Talking Points on the Real Estate Unite Conference – Sustainability Plenary Session
SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, Lagos Nigeria
Writers on sustainability has often criticize the “Glass Box Design” syndrome of building development and the remedial which only focus on energy efficiency rather than the overall concept of integrated design that incorporate all aspects of the building including the occupants’ wellbeing and building efficiency, we have still not been able to achieve this.
We need to move away from the traditional approach of developer thinking up an idea, calling the architect to turn it into a model “the glass box model”, the engineer is called in to build and users and managers only get involved in the building after delivery. It’s like off the shelf clothing, you must redo.
The building of the future must integrate the developer, the architect, the users, the environment, and the city, we must have an integrated approach to development that ensures the end product can connect all the dots of sustainability.
How do governments in Africa learn from Europe and America to focus on sustainable city development as a standard, a norm and not an exception? How do we develop smart cities in a disconnected society without refocusing the entire community master plan to ensure we have an integrated sustainable development that reduces wastages in energy, water and reuse waste at the same time is efficient and ensures the health and wellbeing of city dwellers?
Do need to set up and Europe type Partnership that helps Africa address this? See what Europe and America is doing as well as what companies in developing world are doing and the benefit of investing in an integrated sustainable smart city
Governments
The European Union Model:
The European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities & Communities seeks to significantly accelerate the industrial-scale roll-out of smart city solutions integrating technologies from Energy, Transport and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). This is where there is most untapped innovation potential and most environment and societal benefits to be gained. The partnership was launched in July 20121 and its overarching goal has hence been formulated thus:
“This partnership strives at a triple bottom line gain for Europe: a significant improvement of citizens’ quality of life, an increased competitiveness of Europe’s industry and innovative SMEs together with a strong contribution to sustainability and the EU’s 20/20/20 energy and climate targets 2 . This will be achieved through the wide-reaching roll out of integrated, scalable, sustainable Smart City solutions – specifically in areas where energy production, distribution and use; mobility and transport; and information and communication technologies are intimately linked.”
Sustainable Urban Mobility – Alternative energies, public transport, efficient logistics, planning;
Sustainable Districts and Built Environment –improving the energy efficiency of buildings and districts, increasing the share of renewable energy sources used and the liveability of our communities;
Integrated Infrastructures and processes across Energy, ICT and Transport – connecting infrastructure assets to improve the efficiency and sustainability of cities
The Administration’s Smart Cities Initiative will begin with a focus on key strategies:
Creating test beds for “Internet of Things” applications and developing new multi-sector collaborative models: Technological advancements and the diminishing cost of IT infrastructure have created the potential for an “Internet of Things,” a ubiquitous network of connected devices, smart sensors, and big data analytics. The United States has the opportunity to be a global leader in this field, and cities represent strong potential test beds for development and deployment of Internet of Things applications. Successfully deploying these and other new approaches often depends on new regional collaborations among a diverse array of public and private actors, including industry, academia, and various public entities.
Collaborating with the civic tech movement and forging intercity collaborations: There is a growing community of individuals, entrepreneurs, and nonprofits interested in harnessing IT to tackle local problems and work directly with city governments. These efforts can help cities leverage their data to develop new capabilities. Collaborations across communities are likewise indispensable for replicating what works in new places.
Leveraging existing Federal activity: From research on sensor networks and cybersecurity to investments in broadband infrastructure and intelligent transportation systems, the Federal government has an existing portfolio of activities that can provide a strong foundation for a Smart Cities effort.
Pursuing international collaboration: Fifty-four percent of the world’s population live in urban areas. Continued population growth and urbanization will add 2.5 billion people to the world’s urban population by 2050. The associated climate and resource challenges demand innovative approaches. Products and services associated with this market present a significant export opportunity for the U.S., since almost 90 percent of this increase will occur in Africa and Asia.
Corporates
Cisco’s Internet of Everything (IoE) is already the cornerstone of the company’s business with the company raking in over $613 billion in corporate profits. Cisco believes that the concept could add $14.4 trillion to the global economy by the end of the decade.
Microsoft has launched the CityNext, a global initiative intended to develop “smart cities” around the world. Unveiled at the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, the plan leverages Microsoft’s Partner Network to help cities become more efficient even as they struggle with austere budgets and decaying urban infrastructure.
Concepts for Sustainability Development & Management
Use of Life Cycle Analysis, LCA for sustainable product/material selection, marketing and competitive analysis
LCA can be used as part of an interactive stage-gate process to evaluate the environmental implication of design choices at each step of the development
LCA use in product life cycle analysis in sustainability drive – A Siemens lighting LCA, for example, found that the majority of environmental impact came from the use phase in customer’s homes and spurred the company to improve lamp efficiency.
Marketing and promotion – Buildings that are LEED certified are found to command higher rental value than none LEED certified buildings.
The Economics of Sustainability
For every fundable project, the investor or banker is interested in ROI at the shortest possible scenario most investors target low risk, high yielding, short term investment, that is one of the reasons why sustainable designs and development which in some cases have long pay back and therefore investors shy away from, we need to rethink long term.
In developing infrastructure, governments and developers (in places where the developer focuses on site infrastructure, we need to work on a master plan with government which becomes a cheater model for developers and investors and therefore we can do connected cities and invest in sustainable development.