By Peter Wynne Rees for FORUM CSR International.

We are told, buildings account for over 40% of the man-made carbon load. This is hardly surprising, however, as people spend most of their time in buildings. It’s people that waste energy, not buildings!

The three factors which ensure a successful property acquisition or development have always been location, location and location. This is equally true for sustainable developments. It doesn’t matter how “green” your building if the majority of its occupants have to rely on the automobile to reach it. The energy efficiency of a business is much more dependent on local climatic impact than on the power profligacy of their workforce. A development sited in a suburban or unattractive location fails to provide its users with multiple reasons for their journey and derives less value from the energy used to access it. It is vitally important to create buildings which minimize their energy consumption, environmental impact and use of limited resources. But the means by which the occupants come and go is a much more critical determinant of overall sustainability. Minimizing the “access” and “cooling” energy consumption of a development will make a considerably greater contribution to global survival than adding any amount of environmental gimmickry such as solar panels in northern latitudes and windmills.

The curse of decentralization

It is often assumed that working at, or near, one’s home uses less energy than going to the office. However, the central concentration of specialized activities in places accessed by public transport and offering a wide range of services and leisure attractions is not only highly efficient but also more stimulating for our intellectual, emotional and sexual needs.

Urbanization is often cited as a principal cause of increasing energy consumption and potential global demise. The major cities are portrayed as unsustainable squanderers of energy and resources while decentralized rural communities are held up as beacons to future survival. In the days when the rural hinterlands produced food, materials and labor for the cities this was probably true. However, in a technologically advanced society rural living becomes increasingly unsustainable and dependent upon subsidy from major cities. The “SUV lifestyle” of the modern countryside produces ever greater demands for infrastructure, welfare services and energy. It is only the city centre (downtown or “where it’s at”) that is throbbing with energy you can actually absorb.

Making sustainable places

The design of balanced communities is not a recent pursuit. In the 19th century Sir Ebenezer Howard and the Garden City Movement pioneered the creation of settlements limited in size to 30,000 - 40,000 people and separated by open countryside. Thus, the inhabitants would enjoy the benefits of urban living while having easy access to nature and rural recreation. In the UK today, these ideas are influencing the Government’s Eco-towns Programme which aims to provide part of the targeted 3 million new carbon-neutral homes by 2020. Unlike the New Towns Programme of the 1950s-1970s, there is now greater recognition that towns can only achieve a limited level of self-sufficiency. Increased personal mobility and the desire for greater choice means that fewer people live and work in the same neighborhood. They change jobs with increasing frequency as businesses rise and fall on the winds of the global economy. The Eco-towns will be connected by efficient public transport links to form clusters of opportunity and critical mass.

London - sustained success

London is a city which has remained successful over 2,000 years of organic development and growth. The City of London endured as the centre of trade while the City of Westminster was the centre of the nation. These two adjacent but separate cities, together with a collection of neighboring villages, coalesced to form the basis for a “world city” of the 21st century with a population of 8 million. Although there are only 9,000 residents within “The City” it is able to attract the highest levels of professional skill - to complete its daily workforce of 350,000 - from a population of 20 million living in the south-east region of England. This daily migration is handled by sustainable forms of transport. Over 90% of the commuting workers arrive by train or bus and less than 5% by car - the remainder cycle or walk to work.

London is a polycentric and polycultural city. Although widely known as a world financial centre, “The City” also houses global concentrations of insurance and shipping business. In addition it is the principal legal centre of the UK and home of the internationally acclaimed Barbican cultural centre. Westminster has equally powerful centres of excellence in higher education, nightlife, theatre and the media. Other parts of the metropolis offer many urban “villages” with distinctive character and specialized activities. The population is truly cosmopolitan with over 300 languages being spoken in London’s schools. This rich mix of activities and cultures has produced a world city with unrivalled creativity and a unique ability to adapt to change - fundamental requirements for a sustainable future.

The factor which achieves the greatest separation of energy use when comparing the City with other financial business locations such as Frankfurt, suburban business parks or rural home-working is the overriding dependence upon public transport to access the widest skill base. Add to this energy efficient powerhouse of world finance a broadening range of supporting hotel, retail and leisure facilities together with the construction of architecturally outstanding buildings and attractive pocket parks and the historic brand of the City shows that its 2,000 year continuum of change is stronger than ever.

A sustainable location for commercial development has a temperate climate, good public transport, a multi-skilled and polycultural workforce and a stimulating social and physical environment. Such a location would be the ideal site for a successful city - and probably already is.

Contact
Peter Wynne Rees, The City Planning Officer, City of London Corporation, Department of Planning & Transportation, City of London
Peterwynne.Rees@cityoflondon.gov.uk

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