Evolving energy efficient design of Urban Settlements

The limited availability of conventional sources of energy coupled with ever-rising demand and spiralling market prices, issues related to energy consumption, energy conservation and promoting non-conventional and alternate sources of energy have assumed global concerns. There is a bigger need of research in this context

With rapid industrialization, urbanization, globalization, and concentration of large population in urban centres, cities and towns are fast emerging as centres of large consumers of energy. Accordingly, we need to critically look at the existing pattern of energy consumption in urban centres in day-to-day operation and also, at the manner in which existing patterns of urban growth/ development has adversely affected and distorted the energy consumption by the urban centres. In search of various options and possible solutions to make cities and towns highly energy efficient, we need to understand the importance of redefining promoting Pedestrianization; Greening cities; redefining the local planning processes and designing of building for making cities sustainable.

Our cities have now been named as the saving places of a planet in crisis. And yet we cannot decide on the prin-ciples that make for a good city. Eve-rybody has a view, but some views are more sustainable than others. The way cities use land, consume energy, eat up resources and influence the quality of life and environment, they are fast emerging as ecological disasters. Uncontrolled and haphazard growth has created patterns of settlements, which have high level of energy consumption due to auto dependence, high energy demand for buildings, water pollution from excessive toxic run off, air pollution, and other environmental effects, which considerably increase health risks. Cities of the 21st Century are very divorced from aesthetic and ecological experience of nature. They are noisy, energy inefficient, congested, and largely frustrating. High levels of energy consumption by cities have created host of local ecological problems. Urban heat islands created drive up energy use for cooling besides trapping pollution in the city. All these problems, collectively and individually, have adversely affected the local ecology. Accordingly, local ecological systems are rapidly losing their ability to produce clean water, air and food and are fast losing their ability to sustain life.

Each of these environmental problems has their genesis in the design of cities, settlement patterns and urban spatial fabric. Human habitat needs restructuring on priority. Energy and ecology have emerged as the major threats to the human habitat. To minimize the energy consumption levels and the ecological disasters caused by today’s grey cities, we have to change our perceptions, planning tools, planning strategies, designing options for the built environment, pattern of travel and learn to think ecologically to create green cities, which are both humane and sustainable besides least consumers of energy.

Green Urbanism

Considering the large-scale implications of urban areas in promoting local and global sustainability, optimization of available resources, minimizing non-renewable resources and as consumers of large amounts of energy, generators of enormous waste, creating high degree of pollution etc., it becomes critical that growth and development of urban centres is critically looked into and rationalized. Best option to make cities sustainable will be to plan these centres with high degree of rationality leading to minimizing travel, creating buildings with focus on reduction of energy consumption and using natural sources for meeting the energy needs of the people. Globally efforts are on to make existing cities sustainable and create new cities, which are highly energy efficient. Solar city, Linz, Masdar in UAE and Dongtan in China are a few examples, built as state of the art green and sustainable cities.

Masdar (UAE)

Masdar is designed for a population of 50,000 & 1500 business covering an area of 6 sq. kms. The city is planned in a manner, where automobiles are totally prohibited within the city and mobility is through public mass transit and personal rapid transit system. City is planned to keep out hot desert winds and to make optimum use of cool breeze from the sea to reduce the temperature within the city and the buildings. Streets are narrow in order to provide natural shading to the buildings and allowing cool breeze to pass through streets/buildings. City is designed to deploy number of options of renewable power resources to meet the energy needs including setting up of Solar Power Plant at city level, Photo Voltaic modules placed on the roof-tops of buildings, Wind Farm and geothermal power. In addition, city plans to host the world’s largest Hydrogen Power Plant to generate clean energy. In addition, water management has been planned in an eco-friendly manner. Solarbased desalination plant will be used to meet the water requirement of the city. 80% of the water used will be recycled and wastewater will be re-used as many times as possible. City will have a system of zero waste with biological waste used for creating nutrient rich soil and fertilizers while other waste is incinerated to generate power. Masdar is planned to be a city with zero car, zero waste, consuming zero energy without compromising with the quality of life and environment.

Dongtan (CHINA)

Dongtan near Shanghai is a new town planned for a population of 5, 00,000. City is planned to be eco-friendly with zero-greenhouse emission and self-sufficient in water and energy. All the buildings in the city are to be designed on the principle of Zero-Energy Buildings. Energy demand of the city is envisioned to be much lower than the comparable conventional cities due to high performance buildings and zero emission transport zone. Waste is considered a resource with most of waste recycled. City transport system is based on green transport movement along the coastline. People will arrive at the coast leaving their cars and then travelling along the shore as pedestrians, cyclists or on sustainable public transport vehicles. Only vehicles powered by electricity and hydrogen to be permitted in City. Dongtan is planned and designed to be an eco-city.

Solar City, Pichling, Linz (AUSTRIA)

The project completed last year, was begun to build this city within a city, a ‘Solar City Linz’ capable of accommodating around 25,000 inhabitants. Sustainability parameters include attention to achieve maximum density, maximum flexibility and a careful study of the feasibility to promote and facilitate pedestrian or bicycle around the centre of the settlement that will be free of car traffic. The city has a comprehensive plan. One third of the cost is utilized for developing infrastructure; transport, communication, facilities and landscaping. The project has given an emphasis on avoiding CFCs and PVCs. The residential areas and individual buildings are designed according to the principles of solar architecture. It utilizes active and passive solar energy and other renewable energy sources. The planning has encouraged the direct use of the sun to increase welfare of people inside as well as outside of the buildings. It caters to social integration, social warmth and social energy.
The issue of sustainability will have to primarily and essentially look at the context of energy and its implications for the city. The main thrust of pedestrianization is that we need to re-think urban planning, and start designing cities for people, not cars. Proponents of pedestrianization say that fewer cars would mean less stress and more effective use of people’s time, not to mention cleaner air and more attractive cities. In the end, this would actually benefit businesses.

Radiant city

A concept of city planning given by the master architect and planner Le
Corbusier – offers one of the best options of designing energy efficient and sustainable cities, where the governing factors of city planning and designing would be SUN, SPACE and GREENERY, which would provide and meet all the basic needs of the human beings. The concept of Radiant Cities revolves around planning with nature to achieve the desired level of sustainability and energy efficiency in the cities.

How best we can leverage these principles of planning and designing of human settlements will hold the key to the survival and sustainability of human beings and human settlements.