The Year of Unprecendent Climate in African Cities

There is increasing evidence that greenhouse gases emissions are influencing our climate. To date, many of these changes could be described as 'precedented' or 'having occurred before in recent history'. The ‘precedented’ nature of these climate change events may be one of the reasons why global warming has not been addressed urgently, as these events are seen as part of the natural course of events. 

However a recent paper in the journal Nature draws on earth systems models  to show that in the near future the earth will begin experiencing unprecedented climate caused by global warming. Unprecedented climate refers to a situation where climate moves outside the range of historical precedent defined as a ‘shift continuously outside the most extreme records experienced in the past 150 years’. This condition is shown in the graph below in red, with the blue and green areas indicating the first 3, and 11, years outside precedent. 

The paper goes on to plot specific dates for world cities when this condition will be experienced. In Africa this will occur in Nairobi in 2026, in Pretoria in 2043 and in Lagos in in 2029. This is shown in the figure below.

The dates listed in the paper are in the near future and have significant implications for the built environment that need to be considered and addressed. These include:

• Local effects: Impacts of climate change will differ depending on location. Climate impacts such as flooding, extreme winds, drought need to be understood at a local level and local resilience and mitigation plans developed. Resilience and mitigation plans should consider sustainability (using for instance a framework such as the Built Environment Sustainability Tool (BEST))  and ensure that measures not only improve levels of local resilience but also sustainability. Gauge is also working on a resilience tool and integrating aspects of resilience into BEST.
• Urban design and planning: Consideration of local impacts of climate change should be integrated into local development plans such as Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and Spatial Development Frameworks (SDFs) to ensure that new development is appropriately located and resilient as well as strengthening existing area.
• Buildings: Local impacts of climate change such as increased wind speeds and flooding should be reflected in more stringent building codes. This can be addressed through revising building regulations and national technical standards as well as through municipal bylaws. 

IARC: Outdoor air pollution a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths

A recent report from a World Health Organisation agency, the International Agency for Cancer Research has found that sufficient exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer. It points to research that shows that in 2010, 223,000 deaths were attributable to lung cancer caused by air pollution. While air pollution has been linked for some time to respiratory and heart diseases, the link to cancer indicates increased levels of risk. The agency identifies primary sources of outdoor air pollution as being from transportation, stationary power generation, industrial and agricultural emissions and residential heating and cooling.

There are number of implications for buildings of this report. These include:

•  Heating and cooling of residential buildings: There should be a strong focus on passive design in residential environments. In particular, solutions should be found to ensure that the burning of coal and other fuels in and around houses for heating is avoided. Where fuel is burnt it should be burnt in a way that avoids risk of diseases. 
• Transportation: There should be stronger requirements to separate vehicular environments from environments where people live and work. In particular, workplaces and residential areas that are beside highways and roads with large volumes of traffic should be evaluated. Measures to reduce vehicular pollution should be taken such as reducing congestion, using more efficient vehicles with, for instance, start-stop technology and electric vehicles and improving provision for public transport, walking and cycling.
• Stationary power generation: There should be increased awareness about the risk associated with pollution from local petrol or diesel powered generators and stand-by generators. Where possible these should be avoided and renewable energy systems used.     
• Guidelines: These findings should be reflected in guidance documents including the WHO Guidelines on Indoor Air Quality shown above. In particular it needs to be translated into practical measures that can be taken by Planners and Designers in urban areas and Architects in buildings. 

Built Environment Capability for Sustainability

The World Wildlife (WWF) definition of sustainability as being the achievement of above 0.8 on the Human Development Index (HDI) and the achievement of an Ecological Footprint (EF) below 1.8 global hectares per person has a range of implications for the built environment (see Defining Sustainability). This definition is referred to as the EF-HDI definition.  These implications can be explored through the concept of built environment capability for sustainability.

Capability refers to the ability to do something, or the capacity to achieve a particular result. Built environment capability is therefore the capacity of the built environment to support the achievement of a particular result, such as the achievement of sustainability targets. This concept acknowledges that built environments, in themselves, are not sustainable or unsustainable. Even in areas where infrastructure has been carefully designed and managed for sustainability,overall sustainability performance can still be poor as result of users deliberately or unintentionally using this infrastructure incorrectly, or not using it all.

The concept of built environment capability is therefore not deterministic, and acknowledges human preference by affirming the importance of developing sustainable solutions that are preferable to prevailing or conventional solutions. This can be supported through high quality design and solutions which result in improved quality of life. 

Built environment capability confirms the pivotal role that the built environment plays in enabling, or precluding, human life and activity from becoming more sustainable. In particular, it asserts the ability of the built environment in enabling, supporting, and encouraging activities and lifestyles of occupants which are more sustainable.

Therefore in terms of the EF-HDI definition of sustainability, built environments can be described in terms of Ecological Footprint Capability and Human Development Capability.

Ecological footprint Capability

Ecological Footprint (EF) Capability describes the extent to which the built environment is configured and includes the characteristics required to support the achievement of ecological footprint targets as defined in the EF-HDI definition of sustainability. This capability therefore describes the extent to which the built environment supports required performance levels in areas such as ‘Food’,’Shelter’ and ‘Mobility’.

Human Development Capability

Human Development (HD) Capability describes the extent to which the built environment is configured and includes the characteristics required to support the achievement of human development targets as defined in the EF-HDI definition of sustainability. This capability therefore describes the extent to which the built environment supports required performance levels in areas such as ‘Education’, ’Health’ and ‘Quality of Life’.

Built Environment Sustainability Capability

Built Environment Sustainability Capability is a combination of EF and HD capability and provides an overall measure of the extent to which the built environment of an area supports sustainability.  Ecological Footprint Capability, Human Development Capability and Built Environment Sustainability Capability is measured in the Built Environment Sustainability Tool (BEST) and presented in figures and graphically in reports such as the one shown below.

Defining Sustainable Built Environments

Therefore, if sustainability is defined by the World Worldlife Fund (WWF) as the achievement of a maximum Ecological Footprint (EF) of 1.8 gha and a minimum Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.8, sustainable buildings must have the capability, or the required configuration and characteristics, to enable occupant populations to achieve these EF and HDI minimum standards. 

Are Sustainable Buildings a Constituitional Requirement?

The South African Constitution is widely recognised as one of the most progressive constitutions worldwide. It has a strong focus on human rights and the environment. This recognised through a requirement for reasonable legislation and other measures to be developed to ‘secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development’

This paper aims to understand the implications for the built environment of this statement through interpreting and expanding this into an explicit set of requirements for the built environment. The paper discusses these requirements in light of existing legislation and reflects on whether adequate measures are being taken in the built environment to implement and promote environmental aspects of the South African Constitution.

The review reveals that current building-related legislation only partially addresses the environmental and sustainability rights stated in the Constitution. The paper outlines a number of areas where legislation falls short of Constitutional requirements and makes some recommendations on how these gaps could be addressed.

Keywords: Built Environment, Constitution, Sustainability

Contact me for a copy of the paper.

Community-Municipality Partnerships and the Greenest Municipality

Greater Tzaneen has been selected as the greenest local municipality and Ekurhuleni as the greenest municipal municipality as part of the Greenest Municipality Competition run by the Department of Environment. Criteria used to select the greenest municipality include:

• Waste management
• Energy efficiency and conservation
• Water management
• Landscaping, tree planting and beautification
• Public participation and community empowerment
• Leadership and institutional arrangements

Participation in this annual competition is open to all South African municipalities and 111 municipalities entered.

It would be interesting to know more about the competition and the criteria. For instance, what might leadership and institutional arrangements refer to? Similarly, how might public participation and community empowerment be assessed? 

Public participation and community empowerment could be a highly effective way that municipalities support sustainability so it would be valuable to have more information. For instance, does this criterion include recognition and support for community- initiated projects by municipalities? If it does, sharing experience and examples of these types of projects could provide valuable learning that other communities and municipalities may wish to emulate. In particular, it could provide valuable models of how municipal resources can be used to respond to local need and create greater impact through community partnerships. In addition, encouraging and supporting active involvement by occupants in developing their neighborhoods may help alleviate the sense of frustration experienced by communities which is currently being exhibited in the increasing number of service delivery protests.

It may therefore be useful for DEA and their municipal partners to explore the potential of this idea further. A simple first step would be to provide communities with more detail on the competition such as the criteria and assessment methodology. This could be done through a dedicated website and could help stimulate valuable greening community-municipality partnerships.

The Building Environment Sustainability Tool (BEST) supports public participation and community empowerment by enabling local sustainability assessments to be carried out. Carrying a BEST assessment enables communities to understand the extent to which local infrastructure supports sustainability and helps identify interventions that can be undertaken to improve this. In this way the framework provides a structured process which can be used to develop local sustainability strategies and community-municipality partnerships.

More information on the green municipal competition can be found at:

https://www.environment.gov.za/mabudafhasi_announces_gmcwinners

More information on the BEST tool can be found at:

http://www.builtenvironmentsustainabilitytool.com

Contracting for Performance: The Department of Environment’s New Building

Strong clients are often key to good buildings. Strong clients have a clear vision of what they require and pursue this in interactions with professional teams, contractors, funders, occupants and facilities managers. The mandate of the Department of Environment (DEA) made it essential that they aimed for a green building. The decision to use a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model to develop their building provided a number of valuable mechanisms to support the achievement of a green building. These included:

• A Request for Proposals (RFP) process which required bidders to assemble comprehensive project teams including a full design team, a facilities management team, a contractor and financial and legal teams.  This enabled project proposals to cover a wide range of aspects related to the building including designs, specifications, facilities management systems, procurement policies and management models. In this way integration from the outset was supported and the client was able to carry out detailed evaluations of proposals before selecting and appointing a bidder.
• Detailed RFP documentation where performance requirements could be specified. This enabled DEA to set energy efficiency, renewable energy, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality and landscaping targets.  This ensured that proposed approaches and designs could be developed within defined parameters and performance evaluated in an objective and structured manner. 
• A contract negotiation period where a clear understanding of the requirements and enforcement mechanisms were developed between DEA and the bidder.  This ensured that bidders fully understood DEA’s green building intentions and the proposed mechanisms that would be used to ensure that targets were achieved.
•  A PPP agreement which specified design and operational requirements and set out how these would evaluated and reported on. This agreement included penalty regimes that would be employed to ensure targets were achieved. 

While opinions may be divided about the suitability of PPP processes in South Africa, the DEA project indicates that it can provide an effective way of procuring a green building. The DEA building has received a 6 star Greenstar rating from the GBCSA and is currently the largest building in South Africa to achieve this level of performance. Gauge was the Sustainability Technical Adviser to DEA on the project.

Further information on DEA’s building can be found at:

https://www.environment.gov.za/6greenstars_shine_atenvironmentalaffairs

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/six-green-stars-for-department-of-environmental-affairs-head-office-2013-07-19

The Hedonometer and the Geography of Happiness

Quality of life is a key criteria in defining and assessing sustainability. There are a range of ways quality of life is measured. A well known method is the Human Development Index (HDI) developed by the United Nations. While this is effective and widely accepted, it is does not capture subjective perceptions of quality of life. Subjective perceptions of quality of life reflect what one feels about your position in the world and your satisfaction with this. Another way of describing this is happiness.

Interesting new research draws on online comments made by people using Twitter to measure what people communicate about themselves. By tracking words like Christmas and mother or hurricane and terror and assigning values to these (1-sad, 9-happy) for about 100 million words a day, the research suggest measures of happiness can be captured over time. The tool developed for this is called the 'Hedonometer' and the results are shown in the graph below.  

Of particular interest to the built environment is how this approach can be applied spatially. This is outlined in a paper titled ‘The Geography of Happiness: Connecting Twitter Sentiment and Expression, Demographics, and Objective Characteristics of Place’. Using geotags words are link to locations and mapped, to produce maps of happiness or other social phenomenon such as concerns about obesity. This shown in the map below.

More information on the Hedonometer can be found at: http://www.hedonometer.org/index.html

The paper on the Geography of Happiness can be found at: http://arxiv.org/abs/1302.3299