IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

Cities are closely examining models of Circular Economy (CE) and their potential application to urban planning and architectural design. A CE offers a paradigm shift away from the conventional linear model of ‘take, make, waste’ by striving to close the resource loop. In buildings this means designing out waste in the early design phases and at the end-of-use, seeing materials as untapped resources rather than waste. Digital based tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offer opportunity to apply aspects of CE to policymaking and urban planning. It is also the trust of a research project named ‘Data Homebase’ that was led by the authors. The project saw the development of an application-based framework that allows cities model aspects related to their sustainable performance. Using gathered and generated data, the application models, processes and visualizes information on energy performance, carbon footprint of materials used and level of affordability in the city, district and building levels. The tool, which includes a Housing Passport (a standardized digital description of housing data) is targeted at building industry actors, including builders, planners and architects. The tool is also expected to be used by regulators and financial stakeholders to formulate urban policies about energy efficiency levels, choice of building materials, affordable housing initiatives, and awarding “green” loans. The paper outlines the rational and the methodology that guided the research and development of the application and demonstrates its outcomes and use by the key stakeholders.