BUILDING UNIQUE AND SUSTAINABLE ASIAN CITIES TODAY - ALTERNATIVE URBAN DEVELOPMENT MODELS ARE STRONGLY CORRELATED TO ALTERNATIVE BUILDING MATERIALS
Asian cities are undergoing a process of rapid urbanisation. They hosted 0.3 billion urban dwellers in the late 1950s, 2.1 billion in 2015 and are projected to host 3.3 billion by 2050. This urbanisation, however, came at the cost of significant vulnerabilities. As per the UN-Habitat, Asia is home to nearly 70% of the world’s urban poor and 64% of the urban population live in slums. Over 50% of Asian urban dwellers have no direct access to water supply and over 25% have no access to improved sanitation. In addition, Asia is the most climate-vulnerable region in the world, which further worsens living conditions in cities. Out of 10 most climate affected nations, 6 are located in Asia-Pacific.
These challenges are likely to exacerbate further if the business as usual (BAU) way of building cities continues. The World Bank estimates that over 60% of the infrastructure the world will see in 2030 is yet to be built, and a large part of it will be built in Asia. According to ADB estimates, USD 26 trillion need to be invested in developing infrastructure in Asia between 2016 and 2030 (ADB, 2017). If the BAU scenario dominates new constructions, Asian urban dwellers will be locked into a low quality and unsustainable lifestyle for decades.
Conventional and niche ways of building cities haven’t tackled the challenge Current building practices are highly dependent on commercially mass-produced building materials and designs (first way of building), with the exception of niche sustainable and local context tailored building solutions that represent less than 1% of a city’s urban fabric (second way of building). As a result, most Asian cities’ urban fabric is composed of identical homogenised buildings, and related negative consequences go far beyond the loss of an aesthetic appeal.
THE THIRD WAY OF BUILDING ASIAN CITIES TODAY
In this context, we urgently need to identify an alternative third way of meeting today’s infrastructure and housing needs that equally responds to the need of building fast and affordable in a dense urban environment and to the need of building unique, sustainable and liveable cities. UNICITI believe in the necessity for a third holistic way of building grounded into appropriate technology that combines the efficiency of globalised manufacturing processes and the ingenuity of local context tailored spatial practices and craftsmanship.
The program works with prominent international experts to identify and develop breakthroughs in alternative building materials, alternative design techniques, alternative urban development models as well as alternative policies, regulations, economic and financial models that will help build Asian cities in a sustainable, resilient, inclusive, liveable and unique way.
WORKSTREAM 2: ALTERNATIVE URBAN DEVELOPMENT MODELS
Alternative urban development models are strongly correlated to alternative building materials and construction techniques. For example, building high rise essentially limits construction materials to those high in embodied energy (concrete, steel, glass, aluminium). In contrast, a high-density low-rise urban development model allows for a wider variety of materials and often offers a better quality of life. Alternative urban development models hence need to be explored and assessed.
DARA’ will lead a research stream called “Parametric modelling for form-based approaches”. DARA explores how computational form-based coding (FBC) is transformative to urban planning and development that focuses on livability, cultural richness and local contexts.
More Info via UNICITI.