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- [00:12]
Cristina Rafolo
The aim of this is to reduce flooding, but at the same time also improve water quality and create greener cities that are cooler and more pleasant places to live in.
- [00:24]
Andrew Tuck
How do we ensure our urban environments remain functioning ecosystems? This is the Urbanist Monocle's programme all about the cities we live in.
- [00:33]
I'm your host, Andrew Tuck.
- [00:35]
Today we look at the reciprocal relationship our cities have with nature and how our design choices can support this. We revisit the sponge city concept to see how better water retention can benefit flora and fauna. We also learn how our buildings can be hazardous to bird life and explore some design solutions too. Plus, we head to the Finnish city, hoping to be one of the world's first to reach carbon neutrality. That's all ahead right here on the Urbanist with me, Andrew Tuck. Paying attention to water, one of the key elements to all life, is crucial in developing a livable urban ecosystem. In past editions of this program we've explored the concept of sponge cities and sustainable drainage systems, or SUDs. We do all the fun stuff here. These water management systems and techniques enable our urban areas to store and use water rather than just flush it away, aiding in both flood management and flourishing green spaces. Well, I'm joined now by Cristina Rafolo, a chartered member of the Landscape Institute and, and a surface stormwater management and biodiversity expert. Well, Christina, thank you for joining us. Now, we've touched on this concept of sponge cities a few times over the years here on the Urbanist, including a conversation with the originator of the term, the late Chinese landscape architect, Kongyan Yu. Now, let's firstly remind listeners around the world what this concept then is of
- [02:15]
Cristina Rafolo
sponge cities as Punch City is really an urban area, very large urban area, designed to absorb, store, slow down, filter and gradually release that rainwater, rather than channeling and directing it quickly towards the drains and sewers. So we want to avoid that at all costs. So what the concept is about is working with the natural process. And you do this by using features, nature based features like trees, parks, wetlands, permeable paving, green roofs of rain gardens, planters connected to roof downpipes. All these items that together constitute what we call blue green infrastructure work together to manage water, rainwater close to where it falls. And the aim of this is to reduce flooding, but at the same time also improve water quality and create greener cities that are cooler air and better and more pleasant places to live in.
- [03:18]
Andrew Tuck
Just tell me, so what's your background? What brought you into this world of looking at how we manage the water in our cities? What got you fascinated about this topic?
- [03:27]
Cristina Rafolo
Well, I've always been fascinated by water and water management. I grew up in a city in Kenya called Nairobi, the capital, which is considered one of the sponge cities. And green was everywhere. Everything was channeled, you know, on the roadside. And although today it has a problem of flooding in itself because it has to rainy season. So it's a different concept than what we have in Europe. When I became a landscape architect about 20 years ago and I established my practice 13 years ago. Rafael LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT I've always used water as my means of designing the nature based solutions because these solutions double up as immunity. So bringing in, managing water, you're bringing life into nature. Natural things need water to survive. So if you can then design your landscapes, urban landscapes, landscapes by managing the water, feeding the plants, but then also cleansing that water and managing its quantity, you are really doubling up in the function that you can have for that particular landscape.
- [04:32]
Andrew Tuck
One of the interesting things I want to talk to you about is, you know that I guess when we've mostly spoken to people about sponge cities, it's been connected with the notion of how
- [04:40]
you make more resilient cities.
- [04:41]
And as you touched on, you want to avoid flooding, for example. So those are key things. But when it comes to a city like London, which not perfect, but we have a pretty good drainage system and you can probably funnel the water away and it can be down in the Thames at some point, the interesting thing is, when I looked at your website, it made me stop as well, because what you're saying is, hold on, if you hold the water here, here's some cool things we can do, here's some of the impact if you don't disperse the water. So maybe for listeners, maybe tell them some of the sunnier things, the more glorious, beautiful things you can have if you don't just try and pump the water out.
- [05:18]
Cristina Rafolo
Well, if you don't try and pump the water out, what you do is you're creating amenity and you're creating sites which are ecologically beneficial to wildlife and you're cooling down the atmosphere during those very hot summer months. So effectively you're creating, if you see on the side of the road is rain gardens, which are actually called bioretention planters. When they are next to a road, they actually change the total outlook of the place. For example, some of the examples we have in London, across all the boroughs at the moment, everybody's implementing rain gardens. But one that really stands out, for example, is the Marylebone one where they've implemented a series of rain gardens that all connect all the water, the rainwater that flows from the roads. And that completely changes that kind of gray sort of outlook that that space had into a green, vibrant one. And so you are then walking along the street and you're seeing that that rainwater has fed the plants, but it's also percolated down the soil and has been cleansed before it reaches the sewer. So one thing, though, I would like to make clear, very important, when we're referring to Sponge City, we are referring to an interconnected system of all these individual green and blue infrastructure. So it's not about creating them in silo, it's about actually connect them all one to each other. And that is a big challenge. And it's fine when you're going in your small town like Mansfield, but it's a lot more difficult in a city like London, where you have 33 boroughs, plus the city of London, each with a local flood authority. So that is the biggest challenge. And you touched upon what happens if we didn't have the rain gardens? Well, water will be directly connected to the sewer system, will flow straight in as fast as possible. You wouldn't be able to trap it. And it has in the past been discharged into the River Thames. Because what happens if there's pressure from the heavy downpour, which we are at the moment seeing as more frequent than expected due to climate change? If there is this heavy downpour, what happens is that the combined sewers of both foul water and freshwater open up to the Thames, and it means that it pollutes the Thames. Now, this has been addressed in London through the Thames tidal tunnel, which is referred to as a super sewer, so that when there is a heavy downpour, instead of getting all the water, all this foul water into the Thames, it actually captures it together with the fresh water, due to the Victorian sewers being quite old. But the key is not so much to work against the gray infrastructure which is there. These are major infrastructure works. The key is to capture that rainwater, not discharge it, but see it as a resource. So it's something pressure that we don't want to lose. And we can collect through permeable surfaces, wetlands, tree planting, so we can create spaces. The more green space you create, the more the city becomes resilient to the climate change, to the downpours, and it also brings those simultaneous benefits for people and wildlife.
- [08:26]
Andrew Tuck
Marylebone, which happens to be where Monocle has its hq. Over the years, they've kind of taken out normally what was a parking space, and they've Planted plants. And, yes, the rainwater can run in and feed the plants. And there are several of them certainly dotted very near to where we work. But how really important are those when just across the road there's Regent's park, which is several acres of land? How effective are these tiny little patches of soil mitigating all of the things you're talking about when you have these vast tracts of green space across the city?
- [08:58]
Cristina Rafolo
Anyway, there's a difference between the parkland with the green space and the water falling onto the parkland and these rain gardens which are capturing the specific water that is run off from the highway or from the roads. So you will find these rain gardens next to pathways, next to roads. So they're capturing water from hard surfaces, and that is the key. And because the water that falls onto hard surfaces, those sheets of water often then polluted due to what's lying on the hard surfaces, then what happens is that when they percolate into the rain garden through the different strata of soil, it gets cleansed. And that means when it connects to the freshwater sewer, it already has a filtered quality, a quality of water that you want to achieve for the rivers and for the streams, not only for London, but for other towns everywhere in the uk. And at the same time, it feeds, the plants that are within the rain garden would also have that filtering effect. So it's a green, functional system. It's not simply a landscape park, it's actually green infrastructure. And the important thing is that it has to be maintained correctly, it has to be respected as a functional system, and it has to be appreciated by the community as such.
- [10:17]
Andrew Tuck
Other cities that you get to visit around the world and see best practice, or as you look out from your office and admire what colleagues are doing around the world, are there other cities where you. You think we should be looking to, for benchmarks of success about how we create these interconnected elements of managing rainwater?
- [10:33]
Cristina Rafolo
Yes. Well, earlier you mentioned about China, but, you know, although they were the pioneers of the Sponge City program, like you mentioned, and now as it's spreading across Southeast Asia, the rainfall patterns are different. They have monsoons and very intense seasonal rainfall instead. In terms of European examples, I think Copenhagen is a leading example. And they had a series of flood events, and what they did is the city developed a comprehensive cloudburst management plan. And this cloudburst management plan combines everything, parks, streets, public spaces, and they all designed to temporarily store the water so that, for example, a play area or a park may be slightly dished in shape. So it can store that water be like a dry pond in the hot summer seasons, but it becomes a temporary pond that filters the water down. It collects the water so that it doesn't go straight into the freshwater sewer. These public spaces perform, you know, these multiple functions. And Rotterdam again is another example, considering the city lies below sea level. So it's really important how it's become a global leader in sort of adapting to managing water. And its squares provide that value, valuable space that it can be temporarily a sud solution, collecting all the water and then filtering it down, but also an amenity space.
- [11:54]
Andrew Tuck
Just tell me you're talking about some amazing projects here. But it strikes me these are things that even these small patches of soil by the size of our pavements, this needs intervention from local council, it needs planning permission. What's striking in London is I wonder how many ordinary people could get involved in this because you drive through a London road these days and most people have tarmac'd over their gardens to, to create spaces to park their SUVs and their vehicles. So many gardens disappearing, water running off straight into the drainage systems. Do you think there needs to be planning control from local councils that impacts individuals as well and says, hold on, you can't have that nice driveway at the front of your house. It needs to be maintained as green space and garden because we have a problem here?
- [12:42]
Cristina Rafolo
Well, yes, the more you make the city permeable, the better. Regardless of whether it's a rain garden or a patch of land. Are you opening it up and making it. Making it more permeable? I think there should be a legislation that stops which is already. You do need to ask for permission in Sambaras to actually have your front driveway paved. You know, if it wasn't like that before. And it is so important that everybody understands that water is a resource and needs to go back into the ground. However, London also has the added complexity that most of it, the soil is clay and therefore not permeable. And so anything that you design that absorbs water needs to be designed correctly. But in any case, removing paving is always better than having it there if it's not permeable.
- [13:28]
Andrew Tuck
Christina, finally, just tell me, do you feel confident when you walk around London when you see how planning decisions are being made these days? Are the boroughs on board with your plans and ambitions and your hopes for the city?
- [13:39]
Cristina Rafolo
Well, not always. Sometimes I see that there is a discrepancy from the design intent and what's actually being constructed. I don't see all of these rain gardens actually built properly and Sometimes the items are cherry picked so you wouldn't have the correct sort of level of soil or that collects water. And so they almost don't function as they should. So I think this should be more regulated as standardized how the rain gardens are designed, of course, with every particular situation. So we don't have one size fits all. But I do see a lot of implementation not going according to plan, and I think more should be done about that.
- [14:20]
Andrew Tuck
Cristina Rafolo, thank you for joining us. One of the important factors in building an urban ecosystem is understanding the obstacles that our current cities impose on all species, not just humans. Well, I'm joined now by Jeanne Gang, architect and founding partner of Studio Gang. Jeanne's firm has an exhibition currently on show at the Chicago Architecture center called Flyaway City Architecture for a Flourishing Ecosystem. The exhibition spotlights an issue that the Studio has been working on for more than two decades, the urgent need to stop birds from colliding with building glass. Bird populations in North America have been on a steady decline and window collisions are a major cause of this. The good news, though, there is a design solution. Jeanne, thank you so much for joining us today. Perhaps first of all, we could tell listeners about what the problem is and why we're discussing it today.
- [15:21]
Jeanne Gang
Birds are migratory species and they travel through cities along these different flyway routes, sometimes going all the way from the tip of South America all the way to North America. And there's other flyways in Europe as well. When they encounter, they fly by night. When they encounter place to rest, they need to rest overnight. They oftentimes land in cities that are on waterways. And then the problem is they come down and they are attracted to habitat along the streets and they end up crashing into window glass and buildings in extraordinary numbers. I mean, like 1 billion birds die every year just in North America with these collisions. So it's really having a big negative impact on bird populations, which, as you probably know, have declined precipitously. I think it's 30% decline since 1970. So it's really impacting not only birds, but the whole ecosystem.
- [16:21]
Andrew Tuck
And that 1 billion number is extraordinary. I saw that number verified by the American Bird Conservancy, and it is an extraordinary figure. Now, one of your key cities, your home city of Chicago, sits on what's known as the Mississippi Flyway, a really important migratory route for birds coming, as you say, from the south all the way up to Canada and back again. You've pulled together this exhibition. Is it a provocation to the other people in your industry to begin to think about birds and nature as we create new buildings.
- [16:52]
Jeanne Gang
Yeah, it's really, I think, so many people are excited about. You know, in the past, we had industrial cities full of soot and dirt and difficult to live in. And now we really want to have nature and biodiverse nature right in our cities to enjoy and to make it healthier and to share the city with other creatures that are coming through. So I think as we lean into nature in the city, which is very important to many people, I want to call attention to the dangers that architecture and other things like lighting and things like that, that we can control very easily to make it a much safer place for other creatures, other living things.
- [17:36]
Andrew Tuck
The interesting challenge, I guess, for architects is there's always a client who may be saying, oh, no, no, I want only kind of plate glass windows. Or there may be demands of cost and price that mitigate against some of the things you could potentially do. But what have you managed to do in the architecture that you've brought to Chicago and other cities that you think has begun to address some of the problems? Problems here?
- [17:58]
Jeanne Gang
Well, you know, it's so interesting because it's a problem that is, it's like architecture, how we design things, but it's also the glass itself. How could we make that, you know, work better? We want transparency and daylight. So it's like a building product thing, but then it's also just people not knowing about it. So as this has really become more clear over the years, in my first projects, I really was working on screens and frit on the glass, 100% of the glass, and not always achieving all that. But then as we learn more, we realize that according to the American Bird Conservancy and others like the Chicago collision monitors who monitor these incidents, you found that it's really the only place that needs the attention is where the habitat is. So in that lower, let's say below 100ft on a building, and different regulations that have been enacted have different numbers. But just imagine, like, where the trees are. That's where the birds are going, and that's where they are getting in danger with these collisions with glass, because the trees and habitat is reflected in the windows. Or people might have plants inside the building at night, and then they think they can just go straight through. Or there are situations where a glass bridge, let's say it just looks like it's transparent and they could fly through that. So that's where the real focus has been lately for me. And in designing into the glass protection, you know, like A pattern that they can see that's about 2 inches apart, like dots or whatever. Sometimes we have fun with that, with clients that are really into this and we've created some patterns that are more interesting. Let's say that's the kind of things that I've been trying to implement and projects, you know, especially in this danger zone of where the we want to build in nature, in parks and in streets that have trees. So those are the areas you have to really pay attention to.
- [20:02]
Andrew Tuck
And tell me, are city governments, are urban planners beginning to understand this? Because I know the exhibition that you've produced in Chicago is backed by advocacy groups and by campaigners. But has that had an impact on building codes? For example, are there cities where you're working now where actually when you're going through the planning consent, people are saying, hold on, this is going to be lethal for birds, for example?
- [20:25]
Jeanne Gang
Well, yeah, like there are codes in cities like New York City who are on the Atlantic Flyway and San Francisco, which is on the Pacific Flyway, and Toronto as well, which is on the Mississippi Flyway as well, like Chicago. But in Chicago we just have not been able to get this over the finish line, have an ordinance that will make new buildings protect the glass so that it's not dangerous for birds and it's not really that difficult. And all these other cities have implemented it. So we really want to have that be implemented in Chicago, which is one of the most amazing cities to visit for migration because of this flyway that is right down the center of the continent. So economically we are benefiting as a city from tourism related to birds. So that's another good reason to implement something to protect the birds that people are coming to see.
- [21:25]
Andrew Tuck
I wondered whether, you know, maybe not when it comes to mega high rises, but with lots of mid height buildings now, especially here in Europe, there are more screens, there are timber slats, there are different materials moved because people are concerned about heat in the summer and how they conserve energy inside buildings. Do you think that maybe in some instances we're moving towards a type of building that may be better for birds as we go forwards?
- [21:53]
Jeanne Gang
I think it's such a simple thing to achieve that I think once more people understand it and that the solution is very effective. Like with the McCormick Place building on Lake Michigan. It's just a big glass building on the lakefront. They had one day where a thousand birds were killed on that one building because of the conditions, the fog or something. And so that building, they finally, to their credit, implemented this retrofit which is available for existing buildings, and they dropped that number 98%. In other words, they have almost zero collisions on the same building that has been, you know, killing birds for decades. So it does work, it's effective, and all we need to do is implement it. And as you mentioned, sometimes design features can do double duty, like, you know, where it's also protecting from solar heat gain. There's a double benefit in also protecting birds.
- [22:51]
Andrew Tuck
Jeanne Gang, thank you for joining us here on the Urbanist. Finally, say we head to Turku, Finland's former capital city and one that is hoping to be among the world's first to reach carbon neutrality in just three years from now. Wif Stenga sent us this report looking at how the city plans to become a climate model and how realistic the plan really is.
- [23:20]
Wif Stenga
That's the sound of a tram back in 1972 when they stopped running in Turku, Finland's oldest city and former capital. The electric tramway had started back in 1908, following horse drawn trolleys in the 19th century. Now Turku is bringing the trams back as part of a raft of projects aimed at cutting urban emissions, but they won't be rolling in time to help with Turko's plan to be one of the world's first carbon neutral cities by 2029, in time for its 800th birthday, the city is partnering with local industries like the Meyer Shipyard, the largest in the Nordic region, which just built the world's biggest cruise ship and unveiled a net zero cruise ship concept for the2030s. But local transport is the biggest part of any city's climate footprint, so Turco is boasting cycling, walking and mass transit. About half of the some of the city's buses are already electric and they're so quiet I was almost run over by 1. The tram and a planned new local commuter train line won't be completed until the 2000-30s, though construction of the tramway starts next year, and the project will also include New Year round bike paths and tree planting, which officials say will help meet the goal of being carbon neutral just three years from now. But how realistic is that? Turku Mayor Pija Ello insists it is, although it will involve buying offsets elsewhere.
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Pija Ello
First of all, we aim to reduce emissions, of course, as much as possible across the sectors by at least 90%, and at the same time we strengthen local carbon sinks.
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Wif Stenga
But for the remaining emissions that can't be eliminated, the city may have to pay for offsets such as buying and preserving nearby forests. Elo says that Turku has around 50 partners in its climate project, including the city's two major universities and major employers like the shipyard, which itself plans to be a NET 0 by 2030, as well as the local wastewater treatment plant which extracts thermal energy for district heating. The city owned energy company, meanwhile, produces 95% emissions free electricity and just opened the region's biggest solar power facility in partnership with a Bayer pharmaceutical plant. The 3 1/2 gigawatt solar farm features double sided panels with local white limestone underneath them to reflect back light, which should boost output by around 10%. While renewables now provide more than half of Finland's electricity, solar has so far been a minority player, but it's on track to become more important in the coming years. Conditions here in Finland's sunny southwest are comparable to northern Germany, for instance, and solar panels are actually more efficient in bright cold winter weather. So that all sounds rosy. But has there been any opposition or worries that climate measures will raise costs or impose burdens?
- [26:19]
Pija Ello
Turko's climate plan has been unanimously adapted in the city city council announced last week. So climate goal is very consistently strongly supported in all political parties here in Torko, which is great and importantly we are working to make sure that transition is fair so that people are supported and no one is left behind. The key is of course co design that we do it with the residents and the ones who use the city.
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Wif Stenga
So the city's politicians seem to be united about the plan, but what about the business community? Krista Ahonen, impact manager at the Turku Chamber of Commerce, says there's sort of peer pressure among companies to get on board.
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Krista Ahonen
I think the atmosphere in Turku is so strongly for the environment. Everybody has to be on their side because there's no other way because you are a negative company if you are speaking up against the environment. So I think it's really embarrassing to be against that. Companies are mainly supporting the environment targets and climate neutrality. So I think it's a good thing that Turgo is so strongly leading the way.
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Sana or Ona (Fruit and Veg Vendor)
And do you think it's realistic that within the next three years you'll be able to reach this target?
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Krista Ahonen
It depends. They are going to need some compensate to create models that are still they are figuring it out how to make it because the traffic emissions are not going down as soon as they targeted. But it's quite impossible to make the whole transition so fast. So maybe some adultings have to be done first.
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Yari or Rami (Delivery Truck Driver or Skeptical Resident)
Okay.
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Wif Stenga
Like offsets.
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Krista Ahonen
Yeah.
- [28:00]
Wif Stenga
So city and business leaders seem to be mostly enthusiastic about the plan. But what about everyday people I asked Sana and Ona, vendors at a fruit and veg stand at the outdoor market.
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Sana or Ona (Fruit and Veg Vendor)
Did you know that Turku has a target of being climate neutral by 2029?
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Jeanne Gang
No, I didn't.
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Pija Ello
Yeah, I've heard about it, but I don't know if it's possible.
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Sana or Ona (Fruit and Veg Vendor)
I don't know. Have you seen anything that they've been doing so far in the past few years that would be reducing pollution and emissions in Turku?
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Pija Ello
Very little. Yeah. E. Scooters.
- [28:32]
Andrew Tuck
Yeah.
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Pija Ello
And buses are. Some of them are like. Like electric. Yeah, but not that many, so.
- [28:38]
Sana or Ona (Fruit and Veg Vendor)
Well, what do you think they should do? Or do you have any ideas what they could do to cut the emissions?
- [28:42]
Cristina Rafolo
Maybe like more.
- [28:43]
Pija Ello
More bicycles and everything.
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Wif Stenga
I asked Yari, a delivery truck driver, if he thinks the 2029 target sounds doable.
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Yari or Rami (Delivery Truck Driver or Skeptical Resident)
If everyone does their job and commits to it, then yes, why not? I think the green transfer formation and that I don't know. Otherwise. Otherwise I don't know because I'm just a driver myself, that I only see that when the cars, many cars have been changed to electric.
- [29:11]
Wif Stenga
Rami, who's sitting in his old VW bus by the Aura river, is more skeptical about the target.
- [29:17]
Sana or Ona (Fruit and Veg Vendor)
The city of Turku is planning to be carbon neutral by 2029. Did you know that?
- [29:23]
Yari or Rami (Delivery Truck Driver or Skeptical Resident)
29th.
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Sana or Ona (Fruit and Veg Vendor)
29th within three years, however, new. Three years from now. Yeah.
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Jeanne Gang
Okay.
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Cristina Rafolo
All right.
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Sana or Ona (Fruit and Veg Vendor)
What do you think? Is that realistic?
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Yari or Rami (Delivery Truck Driver or Skeptical Resident)
I doubt a little.
- [29:32]
Sana or Ona (Fruit and Veg Vendor)
You doubt it? Yeah.
- [29:33]
Yari or Rami (Delivery Truck Driver or Skeptical Resident)
Yeah, I do. I cannot answer anything else but to be realistic.
- [29:38]
Wif Stenga
So there seems to be some kind of consensus on the need for climate action among Turkish political parties and companies. But there doesn't seem to be much awareness or confidence about the 2029 goal among the general public. And everyone will have to be on board in if Turku really wants to reach that ambitious target and set an example for other cities.
- [29:58]
Andrew Tuck
My thanks there to Wif Stenga for that report. And that's all for this week's episode of the Urbanist. You can join us for new editions of the show every week. And you can subscribe to Monocle magazine for reports in all things design, architecture and urbanism too. Just visit Monocle. This episode of the Urbanist was produced and edited by David Stevens. I'm Andrew Tuck. Goodbye and thank you for listening, city lovers.