Operacija se izvaja v okviru Operativnega programa razvoja človeških virov za obdobje 2007-2013, razvojne prioritete 3 : »Razvoj človeških virov in
vseživljenjskega učenja«; prednostne usmeritve 3.3 »Kakovost, konkurenčnost in odzivnost visokega šolstva«.
4
Foreword
Rapidly growing urbanization world-wide, combined with climate extremes (droughts, extreme
heat, and extreme rain events and floods) calls for an urgent change in planning of our cities one
that supports management of natural resources across multiple sectors, scales and disciplines. This
requires a certain level of decentralization of urban infrastructure, leading to the application of
innovative technologies or combination of technologies for integrated management of water, food
and energy within the city.
This workshop is about the latest developments, projects, and case studies in this area. It is based
on the results of the following projects and activities.
The Blue Green Dream (BGD) project is supported by the European Institute of Technology’s
programme Climate KIC. BGD promotes a new paradigm for the efficient planning and
management of the urban environment: one that maximizes ecosystem services minimizes
environmental footprint and increases cities’ adaptive capacity to changing climate, demographic
and socio-economic conditions. The project aims to enhance the synergy of urban blue (water) and
green (vegetation, energy efficiency) systems and provide effective, multifunctional Blue Green
Solutions (BGS) to support urban adaptation to future climatic changes.
Extensive long-term research on sustainable systems has been conducted by the Ecological
Engineering Group of Zurich University of Applied Sciences. It includes sustainable systems for
wastewater treatment and food production (Aquaponic) and their significance for the development
of Urban Agriculture, Building Integrated Food production and Zero emission Buildings.
Innovative household centred approaches to water and wastewater management in cities, i.e.
concepts for zero outflow and closed loop systems for water, substances in wastewater and energy
are in development. They can be part of an integrated urban substance flow management, which is
both environmentally acceptable, and resource and cost efficient. Their challenge is to be
applicable in industrialised as well as in developing countries. The concepts have been and are
being tested in various settings and practised by various initiatives.
Community led initiatives like Transition Towns offer a well-established network of various
groups of citizens working towards improvement of local economies, creating livelihood,
sustainable urban solutions, and green jobs, whilst also seeking collaboration with governments,
businesses and universities. Such collaboration is a necessity for transforming our cities into low-
carbon economies with zero ecological footprint.
Operacija se izvaja v okviru Operativnega programa razvoja človeških virov za obdobje 2007-2013, razvojne prioritete 3 : »Razvoj človeških virov in
vseživljenjskega učenja«; prednostne usmeritve 3.3 »Kakovost, konkurenčnost in odzivnost visokega šolstva«.
5
Trends in sustainable design of future cities
Čedo Maksimović*, Srdjan Stanković** Ranko Božović*** Christos Makropoulos****
Ivana Mirosavić***** and Miloš Mirosavić******
*Imperial College London UK, c.maksimovic@imperial.ac.uk
**Imperial College London UK, s.stankovic12@imperial.ac.uk
***EnPlus, Belgrade,Serbia, ranko@enplustech.com
****NTUA, Athen, Greece, cmakro@chi.civil.ntua.gr
*****University on Bonn, Germany, ivana.mirosavic@gmail.com
****** University on Bonn, Germany, milos.mirosavic@uni-bonn.de
Abstract
This paper presents innovative methods of increasing resilience of urban areas to the adverse
effects of natural disasters caused by climate changes and extreme weather conditions such as heat
and cold waves, heavy storm and prolonged droughts, combined with manmade problems such as
air pollution, noise and increasing urbanisation. They call for a new paradigm for the efficient
planning and management of the urban environment: one that maximizes ecosystem services,
minimizes environmental footprint and increase cities’ adaptive capacity to changing climate,
demographic and socio-economic conditions. The new paradigm calls for a rethink in existing
ways of planning, designing, constructing, operating and maintaining urban water systems (blue
assets) and urban vegetated areas (green assets), not as separate systems as is the case today, but in
combination.
This paper (extended abstract) presents the methodology applied in the Blue Green Dream (BGD)
project for tackling the above issues by developing and testing innovative methods of urban
planning and asset management in integrated fashion and how the BG solutions implemented are
tested, improved and their performance indicators quantified by the “next generation’s” Blue
Green Integrated Modelling System (BG IMS). The initial results obtained in both research
projects (full scale plus MSc and PhD projects) and initial demo projects (Berlin, London, Paris
and Rotterdam) as well as in full scale developments in which the BGD concept was implemented
are presented. These results illustrate the “framework” of the future urban planning methodology
developed to realise the BGD paradigm. This state-of-the-art planning and modelling
methodology is demonstrated and the gaps in knowledge and limitations plus improvements
required of the existing models to effect a step-change in urban planning are presented.
Key words: innovative planning, resilient cities, integrated, ecosystem optimisation