GREEN CITIES Are we ready to fast forward to the future?
Human ingenuity and intelligent optimism will help us create better places for people and planet. This was the overriding message from the 11th annual Green Cities conference. Futurist Chris Riddell kicked off the day with an exploration the megatrends and slow moving currents that are propelling us down the information highway. The conference theme ‘Fast Forward to the Future’ brought with it the requisite discussions about high tech wizardry – autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and augmented reality among them – but the real story was how a solutions driven industry was mapping a pathway to a sustainable future and that pathway will be a zero carbon one.
Success stories fuelled the air of optimism. The Better Buildings Partnership is saving $36 million a year through emissions reduction, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore told the audience. Battery storage is increasing exponentially, said Tesla’s Cleve Schupp. Vancouver has Canada’s fastest growing economy and its largest investment in green infrastructure, explained Councillor Andrea Reimer.
“The next three years of innovation and change will shape and define the next 100 years,” Riddell said.“Borders and time are being broken by technology” and as they do, we are finding spectacular solutions to complex problems.
The policy leadership demonstrated by many local and state governments was clearly on display, and pointed to urgent need for our national government to lead with an ambitious and proactive policy agenda. These government leaders understand that our buildings may have a super-sized carbon footprint, but they also present huge potential.
Romilly Madew, Chief Executive Officer of the Green Building Council of Australia, launched ‘A carbon positive roadmap for the built environment’ – a discussion paper which charts a course for “efficient, comfortable and healthy buildings, energy security and a thriving renewable energy industry, jobs growth in emerging sectors, and enhanced biodiversity.”
“The built environment can deliver $20 billion in savings and half of the National Energy Productivity Plan by 2030 with the right policies,” said Amandine Denis-Ryan, head of research at ClimateWorks Australia. Property Council Chief Executive Ken Morrison moderated a robust conversation on unlocking the key to finance, and argued
that creative thinking was required to mobilise money from every possible source. For Rick Fedrizzi, Chairman and CEO of International WELL Building Institute, “wellness” was the next big opportunity for building performance. Fedrizzi pointed to recent Harvard research, which examined the impact of indoor environment quality on brain function, revealing that employees’ cognitive performance scores averaged 101% higher in green building environments with enhanced ventilation than in conventional building environment. Later, Madew and Fedrizzi announced a range of joint initiatives which would advance the health and wellbeing movement in Australia. Denser cities could lead to better, more sustainable cities, the audience also heard. ‘Starchitect’ Joe Snell said density was “inevitable” but didn’t need to be scary, while Lendlease’s CEO of Property, Kylie Rampa, argued that good density brings with it vibrant street life, access to transport and jobs, and better places for people. “Rather than seeing density as a second choice, we should be looking at density as the vehicle” to make our cities better as they grow, said Michael Rose, Chairman of The Committee for Sydney.
Chris Riddell
130 ANCR GrEEN CITIES CONFERENCE 2017
Penny Sharpe, the New South Wales Shadow Minister for Environment and Heritage, said a denser future was “undeniable” – but that it needed to be shared equitably. “When you look at where density is increasing, it’s in Labor Party areas.” AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION REVIEW