What did we find?

We found tangible conclusions for every of the 11 projects that help new settlements learn and improve. In the book, we extracted successful approaches that increase overall performance as well as sustainability performance.

We found that sustainability targets change the practice of urban development as well as the roles of contributors and beneficiaries. Implementing the lessons learned in these projects will significantly speed up new sustainable development projects around the world. In addition, we’ve found strategies to achieve improved performance in the construction industry globally.

The report

The report, downloadable below or read online at ISSUU, contains a wealth of examples, recommendations and leassons learned, on both a project level and a sector level, in two parts.

Part 1 is an overview of lessons and conclusions, covering among others:

• How is sustainable urban development different?
• A holistic design and 360 degree scope
• Mind-shift: build to be resilient
• Ambition setting
• Business models
• Work culture
• Road map for Sector change
• Performance monitoring

Part 2  documents -in detail- how the studied projects successfully apply the presented strategies. These projects serve as inspiration and proof that the suggested strategies lead to significantly improved performance levels.

Each project shows a schematic timeline of which parties had what responsibilities. These overviews show a 'blueprint' of the project's planning process and at-a-glance oversight of the character of each project.

Partners

Many thanks go to all the people who contributed to this research via interviews, access to the sites, materials, support, and research, among which:

• Laila Petrie (WWF)
• Vincent Mages (Lafarge)
• François Baillon (FIDIC)
• Vallishree Murthy (British Glass)
• Clare Broadbent (World Steel)
• Phillippe Fonta (WBCSD)
• Soraya Smaoun (UNEP)
• Curt Garrigan (UNEP)
• Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud (WWF International)
• Jennifer Meunier (WWF International)
• Carina Borgstrom Hansson (WWF Sweden)

Media & Downloads

Downloads:

Sustainable Urban Districts - 2015 Global Review

The 2015 global review of 11 exemplary sustainable urban districts, key lessons, recommendations and strategies. Print resultion version on request.

Reference Projects

RGD Building Portfolio Scan

Opportunities for sustainable redevelopment

The RGD manages and maintains all the real estate for the Dutch government. In such a large portfolio, a large number of buildings are suboptimally used. We developed a scan to analyze a specific object, identify potential beneficial uses and plot out a redevelopment plan.

... read more >

Growth-Planning Area Planning & Development

Next Generation Open Source City Planning - June 2009

Growth Planning introduces an entirely new approach to area planning and urban design. Rather than defining specific programmatic requirements, Growth Planning instead applies socio-economic impulses to the area within certain performance edge conditions. It revolutionzes the task of city design by requiring the urban fabric to organically respond to social and economic stimuli, and allows for increased value, quality, and development over time.

Born out of the necessity to start thinking differently about our built environment due to economic, social and environmental constraints, Except has worked on refining this new form of planning since 2005.

... read more >

Shanghai Urban Masterplan

Urban Masterplan embedding Vertical Agriculture

This masterplan transforms downtown Shanghai into a fully sustainable community, in energy, food, water, and jobs, designed for Expo 2013. The plan strategically interweaves sustainable innovation with exciting urban design, and making it run with urban agriculture, sustainable technologies and vertical farms. The result is a valuable and beautiful urban community, an emergent circular economy, and a future-proof investment.

The Shanghai urban master plan demonstrates the Urban Renaissance approach on a specific site adjacent to Nanjing road, incorportating a historic Lilong housing district.

... read more >

Sustainable Schiebroek-Zuid

Redevelopment of post-war social housing

We developed a sustainabile conversion and development plan for the post-war social housing area Schiebroek-Zuid in Rotterdam.  The project provides a flexible and exemplary roadmap for converting the neighborhood into a self-sufficient and sustainable area. It applies innovative energy solutions, urban farming, social and economic programs, secondary currencies, and adaptive redevelopment strategies.

This project was commissioned by housing corporation Vestia and agricultural research network InnovatieNetwerk.

... read more >