Summary: Rapid urbanization negatively impacts liveability in cities. It is critical to identify an alternative way of building cities, which combines the imperatives of building fast and affordable with the imperatives of building sustainable and liveable. The session will share latest outcomes of the ongoing UNICITI program A Third Way of Building Asian Cities supported by 16 International Experts and over 80 Volunteers of Change from over 35 countries and engage participants into identifying ways forward in their respective countries. 

Details

Rapid urbanisation often results in a uniform infrastructural development, which compromises on liveability. Commercially mass-produced building materials and designs largely dominate the urban fabric. This generates not only low quality of life, but also compromises meeting the Paris Agreement, which calls for cutting 90% of GHG emissions from buildings by 2050. Sustainable and local context tailored solutions exist too, but they are mostly hard to upscale and cover less than 1% of the urban fabric. As per the World Bank, 60% of the infrastructure the world will see in 2030 is yet to be built. This means we have entered a critical decade which will determine the quality of urban dwellers' life for several decades in the future. It is hence necessary to identify a third alternative way of building cities today. 

Over the last two years, UNICITI has been leading research on how we can meet today's urban infrastructure and housing needs without compromising on liveability and sustainability under its program A Third Way of Building Asian Cities. The program was launched in a special session at the 55th ISOCARP Planning Congress in Jakarta and focuses on bringing together unscalable manufacturing processes with local knowledge and craftsmanship, which will allow to build at pace while building unique cities. The program's International Working Group of Experts (IWGE) brought together a number of prominent international urban practitioners and institutions. With UNICITI's knowledge and coordination support, the IWGE does research in 3 directions: 

1. Alternative building materials and construction techniques,

2. Alternative urban development models,

3. Alternative policies and regulations.

1. Alternative building materials and construction techniques can help make buildings energy efficient, lower their GHG emissions and offer localised solutions that bring out a unique visual identity of the place. Techniques such as compressed stabilised earth blocks (CSEB), building high rises with wood, combining 3D printing andprefabricated or modular building approaches with local materials and designs, or circular economy in construction materials are explored.

2. Alternative urban development models go hand in hand with the above. For example, high rise development highly limits the choice of building forms and construction materials (concrete, steel, glass, aluminium) while the manufacturing of these contributes to 11% of global CO2 emissions (UNEP). In contrast, a high density low and medium rise model opens up a much broader spectrum of building materials and designs.

3. Alternative policies and regulations: Large scale construction companies and real estate developers lead the construction market and prioritise the economy of scales. Urban development for liveability hence requires public policies and regulations that favour sustainability and quality of life. Here, smaller players can better contribute and bring in more diversity and local context tailored solutions. Such regulations have proved successful in creating a vibrant public realm, for example form-based codes in the United States.

The session will actively engage participants in the on-going work of the IWGE and build on the 55th ISOCARP Planning Congress' special session, which received strong interest from participants. It will share selected outcomes of the research conducted by UNICITI and the IWGE in 2020-2021 and offer ISOCARP members the opportunity join its international network. 

The session will be divided into three parts:

1. A setting the scene part (45 minutes) will present latest outcomes of UNICITI's and IWGE's on-going research in the 3 above-mentioned verticals.

2. A working part (40 minutes) will open the floor to participants to jointly discuss challenges and opportunities arising in their respective countries to making their cities unique, sustainable and liveable. Depending on the room arrangements, participants may divided into smaller thematic groups. 

3. A conclusive part (5 minutes) will present key points taken from the discussion and outline ways in which ISOCARP members could further engage with the IWGE. 

Moderator and introduction 

Building Unique Cities: Why and How? 

Ms. Olga Chepelianskaia – Principal Consultant and Founder, UNICITI

Presentations and speakers

Optimal Wall Materials and Properties to Upscale Sustainable Urban Construction 

Mr. Sanjay Prakash - Principal Architect, Studio for Habitat Futures (SHiFt), New Delhi, India

Mr. Sameer Maithel - Director, Greentech Knowledge Solutions Pvt Ltd, Delhi, India

Mr. Tanmay Tathagat - Executive Director, Environmental Design Solutions, New Delhi, India

Bamboo: a Cost Effective and Unscalable Alternative Building Material 

Mr. Sanjeev Karpe - Managing Director, Native Konbac Bamboo Products Pvt Ltd, Maharashtra, India

Urban Heat Island Effect and Urban Morphology: Correlation and Learnings 

Mr. Julio Carrillo – International Senor Planner and Urban Designer, Urban Land Institute, Austin, United States of America

Adapting Cities to A New Normal: Repurposing Buildings and Urban Spaces Abandoned During COVID 19 and Other Disruptions 

Mr. Bassel Omara - Head of Design Department, BIM Manager, Dorsch Holding GmbH, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 

Unlocking Economic and Financial Opportunities to Help Deploy Alternative Building Materials at Scale

Mr. Michael Lindfield - Director, Urban Intrastructure Services, Sydney, Australia