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UK leading capabilities on sustainable urbanisation

By Africazine

Stephen McKay [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Stephen McKay CC BY SA 20 httpscreativecommonsorglicensesby sa20 via Wikimedia Commons

The research project was primarily desk-based looking at a wide range of publications across the multiple sectors involved in urban development. I also held two expert group workshops involving representatives from industry (large companies and SMEs), academia, government and cities. The experts shared their perceptions on where the UK is truly leading.

The report gives multiple case studies of UK projects that demonstrate our leadership and innovation across many sectors, including: energy, spatial planning, building information modelling, green building and retrofitting, transport, intelligent transport, water, waste, pollution, remediation, health and education.

I also looked at a range of policy approaches, skills and strategies that the UK has developed (or been influential in developing) into global best practice. These included topics like:

  • The 2008 Climate Change Act
  • Valuing natural capital
  • The economics of climate change (e.g. Stern review)
  • Circular economy
  • Supporting community-led projects and development
  • Green belt policies
  • Garden Cities and New Towns
  • Financial models and risk management (e.g. PPPs & PFI)
  • Standards (e.g. PAS 180, 181, 182 and PD8101)
  • Innovations in city services through technology
  • Open Data and the Open Data Institute
  • Applying gaming to city challenges
  • Research and innovation

The report features over 30 case studies, including:

  • Glasgow smart city demonstrator
  • Integrated planning in Jeddah
  • Low Carbon Network project
  • Stoke-On-Trent smart energy programme
  • Urban scale sustainable heating and cooling
  • Controlling heating loads and grid balancing
  • Birmingham East Side development
  • Urban Regeneration in Sheffield
  • BIM saves time & money on motorway junction project
  • Crossrail: the first European major transport project to use BIM
  • Battersea Power Station & BREEAM Domestic Refurbishment
  • The Crystal, Sustainable Cities Initiative
  • Castleward regeneration & BREEAM Communities
  • Crossrail
  • Heathrow Terminal 2b
  • PRT Pods at Heathrow Airport (Terminal 5)
  • Croydon Trams
  • Driverless vehicles
  • Adaptive Traffic Management
  • Intelligent Mobility, Imtech Traffic & Infra
  • Manchester’s Customer Smart Programme
  • Identifying clean water sources in Sierra Leone
  • Flood alert system, GaugeMap
  • Energy savings in Welsh Water
  • Drone technology and water quality in Swaledale
  • Leeds invests in innovation to tackle flood risk
  • Integrated waste management in inner-city London
  • Congestion Charging Zone in London
  • Olympic Park site remediation
  • Health District in Adelaide, Australia
  • Holistic healthcare provision at Bromley by Bow
  • More Independent Tech city stars – developing local talent in London
  • BRE Academy shares British expertise and standards internationally

For more information on the report, please contact [email protected].

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