URBAN SYSTEMS GRP 2

A TALE OF TWO CITIES: AN URBAN COMPARATIVE STUDY London’s BedZED & Singapore’s Punggol Eco-town

DAPHINE

BRIEF

In this article we compare London's BedZED & Singapore’s Punggol Eco-town. Our study is aimed at looking into the key issues, leadership and governance and its effects. Periodically suggesting ideas and actions that could otherwise lead to different outcomes and impacts. This study is assessed by its inclusiveness, adaptability, resilience, sustainability, distinctiveness, and at the same time, if they are endearing.

© 2023 Time Out England

https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/bedzed https://urbandemos.nyu.edu/2018/10/24/shaping-sustainable-urban-landscapes-in-pun ggol-eco-town-singapore/

© 2023 Urban Democracy Lab

PROJECT INFORMATION

Project name : Beddington Zero Energy Development Location : Sandmartin Way, Wallington SM6 7DF, United Kingdom Size : 1,405 square metres Year Project Started - Completed: 2001 - 2002 Awards : RIBA Stirling Prize 2003. Shortlisted main Prize & Winner of Sustainability Award.

RIBA London Awards 2003. Special Awards - Sustainability.

Housing Design Awards 2003. Best Project & Sustainability Award.

EU prize for contemporary architecture 2003.

Evening Standard Lifestyle Award 2002.

Eurosolar Award 2002.

OVERVIEW The first large-scale, mixed-use sustainable community in the UK is BedZED, located in Sutton, south London. Around the world, low-carbon, ecologically friendly home constructions have drawn inspiration from it.

Since its completion in 2002, it has been visited by tens of thousands of people and still draws thousands of visitors from all over the world.

DAPHINE

KEY ISSUES LONDON

In London, architecture school forums discussed the full utilisation of renewable natural resources, achieving closed loop material use, site resource autonomy, social involvement, and how all of these could respond to ever-rising lifestyle expectations.

These likely reflects some of the issues faced at the time in London such as the abundant use of non-renewable resources and the lack of social involvement in regards to developments.

There was also the concern of the resource usage of a growing population. At the time, if each person used the same amount of resources as the average UK citizen, we would require 3 planets worth of resources to meet the demand.

Gabriel

LEADERSHIP AND GOV LONDON

Gabriel

Bioregional/Bill Dunster The entrepreneurial sustainability charity Bioregional and green architect Bill Dunster conceptualised BedZED after learning that the Sutton Borough Council was selling a plot of land, with Bioregional as the lead sustainability advisor. At the time, BedZED was the first zero carbon development. A notable method of reducing carbon emissions during its construction was sourcing materials used for BedZED locally, which reduced their emissions by 29%.

Peabody Trust Peabody Trust, a donation fund and housing association, assisted in the development. They both funded and developed BedZED in partnership with Bioregional and Bill Dunster.They purchased the land for slightly below full market value from the Sutton Borough Council after being assured after being convinced that BedZED construction would yield broader community advantages, including lower emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. During development, they prioritised using reclaimed materials and recycled materials over brand new conventional materials.

Arup Arup assisted in the engineering of BedZED. In order to address the social and financial aspects of future sustainability as well as ecological effect and resource consumption, Arup team enabled Bill Dunster’s ideas to be developed and evaluated. Their insight helped with the implementation of sustainable design strategies such as the bio-fuelled combined heat and power plant.

https://regenerativedesign.world/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Arup-68-1.pdf https://www.slurc.org/uploads/1/0/9/7/109761391/towards_sustainable_residential_communities.pdf https://www.bioregional.com/resources/using-sustainable-building-materials-lessons-from-bedzedhttps://storage.googleapis.com/www.bioregional.com/downloads/The-BedZED-Story_Bioregio nal_2017.pdf https://www.arup.com/perspectives/publications/the-arup-journal/section/the-arup-journal-2003-issue-1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWhQVGZPFZI&list=PLnu-J7YW27ScsoH10kGORuQA62_6EaoXN&index=1

HENRY

IDEAS AND ACTIONS LONDON (inclusivity) Living Space & Community

Site & Transportation

Sense of community BedZED cultivates a sense of community by its mixed-use programming and high density, people are encouraged to interact and get to know one another

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel consumption produced by private car ownership ● ● ● ● ●

0.6 percent Car parking per home Encourage residents to use more sustainable modes of transport Good circulation spaces for bicycle, walking and public transportation Public green buffers for outdoor plants and trees Large amount of community space

Features of the site have been retained or enhanced to increase biodiversity and natural amenity value Concept and Site diagram

https://www.rachelriddle.com/architectureecology

ADAPTABLE RESILIENT

HENRY

Water efficiency

Ventilation and passive design

Wind cowls The use of a wind cowls design to reduce heat loss and decrease the amount of heat To help bring in fresh air while expelling stale air all without losing heat

Passive design strategies like sun room to allow more natural ventilation and daylight

Energy efficiency

Hot Water & Additional space heating

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Consuming less water by using water efficient products

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Fortunately, the majority of BedZED’s heat demand is fulfilled by solar gain and the warmth of it occupants

●

Recycling waste water by treatment plant tilized aquatic plants and associated microbes to clean the raw sewage allowing the cleaned water to be used for watering the gardens and flushing the toilets on site

●

●

Slowing the rate of stormwater from the roof

For heat to provide hot water, it have its very own distinct heating system.

Through an underground network of insulated pipes, hot water travels around the eco-village and is stored in tanks, placed in a vented cabinet, which are in each unit.

●

This hot water tank provides all of the unit’s hot water while also acting as a furnace in the winter to supplement the lower levels of passive heating

Wood-fueled power station & pv panel

HENRY

SUSTAINABLE Using passive solar techniques, houses are arranged in south-facing terraces to maximize heat gain from the sun.

Each terrace is backed by north facing offices, where minimal solar gain reduces the tendency to overheat and the need for air conditioning.

In addition to relatively low-tech eco-friendly building features, the development was constructed with mostly recycled and sustainable materials from sources within a 60 km radius. Also, resident's lifestyles contribute to overall sustainability, including food, transport and community gathering.

OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS LONDON ●

live and work with a completely carbon-neutral lifestyle, making this choice attractive, cost-effective, and appropriate to modern living.

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demonstrate to a sceptical industry how sustainability is possible and can become cost-effective, and how we can really make a difference for society and its future

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harnessing renewable natural resources, achieving closed loop material use, site resource autonomy, social involvement, and how all of these could respond to ever-increasing lifestyle expectations.

HENRY

DAPHINE

PROJECT INFORMATION

Project name : Punggol Eco-Town Location : Singapore, Punggol Size : 87 Hectares Year Project Started - Completed: 1998 - Ongoing Awards : 2021 Urban Land Institute (ULI) Global Awards for Excellence © ThoughtCo / Ashley Nicole DeLeon

OVERVIEW Punggol, one of Singapore's newest townships, is slightly over 9 km2 in size, lies on the country's northeastern coast, and is home to 189,000 people.

Punggol, which is projected to reach a population of 250,000 by 2030, has a particularly young population, with the highest rate of children under the age of five (9.9%) of any municipality.

© PFS STUDIO

JUSTIN

KEY ISSUES BEFORE PROJECT

To improve the neighborhood, public realm, and shoreline surroundings, to provide open space.

Create a variety of green places for communal and individual activity.

Develop a new landscape character from scratch on the "re-engineered" development plots.

Create linkages that are seamless along the canal frontages.

Include landscape that breathes life and character into the new neighborhood and fosters a healthy environment and biodiversity to fight against climate change.

Courtesy of NUS geographical records

JUSTIN

LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE

HDB (Housing Development Board) Having spearheaded sustainability initiatives since 2005 in an endeavor to reduce yearly energy usage in HDB towns by 10%. By 2030, HDB hopes to further reduce it through the Green Towns Programme, as stated in a statement made when the concept was first introduced. © 2023, Government of Singapore

URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) The master plan helped develop Stepped terracing over the building envelopes and plot levels create a strong interaction between homes, open space, and the water. The commons and gardens, which are spatially expressed as hexagonal courtyards, grow into more linear terraces of parks and green links between the public housing and waterway banks in an open spacious landscape that establishes the benchmark for subsequent developments in Punggol.

© Giuseppe Fanciullo, Simon Morrison, Courtesy of World landscape architecture

PUB (Public Utilities Board) Singapore's National Water Agency, investigated the possibility of damming the Punggol and Serangoon Rivers to impound the surface runoff for water supply even though they were marginalized catchments.

© Elyssa Ludher, Courtesy of CLC. MND

© Elyssa Ludher, Courtesy of CLC. MND

JUSTIN

LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE LTA (Land Transport Authority) A North East Line (NEL) MRT [Mass Rapid Transit] line, running from HarbourFront to Punggol, was intended to be built in 1985. At that time, the MRTC [Mass Rapid Transit Corporation] developed and created the MRT line. To make room for the new MRT line, roads and future road plans had to be modified. Also created were plans for an expressway to serve the north-eastern region, which subsequently became the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway. © Elyssa Ludher, Courtesy of CLC. MND

OTHER CONSULTANTS: PFS Studio (Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg) The development of the public realm and landscape vision for a sustainable new community in Southeast Asia was the responsibility of PFS Studio. The master plan skillfully combines land use, transportation, energy strategies, architectural form, dynamic parks, and public spaces with habitat zones, bioengineered, and programmed waterfront edges to create a useful and energetic new town on the coast. The plan's vision is to create a "Sustainable Waterfront Town in the Tropics."

© PFS Studio

© Elyssa Ludher, Courtesy of CLC. MND

DARRIUS

IDEAS AND ACTIONS PUNGGOL (Inclusivity) ACTIONS

IDEOLOGIES

©propertyreviewsg / courtesy of URA

The official envisioned a closed knit town, where everyone is able to get around the town in a user friendly manner like walking or cycling

©Googleearth

©CNN / courtesy of The Housing & Development Board

A clear segregation between both the pedestrians between traffic. Transportation infrastructure would be hidden underground to allow the ground level to be totally freed up.

Thenceforth, the plan of having 50 km of cycling network has been slowly been implemented into the 87 hectare residential land

Access to common facilities would be cluttered in towns which makes it more accessible to the general public. The LRT stations has been strategically placed in where residents are able to access the public transportation system via a 10 min walk or less

DARRIUS

IDEAS AND ACTIONS PUNGGOL (Adaptable Resilient) IDEOLOGIES For passive design strategies the architects has took Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), prevailing wind direction, natural cross ventilation and more into account when designing and orientating the building

In a press release, the minister for national development stated this overarching objective for punggol was to expand in an efficient, clean and environmentally friendly manner Courtesy of Housing & Development Board Courtesy of URA

ACTIONS The authorities have began to test both active and passive sustainable building management systems to improve the design of future HDBs

Not only has the building to face SIngapore’s harsh climate, the roads leading into the building has also been designed to cool down the surroundings

There are a myriad of active strategies like motion sensor lighting

Courtesy of Housing & Development Board

Courtesy of Housing & Development Board

Solar panels are installed on the roof of the HDB help power common services such as lifts, lighting, water pump and more

Within the home, green features are also present. For example the cool wall which is consist of polystyrene and mesh sandwich between both concrete panels to help dissipate the heat gained from the exterior facade

©Googleearth

Treelodge@punggol incorporates rain water harvesting to supplement common corridor washing and irrigation Courtesy of Housing & Development Board Courtesy of Housing & Development Board

DARRIUS

IDEAS AND ACTIONS PUNGGOL (Sustainable Singapore) IDEOLOGIES

ACTIONS

courtesy of Housing & Development board

In order to promote these designs and initiatives Nparks has came up with the Skyrise Greenery Incentive Scheme where they will fund up to 50% of the installation cost of rooftop greenery and vertical greenery.

©Archdaily / courtesy of Group8Asia

The various authorities envisioned punggols buildings, to incorporate green spaces into it whether it is residential or residential courtesy of Housing & Development board

This would be achieved through replacement of typical ground covers to biodiversity-attracting shrubs and are allowed to grow naturally without maintenance.

Together with URA’s plans for a Greater Rustic Coast, a 50lm recreational belt along the north coast it will provide a significant boost for active mobility as well as greenery and biodiversity. courtesy of Propertyguru

Besides incorporating greenery into buildings they have also planned introduce more naturalistic landscape to attract biodiversity

DARRIUS

IDEAS AND ACTIONS PUNGGOL (Distinctie & Endearing SG) IDEOLOGIES For example Oasis terrace which they adopted terracing building forms that step down towards punggol waterway, making full use of the waterfront views

©Archdaily / courtesy of Serie architects

Courtesy of URA

Maintaining a country’s heritage and culture has always been Singapore’s priority; This has been embodied into Punggol Theme from the beginning.

Furthermore, they also decided to incorporate undulating and rustic aesthetic into the design of the building as they wanted to evoke the past activities that would happen there such as ‘kelong fishing’

ACTIONS Courtesy of The Strait times

A common problem faced by older estates are that the major amenities and activities were located in the town center. Causing it to be inconvenient to residents of the outskirts of the town. Hence with Punggol eco town they have planned to have common facilities clustered, as to meet the demand of the people on a more individual level. Some of the activities and facilities include places like schools, recreational activities, common social venues and places of worship

Courtesy of The Strait times

The 11 districts will each follow a sub-theme which will respond to the relevant town location.

Courtesy of URASPCE & Straight times

DARRIUS

OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS PUNGGOL INCLUSIVE

SUSTAINABLE

HDB will be able to construct simulation tools to model various new urban solutions for more effective transportation networks as a result of this impact. This allows planners and architects to select the best combination of solutions to achieve the intended objectives toward a more closely linked neighborhood, as well as their cost implications. These simulations will assist in reducing the risk of physical trial and error required to attain the desired results.

It will provide a considerable boost for active mobility as well as greenery and biodiversity when joined with the URA's plans for a Greater Rustic Coast, a 50km recreational belt along the north coast.

Courtesy of The Strait times Courtesy of Housing Development Board

ADAPTABLE RESILIENT

DISTINCTIVE

The trialling of sustainability initiatives at Treelodge@Punggol as a pilot project enabled the HDB to manage the risks, learn from them and eventually scale up such initiatives to many other towns. Such initiatives contributed to the HDB’s goals of developing better estates, and are consolidated in its Roadmap for Better Living document and Sustainable Development Framework.

unique projects gave each precinct a homely and distinct sense of identity to everyone in the towns.

Courtesy of ArchNet

Courtesy of The Strait times

CONCLUSIONS THAT EVALUATE AND COMPARE BOTH CASE STUDIES On comparing the similarities, both have dense housing developments and, implement sustainable initiatives and strategies. Although it might have been too much of an ambitious attempt on sustainability by ZEDfactory, both do still embody the characteristic of sustainable living not entailing to sacrifice and discomfort.

But while bedZED's technologies and strategies were not as technologically advanced compared to current times, developers are still constantly upgrading and improving, due to the more affordable solutions of our current technological advancements, for example fitting much better composting toilets, and photovoltaic cells being almost 10 times cheaper.

The ongoing project takes a slow and tedious approach to the goal of sustainability, in comparison, being a project guided collectively by various sectors of the singapore government, including private international companies, the sustainable initiatives were launched in 2014, where they incorporate greenery that reduces urban heat island effects; solar panels to utilize solar energy, LED lighting, and regenerative elevators, as well as centralized chutes that maximize the collection of recyclable waste, rainwater harvesting systems, and water sensitive urban design elements to manage stormwater runoffs. All of which are subsequently and gradually being implemented to push the sustainable goals even farther.

On the surface, Punggol's eco town under the Punggol 21+ vision having been planned since its first announcement by the government, a new vision on a massive 87 hectares of land, was a revamped version of the original punggol 21 blueprint that was unveiled in 1996. the project would still be ongoing as of today.

JUSTIN

REFERENCES

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https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/bedzed https://urbandemos.nyu.edu/2018/10/24/shaping-sustainable-urban-landsca pes-in-punggol-eco-town-singapore/ https://libmaps.nus.edu.sg/ https://www.clc.gov.sg/docs/default-source/urban-systems-studies/uss-punggol.pdf https://www.hdb.gov.sg/about-us/our-role/smart-and-sustainable-living/Green-Towns-Programme https://urbandemos.nyu.edu/2018/10/24/shaping-sustainable-urban-landscapes-in-punggol-eco-town-singapore/ https://pfsstudio.com/project/punggol-waterfront-planning/

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