Green Urbanist - Sustainable Placemaking, Planning and Urban Design

In today's episode we are asking, are tall buildings sustainable? It is often argued that because of their density, tall buildings are essential for sustainable cities to support public transport, walking, cycling and thriving communities. However, once you start looking into it, it is far more complicated than that.In this episode, tall buildings are analysed based on their environmental, social and economic sustainability with some surprising results.Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodContact the Green Urbanist:greenurbanistpod@gmail.comSources:https://nla.london/insights/londons-tall-buildings-survey-2020Headspace: The Psychology of City Living https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322312012_The_Sustainability_of_Tall_Building_Developments_A_Conceptual_Frameworkhttps://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jul/11/skyscrapers-wasteful-damaging-outmoded-time-to-stop-tall-buildingshttps://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2017/jun/high-rise-buildings-much-more-energy-intensive-low-risehttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09613218.2018.1479927https://www.worldgbc.org/news-media/WorldGBC-embodied-carbon-report-publishedhttps://www.transparency.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/publications/TIUK_Faulty_Towers_August_24.pdfhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/25/london-empty-towers-very-british-corruption-tainted-wealthhttps://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/residents_experience_of_high-density_housing_in_london_lse_-_final_report_july_2018.pdf- - - Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Work Together Get in touch Urban Wilding Hub GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

This episode pulls heavily from two excellent books, The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells and The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac. I look at the cognitive biases that prevent us from thinking logically and honestly about climate change, and therefore limit our actions, as presented in The Uninhabitable Earth. Following this I discuss the three "mindsets" put forward in The Future We Choose, that can help us to reframe the problem in our minds and take meaningful action.Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodContact the Green Urbanist:greenurbanistpod@gmail.com- - - Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Work Together Get in touch Urban Wilding Hub GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Welcome to the Green Urbanist, the podcast for urbanists fighting climate change. I'm Ross.The premise of this episode is that the way we currently produce most of our meat, using factory farms and feedlots, is a disaster from an environmental point of view and contributes a small but significant amount to global greenhouse gas emissions. However, there is a potential solution to this problem beyond simply eating less meat, which involves managing livestock in such a way that it contributes to ecosystem restoration and carbon sequestration in soil. That's why the title of this episode is Why Cows aren't Necessarily Evil.Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodContact the Green Urbanist:greenurbanistpod@gmail.comSources for this episode:Stanley et al (2018) Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X17310338)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTHi7O66pI&ab_channel=TEDhttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120327124243.htm#:~:text=Summary%3A,to%20a%20new%20genetic%20study.FAO - Tackling Climate Change through Livestock (http://www.fao.org/3/i3437e/i3437e00.htm)https://www.globalmethane.org/documents/analysis_fs_en.pdfhttps://www.carbonbrief.org/methane-emissions-from-fossil-fuels-severely-underestimatedRodgers and Wolf (2020) Sacred Cow: The Case for Better Meat (Book)- - - Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Work Together Get in touch Urban Wilding Hub GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Today's episode is a collaboration with the Human City podcast. The Human City is a podcast hosted by Stig Terrebonne that focuses on making cities, well, more human. Making people healthier, happier and facilitating community through urbanism.In this episode Stig has joined me to share his top lessons learned from interviewing some of the leading urbanists in the USA. We cover some really interesting topics including why urbanism needs branding, how communities are formed on interaction and why the solutions for towns or villages are the not the same as those for big cities. This episode is a collaboration because I am also appearing on Stigs podcast, the Human City, to talk about my lessons learned from hosting the Green Urbanist. That episode is out right now so please head over to the Human City podcast, if not to listen to me, to listen to all the other amazing guests he has had.Human City Podcast is available on the website below or on all the podcast apps.Human City Podcast:https://humancity.simplecast.com/https://twitter.com/humancitypodhttps://www.instagram.com/human.city/Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodContact the Green Urbanist:greenurbanistpod@gmail.com- - - Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Work Together Get in touch Urban Wilding Hub GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Salem is a Sustainability Engineer who has worked on projects in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. Originally from Amman Jordan, he moved to England to study civil and environmental engineering, and has spent the last 6 years working on exciting international projects. Salem is a good friend of mine, we used to work together and he was probably one of the first people I met when I first moved to London. With this episode, I really wanted to bring out important insights and lessons he has learned about sustainability in general and more specifically about sustainability in the Middle Eastern context. Being from the Jordan himself and having worked on projects in several Middle Eastern countries, he has some important messages about this often misunderstood region.We talk about why the Middle East is not just one place, it is very diverse and complex. We talk about how the region is adapting to the impact of climate change and how modern innovative solutions are not always the way forward.We also discuss the concept of resilience and how cities around the world can bounce forward to a new equilibrium, a new normal, after Covid-19.Contact Salem:salemqunsol@live.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/salem-qunsol-ceng-mcibse-252235a8/Follow the podcast:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodContact the podcast:greenurbanistpod@gmail.com- - - Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Work Together Get in touch Urban Wilding Hub GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

This is a mini-episode covering one very interesting topic: Increased atmospheric carbon is making food grow with less nutrients. I cover the research and some of the implications for global health.This is a fascinating story I wanted to share but couldn't fit it into a larger episode. So here it is in a short podcast bite. Let me know what you think of this shorter format on social media:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodSources:https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/09/13/food-nutrients-carbon-dioxide-000511/- - - Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Work Together Get in touch Urban Wilding Hub GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Justin Hunt is a Canadian engineer and entrepreneur, and CEO of an exciting company called Blaise Transit. Blaise is an AI-based software platform that allows transit operators to run on-demand bus services using their existing vehicles. What does that mean? Well essentially, instead of running a traditional bus route on a fixed line, passengers can open a smartphone app and request to picked up. The bus will then alter its route to pick up passengers on the most convenient and efficient route. You may be thinking that this sounds crazy but Justin explains how using this demand-driven system makes it possible to provide bus services in areas where traditional bus routes do not get enough ridership and don't provide people with a good alternative to using private cars. It can also save money for bus operators because you have less empty buses on the roads.The discussion also goes more broadly into the wider field of Future of Mobility, how technology is revolutionising movement and how we can leverage this to make cities more sustainable while also offering a better service for passengers and serving more members of society. Topics include autonomous vehicles, V2X Communication and Mobility as a Service.We talk about some pretty nerdy stuff but don't worry, you don't need a degree in computer science to follow along. A lot of these topics are fairly new to me too and Justin explains them in a very clear, jargon-free way.Learn more about Blaise:https://www.blaisetransit.com/https://www.facebook.com/blaisetransithttps://twitter.com/blaisetransithttps://www.linkedin.com/company/blaisetransit/https://www.instagram.com/blaisetransit/Follow the podcast on social media:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpod- - - Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Work Together Get in touch Urban Wilding Hub GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Today we are taking a step outside cities to explore reforestation and rewilding in a conversation with biologist Tiago de Zoeten.Tiago is a conservation biologist at Mossy Earth, a social enterprise on a mission to restore nature and fight climate change. He studied biology at the University of Edinburgh and Biostatistics at UCM in Madrid and has research experience in ecology and conservation genetics.At Mossy Earth he is working on bringing exciting rewilding projects to life and on applying his love for data to develop resources to help people live more sustainably.In this episode, we discuss:The importance of planting native species and letting forests grow wild.What rewilding is all about and how it plays a role in fighting climate change.Why we need to create and restore ecosystems.The role of wild places and animals in our cultures and history.Mossy Earth's projects, including using livestock guarding dogs to protect farms from wolves.And finally, how you can approach reducing your own carbon footprint.Mossy Earth restores wilderness through rewilding and reforestation projects across a variety of ecosystems around the globe. They are currently engaged in tree planting and rewilding projects in Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia. To give you a sense of the scale of their operations, earlier this year, they planted 3000 trees in the Scottish highlands, they are on track to plant 25,000 trees this year in Slovakia and a further 30,000 trees in Romania.Learn more at https://www.mossy.earth/https://www.instagram.com/mossy.earthFollow the podcast on social media:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodReferences:George Monbiot Rewilding Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/george_monbiot_for_more_wonder_rewild_the_world?language=enReforesting Ireland - Mossy Earth Project: https://mossy.earth/projects/reforestation/foraois-reforesting-irelandLivestock Guarding Dogs - Mossy Earth Project:https://mossy.earth/projects/rewilding/supporting-livestock-guarding-dogsEagle Nest Platforms - Mossy Earth Project:https://mossy.earth/projects/rewilding/building-eagle-nest-platforms- - - Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Work Together Get in touch Urban Wilding Hub GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

This episode provides a summary of the main proposals in the UK government White Paper, Planning for the Future, which sets out a new planning system for England. I discuss the move away from a discretionary planning system to one based on zoning, how the new system intends to promote design quality and delivering more housing and the changing role of technology in planning.Read the full White Paper here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-for-the-futureConsultation webpage:  https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/MHCLG-Planning-for-the-Future/Follow the podcast on social media:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodReferences/Further Reading:https://www.centreforcities.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Planning-for-the-future-how-flexible-zoning-will-end-the-housing-crisis-final-online.pdfhttps://www.rtpi.org.uk/research/2020/september/planning-through-zoning/- - - Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Work Together Get in touch Urban Wilding Hub GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

This episode is a conversation with Niall McEvoy.Niall is Business Development Manager at Scotscape, a leading green infrastructure and living wall provider. He is an educator and speaker with expertise in urban greening, horticulture and the science behind how plants and trees can improve our cities.Niall leads training courses on the design, construction and maintenance of living walls, provides continuing professional development programmes for architects and designers globally and regularly speaks on these subjects at industry events.We talk about:How "urban greening" is not about planting anything - you have to plant the right species for the right situation.How nature works as a system, not as individual elements.The importance of plants for air quality, biophilia and biodiversity.The economics of green infrastructure.The advantages of living walls (or "green walls").How to convince people of the necessity for greener cities!And if you love Irish accents, then this episode is definitely for you!Learn more about Scotscape and Niall: https://www.scotscape.co.uk/Follow the podcast on social media:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodIntro music by Tanoihttps://www.instagram.com/tanoibandhttps://open.spotify.com/artist/5CO2UfOc9jkoImoS6Wmsx4?si=HmxCxRYkTreT7XCTW2G51g- - - Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Work Together Get in touch Urban Wilding Hub GatherMap - Interactive crowdsource mapping tool The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.