The sustainability spectrum

Sustainable masterplanning is not a new concept. At Hilson Moran we have worked on a range of masterplans starting with Saudia City in Jeddah back in 1976; a masterplan that is still going strong to this day. But what we are finding now is that governments, local city councils and design professionals are all becoming interested in applying a more sustainable approach to urban planning. However, most still don’t have a clear picture of what this actually means.

It is estimated that more than 65 percent of the global population now lives in cities, so the challenges of sustainable urbanism will be the challenges experienced by all developers and planners as we move towards decarbonising the grid and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. It’s no longer simply a matter of buying and building on a plot of land; we need to look at the bigger picture of the surrounding transport, energy and waste infrastructure, as well as the wider community in which the building is located.

In the UK, a more sustainable infrastructure is just starting to be developed, with district heating and cooling systems being introduced by the most forward thinking developers. This is perhaps due to the installation of centralised district heating systems which requires developers to make a major investment in an energy efficiency infrastructure, long before they will see any capital return from the buildings on the development. The challenge for consultants now is to find sustainable solutions that are palatable for developers, balancing the initial outlay against potential long-term rewards.

To encourage this shift in thinking, Hilson Moran has developed a new framework for masterplanning – known as the Sustainable Built Environment Tool (SuBET) – which aims to encourage city designs that are adaptable, scalable and liveable, while also being able to create wealth through economic growth and stability. This unique tool has been developed in partnership with Dr Husam Al Waer, lecturer in Sustainable Architecture and director of the Sustainability Assessment Research Group at the University of Dundee; and Professor Derek Clements-Croome, director of the Intelligent Buildings Research Group at the University of Reading.

Essentially SuBET offers a comprehensive assessment framework for the sustainability of a major masterplan, conducted through a workshop process in which stakeholder engagement is key. It incorporates 80 indicators of a scheme’s environmental, social, cultural and economic impacts ranging from the micro to the macro – including considerations specific to a particular building or project, together with wider urban and regional planning issues, right up to the impact on sustainability at national and international level.

Whereas sustainability rating schemes such as BREEAM or LEED tend to focus on buildings and touch only briefly on infrastructure, SuBET offers a wider framework for masterplanning which focuses on place-making for our future cities and considers the huge number of socio-economic and cultural factors that also have an impact on the long-term sustainability of communities and the environments in which we live, work and play.

To achieve this long term sustainability, we need to examine more than just the already accepted parameters for success in environmental stewardship – such as transport infrastructure, land use, ecology, water conservation and energy efficiency. We also need to incorporate a whole raft of less readily rateable considerations, such as social diversity, cultural identity and economic visions.

For engineers and developers used to dealing in cold, hard figures and formulae, it may seem that notions like cultural identity are the ‘touchy feely’ stuff of purely conceptual designers and architects. But for everyone involved in the planning and project team, it is imperative that we do take these considerations just as seriously as the more clearly tangible and measurable criteria that we typically factor into the design stages of a project.

In considering the wider environs of a development, we also need to ensure that masterplanning includes detailed consideration of the adjacency of work, leisure and living spaces. However, achieving the right combination depends on the individual neighbourhood’s particular strengths.

Improving diversity of use may mean interweaving commercial and retail centres, which create employment opportunities near transport facilities. Innovative use of space could include providing mixed use buildings, such as housing above retail and commercial facilities, as well as considering the horizontal land use between adjacent plots, with areas for specific facilities such as schools and health centres. Promoting business growth is also vital and this may mean giving priority to local businesses, to create a range of flexible employment opportunities and services, encouraging economic growth.

Encouraging physical connectivity through effective street networks between the new development areas and the existing urban fabric increases social networking and the usability of the local environment. Proximity and access to frequent public transport helps reduce the reliance on car transport and needs to be carefully planned to reflect future growth expectations. Promoting systems to reduce congestion can also assist in lowering vehicle pollution linked to poor public health.

Long term sustainability demands the creation of safer, more vibrant and inclusive communities that offer a wide range of opportunities for jobs, leisure, culture and activity.  Such areas are more adaptable to change in the long term and offer better prospects overall for economic growth. It may sound obvious in retrospect, but there are many examples in different times and regions where a single economic priority overtakes any other commercial, social or cultural considerations within an urban environment, ultimately leading to a boom and bust scenario that has been witnessed in numerous instances the world over.

Of course, the economic and social impacts of development are closely intertwined too. Good quality, high density developments can in fact help create more viable neighbourhoods capable of supporting local services.  Yet questions of density must also be balanced with considerations about the availability of public space, ensuring a good relationship with the surrounding area in terms of connectivity, scale and integration.

Encouraging community cohesion may involve enhancing the visual characteristics of a development to evoke greater cultural and spiritual responses, while contributing to the quality of local life. For architects and planners this may mean considering the height, setback, sizes and materials used in developments to provide continuity while injecting personality and character, or encouraging greater community interaction through an increased focus on recreation and leisure activities.

What SuBET amply demonstrates is that no one measure can deliver sustainability on the scope now required. The long term sustainability of urban environments will demand the input and intelligence of all those involved in creating these communities to find the optimum solutions for the future.

About the author
Matt Kitson is director of Sustainability at international engineering consultancy, Hilson Moran