https://www.mistraurbanfutures.org/en/publication/competing-urban-land-synthesis-reporturban-nexus Urban Nexus (2013c) Urban climate resilience. Synthesis report. Urban Nexus. Retrieved from https://www.mistraurbanfutures.org/en/project/urban-nexus Van Schaick J, Klaasen IT (2011) The Dutch layers approach to spatial planning and design: a fruitful planning tool or a temporary phenomenon? Eur Plan Stud 19(10):1775–1796 Van Timmeren A, Henriquez L (2015) Ubikquity and the illuminated city. From smart to intelligent urban environments. TU Delft, Delft Varbanov PS (2014) Energy and water interactions: implications for industry. Curr Opin Chem Eng 5:15–21 Venkatesh G, Chan A, Brattebø H (2014) Understanding the water-energy-carbon nexus in urban water utilities: comparison of four city case studies and the relevant influencing factors. Energy 75:153–166 Verburg PH, Mertz O, Erb KH, Haberl H, Wu W (2013) Land system change and food security: towards multi-scale land system solutions. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 5(5):494–502 von Heland J (2011) Rowing social-ecological systems: morals, culture and resilience. Stockholm University, Stockholm. Retrieved from www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:441732/ FULLTEXT01.pdf Walker RE, Keane CR, Burke JG (2010) Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States: a review of food deserts literature. Health Place 16(5):876–884 White DD, Wutich AY, Larson KL, Lant T (2015) Water management decision makers’ evaluations of uncertainty in a decision support system: the case of WaterSim in the decision theater. J Environ Plan Manag 58(4):616–630 Whittinghill LJ, Rowe DB (2012) The role of green roof technology in urban agriculture. Renewable Agric Food Syst 27(4):314–322 Wolsink M (2012) The research agenda on social acceptance of distributed generation in smart grids: renewable as common pool resources. Renew Sust Energ Rev 16(1):822–835 Wongbumru T, Bart D (2014) Smart communities for future development: lessons from Japan. Built 3:69–75. Retrieved from http://www.builtjournal.org/built_issue_3/05%20Review%20 Article.pdf World Bank (2018) Urban development. World Bank. Retrieved from www.worldbank.org/en/ topic/urbandevelopment/overview Yan W, Galloway B (2017) Rethinking resilience: adaptation and transformation. Springer, New York Yan W, Roggema R (2019) Developing a design-led approach for the food-energy-water Nexus in cities. Urban Plan 4(1):123–138. Special issue ‘The City of Flows’. https://doi.org/10.17645/ up.v4i1.1739 Yokohari M, Amati M (2005) Nature in the city, city in the nature: case studies of the restoration of urban nature in Tokyo, Japan and Toronto, Canada. Landsc Ecol Eng 1(1):53–59

Chapter 3

M-NEX Methodology: A Design-Led Approach to the FEW-Nexus Rob Roggema

Abstract  Current practice is often isolating a problem and aims to solve that single problem. This often results in suboptimal solutions that do not create a visionary attractive future. Moreover, this approach is often leading to negative impacts on other sectors, problems of urban areas. Especially in the field of the FEW-Nexus this is the case. Where the energy problem seems to be tackled, it simultaneously causes problems in the water or food sectors. This calls for an alternative methodology. The Moveable Nexus proposes a design-led methodology through which interlinkages between all aspects of the FEW-Nexus are connected with spatial transformations in urban environments. Design not only connects the dots, but it also is able to envision a new future, a world that is not yet known. In this sense, due to its non-linear characteristics, design is magical. In this chapter the design-led methodology is presented making a close connection between spatial transformations, engagement of stakeholders and citizens and the evaluation of how an area performs. At the same time a connection is established between the, often segregated aspects in the process being creating a strict planned framework of working and the freedom for a creative mind to emerge during the process. The design methodology is described as a process in three phases: exploration, iteration and representation, each with their own characteristics and specified steps. It offers a practical guide to including complexity in designing for urban metabolism in cities. Keywords  Design-led · FEW-methodology · Urban metabolism · FEW-Nexus

R. Roggema (*) Cittaideale, Office for Adaptive Research by Design, Wageningen, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_3

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3.1  Introduction The appearance of cities is to a large extent shaped by the urban flows that are needed to let urban life function. Water flows, energy flows, mobility and also food flows determine how the urban environment is susceptible to a sustainable treatment of these cycles. The visibility of urban flows is long been an underwhelmed topic in urban design. Even though the water system is partly visible in public space, the majority of the systems treating and discharging water from households and industries to their environment is invisible. Energy, nutrient and material flows are even less visible in urban environments. The reason for the attention paid in policy for the flow of transportation in the city is undoubtedly related to its undeniable visibility in urban life. 55 years ago, the role of water flows in the urban fabric was firstly charted (Wolman 1965), though this mainly focused on gathering understanding of the quantitative flows. Relationships with other urban flows were still in their infancy. Meanwhile, water and other urban flows invisibly formed the city, but, as said, this was never really acknowledged. The Moveable Nexus project takes urban food, energy and water flows as a design task, shaping the appearance, spatial quality and quality of urban life in a resilient way. A design-led approach to urban metabolism uplifts the role of urban flows in making effective and sustainable spatial decisions how to organise resources and their distribution in urban regions.

3.2  Urban Metabolism Similar to the human body, the city can also be seen as an organism. The city needs resources to stay alive. The way these resources are used and, ultimately, lead to waste flows, determine the urban metabolism. The role of water as a spatial manifestation of such a flow in the urban fabric has been calculated and subsequently been described how to manage it in a sustainable and effective way for the first time as urban metabolism in the 1960s (Wolman 1965). An increase in urban pollutants started to influence the quality of urban flows and production factors such as the growth of food, soil, water and air quality hence impacted human and ecological health. The behaviour of effluents, exhausts and impact of urban flows, their volumes, the process of waste stream generation and how this impacts the quality of life. When these urban flows were put in an ecological conceptual model the objective how the flows can be managed sustainably became clear and understandable (Van Leeuwen 1981). In this eco-device model (Fig. 3.1) incoming and outgoing flows are symbolised, as well as the flows that are prevented from entering a certain area or from leaving. This gives insight in the performance of the system. Using less (minimising the incoming flows) and generating less waste (e.g. minimising the outgoing flows) prevents ecological problems. Similarly, preventing negative flows from entering the system and keeping useful resources in the system also imply a more sustainable ecosystem.

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Fig. 3.1  Eco-device model: IN–Not IN; OUT–not OUT. (Source: after Van Leeuwen 1981)

The eco-device model is conceptual and can be seen as the basis for elaborations in adding contextual aspects in the ‘extended urban metabolism model’ (Newman 1999) or establishing links between levels at which the different flows are working (Kristinsson 2012). This three-dimensional drawing (Fig. 3.2) is the first attempt to link aspects of urban and environmental flows, in retrospect to identify nexuses. It observes the city as an organism or an ecosystem (Tomásek 1979) itself.

3.3  Nexus-Thinking To date, the majority of nexus-thinking is limited to the volumes of urban flows, the way flows can be assessed using appraisal mechanisms and how much of what one urban flow needs from another one. By far the most research has been conducted on the nexus of water and energy (Bauer et al. 2014; Byers et al. 2014; Connor and Koncagül 2014; Cooley and Wilkinson 2012; Davies et  al. 2013; Gleick 1994; Halstead et  al. 2014; Henthorne 2009; Inhaber 2004; Kohli and Frenken 2011; Koulouri and Moccia 2014; Lavelle and Grose 2013; Macknick et  al. 2012a; Macknick et al. 2012b; Mielke et al. 2010; Mitra and Bhattacharya 2012; Plappaly and Lienhard 2012; Radcliffe 2018; Rodriguez et  al. 2013; Sanders and Webber 2013; Spang et al. 2014; Stiegel et al. 2009; US Department of Energy 2006; Wang 2013; Water in the West 2013; Webber 2008; World Energy XE "Energies" Council 2010). The nexus of water and food has been investigated in the agricultural literature, while the energy-food nexus is less well researched (ISIS 2013; WISIONS

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Fig. 3.2  First conceptual urban nexus representation observing the city as an ecosystem (Kristinsson 2012)

2007). Very little research has been conducted on the relationships between food, energy, water and ecosystems (UNECE and KTH 2014). Integrated thinking of food, energy and water as a nexus has only recently become more intensive (e.g. Barrett 2014; Bazilian et al. 2011; Bizikova et al. 2013; BMU 2012; Ferroukhi et al. 2015; Flammini et al. 2014; Granit et al. 2013; Hanlon et al. 2013; Hoff 2011; Mohtar and Daher 2012, 2013; Shannak et al. 2018; SEI 2011; World Economic Forum 2011). The majority of these research outputs still focus on quantifying flows, developing assessment tools and/or aim to define the relationship quantitively between flows. The implications of different spatial requirements, systems’ relationships and volumes of urban flows are less well researched. A design-led approach is rare, and this may be one of the reasons it is very difficult to amend the systems of water, energy and food to establish more integrated, sustainable and resilient urban systems (GIZ and ICLEI 2014). The quantification of urban flows is, on the one hand, necessary for understanding how much water has to be dealt with in the city, how much energy needs to be

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supplied or how much food should be grown to feed the urban residents. On the other hand, however, understanding urban flows quantitively only is not sufficient to create a sustainable living environment. The spatial conditions for an integrated, synergetic urban flow system enhancing both the quality of the environment, of the water, air and soil, and the quality of the urban environment, such as the wellbeing of residents, the spatial experience and appreciation of the public spaces, is a design task which must be undertaken within the context of city, town and landscape at once.

3.4  Design-led Approach to Urban Flows At the scale of the city the linkages between scales, exchanges between individual flows and the benefits of establishing synergies between parts of flow systems could illuminate unexpected advantages for urban life and the environment. These can be discovered through design. Urban by Nature (Fig.  3.3), the Rotterdam Biennale 2014 made exactly these relationships visible (Brugmans and Strien 2014). It showed that large benefits can be achieved by using waste streams of one system of

Fig. 3.3  Urban metabolism model. (Source: Dirk Sijmons/Jutta Raith, Gemeente Rotterdam et al. 2014)

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flows as a resource for others at the regional urban scale (Gemeente Rotterdam et al. 2014). Overlooking 50-odd years of scientific research, academic education, designing and innovating thinking on urban metabolism, the quantification of urban flows, the ambition to close cycles and minimise waste flows, the (eco)systemic approach and the implications for the spatial configuration of the city are recurring key components. However, attention for design-led approaches has not been I the forefront of academic debate hence did not come to fruition scientifically nor practically. In order to assess the performance of urban flows quantification seems the dominant paradigm. This underwhelms the synergetic benefits of combining resources, generation and waste of urban flows. This synergy can only and easily be envisioned through design. It illuminates how liveability, design, urban flows, assessment tools and sustainability can strengthen each other in a design-led process (Tillie 2018). In practice however, synergetic thinking is not yet broadly implemented set aside being made a priority in urban development. For reasons of improving urban resilience and increasing the quality of life of urban dwellers it is time to prioritise integrated urban flow systems to be used in the design of the city at all urban scales. This opens up the opportunity to make these systems and their benefits visible in the urban environment and public space. Therefore, it is necessary to design these synergetic urban flows in a conscious way instead of neglecting them as drivers of urban life and degrade them as an ordinary add-on to the city. Thus, designing integrated urban flows will lead to attractive places, in which residents can witness and experience the brilliance of these systems visibly in their direct loving environment and where they may celebrate regenerated and reused resources.

3.5  Design Is Magical A design process is non-linear. This implies the outcomes will be defined and found during an unpredictable process. The magic of design occurs because a reductionist or deductive method is banned. The design process embraces the unknown and organises carefully distinguished steps to deliver something fundamentally new. Often this happens when the task or problem is complex, the creativity of collaborators is challenged, and time is constraint. The mix of these ingredients often lead to new insights, visualisations of a future that could not be envisioned, and provide answers to problems that otherwise could not be solved. The fundamental interrelationships between land-use, societal demands, spatial qualities and the functionalities of the systems involved are only suboptimal being solved when problems or sectors are seen as separated entities. The improvement in one aspect then leads to flaws in many of the others. The magical moment of conceiving an image of the future landscape or urban environment has brought these aspects holistically together. The magic is in the making: it unfolds, comes together at a certain moment and emerges from the interactions that take place in a design conversation. The complexity of many questions of today ask for a response that can interlink the

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positives and is able to connect the elements of sectoral systems into a newly born view. But more than just connecting the best bits, design is able to create something fundamentally new out of virtually nothing. It leaves the brains, transits through neuro-­systems into imagination, represented in drawn visual outcomes. This implicit unexpectedness can impossibly be served by automation or calculation. The non-­ linearity of the question impedes creative jumps (Homan 2005) and breakthroughs in its responses. The magic of design is needed to provide just that. In the Moveable Nexus project (http://m-nex.net/) design is taken as the primary mechanism to counteract simplification and linearity in solving problems as engineering systems. There are several advantages of doing so: • It offers an approach connecting spatial scales. Design is able to connect the regional landscape with urban built form and structures. • Design envisions and creates a new perspective on the future of an area, which potentially offers a long-term strategy. This opens generally the sight on improved biodiversity and regional (food) productivity • Uncertain futures can be incorporated and anticipated, such as climate impacts, such as flood, fires or droughts. Heat can be mitigated through innovative designed landscape and urban green. • Design illuminates alternative ways of developing a site, and the local project development does not have to be replicated. • Indigenous values, knowledge and species can guide the local transformation. • It offers a transformative pathway, implying path-dependency does not have to dictate the future. • Top-down understanding of the sustainability of the landscape, its ecology, water and topography can be synergised with co-creative bottom-up approaches, using local expertise of professionals and residents alike. • It offers a demanding process with expectations on delivering innovative solutions within a tight time schedule. The need to present the outcomes visually challenges hence puts pressure on delivering content that is aspirational. • The step-by-step design process gives a clear guide for performance and turning inspiration and creativity in regional-to-local design propositions that belong together. These key-characteristics do not have to appear in every development project in the same way at the same time in full force but can be used to undertake a step-­ change from singular solutions to integrated futures.

3.6  M-NEX Methodology A non-linear design process offers ample opportunities to achieve a magical outcome. This objective requires a clear methodology that is flexible and demanding at the same time. Within the design-led process knowledge and expertise is integrated regarding the design of spatial solutions, the engagement of local residents and

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stakeholders, and the appraisal of intermediate and final outcomes and design propositions. Within the Moveable Nexus project, the advantage is that rotating experiences along the partnering cities and participants, the understanding of how the design-0led approach works best grows over time. The chosen way of working to repeat collective design-session in each of the other partner cities, enriches the experiences sextuple (Fig.  3.4). By the end of the research project 36 design-led meetings and -workshops will have been held to harvest best ways of approach and appraise the applicability of different methods. On the basis of regional maps and local expertise a basic flow and urban analysis forms the input for the design of a conceptual spatial vision. This first spatial vision is based on little knowledge and poses the questions to the systems of food, energy and water to provide specific knowledge on the performance of the first design (Fig. 3.5). The design is therefore deconstructed in separate layers (see also chapter two) and reconstructed in separate food, energy and water systems diagrams, so their performance can be assessed, and the feedback can be used as input in the next design iteration. This way the knowledge gaps are constantly defined and the question to provide additional and specific data can be delivered on the basis of which the design will be adjusted, elaborated and detailed. This is an iterative process which can be repeated in order to produce detailed and evidence-based design proposals for the site.

Fig. 3.4  M-NEX working process of learning and copying workshop methods in each partner city. (Source: Moveable Nexus project proposal for SUGI, Belmont Forum and JPI-Europe)

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Fig. 3.5  The cyclic M-NEX process of design-engage-evaluate-reiterate. (Source: Roggema and Yan, Tokyo-exchange)

3.6.1  Three Methodological Phases Non-linearity of the design process intermingles designing, while engaging and evaluating in unpredictable, agile and adaptive ways. Each of these core elements and characteristics of an integrated process are permanent ‘in the mix’ and never disappear. However, the form or the importance of each of these may differ over time. Therefore, in phasing the process, the design-engage-evaluate methodology consists of three fundamentally distinct parts: exploration, iteration and representation (Fig. 3.6).

3.6.2  Exploration Phase The first phase (Fig. 3.7) is meant to explore the context, situation, site, the program, main questions and the interests of different stakeholders involved. The focus is on collecting relevant information for the project, the current, eventual opposing, views on future development and the policy context including any quantitative program that has been formulated and adopted by governing agencies. This phase starts with a so-called ‘first encounter’ (step 1). The programmatic demands are explored, and preliminary design principles will be developed. This all occurs with less than almost no knowledge. Not being hindered by too much knowledge opens the minds and allows for creative, or even ‘impossible’ ideas to be launched amongst the designers. A design team can be informed by local experts, both professionals as well as local residents, to conceptualise first ideas. On the

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Fig. 3.6  M-NEX methodology at a glance. (Source: M-NEX team, Groningen workshop) Hypothetical what if’s

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Fig. 3.7  The exploration phase

basis of no more than a google-map the team may suggest directions and first spatial propositions. The first encounter is the ideal period to identify guiding design principles for future spatial elaborations. As a second step in exploring a site visit is undertaken (step 2). This is consciously being planned after the first design session because this way the estimates and expectations included in the spatial vision can be confronted with reality and form an incentive for adjustments of the design. The site visit can also be used to collect new ideas, be inspired by the images, encountered problems or opportunities

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the site offers. The team will harvest impressions of the site in their minds, using photography or by quick sketches. Once the first ideas are confronted with reality specific design projects can be defined (step 3). As a method for unconventional and creative project development the COCD-box (https://cocd.org/cocdbox-modellen-technieken/) can be applied, but other methods will suffice as well. The COCD is a process for creatively selecting ideas amongst a group of divergent thinkers or out of a large amount of possibilities. Applied to spatial design this method is used as an intermediate step for identifying and defining strategic design tasks in a mixed group of local and external experts, professionals and involved participants. The process in the M-NEX project is amended to the needs of coherently formulating and strengthening thoughts and ideas into comprehensive design questions for holistic FEW-Nexus solutions. Specifically, the project definition process consists of several steps (Fig. 3.8). It starts with the generation of as many ideas as potentially can be generated in a short time. In four thematic groups a creative brainstorm enhances the number of ideas, ripe and fresh, being suggested and written down on a large sheet of paper. After five minutes the groups rotate to another theme and in the next five minutes each group subsequently adds as many new ideas they can think of to the existing ones that already were written down. This rotation is repeated until every group has contributed to all themes. During the next step in this process the ideas are colour coded. Every participant uses 30 colour-stickers (10 blue, 10 red and 10 yellow) and places these next to the idea he/she supports most. A blue sticker represent the opinion that the idea is a feasible one, red represents an idea that is challenging but not impossible to achieve and the yellow sticker is posted where one thinks the idea should be supported but at the same time it is very hard to realise, a dream. After all participants have scored the most attractive ideas, the total overview shows the best ideas in each of the categories and are collected on a blue, red and yellow list of ideas as a top 10.

Fig. 3.8  Design and project definition using the COCD method

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The following process aims to combine ideas from the top-scoring lists. The first step is to take the highest ranked red idea and place it in the COCD-box. Understanding this red idea well makes it possible to link blue ideas, the well-­ known ides from the blue list that can be used to increase the feasibility of the red idea. Similarly, any yellow ideas from the list that could inspire the red idea to become even more interesting or serve more objectives, are added to the box. This way a comprehensive set of aspects are creatively gathered around the top red idea. On this basis the first coherent description of a design project or -task can be elaborated. Depending the richness of red ideas, this process can be repeated for a second red idea, and so forth. The exploration phase provides a series of design projects, which can be defined at any scale, but are all a mix of business as usual, challenging and unimaginable components. This makes the design process that follows inspiring yet challenging by its very nature.

3.6.3  Iteration Phase The second phase is cyclic and iterative (Fig. 3.9). It emphasises design interventions and propositions which are permanently been evaluated. During the progress individual projects and designs will be integrated in symbiotic future visions. Choices and connections between different aspects provide added value, both in a spatial quality sense as well as for the sustainability of resource use and circularity. In order to understand the impact of design interventions for urban metabolism, the

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Fig. 3.9  The iteration phase

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so-called FEWprint is used, a method to quantify the use of food, energy and water resources in an integrated way. The iterative phase ignites with a radical, hypothetical question, which is imposed on the defined design project (step 4). This ‘what-if’ type of question directs the design work on the defined projects hence makes the transition from idea-­generation (Fig. 3.8) to a guided interactively developed design. The type of what-if questions need to be radical in order to explore the periphery of mind and make a creative jump possible. ‘How would we design a food system if the climate in the Netherlands was similar to the Sahara?’ or, ‘How would we design a FEW-nexus which would generate more resources than it uses?’ are examples of these types of what-if questions. When these questions are thought through to the ultimate, extravagant design suggestions will be the outcome. Such an imaginable future can be seen as extreme and not realistic, however, the propositions can be tested and debated in a much clearer way because the focus is not troubled by path dependency, habits or ignorance. The learnings can subsequently be used to improve the projects. The commencement of design (step 5) uses the what-if questions as the starting point for developing singular projects. At this stage the projects are narrowed down to a specific question, a certain theme and a clearly marked spatial boundary. The task is to elaborate its singularity at a large and a small scale, in order to stimulate thinking ‘through-the-scales’ by exchanging solutions between the scales. The expected radicality in design responses is facilitated using the Research by Design (RbD) method (Roggema Roggema 2016). This RbD method offers the means to explore a radical future in a spatial way, followed by an analysis of the impacts of these spatial suggestions. The impact of the design on the being of the location, the land-use locally, the functioning of urban flow systems and on the environmental quality are all subject of the analysis. The outcomes of the analysis can then be used in a second iteration to improve and adjust the designs. During the design process at first a global FEWprint (step 6) is undertaken. The food, energy and water impact of the spatial propositions are quantitatively appraised in rough numbers. In this phase it is utterly important the FEWprint provides rule-­ of-­thumb feedback, based on rough estimates so these facts & figures are instantly available to be of use in the design process. When this takes y = too long, the design-­ mind is already thinking of new horizons and has difficulty to get back to integrating information that he/she needed in an earlier stage. Therefore, the research by design process (step 5) and the global FEWprint (step 6) need to be interlinked, co-existing during this phase of the process. After the radical design questions have been fully investigated in singular projects, their outcomes are used to conceive a coherent FEWdesign (step 7). The integration of different parts into one generative design is an ideal moment to engage local residents and stakeholder groups alike. After conception of the integral design a detailed FEWprint is undertaken to evaluate the results (step 8). The integrated design is ready for a detailed analysis and assessment. In order to obtain detailed results calculations are extensive and this requires a longer period. The design parameters, developed in step 7, determine the performance (step 8) and therefore are intrinsically related.

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Once the detailed results of the FEWprint have become available, these can be used for the final comprehensive design (step 9). These final design(s) are subsequently visualised in a built 3D-plasticine model. This creative final step (10) of the design process is a tactile way to further internalise the design propositions amongst a broader group of stakeholders. This creative final step of the design process connects the different design propositions and brings together the participants and functions therefore as a crucial moment in the engagement process. Finally, this model of the integrated design is taken as the basis for the FEWprint (step 11). This is an extensive FEWprint in which the final implications of the design for the urban metabolism, the use of food, energy and water resources is elaborated. The iterative phase is a cyclic and interactive process. The sequence of evaluating designs and redesigning plans in subsequent steps, from singular designs, exploring hypothetical questions to fully integrated comprehensive designs, leads to an improved understanding of urban flows. The iterative process can be repeated in case the evaluation results are not satisfying. Ultimately design and performance are building a strong proposition that is, through the involvement of stakeholders and local residents at crucial moments I the process, supported.

3.6.4  Representation Phase The final phase of this methodology is the representation phase (Fig. 3.10). After the iterative process reporting the results will finalise the process. This phase is meant to capture the outcomes in maps, visualisations and readings, so the outcomes

Hypothetical what if’s

Exploration

Iteration

Representation

Instant FEWprint

4

First encounter

3

2

E

6

12

Visualisation and mapping

Design the ultimate

Design definition

1

5

Plasticine exercise E

7

10

11

Integrated design Detailed FEWprint

Final FEWprint

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M-NexMethodology

Fig. 3.10  The representation phase

E

13

Design integration

9

Site visit

E

Reporting and presentation

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become transferable and understandable also for people that not have been part of the process. The first element of the reporting is to map out the results and represent these diagrammatically (step 12). This visualisation requires a high standard of drawing and visuals, so the final outcomes are clear and attractive. The final step in the process is to produce a final report in which process, content, design representations and evaluation calculations are coherently presented (step 13). This report is meant as a transparent way of communicating the project(s) and new knowledge becomes available for a broad range of practitioners, academics and decision makers.

3.7  Conclusion The Moveable Nexus project is a design-led initiative. This places design as an activity at the heart of the research and practical projects. This also means that the traditional way of approaching science is refreshed. A design approach is by definition non-linear and is open for unexpected insights, new occurrences, and creative ideas. The process of designing for urban metabolism adheres to this flexibility in the sense that it links the complex interlinkages of food, energy and water systems through the FEW-Nexus with the capability of design, and designers to deal with complexity and adaptive change. The power of design to constantly establish new connections and create dependencies that were not foreseen provides the response to situations in which linearity cannot solve the problems encountered. In the design-led process a linkage is established between the design process itself and the possibility to engage a broad group of stakeholders and local residents and experts alike. Similarly, the direct connection of evaluating the performance through the FEWprint with the design outcomes creates a strong and mutual beneficial process, which will improve both the results in a spatial way, the sustainable use of resources as well as enhancing the quality of life of urban residents. A design-led process is not a random process of creative minds which automatically lead to good outcomes. The Process requires clear steps and, at certain moments, firm constraints. This to create the context of rising to the occasion and come up with the best possible ideas. Without attrition there will be no glossiness. The tightly planned method of using the COCD-box is exemplary for the way a healthy tension needs to be established between strict frame and freedom of thought. Moreover, one of the capabilities of design is that it is able to translate the, often abstract, academic investigations into a practical; and concrete solutions for a certain area, a neighbourhood, street of building. These practical results make it also easier to involve people and show the benefits of certain propositions. Finally, design is magical. It allows for creating something completely new. It results in something which was non-existent before. This role is in many policy-­ processes underwhelmed. Design will not deliver factual results that are accountable and fit in cost-benefit analyses. This is exactly the power of design and why the magic is needed to develop ideas and solutions that are required for problems of

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uncertainty and are unprecedented. If the solution is linear and solves past problems, it almost certainly will not last. Complex problems of urban metabolism, in conjunction with urban transformation and the quality of life of urban citizens around the world needs these new and unique visions. Design must therefore be the driver of engagement, assessment and spatial change.

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Plappaly A, Lienhard VJ (2012) Energy requirements for water production, treatment, end use, reclamation, and disposal. Renew Sust Energ Rev 16(7):4818–4848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. rser.2012.05.022 Radcliffe JC (2018) The water energy nexus in Australia: the outcome of two crises. Water-Energy Nexus 1(2018):66–85 Rodriguez DJ, Delgado A, DeLaquil P, Sohns A (2013) Thirsty energy. World Bank, New York, NY.  Retrieved from documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/835051468168842442/pdf/789230 REPLACEM0sty0Energy0204014web.pdf Roggema R (2016) Research by design: proposition for a methodological approach. Urban Sci 1(1):2–20. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci1010002 Sanders K, Webber M (2013) The energy-water nexus: managing water in an energy-­ constrained world. Earth magazine. Retrieved from www.earthmagazine.org/article/ energy-water-nexus-managing-water-energy-constrained-world SEI (2011) Understanding the nexus, Paper presented at the Bonn 2011 conference. The Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus, Stockholm Shannak S, Mabrey D, Vittorio M (2018) Moving from theory to practice in the water-energy-food nexus: an evaluation of existing models and frameworks. Water-Energy Nexus 1(2018):17–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wen.2018.04.001 Spang ES, Moomaw WR, Gallagher KS, Kirshen PH, Marks DH (2014) The water consumption of energy production: an international comparison. Environ Res Lett 9(10). https://doi. org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/10/105002 Stiegel GJ, McNemar A, Nemeth M, Schimmoller B, Murphy J, Manfredo L (2009) Estimating fresh water needs to meet future thermoelectric generation requirements. NETL, Pittsburgh Tillie N (2018) Synergetic urban landscape planning in Rotterdam: Liveable low-carbon cities (unpublished doctoral dissertation). Delft University of Technology, Delft Tomásek W (1979) Die Stadt als Oekosystem; Űberlegungen zum Vorentwurf Landschaftsplan Köln [the city as ecosystem. Considerations about the scheme of the landscape design in Cologne]. Landschaft+Stadt 11:51–60 UNECE, & KTH (2014) Water-food-energy-ecosystems nexus: Reconciling different uses in transboundary river basins. (Paper presented at the UNECE Water Convention). Retrieved from www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/documents/2014/WAT/09Sept_8-9_Geneva/ Methodology_1Sept2014_clean_forWeb.pdf US Department of Energy (2006) Energy demands on water resources: report to congress on the interdependency of energy and water. DOE, Washington, DC Van Leeuwen CG (1981) Ecologie en Natuurtechniek (3–5) [ecology and nature technology]. Tijdschr K Ned Heidemaatschappij 92:7–8 Wang R (2013) Water-energy nexus: a critical review paper. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT Water in the West (2013) Water and energy nexus: A literature review. Water in the West. Retrieved from waterinthewest.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/Water-Energy_Lit_Review.pdf Webber M (2008) Water versus energy. Sci Am. Retrieved from www.scientificamerican.com/ article/the-future-of-fuel WISIONS (2007) Renewable energy in the food supply chain. WISIONS, Wuppertal. Retrieved from www.wisions.net/files/uploads/PREP_09_Food_Supply.pdf Wolman A (1965) The metabolism of cities. Sci Am 213:179–190 World Economic Forum (2011) Water security: the water-food-energy-climate nexus. WEF, Geneva World Energy Council (2010) Water for energy. World Energy Council, London

Part II

Design for Food in M-Nex

Chapter 4

Nature Driven Planning for the FEW-­ Nexus in Western Sydney Rob Roggema and Stewart Monti

Abstract  Current urbanisation is leading to an extraordinary depletion of resources, degraded landscapes, severe health implications for urban residents and pollution of air, water and soil. This way of urban development is driven by landownership and maximisation of profits for only a small group in society. The majority of the people have to bear the consequences. In this chapter an alternative approach is presented and applied to the case of Western Sydney. The alternative way of planning for urban development uses the FEW-Nexus as the entrance point for urbanism in five subsequent steps, form analysis to local design. It starts with understanding the size and working of urban flows of food, energy and water, and their waste implications in Sydney and Australia. This knowledge is then used to redesign the FEW-systems in an interconnected way for the local context of Western Sydney. Once the coherent systemic relationships are conceptualised the major challenges for design are translated into five holistic design principles for the Purifying City, the Hyperlocalised City, The Indigenous City, The ReciproCity and the Inclusive City. These coherent future city models are then used to build hypothetical scenarios for the Western Sydney Parklands. These explorations are finally designed at a detailed level for specific locations within the site at multiple scales. The approach illustrates benefits of the alternative way of developing the city by creating attractive and healthy urban environments. Keywords  FEW-Nexus · Design-led · Western Sydney · Landscape first · Resilient urbanism · Urban metabolism

R. Roggema (*) Cittaideale, Office for Adaptive Research by Design, Wageningen, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] S. Monti Atelier Ten, Sydney, NSW, Australia © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_4

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4.1  Introduction The way cities are planned make them difficult to adapt to change. A sustainable development is often defined as creating an urban environment that is just a little more green than current. Real sustainability seems often beyond deliberation. This transition from a current unsustainable situation to a somewhat greener, less polluting or damaging urban future will fall short in reaching a sustainable situation in which human activities are in balance with the natural systems and resources so human and natural life can be sustained for the long term. Instead of transition transformational thinking is required (Roggema et al. 2012). A transformation of urban systems will offer the best opportunities to respond to rapid and large global changes that lie ahead of us (Steffen et al. 2004a, b; Lenton et al. 2008), reflected in the many thematic indicators that have or will transcend planetary boundaries (Rockström et al. 2009). Therefore, the capability of cities to regenerate (Girardet 2014; Rees 2003) and be able to give back resources to the environment instead of continuing depleting them (Roggema 2019) requires these transformative approaches. Like the Aboriginals were used to create overshoot in generating resources and harvests to improve the quality of their lives, these mental and physical resources were meant to share with others elsewhere or future generations (Pascoe 2018). The outcomes of these two philosophies impact the environment, but also become visible in the way the urban landscape looks like. Comparing images of Western Sydney some 200 years ago with current urban development illustrates the differences (Fig. 4.1). In the early days people live in the landscape, developing small settlements from where they gather food. This concept of living amongst the local resources has fundamentally changed. Recent urban growth in Western Sydney is developed according a 4-2-2 formula: ‘People living in the 4-2-2 formula: four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a double garage. The “town” as it is called in the Master Plan has: “one of the State’s biggest Woolworths, a public primary school, Catholic and Anglican schools nearby that go from kindergarten to year 12, three floors of offices including a ‘smart work hub’, two artificial lakes, pedestrian walkways and cycleways, an aged care centre and a new library and community resource centre that opens soon’” (Maddox 2018). It seems these newly developed neighbourhoods offer everything a young family demands, but the flipside of this is increased levels

Fig. 4.1  Western Sydney 200 years ago and at present time

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of health problems. The lack of exercise in these precincts presents children and adults with obesity. More kids living here suffer from attention disorder at school (Shore 2017; Louv 2016; Flouri et al. 2018; Dovey 2018) or encounter ADHD and similar illnesses (Van Dijk-Wesselius et al. 2018; Li and Sullivan 2016; Sullivan and Chang 2011; Taylor et  al. 2002). The psychological problems amongst adults (Mennis et al. 2018; Husqvarna Group 2013; Thompson et al. 2012) cause higher levels of stress and in-house violence (Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research n.d.). Finally, these areas are found to have higher crime levels compared to other areas (Wright 2013). In addition to the health implications, these neighbourhoods also impact the environment negatively: –– Water is centrally processed in wastewater treatment plants. Its effluent pollutes oceans and rivers (O’Brien 2011). In periods of heavy rainfall, the urban water system does not have the capacity to discharge water smoothly causing a high vulnerability for (flash)flooding (SydneyNews 2019); –– The main portion of energy supplied to these neighbourhoods is generated in coal-fired power plants and distributed using a centralised grid system. This way of generating and distributing energy implies carbon emissions are relatively high (National Greenhouse and Energy Reporter 2018), but it also means surface water heats up (Bartan et  al. 2017) and resources are further depleted (Spath et al. 1999) which disturbs ecosystems and the landscape (Bartan et al. 2017; EIA 2018); –– These neighbourhoods are provided with food that is produced at a large scale and centrally distributed via supermarkets. Growth food in monocultures, often far away from the consumer makes this system vulnerable for diseases (Chakraborty and Newton 2011) or changes in the market (Schneider et  al. 2011). It implies also the landscape is transformed into monotony (Ramankutty et al. 2008) and over-exploits the land (UNCCD 2017; Watts 2017). As the major part of the food consumed is grown at a distance, food miles are impacting the environment, contributing to climate change (Tubiello et al. 2014; Perrone 2018). During the production and consumption of the food, most of the waste is not recycled (Bellemare et al. 2017). Finally, the economic principles of world markets implicitly cause inequality as local farmers do not receive a fair price for their products (Dragusanu et al. 2014); –– Biodiversity in cities is declining (Nilon et al. 2017) and nature is more and more seen as a protected space in so-called nature reserves. Additionally, outside cities nature is being destroyed to accommodate urban demands, such as producing wood in (unsustainable) forestry (Chaudhary et  al. 2016), generating energy (Butt et al. 2013) or using it for urban ‘greenfield’ developments (Elmqvist et al. 2016). At present, urban biodiversity is limited (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity 2012) and the lack of urban trees for instance causes urban heat islands (UHI) (Loughner et al. 2012; Wang and Akbari 2016); –– As global temperatures rise (IPCC 2013) people living in the depicted neighbourhood typologies at the edges of the city become more and more vulnerable

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for disasters at an accelerated pace. The increasing percentage of impervious pavement induces higher risk of flooding (Cançado et al. 2008), higher temperatures and droughts lead to higher changes at bushfires (Steffen et al. 2014) and on a hot day the city warms up by 4–9 degrees compared to the surrounding rural area (Kenward et al. 2014). Despite there is a large consensus on the impacts of urban development on human health and the environment, current practice of urban development is still out of sync. The local climate in Western Sydney will continue to change, heats up in summer, causing higher risk at fire, UHI and flooding. Current planning lacks anticipation of these futures and the question is how these factors will influence the quality of life of future residents. Will they live in unliveable conditions, will they become more stressed and lead unhealthy lives? If the current design of neighbourhoods does not comply with the needs of future life, both human and nature, could a transformational approach to an integrative FEW-Nexus work as a salvation? Could Western Sydney be based on ecological principles and be developed in a way it returns the debt society has built up to its natural environment? This requires an alternative way of planning for urban development, away from current practice. It uses the FEW-Nexus as the entrance point for urbanism in five subsequent steps, form analysis to local design: 1 . Analysis of local to global stocks and flows of FEW for Sydney and Australia; 2. Systems design of FEW for the local context of Western Sydney; 3. Deriving design challenges and holistic design principles in the regional context; 4. Building hypothetical scenarios for the Western Sydney Parklands; 5. Design local solutions at multiple scales for specific sites within Western Sydney.

4.2  FEW-Nexus as a Salvation? One of the crucial factors in environmental pressure is the size of the dwelling. In general, the bigger the home, the larger the environmental impacts of its users. Looking at the life cycle energy use triples when the gross floor area increases from 100 to 392  m2 (Stephan and Crawford 2016). Besides energy, this holds true for water and materials. With Australian homes being some of the biggest in the world (Fig. 4.2), second only to the Unites States (CommSec 2017) the sole fact of the size houses has serious environmental impact. Apart from the size itself, Australian cities are concentrated at only 0.2% of the continent (Lesslie and Mewett 2013) and with an average, relatively low, occupation of a house (2.8 person) and apartment (1.9 person) (ABS 2016, Fig. 4.3), the environmental impact increases even further. In 2016, Australia’s emissions per capita (22.1 t CO2-e per person) and the emissions intensity of its economy (0.32 kg CO2-e per dollar of real GDP) were at their lowest levels since 1990 (Department of the Environment and Energy 2017). While the emissions resulting from land use, change and forestry dropped, the energy

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Fig. 4.2  Size of Australian homes relative to other countries

Fig. 4.3  Average number of persons occupying a house and an apartment (Source: ABS 2016)

sector emissions steeply increased. Overall, the land needed to compensate for the emissions are still significant (Fig. 4.4). Implicitly this links the way cities are planned and built, their densities and land use with the environmental impact of living in urban agglomerations. The current practice of urban planning and design certainly does not offer an easy way out. By nature, the urban system is not reducing its environmental impacts by itself, especially not when market driven economics determine the urban outcome. This imposes serious long-term problems on urban life. To escape the deadlock of impossible breakthroughs as resulting from current practices in urban development, a design-led approach to using the FEW-Nexus for urbanism could well be the transformative approach to urban growth that provides society with the conditions to replenish its resources, live in moderate or mitigated climate conditions and gain in quality of life, for instance leading a healthier life, less stressful and more pleasant. In order to establish this innovative approach, it is firstly needed to understand is how current urban flows of food, energy and water operate.

4.2.1  Food in the Australian and Sydney Context Different age groups have specific dietary patterns, for instance in the energy intake they require (Nutrition Australia 2012; DAFF 2014, p. 11). Moneywise, people in Australia spend more on food in absolute dollar amounts, but as portion of the total household budget a decline is measured (ABS 2011). This implies that effectively

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Fig. 4.4  The amount of space required for compensating carbon emissions relative to the size of people and their homes

people spend less on food. A relative higher amount is spent on eating out and takeaway, while cereal products and non-alcoholic beverages declined (DAFF 2014, p. 18). 56% of Australian land use is livestock grazing (Fig. 4.5), mostly on native vegetation. Other agricultural uses such as broadacre cropping (3.5%) and horticulture (0.1%), occupy a much smaller proportion of land area. The total area of land under primary production is 59% (Lesslie and Mewett 2013). Agriculture is responsible for 12.6% (69.1  Mt. CO2-e emissions) of the net national emissions in 2016 (Department of the Environment and Energy 2018a). It would require over five million hectares to sequester these emissions (Fig. 4.6). In Sydney’s peri-urban area agriculture contributes $4–$5 billion to the local economy and securing food for the city. Its total value is $923.9 million (ABS 2012), representing 7.9% of the New South Wales (NSW) economy and 2.0% of Australia’s total value of agriculture production (Edge Land Planning 2015). Around 90% (6.285 GL) of the water used in agriculture is employed for crop and pasture irrigation (Fig.  4.7), it being over two million Olympic swimming pools. 60% of the total volume of water consumed by the Australian economy is employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing industries. The mean daily food intake of Australians living in NSW (ABS 1995) shows the preference for beef and its impact on carbon emissions (Table 4.1). This actual food consumed differs from the Australian Dietary Guidelines (National Health and Medical Research Council 2013). When translating these basic data to the land needed for feeding residents living in an apartment or house relative to the actual size of the building, the influence of size is clear (Fig. 4.8).

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Fig. 4.5  Land use for food in Australia

Fig. 4.6  Area required for carbon sequestration of the agricultural emissions

4.2.2  Energy in the Australian and Sydney Context Domestic production of primary energy in Australia is 17,957 petajoules, of which the majority consist of non-renewable resources (Fig. 4.9). Around two-thirds of the Australian primary energy production is exported (Fig.  4.9) (Department of the Environment and Energy 2018b).

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Fig. 4.7  Visualisation of the area of agricultural water use

Table 4.1  Consumption patterns of the NSW population Major food group Seed and nut products and dishes Legume and pulse products and dishes Egg products and dishes Fish and seafood products and dishes Fruit products and dishes Beef Lamb Chicken Pork Cereals and cereal products Vegetable products and dishes Milk products and dishes Total

Consumption (kg/ capita) 1.75 3.93

kg CO2-eq/kg produce 1.42 0.66

Total CO2 2.48 2.59

4.84 11.47

3.39 4.41

16.41 50.57

51.21 32.80 9.20 43.30 25.00 80.66 95.15 97.70 457.01

0.50 23.06 19.01 4.12 7.12 0.53 0.47 1.39

25.61 756.37 174.89 178.40 178.00 42.75 44.72 135.80 1608.59

Sources: ABS (undated), Wong et al. (2015), Clune et al. (2017)

Fig. 4.8  Land use per apartment and house for feeding its residents

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Fig. 4.9  Sources of energy production in Australia (left) and the relative portion of exported energy (Source: Department of the Environment and Energy 2018b)

Fig. 4.10  Australian energy mix (Department of the Environment and Energy 2018b)

The energy sector as a whole emitted 433.5 Mt CO2-e in 2016. The total estimated emissions from stationary energy combustion (fossil fuel combustion in electricity and heat production and manufacturing and construction industries) 287.0 Mt. CO2-e (52.3% of net national emissions). Of this electricity and heat production takes up 67.8% or 194.7 Mt CO2-e (Department of the Environment and Energy 2018a, p.  41). In 2016–2017, the total Australian electricity generation was 258 terawatt hours (929 petajoules) (Department of the Environment and Energy 2018b). The energy consumed in Australian states and in the country as a whole relies heavily on non-0renewable resources (Fig. 4.10).

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4.2.3  Water in the Australian and Sydney Context The average annual rainfall varies across Australia from less than 300 millimetres per year in most of central Australia to more than 3000 millimetres per year in parts of far north Queensland (Fig. 4.11) (Lesslie and Mewett 2013). Australia has, of all inhabited continents, the lowest percentage of rainfall running off into its rivers and aquifers (only 11%, while the world average is 65%). Only 6.8% of Australia’s rain ends up in the Murray–Darling basin while this basin delivers more than 50% of water used in Australia (Lesslie and Mewett 2013). For several reasons the water demand is increasing over the years (Sydney Water 2018a). The weather conditions become hotter and drier, leakage is increasing, temporary increase in unfiltered water consumption and increased water use by both the non-­ residential and residential sectors are seen as the main factors. The largest area of the Western Sydney Parkland City is part of the South Creek catchment area (Fig.  4.12), which flows through a flat, hot and dry part of Greater Sydney (GSC 2018). The average water use per person in Sydney is approximately 324  l per day (Sydney Water 2018a). The water is used for different purposes (ABS 2004) within individual households (Table 4.2). Sydney Water is the main provider of water to the Sydney metropolitan region. Whilst serving industries and households, Sydney Water increasingly co-generates energy. In 2017–2018 80 million kWh of electricity or 18.7% of the total Sydney Water usage was generated (Sydney Water 2018b). In the process of delivering water carbon emissions are generated, this is a net total of 342,381 tonnes CO2-e in 2017–2018 (Sydney Water 2018b).

Fig. 4.11  Rainfall in Australia (Source: DAFF 2008)

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Fig. 4.12  South Creek catchment water system

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Location of use Bathroom Toilet Laundry Kitchen Outdoor Total

% (NSW) 26 23 16 10 25 100

kL/year 29.12 25.76 17.92 11.2 28 112

4.3  Applying of the FEW-nexus in Western Sydney The development of the Western Sydney Parkland area is a large-scale urban planning project surrounding the new airport of Badgerys Creek. This area is also positioned as the Third City in the regional plan for Greater Sydney ‘A Metropolis of Three Cities’ (GSC 2018). The landscape is dominated by a fine system of gullies, creeks and waterways, tied together in a hilly landscape of the Cumberland plain. In this context the airport will be realised along which a large agri-business complex is foreseen and 100-thousends of jobs and new residents are expected to settle in the area (Fig. 4.13). The total area of 8948 km2 is currently part of eight councils (Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Penrith and Wollondilly) with a total population of 740,000. This number is expected to grow to 1.1 million by 2036 and over 1.5 million by 2056. The people reside in 367,000 households with an additional 184,500 homes being projected between until 2036. Around 30% of the current households are rental. The population is relatively young, 28% is 19 years or younger and only 12.5% is aged over 65. The average education is low, with 44% of the people without any qualifications. Western Sydney (Fig.  4.14) is bound by low-density residential areas to the north, south and east, punctuated by industrial and commercial areas and green space. To the west the Blue Mountain National Park form the boundary. The sensitivity of the landscape, and moreover, the general need to take care of environmental resources and natural qualities urges the design for this area to take the systems that form the landscape, water, ecology and soil as the point of departure. Integrating the FEW and Waste Nexus (Fig.  4.15) in the context of Sydney’s metropolitan rural area implies adhering the following ambitions: –– The continuation, increase and potential for value-adding to agricultural production give direction to local government planning; –– Reach the target of zero-emissions by 2050 by using resources efficiently and valuing water as a resource in particular to enhance a circular economy; –– Making use of the potential of the FEW-W nexus for developing the agricultural systems in Western Sydney by ‘close-coupling’ with future urban systems of the South Creek/Wianamatta catchment;

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Fig. 4.13  Draft plan for the Western Sydney Parklands

–– Reposition and catalyse revitalisation of agricultural production in the Metropolitan Region; –– Establish place-based design approaches as a way of dealing with complexity, strengthening synergies from the co-location of activities; –– Contextual development in highly modified landscapes, that were privatised very soon after European occupation, due to their fertile soils. Due to this long history and the future climate impacts returning the landscape to the pre-European era would not make sense; –– In the Anthropocene all landscapes are subject to human intention. In order to be able to be aspirational new approaches must be developed because existing legislation, regulations, institutional and bureaucratic arrangements and siloed professions are only equipped to deliver the necessities.

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Fig. 4.14  Current landscape of Western Sydney

Fig. 4.15  Integrating FEWW systems into mutual dependent and interconnected components for the Western Sydney area (drawing: Rod Simpson)

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4.4  Western Sydney Systems of Food, Energy and Water The stocks and flows of food, energy and water have been investigated at the local, regional and global scale. In this section the flow diagrams, showing the relations between different aspects of each of the resources are visualised.

4.4.1  Food The relationships between the different aspects of the food system, linking the spatial scales food is mapped (Fig. 4.16). It shows the food system is a global system and contains relations of the food stocks and flows themselves, but also the exchange of knowledge and technology, and economic relationships. This intense linkages between scales implies the increase of physical flows between scales, which generally burdens the local scale.

4.4.2  Energy The stocks and flows of the energy system include both current and new ones (Fig.  4.17). Some flows transcend scales, such as crude oil and natural gas. The potential interconnected nature of the FEW-Nexus is represented, for instance where water and food waste appears.

Fig. 4.16  Diagrammatic representation of the stocks and flows of food

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Fig. 4.17  Diagram of the stocks and flows of the Western Sydney energy system

4.4.3  Water The diagram for the stocks and flows of water in the region depicts existing conditions and opportunities and risks (Fig. 4.18). It also illuminates the potential links with the food system symbolically. The richness of information is translated in a relational diagram, in which the actual flows are symbolised (Fig. 4.19).

4.4.4  Design Principles Based on the analysis of local to global stocks and flows of the FEW components general design challenges are identified. 1. The purchase of the South Creek corridor for sustainability purposes is difficult as the current economics in the region lead the vested interests of landowners to selling land at highest and ‘best’ rates; 2. There are different interests in land use which are challenging to unify. This is a design challenge of how to balance the landscape in a mosaic rather than a scattered incoherent assembly of bits and pieces; 3. The environmental quality is low and constrained. It may require 30  years or more to fully regenerate. The question is how to design for this long term;

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Fig. 4.18  The stocks and flows of the Western Sydney water system

Fig. 4.19  Relational diagram of the water system

4. Despite the Greater Sydney Commissions coherent visions, local governance is fragmented, each level and geographical entity pursuing their own interests; 5. There is a gap between the coherent GSC vision and the capability to escape BAU practice;

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6. Landowners and developers perceive citizens involvement as a burden to urban growth and have unjust assumptions about their wishes and desires for the future. A process of co-design could engage the local population and improve the outcome on the longer term. Based on these challenges holistic design principles can be defined in the form of transformative city models, which guide the design process: –– The design of the Purifying City. An urban metabolic approach to designing the city uses the systems of food, energy and water as the driving forces of spatial design. This implies closing the cycles at the lowest possible scale and integrating in- and output of individual flows to be of use in others. This way the city becomes a purification process machinery in which clean resources are used, becoming dirty and are cleaned again within the same cycle and physical space. The closing of cycles is possible when the waste streams are minimalised by treatment at the source of pollution. This systems design approach requires smart IoT to monitor the improvements by collecting and analysing real-time data. –– Design a Hyperlocalised City. The South Creek is the crucial green-blue vein in the landscape. It gives the area of Western Sydney its locality. When designing urban areas, these should continuously refer to the hyperlocal qualities the creek offers. Using the water system as a source of nature, health, food and beauty, and respecting this system in the way urban entities return flows to it, for instance providing cleaned water in drought periods, adding green space and trees to the creek system as a source of shade and cooling, expelling car mobility in favour of active transport modes, and returning organic waste as a fertiliser for the growth of urban food. –– Design an Indigenous City. Using the philosophical power of Aboriginal understanding of the landscape and the way to treat it is potentially a strong driver for the design of the urban environment. The concept of returning produce to the environment, nature or future generations is contrary to many current practices, in which all productivity is meant to add personal wealth and not be employed for the common. This starts with respecting indigenous sites and their functioning, such as the OCHRE grid attempts to map for the Western Parkland City. But it goes beyond just respecting these places. This is the bare minimum, instead it can be used as the determining factor in the way urban life is designed and organised. –– The design of the ReciproCity. This principle aims at returning resources to the wider environment. The city becomes a resource rather than a pollutant. The regeneration of the landscape and its ecological resources (Ostrom 1990), are central to this way of designing the urban environment. Parts of Western Sydney that contain lower qualities, for instance in its water, soil and air systems, can be remediated through organic agricultural principles. This has a direct link with the water system of the South Creek catchment. The remediation of the soil and water system starts at the source, e.g. upstream and is then continued downstream until the entire system is regenerated.

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–– Designing the Inclusive City. Involving residents and local actors in a co-design process improves the engagement and creates a long-term support for resilience in the city because the community is seen being an active partnership which amplifies the responsibility amongst local residents. The governance model could integrate the interests and involvement of government, business, researcher and the community (the so-called quadruple helix) in an urban Living Lab model. The common denominator in these design principles is resilience as a fundamental driver of the urban design. Whilst the economy, climate, values or consumer preferences continue to be uncertain, their vulnerabilities can be evaluated as how well the design performs its generic adaptive capacity hence shows high levels of diversity, modularity, redundancy and flexibility. Moreover, the resilience of the city should simultaneously be evaluated how well it performs a specific adaptive capacity in relation to unique or localised threats and impacts.

4.5  Three Scenarios The design principles form the input for the spatial design of three scenarios: high tech (scenario 1), networked emergence (scenario 2) and regeneration of the commons (scenario 3). The scenarios are built as an exploration of the design challenges and principles as described before in a hypothetical direction and are in this sense a tool for strategic thinking (Schoemaker 1995). The scenarios are not meant to act as a realistic proposition for concrete realisation according the scenarios but rather a research by design (Roggema 2016) approach to exploring and testing the potentials.

4.5.1  High-Tech Scenario The High-Tech scenario (Fig.  4.20) takes the high productive-high technology-­ based proposal of the Western City Aerotropolis Authority (WCAA) as the point of departure. The designed scenario suggests high-intensity commercial and industrial

Fig. 4.20  High-tech scenario at regional and local scale

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spaces around the airport. A large variety of interconnected high-intensity agricultural systems is foreseen. This offers the possibility to take advantage of highly controlled environments, create and industrial ecology precinct which could become fully circular, close coupling these with airport functions nearby. Additionally, the high-tech productive use offers potential for an efficient treatment of wastewater, obtaining water from the aerospace and greenhouses and feeding purified water back in the productive system. In this concept there is an important role for high-­ tech infrastructure to provide a backup system for localised embedded local solar generation, water generation and allowing modularity of the compartmental systems. It may use the hydro pipeline between Warragamba dam and Prospect Reservoir. The precinct could play a crucial role in providing redundancy as a resource when other parts of the metropolis suffer, for instance when additional cold storage capacity is needed, providing extra logistic support in case of an emergency and so forth. It has the potential to be an integral part of water reclamation, nutrient recovery, energy generation and cooling. The South Creek flood plain is transformed in a green aquaculture productive landscape in which residential use is omitted. The floodplain is proposed as a recreational network for pedestrian and bicycle use. The high-tech scenario has advantages, such as the potential to easily certify the quality of organic food and re-use of bio-solid waste. However, the vulnerabilities of such a future scenario to specific threats of heat, markets or technology failure require approaches to residual risk.

4.5.2  Networked Emergence Scenario In the networked emergence scenario, the conventional supply chain is replaced by direct linkages of producers to consumers or smaller retailers (Fig. 4.21). The productivity in the metro-rural area increases as result of larger local demand. The producers are locally organised capitalising on existing land tenure. The network of regional producers, connected with urban agriculture sites in the urban areas, demands a strong urban design from the outset. This regional network emerges as rural villages become a cultural example for urban dwellers, changing their perception and market preferences. It recognises the desire for local fresh produce increases and the depth of local premium market is increasing. A supportive educational program enhanced the promotion of healthy food. Whilst combining regional growth of food with generation of renewable energy, these are tied to the residential areas through daily markets, which allows producers to liaise directly with consumers. Each of these daily markets are linked through a light-rail hence connected a train station. The area surrounding the airport is transformed into a food forest providing healthy organic food and publicly accessible green for residents. The high-density residential villages are all provided with a daily market, biogas energy generation, water treatment and a transport node (Fig. 4.22). The emphasis on the emergent network of food connectivity opens also

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Fig. 4.21  Diagrammatic representation of the Networked Emergence scenario

Fig. 4.22  Networked emergence scenario at regional and local scale

the door to a wider participation, the recognition of recent migrants and a broader involvement of existing producers. This scenario requires a broad set of incentives, beyond land use zoning only, to support localised FEW networks.

4.5.3  Regeneration of the Commons This scenario is based on the idea agricultural production is being a centrally located ‘public good’ (Fig. 4.23). As a common resource, regenerative food production co-­ benefits the quality of soil and water, increases biodiversity, recycles nutrients and supports bio-sequestration. In this sense stewardship and public value become the primary motivators for the metro-rural area. Agricultural ‘clusters’ are co-located to

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Fig. 4.23  Schematic representation of the Commons-scenario

Fig. 4.24  The Commons scenario at regional and local scale

respond sensitively to their context. On the long term there is potential to acquire land back and establish a leasehold system that would allow greater control of activities. In this scenario Western Sydney Parklands is extended (Fig. 4.24). New parklands are introduced following the path of South Creek and the foot of the Blue Mountains respectively. Agricultural production then takes place within these new parklands. Farms are coupled with associated services, such as residential living, energy generation and water treatment, to create self-sufficient communities. These communities are then linked by transport routes. A sequence of programs emerges outward from the creek. Firstly, the riparian zone is restored and then forested, becoming a green spine with active transport, leisure and agriculture. Each point of production is coupled with a town square where a daily market takes place, along with food processing, water treatment and energy production. Along the forests edges dense mixed-use development are planned. Density diminishes as it moves further away from the parkland.

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Fig. 4.25  Local design of the amalgamation scenario

4.5.4  Amalgamation Resilience, as the most influential conceptual practice for future city-making, is the driving force behind the amalgamation subsuming the strongest points from each of the scenarios (Fig. 4.25). The combined spatial aspects jointly form the basis for adaptive pathways and the valuation of resilience and adaptive capacity and the emerging vision to vision and validate.

4.6  Design-led FEW-Nexus in Western Sydney Based on the analyses of urban flows of food energy and water, the design challenges and principles derived from these, and the hypothetical exploration by means of the three scenarios, concrete design propositions for specific locations are conceived. In this chapter several of these propositions are presented, not representing all designs that have been produced.

4.6.1  Designing the Conurbation The use of the holistic design principle of the Hyperlocalised City for the conurbation of Western Sydney starts with the understanding of the local characteristics of the landscape, its ecological and water systems. The core spine of South Creek in

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Fig. 4.26  Using the local landscape characteristics as condition for urban design of the conurbation

conjunction with its elevation and the larger landscape entities such as the Blue Mountains and the Western Sydney Parklands determine the hyperlocal qualities that form the basis for any urban development and are a source of nature, health, food and beauty. Urban entities depend on these systems, also returning their waste flows, for instance providing cleaned water, adding green space and trees as a source of shade and cooling, expelling car mobility in favour of active transport modes, and returning organic waste as a fertiliser for the growth of urban food. (Fig. 4.26). This spatial model opts for intensifying the urbanisation with the eye on creating large green spaces forming the divisions between urban parts. The totality of the urban landscape then gains quality in two ways: the urban environment gains spatial quality, liveability and feasibility of public transport while the green areas gain biodiversity, acting as a space for recreational activities and accommodate heat stress and flooding to become less impactful. Fresh air from the Blue Mountains is lead deeply into the urbanity, cooling the overheated urban precincts in summer. The green landscape in between the neighbourhoods give space to grow organic food in high-tech systems, while the larger landscape offers food production in a low-tech way. This way local flows of food, energy and water systems are interconnected, integrated and becoming circular. The green - urban – blue landscapes of the wider Sydney region are split in eastern and western areas (A) and are overlaid with the current motorway trunk routes (B) (Fig. 4.27). This opens the way to designing a system of bridging green and blue landscapes as ‘fingers’ through the urban environment and puncturing the motorways (C). The urban areas of Penrith and Liverpool are subsequently densified, separated by a new green landscape of the Aerotropolis (D) (Fig.  4.28). A high-speed rail system connects the new Western Sydney neighbourhoods and the Aerotropolis with the current rail nodes of metropolitan Sydney (E). The local landscape becomes subdivided and connects the green and blue systems with each other in a regional urban pattern that has the largest possible contact of urban and rural (F), supported by a fast mobility infrastructure.

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Fig. 4.27  Local landscape and infrastructure forming green-blue ‘fingers’

Fig. 4.28  Connecting green-blue landscapes separating regional urban spaces

4.6.2  Design of a Reciprocal Food-Forest The ambition to give more back to the environment than the city uses implies the city becomes productive and creates natural resources, refilling the ones that were depleted in the past. This ReciproCity (Roggema 2019) aims to regenerate the landscape by means of ecological resource. management (Ostrom 1990). Growing forest is such a strategy. It regenerates the ecological system in multiple ways. The forest is used to build homes with local materials, at the same time increases biodiversity and provides opportunities to grow food (Fig. 4.29). Planting trees from the present day they provide a cooling canopy for later urban infill in which vegetation, water and shade are abundant. The design is guided by a food-forest strategy, emphasising the multiple benefits a forest environment can bring to the urban fabric, such as taking up water as a sponge, providing building materials, increasing biodiversity and supplying indigenous and local food to the residents of the new city. Different forest typologies are concurrently implemented: 1. Forest in which water is stored to cool the environment and indirectly decreases flood risk. Riparian forests are used to flooding hence can play a role as buffer between areas where people live and the floodplains. At the same time, these forests form ecological corridors in the region linking similar habitats.

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Fig. 4.29  Food-forest strategy for designing urban development

2. Forest as emerging ecological reserves. Due to deforestation and the pressure of different forms of land use, some habitats and rare and endemic species can only be found in small pockets of land. These are relics from historic ecosystems which are slowly disappearing or becoming extinct. New forest typologies should relate to local conditions and grow native species in order for the niche species to spread. 3. Forest used as timber production, to be cut in a checkerboard pattern and be used to build homes in the direct vicinity. 4. Forest producing Cross Laminated Timber (CLT). As some of the timber forests are meant to stay with ongoing thinning as harvest products for timber and CLT, the setup of the forest is strongly related to local conditions, using more native species. 5. Forest as food-growing area (agroforestry). In many of these systems, trees and woody perennials are combined with growing fruits, nuts and vegetables. The opportunity is to grow native products which are often unknown to consumers, making use of indigenous knowledge of plants and food production. This strengthens biodiversity, resilience and enhances peoples’ care for the environment. 6. Forest as home to free-range pig and chicken farming. Boars were raised in forests on the island of Corsica in combination with rich productive forests. The boars were fed on chestnuts, corn and fruits. However, the animals should be part of a well-balanced flow of nutrients and be a sustainable part of the agroforestry system (Holmgren 2007).

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Fig. 4.30  Food forest strategy in a mixed-use urban environment

7. With bushfire controlling strategies, based on indigenous principles (Steffensen 2020), the use of different forest typologies leads to an extended, biodiverse and multifunctional forest. The overall effect of extensively growing forests in Western Sydney are that rainfall, especially in dry summers increases. For instance, transpiration helps to drive the seasonal cycle of rainfall in the southern Amazon (Wright et al. 2017). The forest typologies are designed in detail for an area just south of the new Badgerys Creek airport (Fig. 4.30). They are integrated with residential uses. The scheme prioritises the creek and riparian zone. The smaller streams, flowing into South Creek, are also restored where fast growing timber is harvested for building the houses. Adjacent to the riparian zone much denser forest is planned where high-­ density housing is intermixed with commercial/industrial areas along the ridgeline safely out of the flood zone. These mixed-use communities are distinct and are placed as castles in the landscape. They are surrounded by a mix of formal agriculture, recreational green space and food forests and protected from airport noise.

4.6.3  Systemic Indigenous Design Traditional knowledge treats the resources and land differently. It creates an overshoot for later and others, so society can really sustain. In a combination of conserving traditional practices and sites with application of traditional principles in future looking designs, the Indigenous City thrives and urban living transforms. The design

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Fig. 4.31  Design for bush-tucker land

for Busk-tucker land (Fig. 4.31) takes this driving force as the point of departure, producing native foods, including a kangaroo plain, macadamia ridge and emu plain. Visitors could go on safari to become more accustomed to native Australian foods. The growth of native foods can be enriched using the waste streams from the Aerotropolis and Agribusiness precinct to grow alternatives forms of protein, non-­ traditional native animals such as witchetty grubs, Bogong moths, meal worms and mangrove worms. The circularity of this design is emphasised by returning flows from these new protein sources as resource for the airport operations (Fig. 4.32).

4.6.4  Designing Inclusivity Through Regeneration Designing an Inclusive City provides local residents and landowners an important role in the spatial, environmental and economic model to be developed. This requires a co-design process, in which the cooperative approach will lead to an agreement on the long-term ambitions and objectives. This fits naturally with solving major problems regarding local degraded landscapes, ecology, water and soils using regenerative agriculture principles. Fragmented landownership guides which type of development pathway is possible. Under an overall governing mechanism, a series of individual landowners trial a variety of different approaches (Fig. 4.33). The land could be left to go wild, let the weeds grow and let it evolve into Indigenous

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Fig. 4.32  Diagram closing the cycles of waste flows and protein

grassland and yams. Alternatively, flowering trees could be planted for eventual hardwood harvesting. Each approach is married to different landownership. Land could be ‘banked’ developed for experiments to lift value leading to capital gain, land can be farmer owned, or crown land can be leased by a farmer or becomes redundant without farming. The vested interests of stakeholders determine the type of landholder system and the implications for the use of the landscape (Fig. 4.34). The waterscape is broadened by creating a chain of ponds. The riparian zone is reformed to follow the natural landscape. This then becomes a part of the asset which increases the quality of future urban living. Along the boundary between regenerative agricultural land and urban development a canopy of trees marks the transition.

4.6.5  Design of Purifying Urban System The design of the Purifying City takes the urban FEW-flows as the core of the new city. Closing the cycles of these flows at the lowest possible scale and cleaning them along the way demands a systemic way of designing. Clean resources are being

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Fig. 4.33  Typical examples of landholder and land use variety

Fig. 4.34  Potential land holder types and landscape opportunities

used, becoming dirty and are purified within the same physical space. The purifying landscape (Fig.  4.35) envisages strong linkages between all parts of the FEW-­ Nexus. Food is grown using regionally cleaned water, food is processed to generate biokerosene. This in turn feeds directly into an adjacent large-scale horticultural

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Fig. 4.35  A purifying landscape

Fig. 4.36  Circular city designs for village green (left) and three castles (right)

facility. Biowaste is processed to generate clean water resources, using the electricity from solar parks. Meanwhile all waste is recycled locally, energy is stored and food waste is reused in the process to create a circular system. A circular urban design is socially driven and focuses on transport and the use and storage of energy onsite. Main circulation routes through the village are designed for both mobility and energy. Built form centres around a village green (Fig. 4.36, left). Traditional agriculture is eschewed to instead the focus is on the finer grain growth of food. Alternatively, three ‘castles’ for three distinct themes are designed as separate precincts (Fig.  4.36, right). These ‘adult’, ‘blue water’ and ‘black water’ precincts are connected with a ‘protein orchard’ with tree-based nuts growing on excess of wastewater produced from the ‘castles.’ Finally, the water is filtered through a transitional green buffer before being released into the waterway.

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4.7  Conclusion The design-led process for inclusive FEW-Nexus urban development in the Sydney Metropolitan region illustrates the fundamental change that is required in the way cities are designed and developed. The current practice of developments, driven by landownership, profit maximisation and personal gain leaves ecological values behind. This ultimately will counteract on the wellbeing of the metropolitan residents. However, this impact is partly invisible, behind current time horizons and against habits of governance. In this chapter a multiple purpose approach is proposed which is driven by: 1. The landscape; the use of the qualities and specific characteristics of the ecological, water and soil systems of the existing landscape could bring the land back to live. The design-led approach as described starts with these values before urbanisation finds its fit within these larger systems. 2. Traditional land use philosophy; learning from Aboriginal practice the relation to the land is one of giving instead of taking. Use of the land replenishes the resources it contains instead of depletion leading to a degraded landscape. The design of urban-rural growth should create overshoots that are kept for future times, being it food surpluses, shared energy or waterways that are beholding biodiverse ecosystems. 3. Closing cycles of food, energy and water in a systemic way. Waste is useful as a newborn resource. The integration of urban flows maximises the options for reuse of waste streams derived from individual flow systems. The design of neighbourhoods and urban precincts should spatially manifest these processes, make them visible and reconnect them locally. 4. Revaluing values from economic to ecological; The current values are dominated by the economy, the profit that can or cannot be made. It is however a fundamental principle that if the ecosystem cannot carry economic activities, the economy will not survive. There is therefore all the reason to put ecological values upfront and base the economic system on those values instead of the other way around. Using these purposeful objectives to city planning will result in healthy, replenished ecosystems, in which human activity fits. This sustains life and will ultimately create a higher value of the lives of urban dwellers and nature alike. The examples presented for the Western Sydney Parkland area show that a design-led approach, based on the understanding of local data and context, is a way to create attractive examples, illustrating that an alternative way of developing urban areas is possible, adding quality to the environment, meanwhile creating the capability to deal with unprecedented changes such as, in this specific area, urban heat, droughts, fire and floods.

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Chapter 5

The Flexible Scaffold: Design Praxis in the FEW-Nexus Greg Keeffe and Seán Cullen

Abstract  Considering the way architects and urban designers work is critical to the implementation of Food-Energy-Water (FEW)-research when imagining the future of cities. Current FEW-research places emphasis on decision support systems, backed by quantification driven approaches to analyse the FEW-nexus. However, it forgets the heuristic, iterative process of design, that is different for all designers or design teams. As such, this chapter explores how architects and urban designers engage with place, the context of landscape and urban settlement, and data, the metrics by which the FEW-nexus is analysed. Proposed is a view that designers continually oscillate between content and form, iterating designs that access data or information on a need-to-know basis. Reflections between content and form are defined as ‘enquiry’, testing of content in the design process, and ‘validation’, scrutinising the implications of a design on the FEW-nexus. Consequently, it poses the question of how much a designer really needs to know within the process and whether they place greater emphasis on truth or validity as a modus operandi? The complexity, messiness and interconnectedness of the city requires a design approach that current FEW decision support systems do not take into consideration. The projective, conceptual and speculative operatives of design allow for new ways of viewing the FEW-nexus but requires flexible frameworks and mediums that enable designers to scale and frame propositions based on FEW-literate information at hand rather than in-depth quantification and data collection. Ultimately, design is an effective, rather than efficient, practice that considers wider social, cultural and environmental implications on the city and its residents.

Keywords  Design praxis · Heuristic process · Iterative methodologies

G. Keeffe (*) · S. Cullen School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_5

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G. Keeffe and S. Cullen ‘What architecture might learn from ecology is a more flexible form of practice itself: a series of working concepts flexible enough to accommodate the wildly improbable demands of the contemporary city’ –– Stan Allen, Practice: Architecture, Technique and Representation (2009), p. 175–176

5.1  Design Is Not a Science The challenges facing cities in relation to climate change, urbanisation and green economic development, requires architects and urban designers to be confident and knowledgeable in engaging with the underlying principles of the FEW-nexus. Urban design is a spatial discipline: cities are metabolic systems and landscapes across which food, energy and water (FEW) resources flow. In our globalised world, flux and flows take place across vast geographic distances such as asparagus from Peru or oil from Saudi Arabia. Citizens are spatially displaced from the landscapes of production and supply. The abstract nature of measuring these stocks and flows results in non-spatial or diagrammatic representations of FEW, such as flow charts or Sankey diagrams (Fig. 5.1). As a result, this lack of spatial depiction and connection, particularly as spatial infrastructure, makes engagement with this information for urban designers challenging, as it is often measured in diverse and abstract ways, trapping the designer in a continual chase for efficiency of flows, at source, in

Fig. 5.1  UK Energy Flow Chart (Gabbatiss 2019)

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transmission and in consumption. These process-types rarely lead to form in the built environment. To effectively design our cities around FEW-nexus principles, design practice must be better situated and understood in the context of ongoing scientific research in the field. This requires a critique of urban design praxis and how FEW-research can accommodate the variety of techniques, methods, tools and strategies embedded in the design processes used by urbanists and architects. Currently, FEW-nexus research sees design through the lens of decisions support systems as tools enabled to seemingly tell, or dictate to, the designer that, ‘the answer is x!’ Optimising the tools development is compulsory, the answer unquestionable. Departing, however, are nuance, messiness, complexity and non-linearity of the design practice (Yuan et al. 2018). Researchers and policymakers prioritise data. Often viewed as a commodity, it quantifies and measures system resource interventions to qualify a decision compared to business as usual. However, this ignores the way in which architects and urban designers work. Design praxis is understood here as a comprehensive view of the conscious or unconscious techniques, tools, strategies and methods used by architects and urban designers set within a professional or research viewpoint. Ammon (2017) defines it as ‘The rather uncommon notion of an all-­ embracing term to incorporate habitualised practices as well as non-habitualised actions and to integrate techniques, procedures, methods and strategies into the research perspective’. Compounding this is the fact that design is iterative: complexity is added through a reworking of drawings, whilst introducing parallel or tangential ideas. FEW-research requires a new viewpoint to better position and prioritise design practice for effective implementation of sustainable and ecological urbanism. This chapter explores how design praxis negotiates between scientific knowledge and projective, spatial and reformative visions for the built environment that encapsulate social and cultural considerations. Secondly, it sets out ways of utilising spatially defined FEW-measures in the design process, while highlighting the challenges of current FEW-data. Finally, it questions how designers might use decision support systems and literacy tools to move from strategic to tactical design interventions.

5.2  Efficient v Effective Spatial design is different from engineering design, in that its aim is to be effective, rather than efficient. Effectiveness is the ability to perform widely and adequately across a range of performance factors. Efficiency is a minimisation of resources used for a particular task, so has a narrowness of scope in its measure. If design is seen as ‘making things better’, in a myriad of small ways, it might create a situation where incredible transformation takes place in a multiplier or factorial situation. This is known as a synergy. Synergy can be seen clearly within urban agriculture, where a small community farm might well be seen as ‘inefficient’ in output and land

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use compared to an industrialised farm, but the added benefits of community cohesion, bio-diversity increase, water and waste management, improvement of diet, health and well-being, can be a game-changer in a neighbourhood. Here, as we ‘make things better’, the catalyst for transformation is an inefficient but effective change of land-use.

5.3  Design Praxis The epistemological nature of design is one of significant literary and research significance. Notably, the nature of design itself in relation to architecture and urban design is found in The Reflective Practitioner (Schön 1983). Schön views design as a conversation between the agent and the materials, or characteristics, of a situation. The iteration and aptitude of the designer in the situation is a performance that may give rise to unexpected and unintended moves, either creating resistance or new phenomena. Described as ‘reflection in action’, Schön views design as a search for insight. Local experiments are embedded in global experiments that upwardly reframe problems, setting out new trajectories for design. Experiments take place in three ways: 1. Exploratory experiments; 2. Move testing experiments; 3. Hypothesis testing experiments. Design utilises all three means at the same time and often iteratively, compared to scientific experimentation which employs one at a time as a single task to finish (Fig.  5.2). Ammon (2017) states that designing differs significantly from experimenting, thus, demonstrating the conflict that architecture and urban design find in current FEW-nexus research, a predominantly scientific endeavour. The heuristic process of design versus the procedures of attaining scientific knowledge are distinct. Rather, design, from an architectural and planning perspective, could be viewed as actioning scientific knowledge to visualise, spatialise their potentials and imagine the effect of connecting knowledge with a social understanding and view of the city at various, concurrent scales. Ammon advocates a multi-modal, scalar view of design practice to the point of withstanding scrutiny – the designer continually questioning a move based on new intense involvement and considered retreat, with the voices of others who may be connected or at a distance to the work.

5.4  Content and Form Architects and urban designers operate between paradigms concerned with content and form set within a reading of site and brief (Fig. 5.3).

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Fig. 5.2  Reality of design practice when considering the FEW-nexus and climate change during M-NEX Design Workshop in Groningen, March 2020 (picture by the author)

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Fig. 5.3  Design practice as negotiation between content and form through modes of reflection as enquiry or validation (by the authors)

• Content refers to the information, data and knowledge gained from a specific site, context or building technology, for example. Or the brief, programme and use of specific building types. • Form is the physical space, intervention or place created within the built environment that encapsulates the action of the architect or urban designer. The need to operate between these two worlds is somewhat different for a scientist, who might simply be concerned with data, quantifiable knowledge, compared to a sculptor, who might only be concerned with aesthetics or form. Spatial praxis oscillates between these spheres of operation, which can be seen as non-­ commensurate. Unlike the way in which Schön describes reflection in action, here reflection refers to the relationship between the designers in how they move between these areas of knowledge, explained later. It is an iterative process that moves continually between data or theory, extant or projective information that is analytical, to the spatial form making that shapes cities, spaces and buildings. The balancing act of form and content is not a generalised method to all individuals, rather a principle of praxis that requires consideration when spatial design is viewed through the FEW-nexus. Similarly, it takes place across scales of physical intervention in the built environment – building detail to urban infrastructure. The issue of content, or data gathering, is interesting because it begs the question how much information does the designer need to imagine a new urban space or form, or to intervene in an existing one? Or does design require validity or truth? Iteration allows more complexity to be added in a serial or parallel practice (Fig. 5.4). Currently, FEW-research aims to quantify and qualify whether a design move has been an appropriate response in the context of efficiency, as measured by stocks and flows of FEW-resources within the urban matrix (Guan et al. 2020). For food,

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Fig. 5.4  Design iteration as a serial or parallel practice that carries contradictions, nuance and confusion (by the authors)

this could be measured by weight, calories, nutrients, energy, GHG-emissions, for example. The aim of which is to develop a decision support system that offers the answer ‘the form must be this’, ‘the space should be smaller’ or ‘it should use these technologies, growing this specific food type’. It leaves designers as a ‘shopper’ deciding which in the catalogue to choose, attaching technologies to buildings or urban forms without consideration for wider social, cultural and environmental nuances. However, the designer requires only a small amount of information to intervene, especially in the strategic phase of design. The didactic nature of decision support systems leaves little flexibility and fluidity for the designer to move between content and form that acts, or reacts, to data which is accessed on a need-to-know basis. When there is information required or a question arises, the designer goes in search for the answer. Decision support systems seemingly trap designers in the problem of ‘carbon emissions from vehicle transportation is significant’, which often advocates a technological solution to ‘encourage the use of electric vehicles’. However, designing out the problem is not necessarily the same as designing the solution, as the future of mobility is likely to be public, multi-modal and free. Design, in the end, as previously discussed, is primarily about effectiveness rather than efficiency. Cities, naturally complex, are designed rather than engineered: they are seldom optimised, which, having the Bell-curve in mind, is the key idea of engineering. Cities are also seen as emergent: continuous overlaying of forms and processes over time, creates a deep engagement with changing contexts of climate, society and economy, that is difficult to model holistically and therefore optimise. Because of this, design is often based around an intervention that is visualised rather than calculated. This may be because the main role of the city is to create a context for meaningful lives, rather than a context of minimum impact.

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5.5  Challenges of Data and FEW-Research In design practice, the question of how much data is required for an architect or urban designer to act, or react, is debatable but also raises ambiguities and differences in available information when considering the FEW-nexus. The question of too much data relates to the heuristic and epistemological nature of the design process as well as newer ideas of evidence-based design, does access to too much data aid or stifle creativity? What is the optimum amount of information required and at which moment in the design process is it appropriate to consider? Do questions of frame and scale alter what data or information is required? And finally, how do we adapt this data for differing design practices and projects? As previously discussed, designers generally access data on a need to know basis. These issues with data not only relate to how and why architects choose to engage with it but also evidences the myriad of measurables within the FEW-nexus and the framing of the problem. This is because FEW-data are measured and evaluated in diverse and extremely nuanced ways. For example, the impact of food on the environment could be measured by greenhouse gas emissions, land and water use. Firstly, it can be quantified in terms of greenhouse gas emissions associated with growth, production, process, transportation and preparation, typically viewed as the full-life cycle emissions (Audsley et al. 2009; Williams et al. 2006; Nijdam et al. 2012; de Vries et al. 2015; CCC 2019). These emissions are available generically, a global average for all, or regionally which tries to account for agricultural practices, techniques and technologies. Notably, significant data only measures emissions to the farmgate, evidencing a greater concern for the growth and production emissions alone because the supply chain can take place across political or geographic jurisdictions and the types of process, packaging, transportation and preparation can differ, depending on the social, cultural and economic context of where the food is consumed. Instantly, there is a generalising of the data in the process. Secondly, food is also often measured through land-use, the area of land required to produce a specific quantity of food (Gerbens-Leenes and Nonhebel 2005; Nijdam et al. 2012; de Vries et al. 2015; CCC 2018). Lastly, volumes by output or consumption can be measured. While more straightforward, data can be measured in terms of direct need, how much space cattle require for inhabitation, or holistically, the area required for inhabitation but also for the area required to grow the feed over its lifetime. Data relating to energy and water is not as complex. For example, viewing the energy matrix of a country or region can be broken down to quantity of a given fuel source, the power output and/or the total carbon emissions of that consumption per fuel source. Similarly, for water, measurables can be either volume of consumption, energy capacity required, rainfall capture potential, energy required, or carbon emissions based on energy use for treatment. In addition, while these measurables are generalised, in many cases they lack granularity to operate at small scales. If any data is available at all. Often data cannot account for household type, size,

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socio-­economic status, house type (or date of construction), accessibility to public or private mobility, for example. The content component currently accounted for does not consider these critical pieces of context for the designer, important because it connects to place – its social, cultural, economic or religious context. Beyond this, temporal factors might also be important as drought and flood might occur and storage capacity needs to be depicted. Heating and cooling may occur separately or concurrently and knowledge of this temporally might change options. While the value of this information is extremely important, it is critical that designers see the FEW-nexus as requiring a systems-based approach when viewing the city. ‘Tools utilising a single-sector approach provide important quantitative baseline emissions data and help track progress toward reduction targets, but this information is usually not robust enough to guide a systems-based, all-inclusive approach to assessing and implementing low-carbon land use policies’ (Condon et al. 2009). One of the most significant difficulties of the metrics by which FEW-impacts on our environment is their legibility for architects or urban designers. What does the total consumption or carbon emissions actually mean to them? For that reason, developing a spatialised method of depicting the FEW-nexus is important because it is a language that is understandable to designers.

5.6  Importance of Spatialised Data The first attempts to visualise the climate impact in a more tangible sense for designers was through ecological foot-printing. Simply put, ‘foot-printing approaches relate human consumption of environmental resources (demand) to the carrying capacity of ecological systems (supply)’ (GLA Economics 2003, p. 4). The FEW-­ print of a city, neighbourhood or region represents a flow of stocks across an urban landscape. As discussed, data typically is abstracted, a non-spatial representation of the stocks and flows of food, water and energy. These resources and commodities of urban life are fluid and fast paced, ever changing and reforming. As such, designers grapple with content, million tonnes of oil or thousands of litres per day, making it hard to identify where form can intervene. The engagement with this information can be distancing and problem-focused, only accessed when designers need to make a move. Even then, the information only needs to be limited, moving fast is a priority. Equally, content grapples with social and cultural influences that design seeks to accommodate, or celebrate, with less tangible or quantifiable outcomes. Visualising and spatialising the data are a starting point from which content can be translated to a form of literacy for the designer. Carbon emissions can be translated into the area required for sequestration, CO2 from FEW in total. Land required for total area of food, energy generation and water capture for use. These results are then mapped and charted for a specific context to provide an idea to designers the challenges on the landscape, globally and locally, for meeting the needs of a population. One of the first attempts to undertake ecological foot-printing of a whole city was City Limits London. The report found London’s ecological footprint was ‘42 times

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its biocapacity and 293 times its geographical area’ (Best Foot Forward 2002, p. vi) covering 49 million global hectares (gha), equivalent to twice the size of the United Kingdom. However, for designers, there is another side to the equation when considering design with an event horizon far into the future. Notably, when London first undertook this ecological analysis, its second largest footprint came from food (41%), for which they had no policies (GLA Economics 2003). A major reason for the difficulty in addressing food policy was because 81% of all food in London was imported. However, a spatialising of this information can act as a tool for testing and trialling urban design interventions in a city to see how new food production techniques and changes in diet can alter ecological foot-printing. It allows for design to be projective, viewing possible future changes to social, cultural and technological paradigms. This method is further explored in Chap. 6.

5.7  Reflection as Validation or Enquiry Spatialising FEW-measurements and information allows designers to fluctuate between content and form in two vital modes, enquiry and validation (Fig.  5.3). Validation utilises FEW-assessment tools as a means of reflection, from form to content. What are the implications of this spatial proposition? Enquiry utilises literacy tools, or rules of thumb, for knowing design parameters and implications on the FEW-nexus before design interventions. For instance, 0.75 m2 of Sitka Spruce forest can sequester one tonne of CO2e annually (Dewar and Cannell 1992). Or, each person consumes 150  l of water per day, increasing the population of the neighbourhood by 1000 people will increase daily water use by 150,000  l. This gives designers knowledge, with only a small amount of information, that is general enough to work with immediately, but also accurate enough to know how to engage with the problem and to propose solutions. It is a valid assumption onto which design can hinge. As the process continues, enquiry and validation require increasing levels of detail, accuracy and knowledge to ensure clear, effective design decisions are made, promoting iteration. However, it requires the process of verification as a movement between content and form to ensure there is an understanding of how design decisions might impact the FEW-nexus. For example, how can design measures qualify efficiency if it proposes a neighbourhoods housing stock will be moved from oil to gas based central heating and thermal solar panels (TSPs) will provide 50% of all hot water to homes? Or, what if all new housing was built within a 5-min walk of public transport and 80% of all these residents started to commute by public transport rather than by car? Validation ensures that notions in design can be negotiated in the context of its impact of FEW-measurables.

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5.8  A Flexible Scaffold As this suggests, designers may produce adverse effects on the FEW-nexus in the city but deem them worthy because of potential social, cultural or economic benefits in making the city liveable. Consequently, they might have to find other ways of form-making which affects the FEW-nexus of the city. As such, this emphasises the ethics or ethos within the practice of design, which can be viewed as emotive, inspirational, personal and utopic. Each uses data and information for pragmatic purposes but extrapolate to visualise new possibilities from divergent viewpoints. A designer who might prioritise financial output of the neighbourhood requires vastly different validation and verification processes to one concerned about the reduction of carbon emissions solely. Ultimately, the consideration of frame and event horizon significantly impact how designers operate no matter the paradigm. Frame identifies the boundaries of spatial importance to the designer for inclusion in a proposition that can be influenced by form or content in equal measure. Event horizon views and speculates how social, economic, political, environmental and cultural contexts might influence design strategies over time. The process by which we have explored the way designers work in the city is complex and contradictory. These parameters are boundless but demonstrate process, knowledge and principles outside the realm of FEW, which need to be considered when viewing the nexus in our cities. We call this new loose design support tool the flexible scaffold. It is wholly different from the current technical decision support tools in the FEW-space.

5.9  Conclusion Design practice in the context of climate change requires new frameworks and concepts for effective, sustainable urbanism. There are profound differences between engineering ‘design’ and more open-end practices, such as urban design and thus they have very little in common. The practices of technical optimisation as a design activity and those that help the origination of form and ideas come from opposite ends of a continuum. One is myopic in focus, exact in numerical terms and didactic, with meaningful answers. The other is wide-ranging in scope, inexact in evidence, and often produces possibilities rather than answers. This has serious implications for the nascent FEW-practices. Urban design, even within the current climate emergency, is still design and not engineering, and its abstract nature must be supported. The importance of viewing FEW-systems as a space in which to operate, with literacy tools for quick design decisions, rather than a didactic, decision support service, ensures designers can integrate FEW-principles at the earliest stages of design development. Reframing the FEW-nexus as a design practice rather than a scientific, quantifiable measure of flows and resource use in the city, is critical to ensuring urban design can effectively change the way our cities and regions operate. Dealing with climate change and resource depletion requires immediate and effective design that can utilise critical modes of reflection. Radical and imaginative

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solutions are required for human survival into the twenty-second century. This will require creative thinking that is supported by abstract representation of large-scale datasets, rather than answers on a spreadsheet. Enabling iterative forms of enquiry or validation, as designers move between content and form, ensures notions of design praxis can still take place within the technically loaded terrain of FEW. This may take the form of a flexible scaffold of support, rather than a fixed decision-­ support system. This flexible scaffold is required because current decision support systems do not empower the designer to view the social or cultural qualities of cities nor are they nuanced enough to aid the development of synergies that ensure that cities are enjoyable, ecological and climate-adaptive long into the future.

References Allen S (2009) Practice: architecture, technique and representation, 1st edn. Routledge, London Ammon S (2017) Why designing is not experimenting: design methods, epistemic praxis and strategies of knowledge acquisition in architecture. Philos Technol 30(4):495–520 Audsley E, Brander M, Chatteron J, Murphy-Bokern D, Webster C, Williams A (2009) How low can we go? An assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from the UK food system and the scope to reduce them by 2050. FCRN-WWF-UK Best Foot Forward (2002) City limits: a resource flow and ecological footprint analysis of Greater London. Chartered Institution of Wastes Management Environmental Body, Oxford Committee on Climate Change (CCC) (2018) Land use: reducing emissions and preparing for climate change. Committee on Climate Change (CCC), London Committee on Climate Change (CCC) (2019) Reducing emissions in Northern Ireland. Committee for Climate Change, London Condon PM, Cavens D, Miller N (2009) Urban planning tools for climate change mitigation. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, MA De Vries M, Van Middelaar CE, De Boer IJM (2015) Comparing environmental impacts of beef production systems: a review of life cycle assessments. Livest Sci 178:279–288 Dewar RC, Cannell MGR (1992) Carbon sequestration in the trees, products and soils of forest plantations: an analysis using UK examples. Tree Physiol 8:239–258 Gabbatiss J (2019) Analysis: UK primary energy use in 2018 was the lowest in half a century. [online] Carbon Brief. Available at: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-primary-energyuse-in-2018-was-the-lowest-in-half-a-century. Accessed 20 Jan 2020 Gerbens-Leenes PW, Nonhebel S (2005) Food and land use. The influence of consumption patterns on the use of agricultural resources. Appetite 45(1):24–31 Guan X, Mascaro G, Sampson D, Maciejewski R (2020) A metropolitan scale water management analysis of the food-water-energy nexus. Sci Total Environ 701:134478 Nijdam D, Rood T, Westhoek H (2012) The price of protein: review of land use and carbon footprints from life cycle assessments of animal food products and their substitutes. Food Policy 37:760–770 Schön DA (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. Arena, Aldershot Williams AG, Audsley E, Sandars DL (2006) Determining the environmental burdens and resource use in the production of agricultural and horticultural commodities, Main report. Defra research project IS0205. Cranfield University and Defra, Bedford Yuan K-Y, Lin Y-C, Chiueh P-T, Lo S-L (2018) Spatial optimization of the food, energy and water nexus: a life cycle assessment-based approach. Energy Policy 119:502–514

Chapter 6

Spatialised Method for Analysing the Impact of Food Seán Cullen and Greg Keeffe

Abstract  Diets of residents in cities across the world are shaped by globalised systems of food production, supply, sale and consumption. Consequently, this distances the consumer from the impacts it has on the landscape, in addition to the energy and water needed to grow, process and transport food. This chapter sets out a method for spatialising the impact of Northern Irish food production and consumption by quantifying and visualising the land use in the production cycle, carbon sequestration area to offset full life-cycle emissions and rainwater collection area needed for production. The process spatialises the ‘food print’ at the scale of the individual, the household, the neighbourhood, the city and at the regional level to underscore the challenges of moving towards sustainable forms of production and consumption. It explores future dietary possibilities and the impact it has on the ‘food print’ to highlight the benefits of moving towards vegetarian and vegan diets. Finally, the chapter demonstrates how design interventions in the neighbourhood can reduce the ‘food print’ of residents by proposing productive, technical food systems. Keywords  Food print · Urban agriculture · Spatialising food impact · future diets

6.1  Introduction The impact of food on the environment, through land use and carbon emissions, is increasingly common in the public discourse. Citizens, as consumers, are beginning to educate themselves on the impacts of the production, processing, packaging, delivery and sale of food on our planet. Likewise, researchers, architects and urbanists highlight the need to deal with food as a core ingredient in the sustainable city

S. Cullen (*) · G. Keeffe School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_6

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Fig. 6.1  Area of forest (1,497,656 ha of Sitka Spruce YC 16) required to sequester annual CO2 emissions (5.4 MtCO2e) from agriculture in Northern Ireland, accounting for 27% of total annual GHG emissions in N.I. (DAERA 2019a)

of the future. The current, linear food systems are radically transforming our urban and rural landscapes at a scale not seen before. It is, therefore, necessary to make architects and urbanists literate in the role food has in transforming landscapes. While agriculture emits significant proportions of greenhouse gas emissions (Fig.  6.1), it also offers an opportunity to reimagine the potentials for rural and urban landscapes for future food production under new dietary and climate trajectories. Ensuring food resilience and security, a starting point in visualising how food virtually affects the landscape allows urban designers and architects the opportunity to develop a design-led approach to future food systems. The quantification and visualisation of the impact of food consumption in the region, while mostly virtual, is significant in demonstrating how a multi-scaler, nested approach to intervention must be evaluated in order to identify where design might have the greatest impact. This chapters sets out a new methodology that aims to quantify and spatialize the impact of food consumption, using Northern Ireland as an example. The purpose of this process is to define the challenges facing current food flows that can be applied to contexts all over the world. Similarly, it seeks to determine the virtual footprint of the household in relation to land use, carbon sequestration and water collection based on annual food consumption of the average resident. The baseline analysis will be used to determine how a pathway to sustainable diets can be achieved in

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addition to identifying ways in which urban spaces can begin to accommodate technical food systems, thereby reducing carbon emissions and land use.

6.2  Agriculture, Land Use and Food in N.I Agriculture in Northern Ireland is a significant part of the economy and shapes the rural landscape. Farmland accounts for 72.4% of all land use with a significant proportion of farms (83%) used for livestock production (Table 6.1), almost double the United Kingdom (U.K.) average (43%). Notably, 75% of all farms in Northern Ireland are considered to be in less favourable areas (LFAs) due to the poor soil quality, entitling farmers to additional income payments under the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (DAERA 2018 ; CCC 2019). Over the last ten years, there has been an increase in the number of pig and poultry livestock across Northern Ireland, 57.5% and 52% respectively, and a significant decrease in land used for crop production, notably cereals (−26.5%) and potatoes (−29.5%) (Table 6.2). Consequently, the agriculture sector is the biggest source of CO2 emissions in Northern Ireland annually, accounting for 27% of total emissions, or 5.4 MtCO2e, in 2017 (DAERA 2019a). This attitude to land use is also reflected in the typical diet of the average Northern Irish resident. There are notable differences between the diet of Northern Irish residents compared to the rest of the United Kingdom, which have significant health and cost implications. Significantly, greater quantities of meat and potatoes are consumed on average (the stereotype holds true!): 17% more noncarcase meat and meat products (including twice as much takeaway meats), 38% more carcase meats, including 63% more beef and veal, and 72% more potatoes (Table 6.3). While this data assumes an average, or per capita consumption (PCC), there are also variations in consumption depending on household type, as either single person households, lone parent households or cohabiting households. It is Table 6.1  Northern Ireland land use (DAERA 2018)

Agricultural Livestock Crops Cereals Other field crops Horticultural crops Hill or rough land Other (woodlands etc.) Non-agricultural Total

Land use (ha) 1,022,400 807,600 44,900 29,700 12,500 2800 143,200 26,700

Land cover (ha/ capita) 0.55 0.43 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.08 0.01

% of total N.I. land cover 72.4% 57.2% 3.18% 2.10% 0.88% 0.20% 10.1% 1.89%

Land cover (km2) 10,224 8076 449 297 125 28 1432 267

390,600 1,413,000

0.21 0.76

27.6%

3906 14,130

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Table 6.2  Livestock and crops census in Northern Ireland (DAERA 2018; DAERA 2019b) 2008 Livestock (‘000 heads) Dairy Beef Total cows Breeding ewes Total sheep Female breeding pigs Total pigs Laying flock Broilers Total poultry Crops (‘000 ha) Cereals Potatoes Horticulture

289.2 265.7 1622.5 935.4 1973.6 35.5

2016 317.1 269.7 1664.6 955.2 2023.0 46.4

2017 315.8 267.1 1666.4 973.3 2052.6 47.9

2018

% difference between 2008 & 2018

310.7 255.9 1629.0 0.40% 956.5 2006.0 1.64% 49.6

402.4 601.1 649.1 633.6 57.46% 2398.5 3550.0 3962.8 4331.9 11,543.5 14,459.2 16,766.6 17,663.0 17,130.9 18,009.2 20,729.4 26,030.0 51.95% 40.4 5.1 3.0

33.4 3.7 2.9

32.3 4.1 3.0

29.7 −26.49% 3.6 −29.41% 2.8 −6.67%

notable that lone parent households consume significantly greater amounts of frozen meats and smaller quantities of fresh and processed fruit (Table 6.4). It highlights the important challenge of granular data in relation to household type and socio-economic makeup of a household in order to allow more specific design approaches to an area of the city. For example, 17.9% of all households in inner East Belfast are single parent households. Similarly, the data evidences trends in relation to PCC food consumption between 2006–2017. While similar amounts of carcase meat are being consumed there are increased volumes of non-carcase meat eaten; less bread; and, greater volumes of potatoes and fruit (processed and fresh).

6.3  T  he ‘Food Print’ of Northern Ireland: Spatialising Consumption and Environmental Impact The PPC diet in Northern Ireland is spatialised in three different ways: 1 . Land use for production 2. Area of forest for carbon sequestration of emissions associated with full lifecycle production; 3. Rainwater collection for virtual water needed for production. Data is scaled at five levels: 1 . The individual (PPC); 2. The average household (2.5 PCC);

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Table 6.3 Weekly PCC food comparison for Northern Ireland and Great Britain average (ONS 2017) Description Milk and milk products excluding cheese Cheese Carcase meat Beef and veal Mutton and lamb Pork Non-carcase meat and meat products Bacon and ham, uncooked Bacon and ham, cooked Chicken, uncooked – whole chicken or chicken pieces Sausages, uncooked – pork Burgers, frozen or not frozen Takeaway meats Fish Eggs Fats Butter Sugar and preserves Fresh and processed vegetables, including potatoes Fresh and processed potatoes Fresh and processed fruit Bread Flour Cakes, buns and pastries Biscuits and crispbreads Other cereals and cereal products Beverages Tea Coffee beans and ground coffee Instant coffee Other food and drink

Northern Units Ireland ml 1993

GB average 1836

g g g g g g

93 235 163 20 52 905

113 171 100 24 46 774

−17.5% 37.6% 63.0% −18.3% 12.2% 17.0%

g g g

76 55 207

63 42 169

19.0% 31.9% 22.4%

g

63

52

21.3%

g

30

19

54.2%

g g No. g g g g

102 125 2 155 50 96 2019

51 130 2 148 42 104 1678

100.0% −4.2% 12.6% 5.1% 18.7% −7.4% 20.3%

g

1112

646

72.2%

g g g g g g

992 638 27 182 183 564

1049 559 44 143 170 537

−5.5% 14.2% −39.5% 27.4% 7.8% 5.0%

g g g

54 31 6

52 24 7

3.2% 28.6% −17.6%

g g

13 872

14 830

−5.7% 5.1%

8.6%

(continued)

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Table 6.3 (continued) Description Mineral or spring waters Confectionery Alcoholic drinks Beers Lagers and continental beers Wine and champagne

Units ml g ml ml ml

Northern Ireland 438 153 747 111 300

GB average 369 141 681 79 245

ml

195

219

18.8% 8.3% 9.7% 40.3% 22.3% −11.2%

3 . The neighbourhood (in this case, inner east Belfast); 4. The city (Belfast); 5. The region (N.I.). Similarities in area required for land use and sequestration are noted at all scales. Land use refers to the area required for food production based on the per capita consumption of the Northern Irish diet. While most food production takes place virtually, outside of the country, it is determined and compared to the various scales of measurement. Different food requires different areas of land to produce a kilogram or litre for consumption (Fig.  6.2). The land use required to produce food based on PCC in N.I. is 1317 m2 per person annually (Table 6.5). Cattle, for beef (487 m2 PCC), and cows, for milk (111 m2 PCC), alone account for nearly half of land use for food production. When considering other meats as well including pork (111m2 PCC) and chicken (136  m2 PCC) totals about 65% of the land use. This demonstrates the significance of livestock in shaping the regions landscape and diets but, more importantly, its environmental footprint. The area of land use for production was similar in size to the area of forest required to sequester the carbon emissions associated with full lifecycle production. This uses data associated with the emissions in production, processing, packaging, transportation and preparation of a given quantity of food (Hamerschlag 2011). Once calculated, the area of forest needed to sequester the annual rate of emissions determined based on the planting is Sitka Spruce YC 16 which sequesters 3.6 tC/ha/ year (Dewar and Cannell 1992). The emissions based on per capita consumption are 1.71 tCO2e every year, requiring an area of 1348 m2 to sequester through forestry (Table 6.6). When this is viewed for the entire region, a total of 17.8% of land use for forestry is required, an enormous task for Northern Ireland, considering it currently stands at 8%. Land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) is a net contributor to emissions rather than a net sink in the region (CEH 2015; CCC 2019). The largest areas for offsetting annual PCC are beef (572 m2), potatoes (305 m2), pork (182 m2) and milk (178 m2). Interestingly, the difference between areas needed to sequester carbon and grow the food (land use) were similar.

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Table 6.4  Northern Ireland weekly PCC by household (DARDNI 2006) and average PCC (ONS 2017) 2006 PCC

2017 PCC

ml

1 1 2 0 >1 0 2803 2014 2313 2111

1993

g g g g g

102 282 172 31 79 867

62 172 136 13 23 741

105 314 203 40 72 929

72 233 160 23 49 796

93 235 163 20 52 905

g g g

110 74 130

54 48 152

111 74 204

78 57 157

76 55 207

g g

83 30

74 37

74 27

74 30

63 30

g g No. g g g g

110 152 2 234 73 206 1083

104 77 1 140 40 77 838

70 163 2 242 70 160 1127

99 107 1 176 47 108 905

102 125 2 155 50 96 1112

g

1341 602

1323 911

992

g g g g

1155 232 204 527

749 149 167 424

1006 255 205 479

843 179 187 480

638 182 183 564

g g g g ml g ml

92 67 17 817 317 137 601

34 23 8 637 191 116 223

69 45 18 813 335 147 647

43 30 10 619 221 132 511

54 31 13 872 438 153 747

Adults Children Milk and milk products excluding cheese Cheese Carcase meat Beef Lamb Pork Non-carcase meat and meat products Bacon and ham, uncooked Bacon and ham, cooked Chicken, uncooked – whole chicken or chicken pieces Sausages, uncooked – pork Burgers, frozen or not frozen Takeaway meats Fish Eggs Fats Butter Sugar and preserves Fresh and processed potatoes Fresh and processed fruit Bread Cakes, buns and pastries Biscuits and crispbreads Other cereals and cereal products Beverages Tea Instant coffee Other food and drink Mineral or spring waters Confectionery Alcoholic drinks

(continued)

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Table 6.4 (continued)

Beers Lagers and continental beers Wine and champagne

ml ml

97 180

42 27

90 228

2006 PCC 93 172

ml

146

101

244

155

2017 PCC 111 300 195

Fig. 6.2  Area required to produce one kg/l of food compared to the footprint and area of the average N.I. terrace house (Gerbens-Leenes and Nonhebel 2002; Williams et al. 2006)

Finally, the area required to collect all the water needed for food production was determined by assessing rainfall. Data on virtual water, the input needed to produce a kilogram, or litre, of a consumable food product, was assessed (Mekonnen and Hoekstra 2010; ICE 2013). It calculated the virtual water in the PCC of Northern Ireland residents and compared it to the average annual rainfall of the area to determine whether it would sufficiently meet the production needs. While this is a completely hypothetical test, as most food is grown elsewhere, the calculation demonstrated that the catchment areas of land use and area for sequestration, as shown previously, is enough to capture the required water for production (Table 6.7). Food with the largest water needs for annual PCC in Northern Ireland are beef (326,434 l), cereals (92,355 l) and chocolate (90,012 l).

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Table 6.5  Area required for food production based on average annual consumption of a Northern Irish resident (Gerbens-Leenes and Nonhebel 2002; Williams et al. 2006; ONS 2017) Individual Annual PCC x1 Land use m2 1317 ha 0.1317 km2 0.0013 As % of area

Average household Annual PCC x 2.5 85 m2

Neighbourhood Annual PCC x 32,834 13.2 km2

Belfast Annual PCC x 280,962 115 km2

Northern Ireland Annual PCC x 1,870,000 14,147 km2

3293 0.3293 0.0033 3874%

43,252,479 4325 43.3 327%

370,113,388 2463,365,280 37,011 246,337 370.1 2463 322% 17.4%

Table 6.6  Area required for carbon sequestration of full life-cycle emissions for food production based on average annual consumption of a Northern Irish resident Individual Annual PCC x1 Carbon Emissions Kg CO2e 1822 t CO2e 1.82 Kt CO2e 0.00182 Sequestration m2 1348 ha 0.1348 km2 0.0013 As % of area

Average household Annual PCC x 2.5 85 m2

Neighbourhood Annual PCC x 32,834 13.2 km2

Belfast Annual PCC x 280,962 115 km2

Northern Ireland Annual PCC x 1,870,000 14,147 km2

4556 4.56 0.00456

59,832,735 59,833 59.8

511,991,377 3,407,663,223 511,991 3,407,663 512.0 3407.7

3371 0.3371 0.0034 3966%

44,276,224 4428 44.3 335%

378,873,619 2,521,670,785 37,887 252,167 379 2522 329% 17.8%

6.4  Visualising the Impact To visualise each of the measures, the area for land use and sequestration were spatialised to household level as a means to provide literacy to designers about the impact of food on our landscapes. The new terrace house, where all food is produced locally and immediate to the home, allows the designer to acknowledge the spatial requirements to meet the current consumption of the residents (Steele 2019). The scale of the household is important because it is big enough to be efficient in addition to offering scalability and replicability for urban agricultural systems. Imagining and spatialising the ‘food print’ of the old terraces houses of Belfast demonstrates the detached nature of the food supply chain but responds directly to seeing how our impact on the landscape, although removed, is significant. The area needed to provide food for a household, while sequestering all the carbon in the production of that food, takes up a footprint 156 times greater the footprint of a typical Belfast terrace. Due to the high levels of rainwater in

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Table 6.7  Virtual water use for food production and annual rainwater capture in N.I. based on the average annual food consumption of a Northern Irish resident

Catchment area:

Individual Annual PCC x1

Rainfall average

Catchment rainfall Volume / annum (m3) Virtual water use l 979,780 m3 980 Ml As % of area Area required to meet demand (m2) Area required to meet demand (km2)

Average household Annual PCC x 2.5 85 m2 East Belfast: 930 mm/ annum 45

2449,451 2449 2 5443% 2634

Neighbourhood Annual PCC x 32,834 13.2 km2

Belfast Annual PCC x 280,962 115 km2

Northern Ireland Annual PCC x 1,870,000 14,147 km2

East Belfast: 930 mm/annum

Belfast: NI: 1136 mm/ 944 mm/annum annum

2,294,600

108,560,000

16,051,700,000

2,170,110,427 32,170,110 32,170 262% 34,591,517

75,281,067,365 275,281,067 275,281 254% 296,001,148

1,832,189,392,062 1,832,189,392 1,832,189 11.4% 1,970,096,120

34.59

292

1613

Northern Ireland the area required for this capturing can take place within this identified area. Spatialising this data acts as a starting point for imagining how architects and urbanists can test new dietary and urban trajectories that fracture global supply chains while hinging visions for productive neighbourhoods around principles of food production. 1. To reduce food mileage and the associated costs of transportation and carbon emissions. 2. To imagine how our diets can accommodate a sustainable, locally sourced location based on available resources, including water and soil, while increasing health and wellbeing through nutritional balance. 3. To bring food production to the forefront of citizens realisation of the impact on our landscape the farm to plate process takes. This new terrace house is not ideal; the street, if it were to produce each homes food, is unimaginably large (Fig. 6.3). In reality it is a fractured, fragmented landscape in

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Fig. 6.3  How big is your patch? The ‘food print’ of McMaster Street in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter based on the area of land use and area of forestry to sequester carbon per household according to average Northern Irish diet

distant and varied locations and, as such, is an abstracted figure. However, it provokes the designer to intervene in order to reduce or localise these spaces through more efficient systems of production and sustainable food pathways which respond to local context.

6.5  Pathways to New Diets One of the most obvious ways to reduce the ecological footprint of the city is to consider how diets might evolve in the future to reduce emissions and land use, globally and locally. While it is not likely that residents of Northern Ireland will fully transition their diets, the following proposes the most extreme possibilities of moving to completely vegan and vegetarian diets. This aims to demonstrate the reduction in space requirements for food. Firstly, the British diet was spatialised to get a sense of how the Northern Irish diet compares (Fig. 6.4). Secondly, vegetarian based diets were considered through the same spatialised methodology. These took recommended daily intake of vegetables and fruits from

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Fig. 6.4  Changes to land use and area for sequestration under new dietary conditions. Current diet (top) is compared to Great Britain (G.B.), vegetarian and vegan diets. All measured at the scale of the household (2.5 PPC for Northern Ireland (N.I)

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the National Health Services (NHS 2018) for approximately four portions of 80 g of fruit and vegetables each day, fresh, canned or frozen. Lastly, a vegan diet was considered using the same method and based on the NHS recommended intake. This was five portions of 80 g of fruit and vegetables each day, again fresh, canned or frozen, in addition to at least 30 g of dried fruit. The results showed notable reductions in each of these dietary types compared to the Northern Irish diet. For example, compared to Northern Ireland, the spatialised results of the other diets is significantly less, Great Britain (87%), vegetarian (52%) and vegan (40%). Notably, when vegetarian and vegan diets are tested, the land use for production becomes significantly smaller than area required to sequester CO2 emissions than the current Northern Irish and British diets. This emphasises the reliance on meats for residents in Northern Ireland and the future potential health implications for residents. Similarly, it demonstrates the ecological footprint of food is bigger in this region than elsewhere and, as such, requires an immediate move towards reduction in meat-based diets which have the greatest impact on land use and in carbon emissions. While it is difficult to design new pathways to future food consumption within the realms of urban design practice, there are approaches to reducing land use and carbon emissions of diets by designing and integrating technical food systems within urban landscapes.

6.6  Matrix of Urban Agriculture The spatialisation of the ‘food print’ of diets is an endeavour grounded in the view of enquiry, as defined in the previous chapter. It uses a quantification process to see how form changes although does not overtly describe the design intervention. As such, a validation process, the movement of a form-based or design proposition, must be set out to view how sites of urban agriculture and food systems can inform a designer on the productive qualities of a space. The following looks at this process for an interface area in inner east Belfast. The design proposition for the Short Strand peace wall employs a hydroponic growing system that utilises media beds for nutrient delivery for tomatoes over three levels (Fig. 6.5). Shortfalls of this system means it requires daily monitoring, needs mined minerals for the delivery of nutrients and the water needs to be changed periodically. However, it is a lightweight and low maintenance system, ideal for its placement along the peace wall. The length of the structure is 30 metres and can produce approximately 30 crops per square metre. Annually, it can produce 2700 crops, or 540,000 tomatoes. The equates to a total of 32,400 kg of tomatoes annually, if the average tomato weighs 60 g. This 135 m2 structure, with a footprint of 45 m2, the area of a typical Belfast terrace house, can produce tomatoes for 69% of all the residents of inner East Belfast (32,834) for the year. It reduces the area of land required for tomato production for this population alone from 811 to 45 m2, a 94.5% decease. While not all design propositions can reduce this area as

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Fig. 6.5  Growing-up: a vertical hydroponic system on an existing peace wall in Inner East Belfast

significantly, when combined with new diets, the focus of fewer crucial food types can alter land use significantly. Even though land use is decreased significantly, other effects on carbon emissions and water use must also be considered because of the food system employed. The proposition relies on a temperature-controlled structure to produce the tomatoes, energy to pump water through the system and mineral inputs for nutrients. A decrease in food mileage, however, reduces emissions from transportation. While

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more water is used than conventional growing, the water is reused in the system a number of times and in a growing season may utilise less water per plant or kilogram of food produced. While it is difficult to quantify how these directly impact the carbon sequestration area and water use, it raises a significant question about current data availability for designers especially in the validation process of a design proposition. Much of the quantitative data does not always reflect the nuances of a place, i.e. the emissions of a particular farming method in Northern Ireland compared to the data available for France or the United States. This raises different, but equally important, issues with data to the one explored in the previous chapter. It relates to accessibility and availability of information to qualify a design proposition as having a positive or negative impact on the FEW-nexus, i.e. will the above system increase or decrease carbon emissions for every kilogram of tomatoes grown. Design instead focuses on the softer, social impacts such a design proposition seeks to operate within, its effectiveness. One that has a detailed, spatial understanding of a place and employs a system. In this case it seeks to provide new connections to food and growing which fosters interactions in a zone that is shared and collective, rather than divisive and inhibiting. Design in this case places visibility and engagement with the existing built environment as an immeasurable metric in the FEW-nexus, but one that is critical to future urban food production.

6.7  Conclusion Quantifying the PCC of Northern Ireland reveals significant distinctions between its residents and those living in the rest of the United Kingdom. It indicates the huge virtual impact of food on landscape for production, sequestration and rainwater capture. When spatialised this demonstrates the fact that the low density of the country could meet this demand. However, this abstracted approach raises two significant challenges. The first is establishing a design-led process of urban and landscape design interventions which ensures this virtual production can be located in Northern Ireland. Secondly, and in parallel, how can more sustainable food pathways be shaped through this process in order to reduce the impact on our natural resources and mitigate against the risks of climate change. The challenge of design in the FEW-nexus requires new ways of visualising the problem and the solution, as defined here are ways of doing both. One way engages with the problem, or content, through spatialising the impact of our diets on land use and carbon emissions. Another way seeks to offer a solution, the form, through a design proposition. The methodology set out demonstrates an innovative approach for architects and urban designers to visualise the existing spatial impact of food while also acting as a tool to understand how an intervention will change FEW flows and resource use. However, the model could be improved through access to localised data in relation to food production and land use that is specific to farming techniques and practices in a specific context. Secondly, granular data about current food consumption patterns for different household types and socio-economic

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backgrounds, would provide greater accuracy and detail to the results. Despite this, the ability for this method to be applied to varying contexts is significant. It can account for the consumption patterns of other regions, the Netherlands or Italy for example, while accommodating how farming practices in each country affect the method. In the Netherlands, for instance, intensive farming practices will radically alter the ‘food print’ because of differing land-use, carbon emissions and water use metrics. Future research will focus on new and varied technical food systems in the urban context and how it can shape productive neighbourhoods, economically and socially. Hyper-localising the production, storing and distribution of food in close proximity to the consumer, would allow for added integration into the model and further reduce carbon emissions associated with transportation and reduce significantly packaging requirements. Notably, the emphasis on virtual food production proves problematic and, as such, future work may will begin to analyse and spatialise where and how food moves from global systems to local interfaces. It will critique growing techniques, transportation, times (of production and storage), distance from farm to fork and consumer access points. In tandem with this methodology, it will allow for effective hyper-local design propositions that consider food types and interfaces that can significantly reduce land-use and carbon emissions.

References Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) (2015) United Kingdom: land cover map. London Committee for Climate Change (CCC) (2019) Reducing emissions in Northern Ireland. London Department for Agriculture and Rural Development Northern Ireland (DARDNI) (2006) Expenditure and Food Survey: purchased quantities of household food & drink by household composition (three-year averages) 2005–2006. Belfast Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) (2018) Animal farm census. Northern Ireland Statistics Research Agency (NISRA), Belfast Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) (2019a) Northern Ireland greenhouse gas inventory 1990-2017. Belfast: Statistics and Analytical Services Branch, DAERA Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) (2019b) Animal farm populations. Belfast Dewar RC, Cannell MGR (1992) Carbon sequestration in the trees, products and soils of forest plantations: an analysis using UK examples. Tree Physiol 8:239–258 Gerbens-Leenes PW, Nonhebel S (2002) Consumption patterns and their effects on land required for food. Ecol Econ 42(1):185–199 Hamerschlag K (2011) Meat eaters guide to climate change and health. Environmental Working Group, Washington, p 19 Institute of Mechanical Engineers (ICE) (2013) How much water food production waste? theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste. (2013). 15 Jan 2019 Mekonnen MM, Hoekstra AY (2010) The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products. Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47. UNESCO-IHE, Delft. http:// www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Report47-WaterFootprintCrops-Vol1.pdf. 15 Jan 2019

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National Health Service (NHS) (2018) Healthy eating for vegetarians and vegans. Available: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/healthy-eating-vegetarians-vegans/ [Dec 2019} Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2017) Family and food survey: purchased quantities of household food and drink per person per week (three-year averages) 2016–2017. London Steel C (2019) Sitopia, what is it? A survey on the future of food. Domus 1040:1080–1081 Williams AG, Audsley E, Sandars DL (2006) Determining the environmental burdens and resource use in the production of agricultural and horticultural commodities. In: Main report. Defra research project IS0205. Cranfield University and Defra, Bedford

Chapter 7

Synergetic Planning and Designing with Urban FEW-Flows: Lessons from Rotterdam Nico Tillie and Rob Roggema

Abstract  The way urban flows are managed determine the sustainability of urban landscapes. What exactly are these substance flows? How can they contribute to a better quality of life? In this article the Rotterdam project of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam 2014 (Tillie N, Klijn O, Frijters E, Borsboom J, Looije M, Sijmons D. Urban metabolism, sustainable development in Rotterdam, Municipality of Rotterdam, Rotterdam, 2014) is revisited. It is a project on substance flows and urban metabolism, and how this metaphor can contribute to the concrete implementation of solutions to urban challenges? In line with urban metabolism research, (Wolman A. The metabolism of cities. Sci Am 213:179–190, 1965. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0965-178; Kennedy C, Pincetl S, Bunje P. The study of urban metabolism and its application to urban planning and design. Environ Pollut 159:1965–1973, 2010), designing with flows in urban systems has gained attention in recent years (Van den Dobbelsteen A, Keeffe G, Tillie N, Roggema R. Cities as organisms: using biomimetic principles to become energetically self-supporting and climate-proof, In: Teng J (ed) Proceedings ICSU 2010 (First International Conference on Sustainable Urbanization). Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, 2010; Roggema R. City of flows – the need for design-led research to urban metabolism. Urban Plan 4(1):106–112. Special Issue ‘The City of Flows’. Editorial, 2019. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v4i1.1988; Ferrão P, Fernández JE.  Sustainable urban metabolism. MIT Press, London. ISBN 9780262019361264, 2013; Sijmons D.  Urban by nature. Opening Presentation International architectural biënnale Rotterdam, 2014; Nijhuis S, Jauslin D, Van der

N. Tillie (*) Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] R. Roggema Cittaideale, Office for Adaptive Research by Design, Wageningen, The Netherlands © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_7

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Hoeve F.  Flowscapes; designing infrastructures as landscapes. TU Delft Open. ISBN 9789461864727, 2015; Tillie N.  Synergetic urban landscape planning in Rotterdam. A + BE | Architecture and the Built Environment, [S.l.], n. 24, p. 1–284, sep. 2018. ISSN 2214-7233, 2018. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7480/ abe.2018.24.2604). For food- energy-water (FEW) nexus projects, an approach of ‘how to design with flows’ can provide insight in the different intertwined systems and can also come up with useful design strategies at different scales. In this chapter, new outcomes of ‘designing with flows’ projects are combined with a reflection of the Urban Metabolism Rotterdam project. The goal is to extract lessons and propose a renewed stepwise approach for designing with flows to improve environmental performance and enhance the quality of life. Keywords  FEW -nexus · Urban metabolism · Urban ecology · Rotterdam · Designing with flows

7.1  Introduction 7.1.1  Urban Metabolism The concept of urban metabolism is used to describe the urban system by drawing a parallel with the human body. Metabolism is therefore a key concept in the project: the metabolism of the urban landscape. How do the interlocking flows and systems in a complex, interactive urban system work? Where can things be changed or improved to form an urban landscape planning perspective to meet the needs of its residents and address urban challenges? Although cities have previously been approached as a form of metabolism (Wolman 1965; Kennedy et al. 2010; Duvigneaud and Denayeyer-De Smet 1977), urban metabolism has really only broken ground as a branch of science in the past decade, following a start in the seventies in environmental ecology. Two different schools in the scientific field of urban metabolism can be distinguished: • An environmental school in the tradition of industrial ecology investigating the question how urban metabolism works. How do production and consumption chains fit together? What are their impacts on the local economy, the quality of urban life and sustainability? For example, think of how raw materials and energy flow through the city (Barles 2009). • A sociological school discussing what purpose metabolism has. What life-forms can it sustain? How do the constituent parts fit together? In what social and political context does it exist? Are there behavioural differences between specific social groups? As a result of the emergence of smart phones mainly, an increasing amount of information is becoming available about patterns of resource usage.

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The spatial perspective did not yet receive the attention it deserved. How can the characteristics and possibilities of substance flows best be applied to urban life by means of spatial design? This was the main focus of IABR2014 – Urban by nature (Sijmons 2014; Brugmans and Strien 2014; Tillie et al. 2014). For a long time, urbanism had the character of thinking in terms of internal worlds, including the characteristic behaviour of passing on problems. Urban problems were preferably dealt with by dropping them elsewhere. This approach has become increasingly pointless since the human habitat coincides increasingly with the urban landscape, within which urban problems will have to be solved. Additionally, cities are interconnected by flows. Flows enter a city, are reused, processed or stored (or not), and leave a city again. The metaphor of urban metabolism makes it clear that although cities can no longer pass on their problems, neither can they stand alone. In a way, this links more to (urban) ecology hence one may ask the question how the urban habitat or urban ecosystem can be optimized in its bioregion. Sijmons (2014) regards the following as the main tasks: Securing the access of city-dwellers to flows of daily necessities, such as water, food, communication and energy. In rapidly growing tropical towns, this literally makes the difference between life and death. Although such urgent, global urban problems seem to be far removed from the Netherlands, much will have to be done here in order to be able to guarantee the quality and availability of these amenities in the future in the face of global competition for scarce raw materials. By gaining in-depth knowledge of the urban flows and drafting smart strategies for the flows and their infrastructure based on efficiency and interaction, as a result the urban landscapes’ metabolism will be able to develop into a valuable planning instrument. Several flow characteristics and points of attention are distinguished: • Creating cohesion between urban flows. Every flow has its own infrastructure. Think of the electricity grid, water supply network, heat network and transport network. Substance flows do not necessarily have to be spatial by nature. They represent the process side of the urban landscape (Sijmons 2014; Brugmans and Strien 2014). Technically speaking, the individual infrastructures can be much better designed and optimized. They also can be aligned further. For example, think of storing the electricity from solar panels in car batteries. The design of the infrastructure itself should also be mentioned here (e.g. the ‘glow in the dark’ roads conceived by Daan Roosegaarde and Heijmans, where oncoming traffic automatically lights up the road markings at night so that no costly lighting is required). • Maximizing the positive effects on the quality of the living environment. Those who think in terms of flows can establish links. Flows can be shortened and connected, cycles can become full circle and the output of one flow can be used as input for another. This is made possible by knowledge and data, although it requires a different mode of perception and thought to extract opportunities from the large amount of data on urban flows (Sijmons 2014). Knowledge and data help considerably to improve the environmental performance, i.e. the effects of

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substance flows and production-consumption chains on the quality of the living environment. • Taking advantage of the urban landscapes’ ‘spatial order’. This order is to a significant degree affected by the location of the infrastructure, such as mobility, utility and heat networks. Apart from innovation and optimizing existing networks or constructing new networks for densification such as the 5th IABR2012: Making City (Tillie et al. 2018). The design of the urban infrastructure can be deliberately used to drive large urban expansions. Where coordination between the construction of infrastructure and urban expansion is now often lacking in practice, smarter infrastructural planning will contribute to better spatial planning and an urban landscape which functions better and is ecologically more efficient (Newman and Kenworthy 1999). Globally, this concerns hundreds of billions of euros in investments in infrastructure in the decades ahead, which can be spent wisely or poorly, in an ad hoc or sustainable manner, comprehensively or per sector and with a low or high return. Todays’ decisions will determine the city’s future environmental performance. It is therefore important to make sound decisions, which also take account of such matters as employment and innovation, based on a new and effective range of draft solutions.

7.2  Rotterdam Urban Metabolism, 2014 7.2.1  Project Lay Out Rotterdams objectives are clear: creation of a safe, healthy, attractive and economically successful city, which is prepared for future challenges. This means, amongst other things, establishing the conditions for a caring society, where people look out for one another. A community where talent development and career opportunities are provided for highly educated as well as less educated Rotterdam residents. In a high-quality living environment where there are opportunities for entrepreneurship. The city operates as the focus for both the existing and new economy. A ‘breeding ground’ for innovation, so that its competitiveness can be increased. But also to prepare the city for socially urgent issues, such as an ageing population, higher healthcare costs, climate change and the increasingly scarcity of raw materials. The transition from the current economic model to a more circular economy requires structural changes. Can urban metabolism help here? To be able to investigate how the concept of urban metabolism can contribute to Rotterdam’s sustainable development, nine vital substance flows are identified, which were analysed at two different scale levels: the catchment area of the Rhine and the agglomeration and city of Rotterdam (Fig. 7.1). The research focused on goods, people, waste, biota (plants and animals), energy, food, fresh water, air and sand and clay. Although people and energy, literally speaking, cannot be regarded as substances, in a way, it also concerns matter that flows

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Fig. 7.1  Different scales analysis at different spatial scales (Source: Tillie et al. 2014)

from one location to another. Other flows examined are building materials, freight traffic and waste. For example, apart from the hygienic and recycling potential, around the world waste management is one of the main cost items of municipalities (Hoornweg et al. 2013). Therefore, these flows affect the everyday lives of individual city-dwellers and their basic needs. In general, flows also affect the operation of large urban constellations as a whole. Each of these flows are indispensable to the city’s functioning and well-being. Moreover, with the change in requirements and contexts, these flows will not remain the same in the decades ahead. It will often be extremely difficult to allow them a free exposure and abundance of space whilst ensuring quality of life for urban dwellers and the need to improve sustainability. This is an enormous yet concrete task, which will be of interest to designers and planners, but also to companies, investors, administrators and concerned citizens. In a next phase, the outcomes of the flow studies can be linked to current developments at local and global level, as a result of which opportunities arise for making the urban system more sustainable. An example of this is the recovering of phosphates (as opposed to importing them) from exhaustible resources, such as phosphate mines. This resulted in several perspectives for action being formed for each flow, which eventually are translated into four proposals for Rotterdam. Urban by Nature, the theme of the biennale, looks beyond the boundaries of the municipality of Rotterdam and looks for solutions where the city and the surrounding countryside are in a sustainable equilibrium, without passing on problems to other people, other places or other times. However, how can a transformation from potentially endless and seemingly unconnected flows to a coherent idea about urban metabolism be used to effect change? This gave rise to conceiving spatial designs for the region and (parts of the) city that take advantage of opportunities for a more efficient urban metabolism that creates added value in the region.

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7.2.2  Natural Flows and Hybridized Flows Material-flow analyses (Fig.  7.2) of the city of Rotterdam are highlighted in the baseline study (Tillie et  al. 2014). The region has a multitude of materials and energy flowing through the city: approximately 37 Kton per person per year (equalling more than 5000 adult elephants; of which 93% is immediately exported from the area). By far the largest flow of all physical flows is a natural flow: river water (containing 98% of the total of flows). 7.2.2.1  Biota and Land Use Rotterdam is located where river, peat-meadow and dune landscapes converge. Because of the urbanization that has taken place over the past few decades, only few ‘green’ and ‘blue’ structures link up. As result of fragmentation and more intensive farming methods, many of the species monitored in the peat-meadow areas have considerably decreased in number (Ottburg and Schouwenberg 2005) Other landscapes show a similar trend. The spatial reservations which businesses make for security reasons, or with an eye on possible future expansions, create empty spaces in the port of Rotterdam. When these areas are abandoned, spontaneous nature rehabilitation will occur there, with interesting types of plants, amphibians, reptiles and mammals reconquering these spaces. A similarly, nature reverses urban land-uses around power stations and below high-voltage lines. Because of regulations, no

Fig. 7.2  Nine natural and hybridized flows in the Rotterdam agglomeration (Source: Tillie et al. 2014)

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human activity is allowed here. As a result, a large amount of empty space in the region of Rotterdam is available to strengthen nature in qualitative and quantitative terms. Because nature rehabilitation often meant that landowners had to deal with numerous restrictions in the past, many businesses have adopted a policy that prevents nature rehabilitation. However, changing insights, particularly on the side of environmental protection organizations, show that ‘temporary nature’ can be very valuable (Backes et al. 2020). In other words, spontaneous nature rehabilitation and spatial reservations for future use are not necessarily mutually exclusive. In fact, it is more a matter of how the space that cannot be used for human activity can serve as a stepping-stone for biota without frustrating economic interests. 7.2.2.2  Nutrients and Food The main element in the food-cycle are nutrients, which are an essential material for living organisms. Some of these nutrients (e.g. phosphates) are essential for survival but, like fossil fuels, are exhaustible. In the Netherlands the agricultural sector alone, emits every year 28 million tonnes of phosphate (in the form of fertilizer), which is currently drained into groundwater and surface water (Smit et al. 2010). These nutrients are therefore not used, and often result in local over-fertilization, thereby adversely affecting nature. Interestingly, valuable nutrients are lost at many other points along the entire food production-consumption chain. Approximately one third of all nutrients are eventually lost during our food production. Because the largest part of the northern European farmlands drains directly or indirectly into the Rhine, this river represents Europe’s largest open-air drainage (or sewage) channel of nutrients. The majority of these unused nutrients flow to the sea through the port of Rotterdam, after which they can hardly be detected, except as a breeding ground for excessive algae growth. 582 tonnes of phosphorus are discharged in Rotterdam every year, half of which flows directly into the sewage system. Less than 2% of this amount is recovered (Kirsimaa 2013). According to the least optimistic estimates, global phosphate supplies will last for approximately another 50 years. If these supplies drain into the sea, food production will come under pressure. Therefore phosphate prices are expected to rise. 7.2.2.3  Fresh Water The catchment area of the Rhine is the main water system in north-western Europe. The dynamics of the river, which is called ‘(the) Maas’ in Rotterdam, has caused flood safety problems for centuries. Moreover, the nature of this river is changing. Until recently, the Rhine was a glacier river, discharging melted ice and snow originating in the Swiss Alps. However, over the past few decades, the river has increasingly changed into a rain-fed river. This means discharge peaks increase. From a fairly constant average discharge of 2300 m3/s to 18,000 m3/s for peaks. As a result, the probability that Rotterdam will be affected by flooding and floods has increased.

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Moreover, the combined effect of sea level rise, deepening the new Waterway for shipping traffic, increasing discharge dynamics and the increased likelihood of dry periods make Rotterdam more and more vulnerable to salination. This not only threatens flora and fauna, largely depending on fresh water, instantly, it also poses a threat to the agricultural and horticultural sectors, and even to the city’s drinking-­ water production. The question is therefore: How can the availability of sufficient fresh water in Rotterdam be guaranteed on the long term? 7.2.2.4  Sand and Clay Rotterdam is located where the coastal and river landscapes converge and the watercourses are naturally shallow. Although, centuries ago, the dynamics of river and sea provided relatively secured access to the sea, the same dynamics now pose a threat to one of the largest deep-sea Harbours in the world in the form of siltation. Direct access to the port of Rotterdam is an important competitive advantage. Nevertheless, this sea link cannot be taken for granted. In fact, the route was diverted several times in Rotterdam’s past in order to secure access. Sea access seemed to be guaranteed since the digging of the new Waterway (towards the end of the nineteenth century). However, to accommodate the increasing draughts of ships, harbour activities shifted towards the West. Moreover, there is a constant need to dredge. To maintain the gateway to Rotterdam at a depth of at least 30 m so that the port can continue to accommodate the largest ships in the world, over 20 million m3 have to be dredged from the port area every year. This amounts to a large daily transport of harbour sediments to the sea. The largest source of sediments used to be the catchment area of the Rhine but, as a result of restricting the flow of the river, the north sea is now the main source of sand, which accumulates on the river bed and harbour basins (approximately 14 million m3 from the sea, compared with approximately 8 million m3 from the rhine). Dragging sand from the port to the sea is an endless and costly process. It is noteworthy that transport largely determines these costs, since transport costs make up 90% of the cost of depositing 1 m3 of sediment into the sea. The question here is how long it is feasible to work against the current. Wouldn’t it be wiser to more strategically make use of natural processes of land formation?

7.2.3  Anthropogenic and Hybridized Flows 7.2.3.1  People People have many different reasons for moving. The most common reasons have to do with work, education, family and friends, but also shopping, recreation, cultural and other facilities are reasons for mobility. One third of the world population will probably move from the countryside to the city in the decades ahead, seeking a better

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existence (Saunders 2011). It is therefore expected that over five billion people will live in cities by the year 2030. However, this could change due to COVID-19 which shows a preliminary move of people back to the countryside. Entrepreneurial freedom and access to jobs are the most important conditions on the way to this better existence. Car access to Rotterdam is good. An analysis of the city’s access structure, using the ‘space syntax’ method, shows that there are residential areas and commercial districts in south Rotterdam where access for cyclists and public transport commuters is less evident. For instance, the east-west links in south Rotterdam for public transport commuters and cyclists are relatively underdeveloped. Most commercial districts and training centres are situated north of the Maas, but access to the commercial districts in south Rotterdam is also inadequate for people without a car. This has resulted in a form of ‘mobility deprivation’. The question is how can regional and municipal access to work and education be improved, particularly for the southern parts of Rotterdam? 7.2.3.2  Goods The transit trade through the port of Rotterdam, one of the largest transit ports in the world, amounts to 220 million tonnes a year. However, the regional economic spin-­ off from the port of Rotterdam is considerably smaller than that of nearby ports (e.g. Antwerp, Hamburg, le Havre, Helsinki). Although the transit trade through the port of Rotterdam is twice that of Antwerp, the Rotterdam’s employment rate appears to be only 17% higher. Measured by the direct added value per tonne of transit cargo, the level achieved in Antwerp is approximately 10% higher. The freight flows through Rotterdam therefore largely pertain to goods manufactured elsewhere which usually bypass the city. Furthermore, many companies in Dutch cities that are able to create added value have relocated to low-wage countries. International trends that have a significant impact on the physical quality of cities are the increase of scale in the retail sector and the decreasing popularity of fixed retail outlets. As a result of online shopping, consumer products are increasingly delivered directly to the door hence shops are slowly disappearing from city streets. This effect has become more apparent during the COVID-19 quarantine period in many cities. A decreasing economic spin-off and a smaller role for the retail sector results in emptier city streets, with a reduced market and social value. Looking at the flow of goods, the question arises whether it is possible to use a small part of the enormous flow of goods which now largely bypasses the city more efficiently in order to create added value in the city itself? 7.2.3.3  Air A pleasant urban living environment is to an important extent determined by the air (wind) flows, heat and the ground-level air quality. It becomes increasingly clear that the ground-level air quality has a direct impact on human health. Major causes

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of air pollution on a European scale are the manufacturing industry, motor traffic, shipping traffic and farming. Each source has its own distribution pattern: • Motor traffic impacts its environment along arteries through and between cities. • Shipping traffic causes deterioration in the so-called ‘background concentrations’. In the layer of air up to an altitude of 10 km, the highest average concentrations of air pollution in north- western Europe can be found above Central England and the Ruhr area. Inland and ocean-going vessels produce substantial emissions on shipping routes. These routes are therefore clearly marked on the particulate matter map of Europe. • The distribution pattern for industry lies in an area surrounding the source, but often at higher altitudes, sometimes also over cities. The effect on the air quality of industry in the port area has decreased considerably over the past few decades. Nevertheless, there is still much to be done. As is the case in other major cities, in Rotterdam there are a number of areas where the number of healthy years of life of residents is lower than average in the Netherlands. For a large part, this is the result of air pollution. For instance, monitoring calculations from the National Air Quality Cooperation Programme show that there are a number of persistent bottlenecks in Rotterdam, especially along busy through-roads. Therefore, there is a less positive side to the good vehicular access to the Rotterdam city centre. A map depicting the emission of NOx makes this less perceptible but clear effect of motor traffic on the urban air quality visible. The main traffic arteries clearly stand out. The question is therefore how access to Rotterdam can be organised in such a way that it will have a positive (or less impactful) effect on the city’s air quality. 7.2.3.4  Energy On average, in 2013 a Dutch household used 466 gigajoules of energy per year. The raw materials for this come from all over the world: coal from Australia, natural gas from the Netherlands and Russia, petroleum from Saudi Arabia, biofuel from Brazil and electricity from Germany. Modern coal- fired power plants realize a return of at most 46%. This implies that 54% of the raw materials are not converted into electricity but are released as residual products in the form of heat and carbon dioxide (Municipality of Rotterdam 2014). When residual heat from other industrial processes is added to this, the equivalent of twice the amount of all the energy wind turbines generate on the Dutch side of the North Sea. Depending on various calculations and assumptions, this is about 80–160 petajoules. A large part of this excess energy is not yet used in district heating but is discharged into the surface water in the form of heat. The annual CO2 emissions in Rotterdam now amount to approximately 29 Mton, over 85% of which comes from the manufacturing industry and energy generation in the port- industrial complex. It is a missed opportunity, both in economic and ecological terms, to continue wasting heat in this way. This was already recognized in 2007 by the Rotterdam

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Climate Initiative, which set itself the task of cutting CO2 emissions by 50% compared to 1990 levels. To reach the Paris agreement targets or the objectives of the province of south Holland, fundamental new approaches are required. It is likely that in future the discharge of heat to open water will be prohibited, following the example of the Copenhagen–Malmö–Helsingborg region. In other words, it is important to start taking advantage of the residual products of energy generation. 7.2.3.5  Waste Waste can be defined as ‘throwing away previously processed raw materials’. Because these materials are compacted or transformed, they do no longer look like raw materials. However, appearances can be deceptive. The awareness grows that urban waste contains raw materials, disguised as consumer electronics or food, which could be re-harvested. It is worthwhile to use these raw materials more efficiently in a circular economy (Bastein et al. 2013). Therefore, in theory, the city may be regarded as an enormous marketplace of usable raw materials. Taking into consideration that Europe depends for a large number of raw materials on other continents, raw materials become increasingly scarce and expensive as a result of global population growth, rising levels of prosperity and the exhaustion of various resources. It is therefore useful to regard the city as a new ‘mine’ for ‘excavating’ or retrieving essential raw materials from used sources. On average, a Dutchmen throws away 530 kilos of materials on a yearly basis. In Rotterdam, 49–75 kilos of this amount is fruit and vegetable waste, which is currently incinerated to be used in district heating. In addition to organic waste, 3.4 kilo of electronic waste is collected for every resident every year, a substantial part of which is mobile phones. One tonne of telephones yields 140 kg of copper, 3.14 kg of silver, 300 g of gold, 130 g of palladium and 3 g of platinum. Because the techniques for recovering raw materials from household waste, sewage water and electronics are rapidly developing, recovering raw materials from waste, i.e. upcycling, becomes increasingly feasible. Just as recycling, recovery of raw materials starts at home also. However, the question is how can the living environment be organised to stimulate full recovery of materials.

7.2.4  Strategies & Application After analysing the flows and challenges of the city, four strategies directing in spatial planning and design can be formulated: 1. Catalysing re-industrialization; boosting the quality flows of goods, people and air; 2. Channelling (energy) waste; using the by-products of energy extraction;

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3. Creating biotopes; improving urban nature by local use of freshwater, sand and clay; 4. Collecting resources; obtaining raw materials from waste and food. All these strategies have the objective to optimise flows and are projected at a local, urban and regional scale. As an illustration, the strategy to ‘Collecting resources; obtaining raw material from waste and food’ is further elaborated in this chapter. At regional level, raw materials can be obtained by harvesting nutrients from the sea by cultivating shellfish or seaweed in nutrient-rich areas (Fig.  7.3). When it comes to horticulture, there are opportunities for the production of biobased materials in the horticultural centres, Westland and Oostland. E-waste can be collected and processed on a large scale. 7.2.4.1  Aquafarming Through agriculture alone, a net amount of 28 million tons of phosphate are lost in the Netherlands on an annual basis. Moreover, valuable nutrients are lost at different stages of the entire food production to consumption chain. Ultimately, the vast majority of nutrients are washed out to sea, after which they can barely be traced let alone recovered. By using existing and planned offshore infrastructure on a large scale to harvest not only energy but also nutrients from seawater, making use of aquafarming techniques, in the future it will be possible to recover these losses.

Fig. 7.3  Raw material recovery at the regional scale (Source: Tillie et al. 2014)

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7.2.4.2  Biobased Materials Increasing numbers of discoveries are being made in the agricultural sector to show that plants are also suitable for non-food applications. The bio-based materials project links the production of organic materials in Westland and Oostland (both large Greenhouse areas) to the new, up-and- coming bio-based production of, for example, plastics, medicines and cosmetics. This really is a process of transformation that, alongside recycling and upcycling, is essential to meet future needs for raw materials. 7.2.4.3  Urban As mentioned before, stocks of phosphate are finite. It is therefore important to recover phosphate from the five wastewater treatments in the Rotterdam region using proven techniques (Fig. 7.4). By designing homes in a way segregating waste becomes more attractive, for instance through the use of waste chutes and garburators, the vegetable and fruit waste in household waste can be used for breeding insects as a source of protein. Precincts with a segregated sewage system in Rotterdam are appropriate sites to set up owners’ association-type protein collectives (Fig. 7.5) that meet their own protein needs. From these places, vegetable and fruit waste can be transported to where the protein is produced, valuated and can be used for urban farming straight away. Establishing a supermarket at the centre of a local, easily accessible network, where one can get a deposit back on an old smart phone and other forms of valuable

Fig. 7.4  Phosphate recovery and protein collectives throughout the city (Source: Tillie et al. 2014)

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Fig. 7.5  Protein collectives (Source: Tillie et al. 2014)

waste, illustrates the next link in the collection and processing chain for valuable residues (Fig. 7.6). This means that the food supplier for the local supermarket no longer drives back to the distribution centre with an empty truck, but instead loads up with reusable materials that are then taken in large quantities from the distribution centre to recycling centres in the port of Rotterdam.

7.3  Reflection & New Insights Although the urban flow approach is very substantial, instead of representing this flow merely as a single living organism, as a human being, it would be interesting to regard the city not only as one species but as a complete ecosystem with its range of substance flows, interactions with living and non-living elements in the system and complex interaction within and outside the dynamic system. The success of an ecosystem does not result from the fact that there is no waste, but from the fact that waste is always re-used, and brought back into the cycle and ecosystem to play new role. A crucial element in this thinking is taking into account the existing natural system (or hybrids of natural and urban systems) as starting point for designing the future (Roggema 2020; Roggema et  al. forthcoming). Often, spatial and urban (regeneration) plans deny these systems. More worrying, these plans often turn out to be sup-optimal or even counterproductive to ecosystem services. As such, the emerging field of Urban Ecology providing profound insights in the function of

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Fig. 7.6  Residues Supermarket (Source: Tillie et al. 2014)

ecological systems as basis for urban life should play a more important role in these design processes. Calculating the material flows and executing life cycle analysis often takes a substantial amount of time. Though these exercises analyse the urban flows in detail from district to regional level and provide insights in the consequences of the urban flows revealing impacts of the proposed ideas on the living environment the time required, up to 3 weeks, makes it hard to use the calculations as immediate feedback in the design process. An iterative design process then proves to be difficult. It is therefore advisable to find a way to make it possible to instantly provide feedback during the design process. The Urban Metabolism Rotterdam project spend a lot of time on mapping. Diving deeply into these different flows is seductive hence can be tricky as it is difficult to define how much knowledge to acquire in order to come up before a decent map can be produced that serves as the input for design or is applicable for stakeholder driven solutions. This might be a classical pitfall but it is the difference

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between producing an atlas of knowledge and conceiving design projects that are applicable and implementable, depending the objectives and type of project. Evaluating the urban flows as such, the risk is these flows form a mechanistic quantitative approach to ‘solving’ its sectoral problems. Designing for the urban energy flow may in itself be beneficial for limiting resource depletion and have positive impact of limiting global warming, it could also lead to increasing problems for other flows, for instance when solar farms decrease the biodiversity of the land. These maladaptive interventions of ‘urban flows’ impacting the sustainability of natural cycles should be avoided. Reversely, the role of natural flows and cycles in urban environments could well be seen as the basic framework from where to start designing for resilient urban futures. Integration of urban flows in this natural context enhances the comprehensive quality of life for all urban inhabitants, human and non-human alike. Despite the Rotterdam research has investigated a broad range of flows that shape the city new insights shall be added once they become apparent. Recent discussions on nitrogen deposition and its impact on biodiversity and Natura2000 areas requires a rethink of the urban and rural nitrogen flow, especially in intensive forms of agriculture, traffic and the road systems and the building of new urban areas. Similarly, developments in producing cross laminated timber in a way it is respectful, even enhancing natural quality of (urban) environments demands views on forestry to be revisited. Urban forestry can provide the building materials for building homes and construction where the timber is needed locally and simultaneously enhancing urban ecology. Looking at the urban flows as a systemic feature in the city in itself is a major step in creating more sustainable cities, which also puts profound emphasis on the role the FEW-nexus can play in urbanism. However, this perspective on the thematic flows as systems only illuminates one side of the equation. The other side is served by looking at the coherence of area specific flows in the cointext of the entire ecosystem. Therefore, as a more progressive strategy Urban Ecosystem Restoration (Elmquist et al. 2015) can be used. This approach in which social, environmental and economic benefits are integrated for an urban ecological rich future provides better opportunities for improving the quality of life than urban flow system per se. The Urban Metabolism project in Rotterdam has extensively investigated the technical and quantitative aspects of a range of urban flows, mapped these at different scales and proposed spatial design for alternative urban developments. One of the main flaws in the project set-up is the lack of public involvement. Urban stakeholders and citizens have not been part of the research investigations other than being the audience at the Biennale itself. In this sense the project is an academic exercise in the form of a designerly output at the exhibition. The project could have gained impact if stakeholders and the broader public would have been involved to prevent a lack of direct follow-ups in the city resulting from the Urban by Nature effort.

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7.4  A Step by Step Approach What the Urban by Nature 2014 research has proven is the benefit a research by design approach could bring to understanding complicated knowledge and systemic information about urban flows. The accessibility of hidden data and information about urban metabolism as a phenomenon could (and should) be more prominently used in urban design and development. However, the matter is often difficult to grasp and not straightforward to use in a design process. The tension between the (seemingly) exactness of urban flows quantifications and the complex process of coming to design propositions make the usability of urban metabolism often fuzzy. Therefore, a step-by-step approach is suggested here: 1. Analysis of the flows, depicting the facts and figures, defining a baseline knowledge base of a wider socio-economic context and the attached challenges, involving stakeholders and frontrunners from the start; 2. Represent the found data and knowledge in a spatial manner, such as in the form of flow diagrams and schematic illustration of the flows in direct relation with the spatial systems at hand; 3. Formulate the different relationships between individual flow systems, both quantitatively, qualitatively and spatially; 4. Define the assumptions, objectives and barriers of possible future scenarios; 5. Extract the challenges and opportunities of different scenarios in relation to realising circularity or reciprocity; 6. Develop a spatial strategy in the form of an architectural vision on the sort of interventions required to reach the goal. During this step the flows that are useful to combine are brough together and the potential synergies are described; 7. Design-assess the propositions in an iterative way. Every iteration should think through how the efficiency and effectivity of flows can be enhanced, what the environmental impact of a design proposition is and how it could improve the quality of life. As mentioned above an iterative design process can only be succesful if knowledge and data are instantly available in the design process, to be able to understand the effects of a certain design proposition for environmental performance, i.e. the effects of substance flows and production-consumption chains on the quality of the living environment. It is important progress can be measured. Therefore, a baseline is defined. There are many different ways to measure or a simple system for a project can be set up (Roorda et al. 2011). Either way, the outcomes become more valuable if connected to existing well-established systems such as ecological footprint, area assessment tools, ISO standards (37120), ecosystem services and SDGs.

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7.5  Conclusion In this article the research project Rotterdam Urban Metabolism 2014 has been revisited and reflected upon. The study can be seen as a landmark project because up till then urban metabolism has always been approaches from the perspective of understanding and quantifying the urban flow systems. The systemic features of urban flows were represented in Sankey-diagrams, relational schemes or plain quantifications. The appetite amongst designers and urban developers to make use of these insights was very limited. The study transformed thinking about urban metabolism in the sense that is visualised the flows on maps and schemes hence made them accessible for designers and the broader public. However, when the eyemark lies on urban ecology as an integrative system-­ based phenomenon, the mapping of individual flows, even if they are brought in relation with each other is suboptimal. It is not only necessary to know the data, the size (or even the qualities) of flows, the link with the spatial context, the spatial opportunities and avenues for future improvements, and the design itself is opportune. Shown, an iterative process is essential to make grounded improvements. Iterations during the process allow for instant feedback. This feedback from quantitative impacts of certain flow interventions on the environment gives insights in the performance of the design but should be available during the design process on a kiss & ride basis. Apart from quantifications the feedback and co-design of solutions should be part of the process and be arranged by involving stakeholders and citizens in the design process. A Living Lab participatory approach is an excellent way of guaranteeing the feedback to improve the overall outcomes. Elaborating on this co-creative process, the link between local stakeholders and frontrunners and the visions, designs and plans developed should be as strong as possible. It is important to co-develop a shared narrative for the future of the city, instead of allowing people external to the process to react on a narrative conceived by the government or a consultant. The direct engagement of local stakeholders increases the value chain by default. In the majority of the planning processes and urban development a separation is visible between the information flows (the understanding) and the value streams (the valuation). This often causes a misunderstanding between policymakers or scientists and the entrepreneurs and industries. Where one is thinking in the information that shows the best way forward in order to create a resilient city, another may think in the wealth and profit a certain intervention brings to the individual, the company or the entire society. It is suggested to link information and valuation in a direct way through design. This makes it possible to use it as a tool in a daily conversation and improves the mutual understanding of purpose and outcome. Finally, in the research project the main attention lies on understanding the current size, operation and infrastructure of an urban flow. Real resilience can only occur when this knowledge is put in a context of future change making the urban flows potentially adaptive to future change and uncertainties. Therefore, future scenarios should play a more profound role in the analyses of urban metabolism as it sheds a different light on the interventions that are presently to be undertaken in order to be prepared on unprecedented and long-term futures.

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Acknowledgements  Parts of this chapter were published as a non-reviewed report (Tillie et al. 2014). This chapter revisits the project with renewed insights and findings. We would like to thank the co-authors and team of the ‘Urban metabolism Rotterdam 2014’ study, the IABR and the EU INTERREG IVB project MUSIC.

References Backes C, Van Kreveld A, Schoukens H (2020) Temporary nature -– a win-win for nature and developers: tinkering with the law in order to combat biodiversity loss. In: Roggema R (ed) Contemporary urban design thinking, vol. 2, nature driven urbanism, Book series. Springer, Cham, pp 43–64 Barles S (2009) Urban metabolism of Paris and its region. J Ind Ecol 13(6):898–913 Bastein T, Roelofs E, Rietveld E, Hoogendoorn A (2013) Opportunities for a circular economy in the Netherlands. TNO, Delft Brugmans G, Strien J (eds) (2014) IABR—2014—Urban by Nature—. IABR, Rotterdam Duvigneaud P, Denayeyer-De Smet S (1977) L’Ecosystéme Urbs, in L’Ecosystéme Urbain Bruxellois, in Productivité en Belgique. In Duvigneaud P, Kestemont P (eds) Traveaux de la Section Belge du Programme Biologique International, Bruxelles, pp  581e597. IABR, Rotterdam Elmqvist T, Setälä H, Handel SN, Van Der Ploeg S, Aronson J, Blignaut JN, Gómez-Baggethun E, Nowak DJ, Kronenberg J, De Groot R (2015) Benefits of restoring ecosystem services in urban areas. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 14:101–108 Ferrão P, Fernández JE (2013) Sustainable urban metabolism. MIT Press, London. ISBN 9780262019361264 Hoornweg D, Bhada-Tata P, Kennedy C (2013) Waste production must peak this century. Nature 502:615 Kennedy C, Pincetl S, Bunje P (2010) The study of urban metabolism and its application to urban planning and design. Environ Pollut 159:1965–1973 Kirsimaa K (2013) Internship report City of Rotterdam: urban farming in Rotterdam: an opportunity for sustainable phosphorus management? Wageningen University and research Center Municipality of Rotterdam (2014) GIS data on income and energy costs Newman P, Kenworthy J (1999) Sustainability and cities: overcoming automobile dependancy. Island Press, Washington DC Nijhuis S, Jauslin D, Van der Hoeve F (2015) Flowscapes; designing infrastructures as landscapes. TU Delft Open. ISBN 9789461864727 Ottburg F, Schouwenberg E (2005) Nature in peat-meadow areas a matter of choice, peat meadow shown 25 times. Alterra, Wageningen Roggema R (2019) City of flows – the need for design-led research to urban metabolism. Urban Plan 4(1):106–112. Special Issue ‘The City of Flows’. Editorial. https://doi.org/10.17645/ up.v4i1.1988 Roggema R (2020) Landscape first! Nature-driven design for Sydney’s third city. In: Roggema R (ed) Contemporary urban design thinking, vol. 2, nature driven urbanism, Book series. Springer, Cham, pp 81–110 Roggema R, Tillie N, Keeffe G, Nakayama S (forthcoming) Landscape first: thriving nature-based urbanism in Western Sydney. Urban For Urban Green XX(XX):00–00. Special issue Nature based solutions for changing urban landscapes: lessons from Australia Roorda C, Buiter M, Rotmans J, Bentvelzen M, Tillie N, Keeton R (2011) Urban development: the state of the sustainable art, an international benchmark of sustainable urban development. Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (Drift), Rotterdam Saunders D (2011) Arrival city: the final migration and our next world. Cornerstone/Cornerstone RAS, Saunders/San Juan Capistrano

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Sijmons D (2014) Urban by nature. Opening Presentation International architectural biënnale Rotterdam, 2014 Smit Al, Curth-van Middelkoop JC, Van Dijk W, Van Reuler H, De Buck AJ, Van de Sanden PACM (2010) A quantification of P-flows in the Netherlands through agricultural production, industrial processing and households. Plant research International, Wageningen University and research Centre, Wageningen Tillie N (2018) Synergetic urban landscape planning in Rotterdam. A+BE | Architecture and the Built Environment, [S.l.], n. 24, p. 1–284, sep. 2018. ISSN 2214-7233. Available at: https://doi. org/10.7480/abe.2018.24.2604 Tillie N, Klijn O, Frijters E, Borsboom J, Looije M, Sijmons D (2014) Urban metabolism, sustainable development in Rotterdam, Rotterdam. Municipality of Rotterdam Tillie N, Borsboom-van Beurden J, Doepel D, Aarts M (2018) Exploring a stakeholder based urban densification and greening agenda for Rotterdam inner city—accelerating the transition to a liveable low carbon city. Sustainability 10:1927 Van den Dobbelsteen A, Keeffe G, Tillie N, Roggema R (2010) Cities as organisms: using biomimetic principles to become energetically self-supporting and climate-proof. In: Teng J (ed) Proceedings ICSU 2010 (First International Conference on Sustainable Urbanization). Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Wolman A (1965) The metabolism of cities. Sci Am 213:179–190. https://doi.org/10.1038/ scientificamerican0965-178

Chapter 8

Le Fouture de Groningen; Towards Transformational Food-Positive Landscapes Rob Roggema

Abstract  Disruptive change is often seen as a risk to many regions around the world. Uncertainty around the future, unprecedented events and a general belief in the past induces this problematic situation. Almost everywhere this problem is tackled with traditional planning approaches. In many cases this does not lead to satisfying solutions but offer solace only for the short-term. When a longer time horizon is taken into account, subsequent policies increase risks and decrease the quality of the land. Especially when uncertainties increase transformational planning approaches should be applied. In the Groningen region incremental planning has led to an increased vulnerability of population, nature and the land. People no longer trust their governments. At the same time, policies and people’s ideas in Groningen focus on the short term and minimal uncertainties. This discrepancy can only be overcome with a creative, design-led process, in which a positive future can be envisioned, and the alternative projects are conceived as the new points of departure for a development process towards that desired future. In Groningen building with nature of the Wadden sea in combination with growing healthy food locally establishes the first novel ideas to start this process. Keywords  Disruption · Incremental planning · Transformation · Foodscape · Groningen · Land use change

R. Roggema (*) Cittaideale, Office for Adaptive Research by Design, Wageningen, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_8

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8.1  Introduction In times of serious uncertainty and predicted threats, such as climate impacts (IPCC 2014), growth of urban population in vulnerable areas (Gu et al. 2015), food insecurity (Rosegrant and Cline 2003), pandemics (Madhav et al. 2015) and more, urban and land policies, spatial adjustability and land-use needs to be capable of increasing its changeability. Land use planning policies however tend to be driven by muddling through processes (Lindblom 1959). Analysis of the possible land use changes in Groningen province shows that approximately 2% of its area is allowed to be changed within the 13-year duration of three consecutive regional plans been adopted as policies by the provincial government (Roggema 2012). In contrast, the minimal required transformative space for a climate adaptive province is estimated at 30% of the land that could be changed if necessary (Fig. 8.1).

Fig. 8.1  Hypothetical plan for a fully adapted Groningen (Roggema 2008)

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A spatial policy that builds on incremental steps is path dependent by nature. This implies that solutions of the past are applied for future problems, even if these problems are completely novel. The danger of incrementally degradation of the land, loss of spatial quality and quality of life, moreover increased risks that has not been accounted for, lies around the corner. Muddling through (Lindblom 1959) is therefore potentially dangerous in disruptive times, which ask for a transformative approach. Where current policies incrementally lead to decline by adding up all individual well-meant policy decisions, the general quality of landscape, wellbeing and welfare in the province of Groningen decreased. Parts of the landscape turned into a dry, desert-like environment, some parts suffer from earthquakes resulting from gas extraction or are under increasing influence of saline seepage from the sea. This has led to an almost doomed impression (Fig. 8.2) and a population that lost its trust in the future (Roggema et al. 2020).

Fig. 8.2  Result after decades of incremental best possible policy decisions (Roggema et al. 2020)

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There is an increased understanding the dynamic of cities, regions and landscapes no longer be seen as static, where the notion of equilibrium has been replaced by a veritable potpourri of different types such as chaos, catastrophes and bifurcations (Batty 2012). Given the turbulence of the current environment striving for reaching such an equilibrium seems to be difficult even counterproductive. An illusionistic view on ever stable urban and rural systems could end in a hard confrontation with rapid, unprecedented changes, which are already witnessed and occurring at an increased level. The shift to thinking in dynamic change is therefore the alternative. This begins with formulating the desired future state, even if this is an unknown, a future which can be called B, representing something fundamentally different from the stable system A that is currently experienced and incrementally continued by the additional policy decisions that are taken on a daily basis. However, the change of system A is only possible to transit into a slightly modified version of that system, A-dash, or A-double dash at its best. It is intrinsically impossible to become B when starting from A.  Hence the starting point of the transformation needs to be redefined as B-minus, the predecessor of the system eventually transforming to the desired new system B (Roggema et al. 2012). Current spatial planning policy and practice is not capable of adopting this fundamental shift because the essence of the transformation is to step away from the widespread code of what is unconsciously accepted as ‘good planning’, positioning ‘the planner as the one who knows’ (Gunder 2011). An alternative planning approach needs to be investigated to better anticipate uncertainties and disruptions. ‘Unsafe planning’, without tightening and dictating regulations which create a “non-­ innovative state of mono-rationality”, includes wicked problems and leaving behind the fundamental properties of western planning mono-rationality (Davy 2008), being: • ‘Playing by the rules’, which in the case of wicked problems no longer rule; • ‘Repeat habitual prior experiences’, which in wicked problem country is useless, because every time the problem appears to be unique; • Creating a ‘non-innovative status quo’, which is contra-productive if the wicked problem is ‘already changing again’. Mono-rationality must be replaced by an ‘unsafe’ planning practice of poly-­ rationality, where liquid, turbulent or even wild boundaries of both planning thought and spatial territory can occur, literally to do ‘it’ without the safety of a condom! Such a planning practice takes risks, accommodates differences and encourages the new and creative. IN this sense the way insurgent planning takes place in South-­ African slums can be used as a leading example (Miraftab 2009), as a way of bringing actors from outside the normal governmental planning arena ‘inward’ (Boelens 2010). This way urban environments and spaces are then ‘becoming’ rather than being planned from the top downward. This is post-anarchistic planning, emphasising to make use of the power of self-organising groups, which plan for their own environments without being led from the traditional governmental or political arena, allowing them to create a disordered order of spaces (Newman 2011). The assumption is these planning approaches then could accommodate disruptive and unprecedented change, the transformation towards a system B, much better.

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The way forward to meet the needs of a rapidly changing environment is to embark on a transformational, unsafe planning approach, searching for B-minus first, in order to reach the desired end-goal of systemic change to B. The logic then is to search for those, seemingly peripherical projects that are capable of dealing with potential high risks on the long term. Only real change emerges when transformative approaches to planning are used as the key mechanisms to allow responses to big change, uncertainty and disruptions. These transformation trajectories (Chapin III et al. 2010; Geels and Kemp 2006; Gunderson and Holling 2002) are described as ‘the capacity to transform the stability landscape itself in order to become a different kind of system, to create a fundamentally new system when ecological, economic, or social structures make the existing system untenable’ (Folke et  al. 2010) or as ‘disconnected processes of growth’ (Perez 2002; Ainsworth-Land 1986). The disconnection (or the need to come loose of the original system (A)), is represented as starting of the next ‘forming’ cycle (phase 1) while the previous ‘integrating’ stage (phase 3) is still ongoing (Fig. 8.3). A new forming phase jumping off the existing pathway A onto a new trajectory B can only be started by niche innovations, the B-minuses, as part of a multi-level perspective (Geels 2002, 2005, 2011). Change starts in the locus of radical innovations where novel configurations appear, which are capable of interfering with and influencing established practices and associated rules that normally stabilise existing, socio-technical, regimes. Once these regimes have undergone a change, the exogenous socio-technical landscape, representing the nearly unchangeable values and biophysical features might transform, if at all (Fig. 8.4).

Fig. 8.3  Transformational process. (After Ainsworth-Land 1986)

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Socio-technical landscape 1

Creation of windows of opportunity 8

New regime in“uences landscape

Sociotechnical regime 2

Dynamically stable regime

External in“uences on niches 3

Nicheinnovations

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New conguration breaks through; adjustments in regime

Elements aligned, dominant design

Novelties are supported

Fig. 8.4  Regime shift under influence of niche innovations. (After Geels 2002)

The process of transformation consists of several elements (Fig. 8.4). The existing regime is dynamically stable (point 2), which means that it is potentially open for change. However, it will only really be open to changing if the socio-technical landscape creates a window of opportunity (point 1). Both levels then externally influence the genesis of niches (point 3, 4), which create the conditions to invent novelties (point 5). Once these novelties are reinforced a dominant design (point 6) emerges that is strong enough to break through the existing regime (point 7), enforces adjustments to the old regime and transforms into a new regime. Eventually, when the regime shifts are profound, they may influence the landscape level, changing the set of values and/or biophysical properties in an area (point 8). The effectiveness of the change, e.g. whether a regime shift or transformation occurs, is determined by the strengths of the reinforcements at the regime and/or landscape level (Kemp et al. 2001) and determines whether a novelty fails, modifies the regime or is capable of transforming the landscape. In line with the thinking how actively enforced change occurs, it seems obvious that a system that is better at enforcing changes, is also more capable of dealing with unprecedented change or disruptions that cannot be foreseen. In conclusion, transformational processes that would like to establish a novel system B will never reach that ambition when embarking on a system A-trajectory. This implicitly will bring the system no further than undergoing slight changes turning into a renewed version of this system being A-dash, or A-double dash (Roggema

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Fig. 8.5  Transformational jump from existing pathway A towards new system B (Roggema et al. 2012)

et al. 2012). When the system is facing a disaster, or a velvet revolution embraces a new system by fading away from the old regime, the transformational jump can be made (Fig. 8.5). However, understanding these mechanisms allows for the creating the niche condition in which the B-minus novelties take off and start the pathway to the desired change. In this chapter the design of food-positive landscapes are seen as such novelties allowing a transformational jump, kindling a new pathway.

8.2  Le Fouture, a Toukomst for Groningen Within the province of Groningen, located in the north of the Netherlands, an abundance of policy documents is written, negotiated and adopted by municipalities, water boards, collaborative networks of governmental and non-governmental organisations and the regional government. At the same time, a major distrust of the local residents in governmental policy and decision making has emerged due to a certain level of negligence of the population’s concern regarding potential earthquakes resulting from local gas extractions. Between 2012 and 2020 a series of earthquakes have occurred in the area and after ignoring, denial and downplaying, the national and regional government have admitted a fundamental policy shift is required to rebuild homes, amenities and industries but also to rebuild trust. This has led to the Toukomst project, which is the local dialect for the word Future. In this process the objective is to generate groundbreaking ideas proposed by the local people, in the hope these ideas will be supported and build confidence.

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8.2.1  Analysis of Policy Plans In over 85 policy plans currently prevailing in the province, more than 1000 policy statements, objective or measures are mentioned. When each of these are thematically categorised and divided whether it they are a trend, strategy or transformation and to which time horizon they are responsive (short, middle or long-term), the policy analysis reveals the level of changeability and adaptability to future uncertainties. 1. Trend: a trend states which changes are expected on the short, middle or long-term; 2. Strategy: a strategy aims to formulate an objective to respond to a certain trend; 3. Transformation: a transformation proposes a tangible measure to realise a certain strategy. Finally, of every policy trend, strategy or transformation an estimate is given about the level of anticipation to big or uncertain changes containing potential large risks. The analysis determines whether the policy-documents anticipate the more radical future change. Are responses formulated that could accommodate even the largest disruptions that would function in an uncertain environment. Twelve distinct themes are identified: landscape and nature, water, agriculture, energy, urban development, living and housing, demography, mobility and transport, economy, leisure and recreation, social policy and governance. For each theme all relevant policy-­ statements and measures are categorised as a trend, strategy or transformation and being analysed whether it is a policy anticipating uncertain futures with potential high risks, and on which time horizon the policy (long, middle, short) is oriented. The trends are dealing mainly with both high and low uncertainties on the short term while a smaller group of trends is concentrated on short to middle term at medium and low uncertainty levels (Fig.  8.6 (l)). The majority of strategies and transformations are focused on the short to middle time and low to medium uncertainties (Fig. 8.6 (m&r)). The core of policies looks at the shorter term, take into account developments that can be estimated quite easily that are oriented at the local level. In itself this is no surprise and exactly what muddling through argues: people are more attracted to policy that is accurate, with outcomes that can be predicted, are quickly realised and locally visible. In a continuous process of the largest possible

Fig. 8.6  Location of all trends (l), strategies (m) and transformations (r) in timeline and level of uncertainty (Roggema et al. 2020)

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small step new policies are designed, proposed and implemented. It leads to incrementality and making those choices that are closest to the already familiar. This implies that responses to more fundamental questions around long-term changes are not abundant, not to mention the real policy breakthroughs or bifurcation points. These subsequence of incremental policy cycles in the last decades has therefore not lead to solutions for major long-term questions surrounded with higher levels of uncertainty. This gives also reason to the inability of mainstreaming climate change in spatial and other policymaking. The small policy changes are able to solve small individual problems but are impotent to developing a coherent long-term perspective. There is no vision of the future (Ten Hooven 2020). Le Fouture du Groningen could therefore be a mission impossible. All well-meant policy decisions in the Groningen region has involuntarily and not meant by anyone lead to enhancing problems without being capable of solving them in a more or less comprehensive way. Indeed, this is inherently impossible if every problem keeps on being treated with singular and separate solutions. 8.2.1.1  The Origin of Le Fouture The over 80 policy documents sketch an image of ostensibility. It seems every future is approached with reasonability and every threat is taken into account, analysed and treated with measures in order to be able to sustain in confidence. But this has not led to trust in the government. The opposite occurred. The well-though through words in the policy documents brought the Groninger people a diminishing trust because the real questions kept on being, unwillingly, ignored. The Groningen region has been used as a colony for centuries depleting most of the natural resources and taking those out of the area. Peat has been shipped away, straw was used to fabricate cardboard boxes and were transported elsewhere and most of the salt is extracted from the deeper ground and used in high-tech industries such as AKZO.  The fertile soil is vacuumed to grow sugar beets, grain or potato and exported to the rest of the world. And since the early 1960s most of the natural gas is burnt in Dutch or European houses. Even the water does not seem to be willing to stay in the increasingly drought hit summers. Even the people seem to have left with a continuous shrinking population in large parts of the area as a consequence. Maybe the most important omission in the policy process is the disappearance of the local Groninger culture, some would call it stubbornness or the pride to be a Groninger. This is replaced by distrust, incomprehension, rancor and grumpiness. A deep sorrow has come over the people of always giving never benefitting from the profits gained by exploiting his natural resources. While the Groninger is someone who is open to sharing and is willing to do something for someone else, even the brightest future perspective seems no longer good enough and is seen in a grim daylight. The endgame of extracting soil, stocks and minds has led to a degraded landscape (see Fig. 8.2):

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• The glorious Peat Colonies have ended as a desert, especially in the drought filled spring and summer periods of the year. Sandstorms are common, blowing away even the last bits of fertility to Germany in the east; • The heart of the region suffers from earthquakes and is near to being declared uninhabitable, not only the technical constructions of homes, but even more so socially. The feeling of a safe haven has long gone and trust in the governmental organisation is torn away due to slow procedures and unkept promises; • The Northern most fertile clay soils, providing the basis for a successful highly productive agricultural sector suffers from increasing saline water and soils as result of sea level rise pushing saltwater as seepage underneath the dikes. New crop systems need to be introduced, but for the once so efficiently producing farmers this is a chutzpah; • The world heritage site of the Wadden Sea, a unique wetland at European and global scale is drowning because of the urge to protect the Groningen hinterland. The vulnerable marshlands are at the brink of disappearing due to forcing the dynamical natural system in the armor of coastal protection, which prevents the bottom of the sea from simultaneously growing along with an accelerated sea level rise; • The economic engine of the region, Eems harbour and Delfzijl industrial zone, confronts us with the downside of our society, our dependence on (non-­ renewable) energy and our addiction to consumerism. Emissions of carbon and nitrate are feleased in the air, cooling water heats up the vulnerable nature in the Eems river and the Wadden Sea and the large scale power plants, turbines and industrial complexes is in stark contrast with the beautiful open landscape and the famous northern Dutch skies. In the meantime, new and ongoing threats continuously appear and some of these are expected to accelerate. Sea level is rising at an increasing pace so the question is whether coastal protection and nature can still be adapted to these rapid changes. Food security and -safety requires continuous adaptation in the agricultural system which are questionable of being implementable in the inert system as it is. New forms of renewable energy generation through large wind turbines and solar parks demand mental adjustments of the residents, which may prove not easy. The benefits of these changes are limited. For instance, additional jobs are only few, such as a sole plant operator in the Eems Harbour, or a farmer using a joystick to grow crops using robotics in a computer aided environment for which he or she no longer has to live in the region. And finally, the service industry could be redundant as most of the inhabitants have left the area. Does doom and gloom reign in the Groningen region or is there an unsuspected resilience apparent the local population? How could this hidden strength be revived? The deep Groninger culture is a best kept secret: The Groninger population accept change only after it has been effectuated. The best thing change can bring is that it seems it has always been there. Unchanged change is therefore the paradox of creating something new without it being new. When faced with uncertainty, disruptive change and unprecedented transformations, the required alternative plans and

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policies should be invented as if they have always been common practice, an extremely difficult task.

8.2.2  Analysis of People’s Ideas Steve Jobs based his quote ‘A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them’ on Henry Ford, who once stated: ‘If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses’ (https://www.businessinsider.nl/ steve-jobs-quote-misunderstood-katie-dill-2019-4?international=true&r=US). And we’d never ended up with automobiles. In other words, would we ever have enjoyed the smartphone if Apple had asked its customers what they wanted? Probably not. The question the regional government asked its citizens to come up with superb ideas is therefore paved with pitfalls. A superb idea should be an idea which could envision a future beyond the current time horizon, transcend local or individual interests and contributes to the quality of life under the largest uncertainties. In order to identify those superb ideas, the more than 900 submitted ones have been analysed and categorised according the time horizon and whether they anticipate big uncertainty. Similar to the policies, the majority of ideas focus on the shorter term and changes that are relatively can be overseen (Fig. 8.7). Out of the 900 ideas a select group of 20-odd ideas are identified as potentially being superb, the most peripherical ones. At the edges, or even outside current edges, extravagant ideas can be found that are truly innovative, attractive and imaginative. To overcome the paradox of Groningen a form of unsafe planning must be adopted, in which the people are presented what they never knew they would appreciate. Taking the risk of no longer muddling through, but planning without a condom (Davy 2008). Real superb ideas can only become reality by allowing more radical experiments. And while this is intrinsically against the peoples’ conscious will, the unconscious desire for the unknown will be appreciated after being realised. In Groningen two really good examples prove this point: the Groninger Museum and the Groninger Forum (Fig. 8.8), which could both count on protest during initial conception, but have been embraced once they became part of the city. One will only gain insight after having it in sight (Winsemius, 19; free after Johan Cruijff: ‘je gaat het pas zien als je het doorhebt’/‘you can only see it when you get it’). Policy and change occur often unnoticed without being really visible. Only when a disaster has occurred or a huge crisis happens, a war, flood or pandemic can enforce a bifurcation point, a tipping point or force a break with the past. Delta or Marshall plans are being developed and new vaccines conceived. Only when the tides are high. Sometimes a disruptive innovation happens without a big disruption causing it. The car, desktop computer, the Internet or the i-Phone are examples of inventions that have changed our daily life fundamentally. They happened because a weird mind following his or her whimsiness ignited something completely new. Only after it is there it causes affection. The Groninger Museum would never have been built if the alderman of duty didn’t pursue a creative jump (Homan 2005).

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Fig. 8.7  Swarm image of 900 future ideas

Fig. 8.8  The Groninger Museum (Photo credit: Rob Roggema) and Groninger Forum. (Source: www.bouwenmetstaal.nl)

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Fig. 8.9  Two peripherical ideas ‘Rijzend land’ and ‘Loppersummum’

So, let’s create an ‘Endless Forest’ (https://www.toukomst.nl/ideeen/het-langstebos-van-nederland/), allow the emergence of ‘Loppersummum’s’ ­(https://www.toukomst.nl/ideeen/l-o-p-p-e-r-s-u-m-m-u-m/, Fig. 8.9) or create a country of the rising land (https://www.toukomst.nl/ideeen/kustzone-die-meegroeit-met-de-zeespiegelstijging/ and https://www.toukomst.nl/ideeen/rijzend-land/, Fig.  8.9). These ideas seem unrealistic, will encounter serious objections, but this should give decision makers the confidence these ideas are worth to pursue. After such ideas have become reality the Groninger embraces it as if they have never been seen as a novelty.

8.2.3  T  he Groningen Paradox: Change While Everything Stays the Same Most of the policies and ideas are short-sighted and offer hardly any perspective to make the population really proud. Moreover, they cannot include uncertain transformative change and therefore offer no way out of the paradox of changing while keeping everything the way it was. Groningen should therefore return to its roots. Find its tranquillity back, see and taste the land, care for each other, the land and nature, and have plenty of time. Perhaps technology can make the world smaller instead of bigger, from globalisation to (re)localisation. This could bring human back to the human scale of social interaction in smaller communities

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interlinked with the rest of the world by fast-tech. However, using the local resources of organic food, clean water and renewable energy to provide them the necessities of life. Virtual communication also offers connectivity with the local and familiar, and social contact. This makes the Groninger exactly what he always was: a steady change agent, real, close by and surrounded by the land that gives him all he needs. Only this can bring back trust, with abundant locality instead of megalomania. This is a searching process for future imagination of the ideas that lie beyond the usual frame. If these are taken as the point of departure in a spatial laboratory aiming to leapfrog into the future people can step over their own shadow towards a future which only becomes visible once it can be witnessed. These out of sight ideas establish real depth in collaboration and solidarity and contributing to community feel providing future generations a better life than currently can be offered. These peripherical ideas are fed by long term developments and are able to acknowledge uncertainties. By definition they are not satisfying the political or societal short term. Rather it is a quest for transformative processes, creating the niche conditions where novelties are invented and cherished so a positive landscape can evolve for B-minus ideas.

8.3  Transforming Towards Food Positive Landscapes In the ambition to move away from slowly degenerative developments a turn towards positive landscapes is urgent. The local genes of farming and food production are therefore brought together with the biggest threat in the region, the risk of accelerated sea level rise causing flooding, salinity and loss of biodiversity. At three scales local growth of food in novel conditions is coherently planned for with the underlying condition to produce for the new EAT-diet (Willett et al. 2019): the ReitdiepValley, the Zernike Campus and the StadsAkker area.

8.3.1  Emergent Landscape: ReitdiepValley The area to the north of the City of Groningen, ReitdiepValley, is shaped by the natural landscape of the Wadden Sea and the Reitdiep river (Fig. 8.10). It is a relatively large-scale area, ranging from the city of Groningen up to the island of Schiermonnikoog in the Wadden Sea. The major questions are how a landscape can be designed that is capable of anticipating approximately three meters of sea level rise. Rising sea levels requires thinking about how to modify, treat or use saline conditions that result from strong seepage behind the coastal protection structures. These new conditions mean the growing circumstances for food crops change and require adaptation of the food system being able to grow food for approximately 100,000 inhabitants. As an

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Fig. 8.10  The ReitdiepValley landscape. (Photo credits: Rob Roggema)

additional challenge the new diet typology (Fig. 8.11) demands adjusted amounts of crop types and food sources. This new diet, proposed by the EAT team mitigates climate emergencies such as sea level rise, carbon emissions or intense salinity and manages extreme surpluses and shortages of water and generates a renewable energy supply hence keeping life on earth within the planetary boundaries (Willett et al. 2019). This approach also requires closing of cycles of urban flows at the lowest possible scale including extra capacity in the landscape to function as a sponge. How can a landscape be created that is capable of adjusting itself to extreme and accelerated change? What if a sea level rise of approximately three meters is taken as the point of departure for design? Instead of incrementally raising the coastal protection structures, which then bit by bit become a little higher, this proposition starts from the opposite direction. If unsafe planning is applied the natural forces of the sea could be used to shape the land. Whilst it seems a big risk, to let seawater enforce its power the outcome could well be a landscape that is more resilient, capable of adjusting faster and delivering more ecosystem values. In the Netherlands protecting the country for flooding has a long tradition in building robust structures to keep the water out. Up to one to one and a halve meter sea level rise can be dealt with in this technocratic way, however when sea level rises more and faster this approach seems to be getting counterproductive, increasing the risks that were aimed to be prevented. The alternative is to make use of the powers of the sea itself to form the land. Sea brings sediment to places where sand and clay is brought together, hence forming new land. The pace this occurs in the northern sea meets the faster changing rise of

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Fig. 8.11  Amounts of food for a healthy diet, recalculated for the Dutch context

the sea itself. This implies the land-forming can cope with the changes by nature and the current ecological values of the Wadden Sea can be sustained. When the sea is given the freedom to direct the landscape it will find the strength to build up coastal protection. The engineered dikes prevent this from happening hence should be deconstructed to start this natural process, allowing nature to build an emerging landscape. It also means the traditional defensive attitude of protecting land against the sea will shift to a more offensive strategy. New land will be formed at sea up to the island of Schiermonnikoog eventually creating new barrier island even. In this dynamic environment new creeks will be filled by water from the sea and determine the new, shifting boundaries between land and sea.

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Fig. 8.12  From separated fresh and saltwater systems towards an integrated merge

Simultaneously, the accelerated differences between prolonged droughts and intense rain events require the capacity to store fresh water up the higher grounds, to be of use when it is dry and discharge the water slowly towards lower land and the sea. This will encourage new peat lands to form, which will continue to grow over time, until they eventually merge with salty marshes. Where new land-forming at sea merges with the freshwater peat landscape a staged emergence of the new merge will take place (Fig. 8.12). The first stage, representing the current system, separates the sea and the land. In the second stage (estimated around 2050) the systems join, linking in so-called synapses. In the final phase a deep intrusion of the saltwater landscape in the freshwater system and vice versa occurs, foreseen for 2100. The design for this emergence of this sea level adaptive land is driven by several basic design principles (Table 8.1). This plan proposes a transformational change to make the landscape more resilient allowing the current inhabitants to continue living in the landscape. In the landscape more flexibility is implemented so it is better capable of dealing with torrential rain by introducing peat areas where future surpluses of water can be stored. The transformative landscape is planned to emerge during three stages (Fig. 8.13). Within these emergent conditions, the growth of food can no longer stay the same. Using the principles of the new diet (see Fig. 8.11), one segment of the northern region is designed for the growth of food for the local population, including 20% of the current inhabitants of the City of Groningen. The area needed for growing food for current consumption is approximately 105 km2, which does not fit in the available space. The new diet however can be grown on only 36 km2. The design (Fig. 8.14) is based on the idea to produce the freshest products closest to the city (Von Thünen 1826). Mushrooms, crickets, tomatoes, chicken and eggs, and fish are

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Table 8.1  Typology of design principles for an emergent landscape Reference

Name Barrier island

Principle Natural sea dynamics forming barrier as island in front of the coast

Creek intrusion

Allowing for saltwater to intrude inland and to expand land forming at sea

Terra forming

Allowing the sea water in, but slowing it down on the way back at ebb tide

Dutch mangroves

Forests alongside the creeks slowing down the intruding water

(continued)

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Table 8.1 (continued) Reference

Name Ride not crash

Principle Protective walls preventing the flooding houses and villages in the landscape during occasional extreme flooding

Synaptic fresh-salt

Synergies where salt and fresh water meet, and could form the basis for blue energy

Sponge-bog

Sponge operation of the peat landscape

Fig. 8.13  Subsequent stages of landscape forming, 2030-2050-2100

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Fig. 8.14  Design for growing food in the northern landscape

deployed near the city of Groningen. Dairy and red meat are proposed a little more outwards while orchards and crops like potatoes and carrots can be grown at distance, in this situation close to the coast. Growing enough food for the local inhabitants does not require the entire area available in this segment so the redundant area is planned for recreation and nature.

8.3.2  Foodscape Groningen A second example to escape muddling through planning is the design for the university precinct of Groningen, the Zernike campus, in the northern peri-urban area. This precinct consists of university buildings, a robust water and green grid and a range of indoor and outdoor sporting facilities. On a daily basis approximately 35,000 users spend around 8 h on campus. In the design for the food-campus a local food growing system is proposed that could provide all the food for these users throughout the year. Two objectives are added to this core ambition: the area should

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Fig. 8.15  Design for the productive Zernike campus

become reciprocal, moving beyond circularity and giving more back to the environment than it consumes (Roggema 2019) and secondly the area should create a maximised value proposition. The combination of reciprocity, value maximisation and growing an abundance of food is found in maximising every part of the campus to its best abilities creating highly productive food-sheds. Part of the integrated design are a solar PV-area on the outdoor sporting fields, freshwater aquaponics in the water system, walnut-­ orchards and cricket farming in between buildings, vine-façades for wine production on building walls, hydroponics on the roofs of buildings, coffee-grind mushroom growth, tomato-greenhouses topping the parking areas and carrots planted in open green spaces (Fig. 8.15). With a trapped consumer community of students, a strategy is developed for the campus that not only enhances a sustainable model for the educational institutions themselves, but also engages with the student body as an educational environment. Moreover, the proposition has economic value to the Universities on campus. What this means in practice, is that students as part of their education, whilst on campus, live in a future productive landscape. The students farm the landscape as part of their education and eat the produce in the canteens. This establishes a closed cycle agri-urbanism area, which works for the young citizens as a model for future engagement with the planet. The productive sheds each representing a certain (economic) value: 1. PV-arrays are placed covering the sports fields. Typically, in the Dutch not too sunny environment 1 m2 of PV-cells will produce around 2.5 kWh of electricity per day. A single 100  m  ×  50  m field covered with a PV roof could provide 4.5 MWh per annum. This would represent a monetary value of 500,000 Euro/ year for each sport field;

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2. The freshwater floating system would be supplied with a 13,000 m2 raft of aquaponics, in the form of an inflatable greenhouse to grow fish and crops. This would provide an estimated 2,7 million Euro/year revenue; 3. Two orchards of walnut forests have a revenue of 35,000  Euro/year; the crop from these trees is carbon negative, sequestering more carbon than they use; 4. Feeding all organic waste generated on campus to a cricket-farm. This cricket farm will grow black or banded crickets. These are a highly nutritious, protein-­ rich, food source that could be incorporated into meals on campus and would make the equivalent of 1,5 million Euro/year; 5. Provide a selection of the university buildings (south-oriented) with a ‘wine-­ wall’, a greenhouse vine-façade to produce wine. This would bring a profit of 22,000 Euro/year; 6. Covering the roofs of 10 buildings with hydroponics, in which crops are grown, would generate 1,5 million Euro/year; 7. Using all coffee-grind of the campus to grow mushrooms. Though it is only seven grams per cup of coffee, for 60,000 cups of coffee consumed on a daily basis it would grow 25,000 kg of mushroom, equalling 250,000 Euro/year; 8. Tomato-greenhouses on piloti could cover approximately two hectares of car parks. Using Dutch greenhouse technology, storing water run-off, to be uses as irrigation, would generate 44,000 Euro/year; 9. Traditional plot-based agriculture takes place between the buildings on four hectares of left-over green spaces. Here, root-crops such as carrots could be grown, generating only 9000 Euro/year. These estimated calculations show that the total revenues for this 1.25 km2 Zernike campus when turned productive could be around 10 million Euros/year.

8.4  Conclusion The Groningen region is confronted with serious uncertainties, such as a rising sea level, putting the coastal protection under pressure, a series of earthquakes as a result of decades of gas extraction, and a shrinking population due to decreasing opportunities in job availability and education. The regional governments have tried for decades to turn the tide, deciding on the best possible small step forward. This however has been undertaken as an incremental process, muddling through, and relating the pace of adjustments to the acceptability amongst the population. The current timeframe is facing even larger changes and more uncertainty. The traditional planning practice will, in these circumstances, not offer any solace, and has led already to loss of trust and support for the decisions taken by the government amongst the population. The Groningen analysis of policy propositions and submitted ideas by local people illustrates that the majority focuses on the shorter term not anticipating future uncertainties. Moreover, it shows that incremental policymaking leads to

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suboptimal spatial quality, degraded landscapes and increased risks at disruptions. If governmental policymaking continues to aim for improving the current situation (A) per se, this only leads to slightly modified versions (A-dash or A-double-dash) of this present, and is less capable of anticipating, responding to and dealing with an unprecedented future. In order to turn the tide and provide the region with improved spatial qualities, an upgraded landscape and reduction of the vulnerability. This evidently requires envisioning a future that is fundamentally different from the present. For embarking on such a transformational pathway to reach an alternative new future (B) the search for B-minus novelties should be undertaken. This search for ideas and projects that are really transformational can only be supported with unsafe planning approaches, decision makers who have the courage to take risks and making use of local and regional natural conditions. In this process it is essential to employ creativity, open-mindedness and out of the box thinking, because: 1. It is the only way innovative thinking can be deployed which can imagine a novel future; 2. It makes it possible to signal the hidden notions that point towards this new future. These are the novelties or B-minuses; 3. It is necessary for inventing those novel project ideas. Starting at the periphery of mind brings the extravaganza within reach and this is needed to initiate transformational thinking; 4. It leads to transformational landscape(s). To create the conditions for such a creative approach, a design-led process is very useful, in which the context of A and B futures as well as the B-minuses are explored first, then used in an iterative design process, and communicated to and visualised for the wider community. Some of the design-led results illuminate the transformational agency they perform. For instance, the design for the emergent landscape of the northern region gains adaptive capacity by allowing the land forming being driven by the intrinsic powers of the Wadden sea, which over time creates a new transformational landscape. Within this new context an alternative food provision for everyone living in the region can be achieved when a diet is adopted that stays within the planetary boundaries, feeds everyone with healthy food and gains a net value instead of claiming EU subsidies. The Zernike campus and the northern segment illustrate that choosing a different point to start planning for the future, a net profit, feeding everyone year round and a net lower environmental impact (Roggema 2020) can be achieved.

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References Ainsworth-Land GT (1986) Grow or die. The unifying principle of transformation, Reissued edn. Wiley, New York/Chichester/Brisbane/Toronto/Singapore Batty M (2012) Building a science of cities. Cities 29(Suppl 1):S9–S16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. cities.2011.11.008 Boelens L (2010) Theorizing practice and practising theory: outlines for an actor- relational  – approach in planning. Plan Theory 9(1):28–62 Chapin FS III, McGuire AD, Ruess RW, Hollingsworth TN, Mack MC, Johnstone JF, Kasischke ES, Euskirchen ES, Jones JB, Jorgenson MT, Kielland K, Kofinas GP, Turetsky MR, Yarie J, Lloyd AH, Taylor DL (2010) Resilience of Alaska’s boreal forest to climatic change. Can J For Res 40:1360–1370. https://doi.org/10.1139/X10-074 Davy B (2008) Plan it without a condom! Plan Theory 7(3):301–317 Folke C, Carpenter SR, Walker B, Scheffer M, Chapin T, Rockström J (2010) Resilience thinking: integrating resilience, adaptability and transformability. Ecol Soc 15(4):20. [online] http:// www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss4/art20/ Geels FW (2002) Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multilevel perspective and a case study. Res Policy 31:1257–1274 Geels FW (2005) Processes and patterns in transitions and system innovations: refining the co-­ evolutionary multi-level perspective. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 72:681–696 Geels FW (2011) The multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions: responses to seven criticisms. Environ Innov Soc Trans 1:24–40 Geels FW, Kemp R (2006) Transitions, transformations and reproduction: dynamics of socio-­ technical systems. In: McKelvey M, Holmén M (eds) Flexibility and stability in economic transformation. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 227–256 Gu D, Gerland P, Pelletier F, Cohen B (2015) Risks of exposure and vulnerability to natural disasters at the city level: a global overview. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Technical Paper No. 2015/2, New York Gunder M (2011) Fake it until you make it, and then…. Plan Theory 10(3):201–212 Gunderson L, Holling CS (eds) (2002) Panarchy: understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Island Press, Washington, DC Homan T (2005) Organisatiedynamica. Theorie en praktijk van organisatieverandering. Boom Uitgevers, Amsterdam IPCC (2014) In: Field CB, Barros VR, Dokken DJ, Mach KJ, Mastrandrea MD, Bilir TE, Chatterjee M, Ebi KL, Estrada YO, Genova RC, Girma B, Kissel ES, Levy AN, MacCracken S, Mastrandrea PR, White LL (eds) Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: global and sectoral aspects. Contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New York, p 1132 Kemp R, Rip A, Schot JW (2001) Constructing transition paths through the management of niches. In: Garud R, Karnoe P (eds) Path dependence and creation. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, pp 269–299 Lindblom CE (1959) The science of “Muddling through”. Public Adm Rev 19(2):79–88. Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Society for Public Administration. http:// www.jstor.org/stable/973677 Madhav N, Oppenheim B, Gallivan M, Mulembakani P, Rubin E, Wolfe N (2015) Pandemics: risks, impacts, and mitigation. In: Patel V, Chisholm D, Dua T, Laxminarayan R, Medina-­ Mora ME (eds) Mental, neurological, and substance use disorders, Disease control priorities, 3rd edn, vol 4. World Bank, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0426-7. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO Miraftab F (2009) Insurgent planning: situating radical planning in the Global South. Plan Theory 8(1):32–50

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Newman S (2011) Post-anarchism and space: revolutionary fantasies and autonomous zones. Plan Theory 10(4):344–365 Perez C (2002) Technological revolutions and financial capital. Edgar Elgar, Cheltenham Roggema R (2008) The use of spatial planning to increase the resilience for future turbulence in the spatial system of the Groningen region to deal with climate change. Proceedings UKSS-­ conference, Oxford, 1–3 September 2008 Roggema R (2012) Swarm planning: the development of a methodology to deal with climate adaptation. PhD thesis. Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University and Research Centre, Delft/Wageningen Roggema R (2019) ReciproCity, giving instead of taking. Inaugural lecture. Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen Roggema R (2020) Forum for design food-energy-water-futures. Workshop report M-Nex Groningen, 1–6 March 2020. http://m-nex.net/m-nex-design-workshop-groningen-forumfor-design-food-energy-water-futures/ Roggema R, Vermeend T, Van den Dobbelsteen A (2012) Incremental change, transition or transformation? Optimising change pathways for climate adaptation in spatial planning. Sustainability 4:2525–2549 Roggema R, Genel Altinkaya Ö, Psarra I (2020) De Toukomst is al lang begonnen. Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen/National Program Groningen, Groningen Rosegrant MW, Cline SA (2003) Global food security: challenges and policies. Science 302(5652):1917–1919 Ten Hooven M (2020) Geen doembeeld maar een groen beeld. Vrij Nederland 144(17–18):18–23 von Thünen JH (1826) Der isolirte Staat in Beziehung auf Landwirtschaft und Nationalökonomie. Wirtschaft & Finan Willett W, Rockström J, Loken B, Springmann M, Lang T, Vermeulen S, Garnett T, Tilman D, DeClerck F, Wood A, Jonell M, Clark M, Gorden LJ, Fanzo J, Hawkes C, Zurayk R, Rivera JA, De Vries W, Sibanda LM, Afshin A, Chaudhary A, Herrero M, Augustina R, Branca F, Lartey A, Fan S, Crona B, Fox E, Bignet V, Troell M, Lindahl T, Singh S, Cornell SE, Srinath Reddy K, Naraïn S, Nishtar S, Murray CJL (2019) Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet Comm 393(10170):447–492. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4

Chapter 9

Mapping the FEW-Nexus Across Cascading Scales: Contexts for Detroit from Region to City Geoffrey Thün

, Tithi Sanyal

, and Kathy Velikov

Abstract  The food energy water (FEW)-nexus implicates intersecting human and biological systems, flows, and exchanges that operate at multiple and often nested scales. For designers working on transforming FEW-systems it is therefore important to think across these scales and their interrelationships. Multiscalar consideration enables insight on effectiveness and impact of strategies and also provides the ability to recognize synergistic opportunities, barriers to be overcome, and externalities necessary to be considered. Additionally, in a multilevel governance context of the United States, many policies that impact food, energy, and water are defined and administered at the sub-federal state level, creating a heterogeneous terrain of approaches, applications, and opportunities, depending on locale. This study aims to describe a model for thinking and apprehending FEW-systems across nested and cascading scales. Cartographic visualization is positioned as a key component. The study uses a series of thick mappings paired with contextual narratives that cascade from the ecosystem scale (region) to the jurisdictional scale (state) to the operational scale (city) as a means of apprehending FEW systems and identifying differentiated opportunities that emerge across scales of consideration. Through a study of the Great Lakes Megaregion, the State of Michigan, and the City of Detroit, divergent opportunities and constraints are articulated for developing FEW-nexus based urban design and policy-based interventions in Detroit. The work enables the revelation of connections and imperatives for local opportunities that are embedded in the environmental contexts of the region’s broader ecosystem. The ecosystem scale avails views to alternate energy futures and water policy beyond those defined by the state. The jurisdictional state-scale reveals the impacts of policies and the constraints produced through their intended and unintended consequences. It points to excesses that might be leveraged to produce new economies and ecologies. At the scale of the city, the unique opportunities and challenges can now be rethought in G. Thün (*) · T. Sanyal · K. Velikov Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_9

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light of broader contexts. In some instances, alignment between local interventions and region-wide imperatives might help to reinforce the primacy of a given strategy. In others, the local context might argue for special exceptions to jurisdictional frameworks whose underlying principles are without traction. The work aims to outline an approach that is portable and may be translated to other urban contexts. Keywords  Urban Design · FEW Nexus · Multiscalar analysis · Systems mapping · Regional ecosystems · Urban vacancy · Post-industrial development

9.1  Introduction In 1968, IBM commissioned designers Charles and Ray Eames to develop a film intended to encourage popular interest in science. Originally titled A Rough Sketch for a Proposed Film Dealing with the Powers of Ten and the Relative Size of things in the Universe, the film was later released in 1977 as the more well-known Powers of Ten. Its structure was based on the 1957 publication Cosmic View: The Universe in Forty Jumps by Dutch educator and author Kees Boeke; one of the first attempts to develop a graphic and visual framework for thinking design across cascading scales. Eames’ Powers of Ten creates a visual journey that utilizes the structural framework of exponential powers to render visually legible the significance of scalar perspective through a narrative of interrelations. The establishing shot opens with a plan view of a couple at a picnic site on Chicago’s waterfront, viewed from 1 m away. The vantage point slowly rises away from the ground until it reaches the extent of the known universe. Then, at a rate of 10-to-the-tenth metres per second, the frame descends towards Earth again, back to the man’s hand, then continues to track below the scale of 1:1 to view a single proton within a carbon atom. The concepts embedded in Boeke’s initial drawings and later rendered accessible through the Eames’ film constitute a powerful tool to assist designers in conceiving of contexts as multi-scalar, intertwined, and interacting in complex ways with systems beyond the defined scale of a specific design intervention.

9.2  FEW as a Matter of Scale The matter of scale emerges as a central consideration in thinking ways to apprehend the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus, or, the confluence of metabolic flows that operate across urban food, water and energy systems and processes. In order to study systems, boundaries and scales of investigation need to be defined. Yet environmental systems do not adhere to the boundaries of science or politics, but at the same time are impacted by them. Scale becomes even more prescient when

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exploring ways to affect systemic change through urban design interventions. For design practitioners, the scale of action, proposition, and creation is often one that is measured in metres (in the design of buildings) and hectares (in the design of urban and landscape designs). Project scope and extents are defined externally and typically the scale of consideration remains constrained within a project’s property lines or the area defined by the project’s commissioning agents. However, in thinking the FEW-nexus, the factors that might inform action at a particular scale operate as part of systems, processes, interactions, related territories, and externalities that often extend far beyond the physical limits of the space under consideration. This study explores a framework for visualizing and describing the geographies of FEW-systems as they are manifest across cascading scales in order to inform design propositions for more sustainable food, energy, and water systems in cities. To explore this, contextual narratives of FEW-systems are unpacked and their interactions provisionally defined across three scales: the ecosystems scale (regional), the jurisdictional scale (state), and the operational scale (city). Each of these scales of consideration brings into view alternating narratives and differentiated priorities for apprehending FEW-systems. The investigation is focused on the city of Detroit in the United States, but is intended as a model for other urban regions. The ecosystems defined by the binational Great Lakes Megaregion are taken as a point of departure. In this territory Detroit is positioned as a border city central to exchange and material flows. At the scale of the State of Michigan, state rights and jurisdictional dominance reveals high differentiation in policies and law regarding systemic governance relative to neighbouring states and provinces, producing often highly constrained contexts for its cities and municipalities. At the city scale, the operational legacies of Detroit’s industrial and cultural histories, contexts of racial and economic inequality, and the legacies of a post-industrial city are dominant. Each viewpoint offers different opportunities and constraints for developing FEW-nexus based urban interventions that become specific to place.

9.3  Ecosystems Scale: The Great Lakes Megaregion Detroit is located at the geospatial centre of the Great Lakes Megaregion (GLM). The GLM is defined by the watershed of the Great Lakes Hydrological Basin (Fuller and Shear 1995) and the Regional Plan Association’s statistical and socio-political definition of the megaregion (RPA 2006). The connected watersheds of lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior form the Great Lakes Basin, acting as a catchment for an area of 521,780  Km2 (EPA 2016). The GLM spans the U.S.Canada international border and is defined by the urbanization and exchanges among the metropolitan areas of Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Buffalo, Toledo, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Minneapolis, as well as their adjacent territories dominated by landscapes of suburban development, agriculture, extraction, heavy industry, manufacturing, energy production, storage, and logistics (Fig. 9.1).

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Fig. 9.1  The Great Lakes Megaregion (RVTR 2019). (Map Sources: United States Census Bureau (2011) TIGER/Line Shapefiles (accessed 2012); Google Earth Pro 7.3.2. 2019 37°17′56.89”N, 84°08′17.14”W, eye alt 10356.88 mi (accessed 16 Jan 2020); also included is interpolation of the GLM economic boundary as defined by RPA https://rpa.org/work (accessed 10 Dec 2020))

Regional thinking recognizes that environmental systems, urbanization, and human exchange operate in complex ways across municipal and jurisdictional boundaries, and this viewpoint is necessary when thinking questions of urban sustainability and resilience. At this scale, the work develops geographic visualizations termed Shed Cartographies, which geospatialise territories within which elements retain high degrees of interconnectedness and interdependency (Thün et al. 2015; Velikov and Thün 2017). The Shed Cartographies for the FEW systems of the GLM assemble data at multiple scales, and through the lens of these specific themes reveal a ‘thick mapping’ (Presner et al. 2014) narrative that includes associated networks, formative geographies, infrastructures, organizations, associated artefacts, and strategic sites.

9.3.1  Industrialized Food Systems in the GLM Industrial and economic geographers have long tracked the symbiotic development of diversified agricultural production, manufacturing capacity, and transportation networks that have historically produced the spatially distributed agro-industrial

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complex of the U.S. Midwest. The legacy of these systems remains today, further transformed through contemporary supply chain logistics (Grey 2000; Jarosz 2008; Oppedahl 2017; FAPRI and University of Missouri 2016). The AgriShed (Fig. 9.2) spatialises the contemporary agro-industrial economy in terms of primary agricultural landcover by crop and sites of secondary processing centres. Overlapping field-condition representations delineate crop-based food production, hardiness zones, and the spatial distribution of government agricultural subsidies. Also identified are major distribution centres for processed food and critical transportation networks between related locations within the manufacturing and processing supply chains. Facilities with unique capacities within the food industry are identified as key sites, as are an array of research enclaves implicated in the transformation of food production technologies and techniques through industrial and biotechnical methods. The GLM sustains 25% of Canada’s and 7% of United States’ agriculture production (EPA 2019a). Advanced manufacturing and processing underscore the region’s industrial heritage with highly advanced secondary and tertiary food processing sectors upcycling produce and livestock into a range of food products.

Fig. 9.2  Great Lakes Megaregion AgriShed (RVTR 2015). (Map Sources: U.S.  Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone Map (2006). Wine: Appellation America (accessed March 2012). Forbes Global 2000 Corporation Statistics (accessed March 2012). Environmental Working Group Farm Subsidy Database (2011). U.S.  Department of Agriculture, Census of Agriculture (2007). Statistics Canada 2011 Census of Agriculture. GeoBase Initiative (2011). MWPVL Grocery Distribution Center Network in North America (2010). Economic Research Service Food Access Research Atlas, U.S.  Department of Agriculture (2012). American Research University Data, The Center for Measuring University Performance (2011))

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Across the region there is a diverse mix of agricultural products where states are known for their relative dominance in specific domains of agricultural production reflecting the agricultural sector’s specialization over time within frameworks of State legislation and politics. For example, Illinois is the leading producer of soybeans, corn, and swine and with 2640 food manufacturing companies (Illinois Department of Agriculture 2019), Ohio is one of the largest U.S. producers of Swiss cheese, eggs, tomatoes, and pumpkins (Ohio Secretary of State 2019), and Wisconsin’s dairy industry leads the nation in the production of 803 million pounds of specialty cheese (DATCP 2020). Within the agriculture sector, Michigan has the second most crop diversity in the U.S. (USDA NASS 2016; MDARD 2019). The interlaced relationships between production and subsequent processing constitute both an immense economic, energy, and water footprint, and a significant source of environmental pressure on freshwater systems and supply. Within this system, there is increasing concern regarding the amount of produce (specifically corn and soybeans) that is diverted from food systems towards the production of biofuels. Across the region, this growing trend, coupled with soil tilling practices, fertilization regimes, and reinforced by energy coupled agricultural policy threatens agricultural yield arriving to the region’s tables and pressurizing its environmental systems (Stillerman 2018). Counter to this set of practices are increasingly popular local and organic food movements. However, in comparison to industrial processes, organically grown foods are costly, creating a growing divide along socioeconomic lines with respect to access to healthy foods (Low et  al. 2015). Current reliance on less expensive produce to the region via cold chain logistics from Mexico, Central America, and California meets the produce gap while contributing significantly to the embodied energy and virtual water profiles of fresh produce consumed within the region (Mekonnen and Hoekstra 2011). The region’s limited growing seasons related to its northern climate are extended by greenhouse-based practices such as the cluster located in Leamington, Ontario, which accounts for nearly 69% of Canadian production (Government of Canada 2019). Efficiency improvements in heating and lighting systems for greenhouse production coupled with emerging hydroponic technologies are making greenhouses more viable in the region, as is growing demand for fresh produce and locally grown vegetables and fruit.

9.3.2  GLM Energy Systems and Renewable Energy Potential Across the region, factors that contribute to high energy demand include heating and cooling loads generated by cold winters and hot, humid summers, a concentration of energy intensive manufacturing, and the dominance of commercial and personal transportation within diffuse and low-density urbanization. The PowerShed (Fig.  9.3) assembles sites and current outputs of electrical generation fuelled by coal, hydro, natural gas, and nuclear sources overlaid with the geography of natural resources that facilitate each form of production. This cartography illuminates

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Fig. 9.3 Great Lakes Megaregion PowerShed (RVTR 2015). (Map Sources: U.S.  Energy Information Administration (2011) Coal Transportation Trends (1979-­2001) (accessed July 2011); Statistics Canada Electrical Power Generating Stations (2000) (accessed June 2010); U.S. Information Administration (2008) Existing Electrical Generating Units in the United States (accessed June 2010); Agriculture and Agri-­Food of Canada (2011); Biomass Calculator (accessed May 2012); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (2003-­2007) Biomass Maps (accessed May 2012); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (2007) Solar Maps (accessed June 2008); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (2007) Wind Maps (accessed June 2008); Canadian Wind Energy Association (2008) List of Wind Farms in Canada (accessed June 2010))

fundamental differences in geology, energy policy, and jurisdictional law on either side of the U.S.-Canada border (Thün et al. 2015). U.S. electrical production is dominated by coal-based generation with current transitions towards natural gas sources dominating recent change. The States of Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Indiana are all major coal producers and after Texas, Indiana and Ohio rank second and third in coal consumption for electrical generation (EIA 2019a). Coal based electrical generation is also dominant in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, with the relative percentage in decline due to a transition to natural gas (EIA 2019a). The industrial sector accounts for 45.6% of the total energy consumption (EIA 2019a). In 2013 the Province of Ontario banned future coal generation and by 2014 had phased out all coal-related operations. Both nations depend heavily on nuclear power generation, whose reliance on water intensive cooling processes privileges locations adjacent to freshwater systems. U.S. states in the region operate 37 reactors at 23 nuclear plants and Ontario has 18 operating

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nuclear reactors at three sites, which in 2017 supplied 58% of the total electricity produced in the province (IAEA and PRIS 2019a, b). Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011, public concern around nuclear operations and practices has increased and has led to facility shutdowns and decommissioning (Matheny 2018; Graydon 2020). While difference between Canadian and American resource dominance and policy impacts is clear, the regional energy systems remain interlaced through infrastructure and exchange. The high voltage transmission grid and natural gas pipeline networks span national borders and the exchange of electricity among North American Electric Reliability Corporation regions reveals a reliance on intraregional electrical exchange within the megaregion (NERC 2007). Within the United States, Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) policies depend on individual state interests and economic drivers (NCSL 2019), and as a result, renewable energy profiles range widely across GLM (DSIRE 2017; NCSL 2019). In 2018 renewables produced 6% of Indiana’s, 8% of Michigan’s, 29% of New York’s, 2.5% of Ohio’s, 5% of Pennsylvania’s, and 9% of Wisconsin’s net electricity generation (EIA 2019b). In 2019, New  York amended its Clean Energy Standard to require ‘100% carbon-free electricity by 2040’ (EIA 2019c). On the Canadian side of the GLM, hydroelectric generation dominates renewable energy production. Today, Canada ranks fourth in overall renewable and second in hydroelectric generation globally (National Energy Board 2016). Since 2005, Ontario’s wind and solar capacity has increased by 23%, and in 2015 contributed toward one third of the province’s electricity coming from renewable resources (National Energy Board 2016). Currently, 99% of Quebec’s electricity comes from renewable sources with 95% attributed to hydroelectric production, and provincial policies aim to further cut emissions by 2030 (Gouvernement du Québec 2016; National Energy Board 2016). While GLM territorialises profound potentials in untapped renewable energy resources, there are currently significant differences in performance and the policy projections across the states and provinces regarding commitments to carbon reduction targets (Christiansen et al. 2018). The PotentialShed (Fig. 9.4) spatialises the renewable resource capacities of wind, solar, untapped hydroelectric power, and biomass conversion toward electrical production across the region. Estimates indicate 7.2  GW of hydroelectric energy potential, significant untapped potential for biomass energy provision and 3.6–4.2 kWh/m2/day of annual average solar photovoltaic (PV) potential, and the GLM’s greatest renewable energy potential in future offshore wind farm development. While there are debates around calculation methods and feasibility for full development, the offshore wind resource within the U.S. boundary of the Great Lakes is estimated to be as much as 740 GW (Musial and Ram 2010; Helimax Energy Inc. 2008; U.S. DOE and U.S. DOI 2016). This reinforces the Great Lakes as a site of not only ecological and hydrological significance, but also one that is central to the region’s renewable energy futures. The interconnected industrial ecology that surrounds research and production domains linked to new energy constitutes a significant current and future economic driver for the region. Approaches to how urban design efforts frame energy matters will be significantly informed by the regional approach to renewables over the next

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Fig. 9.4 Great Lakes Megaregion PotentialShed (RVTR 2015). (Map Sources: National Hydropower Asset Assessment Program, Non-powered Dam Resource Assessment (2011). Hydropower Developments in Canada: Number, Size and Jurisdictional and Ecological Distribution, Global Forest Watch (2009). National Interstation Transmission Vision for Wind Integration, American Electric Power (2007). U.S.  DOE (NREL) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (2008); Natural Resources Canada (2008))

decades. While distributed production and local efficiency narratives dominate generalised approaches to best practice, a renewables-based regional electrical system would also suggest the prioritization of distributed storage systems, electrification of infrastructures, and the production of new urban and land-use patterns.

9.3.3  G  reat Lakes Basin: Linked Freshwater Hydrology in the Megaregion The Great Lakes are an invaluable and contested resource that constitutes one-fifth of the world’s freshwater supply. Biotic ecologies that comprise the region are fundamentally interconnected with the environmental hazards of urbanization and related activities. Primary intertwined geographies described in the EnviroShed (Fig. 9.5) include subsurface aquifers, protected forestland, point sources of air pollution, dominant summer and winter air streams. Designated Superfund sites, and

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Fig. 9.5  Great Lakes Megaregion EnviroShed (RVTR 2015). (Map Sources: Commission for Environmental Cooperation (2010) Terrestrial Protected Areas (accessed May 2012); Commission for Environmental Cooperation (2005)  Pollutant Releases and Transfers Reporting Facilities (accessed May 2011); Environmental Protection Agency (2009) EPA Geospatial Data Access Project (accessed May 2012); Environmental Protection Agency(2009) Areas of Concern in Lake Michigan. Available via Great Lakes Information Network (accessed April 2011); California Regional Weather Server (2011) Jet Stream maps for North America (accessed May 2012); United States Environmental Protection Agency (2009) Clean Watersheds Needs Survey (accessed April 2011); United States Census Bureau (2018) TIGER/Line Shapefiles :Linear Hydrography National Geodatabase (accessed 24 Feb 2019))

‘Areas of Concern’ identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EnviroShed also locates sites that have high potential for detrimental environmental impact, including military bases, nuclear power plants linked to their attendant fallout ranges, solid waste landfills, and wastewater treatment plants. This underscores the extent to which such sites are framed within pan-jurisdictional concerns, emphasizing the potential of local intervention to have system-wide impacts and repercussions, as well as for collaboration at the regional scale. Currently, the Great Lakes National Program Office enables collaborations between U.S. and Canadian governments through the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) to conserve the Great Lakes Basin ecological system, and under that agreement the International Joint Commission reports to respective federal, state, and provincial governments (EPA 2019b). Whereas the Great Lakes and St.

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Lawrence Cities Initiative is an alliance between 131 officials from cities across the region working towards rehabilitating and conserving the region’s environmental resources (Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative 2019). Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) discharges are one of the most problematic pollutant sources impacting the Great Lakes. As stormwater, untreated sewage, and industrial wastewater are conveyed to treatment facilities in a combined pipe, significant rainfall or snowmelt events often exceed capacity, and systems overflow and discharge into adjacent water bodies (EPA 2016; IJC 2017). The 184 communities with CSO’s in the U.S. states and the 107 systems in Ontario release billions of litres of untreated sewage and stormwater into the Great Lakes every year, with the greatest concentration mapping onto the largest cities at the shorelines of Lakes Erie, Michigan, and Ontario (EPA 2016; IJC 2017). Another pressing challenge in the region is the eutrophication of the Great Lakes. In 2011, Lake Erie’s algal bloom formations, containing Cyanobacteria and its associated toxin Microcystin, proliferated in the western basin in July initially covering an area of 600 km2, and by October, the blooms covered an area of approximately 5000 km2 (Michalak et al. 2012). Microcystis thrives in high concentrations of dissolved nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen which has been released into Lake Erie through traditional agricultural practices and catalysed by heavy precipitation (Stumpf et.al. 2012). The Michigan Environment Council reports that the Great Lakes fishing industry additionally contributes to the eutrophication in the lakes as extensive fish farming concentrates waste and disease spread to feral populations (MEC 2018a). This range of environmental concerns are matters for attention in the development of local urban design interventions, especially as most of these systems are owned and governed at the municipal level. Landscape remediation, stormwater system design, and agricultural practices that mediate of runoff flows to the GLM’s water resources constitute a significant priority for new urban design proposals engaging the FEW-Nexus.

9.3.4  T  he GLM’s Urban Futures in the Context of Climate Change Current projections of global climate change related impacts within the GLM anticipate overall air and water temperature increases, but also much more variable and extreme climate events that will lead to increased precipitation and risk of flooding (ELPC 2019). Increased flooding threatens both cities and agricultural lands, and especially threatens water quality due to CSO overflows and contaminated floodwater runoff. Whereas older models of the Great Lakes predicted drops in water level, more recent models indicate much more variability, leading to more uncertainty over shoreline uses and ecologies (ELPC 2019). Traditional agricultural productivity will be impacted due to changes in temperature and rainfall patterns, and fluctuating levels of surface water will impact areas with intensive agricultural production.

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Increasing demand for direct and indirect water use will intensify conflicts within the region. Forecasts also expect a transformation in forest cover with a reduced boreal forest extent, northward migration of competing species, and impaired forest tree growth due to increasing levels of ground-level ozone, thereby reducing the level of carbon sequestration (UCS 2009; UCS and ESA 2003; Stabenow 2019). From the regional perspective of the GLM, myriad issues begin to inform thinking across future urban design projects at the scale of the city of Detroit. Perhaps most profound are the ways in which flood event resilience and stormwater runoff reduction can be integrated into local proposals. More broadly, reconsideration of the models by which food is produced, processed, and distributed may lead to forms of urbanism that counter the low-density transportation-intensive precursors that have historically been dominant across the GLM. In terms of energy futures, the question remains regarding the scale of renewable energy development. If the inland offshore yield of the region’s renewable wind resources were harnessed and made grid available throughout the region, there would be a radical impact on how the challenges of heating, cooling, mobility, and energy intensive processes might be structured within cities.

9.4  Jurisdictional Scale: The State of Michigan While the megaregional scale of consideration provides an understanding of the interconnected environmental systems of the region, policy and action occur at the state and provincial levels, within a framework of federal policy. The U.S. is governed through a decentralized model of federal power, where individual states retain powerful administrative authorities. States are not only responsible for implementing policies created and defined by the federal government but are also ‘fully functioning constitutional polities in their own right’ (Katz 1997). In practice, this model creates ambiguity and gaps in state versus federal roles and responsibilities relative to the administration of food, energy, and water resources and produces wide variability in policy and implementation from state to state. Each of these resources have diverse considerations, legacies and impacts with respect to public health, environment, and commerce at the local and regional scale and consequently come under the jurisdiction of different governing bodies and agencies. Within each state context significant differentiation in FEW systems policy and practice can be witnessed with the state defining many of the legal frameworks within which cities must operate.

9.4.1  Michigan Food and Waste Law U.S. food law governing the agro-industrial sector is dominated by the federal government especially within frameworks of food safety regulation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are the

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two primary U.S. federal agencies responsible for food processing safety in the country. The USDA regulates the safety standards of meat, poultry, and eggs (unshelled) and the FDA regulates the safety standards of other food products (Johnson 2016; Beyranevand and Winters 2018). Federal laws and policies on food regulations ‘allow significant room for the states to regulate pursuant to their ability to develop laws and policies to protect the public, health, safety and welfare of their citizens’ (Beyranevand and Winters 2018). The Michigan agro-food systems map (Fig. 9.6) spatialises the agro-industrial economy of the state through the lens of production, processing, storage, distribution, retail food services, food safety, and food related research organizations. This map illustrates the geographies of agricultural crop cover, livestock

Fig. 9.6  Michigan agro-food systems (RVTR 2020). (Map Sources: United States Census Bureau (2017) TIGER/Line Shapefiles(accessed 03 Jan 2018); Mergent Intellect (2016) (accessed 24 Oct 2019); United States Department of Agriculture: National Agriculture Statistic Service (2018) 2018 National Cropland Data Layer(accessed 01 Oct 2019); Homeland Infrastructure FoundationLevel Data. (2019) Public Refrigerated Warehouse(accessed 14 Oct 2019);United States Department of Agriculture: Agriculture Marketing Services (2019) Local Food Directories(accessed 10 Oct 2019); Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (2019) Farm, Business & Lab Services (accessed 25 Oct 2019);Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (2017) Michigan Commercial Laboratories Providing Food Testing Services(accessed 25 Oct 2019); United States Department of Agriculture: National Agricultural Library (2019) Food and Nutrition Information Center (accessed 25 Oct 2019); United States Census Bureau(2018) Tiger/ Lines Geodatabase: Rails National Geodatabase (accessed 04 Feb 2019); United States Census Bureau (2018) Tiger/ Lines Geodatabase: Roads National Geodatabase (accessed 04 Feb 2019))

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breeding and aquaculture, food processing, refrigerated warehousing, primary food distribution centres, food hubs, as well as major food retail services, wholesalers, grocery stores, farmers markets and on-farm markets. This map also highlights major agro-­industrial enterprises headquartered in the state as well as primary research organizations working on topics related to the food system and safety. Despite its extensive agri-food system, Michigan struggles with chronic food insecurity (USDA 2019; Food Access in Michigan 2020). Although overall family budgets in Michigan increased by 27% between 2010 and 2017, the state witnessed 14% of households living in poverty and of those 43% unable to sustain ‘basic necessities including housing, childcare, food, transportation, and health care’ (United Way 2019). Michigan ranks as having one of the poorest recycling and composting standards in the country. The Michigan waste and recycling systems map (Fig. 9.7) visualises the location and capacities of landfill sites, these sites’ biomass capacity, anaerobic digesting facilities, hazardous waste treatment and disposal facilities, material recovery facilities, remediation service providers, registered commercial

Fig. 9.7  Michigan waste and recycling systems (RVTR 2020). (Map Sources: U.S.  Energy Information Administration (2015) Layer Information for Interactive State Maps: Biomass Resources (accessed 27 Sep 2019); Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (2019) Report of Solid Waste Landfilled in Michigan. Available via Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (accessed first Oct 2019); Mergent Intellect (2016) (accessed 24 Oct 2019); United States Census Bureau (2018) Tiger/ Lines Geodatabase: Roads National Geodatabase (accessed 04 Feb 2019); United States Environmental Protection Agency(2019) Excess Food Opportunities Map (accessed 04 Oct 2019))

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composting sites and waste related research organizations. The map depicts the amount of solid waste diverted to Michigan landfill from each county, other U.S. states and Canada through primary and secondary road networks. The state’s waste policies have not been updated since the 1990s (MEC 2018b) and since then the state has created the region’s most aggressive waste sector by constructing more landfills, maintaining low tipping fees for disposal, and importing waste from its regional neighbours. The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) recognizes waste as an international commodity, and in 2019 Canada contributed 17.1% of the waste disposed in Michigan (EGLE 2020). Other factors that contribute to Michigan’s dominance over landfilling operations include a geology consisting of a thick impervious layer of Devonian clay that prevents leaching, its geographically central location within the GLM serviced by extensive road networks, and lax post site-closure maintenance legislation limited to 30  years (Bélanger 2007). Michigan’s recycling rate of 15% is far below the national average of 29%, and below other GLM states such as Minnesota and Illinois, who have reported recycling rates as high as 68% and 38% respectively (WMSBF 2016). Food and other organic waste are the largest portion of municipal solid waste composition, and according to a 2016 report it could produce roughly 1.5 million tonnes of compost annually (WMSBF 2016; Zimnicki and O’Brien 2018). Surplus composting capacity points to a potential for soil-based systems innovation that can improve water retention, prevent flooding, offset existing industrial agricultural practices, and reduce nutrient dense and pollutant laden water runoff. Leveraging local circular systems within the context of Michigan’s waste economy offers promise and potential as a priority for urban design interventions that can disrupt state-reinforced waste system circuits. Composting can contribute to soil remediation at post-­ industrial sites, and local composting can stimulate urban farming, especially since regulatory frameworks often limit commercial composting practices within city limits (Zimnicki and O’Brien 2018).

9.4.2  M  ichigan’s Energy Priorities: Resources, Policies and Production The 1935 Federal Power Act (FPA) distinguishes between federal and state control over the energy sector, where federal regulations limit wholesale sales and interstate transmission rates and state regulations determine generation, distribution, and retail sales (Dennis et  al. 2016). U.S. regulators rely on competitive markets to ensure reasonable outcomes for ratepayers (Dennis et  al. 2016). The Michigan energy networks map (Fig.  9.8) spatialises existing state-wide energy production fuelled by both renewable and non-renewable resources including biomass, solar, wind, hydro, petroleum, coal and natural gas, nuclear power, and spatialises the state’s underlying coal and natural gas resources as well as key sites of generation

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Fig. 9.8  Michigan energy networks (RVTR 2020). (Map Sources: U.S.  Energy Information Administration (2019) Layer Information for Interactive State Maps: PowerPlants (accessed 27 Sep 2019); U.S. Energy Information Administration (2018) Layer Information for Interactive State Maps (accessed 27 Sep 2019); Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-­Level Data (2018) Electric Power Transmission Lines(accessed 25 Sept 2019); Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (2017) US Coal Fields (accessed 25 Sept 2019); Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-­Level Data (2018) Oil and Natural Gas Wells (accessed 25 Sept 2019))

and research within the state. Currently, the largest segment of Michigan’s electricity generation comes from coal-fired plants, while the state’s three nuclear power plants generate another quarter of the state’s electricity (EIA 2019b). Modest renewable contributions are primarily wind based and located in the north-eastern part of the state near Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. In 2008, Michigan required utilities to supply 10% of their power from renewable sources by 2015, and in 2016, this requirement increased to 15% by 2021 and 35% by 2025 with a cost cap of 2.5% (NCSL 2019). Although Michigan’s existing renewable energy generation standards rank low in comparison to other GLM states such as New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, these standards are applicable to all its utilities, creating a considerable potential impact on the system. Federal and state governments debate to define new renewable energy standards, such as introducing Renewable Electricity Standard Act of 2019. This bill that would increase the supply of renewable energy in the U.S. from 18% in 2018 to at least 50% by 2035. A barrier to this transformation is PURPA, the Public Utilities Regulator Policy Act passed by U.S. Congress in the wake of the 1970s oil crisis and intended to incentivise energy conservation and alternative energy generation (PURPA 2010; UCS

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2002). PURPA’s requirement for public utilities to purchase renewable energy from third-party Qualifying Facilities produces a significant barrier of entry for emerging technologies and small-scale producers (MPSC 2019). PURPA’s regulatory frameworks are criticised for their inability to sufficiently protect the public interest and reforms are required to reflect the current energy landscape, especially in terms of emerging renewable markets (Heather 2017). If the U.S. is going to meet its renewable energy targets, there is a need to rethink PURPA and to create a climate that encourages the exploration of new technologies and models for distributed generation, storage, load controls, and micro grids that work with urban design interventions and better inform policy drivers. In terms of pollution regulation and contaminated site remediation from energy production, individual states develop their own policies and implementation plans, as long as these comply with the minimum federal standards defined by the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the EPA (Vasallo and Salazar 2019). This dual sovereignty has raised significant concern over the jurisdiction of renewable energy initiatives such as decentralized energy generation, storage, and distribution, which were not anticipated when the FPA was formed (Dennis et al. 2016). The persistence of historic federal and state jurisdictional frameworks impede innovation and effective application of renewable energy models within more local, distributed systems and open questions as to how new frameworks might allow for ‘energy exception zones’ (Dennis et al. 2016) within cities that would enable municipalities to experiment with alternative practices independent of the limits of state law.

9.4.3  Michigan’s Liquid Crises Of the Great Lakes’ 244,100 km2 of surface area, the Michigan boundary occupies approximately 103,600 km2 and 4836 km2of inland water (Fuller and Shear 1995; MSU Libraries 2020). While the state appears to have access to an indefinite supply of freshwater, water quality is threatened by a number of factors. The Michigan liquid crises map (Fig. 9.9) spatialises major water quality challenges faced by the state, visualizing wetlands, surface water intake, ground water intake wastewater treatment plants, combined sewer overflow facilities, major dam locations, Superfund sites, PFAS contamination locations, rates of childhood lead exposure by county and water related research organizations. Since the 1980s the Federal government has decreased direct funding and increased loans and loan subsidies to state and local governments for major improvements to centralised wastewater treatment and drinking water systems infrastructure. This pattern particularly pressurizes locations with aging infrastructure and shrinking tax bases  – a context that defines many of Michigan’s municipalities (Ramseur 2018). Gerlak (2006) argues that the greatest challenge regarding intergovernmental relations derives from compliance costs for states and local

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Fig. 9.9  Michigan liquid crises (RVTR 2020). (Map Sources: U.S.  Geological Survey (2000) Aquifers: Ground Water Atlas of the United States (accessed 24 Sept 2019); Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (2019) PFAS Sites Being Investigated (accessed 24 Sept 2019); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce (2018) Superfund Sites (accessed 12 Oct 2019); Michigan Department of Health & Human Services (2016) Michigan Environmental Public Heath Tracking: Childhood Lead Exposure (accessed 12 Oct 2019); U.S Environmental Protection Agency (2016) EPA Facility Registry Services (FRS): Wastewater Treatment Plants (accessed 10 Oct 2019); EPA Facility Registry Services (FRS): Wastewater Treatment Plants (accessed 10 Oct 2019); U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2018) National Inventory of Dams (accessed 7 Jul 2020); EGLE (2020) Dams Regulated by the State of Michigan (accessed 7 Jul 2020); U.S.  Geological Survey (2019) National Water Information System (accessed 3 Jul 2020))

government especially while trying to conform with the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act. Between 1990 and 1995, Michigan had one of the strongest polluter pays laws in the country charging corporations with the fiscal and operational responsibilities of environmental clean-up at contaminated sites. The law was revoked in 1995, and in 1998 the Clean Michigan Initiative included $385  million for environmental remediation costs. These funds have now been exhausted and polluted sites continue to be identified, often due to legacy use. State agencies are required to prove the exact location and timing of contamination within a court of law in order to assign corporate responsibility (Clean Water Action 2019). Thus, for urban design projects within post-industrial cities, initial capital investment for environmental remediation of former brownfield sites often proves prohibitive for the development of projects (DEQ 2018).

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Deferred maintenance of Michigan’s water infrastructure also threatens human and environmental health. One of the worst modern water supply failures occurred in Flint,  Michigan during April 2014 when the city temporarily shifted its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River while constructing a new supply pipe (Davis et  al. 2016; Butler et  al. 2016). Insufficient treatment of the river water caused a chemical breakdown in the city’s aged lead pipe system, contaminating the drinking water supply with dangerous levels of lead, and creating a major and ongoing public health crisis (EPA and Office of Inspector General 2018; Fortenberry et al. 2018; Schmidt and Dugal 2019). In May 2020 heavy rains caused two dams along the Tittabawassee River to rupture, flooding the community of Midland,  Michigan and threatening the Dow Chemical complex and Superfund toxic clean-up site (Tabuchi 2020). Almost 80% of Michigan’s 2600 dams are past their 50-year design life (the Edenville Dam that collapsed in 2020 was 96 years old) and many are in poor condition (MRP 2007). Industrial legacies continue to generate concern across the state as newly identified contaminants threaten the water supply. Most recently, Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has identified 74 sites with high levels of PFAS/PFOA (Per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances) contamination in multiple locations across the state (Michigan PFAS Action Response Team 2019; Schmidt and Dugal 2019). PFAS are a group of man-made chemicals that have been globally used in manufacturing, firefighting, as well as in household and consumer products, and have been linked to fertility and developmental problems, especially in young children. Michigan also continues to lose acres of wetlands annually. While the 1979 Geomare-Anderson Wetlands Protection Act allows Michigan to regulate its wetlands and wetland development permits on behalf of the federal government, Michigan has lost 8000 acres of wetlands from 1998 to 2005, at a rate of 1500 acres per year (Fizzell 2014). The remaining 17% of the Michigan’s wetlands perform as critical biological filters that provide storm and flood water storage, shoreline stabilization, and sustain ecosystem health. Paralleling the contexts of declining wetland areas, extensive ground water contamination, and many Michigan residents having limited access to clean water, the state continues to grant permits for groundwater extraction to corporate entities such as Nestlé, who were given access to groundwater for $200 per year, and now extract 1514 Litres of ‘spring water’ per minute (Detroit Free Press 2018). According to policymakers of Michigan Environmental Council, about 3000 high capacity wells are registered with the state, each withdrawing at least 378,500 Litres of water a day. Most are utilized for agricultural irrigation without direct payment to withdraw the resource. At the state scale, we see contestable waste management practices, limited renewable energy generation incentives, the proliferation of unregulated environmental contamination, and the over-reliance on aging, centrally distributed water and energy infrastructures. Within this context, urban designs need to account for the environmental impacts of the material streams they produce and develop design strategies that work towards increasing circularity and models of distributed autonomy versus the historic paradigms of centralization, externalization, deferral,

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disposal, and abandonment. As ongoing concerns around lack of access, escalating economic divides, and underutilized labour perpetuate, new frameworks that aim to leverage state policy toward coupled outcomes could point a way forward. For example, organic waste generated in the state emerges as an unaccounted resource that could catalyse soil remediation, the development of new productive landscapes and improve biomass energy generation. Landscape based processes that enable localised soil regeneration may compliment stormwater retention strategies as a strategic component for new developments.

9.5  Operational Scale: The City of Detroit Although in the United States the policy, decision-making, and funding related to FEW is primarily defined and controlled at the state level, individual cities have been emerging as places of leadership, experimentation, and innovation in sustainable initiatives. In contrast to the partisan and slow-moving politics at state and federal levels on issues such as climate change, municipalities have been identified as ‘pragmatic, responsive, and relatively nimble bodies of government’ who are able to make local, community informed, and actionable decisions (Hughes 2019). However, municipal governments are also notoriously strapped for financial resources, and, since the financial restructuring of the late 1980s and 1990s, have faced strong incentives to pursue neoliberal development policies that have been found to exacerbate inequality (Hackworth 2007). The city of Detroit has emerged as a central actor in America’s history of industrialisation, race relations, economic decline, shrinking cities, and most recently, regeneration and resizing of post-industrial legacy cities. In the early twentieth century Detroit became a centre for manufacturing enabled in part by available venture capital derived from Michigan’s logging and mining activities as well as by the city’s strategic location in the Midwest. Detroit’s industrial development was accelerated by the emergence of the auto industry and further propelled during WWII through the manufacture of military armaments. The city saw an influx of labour, including significant numbers of African Americans from southern states during the Great Migration. Detroit’s population grew from 285,704 residents in 1900 to 1,849,000 in 1950 (Metzger and Booza 2002). Almost as rapidly as it had grown, the city’s population began to decline after 1950, and now sits at approximately 670,000 (USCB 2020). While the dynamics that led to Detroit’s disinvestment and urban abandonment have paralleled the decline of many U.S. industrial cities, researchers have identified that Detroit’s particular crisis is rooted in systemic planning, housing, and financial policies based in racial bias and prejudice (Sugrue 1996; Thomas 2013; Wilson 2008; Dewar and Thomas 2013). While many cities witnessed redevelopment of their urban cores in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Detroit continued to decline and famously filed for bankruptcy in 2013 (becoming solvent again in 2014). Also in 2013, an independent think tank emerging from an initiative of former Detroit Mayor Bing published a

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strategic framework plan called Detroit Future City (DFC). Following intensive community engagement, the plan’s aim was to inform future planning and development. This would be primarily achieved through planned shrinkage, consolidation, and service decommissioning toward the transformation of large areas of formerly residential blocks into either agricultural or green space land uses (DFC 2013). While the plan has been heralded as an ambitious and exciting vision for the city, critics of the plan have pointed out that it continues to reinforce ‘racialised spatial injustice’ that will ‘disproportionately affect the city’s poorest and most isolated residents’ (Clement and Kanai 2015). New urban design proposals for Detroit will need to negotiate principles outlined within the DFC framework while confronting its contemporary societal inequalities in addition to the various physical and environmental legacies of the city’s past. Potent among these legacies is the spatial fragmentation and environmental impacts of the city’s freeway infrastructure as well as its industrial corridors. These corridors of industrial development bounded by rail and highway infrastructure have been referred to as ‘linear cities’ where industrial clustering has produced an urbanism that functioned as a ‘single great plant, with the linear cities as its production lines,’ shaping the city’s sprawling and low density urbanisation (Fishman 2015). These largely abandoned lands now not only divide the city into enclaves, but are also highly contaminated, presenting financial impediments to future development associated with site remediation, while also having a negative impact on adjacent property values, crime, health, and job opportunities (City of Detroit 2020). The Detroit industrial legacy map (Fig. 9.10) indicates existing brownfield properties within the city, which, among other factors, contribute to spatial division of neighbourhoods, while also visualising levels of total toxic release from existing industrial facilities that put neighbourhood redevelopment at risk.

9.5.1  Vacancy and Land Across its 360 km2 urban footprint, Detroit’s 52 km2 of total vacant land is approximately equal to the size of Manhattan (DFC 2017). In 2018, the city had a 72% Residential Occupancy Rate (D3 2019) and a 46.8% Owner Occupancy Rate (USCB and ACS 2018). This low density contributes to a series of interrelated and ongoing challenges for the city including declining tax bases, non-viable commercial markets, exorbitant servicing and infrastructure costs, and urban in-access. The Detroit vacancy map (Fig. 9.11) utilises the January 2019 DLBA database to visualize the available vacant land in the city by spatialising 1489 ha of vacant parcels, 814 ha of vacant side lot parcels, and 983  ha parcels with vacant structure. The map also depicts major organizations associated with the planning and development of Detroit. As a means to address vacancy and foreclosure, the Detroit Land Bank Authority (DLBA) was created in 2014 under state law as a public authority to assume ownership and manage approximately 100,000 parcels of property. Today DLBA has

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Fig. 9.10  Detroit industrial legacies (RVTR 2020). (Map Sources: City of Detroit Open Data Portal (2019) Parcels (accessed 16 Jan 2019); United States Environmental Protection Agency (2018) Toxic Release Inventory Program (accessed 21 Feb 2019); Data Driven Detroit (2015) Brownfields (accessed 21 Feb 2019); United States Census Bureau (2018) Tiger/ Lines Geodatabase: Roads National Geodatabase (accessed 04 Feb 2019); Statistics Canada (2019) Road Network Files (accessed 13 Jul 2020))

become a powerful public entity and the city’s largest landowner, shaping outcomes for ‘vacant, abandoned, and foreclosed properties in the city’ and bringing them to ‘productive use’ (Pothukuchi 2017; DLBA 2019). While there are programs and initiatives to regulate buying and selling of land, there is an overall lack of transparency and inconsistency in land ownership (Hoey and Sponseller 2018; Pothukuchi 2017). Despite strict program definitions that aim to limit exploitation of re-sale programs, privilege local ownership, and stimulate low intensity activities such as urban farming in non-development contexts to return land to productive and non-­ blighted uses, there has been extensive gaming of the system in both the resale and term lease models of use (Gallanger 2015).

9.5.2  Detroit Food Access Food access is a term that quantifies the capacity for individuals to acquire healthy food. Most food access metrics account for both distance to and number of healthy food sources within a specific urban area combined with ‘individual-level resources’

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Fig. 9.11  Detroit vacancy (RVTR 2020). (Map Sources: City of Detroit Open Data Portal (2019) Parcels (accessed 16 Jan 2019); Detroit Land Bank Authority (2019) Completed Auction Sale (accessed 21 Feb 2019); Detroit Land Bank Authority (2019) Detroit Demolition (accessed 21 Feb 2019); City of Detroit Open Data Portal (2019) Vacant Property Registration (accessed 10 Oct 2019); Esri et.al (2019) World Imagery)

such as income and mobility access (automobile ownership or availability of public transportation) (USDA and ERS 2020). The National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion describes food access through the Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI) which ‘measures the number of healthy and less healthy food retailers within census tracts across each state’ differentiating between supermarkets, convenience stores, or fast food restaurants (CDC 2011). The Detroit food access map (Fig. 9.12) provides a spatial overview of food access as per the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (USDA and ERS 2020). The map is overlaid with information on various types of food production and retail services selling locally grown and prepared food items, and/or food imported into the city. The map also visualises the 1350 documented urban farms and gardens of different types (community, market, school, and family), scales of grocery stores, and locations of the existing produce terminals, produce markets, farmer’s markets, community support agriculture (CSA), meat markets, poultry slaughtering and processing plants, and public refrigerated warehouses. Further, the map indicates some of the prominent food retail services in Detroit (based on sales, facility size and the number of employees working in the facility) and recognizes Eastern Market as the only food hub in the city.

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Fig. 9.12  Detroit food access (RVTR 2020). (Map Sources: City of Detroit Open Data Portal (2019) Master Plan Neighborhood (accessed 15 Jan 2019); United States Department of Agriculture: Economic Research Service (2017) Food Access Research Atlas (accessed 02 Feb 2019); Mergent Intellect (2016) (accessed 24 Oct 2019); Keep Growing Detroit (2013) 2013 Gardens with City Council District (accessed 20th Feb 2019); Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-­ Level Data (2019) Public Refrigerated Warehouse (accessed 14 Oct 2019); United States Department of Agriculture: Agriculture Marketing Services (2019) Local Food Directories(accessed 10 Oct 2019); United States Census Bureau(2018) Tiger/ Lines Geodatabase: Rails National Geodatabase (accessed 04 Feb 2019); United States Census Bureau (2018) Tiger/ Lines Geodatabase: Roads National Geodatabase (accessed 04 Feb 2019))

In Detroit, food insecurity and the relative absence of healthy food sources is deeply rooted in the city’s ‘history of deindustrialization, segregation, and inequality’ (Hill 2017). Food insecurity across the city’s black population paralleled escalating poverty and unemployment levels starting in the 1960s, and was exacerbated as the food sector’s private enterprise followed white flight after the 1967 uprisings to suburban and exurban locales (Hill 2017). Currently, the spatial distribution of retail with healthy food available continues to be exacerbated by poverty rates and service access. Low levels of effective public transportation service relative to the city’s distributed population in a context of low personal vehicle ownership makes access to healthy food sources a critical issue for many residents. In 2017 33% of Detroit households were identified as food insecure (Hill and Kuras 2018; United Way 2017), and a significant portion of the population were reliant on financial aid to purchase food with 37.9% of the population enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (USCB and ACS 2017; Hill and Kuras 2018). Access to healthy food is linked to negative health outcomes and 11.4% and 13% of

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the population suffers from cardiovascular diseases and Diabetes respectively (Murad and Michigan BRFSS 2017). While there are multiple active programs and initiatives that aim to offset food in-access due to poverty, these programs are reliant on the non-profit sector to meet the needs of the underserved, and significant gaps remain. Food banks play an important role with a single organization distributing 96,348 meals per day in South East Michigan (Gleaners 2019). For many, the remaining available options constitute unhealthy food. In 2018 there were 0.1 grocery stores per 1000 people and 0.5 fast food outlets for 1000 people (Hill and Kuras 2018). Beyond the dominance of fast-food retail, commodity retail sales are dominated by low-quality venues such as corner stores, convenience stores, and gas stations which stock primarily processed food and lack fresh produce (Zenk et al. 2006). Against this backdrop, urban agriculture (UA) is seen as a promising means of increasing produce availability and inculcating healthy habits amongst residents. There is a long history of urban farming practices in Detroit. In the 1890’s Detroit was the first city in the U.S. to offer urban farming as a solution to revitalise vacant lots and increase food production during the economic depression. In 1970, a program provided residents with garden resources and permission to grow plants in city-owned vacant lots (Econsult Solutions and Urban Development LLC 2014; Pothukuchi 2017). In 2013, the Urban Agriculture Ordinance formalized long active practices as an incentivised land use. Despite enthusiasm and optimism, the vast majority of urban farms rely on subsidies and philanthropy to remain active (KGD 2018). Detroit’s climate only allows growing for part of the year and for many urban farmers the ability to access markets and to upscale produce into food products is impeded by regulatory frameworks focused on industrial food safety and the lack of vertical integration in food networks. UA in Detroit also faces challenges for irrigation water access. Vacant lots have often had their municipal water connection decommissioned (Hand and Gregory 2017) and costs for new connections are significant (Water 2020). Additionally, Detroit does not have a non-potable water reserve available for UA. Farms are charged the same rate as residences for potable processed water, and these rates are bundled with sewage costs, rendering water unaffordable for UA practices (Water 2020; Hand and Gregory 2017). From an urban design perspective, strategies that capture water for reuse emerge as a priority, as do new policy structures that decouple water supply and sewage costs. Additionally, there is a potential for implementation of technical food systems that would increase food production and reduce irrigation demand. While food access is an urgent issue in the city, Detroit also generates between 16,580 to 107,236  tonnes  of excess food annually that is neither consumed nor diverted from landfills (EIA 2019d). The Detroit excess food estimates map (Fig. 9.13) visualises volumes of excess food generated from industries including restaurants, food services, food wholesale and retail, food manufacturing and processing, food banks, and hospitality, education, and healthcare sectors. The map also locates commercial composting sites in the city. Excess food waste can be a

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Fig. 9.13  Detroit excess food estimates (RVTR 2020). (Map Sources: Southeast Michigan Council of Governments(2018) 2010 Census Tracts (accessed 15 Jan 2019); United States Environmental Protection Agency (2019) Excess Food Opportunities Map (accessed 04 Oct 2019); United States Census Bureau (2018) Tiger/ Lines Geodatabase: Roads National Geodatabase (accessed 04 Feb 2019))

major resource in a sustainable food system. Urban design can address this through strategies such as distributed infrastructures that assist delivery across the city, processing opportunities that upgrade surplus produce into to durable food, biogas energy generation, and conversion into compost as part of a long-term urban soil solution.

9.5.3  Renewable Energy in Detroit Energy generation in Detroit falls under state energy policies and is dominated by privately-operated providers established to support industries and institutions in the city. The Detroit energy generation map (Fig. 9.14) spatialises renewable and non-­ renewable energy generation facilities and the average annual daily potential wind energy in and around Detroit that primarily supply energy to the non-residential sector. The map visualises the current capacity of energy facilities including solar power generations facilities, and biomass, petroleum, natural gas, and coal powerplants. Energy provision in Detroit and Southeastern Michigan is dominated by the DTE Energy company. While the state aims to reach 15% renewable sources by 2021, it

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Fig. 9.14  Detroit energy generation (RVTR 2020). (Map Sources: Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-­Level Data (2018) Electric Power Transmission Lines (accessed 25 Sept 2019); U.S.  Energy Information Administration (2019) Layer Information for Interactive State Maps: PowerPlants (accessed 27 Sep 2019); Detroit Thermal (2019) Detroit Thermal Service Area (accessed 05 Feb 2019))

recently switched from net-metering to the inflow-outflow mechanism in order to calculate renewable rates (MPSC 2020). Critics argue that the fiscal structure of this policy disincentivises individuals to participate in distributed energy systems by undermining small scale innovation and reinforcing monopolisation of the energy sector (Baleskovitz 2019a, b). There are growing grass-roots initiatives that have been extremely active in combating non-renewable energy generation to protect the health of the residents. In 2019 the Breathe Free Detroit campaign shut down the 33-year-old Detroit incinerator which burned approximately 2994 tonnes of waste each day and violated the Federal Clean Air Act (Breathe Free Detroit 2019). In this context of local activism and decreasing viability of fossil fuel sources transmitted over outdated large-scale grids, there is urgent need for the creation of environments that encourage innovation in small-scale renewable energy production. Some have suggested that the adoption of renewable energy technology based on microgrids — small scale electricity grids that can perform independently but also feed in to the existing electricity grid — are a unique opportunity for Detroit, where vacant lands can be transformed into solar generation sites that provide energy via microgrid to proximate neighbourhoods (Dundas and Wang 2017).

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9.5.4  W  ater: Scales of Infrastructure and the Legacy of Industry The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) manages a regional water system that extends beyond city boundaries to serve 126 municipalities in seven Southeast Michigan counties, with more than 4345 km of water supply lines and over 4800  km of sewer lines (DWSD 2019a). DWSD’s primary treatment plant located at the southwestern corner of Detroit is the largest in North America; a massively scaled infrastructural system designed within the logics of mid-century growth models and confidence in centralised systems. The scale of this system now constitutes a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to its future. The Detroit water supply and discharge map (Fig. 9.15) provides a comprehensive visualisation of the water and sewage system within city limits. The map describes the current sub-­ watershed boundary, existing water wells, water intakes, the water treatment plants, DWSD’s wastewater treatment plant, existing CSO infrastructure and the CSO raw sewage discharge events between 2008 and 2014. Due to the financial burdens of its operating costs, and debts accrued from its operation, DWSD initiated a massive water shutoff to Detroit residents in 2014 who had unpaid water bills, impacting thousands of residents, most of them living in poverty (Mondry 2019). The city now assists low-income residents through a range of programs to underwrite the system’s costs and maintain essential services (WRAP 2019; We the People 2019). DWSD’s physical network is more than 80 years old without significant infrastructure upgrade since 1930. Over 1500 water supply pipelines rupture each year and around $1B has been spent on wet weather treatment facilities since 1994 (DWSD 2019b). Currently, the DWSD is planning to invest $500 M over the next 5 years to upgrade its systems, which would also include 140 million litres of stormwater management and replacement of existing full lead service pipe-lines. Detroit continues to bear the greatest burden of Elevated Blood Lead Levels (EBLL) in children (5,724 under the age of six in 2016) especially in neighbourhoods with a large percent-age of children living in poverty within older housing stock (Michigan Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and MDHHS 2018). As the city and its dependents struggle to maintain the gradually deteriorating water and sewage system, there is an opportunity to recycle resources and adopt decentralized methods that will not only sustain the basic needs of residents but also support future ecologies, landscapes, and urban agriculture practices in the city. Related strategies that will inform urban design initiatives include biotic stormwater management, rainwater harvesting, source separation for waste management, recovery of nutrients, and reclamation of wastewater for non-potable urban uses (Daigger 2009; Heard et al. 2017).

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Fig. 9.15  Detroit water supply and discharge (RVTR 2020). (Map Sources: Data Driven Detroit (2015) DWSD CSO Event Data (accessed 05 Feb 2019); United States Environmental Protection Agency (2016) EPA Facility Registry Service (FRS) Wastewater Treatment Plants (accessed 05 Feb 2019); Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (2018) Watersheds (accessed 05 Feb 2019); Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (2018) Sewer Service Area (accessed 05 Feb 2019); Southeast Michigan Council of Government (2018) Water Wells-­ South Central & Southeastern Michigan (accessed 05 Feb 2019); U.S.  Environmental Protection Agency (2020) Enviro Atlas (accessed 07 Jul 2020))

9.6  Conclusion Examining the FEW-Nexus context of Detroit across cascading scales framed from region to state to city through the corresponding lenses of ecosystems, jurisdictional governance, and operational logics is presented as a model for how urban designers might leverage multi-scalar perspectives to inform localised design strategies. Similar to the way that The Powers of Ten produced a contextual imaginary for apprehending interrelations across scales, this study begins to reveal strategies for the local that are situated in both alignments and moments of discord across scales. At the scale of the megaregion, the GLM is understood as a mature and integrated economic, social, and cultural region undergirded by its freshwater systems and the broader ecologies and urbanisms they have produced. The GLM’s distributed agro-industrial complex is highly diversified and productive but is predicated upon a model of resource intensive processes that negatively impact the environment. Water quality concerns are anticipated to escalate with climate change, exacerbating the contamination issues that plague the region from current and former

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industrial land uses, CSOs, and agricultural practices. The energy profile of the region reveals radically divergent approaches across the two countries regarding reliance on fossil fuel stocks and implementation of renewable sources. The available and currently untapped renewable resources of wind and hydro-technologies hold substantial potential to disrupt not only regional futures, but continent-wide change. In this context, local urban design initiatives must aim to harness both the potential of these regional systems and manage the residual legacies of existing industrial urbanism. Pan-regional initiatives focused on water quality constitute a domain of extensive intraregional concern and cooperation. These imperatives offer not only the opportunity for local interventions to align with broader initiatives to create productive feedbacks, but also point to fiscal resources and networks that can advance regional issues at a local level. Moving from the scale of region to state, the multilevel governance relations between federal and state powers becomes vivid. Within Michigan, the aggregate impacts of intensive industrial histories, deferred infrastructural maintenance, and policies that privilege specific interests overlay and constrain current FEW-systems. While the existing agro-industrial food system is robust, socioeconomic disparity contributes to chronic food insecurity. State legislation has contributed to a context where the state is a net waste importer and waste management a booming sector. In this context, it is not surprising that Michigan’s recycling and composting standards are among the worst in the U.S. So too, the range of state-wide legal frameworks that govern environmental contamination privilege polluters and download the costs of remediation to the public. Michigan’s infrastructure and, in particular, critical industrially-scaled mobility and water systems, suffer from long-term deferred maintenance, to the point where they threaten public health. At this scale, multiple patterns emerge associated with underutilised excess and inflexible legal frameworks that resist innovation and in particular, resist the potentials involved in strategies of closing materials stream loops and circular economies. Focusing down further into the scale of Detroit and examining the city’s morphological and cultural histories, provides insight into the conditions that underscore the contemporary  city. The socioeconomic circumstances that enabled Detroit’s rapid and horizontal growth as well as its depopulation are intertwined with racial inequity and exclusion. These, coupled with industrial reorganisation and mid-­ century approaches to infrastructural implementation and urban redevelopment set the stage for the current form of the city. Highly distributed occupancy with faltering centralised infrastructure has become an untenable arrangement against the fiscal reality of shrinking revenues. However, the city’s vacancy can be seen as a potential asset for its urban futures. The current DFC strategic framework outlines new land-use strategies as ways to innovate in the stabilization of neighbourhoods. The Detroit Land Bank is a powerful structure through which the city has the capacity to control future development and embed questions of social equity and access in future planning proposals. At the scale of the city, the creation of municipal policies and exceptions have the potential to liberate Detroit from state-level control of FEW-systems and position it as a place where innovative and alternative approaches can be prototyped. Inventive

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design strategies can leverage vacant lands for local food production, microgrid-­ based renewable energy production and distribution, decentralized water capture systems, and composting of organic waste for soil remediation. These small-scale tactical and replicable interventions aligned with circular economy approaches could emerge free of the incumbrances of state-based monopolies while being able to be incrementally expanded or contracted over time. These eschew previous approaches to urban projects in Detroit in favour of a lightweight, medium density model that can deliver local access for residents across FEW-systems through alternative forms of tenure and cooperative economic frameworks. Thinking and apprehending Detroit’s FEW-systems and contexts across nested and cascading scales enables the visualization of connections and imperatives for local opportunities that are embedded in the environmental contexts of the region’s broader ecosystems. This can help to apprehend and address the multiplicity of situations that define the sites, strategies, and formats for FEW-nexus based urban design invention and interventions. Map Notes The cartographic boundaries depicted within the maps published in this chapter are sourced from: United States Census Bureau (2011) TIGER/Line Shapefiles which includes national boundaries, county divisions, and census tracts (accessed 15 Jan 2019);  GLM economic boundary as defined by RPA (accessed 10 Dec 2020); and City of Detroit Open Data Portal (2019) City of Detroit Boundary (accessed 15 Jan 2019). All aerial imagery is sourced from Google Earth Pro 7.3.2 (2019) unless mentioned otherwise. All original maps and diagrams have been generated in Arc Map and processed by the RVTR research team into visualizations through the Adobe Suite. Acknowledgments  Work presented in this publication has been made possible through project support from the Belmont Forum and Urban Europe’s Sustainable Urbanisation Global Initiative (SUGI) Food-Water-Energy Nexus program. We appreciate and acknowledge the financial support of the U.S.  National Science Foundation (1832214) and supplemental support provided by the University of Michigan. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Members of the project team contributing to development of the cartographies utilized in this publication include Research Assistants: Andrew Kremers, Jiushuai Zhang, and Linda Lee. Earlier work included in this publication on the GLM Shed Cartographies was supported by Canadian Social Science and Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) with support for Research Assistants: Mary O’Malley, Dan McTavish, and Lisa Sauvé.

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United Way (2019) Alice in Michigan: a financial hardship study. https://www.uwmich.org/alice. Accessed 20 Jan 2020 USCB (2020) Quick facts: Detroit City, Michigan. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/ detroitcitymichigan,MI/PST045219. Accessed 15 Jul 2020 USCB, ACS (2017) 2017 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Table ACS: B19058. Generated by Tithi Sanyal, using Social Explorer. https://www.socialexplorer.com/. Accessed 10 Jan 2020 USCB, ACS (2018) 2018 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Table ACS18: B25003. Generated by Tithi Sanyal, using Social Explorer. https://www.socialexplorer.com/. Accessed 10 Jan 2020 USDA, ERS (2019) Food security in the U.S. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-­nutrition-­ assistance/food-­security-­in-­the-­us/interactive-­charts-­and-­highlights/#States. Accessed 27 Jan 2019 USDA, ERS (2020) Food access research atlas. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-­products/food-­ access-­research-­atlas/documentation/. Accessed 23 Jan 2020 USDA NASS (2016) Michigan agriculture facts & figures. Pure Michigan Agriculture. https:// www.michigan.gov/documents/mdard/MI_Ag_Facts__Figures_474011_7.pdf. Accessed 10 Dec 2019 Vasallo & Salazar, P.C (2019) Federal preemption of State Environment Law. https://www.vslawyers.com/Federal-­Preemption-­of-­State-­Environmental-­Law.shtml. Accessed on 4 Dec 2019 Velikov K, Thün G (2017) Shed cartographies: a methodology for regional research. In: Ibañez D, Lyster C, Waldheim C, White M (eds) Third coast atlas. ActarD, New York, pp 84–95 Water (2020) URBANAGLAW.ORG. http://www.urbanaglaw.org/water/. Accessed 14 Jan 2020 We the People (2019) Who we are. https://www.wethepeopleofdetroit.com/who-­we-­are. Accessed 31 Jan 2020 Wilson WJ (2008) The political and economic forces shaping concentrated poverty. Pol Sci Q 123(4):555–571. Accessed 27 Jan 2020 WMSBF (2016) Economic impact potential and characterization of municipal solid waste in Michigan 2016. Available via WMBSF website. https://wmsbf.org/portfolio-­item/trash-­ research-­project-­msw-­economic-­impact/. Accessed 10 Oct 2019 WRAP (2019) Community action alliance WRAP. https://wrap.waynemetro.org/. Accessed 13 Dec 2019 Zenk SN, Schulz AJ, Israel BA et al (2006) Fruit and vegetable access differs by community racial composition and socioeconomic position in Detroit, Michigan. Ethn Dis 16:275–280 Zimnicki T, O’Brien K (2018) Opinion: improving water quality through compost in Michigan, The Detroit News. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2018/07/01/improving-­water-­ quality-­through-­compost-­michigan/739386002/. Accessed 10 Oct 2019

Chapter 10

Redesigning the Urban Food Life Through the Participatory Living Lab Platform: Practices in Suburban Areas of the Tokyo Metropolitan Region Wanglin Yan and Shun Nakayama

Abstract  Cities are facing complex problems, the solutions of which require co-­ creation by governments, companies, communities and citizens. Originally initiated as testbeds for companies to develop industrial products and solutions for consumers, Urban Living Labs (ULL) are now being used as an attempt to find broader solutions. This chapter develops the process of implementing a design-led approach for improving food environment  to sustain urban life in the Tokyo metropolitan region. The practice at the WISE Living Lab reveals that the purpose, activity and participation of ULL’s are equally critical in urban design and management. Meanwhile, an ULL for designing the food supply for urban life is more sensitive to the local context so residents and citizens have better opportunities to be more proactive in co-creation of prospective solutions. The design-led approach provides an effective way to build context-based activities by connecting stakeholders with policy and community needs. Keywords   Food and living · Urban living lab · Co-creation

W. Yan (*) Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan e-mail: [email protected] S. Nakayama Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_10

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10.1  Introduction Today, the global community is urgently calling for the implementation of the Paris Agreement to deal with climate change and also for the realisation of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). Cities, the leading economic drivers of modern society, are facing numerous challenges, such as air pollution, traffic congestion and rising social inequality, etc. When considering such challenges, food (F), energy (E) and water (W), abbreviated as FEW, are crucial aspects of infrastructure to support urban life and sustain urban functions. FEW are at the core of the 17 SDG targets in the global environmental system (Liu et al. 2018). Therefore, it is imperative that they be used effectively and environmentally friendly at the same time. However, it is a permanent challenge to identify how to apply the global targets at local levels. In agricultural societies, food, energy and water function synergistically as resources and services and their inter-linkages, usually referred to as a nexus (Hoff 2011), are direct. However, the FEW-nexus in cities is complex, ranging from conservation of resources to production, transport, consumption, and disposal. They are managed under separate systems with responsibilities vested with a large number of actors. Such arrangements often make collaboration difficult. One way to respond to these challenges is to establish a co-creative process involving various actors at various policy and spatial levels. Here, co-creation means that a range of actors (governments, businesses, research institutions, etc.) work together to consider how to solve complex problems. The construct of co-creation is underpinned recently in a societal context. First, in mature societies that aim to de-­ industrialize, urban planning is shifting from an emphasis on improving physical infrastructure to improving the efficiency of management, operations and productivity with limited human and financial resources. Governments working alone can no longer handle all of the challenges. Secondly, as urban society further matures, citizens are no longer satisfied to act simply as recipients or consumers and they increasingly call for further improvements in the quality of urban facilities and services. Thirdly, as the level of education improves and the prevalence of information increases, people expect cities to serve as a venue for participation and self-­ actualisation. The idea of co-creation articulated in ‘The Creative City’ (Landry 2008) and in ‘The Rise of the Creative Class’ (Florida 2012) reflects this emerging trend. Fourth, a knowledge gapcan be distinguished between research and social needs due to the, day by day, rapid advancement of science and technology. To bridge these gaps and respond to the social evolution, the Future Earth network (http://futurearth.org) embraces innovative research approaches using three steps for transformative pathways to sustainability: co-design, co-produce, and co-deliver. The Belmont Forum encourages co-creation of inter-disciplinary and trans-­ disciplinary solutions though Urban Living Labs (ULL) initiatives. One of the recent programs of Belmont Forum is the Sustainable Urban Global Initiative (SUGI): Food-Energy-Water Nexus (https://jpi-­urbaneurope.eu/calls/sugi/). The ‘Moveable Nexus: Design-Led Urban Food-Energy-Water Management Innovations

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in New Boundary Conditions of Change, M-NEX‘(Yan and Roggema 2019) is one of the 15 projects selected under this funding mechanism in 2017. An ULL is a geographical or institutional location or approach to have researchers, citizens, companies and governments voluntarily cooperate in experimentation (McCormick and Hartmann 2017). An ULL provides a platform for governments, businesses, research institutions, communities, and citizens to plan, design and test products and solutions cooperatively (Gumbo et al. 2012). The platform can be an actual lab existing at a geospatial location or an institutional framework or approach. From the beginning, ULL’s have mainly been driven by universities and public research institutes (Voytenko et  al. 2016; Dimitri-Schuurman and Dimitri 2015). ULL’s emerged in the United States in the early 1990s. MIT, the University of Chicago and other intsitutes initiated the concept first (in experimental facilities and artificial environments) and it later spread to northern Europe. The Prime Minister of Finland was appointed for the European Commission Presidency and launched an EU project for ULL activities in 2006, which subsequently gained momentum. There are currently more than 380 ULL’s worldwide (Steen and van Bueren 2017a), mostly in northern Europe and some in Asian countries, including Japan, Korea and China. Recently, ULL’s have been attracting attention for smart city research around the world, including the United States,1 Australia2 and European countries such as Finland and Ireland.3 Regarding the performance of ULL’s an intensive survey has been conducted on 22 examples of ULL’s within five projects funded by JPI Europe in the 2010s (Voytenko et al. 2016). It reveals that ULL’s are bringing existing constellations of urban actors together to create more collaborative and experimental ways of ‘doing’ urban development. However, there are difficulties in the implementation of ULL’s. First, in some cases, users need a sense of ownership or involvement of a user community in order to start participating in the ULL and continue on an ongoing basis. Co-creation with users can sometimes mean changes in purpose and approaches over time, and the participation of diverse stakeholders can make things more difficult to manage (Nishio 2016). Secondly, comparing the popularity of ULL activities, they have had limited impacts on programs and policies at the community, municipal, or national level. ‘Many questions remain about the impacts and effectiveness of ULLs both in their own geographical domain and more broadly at the urban, regional and national scales’ (Voytenko et al. 2016). These include how ULL activity is coordinated within and between these scales, how the ULL model is adapted in different contexts and how evaluation can improve ULL activities. Meanwhile, few examples of these initiatives and discussions have expanded into urban planning or community development (Bergvall-Kåreborn et al. 2009). It is rare the FEW-nexus being part of ULL discussions except in the case of Monash

 https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/living-labs-intersection-scientific-innovation  https://www.smartcity.press/living-lab-in-smart-cities/ 3  https://www.eukn.eu/fileadmin/Files/News/2015/The_role_of_Urban_Living_Labs_in_a_ Smart_City_-_research_paper_-__newsletter_May_2015.pdf 1 2

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Universty in Australia, which is taking the unversity campus as a living lab (Malekpour and Caball 2017). Multiple reasons are brought forward to explain this: 1. The original motivation of ULL’s is for product design and testing, driven by industry, while management of FEW is mostly public and community services, which are separate from industrial interests. 2. Research on the FEW nexus has still been largely kept within the scientific community so the knowledge has been remote from public attention. 3. People often take FEW for granted and typically pay little attention to the FEW-­ nexus in daily life. 4. ULL’s are still not mature enough for planning and community development and often lack scientific methodologies and tools. The M-NEX project aims to bring the fragmented knowledge and activities of FEW into the urban design process. It establishes ULL’s in six locations around the world (Amsterdam, Belfast, Detroit, Qatar, Sydney and Tokyo) to implement a design-led approach with stakeholders. The challenges being faced differ considerably as a result of different natural conditions of the respective bioregions and socioeconomic circumstances in the six cities. Although there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution, the design methods, evaluation tools and participatory mechanisms are fundamental and sharable across all cities. This chapter describes the implementation procedure of the design-led approach of the project, based on the practice at the WISE Living Lab in Tokyo. It is expected to serve as a showcase for the SUGI-nexus initiative and eventually as a benckmark for the ULL network around the world, to rebuild sustainable relationships of urban living and social infrastructure.

10.2  Design-Led Approach for Urban Living Labs 10.2.1  Key Issues in ULL The intrinsic properties of ULL are to learn from the real world, create knowledge in the real world and produce solutions that can be applied in real life. The key features of a ULL have been concisely summarised (Steen and van Bueren 2017b): 1. Purposes – to develop new products and solutions, solve current or future problems, and broadly utilize them, in order to make cities more sustainable; 2. Activities – co-creatively develop innovations and products, test them, and use them to improve things; 3. Participants – enable many actors from industry, government and the citizenry to participate in the ULL, collaborate and cooperate, co-create and also participate in decision-making; 4. Context – all activities are conducted in actual living situations.

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Usually companies and universities bring projects forward, conduct planning, design, application, and testing through co-creation and receive social feedback. Early on, companies envisioned ULL’s as having the purpose of developing, designing and testing products from the user perspective (Kimbell 2011). This explains how in many cases ULL’s were created and used as venues for co-creation or testbeds for product development by companies. In terms of ULL activities, many take the form of idea-generation events such as IT-hackathons, healthcare workshops and open information forums. Regarding participation, an ULL usually has two functions, one for co-creation and and one as a testbed. Accordingly, users and citizens may also have two roles to play. In co-creation the role is as a co-creation partner to participate in the development of services, for example proposing ideas and planning related to services. As for the testbed function, their role is to be the subject of observation to provide new insights for service developers, in the context of use by users under the actual usage conditions or experimental environments, as well as to provide feedback (Nishio 2016). As result, open innovation systems are created at ULL’s through industry-government-citizen partnerships, enabling the systematic advancement of research and development through co-creation in actual living communities and environments. In some sense, ULL’s share participatory theory as ‘communities of practice’ as the places to provide spaces or tools for actual practice and for creating social networks and visions (Cambridge et al. 2005; Skalicky and West 2012).

10.2.2  The Design-Led Approach The purpose of the design-led approach is to build and practice a methodology in urban planning and design that could reduce carbon emissions and improve the quality of life for people through the lens of the FEW-nexus (Yan and Roggema 2019). This implies it could differ from the perspective of a company for product tests and the discussions of ULL’s for industry so far may have limitations in their application. However, there are many advantages for ULL’s to be applied in this genre. First, food, water and energy are integral parts of day-to-day life. The FEW comprises the infrastructure that sustains life and is often a symbol of the quality of life. The FEW, as a fundamental part of daily life, raises attention of citizens for participation more easily. Secondly, the activities related to FEW range from the public services provided by governments and state-owned sectors, such as water supply, to those completely provided by private businesses such as food markets. Thirdy, increasingly people become aware that livelihoods are an important source of carbon emissions. For instance, research has revealed that suburban living accounts for one-third of all household CO2 emissions related to food procurement (Nakamichi et al. 2015). Initiatives for low-carbon cities and participatory actions become increasingly popular (Leminen et al. 2012; Niitamo et al. 2016; Voytenko et al. 2016).

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The design-led approach incorporates three modules: urban design method, evaluation tools and participation mechanisms (Yan and Roggema 2019). The design method reexamines FEW management and utilisation in terms of urban spatial planning and design, proposes new solutions of management and utilizasion that identify FEW resource stocks on different scales (from the single building to the district, neighborhood, city and region) and makes use of spatial, temporal and service interconnections. In terms of evaluation tools, in this research a new indicator system is proposed to evaluate the performance of designs and solutions from the perspective of multiple scales, the environmental load of FEW, the quality of life in the neighborhood and sustainability in the city and region. The concept of a ‘FEW-­ print’ (meaning a food-water-energy footprint) was adopted. Similar to the original concept of the ecological footprint (EF), the FEW-print uses equivalent area as an indicator to express the environmental impact of food: the equivalent land area for food production (F), the required forest area equivalent to absorb the CO2 emissions (E) in the food supply chain and the real and virtual water consumed (W) in food production. The quality of life at the neighborhood and city wide level is assessed by HAR, which represents health and happiness of life (H), accessibility to food (A) and the resilience of supply to disturbances (R). This article will discuss the FEW-­ print concept only. Participation in the design-led approach at ULL’s is conducted through a series of local and international workshops with the engagement of local stakeholders, including food producers that aim for beneficial economic effects, citizens in search of a better life and governments that seek to provide sufficient public services. The FEW-print is used as a communication tool for visualising the impact of urban living on the environment and the impacts of change in response to design solutions. Eventually, the FEW-print can be linked to the UN SDG’s via HAR. This indictor system might facilitate business and lifestyle innovation to transform cities from being places of consumption into places of production and from places to work into places to live.

10.2.3  T  he Global and Local Context of the Design-Led Approach The design-led approach is the core concept of the M-NEX project. The purpose of the project is to show how topics and issues of FEW that span across diverse regions in the world can be studied within a uniform approach in urban design. A research consortium with seven organizations in six countries (Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, Qatar, United Kingdom, United States) has been established, with its study areas being Amsterdam, Belfast, Detroit, Doha, Sydney and Tokyo-Yokohama. The cities differ in terms of geographical features, bioregions and societal conditions and it is clear all cities are mature and share several common concerns in terms of sustainability in their urban areas. The project takes the complex sustainability

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challenges of its cities and communicates the FEW-tools in concrete, visual and physical ways to stakeholders and residents in order to find solutions in urban planning and design. This approach is expected to deepen the understanding of FEW and promote consensus-building on action plans for future cities. Each country team will determine the research contents in consideration of local needs and proceed collaboratively at the ULL’s with stakeholders. For example, the UK team (Belfast) works on the design of food factories, while the Dutch team (TUD) focuses on energy planning in the FEW-nexus. All of the teams will learn from each other and study the potential to incorporate FEW-related management into their own cities. Ultimately, the research findings are shared with each other, as well as policy recommendations and technical innovations, such as implementation of FEW at a university campus (Doha), revitalisation of a post-industrial city (Detroit) and adaptive FEW strategies for sustainable cities (Tokyo, Sydney).

10.3  Development of the Design-Led Nexus Approach 10.3.1  The Design-Led Nexus Approach The design-led approach is progressing through the organision of a series of international and local design workshops support with design methods, evaluation tools and a particiption platform. The local M-NEX teams bring their topics to the international design workshops, discuss them and build common design methods, evaluation indicators and co-creation mechanisms. The teams then take what they have learned back to their cities, test the ideas, make solutions, and take action toward the next international workshop. This process is repeated every six months, with the international workshops being held six times over the course of three project years. Thus, each team will host one international workshop and other organisations will participate and cooperate in them. The general procedures for implementing the design-led approach are summarized by Yan and Roggema (2019), including: 1. Make an inventory of FEW-related existing or potential resources and spatial availabilities for FEW, including rooftops, vacant houses, or abandoned, underused or void lands; 2. Compose the nexus matrices that could mobilise the material and flows of resources across sectors and disciplines in the social-ecological context; 3. Design solutions by integration of FEW technology and knowledge in order to improve the efficiency of land and space use; 4. Evaluate the environmental costs and the added benefits of the solutions; 5. Deliver the solutions to and reiterating the design process with stakeholders. The themes of the workshops are determined by the international consortium lin accordance with local needs and the areas of expertise of the teams. Topics such as

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technological innovation, population change, resilience and community participation are the major focal points in each of the cities. To date, design workshops have been held in Belfast (October 2018) on ‘Technical food system and the city’, Doha (February 2019) on ‘Building a food infrastructure: The Qatar Experience’, Detroit (July 2019) on ‘Urban access and food security in the city’, Sydney (November 2019) on ‘Creative participation in regional Food-Energy-Water design for Western Sydney development area’, and Groningen, the Netherlands (March 2020) on the ‘Forum for design food-energy-water futures’. The knowledge gained through the workshops is rich, ranging from the single building level to the neighborhood, city or the regional urban landscape. It is compiled into the knowledge platform in the form of a wiki (http://m-­nex.net/wiki). Eventually, the ULL’s of M-NEX in the six urban regions will be linked to the global ULL network to enable a global roll-out.

10.3.2  FEW-Print For cities to be sustainable, it is necessary to reexamine efficiency and sufficiency of resource uses. There are three linkages in urban FEW supply and consumption (Yan and Roggema 2019): • The linkage between places of production and places of consumption, which relates to the appropriate spatial scale of neighborhoods, cities and regions. In general, production at a large scale improves efficiency. The challenge to which extent local production can be employed for local consumption and to what extent and how distances between places of production and places of consumption can be shortened. • The linkage between costs and benefits. The production and provision of FEW services comes with significant environmental costs. The challenge is how much the costs associated with provision and consumption can be reduced. • The linkage between places of work and places of living. So far, cities are often considered places to pursue economic efficiency rather than the sufficiency of people’s living. Land use and facilities are allocated for commercial profits and business efficiency rather than to improve the quality of life. The challenge is to discover how much the structure of cities, where working places and living places are geographically separated today, can be altered. The FEW-print is a tool to scrutinize the environmental impact of these three aspects through the FEW-nexus. F expresses the required land area for food production, E is the equivalent forest area for absorbing CO2 emissions from food production and provision and W is the required land area to supply the equivalent water in food production. With a defined number of people, we could estimate the demand for food production by formula [10.1].

10  Redesigning the Urban Food Life Through the Participatory Living Lab Platform… n  L  Fn  n    Ct  t  Pt  t 1 



217

(10.1)

Where Ct is the annual consumption of commodity t per person; Lt is the cultivated land area for commodity t; Pt is the annual shipment of commodity t. With this indicator, we could look into the demand for quality and quantity of food by people and the impact of urban structure. E is a composition of the CO2 emissions in food-related processes, including production, transportation and access. It can be estimated with formula [10.2].



En 

n   tn1  Ct ( Lot  Prt  Pet  Fet  Pht )  A



(10.2)

where Lot is the amount of CO2 emissions associated with the transport of product t/kg; Prt is the amount of CO2 emissions associated with the production of product t/kg; Pet is the amount of CO2 emissions associated with the use of pesticides for product t/kg; Fet is the amount of CO2 emissions associated with the use of fertilizers for product t/kg; Ph is the amount of CO2 associated with heating of greenhouse for product t/kg; A is the equivalent forest area necessary to sequestrate 1 kg of CO2. Therefore, the structure of the urban food system will define the intensity of CO2 emissions as well as the environmental loads on global warming. Water for food in a city includes the water contained in imported food and the water contained in local food. The former is called virtual water (Allan 2003). If a city area is completely supported by imported food, the calculation of W is conducted as in formula [10.3]. n



Ct Vt t 1 Pc

Wn  n  

(10.3)

where Vt is the virtual water required to produce the product t/kg; Pc is the annual precipitation of the region. In the case of a city with food produced locally, the water used in local food production should be added. Finally, FEW-print for n persons within a spatial unit is summed up as in formula [10.4].

X n  Fn  En  Wn

where Xn is the land area required to supply food for n persons; Fn, En, Wn is the land area of F, E, W for n persons.

(10.4)

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By calculating the FEW-print, the structure of food in a study area, the places of production and CO2 emissions in food processes can be examined. The indicators can also be used to compare differences between areas and cohorts.

10.3.3  Engagement of Stakeholders The engagement of stakeholders is realised through the design workshops at ULL’s with the support of information tools. Generally, four types of stakeholders should be considered in participatory processes, including intermediate support organizations, local communities, experts in spatial planning and design and the public or private sectors (Yan and Roggema 2017). Each stakeholder is a player possessing specific resources and advantages such as physical space, politic power, skills, knowledge and financial or regulatory means. The mission of engagement is to activate their advantages through networking. All of the stakeholders should incorporate equity into every stage of the design process, from resource identification to solution finding, so that solutions are co-developed incrementally. Universities and research projects are seen as the driving force in these processes. Mapping tools are developed and applied to visualise resources, stimulate communications, spark ideas and design projects. Those resources broadly include the stocks and flows of natural, social, industrial, financial and human capital. The stocks correspond to tangible or intangible natural resources, social and cultural resources, industrial facilities, business entities and demographic resources. The flows appear in different ways of the ecosystem services of natural resources, activities of social capital, performance of industrial facilities, profits of business sectors and flows of people at definite times. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a powerful mapping tool used for operating and visualising the stocks and flows of FEW resources so that design experts can view resources and produce solutions with evidence, such as the results of FEW-print. Stakeholders gain awareness of the issues and co-create the shared values. Private or public sectors are inspired then turning the co-created plan and design into political and business actions.

10.4  Implementation of M-NEX Tokyo 10.4.1  Context Much of the urban area in Japanese cities was built up in suburban areas during the twentieth-century postwar period of high economic growth. The purpose of development at that time was to provide housing for new urban dwellers. Some of the developed areas were consciously planned while others were unplanned, resulting in sprawl on lands with agricultural infrastructure only. This not only occurred in

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Japan, but is a common phenomenon in twentieth-century urbanisation, which pursued economies of scale. People who sought to live in suburban areas mostly depended on personal or family cars for access to food. The impacts on the environment cannot be ignored. As mentioned before, suburban living accounts for one-­ third of all household CO2 emissions related to food procurement (Nakamichi et al. 2015). Meanwhile, critical changes have being occurring below the surface. Since the end of the twentieth century, Japanese suburban society has been facing declining birthrates and aging of the population. People who can afford it tend to move to city centers or near railway stations for convenience. Projections have been made that in 2035, some suburban areas in the Greater Tokyo Area will no longer qualify as urban areas, in terms of definitions of ‘densely inhabited districts’ (MILT 2018). This refers to a category in the Japanese official national statistics with a population of more than 40 persons per hectare and more than 50 persons in total of two neighborhoods. As a result, some aged or people with affordability constraints are left behind, without enough mobility for access to food. On the other hand, those towns built during the boom years are currently reaching an age upgrading and improving is needed, including urban infrastructure for FEW. This situation presents a dilemma for governments, which on the one hand promote more compact cities, while on the other hand the capacity to deliver FEW services to anyone who is left behind becomes increasingly constrained . Therefore, a primary concern about FEW management in Japanese cities is to secure sustainable food, energy and water services. This has been taken into account in national policy linked to the UN SDG’s. The national government launched the SDG’s FutureCity initiative (http://future-­city.jp) in 2018 and local governments such as the City of Yokohama are currently tackling the issues through model projects. The M-NEX Japan team investigates FEW stocks, FEW services and the costs on and benefits for the environment and SDG’s in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. The aim is to redesign the FEW management systems for stable provision of FEW services and continuous improvement in the quality of life. Three neighborhood areas have been selected as case study areas (Fig. 10.1): the Futako-Tamagawa area in Setagaya City 15 km from central Tokyo, the Tama Plaza area in Aoba Ward of the City of Yokohama 25 km from central Tokyo and the northwest area of the City of Fujisawa, an extraurban area 50 km from Tokyo. The transition of urban forms and land use patterns in the transect from central Tokyo to suburban and extraurban areas provides useful perpectives to examine the progress of urbanisation on local food systems and its impacts on the environment and human quality of life. The design-led nexus approach through the activities at the ULL will portray the SDG’s FutureCity scenarios geospatially at the community level. This chapter focuses on only the activities at the WISE living lab in the Tama Plaza area, Aoba Ward, in the City of Yokohama. Comprehensive research outcomes across the three areas will become available at a later stage.

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Fig. 10.1  Study area in Tokyo Metropolitan Region

10.4.2  Purpose Setting at the Established ULL Regarding ULL’s in Japan, reports of activities have been prepared (Nishio 2012, 2016). The first ULL was established in Fujisawa in late 2000. Subsequently, ULL activities were incorporated into the Japan Science and Technology Agency’s Co-creation Center for Active Aging for Community Participatory Project (http:// www.cc-­aa.or.jp/activity/). More recently, the Kamakura Living Lab has been established in the City of Kamakura to examine healthcare and the WISE Living Lab (WLL) for urban revitalisation, in the City of Yokohama. Yokohama was initially founded as a port town, with its city center near the waterfront and playing a major role as a commercial centre in the Tokyo metropolitan region. The parts of Yokohama facing the mountains have large residential areas that serve as bedroom communities for Tokyo. Many of these residential areas were planned and constructed during Japan’s postwar period of high economic growth, so their populations and infrastructure are both aging and entering a period requiring updates. To examine this situation, the Yokohama municipal government and Tokyu Corporation (a major private railway company) kicked off a joint project in April 2012 on the ‘Next-Generation Suburban Town Project’ (NST, http://jisedaikogai. jp). Over the years, many study meetings and participatory workshops were organised with residents, resulting in an activity report entitled ‘2013 Basic Concept for NST: Community Development Vision for the Model District along the Tokyu Den-­ en-­Toshi Line’. Following the recommendations presented in the report, Tokyu Corporation established the WLL in 2017 and opened a facility at the property it owned in Tama Plaza. WLL is an activity center for NST and has become a forum for residents, governments, businesses and universities to deliberate local issues, think together about how to address them, co-create and produce results. Since its

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launch, WLL has engaged in many activities, such as investigation of resources in the community, future vision design, experiments in mobility and women’s participation. Through the process it has built solid partnerships with the government (City of Yokohama), companies (ao. Tokyu Corporation), the community (neighborhood associations) and residents (civil society groups,). These have all benefited extensively from these participatory management systems. All stakeholders are encouraged to join in the activities and propose new co-creative projects. Under this scheme, the WLL/M-NEX project has been launched, aiming to redesign the life of the suburban town, through the lens of the FEW nexus. Following the principles of the design-led approach (Yan and Roggema 2019), the purpose of WLL/M-NEX is to co-create better food services with less environmental costs, through the mobilisation of social and natural resources.

10.4.3  FEW-Print in Tokyo The FEW-print concept has been applied to the study area, mainly focusing on vegetable consumption of the 14 designated species of vegetables based on the Act on Stabilization of Production and Shipment of Vegetables in Japan to secure the food supply. These vegetables account for a 74% share of the market in 2018. The average required land area per year per capita in Kanagawa Prefecture is calculated (Table 10.1), with the suggested consumption for each vegetable retrieved from the national nutrition survey or the Vegetable Information System. For statistics on cultivated farmland, yield and shipments the study referenced the designated cultivated land, products and shipments, in national vegetable shipment statistics for 2017. The FEW calculation (Fig. 10.2) defines F as the equivalent land area to meet the demand for vegetables per capita, E being the equivalent to the forest area of Japanese cedar to absorb the CO2 emissions per capita in production and transportation and W as the land area for absorbing rainfall equivalent to the water consumed in vegetable production per capita. There is a large variation in land and energy consumption among the vegetables. Tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers, mostly grown in greenhouses, are energy-intensive relative to the land required. Vegetable such as cabbage, potatoes, carrots and onions, normally cultivated in open fields, require land and energy. The total land area for vegetables to meet the annual demand of one person is about 21.2 m2, the equivalent area to absorb the CO2 emissions is about 40.1 m2, and the equivalent area for water is about 7.4 m2. The total area required for vegetable production with embedded water and energy use is about 68.7 m2. The calculation of the FEW-print (Fig. 10.2) shows that the area for leafy vegetables and CO2 absorption are almost the same. This leads to a conclusions that the production of vegetables costs energy and emits quite a large amount of CO2. Tubers and spinach require more land than the land required to absorb CO2 emissions. On the other hand, fruit-type vegetables, mostly produced in home gardens, require more land for CO2 absorption because of the costs of heating systems.

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Table 10.1  14 main designated vegetables and equivalent FEW-print calculations

Category Leafy

Tubers Roots

Fruit-type vegetables

Name Cabbage Spinach Chinese cabbage Green onion Lettuce Potato Taro Japanese radish Carrot Onion Cucumber Eggplant Tomato Green pepper

Required amount (g/cap/ Acreage day) (ha)c 30.9a 17,700 8.0a 6530 19.4a 6450 4.4b

6110

5.9b 25.9a 1.6b 27.7a 20.6a 34.5a 9.8a 3.9b 22.4a 5.5a

Shipment Yield (t)c (t)c 838,900 780,200 60,300 53,100 455,800 418,800 130,200

Required area (m2/cap/year) 2.6 3.6 1.1

112,900

0.9

16,300 52,000 1310 9470

450,900 427,300 1,799,000 1,612,000 21,300 15,700 492,600 459,300

0.8 3.0 0.5 2.1

12,000 20,600 5200 2260 6240 1350

446,500 413,700 1,080,000 1,001,000 357,300 324,800 157,500 143,000 464,800 433,400 98,600 91,900

2.2 2.6 0.6 0.2 1.2 0.3

Notes: Table 6, Part one, National Nutrition Survey 2017 b Vegetable Information System [Veg sagashi], Agriculture & Livestock Industries Corporation, originating from livelihood survey by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications c Designated cultivated land, products and shipments, in Vegetable shipment statistics 2017 a

Fig. 10.2  FEW-print per capita per year

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10.5  Food Access and FEW-Print in Tama Plaza Area The Tama Plaza area is a suburban area within the City of Yokohama and 30 km from the center of Tokyo with 84,850 residents in an area of 8.32 km2, consisting mostly of detached houses on hilly land. It was developed in the 1970s with well-­ designed cul-de-sac streets to restrict through-traffic in areas of detached housing. Some parts of the area were reserved as a protected zone for agriculture (Fig. 10.3a). Residents are mostly commuters to the city center of Tokyo and Yokohama, travelling from the nearest station at Tama Plaza. As a result of these conditions, there is a big population gap between daytime and nighttime (Fig. 10.3b). Local farmland produces a very limited amount of vegetables, so most of the vegetables are imported from other prefectures in the Tokyo metropolitan region, from the more distant Hokkaido in northern Japan or even from other countries. Residents buy vegetables from grocery stores in the neighborhood where there have an abundant choice of stores for vegetables, including: 1 . Tokyu Department Store food court selling high-quality food for families; 2. Tokyu Store supermarket for middle- and upper-class families; 3. Ito-Yokado, the most popular discount supermarket; 4. The Hamakko farmers’ market with fresh vegetables direct from local farmers; 5. Always-open convenience stores, serving food boxes; 6. Vegetable vending machines, serving vegetables and rice; 7. Vegetable stands beside farmland, opening irregularly; 8. Vegetable markets and food markets with scheduled times and locations, operated by local brokers; 9. Food truck services on scheduled times and routes. Despite the variety of choice, the shops tend to concentrate in front of the Tama Plaza train station. Quite often, driving is inevitable in the hilly town. This could be a particular challenge for seniors who have relinquished their drivers’ license. Thus, the actual FEW-print per capita in this town should also add CO2 emission resulting from transportation from remote areas to access grocery stores from home by various modes of transportation to the calculation (Fig. 10.2). This specific calculation was not included in this study.

10.5.1  Redesigning Food Life It is a big challenge to draw a full vision of food life for the residents in the study area. Therefore, ‘food’ (including meals, food ingredients, food products) was taken as the primary organising concept and from there considered three factors: • The requirement for a city to be sustainable is having a stable food supply. Governments and businesses expend considerable efforts on a daily basis for this to happen.

Fig. 10.3  Community characteristics and local food systems in the Tama Plaza area. (a) Reserved farmland (b) Population in day and night (c) Food access and grocery stores

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• Meals are an important part of life, and a common interest to everyone, from procuring food ingredients and groceries to cooking and eating. Elders may feel isolated if they eat alone and seek communication. Working couples may be too busy to prepare food for children after long distance commuting. Students may depend on junk food from convenience stores. Residents without cars may lack the mobility to get to grocery stores. • The topic of food security is attracting global attention (Willett et al. 2019), with food access and ‘leaving no one behind’ being one of the SDG-goals. • The study area is suburban, with farmland nearby, and residents have a strong interest in access to fresh vegetables. With these points in mind, the development of a next-generation urban food system in suburban Tokyo is conceived (Fig. 10.4). The idea is to transform the current train station-oriented food access and life into the local area by mobilising and connecting local resources. Five types of capital are illustrated in the concept framework, including natural capital of farmland, industrial capital of food centers or healthcare centers, human capital of residents in the nighttime or employers of shops in the daytime and social capital of people with diversity of skills and interests. This reveals a large potential for revitalisation of the area through food life. The idea was deliberately promoted at WLL through a series of participatory communications (Table  10.2), with ‘nudge stakeholders’, ‘developing program’, ‘design workshop’ and ‘follow-up’. The first stage aimed to nudge stakeholders through a series of events. Information was prepared on the five types of capital, conditions of the study area and inventory of stakeholders (Fig. 10.2).

Fig. 10.4  Next generation of urban food services in suburban Tokyo

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Table 10.2  The process and activity design at WISE Living Lab Stage Nudge stakeholders

Action program

Activity Understanding local contexts Understanding local concerns Action program Team building Preparing data and tools

Design workshop

Sharing information Problem identification Design alternatives

Follow-up

Feedback to participants Review and revise

Output Visualization Stocks of capital Five types of Inventory of stakeholders capital Local needs Redesign food life Staff, partners, stakeholders Materials for workshops Strength and opportunities Weaknesses and threats Ideas, directions, projects Web posts, newsletter, etc. Action projects

FEW-print Actor network Mapping access Keywords SWOT map Spatial design Posters 3D models

The second stage was to develop an action program to work with stakeholders. A cooperative team, functional datasets and tools were prepared. Information about the five types of capital, the FEW-print and food accessibility were kept ready to use in emerging communications. The third stage was the design workshop (Fig.  10.5). Communication events were conducted bi-monthly in diverse forms, including field tours, street interviews, and forum exchange projects, etc. Participatory design workshops were the platform to share information, find problems and work out solutions. Supportive datasheets, access maps and FEW-print indicators, etc., were frequently used for communications. The fourth stage was follow-up. A swift feedback of activities and workshops to participants helped to keep the network active. The ideas and solutions were summarized on web pages, posters and digital models, for further discussions.

10.5.2  Stakeholder Engagement To make the communication with stakeholders simple the focus was limited to ‘food and living’, the common concern of residents in a suburban context. ‘Redesign the food life in suburban areas’ was the theme of the action program (Table 10.3). Events were organised about every two to three months. With such a frequency, there was adequate time to organise and prepare and it was possible for participants to be constantly involved without being it a major burden. Participants were mainly local residents and underlying research and support including FEW-print and mapping tools were provided by students. Generally, in each event ten residents participated, some of them attending multiple or every time.

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Fig. 10.5  Workshop and output. (a) Workshop (b) Questionnaires (c) Actor network

Through engagement the issues relating to difficulties to buy food items, experienced by people in suburban housing complexes could be identified. Discussion of the changes in the food situation, walking around, observing and sharing information was undertaken as the first stage. This content was then discussed at the workshops, where additional information of local resources and environmental costs of FEW-print was shared during the workshop. A common understanding of problems with the food environment emerged. The workshops have also proposed solutions to improve the food life. One evocative idea that arose was the ‘shared kitchen’, which could provide a place for elderly, working couples and school kids to eat and chat. The WLL could coordinate the actors who have skills to cook and would like to contribute. The challenge would be to find a facility to accommodate the idea and the actors to implement the project. Fortunately, the café next to WLL adopted the idea soon after the event and started on a trial basis in April 2019. People get together at the café monthly or bi-monthly and eat, talk and chat with each other.

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Table 10.3  Milestones of the M-NEX project at WLL Event/Main Date Participants 2018/3/31– 9th Tama 4/1 plaza cherry festival City, companies, residents 2018/6/2 Field tour Students, residents, NPOs

2018/9/6– 8, 22

2018/12/8

Observations/ Themes/Results Actions Learned about Participate in local purchase intentions market, gather information about local for food items. Participation in food sources community gardens 100+ survey responses is low Walking tour to observe Gained understanding of sources of food suburban food ingredients, food growers. 15 participants environment. Together recognized Distribution flows. potential Differences in quantity opportunities and quality Observed that there Special project Investigate and summarize the kinds of is a lot of nature in Community proximity to presentations food/water/energy suburban housing resources available. 25 Students, complexes, and participants residents much diversity of lifestyles Generate ideas to utilize Needs are diverse, Design for seniors, children, local resources and workshop and mothers with ensure the community Students, remains livable. Idea of a children, etc. needs residents, shared kitchen emerges. differ afternoon and businesses, evening. Sharing is 30 participants city staff key concept

2019/3/30– 10th Tama 31 plaza cherry festival Students, residents

Appraise the state of local food-related activities. Clarified transportation access to groceries/food

2019/4/19

Discuss the mainstreaming of workshop ideas with local residents. 12 participants

2019/5/18

Shared kitchen planning meeting Students, residents, businesses Public barbecue Residents

First share kitchen event. Begin with barbecue, which is easy to do. 40 participants including young and old, male and female

Collaboration with Others/ Feedback M-NEX kick-off in Sydney International workshop being planned SUGI kick-off in London. Recognized the importance of co-creation

M-NEX Belfast workshop. M-NEX workshop style development

Workshop: Nexus Approach to SGDS (1/29, Yokohama) Link up with municipal government policies M-NEX Doha Modes of mobility differ by geography (2/24–28) Decide on and location, and FEW-print trade area also differs. Visualization specifications of FEW-print Businesses agree with concept of “shared kitchen.” action within co-creation project

With a ULL as the venue, activate interactions by sharing time together

M-NEX Detroit (6/29–7/5). Discuss how to create an actor network (continued)

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Table 10.3 (continued) Event/Main Date Participants Themes/Results Second shared kitchen 2019/7/16 Tama plaza event. Investigate actor bento lunch network. Discover many box team diverse connections launch Residents Continuing regularly every month or every two months

Observations/ Actions Mapping of actor network in a photo calendar

Collaboration with Others/ Feedback

10.6  Discussion 10.6.1  Performance of WLL/M-NEX Originally designed as the ideal suburban town, Tama Plaza today is struggling with an aging population and inconvenient access to grocery shops, while some sprawling communities in the Tokyo area are also facing an aging infrastructure. The question how to make the city adaptive to demographic and climate change emerged as a major challenge for the years ahead. WLL provided a platform for stakeholders to think about the issues and M-NEX contributed the principles and procedures to build the content of this initiative. The success of the participatory program and workshops (Table  10.3) provided evidence of the applicability of the principles, procedures and workflow through: 1 . Sharing resources and information, 2. Identifying issues and problems, 3. Developing solutions for differing local conditions. Through the process, the essence of SUGI-FEW and the urban dynamics in a big city have become more tangible. Transdisciplinary engagement is highly appreciated for a research project like M-NEX.  The determination of the project topics ‘food and living’ fit the concerns of the stakeholders well, even though they were seen as being difficult to grasp at first. The engagement process created the opportunity for all participants to learn from each other. The field tours and design workshops were processes of learning for participants and local residents to discover the potential of a suburban town which at first may have appeared rather ordinary. The diversity of the stakeholders of the site-specific practical projects like the shared kitchen and the consistent participation of residents demonstrated the rich soil of Japanese society for public engagement and dialogue.

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10.6.2  Performance of Tools With GIS mapping tools, M-NEX took a look back at context of the suburban housing complexes with stakeholders through the workshops and settled on an annual action program of co-creation relating to food and living. Based on that foundation, in the co-creation space of the lab and local community, time was created for co-­ creation through events at regular intervals, revealing that hidden networks of co-­ creation actors existed within the community (Fig. 10.4c). The network nodes are composed of three layers: facilities or places to work, contents to connect people and actors to drive the activity through the FEW nexus. The purpose of M-NEX is to make these networks more robust. We hypothesized that this would be possible if FEW connected actors together from diverse industries, diverse places, and diverse generations, with diverse needs as illustrated in the above Fig. 10.4. By doing so, building upon that network, more food services can flow, environmental impacts can be reduced, quality of life can increase and the community’s overall risk response can become more resilient. The FEW-print concept was a tool that inspired communications in workshops searching for solutions that could reduce the environmental load while also improving the quality of life. The rich actor network and the ongoing shared kitchen project evidenced the reality and the power of citizens in action by sharing mealtime together.

10.6.3  Participants as Actors In Japan, urban planning and community planning have incorporated the concept of co-creation and various activities are being conducted. Four common features of those initiatives have been distinguished (Iguchi et al. 2017): 1 . The purpose of improving the quality of life, 2. Gradual improvement of the proximate environment, 3. Sustainable activities through collaboration and cooperation with diverse actors, 4. Effective utilization of existing resources that are present in the community. Sustainable mechanisms are necessary for co-creation, and these require (a) Creative spaces (urban redevelopment). The WLL provides an actual living or institutional space. In contrast to developing a product, the design-led approach aimed at urban development and community development, so the space where co-creation occurs also happens to be the target of co-creation. This is applied at various scales, from a single house, to a single street, to an entire region. It uses various scales as the space for co-creation, whether it is an entire region, a supermarket in a town or the WLL facilities. (b) Creative time (events and media). At the WLL the content is enhanced through workshops and the creation of media. Whether in the ULL facility or in the entire community, M-NEX organized food-related events or participated in

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existing events, and worked to make the food-related content more visible in daily life. By sharing time together in an event, a common understanding is generated through discussion, and the result is the development of actions for co-creation. (c) Creative actors (fostering of human resources and industries). The challenge for WLL/M-NEX was how to make the motivation for co-creation sustainable. A conventional ULL-approach has users involved as participants, but if they do not receive a corresponding return, their motivation will not be sustained (Nishio 2016). The M-NEX project focused on ‘food and living’ as a topic of concern for residents and the community. Programs and events were then designed so that the participants themselves would benefit. A university or company would be in charge of facilitating, but the main actors were the participants themselves. By spending time together at events, individual participants took possession over their own respective excellent skills and networks and that tremendous potential could be unleashed simply by connecting those resources. By making such networks more visible, the result is greater co-creation.

10.6.4  Scaling Up to Urban Policy The activity at WLL stimulates stakeholders positively. First, M-NEX provides a special lens for the SDG’s initiative of Yokohama City. The intelligence and vitality of students could contribute to the implementation of the policy initiative. Secondly, M-NEX provides a strategic view for WLL on the sustainability of a suburban town and the M-NEX platform with data monitoring and map projection provided a scientific interface for the community to understand the environment and rethink lifestyle in suburban regions. Third, the motivation of companies and enterprises joining the project and workshop could be diverse. Some were there for new business solutions under SDG’s, while others considered the engagement in environmental activities to be part of the social responsibility of companies. Fourth, communities appreciated the M-NEX activities in their areas, designed to look into the area in new scientific ways. By coordinating this capacity to access internal and external resources, M-NEX contributed to the formation of the action project, led by local NPOs. The project proceeded even better than could be hoped for. Through the activity, M-NEX gained the trust from and a good reputation among stakeholders and built the engagement platform, with their support. The stakeholders included governmental sectors of Setagaya City of Tokyo and Yokohama City of Kanagawa Prefecture, urban utilities included Yokohama Waterworks and Tokyo Gas, private sector stakeholders included ICT-companies and urban developers such as Tokyu Company and other stakeholders NPO’s and local communities in the area.

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10.7  Conclusions The food-energy-water (FEW) nexus in cities is an inherent factor in urban development, but the concept itself is rather new to the public. Through the M-NEX project, it came to the fore that the urban FEW does not relate to a corporate product, but are rather topics relating to urban structure and also to the very lives of citizens. Bringing the FEW-nexus into urban design and management presents the challenge of how and at what level of time and space the issues become tangible. The authors of this chapter worked at the neighborhood level in the study area with a focus on food life in the suburban context. Food and diet are associated with day-to-day life, making it easy to attract the attention of residents, while the results can be reflected at different scales, from households at the lower end to the urban structure of the city and region at the upper end. In this sense, the FEW-nexus is a good lens to examine the strengths and weaknesses of modern cities and the sustainability of infrastructure and services. An ULL, the WISE Living Lab in this study, played a role as a nexus itself, connecting stakeholders from different sectors and disciplines. On this foundation, the design-led approach of the M-NEX project produced notable achievements in a short period of time: (a) Using the FEW concept, M-NEX brought people back to the fundamental dimensions of a city in terms of resources, infrastructure and security. In Japan, cities are dealing with de-urbanization. This situation requires innovative ideas to tackle the challenges. (b) The principles, procedures and workflow of M-NEX provided a functional scheme enabling the ULL to develop action programs with the integration of scientific tools and the enthusiasm of participants. The common issues of an ULL, purpose, activity and participation are equally important for the design-­ led approach. (c) Community engagement served as the source of power for co-creation. Unlike industrial product testing, the FEW-nexus can be used more proactively to engage residents. The participatory workshops at WLL have provided a catalyst for new cooperation, such as the shared kitchen project mentioned above. Meanwhile, the FEW-print could clarify the environmental characteristics of the urban neighborhood. In the study, the original urban design of the study area is now under pressure to respond to an aging population and food services are no longer accessible to all residents due to the withdrawal or closure of shops and restaurants and changes in family composition. This is a long-term mission of transformation of urban structure. It requires a rethink of the balance of costs and benefits in the FEW-nexus in new boundary conditions of urbanisation with less population density but more sustainable services. The ULL has proven to be an arena to develop innovative solutions through the partnership of stakeholders.

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Acknowledgements  M-NEX is a grant-funded project of the Collaborative Research Area Belmont Forum (No. 11314551) led by Wanglin Yan (Keio University) in a consortium of partners from Japan, including Keio University and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies; Qatar (Qatar University); the United States, led by Geoffrey Thün (University of Michigan); the Netherlands, led by Andy van den Dobbelsteen (Delft University of Technology); the United Kingdom, led by Greg Keeffe (Queens University Belfast) and Australia (collaborator), led by Rob Roggema (Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen). We are grateful to the cooperate of the WISE living lab. Without the support of the member of NST from the City of Yokohama municipality, Tokyu Company and the coordinator of Ms. Sumiko Asanoumi, this M-NEX project would have never happened at the community of Tama Plaza. We are also grateful to JPI Europe Urban for initiating the Sustainable Urbanization Global Initiative, Food-Water-Energy Nexus, and making the M-NEX project possible.

References Allan JAT (2003) Useful concept or misleading metaphor? Virtual water: a definition. Water Int 28(1):4–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2003.9724812 Bergvall-Kåreborn B, Holst M, Ståhlbröst A (2009) Concept design with a living lab approach. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2009.123 Cambridge D, Kaplan S, Suter V (2005) Community of practice design guide. Retrieved from http://www.teaching-­learning.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/185605/CoP-­Reader-­ Complete.pdf Dimitri-Schuurman LDM, Dimitri PB (2015) Living labs: a systematic literature review. In: Open Living Lab Days. Retrieved from https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/7026155/file/7026171 Florida R (2012) The rise of the creative class--revisited: 10th anniversary edition–revised and expanded. Basic Books, New York. 512 p Gumbo S, Thinyane M, Thinyane H, Terzoli A, Hansen S (2012) Living lab methodology as an approach to innovation in ICT4D: the siyakhula living lab experience. IST-Africa, pp 1–9 Hoff H (2011) Understanding the Nexus. Background paper for the Bonn2011 Nexus conference: Stockholm Environment Institute, pp 1–52 Iguchi N et al (eds) (2017) Creating the city beyond 2020. Gakugeishuppan. (in Japanese) Kimbell L (2011) Rethinking design thinking: part I. Des Cult 3(3):285–306 Landry C (2008) The creative city: a toolkit for urban innovators. Routledge, p 352 Leminen S, Westerlund M, Nyström A-G (2012) Living labs as open-innovation networks. Technol Innov Manag Rev 2(9):6–11. https://doi.org/10.22215/timreview602 Liu J, Hull V, Godfray HCJ, Tilman D, Gleick P, Hoff H et al (2018) Nexus approaches to global sustainable development. Nat Sustain 1(9):466–476. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-­018-­0135-­8 Malekpour S, Caball R (2017) FOOD ENERGY WATER NEXUS---Ideas for Monash University Clayton Campus McCormick K, Hartmann C (2017) The emerging landscape of urban living labs: characteristics, practices and examples, vol 9. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0099587 MILT (2018) White Paper on National Capital Region Development. Ministry of Infrastructure, land and transportation Nakamichi K, Yamagata Y, Hanaoka S, Wang X (2015) Estimation of indirect emissions in each municipality and comparison to direct emissions. J Jpn Soc Civil Eng D3 71(5):191–200. (in Japanese) Niitamo VP, Kulkki S, Eriksson M, Hribernik KA (2016) State-of-the-art and good practice in the field of living labs. In: 2006 IEEE international technology management conference, ICE 2006. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICE.2006.7477081

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Chapter 11

The Regenerative City: Positive Opportunities of Coupling Urban Energy Transition with Added Values to People and Environment Andy van den Dobbelsteen

Abstract  Climate change and the security of resources – energy, water, food, materials – require cities to become resilient. There are various approaches to support this process; a nexus approach, optimally utilising the synergy of food, water and energy and their waste flows. This chapter primarily focuses on the energy aspect of the nexus, as dominating factor in greenhouse gas emissions and therefore the most important aspect in climate action. There are different ambition levels in the energy transition, in growing complexity: carbon neutral, net zero energy, fossil free, circular, regenerative. By means of the steps ‘research’, ‘reduce’, ‘reuse’, ‘produce’, cities can get control over their energy system. Methods as Energy Potential Mapping help to identify the availability of renewables. Based on these steps and method the Amsterdam energy transition roadmap was developed to facilitate a shift from fossil fuels to renewables. In striving for a sustainable urban energy system, demanded temperature levels are essential. There are many more sources for low temperature heat (waste heat, environmental heat) than there are for high temperatures (geothermal heat, solar heat) when fossil fuels are phased out. Energy renovation of existing neighbourhoods is essential to bring down the required temperature. There are three main alternative solutions (and two hybrid ones in-between) for natural gas: all-electric heat pump systems, district heating, and green gases (biogas, hydrogen, synthetic gas). In order to find the right solution for the right place, cities and towns need to chart their districts and neighbourhoods. There is potential in synergy in climate mitigation and adaptation measures. Cities however face more challenges than just climate change. Therefore, creating added value is essential. This can relate to human happiness, quality of the living

A. van den Dobbelsteen (*) Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_11

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environment and biodiversity. Examples are benefits coming from aquathermia and net positive buildings that become a nexus in themselves. Due to production, transport and refrigeration, food is an important factor for carbon emissions. Local, plant-based, food production, reduces carbon emissions and helps to make people more conscious. Moreover, urban agriculture can become a means to improve the energy performance of the building, through synergy or symbiosis. Vertical farming – with optimal growth conditions – can play an important role in the urban heat system by feeding waste heat to communal heat networks and inter-seasonal energy storage. This way, modern forms of urban food production can be an asset to the regenerating city. Keywords  Climate change · Climate action · Nexus approach · Energy transition · Energy potential mapping · Aquathermia · Net positive · Urban agriculture · Vertical farming · Waste heat · Heat networks

11.1  Introduction If the task is to stay beneath a two degrees temperature increase, which is widely considered a maximum level to avoid runaway climate change with unpredictable outcomes, the world needs to reduce its carbon emissions by 80% in the year 2050 (IPCC 2014). The Paris agreements aim even for 95% of carbon reductions. For a sustainable situation on the longer term, therefore, climate neutrality or carbon neutrality is essential, creating a balance between the greenhouse gases emitted on the one hand and chemically binding or sequestering of these gases on the other.

11.1.1  Our Vulnerability Climate change is already upon us. The effects of global warming, even only by one degree compared to pre-industrial levels, are ever more visible in the form of droughts, unprecedented bushfires, even in places where there were none before, as well as rising sea levels, excessive rains, floods, also where they have not been experienced before and manifestation of other forms of extreme weather. And of course, there are the secondary effects thereof, such as the interrupted availability of resources. Climate change means significantly higher temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and more frequent, extremer storms. Cities are vulnerable to these changes as they have been designed to deal with different climatic parameters (Albers et al. 2015). Some places in the world have already experienced what it

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means when, due to climate-related natural disasters, technical failures and damaged infrastructures, there is no supply of food, water or energy. By estimation, for their supplies, cities are at present 95% reliant on supply from elsewhere, based on the globalised trading system. Small hick-ups however indicate the vulnerability of this system.

11.1.2  New Approaches Especially with an increasing share of people living in urbanised areas, in order to become resilient, cities need to gain control over so-called essential flows: energy, water, nutrients and their waste flows. Already in 2007, Arjan van Timmeren indicated that next to the common centralised arrangement of supply and waste management, decentralised solutions are better needed (Van Timmeren 2007). For energy, these concepts were taken further the in REAP (Rotterdam Energy Approach & Planning) project. This approach aims to solve demand reduction, waste heat reuse and renewable energy production within the city, in order to become independent from supply from outside (Tillie et  al. 2009). The REAP method, developed for the Dutch city of Rotterdam, was elaborated further in LES (the Amsterdam Guide to Energetic Urbanism) (Van den Dobbelsteen et al. 2011) and formed an early basis for Energy Master Planning and the City-zen Methodology (Van den Dobbelsteen et al. 2019).

11.1.3  The Need of a Nexus Approach The methods or approaches to urban energy management mentioned above can be translated to other flows. They are based on the so-called New Stepped Strategy (Van den Dobbelsteen 2008), which, after thorough analysis of the current circumstances in an area, advocates the following three steps: 1 . Reduce (the demand); 2. Reuse (waste flows); 3. Produce (from renewable sources). These steps can be applied to both energy, water and food flows. In fact, the waste flow of one resource, might be the input to another and reverse. For instance, within the chain, wastewater can be the basis for clean drinking water (especially when there is little ground or rain water available), but also a source of nutrients and proteins (serving the food chain) and of energy (waste heat and bio-energy from algae or bio-fermentation). Waste heat can serve heating demands within the energy chain, but it can also be used to produce food, drinking water or help wastewater treatment. Food waste can be used as nutrient in its own chain, but also be fermented to biogas and water can be extracted from it too.

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This all goes to show that the future of a smart sustainable resource system lies in the nexus of the three essential flows: food, energy and water, the FEW-nexus. This chapter will primarily focus on energy.

11.2  Climate Action 11.2.1  Carbon Shares When looking at the share of the food, energy and water chain on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as CO2-equivalents (Fig. 11.1) (Ritchie and Roser 2019), energy (production of electricity and heat) turns out to be the dominating sector (47% in 2010). In 2010, agriculture emitted 10% of all GHG emissions, one percent-point less than transport, the world’s number two sector. Waste management emitted 3% of all GHG emissions. Understanding that most of the energy is eventually used in the built environment, i.e. residential and commercial sectors (8% in 2010) and industry (7% in 2010), that waste management is predominantly related to these sectors and that a lot of traffic is linked to transport of food and building materials, the share of the built environment is estimated at around 30–40% of all GHG emissions.

Fig. 11.1  GHG emissions by sector (UN-FAO via Our World in Data/Ritchie and Roser 2019)

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11.2.2  Climate Action This suggests that most GHG emissions are related to the burning of fossil fuels. Phasing out fossil fuels is commended for multiple reasons: their contribution to run-away climate change, public health deterioration and environmental pollution, but also depletion of fossil resources and availability of renewable and cleaner alternatives. But especially climate change and the Paris Agreement ratified by most countries now urge to think totally different about our society and, with more than 50% living therein, about urban systems. A treatise on climate change, its cause and the expectations for the coming decades is not the aim of this chapter. In the year 2019, a scientific ‘golden standard’ was given to the influence of anthropogenic GHG emissions on the global climate: the probability that accelerated climate change is not caused by human activities, is 1:3.5 million (Santer et al. 2019). It cannot get much more certain in science. A logical consequence thereof is that it is possible to do something about it: by avoiding the emission of GHGs and by working on solutions that promote their absorption. And since human-induced climate change has already commenced, adaptation to its effects is needed. It is time for climate action.

11.3  Energy Transition 11.3.1  Terminology Across the world, the built environment is largely dependent on energy from fossil fuels, the greatest contributor to greenhouse gases as methane, CO2 and N2O. Therefore, the term ‘fossil free’ was introduced in various European projects already since 2006 (Roggema et al. 2011), after Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ came out (Gore 2006). Fossil free simply means that no fossil fuels (coal, mineral oil and natural gas) are used anywhere in the system considered. Within the current ‘fossil’ society this is an ambitious goal to achieve and it may take a lot of time to get there. In the meantime, becoming ‘net zero energy’ already is a big step. This ambition, which is often also described as ‘energy neutral’, means that in a year’s time one will not use more energy than one can generate from renewables oneself. It implies acceptance of fossil fuels as long as this quantity of energy is compensated for by self-generated renewable energy. In its Energy Performance for Buildings Decree (EPBD), the EU prescribes that as of 2020 all new buildings need to be ‘nearly zero energy’. The word ‘nearly’ leaves space for interpretation, but it is clear that designing fully zero-energy buildings will put architects on the safe side for a building permit.

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Becoming ‘carbon neutral’ is a step to be achieved even earlier, since by that definition, carbon emissions can be captured, stored and utilised or compensated by emission trading or tree planting.

11.3.2  Regenerative There are two aims surpassing the goal of ‘fossil free’: ‘circular’ and ‘regenerative’. Fossil free is equal to ‘energetically circular’, but circular encompasses all resource flows, so also water, nutrients and materials. If a city is circular, all flows running through it are entirely produced, processed and reused within the city’s or metropolitan boundaries. Regenerative goes a step beyond this: a regenerative system makes amendments for disbalances created in the past. Knowing that the current ecological footprint of humankind is 1.8 times the actual area of the Earth, an unsustainable situation that eventually will lead to crises worse than experienced until now, becoming regenerative should be the goal for cities.

11.3.3  Renewable Energy Potentials Cities in temperate climate regions usually are connected to both the electricity and gas grid. Natural gas is used for cooking, hot water and heating, although the latter two can also be supplied from electrical means. When cities have to divert from fossil fuels, the electricity needs to come from renewable sources (sun, wind, hydro-­ electric, tidal power, biomass…), cooking needs to be done electrically, and the heat demanded for hot water and domestic heating needs to come from another source than natural gas. To move away from fossil fuels, each region has their own alternatives that depend on the energy demand and supply characteristics, possibilities and limitations and in particular the local renewable energy potentials. Methods such as Energy Potential Mapping (Broersma et al. 2013) were developed to identify and chart local renewable energy potentials in an organised manner. This method was used in various studies on the urban, regional and even national level (Fremouw 2017; Labo Ruimte 2015; Broersma et al. 2011; Van den Dobbelsteen et al. 2009).

11.3.4  Temperature Levels For alternatives to natural gas and other fossil sources it is important to draw a distinction between temperature levels. For the built environment – this differs from industries – everything above 70 °C is called high-temperature (HT) heat. Poorly

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insulated dwellings require HT heat for the central heating (mostly a radiator system) and for domestic hot water. Better insulated dwellings could be served with of mid-temperature (MT) heat, between 40 and 70 °C, which could serve the heating system and hot water purposes. For modern, well-insulated houses, low-­temperature (LT) heat of 25–40 °C suffices, which can feed an air heating, underfloor heating or wall heating system. For domestic hot water, electrical after-heating up to 55–65 °C is required to avoid bacteria such as Legionella.

11.3.5  Alternative Routes Understanding this, there are three main alternatives for natural gas: all-electric solutions based on heat pump systems, urban heat networks, and green fuels (Table 11.1). Heat pump systems are typically suited for buildings and neighbourhoods of which the space heating can be served with LT heat: modern and renovated, thermally well-insulated buildings. Urban heat networks are now commonly fed by HT heat (with a MT return) from cogeneration plants or from industrial sources (which in both cases have fossil fuels as the primary source), or from waste incineration plants (a process that will not fit a circular economy in the future). Green fuels often refer to sustainable gases, such as biogas, hydrogen or synthetic gases. The availability of these is dependent on local circumstances and quantities are currently limited for usage in cities. If abundantly available, these can of course substitute natural gas as HT heat source; however, this would contradict the preferred low-exergy principle of using these high-quality energy sources only for high-graded purposes, such as industries and transport (Stremke et al. 2011). Table 11.1  Five routes for the basic techniques for neighbourhoods without natural gas Routes Heat network (HT/MT) Hybrid e/w (LT|HT/MT) All-electric (LT|LT-MT)

Hybrid e/g (LT-MT|MT) Green gas (HT|HT)

Domestic heating Heat network (fed by geothermal, solar heat, waste heat) Heat pump (individual or collective with ATES)

Domestic cooling Cold network Air-conditioning

Hot tap water Heat network (possibly with electric after-heating, in case of MT) Heat pump (individual Heat pump (possibly with electric after-heating, in or collective with case of MT) ATES) Heat pump (individual or Heat pump (individual Heat pump, el. after-heating collective with ATES) or collective with Solar boiler, el. ATES) after-heating Electric boiler (Hybrid) heat pump Hybrid heat pump Hybrid heat pump (co-­firing by green gas) (possibly winter co-firing by green gas) Air-conditioning Boiler on green gas Boiler on green gas (biogas, hydrogen, (biogas, hydrogen, synthetic methane) synthetic methane)

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Table 11.1 also presents interesting hybrid options for the heat transition away from fossil fuels. An example of this is the hybrid heat pump, which can serve the building’s heating most of the year, but supply it with green gas in the coldest winter months. Another example is the combination of a heat pump system for the buildings’ space heating and the district heating system for hot water purposes. These solutions are suited when an urban area cannot be converted to one of the three main solutions. In order to find the right solution for the right place, cities and towns need to chart their districts and neighbourhoods.

11.3.6  LT Instead of HT Heat Sources An important reason for a transition to low-temperature heating (and high-­ temperature cooling, but that aside…) is the abundance of LT heat sources, in contrast to the limited availability of HT heat sources once fossil fuels are ruled out. The prime renewable sources for HT heat would then be HT solar energy (for instance through concentrated solar power), deep and ultra-deep geothermal energy (from 2 kilometres deep and beyond), or green fuels and biomass replacing fossil fuels. The availability of these HT sources is strongly location bound, and in quantity they cannot compete with the current demand for fossil fuels. In contrast, there is a great variety of LT heat sources. One category is waste heat sources, for instance from data centres, greenhouses and supermarkets. The other category is environmental heat, from air, water and underground. Geothermal heat from shallower depths has a great energy potential, as has soil and open water, for which a heat pump can deliver the push towards the desired temperature level, LT or MT. An interesting new source of LT heat may come from modern forms of urban farming, i.e. plant factories or vertical farming, which will be discussed in Sect. 11.5.

11.3.7  Roadmap For Amsterdam, an energy transition roadmap was elaborated (Broersma and Van den Dobbelsteen 2018) to facilitate the Dutch capital’s shift from fossil fuels to renewables, both in electricity and heat supply. Heat concerns the most complicated and interesting transition (Fig.  11.2). The urban heat transition challenge can be approached using the New Stepped Strategy discussed before. In step 1, ‘reduce’, energy savings are put first, focused on both urban and architectural design and the energy efficiency of appliances we need anyway. This is followed by step 2, ‘reuse’, including options for urban programming (planning demand and supply, attuning surpluses and shortages), exchanging heat, cascading waste

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Fig. 11.2  Scenario for the shift from (mainly HT) heat from fossil fuels (natural gas and coal) to renewables, with a greater share of LT and MT heat (Broersma and Van den Dobbelsteen 2018)

heat and (inter-seasonal) storage. Finally, with the ‘produce’ of step 3, renewable energy sources will be deployed, which in the case of Amsterdam comes down to geothermal heat, solar heat and perhaps some remaining winter supply from biofuels.

11.4  Adding Value to Energy Transition 11.4.1  Liveability at Risk Next to the environmental challenges discussed, there is a range of contemporary societal challenges, for instance: the pursuit of health, wellbeing and a longer life expectancy with an ageing population, accessibility and affordability of services. These require a new urbanism (Hajer and Dassen 2014). It is a complex endeavour to find integrated solutions that respond to these societal challenges, that activate climate adaptation and mitigation strategies and that promote greener spaces, without hampering the liveability and viability of urban neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood typology determines the concrete possibilities for mitigating and adapting to climate change (Kluck et al. 2018; Kleerekoper 2016). There is potential in synergy in mitigation and adaptation measures. Solutions that add value to the citizen’s most direct living environment are often the easiest to

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implement, but these have received limited attention (e.g. de Waal and Stremke 2014). Therefore, the added value of climate actions is essential for the liveability for citizens and nature in the built environment.

11.4.2  Finding Added Value The eventual impact of many actions on global warming itself can be estimated but is uncertain and will only be visible in the long run. Moreover, these interventions requiring investments are topic of many debates in social media and in politics, but the necessity of adaptation to change seems to be supported on all sides. Therefore, for broad acceptance within society, climate mitigation should go hand in hand with climate adaptation, security in the provision of essential resources, and extra value creation. Herein, climate mitigation concerns the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Climate adaptation is the response to greater heat, more precipitation, longer periods of drought and weather extremes. Essential resources are defined as energy, water, food and materials. Extra value creation can relate to contribution to human happiness, quality of the living environment and biodiversity. The latter aspect has received little attention so far, making sustainable development hard to accept by people who have not encountered the downside effects of climate change yet. Creating a nexus solution for energy transition, hence including solutions for local water and food security, might be one of the actions that will gain wide support.

11.4.3  Aquathermia An example of this added value evolves with the use of aquathermia (or hydrothermia), i.e. the extraction of heat from water by means of a heat pump system. By doing that, the temperature of the water decreases, improving the water quality in areas under warming conditions and creating a greater probability for ice-skating in wintertime. The plan is currently considered seriously for historic inner cities such as Amsterdam and Delft (Fig.  11.3, left) and for the Dutch province of Fryslân (Frisia) (Fig. 11.3, right). Using aquathermia can help several sustainability aims. It of course first serves the urban heat transition towards renewable energy sources. Secondly, it contributes to climate adaptation through cooling the water in cities in summertime. Another important effect can be the improvement of water quality, because cooler water reduces the growth of aquatic algae and bacteria. Finally, as mentioned before, if the water temperature is actively decreased, year-round or only in winter, there will be a greater probability of frost and ice formation. The latter is of great cultural meaning in countries as the Netherlands.

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Fig. 11.3  An occasion happening less and less under climate change but potentially made possible again through heat pumps using aquathermia: ice-skating on open water. Left: inner city of Delft (Photo by the author); right: the 200 km Eleven Cities route in Fryslân (Wikipedia)

11.4.4  Circular Buildings Another example is the Solar Decathlon plan called MOR (Modular Office Renovation) for the transformation of a vacant, inefficient office to a super-­ sustainable multi-functional building. The Solar Decathlon is an international competition for sustainable houses, in which student teams partake from all over the world. The ‘solar village’ with the built pavilions function as an exhibition of the latest ideas and innovations for sustainable housing. With their award-winning plan (Fig. 11.4), students of TU Delft showed that an integrated approach and limited adaptation of lifestyle will lead to a net positive plan with many advantages: carbon reduction, climate adaptation and improvement of quality of life. MOR’s net positivity was focused on materials, energy, water, air, and biomass. Modular, demountable, bio-based building elements formed the core of the net positive Net positive energy was achieved by a smart bioclimatic energy system that combined passive and active elements, for which the electricity was provided by vertical photovoltaic façade panels. Water positivity was secured through rain water collection and grey water purification and reuse. Air positivity was an interesting one: since the pavilion depicted a part of an office in Rotterdam, suffering from

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Fig. 11.4  The MOR pavilion at the Solar Decathlon Europe 2019 in Szentendre (Hungary), a cut-­ out from a tower in Rotterdam, which was transformed from vacant, energetically inefficient office to a sustainable, circular apartment (Photo by the author)

polluted air, mostly due to the petrochemical port of Europe, the goal was to purify incoming fresh air. This was established by an active green wall. Finally, food production was included in the tower plan by an aquaponic system. The MOR students demonstrated how an urban area running on fossil fuels can be transformed to a circular, clean and liveable space. The project was a nexus in itself, of five different essential flows. Food production perhaps was the most innovative element thereof.

11.5  Food in the Energy Transition 11.5.1  The Energy of Food Food is an important factor for energy consumption. The term of ‘food miles’ indicates the distance that food has to travel to arrive in the supermarket. The means of transport and necessity of frozen or chilled storage also play an important factor therein. Largely because of this, animal products cost more energy than other foods. Especially meat is a considerable factor when considering greenhouse gas emissions. But horticulture also requires a lot of energy: the production of food in greenhouses, under optimised conditions, requires artificial lighting, ventilation and heating in winter. So, becoming energy-efficient and low-carbon requires a conscious lifestyle that includes a sustainable means to production on the supplier side, and a wise selection of food at the consumer side. Figure 11.5 shows the carbon equivalent emissions of different food diets, which demonstrates that a plant-based diet is more sustainable than that of an average consumer or, worse, a meat lover.

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Fig. 11.5  Carbon emissions by food patterns, based on various sources (based on: Milieucentraal 2016; Environmental Working Group 2017; Blonk Consultants 2017; WUR 2017; Doornewaard 2017; CBS 2017; EUMOFA 2017; Eurostat 2017; Productschap Pluimvee and Eieren 2013; GfK 2006; Voedingscentrum 2017; Vegetariersbond 2017; Rossum 2016; Bartels et al. 2009)

Local food production, in urbanised areas, helps to make people more conscious of this, reduces food miles and steps of refrigeration and introduces a new source of waste heat.

11.5.2  Symbiosis in Supply and Demand In an urban setting, arguably the most interesting step of the New Stepped Strategy is that of ‘reuse’. Apart from reusing waste flows, in cities, this step also encompasses energetic programmatic, functional attuning, cascading heat, exchanging energy, and diurnal and seasonal storage. Energetic programming signifies the combining of urban functions that can lead to an equilibrium of heat and cold demand, of electricity production and demand. Just as with functional combinations to create a healthy balance in housing, work places and amenities, cities can be better planned in terms of energy. Cascading heat is the principle that heat of a certain temperature is serving a purpose, after which the returning lower temperature can be used for another purpose, and the return from that, at yet a lower temperature. The idea is that no

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Fig. 11.6  Image of a symbiotic solution for a supermarket in a residential area of Amsterdam (Ten Caat 2018)

residual energy is wasted but fed into a lower-graded function, until it reaches the environmental temperature (and exergy value 0). Exchanging energy can refer to a given urban situation, where there is a surplus of a certain form of energy (usually heat, but also cold and electricity are possible), which can be used for an urban function that requires that form of heat. Figure 11.6 gives an example of a supermarket in Amsterdam, in a residential area, where Nick ten Caat proposed a joint energy system that optimises the use of residual heat from the supermarket’s cooling system by supplying that to the apartments. A greenhouse is added for local food production, carbon sequestration and extra heat collection. This system, not even including energy retrofit of the apartments, potentially leads to a carbon reduction by 60% (Ten Caat 2018). Finally, storage of energy is almost always needed, because seasonal differences create discrepancies between generation and usage of heat, cold and electricity. Diurnal storage is needed to cover differences between day and night; seasonal storage to bridge between summer and winter.

11.5.3  Vertical Farming and the Urban Energy System From pilot studies (Van den Dobbelsteen et al. 2015; Graamans et al. 2020) it is known that greenhouses can support net zero-energy buildings and cities. Urban farming, on the rooftop, attached to the façade or in the interior of a building, can

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therefore become a means to improve the energy performance of the building itself. Moreover, the building can become a synergetic or symbiotic system with its food production. Vertical farming is a particular type of urban agriculture, using stacked arrays of food-producing devices in buildings that not necessarily have to have access to daylight. Optimal conditions are created through correct administration of artificial lighting, water quantities, concentration of nutrients, temperature and humidity. Vertical farming therefore is an option for vacant buildings in cities. However, vertical farming requires a lot of energy for lighting and it produces a lot of residual heat from cooling (Graamans et al. 2018). Because of the urban heat island effect, aggravated by climate change, the discharge of waste heat will not be acceptable anymore in the near future. Instead, vertical farming can play an important role in the urban heat system by feeding communal heat networks and inter-­ seasonal storage systems with its LT heat. With fossil fuels being ranged out of the urban system, all sources of sustainable heat will be welcomed in temperate and cold climates, also in order to get the energy system in balance, matching the yearly and daily pattern of energy requirement of a vertical farm with that of the surrounding urban (built) environment. This way, modern forms of urban food production such as vertical farming can be an asset to the regenerating city. This obviously requires meticulous design, both on the farm, building and urban level, but herein lies a great challenge for the coming decades.

11.6  Conclusion 11.6.1  From Vulnerable to Regenerative If the signals of climate scientists are taken seriously, climate adaptation and climate mitigation have to speed up and the energy transition is urgent. At present, the energy transition of the built environment goes too slow and requires action on all fronts. Although citizens might not realise this, cities are currently extremely vulnerable to disruptions to the supply of essential resources. Together with their metropolitan regions, cities need to become circular at least and regenerative preferably, making amendments for the present disbalance in the earth system.

11.6.2  Synergy and Added Value Action on all fronts may seem evident, but as progress has been too slow, acceleration can probably only be achieved through an approach that better uses synergy and creates added value. The transition will only succeed if everyone playing a role sees

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the added value of the process of climate action and of becoming regenerative. It will require a lot of innovation and creativity. A potentially successful approach is the nexus approach, combining energy with other essential flows, water and food, in order to generate synergetic solutions with a much better performance of reuse of residuals. If this is done in the right way, becoming fossil free might well be key to a radical improvement of our living environment.

11.6.3  Emphasising the Benefits The examples discussed in this chapter showed that thinking bigger and more creative ideas are needed in order to deal with the complex assignment. Lifestyle and eating habits may also have to change a bit, but that does not have to lead to loss of quality of life. Showing the benefits of new sustainable strategies will help to convince people to support the transition. Innovative and creative projects can serve as best practices that inspire people and propel sustainable solutions.

11.6.4  The New Role of Food Vertical farming can be an important asset in the sustainable system of a regenerative city. The resources for food production (nutrients, water, energy, biomass and their wastes) can be managed extremely efficiently in urban farming projects, especially with vertical farming. Vertical farming offers the opportunity to make use of empty lots and vacant buildings in the city, to reduce food miles, feed into the urban energy system and, not least, increase awareness with people hence bring back knowledge that went lost long ago.

References Albers RAW, Bosch PR, Blocken B, Dobbelsteen AAJF, van den Hove LWA, van Spit TJM, Ven F, van de Hooff T, van Rovers V (2015) Overview of challenges and achievements in the climate adaptation of cities and in the climate proof cities program. Build Environ 83:1–10 Bartels J, Onwezen MC, Ronteltap A, Fischer ARH, Kole APW, Veggel RJFM, van Meeusen MJG (2009) Eten van Waarde  - Peiling Consument en Voedsel (LEI Rapport 2009–059); WUR, Wageningen Blonk Consultants (2017) Environmental impact of foods. in: https://www.blonkconsultants. nl/2017/12/08/facts-­figures/?lang=en. Accessed 2017 Broersma S, Van den Dobbelsteen A (2018) Roadmap Amsterdam (Deliverable D4.6); City-zen EU / TU Delft Broersma S, Fremouw M, Van den Dobbelsteen A (2011) Heat mapping the Netherlands – laying the foundations for energy-based planning. In: Proceedings SB11 (CD-rom), Helsinki

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Chapter 12

Pig Farming vs. Solar Farming: Exploring Novel Opportunities for the Energy Transition Nick ten Caat, Nico Tillie, and Martin Tenpierik

Abstract  Amsterdam aims to bring down its carbon footprint by 55% in 2030 and by 95% in 2050. For the built environment, plotted pathways towards carbon neutrality primarily revolve around the reduction of fossil based energy demand and the transition towards renewable energy production strategies. The consumption of food resources, and its significant corresponding carbon footprints, remain up to this day outside the scope of the city’s carbon accounting. At the interface of the building sector and the agricultural sector, under-explored possibilities for synergistic and sustainable resource management come to light. For a more holistic and veracious evaluation, this research expands the carbon inventory of the urban dweller with the food category and then explores, by means of a case study, a novel strategy for the decarbonisation of the built environment: urban pig farming in Amsterdam. A theoretical farming system is added to an urban context and coupled with the existing local resource flows, allowing for new output-input links. The capacity of the farm, i.e. the maximum number of animals at any time, is determined by the daily food waste output of the neighbourhood. A comparison is drawn with a conventional method for the energy transition: photovoltaic energy, for which two common array configurations are assessed. The three scenarios are evaluated on three aspects relevant to the energy transition of the built environment: avoided carbon emissions, produced thermal energy and produced electrical energy, normalised per square meter surface area. Carbon accounting shows that an integrated pig production facility of 495 m2, holding 79 animals, can potentially reduce the carbon emissions of Kattenburg by 218 tons (−5.6%) a year, i.e. 441 kg CO2/m2. The solar farm has a net impact of 42 kg/m2/yr if the panel array configuration is based on optimal panel angle and 77 kg/m2/yr if the configuration is based on optimal ground surface area cover. This study intends to spark further discussion on

N. ten Caat (*) · N. Tillie · M. Tenpierik Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_12

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urban farming by showing that an integrated pig farm can potentially avoid between 6–10 times more carbon emissions compared to a solar farm. Keywords  Urban farming · Energy transition · Renewable energy · Carbon footprint · Amsterdam

12.1  Introduction Gradual depletion of fossil fuel supplies and anthropogenic climate change necessitate a transition towards renewable energy solutions in cities (IPCC 2018; UN Habitat 2014). In the city of Amsterdam, the designated city for this study, around 30% (~1.325 kton) of the carbon emissions can be attributed to the city’s residential and commercial natural gas demand alone (Gemeente Amsterdam 2016). Both national and local governments committed themselves to the Europa 2020 agreements and to the global UNFCCC Paris 2015 climate agreement. For the Amsterdam metropolitan area, this leads to stringent CO2 emission targets: a reduction of 55% by 2030 and 95% by 2050 (relative to 1990 levels) (Gemeente Amsterdam 2019). In order to become free of fossil energy, cities are compelled to undergo an energy transition towards renewable energy sources as well as to better manage demand and supply (Solomon and Krishna 2011). This implies a progressive disconnection from fossil based energy resources and an increasing reliance on a combination of renewable electrical and thermal sources, such as photovotaics, wind power or biogas. Amsterdam has conceived a roadmap towards (near) fossil energy freedom (Gemeente Amsterdam 2019). At the moment, conventional strategies mainly include expanding the photovoltaic surface area, increasing the wind turbine capacity at the perimeter of the city, expanding the existing high temperature district heating grid and setting high standards for the energy performance of future and retrofitted buildings (Gemeente Amsterdam 2015). One of the milestones the municipality has set for itself is to fully abandon natural gas use in the built environment by 2040 (Gemeente Amsterdam 2019). The carbon footprint of Amsterdam’s dwellings can initially be allocated to the use of electricity and the burning of natural gas for domestic heating. However, the carbon footprint of the urban dweller goes beyond energy consumption of merely its housing and is topped up by, but not limited to, emissions related to: 1 . the production, distribution and treatment of water; 2. personal and public mobility; 3. the processing of domestic waste; 4. the production and transportation of food. This study describes the hypothetical introduction of an organic pig farm into the residential neighbourhood of Kattenburg (Amsterdam). Such a farming system is not an autarkic entity and will put additional demands on the existing energy, water

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and waste infrastructure, subsequently implicating changes to the overall carbon footprint of the neigbourhood. Simultaneously, the global warming potential (GWP) of pork produced in the urban setting cannot be estimated with life cycle analysis (LCA) data of conventional farming practices since alternative and unconventional farming methods are used at the feed and on-farm stage of the pork production chain. Urban farming is co-incentivized by the idea that food chain carbon emissions (and other environmental burdens) are mitigated or even avoided due to more sustainable farming practices at a closer proximity to the consumers. However, to which extent this intended positive impact on the carbon balance outweighs the negative impact due to the increased demand for water and energy should be studied and calculated per case. Therefore, this study expands the scope of urban carbon accounting by adding pork consumption to the inventory. This integrated carbon profile – energy, mobility, water, waste and food – acts as the initial condition for the appraisal of urban food strategies and allows for a holistic assessment of the contribution of urban agriculture (UA) to the decarbonisation of the city. The aim of this research is to spark reconsiderations on urban livestock farming by demonstrating the decarbonisation potential of deploying a pig farm as an energy transition strategy.

12.2  Materials and Method 12.2.1  Sharing Waste Flows For many centuries, the scale of a city was determined by the amount of food its arable belt could produce and how quickly this food could be transported to the markets (Steel 2008). Innovations in ocean bulk transportation and the expansion of railway networks in the nineteenth century allowed cities to expand this belt and the agriculture to areas where space was abundant. Innovations in preservation and refrigerated transport lead to the global food system we rely on today (Hackauf 2015). Livestock farming has changed over the last decades into a bio-industry, it has become more specialised, intensive, effective, large-scale, mechanised and less labour is involved in agricultural practices. Urban agriculture is ‘the production, processing and marketing of food and related products and services in urban areas, making use of urban resources and waste’ (Veen et al. 2012, p.4). A farming system could act as a nexus within the network of urban waste, nutrient, water and energy flows. The farm receives urban output, converts it into crops or animal protein, creating new value out of waste, and circulates it back to the city. This limits the use of virgin or imported materials and offers ecological and environmental benefits at various stages of the food production chain. A second ecological key benefit of UA is the reduction of carbon equivalent emissions due to a reduction of food miles, as food products or animal feed are no longer imported/exported to overseas countries but directly brought onto the local market (van Timmeren and Hackauf 2014).

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This study theorises that Kattenburg’s organic waste output becomes valuable farm input and the farm’s output becomes valuable city input in the form of pork products and biogas. As such, the capacity of the farm is determined by the availability of organic waste generated within the neighbourhood. In other words: pig feed is not imported from external sources but produced onsite.

12.2.2  Urban Livestock Farming Urban livestock farming, the raising of domesticated animals for the production of human food within or at the perimeters of cities and villages, used to be an ordinary practice in the beginning of the twentieth century. After the second world war, however, the growing global population led to an increasing demand for pork meat that could only be met though modernisation and upscaling. Therefore, in major pork exporting counties like the Netherlands and Denmark, the total number of pig farms decreased while the average number of pigs per farm increased (Wageningen UR 2019a; Willems et al. 2016). Not including neighbourhood petting zoos, there are no initiatives in the Netherlands where pigs are kept within the urban context, let alone for the purpose of meat production. Online research reveals that (design) studies on the idea of commercial urban pig raising are limited. In 2001, MVRDV proposed Pig City, a radical re-imagination of organic and humane pig farming in The Netherlands. The design concept highly valued pig wellbeing and comfort while at the same time maintaining an animal concentration high enough to remain economically feasible (MVRDV 2011). In the design- studio ‘City Pig’, Fig.  12.1, the benefits and challenges of urban pig production are explored by proposing a series of urban integrated reimaginations of pig farms (Hackauf 2015). Though various studies have researched the environmental impact of livestock production in general, there is little quantitative information available about livestock farming in (peri)urban environments (Wei et al. 2016). The debate against the return of pigs to cities revolves around the impacts of manure (mis)management, inadequate farming facilities that attract rodents and insects, risks around zoonosis, pollution of local water bodies due to polluted rainwater runoff and nuisance due to odour, noise, dust or fine particulate matter (Mfewou and Lendzele 2018; Ström et al. 2017). Also, an inner-city farm would, even though expected to be smaller in production capacity, increase incoming and outgoing truck and tractor transport movements in the locality. Yet, it should be adressed that these disadvantages are more common in small-scale unregulated farming methods. Technologically advanced closed production systems, meeting stringent health, environmental and safety regulations with well-organised manure management are less likely to impose the mentioned burdens on their direct environments.

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Fig. 12.1  One of the out-of-the-box farming concepts. (Copyright: The Why Factory (Delft University of Technology))

12.2.3  Import, Export and Carbon Footprint of Pork Over the past decades, the distance between the consumer and the farm has increased, as did the distance between the animal and the farm that produces its feedstock. Nowadays, subsistent farming has made place for virtually landless pig farms. Grain, currently the main component of a pig’s diet (56%) is for 90% imported from countries like France and Germany (Willems et  al. 2016). Waste products of the food industry, like wheat bran, supply only part of the pig feed (13%). Recycling valuable manure nutrients in an environmentally friendly way depends essentially on the total manure produced by all the livestock in an area and the amount of available arable land in the proximity of the farm (Wei et al. 2016). The EU Nitrates directive installed limitations (170 kg/hectare) on land spreading of manure to avoid (ground) water eutrophication by nitrogen and phosphorus wash off (EU Commission 1991). The total manure production tends to exceed this limitation, forcing Dutch farmers to export about 90% of their (pasteurised) excess manure to other farmers or even across borders (Willems et al. 2016). Life Cycle Assessment methods are used to determine the global warming potential (GWP), i.e. carbon equivalent impact, of the pork meat production chain. In the Netherlands, three pork production methods can be distinguished: a global system pig feed imported from abroad, meat exported abroad, semi-local - feed imported, meat sold locally and local -local feed, local market (Rougoor et  al. 2015). The assessment was performed for the five main stages in the pork production chain (Fig. 12.2). Even though there are national concerns about sustainability and animal welfare, the majority of pork meat is still produced on large scale intensive farms

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Fig. 12.2 Carbon equivalent footprint of Dutch pork meat: 2,78 kg/ kg pork, based on Rougoor et al. (2015)

tied to a global pig feed supply network. The Netherlands is market leader on the international pork meat market: with a self-sufficiency rate of 330% in 2019 (Wageningen UR 2019b), the majority of pork produced is exported to neighbouring European countries. However, this study assumes the semi-local scenario for the pork meat consumed in Kattenburg: pig feed is supplied with a global system, animals are slaughtered and processed centrally in the region and meat is sold within the Netherlands. This corresponds with a GWP of 2,78 kg CO2/kg carcass weight (CW) (Rougoor et al. 2015). The GWP at the slaughter, retail and consumer stage (in total 0,14  kg CO2/kgCW) is also applied in the Kattenburg pig farm, without alterations.

12.2.4  Kattenburg, Amsterdam Kattenburg is a high-density residential neighbourhood and former harbour zone located in the city centre of Amsterdam (Fig.  12.3). As of 2019, Kattenburg has 1801 residents divided over 1061 households (OIS Amsterdam 2019).

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Fig. 12.3  Kattenburg, East-Amsterdam. (Source: ©Google Earth)

12.2.5  Scenarios Two sustainable scenarios are evaluated based on their avoided carbon emissions and generated thermal or electrical energy, normalised per square meter. • Status quo. The existing condition assumes no existing urban interventions that support the energy transition with a major impact and represents a conventional system regarding the production and management of FEW resources. • In scenario 1 an organic pig farm is introduced and positioned in the neighbourhood resource network. The farm, further elaborated in Sect. 12.2.8, is imagined as an archetypical pig farm and fitted with a feed station, where domestic organic waste is sorted and converted into pig feed. This station includes the bio waste collection service by an electric vehicle. Additionally, the pig farm is equipped with a waste station with an anaerobic digester (AD) and cogeneration plant (CHP) for manure management and energy generation to use onsite. In this station the digestate processing and bio gas upgrading also takes place. Excess biogas is shared with the adjacent residential buildings in the Kattenburg neighbourhood. • In scenario 2 photovoltaic solar collectors (PV) are installed in the neighbourhood. PV panels are a widely accepted system of solar electricity generation and have made their way to the Dutch consumer market for many years now. Two sub-scenarios are taken into consideration: (2a) PV array configuration based on maximal solar gain and (2b) PV array configuration based on optimal ground/ rooftop surface coverage.

12.2.6  Scope Carbon accounting is applied to assess the impact of the farming system on the status-quo. The consumption of food, energy and water and the production of household waste within the Kattenburg boundaries result in upstream, territorial and

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downstream emissions of greenhouse gasses (World Resources Institute 2014). In this study, only carbon emission drivers that can be allocated to Kattenburg’s activities and that are directly affected by the proposed interventions are considered for evaluation. To give an example: the pig farm has an impact on Kattenburg’s energy provision since excess green gas is directly shared with the adjacent dwellings, leading to a decrease in the demand for natural gas. The remaining digestate, even though rich in nutrients and a potential substitution for mineral based fertiliser, does not have a direct link with any of Kattenburg’s activities and potential avoided carbon emissions are therefore not subtracted from the total carbon footprint. On the contrary, the on-site produced pork meat can virtually substitute imported pork meat on a one to one basis, subsequently lowering the carbon emissions of the food category. The integrated footprint of Kattenburg is trimmed down to include consumed resources that are relevant to this study only, an overview is provided in Table 12.1. Table 12.1 shows the per capita consumption (PCC) of the five assessed components of an average Kattenburg resident. Annual pork meat consumption is assumed to be similar to the Dutch national average consumption of 2017, which includes all types of (treated) meat products (i.e. fresh meat, frozen meat, meat products) but not meat added to secondary products (e.g. canned soups) (Dagevos et al. 2018). Energy consumption is divided in electrical energy and fuel consumption to meet the thermal energy demand. For reasons of simplicity, incidental electrical energy generation on household level (e.g. private PV systems) are not included and it is assumed all households are connected to the national gas grid. Energy consumption data is provided at the household level (Liander 2019). Domestic water consumption is retrieved from the district supplier (Waternet 2016). Annual domestic waste Table 12.1  Per capita resource consumption/production of Kattenburg. Selection of relevant Business as Usual consumed resources Sector + component Food, meat

Product/activity Pork meat

Energy, National grid mix electrical Energy, thermal Natural gas Water, consumption

549

107

Domestic waste 492 production Organic fraction, 32% 157 Organic fraction waste-to-incineration

a

1614

Centralised production 107 Centralised treatment

Waste, processing

PCC/ PCPa 36,5

100

(Source)/note (Dagevos et al. 2018) Dutch national average kWh/ (Liander 2019) yr Neighbourhood specific data m3/yr (Liander 2019) Neighbourhood specific data L/day (Waternet 2016) Regional average consumption of household water L/day Assume water demand = water processed. kg/yr (Rijkswaterstaat 2017) Dutch national average value kg/yr (Rijkswaterstaat 2017) Dutch national average fraction % Subject to change in the future Unit kg/yr

PCC: Per Capita Consumption, PCP: Per Capita Production

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produced per capita and its organic waste fraction (GFT) are retrieved from an online database (Rijkswaterstaat 2017). Since the municipality of Amsterdam does not administer the organic waste fraction, national values are applied. Apart from a handful of small bottom-up initiatives and local pilots, there has not yet been a municipality-wide centralised bio-waste collection and processing service in Amsterdam (Van Zoelen 2016). There is a lack of unambiguous data available that describes the processing method of separated organic fraction in the future. For these reasons it is assumed all the domestic bio waste is treated as domestic residual waste and is incinerated by the AEB waste incineration plant.

12.2.7  Functional Units The pig farm and the two PV configuration options are assessed on three performance indicators: 1 . Avoided carbon dioxide emissions 2. Net electrical energy generated 3. Net thermal energy generated

[kg CO2e/m2/yr] (all scenarios) [MJe/m2/yr] (scenario 2a and 2b) [MJt/m2/yr] (scenario 1)

Urban interventions proposed within the framework of the energy transition tend to aim for carbon-neutrality as the critical objective (Van den Dobbelsteen et  al. 2018; Pulselli et al. 2019). The environmental impact of the built environment is assessed as the footprint of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e), corresponding to the three main greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere, multiplied by their 100 year GWP, i.e. carbon dioxide (CO2, GWP = 1), methane (CH4, GWP = 28) and nitrous oxide (N2O, GWP  =  265). The GWP measures the potential greenhouse effect of an emitted gas relative to an equivalent mass of carbon dioxide, measured over a period of 100 years after its release into the atmosphere (World Resources Institute 2014). Table  12.2 gives an overview of the applied environmental footprints (EF). Avoided CO2e is normalised for the surface area the urban intervention occupies hence CO2e/m2/yr is used to describe the impact of the intervention. Additionally, net produced electrical energy [kWh/m2/yr] or net produced thermal energy [MJ/ m2/yr] are calculated, where net implies that the energy demand resulting from the farm system is subtracted from the gross energy yield.

12.2.8  Kattenburg Farming System The pig farm is divided into three stations: feed station, farming station and waste station. See Fig. 12.4 below.

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Table 12.2  Inventory of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of relevant components of the three scenarios Sector Component Food Meat

Product/activity Pork meat production Grid mix

EF Unit 2,7800 kg CO2e/kg

Note (Rougoor et al. 2015), LCA Dutch Pork meat Energy Electrical 0,5260 kg CO2e/kWh (Otten and Afman 2015), Country Specific value Electrical Solar: PV system 0,0000 kg CO2e/kWh No direct emissions occurb Thermal Natural gas 1,8900 kg CO2e/m3 (Zijlema 2018), Country Specific value Thermal Biogas 0,0000 kg CO2e/m3 See belowa,b 3 Water Consumption Centralised 0,3600 kg CO2e/m (Frijns et al. 2008), production GWP – country specific value Consumption Centralised 1,0700 kg CO2e/m3 (Frijns et al. 2008), treatment GWP – country Specific value Waste Processing Waste-to-energy 0,6520 kg CO2e/kg (Pulselli et al. 2019) European average values a The combustion of biogas or green gas (predominantly methane) releases CO2 into the atmosphere. However, since the biogas originates from agricultural biomass that has sequestered this carbon earlier in the season (i.e. short carbon cycle), the net emission is zero. Carbon emission reductions are possible if the biogas substitutes natural gas b Energy is invested for the production of the PV modules and the anaerobic digester systems, generally coined embodied energy. These invested energies are left out of the calculations in this study

Fig. 12.4  The Kattenburg integrated pig farm with three stations. Some flows are given in daily quantities due to daily cycles (e.g. pig food consumption) and others per  annum. Some small rounding errors may occur

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12.2.8.1  Feed Station Food waste is archetypical pig feed and has historically been applied as such in Europe until 2002, when a farmer in the U.K. illegally fed uncooked food waste to pigs, igniting the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic (Salemdeeb et al. 2016). This caused the EU to ban the use of food waste for animal feed. This legislation steers away from a large saving potential on the environmental impact of pig raising. A potential land saving opportunity of around 1.8 M hectares of agricultural land in Europe can be estimated if the European Union would change its legislation on the use of food waste for pork swill (Zu Ermgassen et al. 2016). Salemdeeb et al. (2016) compare the application of food waste for pig feed with conventional anaerobic digestion and composting food waste management methods on 14 environmental and health impact points. Food waste processing into wet pig feed scored best on 13 out of 14 these indicators. In countries such as Japan and South-Korea food waste is still converted into pig feed (called Ecofeed in Japan), under the condition that manufacturers are subject to stringent regulations and obligations by the food safety law (Sugiura et al. 2009). According to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, an average Dutch person produces 492 kg of domestic waste per year. Around 32% of this total amount is biodegradable waste equivalent to 157 kg/cap/yr (Rijkswaterstaat 2017). For the sake of this study it is assumed all of Kattenburg’s residents are consciously participating in the necessary semi-centralised waste separation program and that the new local waste collection and management system is operating without significant losses, hence a biowaste flow of 777 kg/day is theoretically possible. Not all biodegradable waste is suitable to serve as pig feed and pre-processing filtration separates the unsuitable biomass from the suitable matter. This study applies the suitability coefficient of 39.2% (Zu Ermgassen et al. 2016) which leaves 305 kg/day available for processing. The rejected biowaste can be fermented in an anaerobic digester to serve as biofuel. Suitable biowaste is fed into a shredder and filtered for solid contaminants. The hygienisation process includes partial dehydration before the wet residue is heat-treated on a temperature of 100 °C for sterilisation. Before storage, grounded maize is added. One ton of suitable domestic organic waste results in 430 kg of pig feed (Kim and Kim 2010; Salemdeeb et al. 2016). This wet pig feed can substitute conventional pig feed on a one to one basis (Salemdeeb et al. 2016). The amount of pig feed that can theoretically be generated from Kattenburg’s biowaste flow is calculated with equation (12.1):



F

Wbio  r1  r2  N KB 365

(12.1)

where: F [kg/day] is the daily wet pig feed produced from bio waste. Wbio [kg/cap/yr]  represents the annually produced bio-degradable waste per capita.

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r2

[−] notes the assumed part of bio waste suitable for further conversion (0.392) r2 [−]  notes the waste-to-food conversion rate of 0,430 (0,405 + 0,025 maize) NKB [−] represents the total population of Kattenburg 12.2.8.2  Farming Station The productivity of the pig farm is based on the food conversion ratio and the number of pigs sent to slaughter each year. For this study it is assumed no bulk feed is imported from outside the system. Sows are artificially inseminated, which excludes boars from the farm. Based on the average life stage duration of the pigs and assuming a continuous and steady breeding cycle, we calculate that for every one piglet (42 days life stage, see Table 12.3) there are 3,28 fattening pigs (138 days) present at any time. Incorperating this ratio, the average daily feed intake of one animal Table 12.3  Technical data pork production chain and spatial specifications pig farm Pork production specifics Life stage length

Unit Days

Piglet (PL) 42a

Fattening pig (FP) 138b

Feed intake

kg/day

0,71d

1,92e

Water cons./slurry produced Water exhaled/lost otherwise Carcass weight/life weight Min space: pig pen/free roaming No of animals

ton/pig/ 2,98/2,48 2,98/2,48 yr ton/pig/ 0,50 0,50 yr kgCW/kgLW n.a./n.a. 102/125 m2/ animal [−]

0,6/1,0

1,3/1,0

Note/source Total life cycle animal [LCpig] = 180 days (Rougoor et al. 2015) assume sow = FP 2,98/2,48 Indicative values for calculationsf 0,50 Own calculation. Assume sink = WWTF 102/125 (Rougoor et al. 2015) assume sow = FP 2,5/1,9 (SBLk 2018)

22

51

6

Total space required

m2

35,2

117,3

26,4

Sow 730 (2 yr)c 1,92

Own calculations. Equations 12.4–12.6 Own calculations.

a (SBLk 2018). Piglets should stay a minimum of 42 days with the sow according to 3-star organic farming standards b (Rougoor et  al. 2015, Table  12.4) final weight slaughter pig [kgLW]/average growth rate [kg/ day] = 125/0,9 = 138 days c Life span sows vary per farming method. We assume 2 years/720 days d (Rougoor et al. 2015) total feed intake [kg]/life span [days] = 30/42 = 0,71 kg/day e (Rougoor et al. 2015) total feed intake fattening pig [kg]/life span [days] = 265/138 = 1,92 kg/day f (Schiavon et al. 2016). Exact values depend on many parameters (i.e. farm typology, climate, pig life phase). Mentioned values are for fattening pigs with a life weight of 120 kg that are on a wet feed diet (water-food intake ratio = 4:1). Assume floor is partially slatted. For simplicity we assume the fattening pig, piglet and sow are equal

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12  Pig Farming vs. Solar Farming: Exploring Novel Opportunities for the Energy… Table 12.4  Substrate properties (SGC 2012) and biogas yield AD

AD input Pig slurry Bio waste Total

Solids in Mix ratio Solids mix [kg/ Quantity [kg/ 1000 kg] [ton/yr] 1000 kg] [%] 195,9 603 8 48,2

Biogas content Biogas yield CH4 [m3/1000kg] [m3/1000kg] [%] 26 15,7 63

Gas yield Vprod  [m3/yr] –

129,0

397

131,0

204

81,0

–

325,1

1000

179,2

–

96,7

33

63

31.437

(Cpig) on this farm is 1,62 kg/day and is represented with equation (12.2). The calculation is based on the average daily feed intake of a piglet (0,9 kg) and of a fattening pig (1,92 kg) combined with the before mentioned animal life stage ratio. The maximum number of animals on the farm is determined by the available biowaste based pig fodder and can be calculated with equation (12.3).



C pig 

1  0,9    3.28 1,9  4.28  N pig 



F c pig



(12.2) (12.3)



The minimum number of sows required to sustain the farm’s pig population can be using equation (12.4). The farm keeps its own sows to produce piglets so that no weaning pigs are imported from external breeding farms. It is assumed that one sow can produce 28 piglets per year (Zu Ermgassen et al. 2016). The number of piglets (PL) and fattening pigs (FP) can be calculated with equations (12.5) and (12.6).



N sow 

 N pig   365 / LC pig  28



 LS pl N fp   1   LS fp 



N pl   N pigs  N fp  N sow



     N pigs  N sow  

(12.4)

(12.5) (12.6)

The maximum number of animals at any time on this farm is represented by ∑Npig. The number of piglets (PL), fattening pigs (FP) and sows are represented by NPL, NFP and Nsow. The duration of piglet life stage (LSPL) and fattening pig life stage (LSFP) can be found in Table 12.3. The annual pork yield of this farm is described by Mfarm [kg/yr] and depends on the number of animals the farm delivers, the life weight (kgLW [kg/pig]) of a slaughter pig (Table 12.3) and the amount of consumable meat that can be retrieved from

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the carcass, indicated by mpig [%] (Vion 2017, p.19). Also sows are brought to slaughter at the end of their intended life cycle (LCsow). M farm 

N fp  N pl N sow   kgLW  m pig LCsow / 365 ( LSPL  LSFP ) / 365

(12.7)

The equations above point out that, based on the food waste revenue, the maximum number of animals that can be kept at any time in the farm is 79 (6 sows, 22 piglets and 51 fattening pigs), which means that the farm could theoretically deliver 151 slaughter pigs per year. This study assumes the animals are slaughtered at conventional large scale facilities, where 58% of the full body weight can be retrieved for human consumption (Vion 2017). Assuming a life weight of 125 kgLW per animal and an edible meat fraction of 58%, this farm can generate 10.948 kg of pork meat per year. The remaining pig products are used in other industries but are not carbon accounted for in this study. 12.2.8.3  Waste Station The pig farm is heated and cooled to maintain a comfortable environment for the animals and electricity is required for farm lighting, ventilation, air cleaning and other on-farm processes (see Table 12.5). The farm generates its own thermal and electrical energy by means of anaerobic digestion (AD) and combined heat and power generation (CHP). The annual biogas yield is sufficient to meet the energy demand of the electric waste collection vehicle, the feed station, the pig farm, the AD and the biogas upgrading station. Excess biogas is cleaned and upgraded in a water scrubber, after which it is suitable to be mixed with the natural gas grid. Pigs produce manure or slurry, which can be valuable for crops as it contains large amounts of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K), but can pose an environmental threat if managed poorly (Loyon et al. 2016). Slurry produced by the pigs is collected through the partially slotted floor and buffered in a storage tank. Together with the rejected biowaste, the manure serves as input for the AD. Depending on the fermentation speed in the AD, the manure is mixed with shredded biowaste and the resulting substrate pumped into the AD tank, ensuring a continuous production of biogas. In the AD tank, the co-digestion process of pig manure and food waste occurs under zero-oxygen conditions, resulting in the production of methane, carbon dioxide and small amounts of incondensable gasses like N2, O2 and H2 (Chen et  al. 2015). The temperature of the AD substrate is kept within the mesophilic range (35–45 °C), speeding up the digestion process. The biogas output of the AD co-depends on the substrate typology and on the solid fraction of that substrate (Table 12.4) (SGC 2012). The biogas yield of this farming system is calculated to be 96,7  m3 per ton input, resulting in 31.437  m3 of biogas per  annum. After the anaerobic digestion process a mineral rich and odourless digestate remains in the reactor vessel, which is centrifuged to separate the liquid and solid fraction and then

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Table 12.5  Life cycle inventory of various system components and other parameters n. Comp. 1 Feed station 2

Description Electricity demand feed processing Thermal energy demand feed processinga Waste water production during feed processing (r2) Supplementary grounded maize added Screenings produced during feed processing Accepted bio waste in pre-processing (r1)

Value Unit 13,9 MJe/1000 kg

Note (Kim and Kim 2010)

105,7 MJt/1000 kg

Electricity demand food waste collection vehicle Electricity demand pig farm

9

Energy demand pig farm

10

Water demand pig/manure – production pig Electricity demand A.D. 7,20 process Energy demand A.D. process 46,8

3 4 5 6

7 8

Farming station

11 Waste station 12 13 14 15 16 17

18

Fraction of rejected bio waste suitable for AD Digestate production A.D. process Liquid fraction in residual digestate Solid fraction in residual digestate Volumetric loss during conversion biogas > green gas, conversion value CHP: efficiency (ηCHP)

564

L/1000 kg

(Kim and Kim 2010) See footnote a (Kim and Kim 2010)

25

kg/1000 kg

(Kim and Kim 2010)

30

kg/1000 kg

(Kim and Kim 2010)

392

kg/1000 kg

460

kWh/yr

(Zu Ermgassen et al. 2016). i.e. 39.2% is suitable Estimation, seeb

87,8

MJe/animal delivered

29,9

MJT/animal delivered

75 886

– MJe/1000 kg input MJt/1000 kg input %

Based on 19,5 kWh/100 kgLW (Dalgaard et al. 2007) Based on 23,9 MJ/100kgLW (Dalgaard et al. 2007) See Table 12.3 (Nguyen et al. 2010) (Nguyen et al. 2010) Assumption Own calculationc

79,8

kg/1000 kg input %

20,2

%

Own calculationd

Own calculationd

0,746 –

Own calculatione

90

%

Standard efficiency, 10% is lost to the system 50% of fuel input, standardized calculation value (Wylock and Budzianowski 2017) 40% of fuel input

19

CHP: Thermal energy produced

11,5

MJt/m3

20

CHP: Electricity energy produced

9,2

MJe/m3

(continued)

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Table 12.5 (continued) n. Comp. 21

22 Misc. 23 24

Description Electricity demand solid-liquid separation digestate (centrifugal method) Electricity required for biogas upgrading (eup) Energy content biogas (qbgas)

Value Unit 9,00 MJe/1000 kg digestate

Energy content natural gas/ green gas

31,65 MJt/Nm3

0,90

MJe/Nm3

23,00 MJ/m3

Note (Timonen et al. 2019)

(Baena-Moreno et al. 2019) conservative value (SGC 2012) Lower caloric value, 67% CH4 (Zijlema 2018)

Source mentions diesel. So 2,91  L−1 Diesel/1000  kg food waste = 105  MJ/t (assuming Diesel = 36 MJ/L−1). Converted to biogas this gives (23 MJ/m3): 4,55 m3/1000kg food waste b Assumed vehicle type: Goupil G4 electric freight cart. Lithium battery with 7,2 kWh capacity offers 85 km driving range (vehicle brochure). Assume 15 km/day = ~5500 km/year. This comes down to roughly 65 full charges/year, or 460 kWh/yr c CH4 concentration biogas = 63% (SGC 2012). Density CH4/CO2 = resp. 0,72/1,96 kg/m3 (Timonen et al. 2019). This gives a biogas density of 1179 kg/m3. The biogas yield of this substrate composition is 96,7m3/1000 kg substrate (Table 12.4), i.e. 114 kg of biogas is removed from the reactor vessel, leaving 886 kg of digestate. Bio gas trace elements like H2O, H2, N, H2S and O2 are ignored for this calculation for simplicity due to their small concentrations d Total solids in substrate is 179,2 kg/1000 kg (Table 12.4). We assume this amount remains the same for the digestate, but the biogas yield should be subtracted. This makes 179,2  kg/886  kg digestate, or ~20% of the digestate e Methane concentration should be increased from 63% to 97% (+34%) to make green gas, i.e. 0,34  ×  1,96  =  0,67  kg/m3 CO2 is removed from the biogas. This conversion leads to a volume reduction for the green gas (at equal pressure) of 1/1,34  =  0,756. The green gas density after upgrading is 0,756 kg/m3 (3% CO2, 97% CH4) a

stored. Mass balance calculations are used to determine the amount of liquid and solid digestate produced, based on the feedstock characteristics (Table 12.4), biogas composition (63% methane, 37% carbon dioxide) and component densities (Table 12.5, c and f). The digestate could potentially substitute mineral fertiliser on the crop field, but this is left out of this study. The produced biogas fuels an on-site combined heat and power plant (CHP) to generate the electricity required by the feed station, the pig farm, the AD and the electric collection vehicle (Table  12.5). Excess biogas is cleaned and upgraded, which means that the carbon dioxide concentration is reduced and unwanted trace elements are removed before mixing with the gas grid (Chen et al. 2015). There are several methods for biogas upgrading that all come with various advantages and disadvantages. High Pressure Water Scrubbing (HPWS) seems to be most suitable for small scale applications, is cheap and can handle fluctuating capacities (Baena-­ Moreno et al. 2019; Wylock and Budzianowski 2017). Upgraded biogas is called green gas and can be shared with the adjacent residential buildings, where it can substitute conventional natural gas on a one to one basis.

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Removed carbon dioxide cannot be collected and repurposed with this technique and is left out of the carbon emission evaluation. For simplicity, it is assumed no methane is lost during the scrubbing process.

12.2.9  Solar Farm 12.2.9.1  PV Panel Configuration: Two Options The carbon performance of the farm, i.e. the avoided CO2e emissions per square meter of farm, is compared with the carbon performance of photovoltaic (PV) panels. PV systems, convert solar radiation into useful electrical energy. Since PV panels or arrays can be clustered, oriented and distributed throughout the urban context in essentially unlimited manners, two key setups are further elaborated: • Setup A is installed according to the optimal angle relative to the solar trajectory in the Netherlands (Fig. 12.5, left, top): respectively 36° and 180° South for most optimal angle for the altitude and azimuth. A consequence of this method is the required free space between two panels in a PV field to avoid inter-panel shading, leading to a larger ground surface area per panel and a less efficient use of the available space. The minimal distance between two panels within a solar array is calculated with a rule of thumb, suitable for a context in the Netherlands: 2,7× panel height. • Setup B is based on an optimised use of the available land and proposes an east-­ west panel orientation under a lower inclination: respectively 10° and 90° East/270° West. Now the panels no longer shade each other but the yield per panel is reduced. A maintenance corridor of 50  cm is applied (Fig.  12.5, left, bottom)

Fig. 12.5  Left, top: Panel setup A, oriented to the South. Left, bottom: Panel setup B, oriented to the East and West. Right: Diagram displaying the optimal panel inclination and azimuth for a panel in the Netherlands: respectively 36° and +/−180°

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12.2.9.2  Electrical Output The annual electricity yield of one PV panel can be calculated with equations (12.8)–(12.11): t

PV yield  Esys   Asys  PV other  GM  t   dt



0

(12.8)

Asys [m2] Surface area of the panel. This study applies the standard dimensions of 1,00 × 1,65 m. ηPV [−] is the efficiency of the PV module and is given by the manufacturer. Set to 18%. ηother [−] represents the combined efficiency of all the other factors (e.g. thermal losses and inverter losses) and is set to 0,9, a suitable value for the city of Amsterdam (RVO 2014). t

G  t   dt M

[Wh/m2] is the total irradiation incident on the surface of the PV

0

module and depends on the solar irradiance (DNI, DHI, GHI) and the sun’s position at a specific moment (t). Hourly time steps are calculated for one full year. Equation 12.10 calculates the relative orientation between the panel surface and the sun at moment t (AOI(t)) and assumes that no obstructions are shading the PV modules. GM  t   DNI  t   cos  AOI  t    DHI  t   SVF  GHI  t   1  SVF   



(12.9)

where cos  AOI  t    sin  M  cos  as  t    cos  AM  AS  t    cos  M  sin  aS  t   (12.10)

SVF 

1  cos  M 2

(12.11)

DNI [−] Direct normal irradiance. Retrieved from Meteonorm (2019) for position 52°N,5°E. GHI [−] Global horizontal irradiance (Meteonorm 2019). DHI [−] Direct Horizontal irradiance (Meteonorm 2019). AS/aS [°]  Respectively solar azimuth and solar elevation at (t) (Meteonorm 2019) θM/AM [°] Respectively panel tilt and panel azimuth. Set on 36°/180° for scenario A (ISSO 2017) and 10°/90°, 270° (East/West) for scenario B. SVF [−] Sky View Factor. Calculated with equation 12.11. α [−] Albedo factor. Depends primarily on the (ground) surfaces in the direct vicinity and is set to 0,2 for this inner city location.

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At 52°N,5°E there is a small (less than 1%) dissimilarity between the electricity yield of the East-facing panel and the West-facing panel, which is neglected in this study.

12.3  Results 12.3.1  Green Gas Production Produced excess biogas can be upgraded, pressurised and pumped into the gas network, offering a renewable alternative for natural gas for domestic heating or cooking purposes. Equations 12.12–12.14 are applied to calculate the net production of biogas in this farming system. All the energy flows considered in this study are represented in Fig. 12.6. Approximately 8% of the produced biogas is required to run all the processes within the farming system, leaving 28.656 m3 of biogas available for upgrading. This purification process from biogas into green gas claims another 26.300 MJe and leads to a volume reduction of 34%, as almost all of the carbon dioxide is scrubbed from the gas mix (See Table 12.5). On an annual basis the pig farming system could export 18.301 m3 of green gas to the adjacent dwellings, which is about 2% of Kattenburg’s present natural gas demand, or roughly the average annual use of 33 Kattenburg residents.

Vexp  Vprod  Vsyst  Vup   1  0.34 



(12.12)

where:

Vsyst 

  EPF  EFS  EWS  



Fig. 12.6  Energy flows within the pig farm

qb.gas

1 n

(12.13)

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Vup 

V

prod

 Vsyst   eup qbiogas

(12.14)

Vexp [m3/yr] The net produced green gas pumped into the local gas grid. Vprod [m3/yr] Notes the biogas produced in the anaerobic digester (see Table 12.4). Vsys [m3/yr] Represents the biogas needed to energise the feed-, pigand waste station. Vup [m3/yr] Describes the biogas demand to energise the gas upgrading process. ηCHP [−] Represents the efficiency of the CHP plant is and is set to 0,9 in this study qbgas [MJ/m3] Notes the caloric value of biogas: 23 MJ/m3 eup [MJ/m3]  Fenotes the electricity demand of the biogas upgrading process EFS, PS, WS [MJE + T/yr] Energy demands of feed station, pig station and waste station and are calculated with the conversion data mentioned in Table 12.5.

12.3.2  Energy Yield per Square Meter One PV panel oriented according to optimal solar irradiation (setup A) can produce 314 kWhe/yr. A panel oriented according to optimal use of available surface area can generate 272 kWhe/yr. The electricity yields of the two panel setups are normalised per square meter of ground area occupied. Basic goniometric formulas are used to determine the total space demand for one panel and point out that setup A requires at least 3,96 m2 (including free zone) and setup B at least 1,87 m2 (including maintenance corridor) land area per panel, drawn in Fig. 12.5. Setup A yields 314 kWhe annually per panel, or 79 kWh (286 MJe) per square meter of land area (Fig. 12.7). Setup B yields 272 kWhe per year per panel, or 147 kWhe (529 MJe) per square meter of land area. Pig farm: The farm can pump 18.301m3 greengas into the national gas grid. Table 12.6 shows a breakdown of the considered functions of the farming system and the (estimated) minimal space required. Per square meter of farm, 37  m3 of green gas is produced, or 1170 MJT.

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Fig. 12.7  Energy yield and corresponding avoided carbon emissions per m2

12.3.3  Avoided Carbon Emissions Figure 12.8 shows the carbon profile of both Kattenburg’s status quo and the scenario with the pig farm integrated. The CO2e footprint of Kattenburg could theoretically drop with 218 ton, or 5.6% per year. The two most significant contributors to this decarbonisation effort are the avoided emissions related to the substitution of imported pork and the avoided emissions corresponding to incineration of biodegradable waste. The farm puts additional pressures on the existing water system: around 235.000 liter of drinking water is needed to hydrate the animals and for farm processes, of which 131.000 liter is pumped to the central waste water treatment facility after use. This increase does not lead to a significant rise in carbon emissions in the water sector: around 200 kg of additional CO2e emissions are added to the carbon profile. There are no changes in the electricity related carbon emissions as excess energy is not exported as electricity but as green gas. About 18.301 m3 of natural gas can be substituted with green gas, resulting in a decarbonisation impact of almost 35 ton/yr. Of the total waste flow, 48 ton is converted into pig feed, 103 ton is directed to the AD and due to dehydration 63 ton is removed from the system as waste water. From the initial 284 ton of organic waste, 46 ton (16%) still has to be incinerated, leading to a carbon emission decrease of 155 ton/yr. Finally, about 11.000  kg of pork (from 151 animals delivered) is produced on this urban farm, which can virtually replace about 17% of the current imported meat consumed,

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Table 12.6  Spatial breakdown of farm. Most values represent educated estimations Station Pig station (PS)

Space Pig production space (3 star animal well-being) Maternity pens Other (e.g. sick pen, installations, office, storage) Traffic zone

[m2] 178,9 15 100 90

Feed station (FS) Waste processing (e.g. expedition, parking, sorting, processing) Waste storage/pig feed storage/maize storage Traffic zone

30

Waste station (WS)

Rejected food waste storage + mixing vessel

10

Anaerobic digester + auxiliary systems Biogas storage SL separator Solid digestate storage Liquid digestate tank High pressure water scrubber

10 4 4 6 6 12 495

Gas upgrading Total

10 20

Note See Table 12.3 2 × 7,5 m2/sow Assume 0,5× PS

Assume 0,5× FS

Fig. 12.8  Left: carbon footprint of KB status quo (left column) and after the addition of the pig farm (right column). Middle: break up of the avoided carbon footprint. Right: avoided carbon emissions per square meter Keep in mind that this footprint does not represent the full integrative CO2 footprint of Kattenburg since only a selection of relevant resources are assessed for this study

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Fig. 12.9  Mass flow diagram of the pig farm system

leading to a reduction of 29 ton CO2e per year. All mass flows entering and leaving the farming system are represented in Fig. 12.9. The graph on the right side in Fig. 12.8 shows the avoided carbon emissions for the pig farm (KB + Farm) and the two PV setups. With regard to carbon emissions, the urban pig farm is roughly 6–10 times more effective, depending on the chosen PV setup.

12.4  Discussion This study was performed to gain insight into the decarbonisation impact of urban pig farming. Carbon accounting of a theoretical urban pig farm in Kattenburg reveals that it is almost six times more effective compared to a space efficient PV array. However, there are limitations, assumptions and uncertainties surrounding this performance that are discussed here.

12.4.1  Limitations and Assumptions There is no golden standard for the raising and fattening of pigs. The number of animals the farm can deliver depends on variables like the practised animal well-­ being standards, pig species, food diet and nutritional value, food accessibility, animal weight at slaughter and other variables a farmer could or could not influence. The production specifications used in this study are based on a combination of Dutch pork production LCA values and organic farming conditions. These values are assumed to be representative for an exploratory carbon accounting study, yet it

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is important to mention that any alterations affecting the food conversion ratio, will have knock on effects on succeeding elements like AD biogas production, delivered animals and eventually the avoided CO2e/m2. A simular uncertainty applies to the physical scale of the pig farm. Based on organic farming standards, it is possible to give a reliable indication on the required surface area of the pig station. However, the area of the feed and waste station in this study are based on conservative estimations and in practise spatial requirements may deviate. If the project would be realised according to the principles proposed in this study, the required space will be co-determined by the constraints of the physical context and architectural design of the facility, possibly increasing the surface area. However, due to stacking of functions, underground storage rooms and efficient combining of processes in the same room, also a lower surface area could be possible. Taking into consideration the various parameters and assumptions, it must be noted that the calculated performance of 441 kg CO2/m2/yr is not a concrete outcome but likely remains at the positive side of an unspecified range.

12.4.2  Outlook The productivity of this farm is entirely coupled with the domestic biowaste flow of Kattenburg and supplementary imported pig feed is excluded, emanating in a farm that produces around 151 animals (11.000 kg) per year, or 17% of the total pork demand of this neighbourhood. The number of animals at the farm could be increased if additional (local) food sources are addressed, e.g. food waste from supermarkets, small retail or waste from canteens in the commercial sector or waste from adjacent neighbourhoods. General farming tendency goes in the direction of upscaling and intensifying and producing 151 animals annually, even with an organic label, is unlikely to be sufficient to run an economically feasible farm. However, this should be investigated with additional research. Further research should uncover the possibilities for symbioses with crop production as a way of manure management, which in this study is still exported to outside the system boundaries and left out of the carbon accounting scope. CO2e emission is chosen as the KPI of this study. There are however other environmental impacts surrounding the production, distribution and processing of pork (Salemdeeb et al. 2016). Carrying out additional LCA studies on environmental and health impacts, such as embodied water, eutrophication potential, particle matter emission and land use, could produce outcomes that are in support of UA.

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12.4.3  Alternative System Design There are alternative system designs/configurations possible to the one proposed in this study, that conceivably lead to different carbon performances. To provide one example: instead of exporting green gas as a substitute for natural gas, it could also fuel a CHP plant tied to a local district heating grid. Generated thermal and electrical energy will be shared with Kattenburg, subsequently arriving at different amounts of avoided CO2. This is a comparative analysis between urban pig farming and PV panels with regard to the avoided carbon emissions per m2. In practice, the successive design move would naturally be to place the panels on top of the farm building, achieving the best of both methods. Due to endless variations in farm design and by that PV configurations, this can’t be added as third comparable scenario. However, for indicative purposes, we can estimate that a farm structure of 18 × 28 m (504 m2), with a 10° pitched roof facing East and West similar to PV setup B in this study, could in theory hold 270 PV panels (2 arrays of 5 × 27 panels). This generates about 73.440 kWhe of renewable solar energy a year, potentially avoiding another 38.6 tons of carbon emission, roughly 1% of the total emissions of Kattenburg.

12.5  Conclusion This study explored the potential of organic urban pig farming as a novel strategy for the energy transition, for which carbon neutrality is often the critical objective. It was paramount to expand the carbon inventory of the dweller with the food sector to perform a holistic evaluation on the impact of farming in the urban context. Integrating a pig farm into the Kattenburg residential neighbourhood in Amsterdam could potentially lead to a carbon emission decrease of 218 ton per year (5.6%). Calculations pointed out that at any time, about 79 animals can be sustained with the biowaste produced by Kattenburg’s inhabitants (N  =  1801), yielding almost 11.000  kg of pork meat each year. It is estimated that the farm would require a ground surface area of 495 m2, which translates to a carbon avoiding potential of 441 kg CO2e/m2/yr. Compared to the carbon avoidance potential of PV panels, this pig farm is about ten times more effective than a panel array based on highest solar gain and about six times more effective than an array based on optimal surface coverage. Most of the avoided carbon emissions can be allocated to the reduction in incinerated biomass (−155 ton CO2e/yr), followed by substituting natural gas with green gas (−35 ton) and virtually replacing imported pork meat with local produced meat (−29 ton).

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Chapter 13

Proposal for a Database of Food-Energy-­ Water-Nexus Projects Will Galloway, Kevin Logan, and Wanglin Yan

Abstract  This chapter outlines a proposed Food-Energy-Water (FEW)-database, explicitly designed for architects and urban designers. The database is global, with the intent being to describe both commonalities and gaps across the varied physical, social and economic environments, and more importantly to examine the possibility of scaling methods and socio-economic approaches. A theoretical framework is presented and developed into a proposal for the content that is required to understand FEW-projects from this point of view and how the information might be organised most clearly for the purpose of comparing outcomes and processes. The format is tested and extended by built examples located around the world. These indicate that a true comparison is difficult without more detailed economic data, which is inherently difficult to obtain, though it may be estimated through indirect sources. Future efforts are required to gather such information, expressly to find ways that Keynesian ‘Animal Spirits’ can be provoked to take up and scale FEW-methods and concepts in a truly significant way. Keywords  FEW nexus database · Scaling FEW · ‘Animal Spirits’ · FEW nexus theory · Measuring sustainable design · Urban design · Architecture

W. Galloway (*) Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada Keio University, Tokyo, Japan e-mail: [email protected] K. Logan Maccreanor Lavington Urban Studio, London, UK W. Yan Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_13

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13.1  Introduction This chapter describes a database of Food-Energy-Water (FEW)-Nexus case studies, gathered from around the world. The database is underpinned by a methodological approach which allows for the categorising, analysing and sifting of case studies. It is developed explicitly for architects, urban designers and others related to the spatial design field. The interest in the FEW-Nexus comes from a shared desire to increase the impact of design on the development of a sustainable and resilient architecture and urban form. The context is global, which is to say we are in search of a general methodology or a series of insights that can be applied universally. As a practicing architect and urban planner, the author’s bias is towards the things that can be built and as such the database format reflects an interest in acting with the most leverage and efficiency in order to encourage the rapid expansion of FEW-projects. Policies and theories are acknowledged and are inherently embedded within case studies. However, they are not the centre of this survey. Nonetheless, the expectation is that the information gathered here can be used to inform more potent policies as well as better designs. Notably, the definition of the FEW-Nexus is not addressed in any depth in this chapter. Indeed, it can be difficult to find a consensus definition depending on ‘… the short, middle and long-term goals of the region and sector’ (Ringler et al. 2013). For the purpose of this chapter, the definition is purposefully simplified, namely that the FEW-Nexus refers to the production and consumption of food, energy and water and the designed organisation of positive synergies between them. The presence of an architectural or urban plan as part of the nexus is implicit. Which is to say the case studies examined here do not include projects aimed at farming or other technical improvements that exist outside of the built world. Even limiting the analyses to a reduced set of projects the case studies suggest a paradox. Taken together the examples indicate sufficient knowledge, ability, and desire to realize FEW Nexus projects that work as architecture or urban planning, and also include energy production and water conservation as fundamental goals. The case studies are not scaled to a significant degree, meaning that for now their impact remains local. With this in mind, in order to increase the number of FEW-­ projects to the extent that they can have a significant positive impact on the sustainable future of our cities and of our planet it is necessary to first catalogue what already exists and secondly to organise a framework that facilitates comparison of the varied examples in a meaningful way. Building on these goals, this chapter is organised in three parts, the first explaining the reasoning behind the format of the database. The second part demonstrates its use with a number of case studies as a comparative tool. Finally, tentative conclusions are formulated regarding the gaps in the database and the information needed to develop it into a better design tool for architects and urban designers, as well as a source for policy development.

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13.2  The Logic Behind the FEW-Database 13.2.1  Description Built FEW-projects are numerous enough that the exercise of categorising and comparing them is worth undertaking. At the same time, FEW-projects are small enough in number that it is necessary to include projects that combine only two of the three elements. For the purpose of this chapter it is asserted that such projects are still useful as comparative examples. The social and economic efforts supporting their creation are sufficiently similar to the pure FEW-projects that comparisons can be made and conclusions drawn. The database developed in this chapter is organised to make comparisons that will allow a designer to determine what elements and which stakeholders may be needed to carry out a FEW-project. The broad factors described in the database include physical, financial, technical and socio-political indicators: • The physical description of the projects is limited to the size, location, climate, and cost. These are blunt assessments, not generally subject to interpretation and offer an easy way to compare the superficial characteristics of the case study projects. • Socio-economic factors include the actors involved in the project’s development and management, it’s financing, the planning regulations that define it, land ownership and incentives used to support the project either as it began or with its maintenance. • The database indicates which aspects of the FEW-triad are present in the project, and in what capacity. Altogether, these indicators offer a simple summary of the nature of the FEW-­ projects and allow for a direct comparison between them. They also support the development of preliminary conclusions regarding the potential for FEW-projects to become scalable in the free market versus the need for new policies, governmental support, or the possibility of a third way.

13.2.2  Previous Surveys The value of urban farming and FEW-projects is often treated as a given  – for instance ‘The hidden potential of urban horticulture’, which measures how much urban area in London can be converted to a productive landscape without questioning its value (Edmondson et al. 2020). There is therefore room for healthy scepticism (Plumer 2016). However, the premise of this article is that FEW-projects located in urban centres offer a promising tool for improving, reconnecting and visualising the resource network that supports urban life. Already more than 55% of the world’s global population live in cities and the expectation is that this will

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increase to nearly 66% by 2050 (United Nations 2018). Simultaneously, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly include and connect urban development with access to nutrition and agriculture (Sennett et al. 2018). With that in mind, the manner in which cities grow and develop is not only important as a topic for designers, it will fundamentally impact the quality of life of the majority of the world’s population. Though the FEW-nexus is a relatively new concept, there is already a small collection of papers that summarise the field. Many are focused on gathering research (Endo et al. 2017; Albrecht et al. 2018), propose an index that can be used to understand an otherwise complicated field of study (Schlör et al. 2018) or examine ways to measure resource inputs and outputs (Villarroel et al. 2014). In general, the bulk of the papers are written for an academic audience, as opposed to being written for practitioners (Bizikova et al. 2014) and an even smaller set are directed at the design community working in urban contexts, whether they are architects or urban designers. Considering the need for FEW-projects from the point of view of sustainable development this is a gap worth looking at more closely. Previous surveys highlight a number of challenges with measuring and understanding FEW-projects. For instance, Albrecht et  al. (2018) examined 245 book chapters and articles on the FEW-Nexus without finding a shared method of assessment between them, indicating an immature field of study as well as underlining the challenge of bringing together three complex areas under a single umbrella. In the case of the database proposed in this chapter there is a risk of only adding to the list of singular methods of assessment. To this potential critique the caveat is offered that less interest is given to the appropriate measurement of resources, instead it attempts to develop tools for architects and urban designers to aid design, actively deliver and scale FEW-projects and especially to identify stakeholders and the socio-economic context needed to achieve this goal.

13.2.3  Measuring Research Versus Practice Previous articles have attempted to summarise the food-energy-water nexus as a research subject, making use of scientific papers to support their conclusions. Endo et al. (2017) for instance, created a matrix of publications that measures the relative attention to food, energy or water, as well as their combinations. The number of papers included in their survey was limited, however, the focus on academic output signifies a distinct bias with this method, in that it all but excludes non-academic implementation of the FEW-Nexus. Similarly, stakeholders listed in the article by Endo et al. take the form of large agencies, including groups in the United Nations, Universities and large corporations. As his group acknowledges, the limitation to research projects easily misses activities carried out by businesses and other actors. This gap indicates the need to look beyond academic research as a source for FEW-­ Nexus projects.

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With this in mind, the focus lies on ongoing real projects, regardless of their academic bona fides and documentation. The challenge then becomes how to measure those projects comparably, to ensure the knowledge gained can be disseminated, is transferable and deployable in differing contexts so the case studies form a useful resource for both researchers and practitioners. This chapter is a first attempt at defining what information is needed to categorise and compare the efficacy of FEW-projects and summarises some of the challenges and insights that attend that effort.

13.2.4  The Importance of Cities and FEW The most powerful examples of urban farming exist in nations that went through an economic or social collapse, such as Cuba after 1991 (Wright 2012; Clouse 2014), and perhaps the recent example of blockaded Qatar will be similar (Kerr 2018). Given the pace of population growth and climate change social and economic disaster may generate the most effective incentives to trigger change at scale. However, waiting on a high stress situation is not ideal, and in the meantime, the most flexible incentives may be limited to business as usual economics and social activity. ‘A major challenge in managing the FEW-nexus within cities is that cities have no clearly defined boundaries separating the city system from the surrounding system’ (Schlör et al. 2018). The definition of urban boundaries is often contested for statistical purposes (United Nations 2018). However, the relationship between cities and their support networks is more important when considering the resources they consume. Cities are clearly different from their rural surroundings and the distance between what is made and what is consumed has expanded considerably as a result of industrialisation and globalisation (Oosterveer and Sonnenfeld 2012). Even so, urban and rural systems are necessarily entwined. Schlör et al. expand on this idea with the argument that urban resource needs can be divided into two parts, namely direct and indirect resource requirements. In the case of the former the resources are used in the urban area and the effects are felt within that area. In the latter, the resources are used by the city, with effects being felt elsewhere (Schlör et al. 2018). The latter are difficult to measure and so the database presented here considers only the direct resource requirements. However, the purpose of the database is built on the recognition that cities have become the main place for human habitation. The countryside is however not considered an alternative form of settlement but rather an component of the urban system, and an essential support structure (Bugliarello 2006). The FEW-nexus examines that condition directly and for good reason. Perhaps no nation better represents this issue than Japan, where an ageing and shrinking population is responsible for a collection of very difficult problems, including a growing amount of abandoned farmland and untended ecosystems. In the Japanese case, urban FEW-projects may be a useful response to a depopulating countryside, geographically focusing the location of production with the point of consumption. They will need to be extremely holistic if they are to maintain key

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ecosystem services, such as potable water sources. With this in mind it is important to recognize the location of the projects, and whether they affect urban or rural areas. Location acts as a reasonable indicator of resource requirements.

13.2.5  On Economics If the technical tools needed to achieve sustainable development are sufficiently advanced, the economics are less convincing. In traditional economic models the assumption is that a population makes economic decisions based on rational choices and the optimisation of outcomes. Behavioural economics shows the opposite is often true. Economic decisions are not only counter-intuitive but even harmful in the long term (Akerlof and Shiller 2011; Thaler 2016). The reason is simply that humans are not rational, and we do not always make good choices, neither as individuals nor as groups. Since our goal is to find ways to expand on FEW-Nexus projects and to increase their impact through scaling, it is important to understand how to engage with communities, especially through their purse-strings and resources. Until now it may be said that sustainable development attempted to convince the public to pre-commit to a decision, much like the fabled Ulysses tied himself to his mast in order to avoid the call of the sirens (Baddeley 2017). Following this approach certain improvements have been made and broad understanding of issues related to climate change have certainly become more mainstream. Still, it may be beneficial to also make use of the tools available through behavioural economics, including nudge theory and the appeal to psychology over mathematical rationality. While it is not intended for the database to lead directly to the development of those tools, the inclusion of economic indicators is intended to understand the circumstances under which FEW-Nexus projects are carried out. Specifically, the interest is in trying to see the ‘Animal Spirits’ more clearly. This refers to a somewhat debated term coined by the economist John Maynard Keynes in 1936. He used it in reference to the psychology of consumer choices and how people act according to their feelings rather than rational decisions (Akerlof and Shiller 2011). The thesis with regards to this idea is that the impact of FEW-projects can be increased if the ‘Animal Spirits’ of social groups can be engaged. At the very least, understanding the conditions within which a project is carried out will indicate if it is supported artificially (i.e. with subsidies), if it is supported by the community, by pure consumer trade or a combination of all three. FEW-options may be technically viable but socially or economically impossible. Building on this idea, if the economics of a wide range of projects can be understood it can be determined if they are viable because of a specific social context and if they promise to scale in a larger context. With regards to the latter issue, scaling could be achieved through either top down or bottom up activities, in which case, it is useful to consider what mechanisms have allowed projects to work or not. For example, to duplicate or expand a successful case study would it require more regulations or less? Would it require substantial monetary subsidies, a thousand local partners or something

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entirely new? In many cases an FEW-project may be an exemplary proof of concept, however, without exact regulatory or economic support the specific context in which it works may not be replicable.

13.3  Case Studies The database is organised with projects running vertically and the criteria running horizontally. Projects are categorised and tagged, utilising the criteria set out below (Table 13.1). A rigorous approach to tagging allows for the database to be used as a tool to sift suitable case studies and undertake comparison analyses. A selection of case studies from the proposed database presented in this section. These have been highlighted as they present opportunities to be scalable and are defined by design principles that are transferable to differing climatic and/or physical contexts. They are presented here as a test of concept, explicitly intended to test the organisation and its value as a database. They are chosen to represent a range of typologies, defined by a mixture of economic, technical and social characteristics.

13.3.1  J ones Food Company (Typology: ‘Black Box’ Urban Facility) In 2016, the Jones Food Company established the largest vertical food farm in Europe in a converted former cold storage facility located in Scunthorpe, England. The operation consists of a 5,120 m2 growing area organized over 17 stacked levels (GE Current 2018), which is currently producing leafy greens and herbs with a capacity for 10 harvests a year (Abboud 2019). The operation is in a hermetically sealed environment which operates as a cleanroom. Jones Food Company state that their production methods result in 90% less water and 50% less fertiliser use than conventional farming (GE Current 2018). In addition, the use of LED lights with a honed mix of red, blue and white light results in the consumption of less power and also reduced heat generation, resulting in lower cooling demand compared with other vertical farms. Currently, the operation draws electrical energy from the grid, with an aspiration for carbon neutrality through the installation of photovoltaics. In 2019, Ocado, UK’s largest online supermarket, who describe their mission to use cutting-edge technology and automation to transform online grocery retail, made a major investment in Jones Food Company. Ocado are interested in vertical farming and the density of production achievable, which creates the potential to co-­ locate them with their warehouses and allows them to be geographically closer to customers (Ocado 2019). Given that this is a commercial organisation, limited financial information about either its facilities or operation is available publicly. Currently, the operation focuses on the production of high value crops to ensure viability. This

Physical

Social Gover nance Federal

Planning Type Location Scale Climate Cost Actor Finance regulations Design Urban Region Tropical High Govt Com Prescriptive method mercial Evaluation Rural City Dry Mid-­ Company Municipal Not for Unrestricted tool range profit Rezoning Design Suburban District Temp Cheap NGO/NPO Grass-root Grant needed proposal erate (gov/ private) Built Fringe Neighbour Conti Community NGO/NPO project hood nental Paper Street Polar/ Individual alpine Activity Building (software) Other Plot

Project

FEW Land Incent ownership ives Food Land lease Tax Pro ducer Complete Grant Process ownership ing Other Access

Resili ent

Energy Water Product Capture ive Neutral Neutral

Table 13.1  Categories and organization of the case study database. Each project uses the same format allowing for comparison and analyses

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raises questions as to whether this form of production could be suitable for the growing of a wider range of produce. In essence, the farm is a closed industrial building, highly conditioned and hermetically sealed to provide cleanroom operations, an architectural black-box typology, generic in its relationship to context. Therefore, it lends itself well to various climatic conditions, assuming a readily available supply of green energy, and it is particularly suited for insertion into urban environments creating direct linkages between production and consumption. This project is interesting with regards to the database because it highlights how difficult it is to measure the important economic aspect of the undertaking. Technically sophisticated, duplication of its economic context is difficult because it is so opaque, perhaps only measurable indirectly by the stock value of the company funding it. Similarly, it is a typology that represents a kind of pure market-ready form, hidden within a globalised network because it sells to wholesale markets and is therefore fed into the existing system without modification (Figs. 13.1 and 13.2).

13.3.2  G  otham Greens (Typology: Local, Large Scale Urban Farm) Gotham Greens is an innovative indoor agriculture and fresh food company. Through its network of climate-controlled, data-driven greenhouses, Gotham Greens grows and sells long-lasting, delicious leafy greens and herbs to retail,

Fig. 13.1  John Food Company. (Image credit: John Food Company)

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Fig. 13.2  John Food Company. (Image credit: John Food Company)

restaurant and foodservice customers. Founded in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 2009, Gotham Greens is on a mission to transform how and where fresh food is grown, with a focus on urban indoor agriculture to create local sustainable farming (Gotham Greens 2020). The ethos of the company was born out of a reaction against the negative impacts that current agriculture practices are having on the natural world, combined with a demand for more sustainable and responsibly produced food. Gotham Greens’ earliest facilities transformed underutilized urban rooftops into productive hydroponic greenhouses capable of producing high-quality fresh, local produce year-round. Today, the company operates eight locations comprising approximately 46,000  m2 of greenhouse, whose productive yields are comparable to traditional agriculture practices utilizing 160 hectares of land (Gotham Greens 2020), meaning it is 35 times more efficient. The company’s produce is grown close to its customers using hydroponic growing systems in 100% renewable electricity-powered greenhouses that use 95% less water and 97% less land than conventional farming. Gotham Greens’ produce is pesticide-free and utilizes integrated pest management (Gould 2019). Production is focused on leafy and salad greens and herbs. In this regard, its greenhouses are similar to the standard Dutch greenhouse and less of a black box in that they make use of natural sunlight. Gotham Greens’ second greenhouse facility is built on the rooftop of a Whole Foods Market located in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood. The greenhouse, in partnership with Whole Foods Market, is designed, built, owned and operated by Gotham Greens and it is the first commercial-scale greenhouse integrated into a

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supermarket. This takes the form of an architecturally fully expressed greenhouse atop of the grocery store with a growing area of approximately 1,900 m2, allowing for direct delivery and sale of hyper-local produce within 24  h of harvest (Sowder 2019). The location of this project is important because it was developed during a period of gentrification and economic growth in Brooklyn, suggesting a specific context that is not easily replicable and perhaps undesirable according to some indicators (Gould and Lewis 2018). Measuring the negative impact of the demographic change in the area, and the important point as to who has access to a sustainable lifestyle, is beyond the scope of this chapter. However, it is important to consider how such projects would work in less economically accessible environments. Gotham Greens’ business model is economically viable. More entwined with the local marketplace, the typology offers the potential for social benefits and interactions. This type is slightly easier to measure because of its local presence and the negative externalities could conceivably be measured at the same time as its production and other numbers (Figs. 13.3 and 13.4).

13.3.3  ReGen Villages (Typology: The Urban-Rural Idyll) ReGen Villages is a concept, which mixes dwelling and production, reinforced through smart technologies. James Ehrlich, founder, describes ReGen Villages as the ‘Tesla of Ecovillages’ (Ehrlich 2016). The model envisions a series of self-­ reliant, resilient, off-grid villages in various locations. They are designed to be a closed loop where resources are produced and consumed locally, waste is upcycled within the village systems, and they positively contribute to the landscape and ecology of the area. Currently, ReGen Villages aims to develop one of their first pilot communities of 300 integrated homes (Ehrlich 2016). ReGen Villages is born out of research undertaken at Stanford University and a desire to foster links between industry, government and academia in order to develop and disseminate solutions relating to climate change, food security, economics and self-reliant communities. The development of the concept is underpinned by key themes which have been designed in response to both the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals and their call for local, self-reliant design solutions (Ehrlich et al. 2015). The themes are: 1. Energy-positive homes; 2. Readily available and regionally appropriate renewable energy; 3. High-yield organic food production; 4. Water management and waste-to-resource system development; 5. Incorporating Stanford and Local University Curriculum; and 6. Socio-economic community enterprises fostered through incubation. Key to ReGen Villages is the use of existing technologies which are applied into an integrated design solution to provide clean energy, water and food at a

292

Fig. 13.3  Gotham Greens. (Image credit: Gotham Greens)

Fig. 13.4  Gotham Greens. (Image credit: Gotham Greens)

W. Galloway et al.

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neighbourhood scale. The concept is carefully calibrated to deliver environmental, financial and social value, through the creation of design solutions that embed empowerment as well as a framework that prioritises social integration. The overarching goal is to create a means of symbiotic inhabitation where dwelling is an integral part of a balanced and shared local ecosystem, reconnecting people with the natural environment and harmonizing consumption and production. The proposed synthesis of a productive landscape with single family dwellings suggests a new optimisation of urban density and a holistic metric. With regards to the FEW-nexus the project is a cross between an economic and technical experiment, more common in Silicon Valley than in urban design circles (Rosen 2019). The approach stands in contrast to existing density measurements which singularly focus on dwelling numbers or populations. In addition, the proposals induce a number of positive externalities through their deployment. Notably, the focus on linking on-site production and consumption, with waste processed in situ, will result in reduced consumption through travel. This project is considered scalable, and is transferable to differing environmental contexts, given that the productive and ecological landscapes can be adapted to be locally specific. Again, it reminds of the difference between the ability to duplicate a project entirely in its technical aspects and making an economically and socially acceptable model in a different part of the world. The complicated collection of actors and incentives suggests it may be successful in one instance but not in another, unless similar actors and support are organized. The economic measurement of the project thus will depend entirely on how the free market reacts to its existence, highlighting the importance of that category in the database. It may be that economic measurements need to be much more refined to gain true insight. For instance, without the backing of a prestigious university such as Stanford and without the support of technical and economic advisors, is this model actually scalable? (Figs. 13.5 and 13.6)

13.3.4  VAC-Library (Typology: Local Re-interpretation) VAC-Library is a demonstration project developed in response to the observed behaviour of the communities living in Hanoi. VAC is the abbreviation of the Vietnamese phrase Vườn-Ao-Chuồng, which refers to an integrated production system consisting of three elements: horticulture, aquaculture and animal husbandry. The project is borne out of Farming Architects observations of the adaptations that citizens in Hanoi make to their homes, including adding koi carp fish ponds and the culture of growing vegetables in boxes either on balconies or within the home. In response, Farming Architects re-designed the VAC-system for the urban environment with a view to combining these elements to create a self-sustaining ecosystem. Designed as a hybrid library and city farm demonstration project, the VAC-­ library is a place where children can play, read and learn about self-sustaining ecosystems. Aquaponics is the primary feature of the VAC-system with a koi carp pond as an integral component. Chickens are used to provide fertilizer for the fish and a

294

W. Galloway et al.

Fig. 13.5  Full closed loop metabolic design, combining energy, water, wastewater, and food production. (Image credit: Except Integrated Sustainability – www.except.nl)

Fig. 13.6  Image of masterplan concept. (Image credit: EFFEKT)

food source for the children. The architects are interested in utilising the system to experiment with growing different types of plants, as well as the keeping of animals in an urban environment (Inhabitat 2019). VAC-Library utilizes a cubic wooden frame to create a flexible and adaptable structure. The structure is utilised to organise the spaces of the library and supports a solar roof which encloses the space. The roof generates the necessary energy to power the lights and pumps of the aquaponic system.

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As a bottom-up project, developed in response to observations about the general behaviour of existing urban residents this project is an important example of how FEW-concepts can expand on behaviour as opposed to being imposed as a moral imperative. A future version of the database should include a way to measure this aspect of all FEW-projects since it is more likely that ‘Animal Spirits’ can be moved by enhancing existing activities than by imploring people to act better for some kind of ideal future that is not clearly visible today (Figs. 13.7 and 13.8).

Fig. 13.7  VAC Library. (Image credit: Farming Architects)

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W. Galloway et al.

Fig. 13.8  VAC Library. (Image credit: Farming Architects)

13.3.5  B  iggleswade (Typology: Integrated and Locally Oriented Large-Scale Project) The Biggleswade project was a vision for a major mixed-use urban extension to the market town of Biggleswade in the South Midlands, England. It was born as a reaction against the current norm where suburban growth consumes and neutralises the landscape and creates resource fuelled lifestyles. The vision was for the creation of a self-sustaining new urban settlement model where a series of compact urban hamlets are carefully placed into the existing productive landscape, forming symbiotic relationships where the synergized economies and systems are utilised to characterise the settlements. The Hamlets were conceived as a constellation forming a collection of communities that work symbiotically with one another and with the existing communities. The Hamlets have positive, definitive edges that safeguard the landscape between them for productive uses and permit the landscape to pass through the core of each Hamlet. Each hamlet is seeded utilising an integrated economic, sustainability and dwelling strategy to create a closed loop constellation. Ecological and social sustainability are embedded throughout forming symbiotic systems fuelling one another to maximise efficiency. Energy is produced on site through a variety of means including solar and syngas. Hydroponic farming will be accommodated on rooftops above big box uses, making use of waste heat and surplus air. Open air farming will occur in the landscape between the Hamlets, providing a ready source of necessary consumables. A local supermarket is fed from produce in the hydroponic farm on its roof and also from the adjacent kitchen garden allotments. The allotments and other local producers also feed local restaurants showcasing the best of the edible landscape.

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This project represents an attempt at enhancing local norms to create a sustainable FEW-Nexus community that would be acceptable in its context and that includes employment in its plans for a circular economy, taking a significant step past the previous examples in that it is regionally integrated and explicitly spatial even as it is economically oriented. Similar to other projects of this scale and sophistication the chief question is what supports are needed to make this kind of project replicable in other contexts (Figs. 13.9 and 13.10).

13.4  Conclusions A preliminary test of the database format is presented in Table 13.2, below. Accessing comparable financial data for case studies has proven challenging, even at this conceptual stage. The database developed to date underlines the fact that there is only limited, publicly available, financial information for the majority of the case studies. This can be attributed to two primary factors. A number of the projects are from commercial organisations who are guarded about releasing what they consider to be sensitive business information. Equally, projects that are self-instigated,

Fig. 13.9  Biggleswade systems diagram, integrated economic, sustainability and dwelling strategy characterising each Hamlet. (Image credit: Maccreanor Lavington|Schulze+Grassov)

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W. Galloway et al.

Fig. 13.10 Biggleswade masterplan vision. (Image credit: Maccreanor Lavington|Schulz e+Grassov)

or borne out of a collective action, are invariably enshrined in a making-it-happen approach where time and labour are not necessarily paid for nor fully accounted for. Sophisticated accounting methods are required to measure the true costs of the project, against a number of differing economic and social currencies, in order to judge their viability as replicable experiments. Furthermore, drawing comparisons across case studies can be challenging given differing economic and social contexts and, in some cases such as in the Gotham Green project, can easily overlook important cultural changes that negatively impact existing communities; for instance, by offering access only to a limited group of sustainable elites. These numbers need to be measured or otherwise acknowledged in the database. Determining the negative impact of the projects is in this regard as important as acknowledging the successes. Perhaps it is not reasonable to expect a development that creates a FEW Nexus to also solve social ills and resolve a lack of equitable access to all of its benefits. Even so, a project that did improve access to all of the social and economic groups in its area, and that even reduced gentrification, should be recognized for that achievement. Projects that go beyond the technical aspects of the FEW Nexus, that are financially sustainable, and also responsive to significant sociocultural changes, are especially worthy of analysis and of replication where possible.

Urban

Climate

Physical Location

District

Scale

Social

Temperate Un known oceanic climate (Cfb)

Cost

Land ownership Unknown

Energy

FEW

N/A

Water

Neutral

Water

N/A

(continued)

Pro Produc ducer tive

FEW Food Energy

N/A

Energy Water

Pro N/A ducer

Food

FEW

Incent Food ives N/A Producer

Planning Land Incen regulations ownership tives Unknown Prescriptive Unknown N/A

Finance

Commercial

Planning regulations Prescriptive

Planning Land Incent regulations ownership ives Commercial Prescriptive Unknown N/A

Finance

Finance

Gover nance Company N/A

Gover nance N/A

Social Actor

Company

Cost Actor

Climate

Building Humid continental climate (Dfb)

Design proposal Suburban

ReGen villages Type

Built project

Gotham Physical Greens Type Location Scale

Building Temperate Unknown oceanic climate (Cfb)

Gover nance Company N/A

Actor

Cost

Location Scale

Climate

Social

Physical

Built project Fringe

Jones Food Company Type

Table 13.2  FEW database trial, indicating how it would be used with the case study projects examined in the text

13  Proposal for a Database of Food-Energy-Water-Nexus Projects 299

Plot

Design proposal

Cost

Actor

Scale

Climate

Cost

Gover nance N/A

Social Actor

Unknown Individual Humid subtropical climate (Cwa)

Climate

Social

Unknown

Finance

Planning regulations Prescriptive

Land ownership Unknown

Gover Finance Planning Land nance regulations ownership Unknown Prescriptive Unknown Suburban District Temperate Unknown Company N/A oceanic climate (Cfb)

Biggleswade Physical Type Location

Built Urban project

VAC Physical library Type Location Scale

Table 13.2 (continued)

FEW Incent Food ives N/A Producer

Produc Neutral tive

Energy Water

Incen Food Energy Water tives N/A Producer Productive Neutral

FEW

300 W. Galloway et al.

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Analysing case studies highlights the importance of the actor in the likely success of the project and as to whether the project is transferable or replicable. Community, or bottom up projects are invariably more reliant on individuals or small groups of likeminded individuals. They form a dynamic force which is able to make things happen. Conversely, these types of projects lack resilience when faced with changes in key personnel, which as a result they may have unexplained short lifespans. Linked to this is the potential loss of knowledge, given that the equity of a project is nested with the individual, thus limiting the ability for them to be transferable or scalable. However, these types of projects can still play important roles, including acting as demonstrator projects, working as a proof of concept or playing a role in positively shifting cultures. Additionally, documentation and knowledge capture are crucial for projects to increase the impact of design on the development of a sustainable and resilient architecture and urban form. Measuring potential scalability of projects may require a more sophisticated accounting of economic context than is possible from a simple database. Nonetheless, future versions of a FEW-database should include economic indicators based on both financial and social costs and benefits. The lesson of Keynes’ ‘Animal Spirits’ is that change comes most easily when social, economic and technical ambitions are aligned. A future database therefore must move well beyond the technical feasibility of projects and extend more deeply into the less easily quantified realms of economics and social behaviour. These are more difficult to measure, however, in the end are likely to be the key indicators and tools for future success as measured by their replication at scale. An area where the database could be improved further is through expanding the topics and analyses of the case studies to consider opportunities for networked groups/ clusters. Rather than considering case studies in isolation there is potential benefit in considering each one as a typology, or a networked component, and test how it might work in a larger system, and mindfully searching for opportunities for synergies across projects. A future version of the database would benefit from a structure that connects projects that may be limited on their own, however, meet the ambitions of the FEW-Nexus when combined. One project could deal with energy, while another provides food and water within a larger network. With this in mind it is important to include projects even though they do not cover the entire range of the FEW-Nexus on their own, but could fit into a holistically planned network. In this way case studies would be best considered as elements of a toolkit rather than as singular solutions that solve every ambition in a comprehensive development (Table 13.2).

Appendix Follows is a list of preliminary projects used to develop the preliminary proposal for the database described in this article. Note that it includes theories and texts as well as proposal and built projects.

Living machine

FEW

FEW

FW

FEW

EW

FEW

3

4

5

6

7

8

Ecological footprint

FEW

EW

W

FE

10

11

12

13

Delhaise supermarket roof garden

New Orleans masterplan

Bullit centre

Granby workshop

9

LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE

Exergy house

Copenhagen Loop

Omega Center for Sustainable Living Brooklyn Grange

Project name Urban farm on roof Pig city

No. FEW 1 FW 2 FEW

2018 -->

2008-->

2012-->

2015 – ongoing

Ongoing

c. 2000

2010 – ongoing In progress

2003

1970s-

Year 2016 2000

Tulane University, Waggonner & Ball Architects Dehaise supermarket

Miller Hull (architect)

Mathis Wackernagel

assemble studio

NITO environmental architecture LLC International Living Future Institute

Bjarke Ingels Group

Ocean arks, BNIM architects Brooklyn Grange

Ocean arks

Author Space and matter MVRDV

Built project

Proposal

Evaluation tool Built project

Design method/ concept Living lab

Design method/ concept Built project

Built project

Status Built project Design method/ concept Design method/ concept Built project

Water-oriented masterplan for the city Supermarket food production

Urban redevelopment

System

House

Urban plan

Rooftop farming

What Urban farming Tower farming (holistic/ national) Waste treatment integration with buildings water treatment

Block/ neighborhood Non-scale

Case study project Certification system

Regional urban plan

Landscape and building Urban area

Building

Size building Buildings/ regional plan

Elsene, Brussels, Belgium

360 m2 test site

1 commercial building New Orleans Entire city

Seattle

Liverpool

Global

Tokyo

Rhinebeck, NY Brooklyn New York Copenhagen and Malmo

Publication

Location The Hague The Netherlands

302 W. Galloway et al.

Almere Oosterwold

FEW

EW

F

FW

FEW

FEW

FW

FW

FEW

FEW

FEW

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

Growing underground

Lufa farms

Food Cloud

Peas park

Oyster-tecture

Kringloop complex Zonneterp (Dutch)

FOODROOF ZUS (Op Het Dak)

FOODROOF

Manchester BIO SPHERIC PROJECT Smaakpark

Project name VAC library

No. FEW 14 FEW

2017 -->

2009 -->

2012 -->

2015 -->

2010

2008

2010?

2014

2018

2013

2015

Year 2018

Built

Built, in progress

Status Built project

Steven Dring + Richard Ballard

Muhamed Hage

Iseult Ward + Aoibheann O’Brien

Community led

SCAPE

SIGN + Innovatie Netwerk

ZUS

Built project

Built project

Social platform

Built project

Built project

Concept

Built

Rob Roggema +Christian In process Weij rob roggema Built

Vincent Walsh

MVRDV

Author Framing Architects

Urban farming

Rooftop farming

Community garden Food surplus re-distribution

Aquaculture

Urban plan

Farm to plate

Aquaponics

Farm to plate

What Urban public building with hydroponics Urban planning – self contained FEW Aquaponics Urban farm and restaurant

Demonstration

Town size

Size Small library

Clapham, London

Montreal, Canada

Skegoneill, Belfast UK +  Ireland

(continued)

Urban farm and city-wide distribution Building

Nationwide

Neighbourhood

Urban farm and restaurant Venlo 2 acre greenhouse + 200 housing units NY Harbour Infrastructural

Ede, the Netherlands Rio De Janeiro Rotterdam

Manchester

ALMERE

Location Hanoi, Vietnam

13  Proposal for a Database of Food-Energy-Water-Nexus Projects 303

QO Hotel

FEW

FEW

FEW

FEW

F

F

FEW

FEW

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

Eli Zabar’s vinegar factory

Artscape Wychwood Barns

Sole Food Street Farms

Square Root

Gotham Greens

Urban cultivator

City Fruitful

Project name

No. FEW 26 FEW

1993

2008

2013

2011 -->

2010

1991

2018

Year 2015 -->

Status Built project

Masterplan proposed to the city of Dordrecht, financed by the Rijksdienst Voor beeldplannen Commercial

Eli Zabar’s: Eli Zabar & Personnel

Du Toit Allsop Hillier Architects Limited (dtah) + STANTEC+ERA Architects+ Blackwell Bowick

Michael Ableman + Seann J Dory

Built

Built Project + Social Project Built

Founders Tarren Wolfe, Myles Omand, and Davin MacGregor Built Whole Food + Gotham Green (Gowanus Store) by BL Companies Tobias Peggs Educational programme

Ashok Bhalotra, Kas Oosterhuis, Jack Alblas, Adri Huisman, Willem Schuringa

Paul de Ruyter Architects Built project

Author Freight farms

Rooftop greenhouse

Urban farming

Urban farming education and trailing Urban farming

Rooftop greenhouse

Rooftop green house, high tech

What urban farming

New York, USA

Toronto, Canada

Vancouver, Canada

NYC

4 sites in NYC

Amsterdam

Location

Building

Building

Urban area

Building

Size Shipping container Building (5000 plants)

304 W. Galloway et al.

Bowery project

F

F +  waste FE

FW

FEW

EW

FEW

FEW

FEW

FEW

E

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

The solar settlement and the sunship

Via Verde/The Green Way

Shanghai Expo ZED Pavilion

Maison productive house

Beddington Zero Energy Development (BEDZED)

Nexus City: Operationalizing the urban Water-Energy-Food Nexus for climate change adaptation in Munich, Germany. Jenfelder Au

Urban farmers (UF)

56 Rue St-Blaise

Shopping Eldorado

Project name Pullman, Green house

No. FEW 35 FEW

2006

2012

2012

2013

2002

Ongoing construct ion

2011

2006

2011

2013

Year 2015

What Rooftop farming

Built/ prototype Design method/ evaluation tool Under construction/ design Stratergy Built

Built

Built Phipps Houses and Jonathan Rose Companies, in partnership with Dattner Architects and Grimshaw Rolf Disch Architects Built

Mixed -used

Housing

Mixed-used

Housing

Housing

Housing

Urban farming

Urban farming

Urban farming

Built/ongoing Urban farming on vacant parking lots Built Urban farming

Status Built

Rune Kongshaug + Built Produktif studio de design ZED factory Built

Bioregional and Zed Factory

Hamburg Water Cycle (HWC)

Daphne Gondhalekar + Thomas Rasauer (authors)

Atelier d’Architecture Autogérée Urban farmers

Bioideias

Deena DelZotto and Rachel Kimel

Author Gotham Greens Urban area

Size Building

Freiburg, Germany

London Borough-­ Sutton, UK Montreal, Canada Shanghai, China New York, USA

Hamburg, Germany

Basel, Switzerland Munich, Germany

(continued)

Building

Building

Building

Building

Building

Building

Paper

Building

São Paulo, Building Brazil Paris, France Urban area

Location Chicago, USA Toronto, Canada

13  Proposal for a Database of Food-Energy-Water-Nexus Projects 305

The edible city: envisioning the Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL)

F

FEW

FEW

FEW FEW FEW

FEW

FEW

FE W

48

49

50

51 52 53

54

55

56 57

Solar sharing Setagaya Dam by all

CAFE stylo

Water–energy–food (WEF) Nexus Tool 2.0: guiding integrative resource planning and decision-making

Low foot print Urban farm WEF nexus community of practice

RISE Futako-tamagawa

Project name Latitude housing system

No. FEW 47 FEW

Guideline revised 2018.4.1.

2015

2015

2015 2016

2010

2017

2011

Year 2010

Setagaya Ward

Itoya (Stationary shop, Building owner)

Michiyo Azuma Pasona Group Inc. Mohtar, Rabi H. and Lawford, Richard Daher, Bassel T. Mohtar, Rabi H.

Tokyu Company

Shirin Malekpour

Katrin Bohn and André Viljoen

Author RVTR

Policy Policy

Built

Built

Activity Built Concept

Built

Activity

Design Method

Status Design method

Business Participation

Action

Evaluation tool

Living lab Design participation

commercial facility

Living lab

Urban Farming

What Housing

Developed by Texas A&M University and applied in Qatar Ginza, Tokyo Japan Tokyo

Yokohama Tokyo

Monash University Tokyo

Farm Property

Building

National

Community Building Community

University Campus Neighborhood (13.2 ha)

Location Size Cherepovets, Building Russia + Great Lakes Megaregion, North America London Neighborhood

306 W. Galloway et al.

Sponge city Initiative

W

EW

FW

FEW

F

F

FEW

F

FE

F

F

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

R-urban

Kaantopoyta/Turntable urban farm

B line urban delivery

Agrowculture

ReGen villages

Moe’s tuin

Uit je eigen Stad (locally known as the ‘stadsboerderij’)

Nieuwe Sanitatie Noorderhoek – Waterschoon

EVA-Lanxmeer

Park 2020

Project name Rainwater harvesting

No. FEW 58 W

2012

2012

2012

2012

2016

2005 -->

2012

2008

1994

2015>

2015

Year 2013

R-Urban

Dodo

B Line Urban Delivery

Agrowculture

ReGen Villages Holding, B.V.

Annie de Vreede, Mila Jokhoe & Tilly Kaisiëpo

Huibert de Leede

Ecologisch centrum voor Educatie, Voorlichting & Advies (EVA) n.a.

Built

Built

Technology

Technology

Pilot

Built

Built

Built

Built

District development

Author Status Dana O. Porter, Russell A Policy Persyn, and Valeen A. Silvy China Policy 16 cities in China Hoofdorp, NL

Location New York State

Culumborg, The Netherlands Nutrient recovery Noorderhoe, Sneek, The Netherlands Urban farm Rotterdam, The Netherlands Social initiative Poptahof, Delft, The Netherlands Almere, The Eco-­ Netherlands technological design, village/ community scale Online New York, Marketplace USA Sustainable Portland, Urban Delivery USA Urban Farm Helsinki, Finland Participation Colombes, France

Design and action Urban design of commercial district Participation

What Participation

City (continued)

2001 -->

2011 -->

2018

2019

2019–2022

2018

2018

Project name Year “Creating a sustainable food future” 2018 Clichy-Batignolles 2015 -->

No. FEW 82 F 83 FEW

Urban farmers

John Ronan architects

Peter Moser

Robert McDougall et all

Studio Bas van der Veer Marije Vogelzang

SLA and Ramboll

IKEA and TOM DIXON

Author World resources institute

Water collection Theory

Water management

Urban farming

What Food production Eco town planning Microgrid

Urban farming

Urban farming/ low means Urban farming

Food energy Urban farming water kits for sale

Organic rooftop farming

Policy

Built Urban farming CRITICISM; Urban farming THEORY theory

Built Think-tank

BUSINESS VENTURE Built

Built

Status POLICY Built

Chicago USA Basel, Switzerland

Antananariv, Madagascar Chicago USA

Cuba

Inner Nørrebro area, Copenhagen

The Netherlands Global

Paris

Location

(continued)

54 hectares

Size 13  Proposal for a Database of Food-Energy-Water-Nexus Projects 309

Vertical farm

FEW

98

101 FEW

FEW

97

99 FEW 100 W

FEW

96

Project name “Sustainable development and the water–energy–food nexus A perspective on livelihoods” “Regulating the water-energy-food nexus: Interdependencies, transaction costs and procedural justice” “Resilient by design: the case for increasing resilience of buildings and their linked food-energy-water systems” “The water-energy-food nexus: Is the increasing attention warranted, from either a research or policy perspective?” Aquas Perma Solar Firma PITCH Kenya

No. FEW 95 FEW

2017

2018 2014

2016

2018

2017

Year 2015

CplusC Architects PITCH Africa and John Turnbull ilimego

Dennis Wichelns

Iris Tien

Shaun Larcom, Terry van Gevelt

Author Eloise M. Biggs, et al

Under construction

Built Built

FEW housing Rainwater harvesting Urban farming

CRITICISM; FEW theory THEORY

CRITICISM; FEW theory THEORY

CRITICISM; FEW theory THEORY

Status What CRITICISM; FEW theory THEORY

France

Sydney Kenya

Location

2060 m2

Size

310 W. Galloway et al.

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Chapter 14

Linking Urban Food Systems and Environmental Sustainability for Resilience of Cities: The Case of Tokyo Bijon Kumer Mitra, Ami Pareek, Tomoko Takeda, Ngoc Bao Pham, Nobue Amanuma, Wanglin Yan, and Rajib Shaw

Abstract  Most cities around the world rely on long distance food supply from remote areas to feed their residents, indicating low food self-sufficiency for urban areas. As a result, urban food supply systems tend to be highly vulnerable to natural hazards and pandemics, and also have larger environmental consequences such as a high carbon footprint and a high virtual water footprint. This chapter analyses Tokyo‘s vegetable food supply system to investigate the risks of existing urban food supply systems and their impact on the environment. It argues that strengthening local production and consumption would reduce the risk of the current self-­ sufficiency rate for food in Tokyo falling below 1%. More local production and consumption would also bring positive results for environmental indicators such as the carbon and virtual water footprints respectively. Keywords  Urban food security · Carbon footprint · Virtual water footprint · Local production and consumption · Tokyo

B. K. Mitra (*) · T. Takeda · N. B. Pham · N. Amanuma Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan e-mail: [email protected] A. Pareek Oriental Consultants Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan W. Yan · R. Shaw Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_14

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14.1  Introduction Urbanisation is a reality. The ratio of urban dwellers has increased from 30% of the world’s population in 1950 to 55% in 2018. Continuing global urbanisation is projected to further increase this share of the total population to approximately 68% by 2050 (UNDESA 2019). The global surface area of land used for urban purposes increased by 2% annually between 2000 and 2010 (Schneider et  al. 2015). This expansion of urban areas is typically driven by economic growth, industrialisation, governments’ development policies, demand for more living space and transport infrastructure development, among other factors. Continuous urban growth will exacerbate the challenge of feeding the world’s cities adequately and in a sustainable way. Up to now, global agricultural production has managed to meet demand from a growing number of urban dwellers with the bulk of the urban food supply coming from outside the city boundaries. High dependency on long-distance food supply chains increases food insecurity due to threats from natural and man-made hazards at various stages, including production, transport and sales. In the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic‚ the resilience of food supply systems has received considerable attention. Phenomena observed include demand-side shock and sudden disruptions in food supply chains due to lockdowns, travel bans, and social distancing (Hobbs 2020). When it comes to efforts on achieving climate change targets to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, an expansion in the range of actions on mitigation by cities is critical, and has been acknowledged as such in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted at the United Nations in 2015 (United Nations 2015). The targets set out in SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities, relevant to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, includes sustainable transport systems, green buildings and a reduction of the environmental impacts of cities. The New Urban Agenda (United Nations 2017) was endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 2016 and includes specific commitments to reduce GHG emissions in all relevant sectors in line with the Paris Agreement. Urban food demand makes up a large share of consumption-based carbon emissions (Hillman and Ramaswami 2010; Heinonen et al. 2011). The food chain system is responsible for 26% of anthropogenic GHG emissions or approximately 13.7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) (Poore and Nemecek 2018). Given that they are home to over half of the world’s population, cities must play a central role to mitigate a significant proportion of food consumption-related emissions. It is important to assess what impact cities can have on food system GHGemissions, as well as what various stakeholders together can do to mitigate this impact. This paper investigates interlinkages between urban food systems and environmental sustainability and discusses strategies to increase resilience and food self-­ sufficiency of cities. The study focuses on Tokyo‘s vegetable food supply system from the viewpoint of risk to food insecurity. Carbon emissions and the virtual water footprint of the vegetable supply chain of Tokyo are quantified. Finally, potential urban policies and strategies are examined that could enhance resilience and promote environmentally sustainable food systems in Tokyo. To avoid confusion, in this

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paper we will refer to Tokyo as the metropolis, which differs from the Greater Tokyo Area.

14.2  State of Food Self-Sufficiency of Japan It is well recognised that Japan is highly dependent on food import, which is very risky when it comes to guaranteeing food security for the country in the long-term. In addition, Japan’s food self-sufficiency level decreased from 78% in 1961 to 38% in 2017, the lowest level in 25  years, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan (MAFF 2019). In contrast, food self-­ sufficiency levels of other major industrial countries increased with the exception of the Netherlands (Fig.  14.1). For example, Canada’s food self-sufficiency level increased nearly 2.5 times between 1961 and 2011. Considering various potential risks, including domestic demographic trends, global political and economic changes, natural hazards, socio-political pressure to reduce carbon emissions including through imported food, it is critical for Japanese people to improve their food self-sufficiency level. However, a rapid shrinking of the agricultural labour force combined with an aging farming community in Japan are the main challenges when looking to improve its food self-sufficiency level. There were 2.6 million farmers in Japan in 2010, down 35% to 1.7 million in 2019 (MAFF 2020a, b). In 2019, their average age was 66.8 years. In March 2020, MAFF announced its ‘Basic Plan for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas for 2020–2030″ (MAFF 2020a, b), including a target to increase the country’s calorie-based food self-sufficiency ratio to 45% by fiscal year 2030. This new basic plan also includes a policy to encourage more people to take up farming, including small-scale farming, to strengthen the country’s production bases.

Fig. 14.1  Food self-sufficiency ratio (calorie basis) of major industrial countries. (Source: Prepared by authors based on Hisano 2015)

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14.3  State of Food Self-Sufficiency of Tokyo Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is the most populated city in the world. Tokyo-Metropolis is home to 14 million people (Tokyo Metropolitan Government 2020). Around 37 million people live in the Tokyo Megalopolis Region, or Greater Tokyo Area, which covers Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama Prefecture with an area of 13,556 km2 (National Statistics Center 2020). This indicates that 30% of Japan’s population lives in 4% of the total area of the country. Tokyo’s food self-sufficiency ratio is only 1%, the lowest in the country followed by 2% in neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture (Fig.  14.2). The food self-sufficiency ratio of Chiba and Saitama Prefectures is 28% and 11%, respectively. Considering that the national average is 38%, levels of self-sufficiency have a long way to go even in the Greater Tokyo Area. This indicates that Tokyo’s food system depends on supplies imported from other prefectures and from overseas. These imports are supported by a fragile food supply chain, highly vulnerable to natural hazards and pandemic events. The share of domestic vegetables transported to Tokyo from other prefectures is analysed. The total vegetable need is estimated based on the recommended daily consumption of 350 g/person for fruit and vegetables (MHLW 2012). The estimated vegetable requirement was 1.15 million tons to feed the population of Tokyo. According to the database of the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market, in 2018 1.24 million tons of domestic vegetable supply came from outside Tokyo (46 prefectures). Vegetables produced in Tokyo constituted only 0.4% of the market and the cumulative share of four prefectures in the Greater Tokyo Area was 21%. Among 47 prefectures, the share of Hokkaido is the highest, constituting 18% of the total vegetable supply to Tokyo, followed by Ibaraki which supplied 14%. Supply from Gunma and Nagano were 8% and 7%, respectively. For the top 19 vegetables in terms of traded weight the influx from the different prefectures to the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market is illustrative (Fig. 14.3). It should be noted that these statistics only consider the vegetables traded in the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market, and do 250

Self-sufficiency ratio (%)

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221 196

175 150 125 100 75 50

142 124 110 105 90 84

77 77 73

National food self-sufficiency ratio (39%) 70 70 67 65 64

62 59

52 49 48 48 47

44 43 43 37

0

36 34 33 31 30 30

28 25 23 20

19 17 16 14 13

12 11

2 1 1

Hokkaido Akita Yamagata Aomori Iwate Niigata Saga Kagoshima Fukushima Toyama Miyagi Tochigi Ibaraki Miyazaki Shimane Fukui Tottori Kumamoto Nagano Shiga Ishikawa Oita Kochi Nagasaki Mie Tokushima Ehime Okayama Kagawa Gunma Yamaguchi Wakayama Okinawa Chiba Gifu Hiroshima Fukuoka Yamanashi Shizuoka Hyogo Nara Aichi Kyoto Saitama Kanagawa Tokyo Osaka

25

Prefectures

Fig. 14.2  Food self-sufficiency ratio by prefectures in 2015. (Prepared by authors based on MAFF 2017)

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Fig. 14.3  Vegetable supplies from all prefectures to the Tokyo Wholesale Market, 2018. (Source: Prepared by authors based on database of the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market (available at http://www.shijou-tokei.metro.tokyo.jp/))

not include other routes such as direct sales from farms to consumers, those which enter Tokyo as pre-processed products or those traded by trading companies and other (intermediate) wholesalers.

14.4  Risk to Food Security in Tokyo 14.4.1  Threats of Natural Hazards Taking the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) as an example, this section discusses natural hazard-driven risks of disruption to the food supply chain, based on an impact analysis of impact of major natural hazards on vegetable crop supply to the Tokyo Wholesale Market. The GEJE struck north-eastern Japan on 11 March 2011 and triggered a massive tsunami that flooded a land area over 561 km2 with seawater (GSI 2011). About 4,198 roads, 116 bridges and 29 railways were damaged by the disaster (Bachev and Ito 2015). Moreover, the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant caused by the tsunami further’ exacerbated the damage and loss. About 5% of Fukushima Prefecture was zoned as a restricted area (MAFF 2015a). More than 37,000 agricultural entities were damaged by the triple disaster and 45% of these entities were in Fukushima Prefecture (Bachev and Ito 2015). The overall value of agricultural products of Fukushima declined. The trend of vegetables supplied from Fukushima to the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market (Fig. 14.4) shows the cumulative amount of vegetable supply of 5 months

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Fig. 14.4  Trend of total vegetable supply from Fukushima to Tokyo Central Wholesale Market (cumulative amount from March to July) (Source: Prepared by authors based on data of Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, available at http://www.shijou-tokei.metro.tokyo.jp/)

(March to July) for each year. There was a large drop in 2011, 24% down from 15,524 tons supplied during the same period in 2010. There was also a subsequent near-constant decline in the supply of fresh vegetables from Fukushima Prefecture to the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market, falling by 40% in 2018 compared to the amount of vegetables in 2010. Disruptions to Tokyo’s food supply system were also observed in the wake of major disasters including the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes on 14 and 16 April 2016, and Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake on 6 September 2018. However, vegetable supplies from Kumamoto and Hokkaido showed a gradual recovery after the disasters, as opposed to the continuous decline for Fukushima.

14.4.2  P  otential Effects of Aging Population and Fast-Aging Agricultural Labor Force on Food Security in Tokyo Japan is facing the challenge of a shrinking and aging population with the highest old-age dependency ratio, which indicates an increase of economically inactive people (65  years old and over) relative to number of people of working age (15–64 years old). Japan’s old-age dependency ratio is projected to increase from 51% in 2019 to 81% in 2050 (UNDESA 2019). A shrinking and aging rural population (Fig. 14.5) will bring challenge sustainable agriculture production in food producing prefectures. The population change rate is calculated using the following formula:  population change betweenOctober 2018 and September 2019 /

 population inOctober 2018 x 100

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Fig. 14.5  Demographic change by prefecture in Japan. (Source: Prepared by authors based on the Statistics Bureau of Japan 2020)

Where, [population change] = [natural change (births/deaths)] + [social change (immigration/emigration)] The growth of the population in urban prefectures  generally continue to grow, however, most prefectures are experiencing a declining population. It is projected that the productive age population (aged 15–64) will decrease to nearly half the total by 2040 (MAFF 2015b). In Japan the farming population decreased from 5.4 million in 1985 to 1.7 million in 2019 (MAFF 2020a, 2020b). Unless measures are taken, food production systems will continue to face issues in maintenance and management of local resources, such as farmland, irrigation, as well as problems in the continued provision of life services and other functions. As demonstrated in previous sections, nearly 80% of vegetables in the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market are transported from outside to the Greater Tokyo Area, so any negative effects of a shrinking and aging population on agricultural production will have direct implications on the food security in Tokyo.

14.5  E  nvironmental Footprint of Tokyo’s Food Supply System In order to assess the environmental footprint of Tokyo’s vegetable food supply system, the virtual water footprint and carbon emission footprint of vegetable transportation from other prefectures to Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market

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Fig. 14.6  Framework for quantitative assessment of virtual water footprint and carbon emission footprint of Tokyo’s vegetable supply chain

is calculated (Fig. 14.6). The virtual water footprint was calculated by multiplying the amount of vegetable crop flow by their associated virtual water content. Virtual water footprint of a particular vegetable crop was calculated using Eqn (14.1).

VWF  vc,t   CT  vc,t  x SWD  vc  (14.1)

In which VWF denotes virtual water footprint (m3/year) in year t as a result of supply of vegetable crop vc. CT represents the vegetable crop supply (ton/year) in year t for vegetable crop vc. SWD represents the specific water demand (m3/ton) of vegetable crop vc. Vegetable crop supply data was taken from the database of the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market and specific water demand data for 19 popular vegetables was taken from Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2010). Estimates show that the total virtual water footprint was 260 million m3 for 1.23 million tons of vegetable supply in Tokyo. Supply of Hokkaido vegetables shared the highest virtual water footprint (51 million m3) or nearly 20% of the total virtual water footprint for vegetable crops in Tokyo. The vegetable supplies from Chiba, Ibaraki, Gunma and Nagano shared 13%, 13%, 7% and 6% of the total virtual water footprint of vegetable supply in Tokyo respectively. The share of major vegetables in the total of virtual water footprint varies significantly. About 15% of the total of virtual water came from the supply of cabbage, which has the highest share in the total virtual water footprint, followed by 13% for onion, 12% for radish and 8% for potato (Fig. 14.7).

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Virtual water footprint (m3/year)

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Cabbage Potato Carrot Pumpkin Green pepper

Onion Cucumber Leek Burdock root Spinach

Radish Lettuce Broccoli Eggplant Bok choy

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Chinese cabbage Tomato Turnip Lotus root

40 30

20 10

Hokkaido Chiba Ibaraki Gunma Nagano Aichi Kanagawa Aomori Saitama Saga Kagoshima Tochigi Nagasaki Kumamoto Iwate Fukushima Hyogo Shizuoka Kagawa Miyazaki Tokushima Kochi Yamagata Akita Tokyo Miyagi Fukuoka Niigata Okinawa Gifu Yamanashi Toyama Ehime Osaka Okayama Wakayama Kyoto Tottori Ishikawa Oita Fukui Yamaguchi Mie Shiga Hiroshima Nara Shimane

0

Fig. 14.7  Virtual water footprint for vegetable crop flow to Tokyo

Next, the energy consumption embodied in vegetable transportation to Tokyo in 2018 is calculated using the following formula:



ET   VGn1p2  ton  X D1  km  X E R    VGn1p2  ton  X D2  km  X E R    ......      VGn19p47  ton  X D47  km  X E R    

In which, E(T) denotes for energy consumption as diesel consumption (liter diesel) for transport of vegetables in Tokyo in year t. The 19 most traded vegetables were selected for analysis (n = 1,2,3……..19). VGn1p1, VGn1p2…..VGn19p47 represents the amount of vegetable n transported from each prefecture. D1, D2……..D47 represents distance of each prefecture from Tokyo and E(R) represents diesel consumption rate during transportation by 20 t trucks (0.25 liter diesel / km). In Japan, more than 99% of vegetables are transported by trucks (Fujitake et al. 2011). Other transportation modes are not considered in these estimates. The distances are estimated using Google Map. Finally, the carbon emission footprint embodied in the vegetable flows into the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market in 2018 are calculated using the following formula:

CF t   E  T  x EF



In which CF denotes carbon emission footprint (kg CO2) for transport of vegetables in Tokyo. EF represents the emission factor of diesel fuel, 2.6  kg CO2/liter (Kawamoto et al. 2019).

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Fig. 14.8  Transport related energy consumption and CO2 emission of vegetables flow into the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market from each prefecture

The total energy consumption was seven million liters and carbon emissions were 18,339 ton CO2 equivalent (Fig. 14.8). In order to sequestrate this amount of CO2, 303,000 tree seedlings need to be grown for 10 years equalling 9,512 hectare forest area for a year (based on the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator (available at https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator). The energy consumption from transportation of vegetables from Hokkaido to Tokyo is much larger than the transport related energy consumption for any other prefecture. Energy consumption for vegetable supply from Hokkaido was three million liters, which is equivalent to 44% of total transport-related energy consumption for vegetable flow into Tokyo. The transport of vegetables from Hokkaido was responsible for 8,195 tons CO2 emission. About 135,506 tree seedlings will be required to grow for 10  years or nearly 4,330 hectare forest for 1  year will be required for sequestration of the amount of CO2 emission that is emitted due to transport of vegetables from Hokkaido.

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14.6  S  trengthening Local Production and Local Consumption Movement for Resilient Urban Food System As shown in previous sections, 99% of the food consumed in Tokyo flows from outside of the city boundary and very little is produced within or near the city. The high dependency on a long distance food supply chain not only increases the risk of disruptions during natural hazards and pandemics, but also contributes to a high carbon emission footprint and virtual water footprint of urban food systems. Recently, local production and local consumption (LPLC) has received increasing attention from local producers and consumers as well as the governments because of various positive aspects including their role in food security, food safety and environmental benefits (Gatrell et al. 2011; Heer and Mann 2010). A study on urban agriculture in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward revealed that local production significantly contributes to nutrient self-sufficiency in post-disaster situations (Sioen et al. 2017). Small scale food production in urban areas also contributes to achieve SDGs. Urban home growers have the potential not only to contribute to urban food security (SDG 2) but also to contribute to human health (SDG 3) and the environment (SDG 13, SDG 15) (Nicholls et al. 2020). Promoting LPLC is recognised as one of the more effective policy tools to achieve the aforementioned target of 45% self-sufficiency in food established by the Government of Japan. In 2015, the Government enacted the Basic Act for the Promotion of Urban Agriculture, as a guiding principle of the promotion of urban agriculture. Line ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) have developed a basic plan for promotion of urban agriculture, which has been endorsed by the Cabinet in the following year. MAFF then established a study group for Promoting Urban Agriculture, as well as a City Planning System Subcommittee, the City Planning Committee and the Subcommittee on City Planning. These groups are responsible to set up plans for urban agriculture and positioning of farmland in areas designated for urbanisation. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government developed the New Tokyo Agriculture Development Plan that aims to advance measures to implement “agriculture that coexists with urban society and contributes to citizens’ lifestyle” (Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 2017). The New Plan focuses on four main pillars of action including securing and training human resources for robust farm management, preserving farmlands to obtain multiple services, promoting local production, consumption and urban agriculture based on the characteristics of individual areas. Inclusion of a concept on homestead gardening into plans for urban agriculture may contribute to an increased level of food self-sufficiency. Promotion of home gardening can create opportunities for less resource-intensive production systems by circulating resources from individual households such as using kitchen waste for compost fertilizer, and rainwater harvesting to water homestead gardens. Incentive mechanisms can be introduced by the city government to promote homestead and

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rooftop gardening including but not limited to property tax incentives, subsidies for rainwater harvesting for irrigation, incentive program for kitchen organic waste etc. The successful implementation of urban agriculture demands public support. Hence, public awareness raising need to be strengthened and citizens need to be provided with the knowledge on the risks and environmental impact of the current urban food chain system and how urban agriculture can bring changes with improved resilience. Living lab approaches help to engage the public in planning local production and consumption hence promoting urban agriculture. Food business sectors also can play an important role by adding the environmental footprint in the food product information. Decision-making tools based on smartphone applications that help the public understand what impacts our daily food habits have on water, energy and carbon footprints. Such information is critical for identifying sustainable diets. These decision-making tools play a role for awareness raising to the general public as well as serving as educational tools for children.

14.7  Conclusions Tokyo experiences a net increase of population. It is likely that this trend will continue onto the future, which indicates that food self-sufficiency will further decrease unless measures are taken to grow food locally. Lowering food self-sufficiency will escalate the risk of food insecurity due to possible disruptions in food supply chains by more frequent natural hazards events and pandemics. In contrast with the increasing population in Tokyo and few major urbanised regions, on the supply side, most food producing prefectures have experienced depopulation and aging of the farming community. This indicates that depopulation and the continuous decrease of working age people will be a major challenge to produce and supply food. Due to the fact the majority of the food travels over long distances to reach consumers in Tokyo, transport related carbon emission are likely to increase. The virtual water footprint of Tokyo’s food supply chain will also continue to increase, if the food supply chains are simply business-as-usual. Promoting local production and local consumption can improve the balance for urban food supply chains by conjunctive food supply from outside and inside of city boundaries. LPLC also contributes to mitigate the transport related carbon footprint of urban food systems. The Metropolitan Government of Tokyo has taken a number of policy measures to revitalise local agriculture. Current efforts can be further strengthened by promoting urban homestead farming through incentives, such as property tax incentives, subsidies for rainwater harvesting for irrigation, etc. Moreover, incentives can be given to real estate companies for including homestead gardening in home designs. Other actions could be providing training to city residents on home gardening and by bringing local production and local consumption into school classrooms. In particular elementary and junior high school students who could be provided with lessons on how their daily food habits impact the environment and how LPLC can contribute to a resilient and sustainable urban food systems. Further quantitative assessment is necessary to explore the full potential of LPLC within city boundaries.

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Acknowledgements  This study is funded by the Japan Science and Technology (JST) under the Belmont Forum Sustainable Urbanization Global Initiative (SUGI) on Food-Water-Energy Nexus with the project reference M-NEX.

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Chapter 15

TransFEWmotion: Designing Urban Metabolism as an M-NEX Rob Roggema, Wanglin Yan, and Greg Keeffe

Abstract  Research on urban flows is often limited to technical-rational understanding of the quantity of flows and, at best, the negative impact of their uses. In the M-Nex project an approach is proposed to shift the mindset from a sectoral way of looking that is aimed at efficiency towards a creative and adaptive planning process that is open to transformative ideas. These concepts are needed to deal with future uncertainties and the unknown unknowns of the future. Top-down planning is no longer feasible and should be replaced by a generative and inclusive process, able to create ecological systemic steps towards fundamental resilient and sustainable urban environments. The future is moving, research agenda’s should be moving too, adopting a working attitude that is capable of anticipating what cannot be known, is not readily understood, and asks for radical solutions. Keywords  FEW-Nexus · Transformation · Urban metabolism · Design-led · M-NEX · TransFEWmation

R. Roggema (*) Cittaideale, Office for Adaptive Research by Design, Wageningen, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] W. Yan Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan G. Keeffe School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0_15

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15.1  Introduction Urban metabolism has long been a matter of calculations and estimating quantities of flows that run through the city. It had no profound link with the design of the city itself, nor did it interconnect the separated flows of water, energy and food. The result was an unwanted depletion of resources and generation of waste. The city operated as a factory without producing goods. The Sustainable Urbanisation Global Initiative (SUGI) call on the food-energy-water nexus (https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/calls/sugi/) has initiated broader thinking about this essential subject for urban wellbeing. The moveable nexus project (http://m-nex.net), one of the funded projects in the call, emphasizes integration and design approaches to not only investigate substance flows but also sparkle engagement and focus on implementation. To put this objective into context it is necessary to discuss the current state of urban environments. Urban transformations are of all times. When people first started to live in larger communities the use of resources, the capacity of the land and the needs of the population were in balance. Industrialization has put this balance under pressure. Ever more resources were needed to accommodate mass consumption, energy demands, and food requirements. At first instance, this caused a polluted and unhealthy urban environment for its inhabitants, both human and non-­human. After a period of cosmetic clean-up, soils, water quality and air pollution were all treated in a way life could be sustained. Together with improvements in medical science and health care life expectancy of urban dwellers increased. However, deeper causes of urbanization were underestimated and maltreated. The ongoing dependency of rapidly growing human societies on energy abundance, the availability of a fast and accessible diet and extremely cheap mobility lead to problems that are not treatable in a simple way. The effects are, by now, clear: risk at dangerous climate change, severe loss of biodiversity and vulnerability for epidemics and pandemics. This poses humanity for new questions, that require lateral thinking, creativity and the ability to act adaptively. One thing is certain: the solution to wicked problems is not linear, but demands agility of mind, transdisciplinary mindsets, and the focus on the big picture instead of a blueprint future. Traditional values and approaches therefore no longer work and should be replaced by alternatives that are capable of meeting the needs of flexibility, self-organisation and complexity.

15.2  The Nexus in Motion In this context of transformative environments thinking about the FEW-nexus should also transform. It is no longer feasible to act as singular service provider of, let’s say, energy, set up the grid, deplete natural resources, process and supply the service. The impacts of this way of working is far-reaching and (in)directly causing health problems, decreasing the quality of life of the global population, disturbing ecosystems, and putting livelihoods at risk of suffering from natural hazards.

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Fig. 15.1  Thinking about the city in motion

Therefore, the FEW-nexus should be approached from a different angle to stay in tune with current and future change and comes in transFEWmotion (Fig. 15.1). Eight transformative shifts are distinguished: • Linearity transforms to complexity. A simple mechanical systems approach is working only for simple problems, that can be solved in a satisfying way buy applying well-known technologies. When systems become more complicated, solutions can still be found though these require sometimes advanced technologies. When problems turn wicked a solution only leads to change of the problem hence requiring new solutions, which again change the problem, and so on. In this complex context self-organization of an agile system is needed, where not the end solution is the objective but the guidance and adjustability of continuous new directions towards a reciprocal future; • Instruction transforms to generation. Linear systems are best organized in a top-­ down way, directing it to improvement. When systems become more complicated they need to be adjusted to ever changing circumstances and adaptive management of the system allows it to change along the way, still being responsive to the problem, even though it is a moving target. When the future is deeply uncertain, the unknown unknowns dominate and to what the system needs to

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adapt is unclear. In these, increasing amounts of situations a generative approach is preferable. This is capable of creating a new reality, which requires adaptation to a newly created reality; Transforming from water- and energy-driven to food-driven. Traditional utilities are the water and energy sectors, organizing themselves in a technical, rational way. As long as the single provision of the substance flow is at stake, efficiency of the system is a priority. But as cities grew larger and the supply of basic needs becomes more and more complicated, rest flows become a bigger problem, as they start being a burden of waste, that needs to be cleaned, transported or paid for. This implies it is getting attractive to think about re-using rest flows. In this sense it makes sense to put food at the point of departure of thinking because food needs water and energy to grow, while energy and water can be generated without the use of food. Moreover, food is the most tangible element of the three urban flows, as it is closest to human consumption, has the most profound influence on human health and has additional benefits for creating a green and healthy urban environment; Understanding transforms via innovation to designing. The understanding of systems in order to detect problems, then solving these fits with simple systems, but is not capable of experimenting or anticipating an unknown future. To understand the system is one thing, which can lead to an improved version of that same system in an innovative environment in order to be ready for the future demands. However, when an alternative future need to be created a design approach is the most suitable way as this is capable of creating something that was not there before; Quantitative transforms to qualitative. The future is not (only) requiring a quantitative approach of supplying enough matter to residents. The discussion about diets shows that the quality of consumed food is essential for human health hence a qualitative approach to generating food, energy and water is providing an overall improvement of the environment, the life expectancy, and general health of human- and eco-systems. Transforming from sectoral to multiple to integral. When aspects of urban life are treated as a sector and every sector is aiming to reach the maximum efficiency and productivity, it will always lead to conflicts and negative impacts of one sector for another. Moreover, the working of one sector can be beneficial for another when the rest flows or capabilities of these systems become available for other applications and use. As a first stage the exchange of substances between two or more sectors is a transactional way of multiplicity and could already mean an improvement, for instance when a certain quality of wastewater can be used as the source for agriculture, increasing soil fertility. However, an integral approach of several sectors can improve the quality of life for everyone in an urban precinct. Design is required to match, combine, exchange, integrate and synergise aspects of systems into one functioning whole. Technical transforms to ecological. The functionality of infrastructure, land use and the economy of the city is often leading to impacts on other places, scales, people and nature, compromising the quality and longevity of the impacted.

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However, taking an ecological viewpoint eludes to a systemic operation of the entirety. The system itself determines its functionality instead of its separate parts. A city that works as an ecological system is more resilient, capable of self-­ regulating and more biodiverse; • Stationary transforms to moveable. As if the food system, the energy system and the water system were static, no change could ever be accommodated. In itself all systems are by their very nature transformable. Approaching the FEW-nexus in a stationary way is therefore not doing justice to reality. How come that many utility providers stay close to the existing systems? Even small flaws are neglected, ‘because the system works as it does’. For research into the nexus this is as a dead-end street. Change is inseparable from the way food, energy and water is supplied hence the approach to the FEW-nexus should be a moveable: mutually interchangeable, agile and anticipative.

15.3  Research in Motion In order be able to induce a discourse on a moveable nexus a clear research foundation has to be developed. In this concluding chapter of this TransFEWmation book the first contours of such a research direction becomes visible. Four cornerstones from which the FEW-nexus is approaches are distinguished (Fig. 15.2):

Fig. 15.2  This book’s chapters positioned in the design-model-map-method matrix

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1. Methodology; how to integrate, synergise and use a design-led approach connecting the urban design, engagement and evaluation? 2. Mapping; how are ways of mapping and diagramming used to understand and visualize the complex systems of FEW? 3. Modelling; how can future systems be modelled so understanding about impacts and benefits can be raised? 4. Designing; how can innovative and imaginative solutions be conceived that increase the support for sustainable, resilient and agile FEW-systems? Each of the chapters in this book contribute to one or more of these perspectives. Their positioning in the matrix is, obviously, arbitrary. This is, given the moveable nature of the M-NEX philosophy, purposely done. The research reflected in each of the chapters should intervene with different research perspectives and overlap with other chapters. This may sound anti-cyclic academically, however is essential to the integrated way of looking at the problems and opportunities surrounding the nexus of food, energy and water.

15.4  Conclusion Let’s move.

Index

A Accessibility, 17, 29, 103, 121, 141 Activity, 20, 53, 90, 105, 131, 285, 288, 306 Adaptation, 4, 12, 154, 158, 239, 243–245, 249, 293, 305, 330 Adaptive capacity, 12, 32, 77, 81, 167 Added values, 50, 129, 133, 235–250 Aerotropolis, 77, 82, 86 Agile, 47, 329, 331, 332 Agribusiness, 86 Agriculture, 15, 64, 80, 85, 86, 89, 108–111, 113, 114, 136, 140, 152, 166, 173, 175, 176, 182, 193, 222, 223, 238, 255, 284, 289, 290, 308, 315, 318, 323, 324, 330 Agri-urbanism, 165 Agroforestry, 84 Air, 12, 40, 43, 76, 82, 128, 133–135, 154, 179, 181, 187, 197, 210, 241, 242, 245, 246, 266, 296, 328 Airport, 70, 78, 85, 86 Alliances, 28, 181 Amalgamation, 81 Amsterdam, 24, 26, 212, 214, 237, 242–244, 248, 254, 258, 259, 261, 270, 277, 304 Anaerobic digestion (AD), 259, 263, 265–268, 273, 276 Analysis, 17, 23, 27–30, 46, 51, 53, 62, 74, 81, 104, 108, 129, 130, 133, 141, 142, 146, 152–157, 166, 237, 277, 282, 287, 298, 301, 317, 321 Animal Spirits, 286, 295, 301 Anthropogenic flows, 132–135 Appraisal, 41, 46, 255

Aquaculture, 78, 184, 293, 303 Aqua farming, 136 Aquaponics, 24, 26, 165, 166, 246, 293, 294, 303 Aquathermia, 244, 245 Architects/Architecture, 20, 96–98, 100, 102, 103, 107, 108, 116, 121, 239, 282, 284, 293–296, 301–305, 308–310 Assessment, 8, 21, 25, 32, 42, 44, 51, 54, 141, 255, 257, 283, 284, 320, 324 B Badgerys Creek, 70, 85 Belfast, 24, 26, 30, 31, 110, 112, 115–117, 119, 212, 214–216, 228, 233, 303 Biobased materials, 136, 137 Biodiversity, 13, 45, 61, 79, 82–84, 140, 158, 244, 328 Biogas, 78, 196, 237, 241, 254, 256, 259, 262, 265–268, 271, 272, 274, 276 Bioregions, 5, 6, 23–26, 33, 127, 212, 214 Biota, 128, 130–131 B-minus, 148, 149, 151, 158, 167 Boeke, K., 172 Bottom-up, 45, 261, 286, 295, 301 Brownfields, 188, 191 Buildings, 4, 15, 18, 20, 23, 26, 31, 52, 53, 62, 64, 83, 85, 100, 101, 129, 140, 159, 164–166, 173, 214, 216, 226, 230, 238, 239, 241, 242, 245, 248–250, 254, 259, 268, 277, 282, 286, 288, 289, 299, 302–306, 310, 314 Built form, 45, 89

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Roggema (ed.), TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization, Contemporary Urban Design Thinking, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61977-0

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334 C Calculate, 32, 40, 101, 112, 114, 197, 264, 270, 271, 318, 320, 321 Canopy, 83, 87 Carbon accounting, 255, 259, 275, 276 Carbon emissions, 61, 64, 68, 101–103, 105, 107, 109, 112, 115, 116, 119–122, 159, 213, 236, 240, 247, 254, 255, 259, 260, 262, 269, 273–275, 277, 314, 315, 319–324 Carbon footprint, 254, 255, 257, 258, 260, 274, 324 Carbon sequestration, 65, 108, 110, 115, 121, 182, 248 Cartographies, 174, 176 Centralised,Centralization, 19, 61, 187, 189, 198, 200, 237, 260–262 Characteristics, 5, 24, 26, 28, 31, 47, 81, 82, 90, 98, 127, 224, 232, 240, 268, 283, 287, 323 Charles, E., 172 Circular buildings, 245–246 Circular economies, 20, 70, 128, 135, 200, 201, 241, 297 Circularity, 50, 86, 141, 165, 189 Circular systems, 89, 185 Cities, 3–8, 10, 11, 13–21, 24–26, 28, 29, 31–33, 40–44, 46, 60–64, 68, 70, 76, 77, 83, 85, 87, 89, 90, 96–98, 100, 101, 103–107, 110, 112, 117, 126–130, 132–135, 137, 138, 140, 142, 148, 155, 158, 161, 164, 171–201, 210–221, 223, 228, 229, 231–233, 236, 237, 240–242, 244, 245, 247–250, 254–256, 258, 270, 282–285, 288, 293, 302, 304, 305, 307, 313–324, 328–331 Citizens, 5, 10, 15, 17, 19, 21, 28, 54, 96, 107, 116, 129, 140, 142, 155, 165, 183, 210, 211, 213, 214, 230, 232, 243, 244, 249, 293, 323, 324 Climate actions, 238, 239, 244, 250 Climate change, 4, 10, 12, 14, 21, 30, 61, 96, 99, 105, 121, 128, 153, 181, 182, 190, 199, 210, 229, 236, 239, 243–245, 249, 254, 285, 286, 291, 305, 314, 328 Climates, 5, 15, 16, 26, 45, 51, 62, 63, 71, 77, 101, 103, 105, 108, 135, 146, 159, 176, 181, 187, 195, 236, 239, 240, 243–245, 249, 254, 264, 283, 288, 299, 300 Coast, 4, 162, 164 COCD, 49 Co-creation, 26, 210, 211, 213, 215, 220, 228, 230–232 Co-creative, 45, 142, 210, 221

Index Collaborative, 6, 7, 151, 211, 233 Combined sewer overflow (CSO), 181, 187, 198 Communities, 6, 12, 14, 18, 20, 60, 77, 80, 85, 97, 98, 128, 157, 158, 165, 167, 181, 189–191, 193, 210–213, 216, 218–221, 224, 228–233, 284, 286, 288, 291, 293, 296–298, 301, 303, 306, 307, 314, 315, 324, 328 Community gardens, 18, 28, 228, 303 Companies, 11, 28, 129, 133, 142, 176, 196, 211, 213, 220, 221, 228, 231, 233, 287–290, 299, 300, 304–306, 317, 324 Complexity, 5, 13, 21, 44, 53, 71, 97, 100, 328, 329 Complex systems, 332 Compost, 185, 196, 323 Composting, 184, 185, 195, 200, 201, 263 Conceptual, 40–42, 46, 81, 297 Consumers, 11, 12, 15, 28, 61, 77, 78, 84, 107, 122, 133, 135, 165, 189, 210, 246, 255, 257–259, 286, 317, 323, 324 Consumption, 15, 18, 20, 28, 31, 61, 66, 68, 97, 102, 103, 108–110, 112, 114–116, 119, 121, 122, 126, 136, 161, 177, 210, 214, 216, 217, 221, 246, 254, 255, 259, 260, 262, 266, 282, 285, 287, 289, 293, 316, 321–324, 328, 330 Contexts, 4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 18, 21, 23, 24, 29, 33, 43, 47, 53, 62–68, 70, 80, 90, 97, 100–105, 108, 117, 121, 122, 126, 129, 140–142, 160, 167, 171–201, 210–215, 218–220, 226, 230, 232, 256, 269, 276, 277, 282, 284–287, 289, 291, 293, 297, 298, 301, 328, 329 Cooling, 24, 26, 76, 78, 82, 83, 103, 154, 176, 177, 182, 241, 242, 244, 248, 249, 287 Creative jumps, 45, 51, 155 Creativity, 7, 8, 44, 45, 102, 167, 250, 328 Crops, 26, 64, 109, 110, 119, 154, 158, 159, 164, 166, 175, 176, 183, 255, 266, 268, 276, 287, 317, 320, 321 Cross laminated timber (CLT), 84, 140 Cross-sectoral, 10, 11 Cumberland plain, 70 Cyclic, 25, 28, 29, 47, 50, 52 D Data, 7, 8, 21, 25–27, 46, 64, 76, 90, 97, 100–105, 109, 110, 112, 114, 116, 121,

Index 127, 141, 142, 174, 226, 231, 238, 242, 255, 260, 261, 264, 272, 297, 318, 320 Decarbonisation, 255, 273, 275 Decentralized/Decentralization, 182, 187, 198, 201 Decision-support, 21, 105 Decision support systems, 97, 101, 106 Deconstruction, 31, 32 Designers, 5, 10, 11, 13, 20, 47, 53, 96–98, 100–106, 108, 115, 117, 119, 121, 129, 142, 172, 199, 282–284 Design-led, 5, 7, 11, 18, 19, 21, 25–28, 33, 39–54, 63, 81–83, 85–87, 89, 90, 108, 121, 167, 210, 212–219, 221, 230, 232, 332 Design praxis, 95–106 Design principles, 47, 48, 62, 74, 76, 77, 81, 161–163, 287 Design processes, 8, 21, 23, 24, 27–33, 44, 45, 47, 50–53, 76, 97, 102, 139, 141, 142, 167, 212, 215, 218 Designs, 5–8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17–28, 30–33, 40, 43–54, 62, 63, 70, 71, 74, 76, 77, 81, 83, 85–90, 96–105, 108, 110, 119, 121, 122, 127–129, 135, 139–142, 150, 151, 159, 161, 164, 165, 167, 172, 173, 181, 189, 199, 201, 211–216, 218, 221, 225, 226, 228, 229, 242, 249, 256, 276, 277, 282, 284, 288, 291, 293, 294, 299–302, 305–310, 324, 328, 330 Detroit, 24, 26, 30, 171–201, 212, 214–216, 228, 308 Diagrams, 28–30, 46, 73–75, 87, 141, 269, 275, 297 Diet/dietary pathways, 26, 28, 98, 104, 109, 110, 112, 117–119, 158–161, 167, 232, 246, 257, 264, 275, 328 Disasters, 12, 15, 62, 151, 155, 178, 237, 285, 317, 318 Disconnection, 149, 254 Disruptions, 148–150, 152, 155, 167, 249, 314, 317, 318, 323, 324 Distribution, 15, 18, 20, 28, 29, 40, 122, 134, 138, 175, 183–185, 187, 194, 201, 228, 254, 276, 303 Disturbing, 7, 328 Doha, 24, 214–216, 228 Drawings, 31, 41, 53, 72, 97, 126, 172, 298 Dwellings, 62, 241, 254, 260, 271, 291, 293, 296, 297 Dynamics, 4, 131, 132, 138, 148, 160, 162, 190, 229, 301

335 E Eco-device model, 40, 41 Ecological footprint (EF), 103, 117, 119, 141, 214, 240, 261, 262, 302, 321 Ecosystems, 12, 13, 17–19, 40–42, 61, 84, 90, 127, 138, 140, 159, 173–179, 181, 182, 189, 199, 201, 285, 293, 328 Ecosystem services, 18, 23, 31, 138, 141, 218, 286 Edible city, 10, 306 Effectiveness, 26, 32, 97, 101, 121, 150, 211 Efficiency, 11, 12, 15, 20, 23, 31, 96, 97, 100, 101, 104, 127, 141, 176, 179, 210, 215, 216, 242, 267, 270, 272, 282, 296, 330 Electricity, 16, 17, 67, 68, 89, 127, 134, 165, 178, 186, 197, 238, 240, 242, 245, 247, 248, 254, 259, 266–268, 270–273 Emergence, 77–79, 126, 157, 161, 190 Energies, 4–7, 10–21, 23, 26–28, 31, 32, 40–42, 46, 51–53, 61–68, 73–78, 80–82, 89, 90, 96, 101–103, 120, 126–128, 130, 134–136, 140, 152, 154, 163, 172, 173, 176–179, 182, 185–187, 189, 190, 196, 197, 200, 210, 213, 215, 219, 221, 228, 237–242, 244–250, 254, 255, 259–262, 266–269, 271–274, 277, 282, 284, 287–289, 291, 294, 296, 299–301, 305, 306, 308–310, 321, 322, 324, 328, 330–332 Energy footprint, 214 Energy supply, 4, 12, 13 Energy transition, 235–250, 253–277 Engagement, 23, 25, 26, 33, 45, 52, 54, 77, 96, 101, 103, 121, 142, 165, 191, 214, 218, 226–229, 231, 232, 328, 332 Enquiry, 100, 104, 106, 119 Environmental footprint (EF), 112, 319–322, 324 Environments, 4, 5, 13, 19, 20, 28, 40, 43, 44, 60–62, 64, 65, 67, 76, 78, 83, 84, 90, 97, 100, 102, 103, 107, 121, 127, 128, 133–135, 139–142, 147–149, 152, 154, 160, 165, 181, 182, 189, 193, 197, 199, 211, 213, 214, 219, 227, 228, 230, 231, 235–250, 254, 256, 261, 266, 287, 291, 293, 323, 324, 328, 330 Envisions, 45, 155, 291 Essential flows, 237, 238, 246, 250 Eutrophication, 181, 257, 276 Evaluations, 7, 21–23, 25, 27, 32, 52, 53, 211, 212, 214, 215, 260, 269, 277, 288, 302, 305, 306, 332 Expertise, 5, 45, 46, 215 Exploration, 47–50, 77, 81, 187

336 F Feedbacks, 24, 46, 51, 139, 142, 200, 213, 226, 228 FEW analysis, 23, 29, 51, 62, 75, 298 FEW case study, 219 FEW matrix, 32, 100 FEW-nexus, 4, 5, 10, 11, 14, 17–21, 23, 24, 29, 39–54, 59–90, 95–106, 121, 140, 171–201, 210–213, 215, 216, 221, 230, 232, 238, 282, 284–286, 293, 297, 298, 301, 328, 329, 331 FEW practice, 105 FEWprint, 51–53 Fishing, 64, 181 Flooding, 61, 62, 82, 83, 131, 158, 159, 163, 181, 185, 189 Flow charts, 28, 96 Flows, 4, 6–8, 16, 20, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30–33, 40–44, 46, 68, 73, 74, 76, 82, 84, 86, 87, 90, 96, 103, 105, 108, 121, 126–133, 135–142, 172, 173, 181, 215, 218, 228, 230, 237, 240, 247, 255, 256, 262, 263, 271, 273, 275, 276, 320–323, 328, 330 Flowscapes, 32 Food access, 184, 192–195, 223–225 Food deserts, 16 Food energy water index, 284 Food forests, 78, 83–85 Food insecure, 194 Food insecurity, 146, 184, 194, 200, 314, 324 Food print, 110, 112, 114–117, 119, 122 Food production, 12, 13, 23, 24, 26, 31, 79, 82, 84, 104, 108, 112, 114–116, 121, 122, 131, 136, 158, 175, 193, 195, 201, 214, 216, 217, 246–250, 255, 291, 294, 302, 309, 319, 323 Foods, 4–7, 10–19, 21, 24, 27–29, 31, 32, 40–43, 45, 46, 51–53, 60, 61, 63–66, 73–78, 80–83, 86, 88–90, 96, 100–104, 107–122, 127, 128, 131, 135, 136, 138, 158–167, 172–176, 182–185, 192–196, 200, 210, 213–219, 221, 223–232, 237, 238, 244, 246–250, 254–257, 259, 260, 262, 264, 275–277, 282, 284, 287–291, 294, 299–301, 303, 304, 306, 308–310, 313–324, 328, 330–332 Food safety, 182, 183, 195, 263, 323 Foodscape, 32, 164–166 Food security, 26, 154, 216, 225, 244, 291, 315, 317–323 Food self-sufficiency, 314–317, 323, 324 Food waste, 12, 73, 89, 195, 237, 263, 266–268, 274, 276

Index Forestry, 61, 62, 64, 112, 117, 140, 315, 323 Frameworks, 9–33, 105, 140, 172, 173, 176, 182, 185, 187, 190, 191, 195, 200, 201, 211, 225, 261, 282, 293, 320 Fresh water, 128, 131, 132, 161, 163 Fukushima, 178, 317, 318 Full lifecycle emissions, 110, 112 Futures, 4, 7, 8, 19, 26, 33, 44, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 60, 62, 70, 71, 76, 78, 81, 85, 87, 90, 101, 104, 106, 108, 117, 119, 121, 122, 127, 128, 130, 131, 135–138, 140–142, 147, 148, 151–153, 155, 156, 158, 161, 165–167, 177, 178, 181, 182, 191, 198, 200, 210, 212, 215, 216, 221, 238, 241, 249, 254, 260, 261, 282, 295, 301, 302, 309, 324, 328–330, 332 Fuzzy, 7, 141 G Gas extractions, 147, 151, 166 Generations, 12, 14, 18, 28, 40, 44, 49, 60, 67, 76, 78, 80, 103, 134, 135, 154, 158, 176–178, 185–187, 189, 190, 196, 197, 225, 230, 248, 259, 260, 266, 287, 328, 329 Generative design, 51 Geographies, 5, 173, 174, 176, 179, 183, 228 Governance, 11, 17, 75, 77, 90, 152, 173, 199, 200, 288, 299, 300 Governments, 10, 11, 17, 70, 77, 142, 146, 151, 153, 155, 166, 175, 176, 180, 182, 186–190, 210–214, 219–221, 223, 228, 254, 291, 314, 316, 323, 324 Great lakes megaregion (GLM), 173–179, 181–182, 185, 186, 199, 306 Green gases, 241, 242, 260, 262, 267, 268, 271–273, 277 Greenhouses, 61, 78, 137, 166, 176, 217, 221, 236, 238, 239, 242, 246, 248, 260, 261, 289–291, 303, 304, 314, 322 Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), 102, 108, 238, 239, 244, 246, 262, 314 Green spaces, 28, 70, 76, 82, 85, 165, 166, 191 Grids, 28, 61, 76, 127, 164, 178, 182, 187, 197, 240, 254, 260, 262, 266, 268, 272, 277, 287, 308, 328 Groningen, 48, 99, 145–167, 216, 233 H Happiness, 214, 244 Health, 19, 40, 61, 62, 64, 76, 82, 98, 109, 116, 119, 133, 182–184, 189, 191, 193,

Index 194, 197, 200, 214, 239, 243, 256, 263, 276, 323, 328, 330 Heat, 24, 26, 45, 61, 62, 67, 78, 82, 90, 128, 133–135, 154, 237, 238, 240–244, 247–249, 266, 268, 287, 296 Heat network (HT), 127, 240, 241 Heat pumps, 241, 242, 244, 245 Heuristic, 98, 102 Hokkaido, 223, 316, 318, 320, 322 Holistic, 12, 14, 20, 32, 49, 62, 76, 81, 255, 277, 285, 293, 302 Home gardening, 18, 19, 323, 324 Households, 28, 29, 40, 63, 68, 70, 102, 108–110, 112–118, 121, 134, 135, 137, 184, 189, 194, 213, 219, 232, 258–260, 307, 323 Human, 11, 12, 19, 21, 40, 60, 62, 71, 90, 103, 106, 126, 127, 131, 133, 138, 140, 157, 174, 189, 210, 218, 219, 225, 231, 239, 244, 256, 266, 285, 323, 328, 330 Hybridized flows, 130–135 Hydroponics, 119, 120, 165, 166, 176, 290, 296, 303 Hyperlocalised city, 76, 81 I Ideas, 6, 7, 33, 47–50, 53, 79, 97, 101–103, 105, 129, 139, 151, 155–158, 161, 166, 167, 210, 213, 215, 218, 225–228, 232, 245, 247, 250, 255, 256, 285, 286 Imaginations, 8, 11, 45, 158 Inclusive city, 77, 86 Incremental, 147, 153, 166 Indigenous, city values, 45 Industrial, 15, 19, 24, 70, 77, 78, 85, 126, 134, 154, 173–178, 181, 185, 190, 191, 195, 200, 212, 218, 225, 232, 241, 289, 315 Industrial legacies, 189, 191 Infrastructures, 5, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 78, 82, 83, 96, 100, 127, 128, 136, 142, 174, 178, 179, 187, 189, 191, 196, 198, 200, 210, 212, 213, 216, 218–220, 229, 232, 237, 255, 263, 314, 323, 330 Innovations, 21, 128, 149, 150, 155, 185, 187, 190, 197, 200, 210, 212–216, 245, 250, 255, 330 Inspiration, 45 Insurgent, 148 Integration, 7, 21–23, 26, 31, 51, 90, 122, 140, 195, 215, 232, 293, 302, 328

337 Interactive, 52, 126 Interfaces, 21, 31, 119, 122, 231 International architecture biennale rotterdam (IABR), 127, 128, 143 Intuition, 11 Inventories, 23, 28, 215, 225, 226, 255, 262, 267–268, 277 Iterations, 25, 27, 31, 32, 46, 47, 50–52, 98, 100, 101, 104, 141, 142 Iterative, 28, 29, 33, 46, 50–52, 97, 100, 106, 139, 141, 142, 167 K Keeffe, G., 10–33, 96–122, 233, 328–332 Knowledge, 4–7, 11, 13, 20, 21, 24, 25, 31, 33, 45–47, 53, 73, 84, 85, 97, 98, 100, 103–105, 127, 139–142, 210, 212, 215, 216, 218, 250, 282, 285, 301, 324 Knowledge platform, 22, 216 L Lake Erie, 181 Lake Huron, 186, 189 Landownership, 86, 87, 90 Landscape architects, 20 Landscapes, 5, 19, 23, 24, 26, 28, 31, 43–45, 60, 61, 70–72, 74, 76, 78, 81–83, 85–90, 96, 103, 108, 109, 112, 115, 116, 121, 130, 132, 145–167, 173, 181, 187, 190, 198, 283, 291, 293, 296, 302 Land uses, 10, 11, 20, 23, 28, 29, 44, 51, 62–66, 74, 79, 84, 88, 90, 98, 102, 103, 107–115, 117–122, 130–131, 146, 179, 191, 195, 200, 216, 219, 276, 330 Legacies, 173, 175, 182, 188, 190, 191, 198, 200 Life cycle analysis (LCA), 139, 255, 262, 275, 276 Lifestyles, 18, 214, 228, 231, 245, 246, 250, 291, 296, 323 Linear systems, 4, 329 Linkages, 6, 7, 17, 27, 30, 31, 43, 53, 73, 78, 88, 216, 289 Liveability, 4, 20, 44, 82, 243, 244 Livestock, 64, 109, 110, 112, 175, 183, 222, 256, 257 Livestock farming, 255, 256 Living labs, 5, 21, 24, 27, 142, 209–233, 302, 306, 324

338 Local,localised, 5, 6, 12–15, 18, 20, 21, 24–26, 28, 30, 33, 45–47, 49, 51–53, 60–62, 64, 70, 73–84, 86, 90, 98, 117, 121, 122, 126, 129, 131, 136–138, 142, 151–155, 158, 161, 164, 166, 167, 176, 179–182, 185, 187, 190, 192, 197, 199–201, 210, 214–220, 223–231, 240, 241, 244, 247, 248, 254–257, 261, 263, 272, 276, 277, 282, 286, 289–291, 293–297, 319, 323–324 Local production and consumption, 324 Logics, 11, 149, 198, 199, 283–286 Logistics, 78, 173, 175, 176 Long-term, 5, 21, 45, 60, 63, 74, 77, 80, 86, 132, 142, 149, 152, 153, 158, 196, 200, 232, 282, 286, 315 Low carbon, 20, 103, 213, 246 M Magical, 44, 45, 53 Map, 53, 76, 134, 139, 183–185, 187, 191, 193, 195, 196, 198, 226, 231, 321 Megaregion, 173, 178, 179, 181, 199 Metabolism, 15, 126, 127 Methodologies, 11, 13, 39–54, 108, 117, 121, 122, 212, 213, 237, 282, 332 Michigan, 173, 176–178, 181–190, 195, 196, 198, 200, 233, 308 Microgrids, 197, 309 Mobility, 40, 76, 82, 89, 101, 103, 128, 132, 133, 152, 182, 193, 200, 219, 221, 225, 228, 254, 255, 328 Mono-rationality, 148 Moveable nexus, 3–33, 40, 45, 46, 53, 210, 328, 331 N Native, 64, 84, 86 Natural gas, 73, 134, 153, 176–178, 185, 239–241, 243, 254, 260, 262, 266, 268, 271, 273, 277 Natural hazards, 16, 315–318, 323, 324, 328 Nature, 10, 11, 15, 20, 21, 50, 59–90, 96, 98, 101, 102, 105, 115, 127, 130, 131, 136, 147, 152, 154, 157, 160, 164, 228, 244, 283, 330–332 Neighbourhoods, 20, 26, 28, 31, 53, 60–62, 82, 90, 98, 103–105, 112, 115, 116, 122, 191, 197, 200, 241–243, 254, 256, 258–260, 276, 277, 288, 293, 303, 307

Index Networks, 6, 18, 28, 31, 32, 78, 79, 127, 128, 137, 151, 174, 175, 178, 185, 195, 198, 200, 210, 212, 213, 216, 226–231, 241, 249, 255, 258, 259, 271, 283, 285, 289, 301 New stepped strategy, 237, 242, 247 New Tokyo Agriculture Development Plan, 323 Nexus, 4–7, 10, 11, 16–21, 32, 41, 42, 70, 105, 172, 210, 232, 233, 238, 244, 246, 255, 282, 284, 305, 306, 310, 325, 328–332 Nexus-approach, 11, 215–219, 228, 237, 238, 250 Nexus matrices, 23, 215 Niches, 20, 84, 149–151, 158 Nitrogen flow, 140 Noise, 85, 256 Non-renewable energy, 196, 197 Novelties, 150, 151, 157, 158, 167 Nutrients, 28, 32, 40, 78, 79, 84, 101, 119, 120, 131, 136, 181, 185, 198, 237, 240, 249, 250, 255, 257, 260, 307, 323 O Old age dependency ratio, 318 Ontario, 173, 177, 178, 181 Organic, 76, 78, 82, 137, 158, 176, 254, 256, 259–261, 264, 275–277, 291, 309 Organic waste, 76, 82, 135, 166, 185, 190, 201, 256, 259, 261, 263, 273, 324 Organism, 40, 41, 138 P Participants, 5, 25, 27, 33, 46, 49, 52, 212, 226, 228–232 Participation, 12, 21–23, 79, 210, 211, 213, 214, 216, 221, 228, 229, 232, 306, 307 Path-dependency, 15, 45, 51 People, 5–7, 16, 18, 19, 26, 28, 29, 53, 60–64, 68, 70, 83, 104, 109, 112, 128–130, 132–133, 135, 142, 151–153, 155–158, 166, 195, 198, 210, 212, 213, 216–219, 221, 225, 227, 230, 232, 235–250, 263, 286, 293, 295, 315, 316, 318, 324, 328, 330 Per capita consumption (PCC), 109–116, 121, 260 Performances, 8, 14, 23, 27, 33, 40, 44–46, 51–53, 97, 98, 127, 128, 141, 142, 178, 211, 214, 218, 229, 230, 239, 249, 250, 254, 261, 269, 275–277 Peripherical, 149, 155, 157, 158

Index Peri-urban, 19, 64, 164 Photovotaic energy, 254 Pig, 84, 109, 253–277, 302 Place, 6, 11, 15, 17–19, 26, 28, 33, 44, 49, 50, 53, 76, 80, 96–98, 100, 102, 106, 112, 116, 121, 129, 130, 137, 330 Plants, 6, 18, 28, 121, 128, 130, 134, 137, 317 Plasticine, 52 Platform, 7, 13, 14, 21, 22, 209–232, 303 Policies,Policymakers, 5, 7, 10, 12, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 40, 47, 97, 103, 104, 109, 131, 142, 146–148, 151–155, 157, 166, 173, 176–178, 182, 183, 185–187, 189, 190, 195–197, 200, 210, 211, 215, 219, 228, 231, 282, 283, 306–310, 314, 315, 323, 324 Population, 10, 11, 14–16, 20, 30, 66, 70, 76, 103, 104, 119, 128, 132, 135, 146, 147, 151, 153, 154, 157, 161, 166, 181, 190, 194, 195, 216, 219, 220, 223, 224, 229, 232, 243, 256, 264, 265, 283–286, 293, 314, 316, 318–319, 324, 328 Pork, 66, 111–113, 255–258, 260, 262–266, 273, 275–277 Post-industrial, 26, 173, 185, 188, 190, 215 Power plants, 61, 134, 154, 180, 186, 268, 317 Production, 12, 15, 18–20, 26, 40, 61, 64, 65, 67, 70, 71, 79, 80, 84, 96, 102, 107, 109, 110, 112, 114, 115, 117, 119, 121, 122, 126, 132, 136, 137, 165, 173–179, 181, 183, 185–187, 191, 197, 201, 210, 214, 216–218, 221, 237, 238, 246, 247, 254–257, 259, 260, 262, 264, 266, 267, 271, 272, 274–276, 282, 285, 287, 289–291, 293, 308, 314, 315, 318, 319, 323–324 Programs, 7, 23, 31, 47, 324 Prosumers, 18 Providers, 10, 17, 28, 68, 184, 196, 328, 331 Public, 8, 21, 23, 60, 79, 82, 101, 103, 104, 107, 133, 140, 142, 178, 182, 183, 186, 187, 189, 191–194, 200, 211–214, 218, 228, 229, 232, 239, 254, 286, 303, 324 Public awareness raising, 324 Public spaces, 12, 33, 40, 43, 44 Purifying City, 76, 87 Purpose, 11, 90, 105, 108, 126, 142, 282, 283, 285, 314, 332 Q Quality of life, 11, 15, 32, 40, 44, 53, 54, 62, 63, 129, 140, 141, 284, 328, 330 Quantifications, 42, 44, 108, 119, 141, 142 Quebec, 178

339 R Racial,racialised, 173, 190, 191, 200 Rae, E., 172 Rainfall, 61, 68, 85, 102, 114, 116, 181, 221 Rainwater collection, 110 Rapid changes, 154 Reciprocities, 76, 83, 141, 165 Recreation, 132, 152, 164 Redundancies, 15, 22, 77, 78 Reflections, 27, 98, 100, 104, 105, 138–140 Regenerative, 79, 86, 87, 240, 249, 250 Regenerative cities, 235–250 Regimes, 149–151, 176 Regional scale, 136, 180, 182 Regions, 5, 20, 24, 26, 33, 68, 71, 74, 82, 83, 90, 102, 103, 105, 108, 112, 119, 122, 129–131, 135, 137, 148, 153, 154, 158, 161, 166, 167, 171–201, 209–232, 240, 249, 258, 282, 288, 316, 324 Remediation, 76, 181, 184, 185, 187, 188, 190, 191, 200, 201 Renewables,renewable energy, 12, 26, 78, 154, 158, 159, 176–179, 182, 185–187, 189, 196, 197, 200, 201, 237, 239, 240, 242–244, 254, 271, 277, 290, 291 Representations, 18, 42, 47, 52–53, 73, 79, 80, 96, 103, 106, 175 Research by design (RbD), 51, 77, 141 Residents, 17, 43–45, 47, 51–53, 62, 64, 66, 70, 77, 78, 83, 86, 90, 104, 108, 109, 114–117, 119, 121, 126, 128, 134, 135, 151, 154, 189–191, 194, 195, 197, 198, 201, 215, 220, 221, 223, 225, 226, 228, 229, 231, 232, 258, 260, 263, 271, 295, 324, 330 Resilience, 11, 12, 19, 22, 33, 44, 77, 81, 84, 108, 142, 154, 174, 182, 214, 216, 301, 310, 313–324 Resources, 5–8, 10–13, 15, 18–21, 23, 24, 28, 29, 32, 40, 44, 50–53, 60, 61, 63, 65, 67, 70, 73, 76, 78, 79, 83, 85–87, 89, 90, 96, 97, 103, 105, 116, 121, 126, 129, 135, 136, 140, 153, 158, 176, 178, 179, 181, 182, 185–187, 189, 190, 192, 195, 196, 198–200, 210, 214–216, 218, 221, 225, 227–232, 236–240, 244, 249, 250, 254, 255, 259–261, 274, 283–286, 291, 296, 306, 309, 319, 323, 328 Reuse, 12, 26, 31, 90, 195, 237, 242, 245, 247, 250 Rhine catchment area, 128, 131, 132 Riparian, 80, 83, 85, 87 Roadmap, 242–243, 254

340 Roggema, R., 4–8, 10–33, 40–54, 60–90, 138, 146–167, 211, 213–216, 218, 221, 233, 239, 303, 328–332 Rooftop gardens, 10, 21 Rotterdams, 43, 44, 125–143, 237, 245, 246, 303, 307, 308 S Salinity, 158, 159 Sankey diagrams, 96, 142 Scales, 4, 6, 10, 14, 16, 18–22, 24, 26–28, 30, 32, 33, 43–45, 50, 51, 61, 62, 73, 76, 77, 79, 80, 87, 98, 100, 102, 108, 112, 115, 118, 128, 129, 133, 134, 136, 140, 154, 157–159, 171–201, 211, 214, 216, 219, 230, 232, 255, 257, 266, 268, 276, 284–286, 288, 289, 291, 293, 297, 299–301, 307, 323, 330 Scenarios, 21, 62, 77–81, 141, 142, 219, 243, 258, 259, 261, 262, 270, 273, 277 Sea level rises, 132, 154, 158, 159 Sediments, 132, 159 Segregation, 194 Self-organisation, 328 Self-sufficient, 80 Sequestering, 115, 166, 236 Shed, 142, 165, 174 Short-term, 21, 152, 158 Shrinking and aging population, 318, 319 Social-ecological system, 24, 32 Soil,soil qualities, 12, 28, 40, 43, 70, 72, 76, 79, 86, 90, 109, 116, 153, 154, 176, 185, 190, 196, 201, 229, 242, 328, 330 Solar Decathlon, 245, 246 South Creek, 68–70, 74, 76, 78, 80, 81, 85 Spaces, 11, 13, 17, 18, 23, 28, 29, 31, 32, 61, 64, 76, 78, 82, 83, 88, 100–102, 105, 109, 117, 119, 129–131, 133, 146, 148, 161, 173, 213, 215, 218, 230, 232, 239, 241–243, 246, 255, 264, 269, 272, 274–276, 294, 302, 314 Spatial conditions, 43 Spatialisation, 119 Stakeholders, 5, 11, 13, 18, 21, 23–25, 28, 32, 33, 46, 47, 51–53, 87, 139–142, 211, 212, 214, 215, 218, 221, 225–232, 283, 284, 314 Stocks and flows, 11, 16, 21, 62, 73–75, 96, 100, 103, 218 Stormwater, 181, 182, 190, 198 Strategies, 12, 22, 45, 83–85, 97, 105, 127, 135–141, 152, 160, 165, 189, 190, 195, 196, 198–201, 215, 233, 243, 250, 254, 255, 277, 296, 297, 308, 314

Index Streets, 28, 53, 116, 117, 133, 223, 226, 230, 288, 304, 331 Suburban, 288, 296, 299, 300 Sufficiency, 314–316, 323, 324 Supermarket, 28, 137–139, 287, 291, 296, 302 Sustainability, 10, 11, 15, 17–19, 44, 45, 50, 60, 74, 126, 129, 140, 174, 210, 214, 231, 232, 244, 257, 294, 296, 297, 309, 313–324 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 11, 14, 141, 210, 284, 291, 314, 323 Swarm Planning, 31 Sydney, 5, 22–24, 26, 27, 62–68, 70, 75, 82, 90, 212, 214–216, 228, 310 Synergetic planning, 125–142 Synergies, 5, 10, 26, 30, 31, 43, 44, 71, 97, 106, 141, 163, 243, 249–250, 282, 301 T Technical food systems, 109, 119, 122, 195, 216 3D, 52 Timber, 84, 85, 140 Times, 4, 6, 7, 10, 18, 20, 23, 25, 40, 44–47, 49, 60, 83, 90, 98, 101, 103–105, 115, 121, 122, 127, 129, 132, 139, 146–148, 151, 152, 155, 157, 161, 167, 172, 176, 201, 210, 211, 215, 218, 223, 226, 228, 230–232, 239, 240, 256, 264–266, 270, 275, 277, 283, 290, 291, 298, 308, 315, 328 Tokyo, 5, 24, 26, 209–232, 302, 306, 313–324 Tokyo Central Wholesale Market, 316–319, 321, 322 Tools, 7, 21, 23, 42, 44, 77, 97, 103–105, 121, 141, 142, 172, 212–216, 218, 226, 230, 232, 282–284, 286–288, 301, 302, 305, 306, 323, 324 Toukomst, 151–158 Towns, 43, 60, 80, 127, 219–221, 223, 229–231, 242, 296, 303, 309 Transdisciplinary, 229, 328 TransFEWmation, 331 TransFEWmotion, 327–332 Transformation, 4, 15, 21, 45, 54, 60, 97, 98, 129, 137, 148–150, 152, 154, 175, 182, 186, 191, 232, 245, 328 Transformative pathways, 45, 210 Transport, 12, 76, 78, 80, 82, 89, 104, 127, 132, 133, 152, 210, 217, 238, 241, 246, 255, 256, 314, 321–324 Transportation, 18, 20, 40, 101, 102, 112, 116, 120, 122, 174–176, 184, 193,

Index 194, 217, 221, 223, 228, 254, 255, 319, 321, 322 Treatment, 4, 15, 40, 61, 76, 78, 80, 102, 137, 180, 181, 184, 187, 189, 198, 237, 254, 260, 262, 273, 302 Trends, 30, 110, 130, 133, 152, 176, 210, 315, 317, 318, 324 Trust, 147, 151, 153, 154, 158, 166, 231 Truth, 100, 239 U Uncertainties, 4, 13, 54, 142, 146, 148, 149, 152–155, 158, 166, 181, 275, 276 Unprecedented, 54, 90, 142, 148, 150, 154, 167, 236 Unpredictable, 44, 47, 236 Unsafe planning, 148, 149, 155, 159, 167 Urban agriculture, 14, 19, 20, 23, 28, 78, 97, 119–121, 195, 198, 249, 255, 309, 323, 324 Urban by Nature, 43, 127, 129, 140, 141 Urban density, 293 Urban designs, 19, 40, 77, 78, 82, 89, 96–98, 104, 105, 119, 141, 173, 178, 181, 182, 185, 187–189, 191, 195, 196, 198, 200, 201, 212, 214, 232, 293, 307, 332 Urban ecology, 138, 140, 142 Urban economics, 63 Urban energy system, 140, 248–250 Urban environments, 4–6, 10, 13, 21, 23, 32, 40, 43, 44, 60, 76, 82, 85, 140, 148, 256, 289, 293, 294, 328, 330 Urban fabric, 40, 83 Urban farming, 18, 137, 185, 192, 195, 242, 248, 250, 255, 283, 285, 302–306, 308–310 Urban flows, 4, 5, 32, 40–44, 51, 52, 63, 81, 90, 127, 138–142, 159, 330 Urban food life, 209–232 Urban food security, 323 Urban food services, 225 Urban forms, 18, 101, 219, 282, 301 Urban heat islands (UHI), 26, 61, 62, 249 Urbanisation, 12, 21, 82, 90, 96, 191, 219, 232, 314, 323, 328 Urban landscapes, 20, 60, 82, 103, 108, 119, 126–128, 216, 306 Urban living lab (ULL), 77, 210–216, 218–221, 228, 230, 232 Urban metabolism, 20, 40, 41, 43, 44, 50, 52–54, 126–143, 327–332 Urban regions, 18, 21, 28, 33, 40, 173, 216 Urban-rural, 16, 90, 291, 293, 294

341 Utilities, 10, 11, 28, 128, 186, 187, 231, 330, 331 V Vacant,Vacancy, 19, 23, 26, 28, 191, 192, 195, 197, 200, 201, 215, 245, 246, 249, 250, 305 Validation, 100, 104–106, 119, 121 Vegans, 117–119 Vegetables, 66, 84, 111, 117, 119, 135, 137, 176, 221–223, 225, 293, 308, 314, 316–322 Vegetable supply chain, 314, 320 Vegetarian, 117–119 Vegetation, 64, 83 Vertical farming, 242, 248–250, 287 Virtual water footprint, 314, 319–321, 323, 324 Visible, 40, 43, 44, 60, 90, 134, 142, 152, 155, 158, 231, 236, 244, 295, 331 Visions, 46, 48, 50, 54, 75, 81, 97, 116, 141, 142, 153, 191, 213, 220, 221, 223, 296, 298 Visualisations, 33, 44, 52, 53, 66, 108, 198 Vulnerability, 61, 77, 78, 167, 236, 237, 328 W Wadden Sea, 154, 158, 160, 167 Waste, 4, 6, 8, 12, 15, 21, 26, 32, 40, 43, 44, 61, 70, 76, 78, 82, 86, 87, 89, 90, 128, 129, 135–138, 180–182, 184, 185, 197, 200, 237, 241, 242, 247, 249, 250, 254–257, 259–269, 272–274, 276, 291, 293, 296, 302, 305, 323, 328, 330 Waste management, 12, 98, 129, 189, 198, 200, 237, 238, 263 Waste system, 185 Wastewater, 12, 61, 78, 89, 137, 180, 181, 187, 198, 237, 294, 330 Water, 4–7, 10–19, 21, 23, 26–28, 31–33, 40–43, 45, 46, 51–53, 61–64, 66, 68–70, 73–83, 86, 88–90, 96, 98, 102–104, 108, 110, 112–114, 116, 119–122, 127, 130, 131, 134, 135, 151–154, 158–162, 164–166, 172, 173, 176, 177, 180–182, 185, 187–189, 195, 198–201, 210, 213, 214, 216, 217, 219, 221, 228, 237, 238, 240–242, 244, 245, 249, 250, 254–257, 259, 260, 262–264, 266–268, 273, 274, 276, 282, 284, 286–288, 290, 291, 294, 299–302, 305, 306, 308–310, 320, 323, 324, 328, 330–332

Index

342 Western Sydney, 59–90, 216 Western Sydney Parklands, 62, 68, 70, 71, 80, 82, 90 Wicked problems, 11, 148, 328 Wiki platform, 25, 33

Y Yokohama, 219–221, 223, 228, 231, 233, 306 Z Zero-emissions, 70