The Green Urbanist

I sit down with Andrew Bullmore of VU.CITY to discuss how 3D models, digital twins and artificial intelligence tools can be used to do better, evidence-based planning and design and get more sustainable outcomes. 

VU.CITY website: https://www.vu.city/
SiteSolve generative AI: https://www.site-solve.co.uk/

This is a sponsored episode. Thanks to VU.CITY for the support. 

Thanks for listening!

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Sam Luker is an Associate Sustainability Director at AESG and led on their new report titled 'Net Zero Neighbourhoods'. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• Why the neighbourhood scale is optimal for decarbonisation and finding local solutions to sustainability
• Principles and case studies for Net Zero Neighbourhoods
• Retrofitting existing neighbourhoods for decarbonisation
• How to get communities involved and realise loca...

Mohit and Sue Yen are architects and members of Decolonise Architecture, a solution-based group driven to tackle institutional racism and bias within architectural education and practice. In this episode we discuss:  

• How architectural education and practice can be 'colonial' in its approach, and the problems with this.
• Expanding architectural education and practice to embrace other cultures and worldviews.
• How the archi...

Jeffrey Rissman is Senior Director at Energy Innovation, where he leads the company’s work on technologies and policies to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the industry sector. He is the author of Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity (2024) and coauthor of Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy (2018).

We discuss decarbonisation p...

 Welcome to part 4, the final episode in the landscape mini-series. In this episode I sit down with Cannon Ivers CMLI of LDA to discuss their inspiring project The Strand, Aldwych. The Strand was for centuries a busy traffic thoroughfare in central London that has been transformed into a totally pedestrianised and multi-functional public space. Cannon tells me the story of how this came to be, what it means for the people who use t...

 Welcome to part 3 in this mini-series on landscape and urban nature. In this episode I spoke with James Virgo CMLI of LUC. He tells me about LUC’s work on Shoreditch Park. This is a nice case study of taking an existing park and working with the local community to improve it for biodiversity while tackling anti-social behaviour and creating a more welcoming and multi-function space for local people.

More about Shoreditch...

 Welcome to part 2 of this mini-series on landscape and urban nature. This episode features an interview with Michael Cowdy FLI of McGregor Coxall. We discuss two of their Landscape Award-nominated projects, a research project on BioUrbanism and the second a design code for green infrastructure for a new community Cherry Hinton North, Cambridge. 

More about Biourbanism: https://mcgregorcoxall.com/biourbanism

Thank...

Welcome to this 4-part series on the role of landscape and urban nature in creating resilient, sustainable and healthy places. Over the next 4 weeks I’ll be releasing short weekly episodes featuring interviews with landscape practitioners that highlight great case studies in landscape design and discuss the wider role of these interventions in green urbanism.

The interviews were recorded at the Landscape Institute Awards 2023. Thank...

Antonietta Canta is a Principal Environmental and Sustainability Engineer at Arup. In this episode we discuss their recent research report: ‘Addressing overheating risk in existing UK homes’. As dry as that title sounds, the conversation was actually very illuminating and useful. It's also useful for listeners outside the UK!

We discuss:

• How many homes in UK are at risk of overheating now and in future climate scenarios.
• Why ...

Jan Kattein is Director of Jan Kattein Architects, a studio that focuses on collaborative, sustainable and community-focused projects. Back in September of 2023 I joined Jan at their project in south London called the Paper Garden, which is a educational building and garden space for the charity Global Generation. Some of they key points we discuss:

• Radically circular building with 60% reused materials
• Built by 3000 volunteers - ...

Kent Jackson is Design Partner at Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) and leads the designs of a wide range of scales and typologies across the globe. Passionate about improving the future of planetary health, Kent is also a leader of SOM’s Climate Action Group, advancing the firm’s commitment for all active work to be net zero whole-life carbon by 2040.

James Woodall is Sustainability Lead at SOM and was a co-editor of the...

Steve Sanham established Common Projects in 2021: a development company led by a purpose to put people and planet at the heart of its decision-making. Steve has an extensive and proven track record in the built environment, specialising in urban regeneration and in using development’s power to deliver better outcomes. Common Projects finances and delivers complex and game-changing development projects in London and the South East w...

Sean McCormack is a consultant Vet, the Chairperson of Ealing Wildlife Group, and an incredibly knowledgeable nature conservationist and educator based in west London.  This episode is part 2 of our conversation where we get into more detail on: 

• The practicalities of reintroducing beavers to an urban park
• Management of urban nature
• Rewilding vs nature restoration
• The importance of partnerships and collaboration

I also got the ...

Sean McCormack is a consultant Vet, the Chairperson of Ealing Wildlife Group, and an incredibly knowledgeable nature conservationist and educator based in west London. In this episode we discuss his work to rewild urban London by reintroducing harvest mice, beavers and (eventually maybe) water voles while supporting native predators like falcons and owls in the city. It’s a really positive and inspiring story of how a community and...

Nate Hagens is a systems thinker and educator focused on a concept he calls The Great Simplification. He has spent the last 20 years studying the systems we live in like energy, ecology and economics. He teaches at the University of Minnesota and speaks widely on these topics, including on his youtube channel called Nate Hagens and his podcast called The Great Simplification.

We discuss:

• The Great Simplification and what that mea...

Climate change is here and now cities and communities must adapt for safety, health and quality of life. In this episode I discuss a useful model for thinking about climate adaptation in three levels: resilience,  transition and transformation.

I also provide some examples and ideas for bringing adaptation thinking into the work of urbanists.

Relevant episodes:
#68: Urban Rewilding
#59: Why cities need Tr...

This episode is a conversation with Tara and Lanre of Gbolade Design Studio, sustainable architects and urban designers based in London. Reflecting on their 5 years in practice, we discuss a range of topics and projects including:

• City-shaping with masterplans and design codes
• Retrofitting existing buildings
• Zero carbon and regenerative design
• Community-building and co-creating with communities
• Innovation in design, including the us...

What is urban rewilding? Can it be done in cities? Is anyone doing it? 

In this episode, we explore:

• History of the rewilding concept
• Current best practice in rewilding
• How rewilding can be applied to cities
• Case studies of active and passive rewilding in urban areas around the world

Companion Blog Post - See visuals of the stuff we talk about plus sources and bibliography.

Corrections:
We made a few smal...

This episode is a conversation with Jane, Lydia and Tom of architecture and urban design studio DSDHA. We discuss their research project 'Towards Spatial Justice: A guide for achieving meaningful participation in co-design processes'.

We explore what co-design really means, why it’s important and how they have applied co-design processes at their projects: White Horse Square in Wembley Park, London and the extension of the...