The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Improving urban resilience in coastal eco-cities: system integration

Improving urban resilience in coastal eco-cities: system integration
Improving urban resilience in coastal eco-cities: system integration
What is a Coastal Eco-City and what are the core issues that need to be addressed? These were the questions we asked ourselves at the beginning of the eight week Lloyd’s Register Foundation Collegium. A key point of leverage seems to be the growing demographic sector of the urban poor, who are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Improving the resilience of this sector is an investment that benefits the whole city. The challenge for city planners is to balance the people’s needs for an improved quality of life with the planetary needs for a light ecological footprint.

Background research points to the need for a systems approach to planning that engages both private and public sector in the shaping of a vision for Eco-cities. What is lacking is the process and vocabulary to articulate the project values that will determine the course of action for a project.

We have developed a decision support tool that correlates project values with sustainability improvement activities. An index matrix was selected for the accessibility for the user and the data transparency. The initial correlation data was developed by the research team, and statistically analysed to identify the matrix variables which needed to be better defined in order to normalize the data.

The tool was tested with a case study application of the Weston Towers housing, in Southampton. Based on the values and weighting provided by the planning department, a list of activities were generated. A cluster analysis provided systems links to related activities, and can identify synergies that result in project savings.

Feedback from the planning department confirmed that this tool could be used to facilitate dialogue among city officials, developers and service providers. The listing of indicators used in the tool could serve as the vocabulary to define a project value brief that could serve as a guide for value management throughout the project.

The use of the tool could also catalyse innovative ideas. Our group worked with the concept of a coastal farm, which would combine the economic activities of aquaculture with the public use for entertainment and food production, as well as marine research.

A business case for the tool suggests a positioning in the design phase of the BREEAM program, and research to develop the tool from an indexed spread sheet to a web-based tool. The research also provides a solid body of knowledge for contributions to several academic areas, including value management, planetary resilience research and decision- making analysis.
978-0854329687
University of Southampton
Fernandez, Nieves
24025677-322a-4ad6-897b-27f8913fb8aa
Kim, Sang Jin
d9bee6b8-df3b-4612-9c9b-f8c14f2f4cc5
Morsy, Ziad M
02e3a635-7e3b-4aa0-ba9d-ee82fc82b5f4
Novak, Vera M
497bae8b-1179-407b-ab8a-a85a7392006d
Shiraishi, Koichiro
b7136c19-1f3d-427d-9dcb-86ace9ff8adf
Shenoi, R.A.
a37b4e0a-06f1-425f-966d-71e6fa299960
Wilson, P.A.
8307fa11-5d5e-47f6-9961-9d43767afa00
Bennett, S. S.
6c2fda55-1416-4cfa-ab39-9f6eea640b95
Fernandez, Nieves
24025677-322a-4ad6-897b-27f8913fb8aa
Kim, Sang Jin
d9bee6b8-df3b-4612-9c9b-f8c14f2f4cc5
Morsy, Ziad M
02e3a635-7e3b-4aa0-ba9d-ee82fc82b5f4
Novak, Vera M
497bae8b-1179-407b-ab8a-a85a7392006d
Shiraishi, Koichiro
b7136c19-1f3d-427d-9dcb-86ace9ff8adf
Shenoi, R.A.
a37b4e0a-06f1-425f-966d-71e6fa299960
Wilson, P.A.
8307fa11-5d5e-47f6-9961-9d43767afa00
Bennett, S. S.
6c2fda55-1416-4cfa-ab39-9f6eea640b95

Fernandez, Nieves, Kim, Sang Jin, Morsy, Ziad M, Novak, Vera M and Shiraishi, Koichiro , Shenoi, R.A., Wilson, P.A. and Bennett, S. S. (eds.) (2013) Improving urban resilience in coastal eco-cities: system integration (LRF Collegium 2013 Series, 1), vol. 1, University of Southampton, 154pp.

Record type: Book

Abstract

What is a Coastal Eco-City and what are the core issues that need to be addressed? These were the questions we asked ourselves at the beginning of the eight week Lloyd’s Register Foundation Collegium. A key point of leverage seems to be the growing demographic sector of the urban poor, who are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Improving the resilience of this sector is an investment that benefits the whole city. The challenge for city planners is to balance the people’s needs for an improved quality of life with the planetary needs for a light ecological footprint.

Background research points to the need for a systems approach to planning that engages both private and public sector in the shaping of a vision for Eco-cities. What is lacking is the process and vocabulary to articulate the project values that will determine the course of action for a project.

We have developed a decision support tool that correlates project values with sustainability improvement activities. An index matrix was selected for the accessibility for the user and the data transparency. The initial correlation data was developed by the research team, and statistically analysed to identify the matrix variables which needed to be better defined in order to normalize the data.

The tool was tested with a case study application of the Weston Towers housing, in Southampton. Based on the values and weighting provided by the planning department, a list of activities were generated. A cluster analysis provided systems links to related activities, and can identify synergies that result in project savings.

Feedback from the planning department confirmed that this tool could be used to facilitate dialogue among city officials, developers and service providers. The listing of indicators used in the tool could serve as the vocabulary to define a project value brief that could serve as a guide for value management throughout the project.

The use of the tool could also catalyse innovative ideas. Our group worked with the concept of a coastal farm, which would combine the economic activities of aquaculture with the public use for entertainment and food production, as well as marine research.

A business case for the tool suggests a positioning in the design phase of the BREEAM program, and research to develop the tool from an indexed spread sheet to a web-based tool. The research also provides a solid body of knowledge for contributions to several academic areas, including value management, planetary resilience research and decision- making analysis.

Text
LRF_Collegium_2013Series_Volume1.pdf - Version of Record
Download (6MB)

More information

Published date: September 2013
Organisations: Fluid Structure Interactions Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 359319
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/359319
ISBN: 978-0854329687
PURE UUID: 44c3b713-9f1e-4301-8b00-d1168b8a7525
ORCID for P.A. Wilson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6939-682X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 28 Oct 2013 13:39
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:35

Export record

Contributors

Author: Nieves Fernandez
Author: Sang Jin Kim
Author: Ziad M Morsy
Author: Vera M Novak
Author: Koichiro Shiraishi
Editor: R.A. Shenoi
Editor: P.A. Wilson ORCID iD
Editor: S. S. Bennett

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×