INPUTS, OUTPUTS Y DISTRIBUCIÓN

2.2

2.3

2.4

INTEGRATED DESIGN

2.1

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH

2.1.1 What is an integrated approach?

2.1.2 Goals and performance

2.1.3 Orchestration of the design team

Good urban design can help to create thriving places which are well designed, well built, inclusive and safe, well run, well connected, well served, environmentally sensitive and have the potential to improve life chances. These aspects are often interrelated. For example, design and management will have an impact on safety, and well-connected places are more likely to be thriving and active. Urban design has to be based on a thorough understanding of the relationships between the diverse components and functions of the built environment and, where possible, an ability to quantify those interconnections.

Today urban design practice is developing an integrated approach to a wide range of factors including resources, emissions, health, people, culture and habitat, and how the relationships between them can shape urban form. Although this agenda may seem complex, common sense application of urban design principles and collaborative working can deliver quality places.

2.1.1 What is an integrated approach?

Interconnections 024

Assessing and developing interconnections needs to be more than simply adding a few green features to a scheme. Some green roofs or a few wind turbines by themselves are unlikely to make the most of the opportunities and efficiencies that are possible at the scales at which urban design operates.

The objective of an integrated process is to create places that are physically, socially and economically responsible. This does not necessarily mean changing how we make things look, but it does mean changing how they work.

Virtuous cycles 025

One of the ways of revealing these interdependencies and relationships is by establishing virtuous cycles. For example, connected streets encourage walking, which improves health, creates active streets, and reduces pollution and

energy consumption. Likewise, green spaces can provide leisure facilities, and landscape can modify microclimate as well as creating wildlife corridors. Design responses to objectives such as better health, higher productivity and lower emissions can overlap, becoming mutually supportive. The relationships between the elements of the built

environment are complex. The initial task at the design stage is to identify the most important relationships for a particular situation. These should be considered in the masterplanning process. There are a number of new ways of modelling energy and resources. Spreadsheets and computer models are being developed to help this process.

2.1.2 Goals and performance

Setting objectives

Virtuous cycles can be identified at a range of scales and densities, from high density urban development to rural infill. Although there will be common issues, such as carbon reduction, the objectives and priorities will vary with the location and nature of the project. The design strategies, different for each place, should be based on an understanding of factors such as local needs, culture, climate and the availability of resources.

Setting the objectives for a project needs to be undertaken through a process of stakeholder negotiation. Workshop sessions at the beginning of a project can help to identify important issues and decide priorities. The brief that sets the context for developing these issues must be a process of integration.

Long life, loose fit

It is important that the limits and flexibility of each variable are understood at the outset. Some variables will be flexible throughout the masterplanning and design stage, while others will not. The most resilient parts of a masterplan should be the streets and related infrastructure. These are based on long-term design decisions which should allow for sufficient capacity and flexibility to last for generations.

The Hammarby Model illustrates how sustainability initiatives have been integrated holistically. This new city neighbourhood has delivered an attractive

place to live and work which is also a world class example of how new developments can minimise their environmental impact and enhance its setting through careful planning, joined up thinking and strong leadership. At Hammarby Sjöstad, the environmental programme was an integral element of the masterplan. This clearly set out key objectives and requirements which had to be addressed at both the planning and implementation stages of development. By having clearly stated objectives from the outset, these requirements informed the detailed design discussions between the plot developers, architects and city planning team.

Clear environmental objectives also enabled development of the Hammarby Model, which shows how the relationship between sewage processing, energy provision and waste handling in this local eco system can be structured to deliver wider social and environmental benefits.

Key features of the local ecosystem are:

• Refuse is piped to the renewable fuel-fired district heating plant in the area. Combustible waste is recycled as heat and food waste is composted into soil.

• Wastewater is treated nearby at the on-site sewage plant with heat recovered for household heating and silt converted into biogas.

• Pilot of an experimental on-site sewage works which will employ new technologies to extract nutrients from sewage and waste water for use on farmland. Surface water is treated locally to avoid overloading the sewage works.

Hammarby recognises that environmental performance is not just about design, the development also needs to influence how people use places. An environmental centre

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