

Green Urbanist - Sustainable Placemaking, Planning and Urban Design
Ross O'Ceallaigh
100+ episodes exploring climate action in cities and neighbourhoods. This show provides actionable advice and case studies on:Sustainable urban design and placemaking principles.How to design cities and neighbourhoods for biodiversity net gain and wildlife.Climate adaptation: How to build resilience to climate change in cities.Net zero carbon masterplanning and architecture.Circular economy: How to minimise waste and emissions in new development.Transport: How to transition cities away to sustainable and active travel.Regenerative Design: Delivering positive benefits for the environment and communities.Who is it for? Urban designers, planners, developers, architects, landscape architects, urban ecologists, engineers, transport professionals and urban citizens. The Green Urbanist podcast is hosted by Ross O'Ceallaigh, an urban designer and sustainable placemaking consultant.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 13, 2023 • 1h 7min
#63: Israa Mahmoud - Co-designing Nature-based Solutions in Cities
Read the companion blog post to his episode on Substack. Israa Mahmoud is Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Her research interests include nature-based solutions, co-design and urban governance. Her recent publications include The book Placemaking for Green Urban Regeneration, published by Springer. She is the research team leader together with Prof. Eugenio Morello on CLEVER Cities Project as an expert of Co-creation guidance for cities to implement Nature-based solutions in socially inclusive urban regeneration processes.We talk about:Nature-based solutionsThe need to take a place-based approach to NbSCo-designing by immersion with communitiesThe sweet spot between top down and grassroots approaches to urban changeCLEVER Cities project and case studies in Milan Learn more about Israa and her publications here. Learn more about the CLEVER Cities project here. - - - Register: Nature-led Urban Design - Study Tour and Masterclass (25 September) Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Consulting and training: https://greenurbanist.org/ Get in touch: https://greenurbanistpod.com/contact The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

6 snips
Feb 27, 2023 • 1h 6min
#62: Helen Pineo - Healthy Urbanism from Planetary to Building Scales
Read the companion blog post to this episode on Substack. Dr Helen Pineo MRTPI is an urban planner and Associate Professor in Healthy and Sustainable Cities in the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at University College London. Her research focuses on how property development, regeneration and urban policy can support health and sustainability. She contributes to the evidence base about why and how to do healthy urbanism by using transdisciplinary approaches and amplifying the needs of underrepresented communities and the planet. Her book, Healthy Urbanism: Designing and Planning Equitable, Sustainable and Inclusive Places, re-defines the meaning and form of healthy urban environments. If you want to buy the book, you can get a 40% discount through end of March 2023. Paste the coupon code HIGHLIGHTS22 at checkout. Buy the book here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-9647-3 Find out more about Helen and her work here: https://healthyurbanism.net/- - - Register: Nature-led Urban Design - Study Tour and Masterclass (25 September) Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Consulting and training: https://greenurbanist.org/ Get in touch: https://greenurbanistpod.com/contact The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Jan 30, 2023 • 33min
#61: Fact Checking the Norman Foster Dezeen Interview
In this episode I fact check the article "There are a lot of dangerous myths" about sustainability says Norman Foster, which appeared on dezeen.com on 17th January 2023. The architect made some controversial statements about sustainability and defended Foster & Partner's decision to keep designing airports and leave Architects Declare. This episode is in no way an attack on the fine people who work at Foster & Partners or the work they do to design sustainable buildings. It is just a fact check of some of the controversial statements made by Foster himself, to help people understand the climate science.Relevant episode for further listening: #21: Jake Attwood-Harris (Hawkins\Brown) - Whole Life Carbon, Zero Carbon Architecture and Retrofitting for SustainabilityRelevant links and further readinghttps://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/stories/foster-partners-zaha-hadid-architects-quit-architects-declare/#:~:text=Foster %2B Partners and Zaha Hadid,climate action can be policed.https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uks-jet-zero-plan-would-allow-demand-for-flying-to-soar-70/https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviationhttps://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/nuclear-waste-pilesscientists-seek-best/98/i12https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinero/2019/11/26/the-staggering-timescales-of-nuclear-waste-disposal/?sh=5ba3bc729cf5https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/fuel-seawater-whats-catch-180953623/#:~:text=Now%2C scientists at the U.S.,plane as proof of concept.https://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/question192.htm- - - Register: Nature-led Urban Design - Study Tour and Masterclass (25 September) Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Consulting and training: https://greenurbanist.org/ Get in touch: https://greenurbanistpod.com/contact The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Jan 23, 2023 • 47min
#60: Rob Hopkins - Why Climate Action Needs Imagination
See links and images on the companion blog post.Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network and of Transition Town Totnes, and author of several books including ‘The Transition Handbook‘ and most recently, ‘From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want’. He is an Ashoka Fellow, has spoken at TED Global and at several TEDx events, and appeared in the French film phenomenon ‘Demain‘. He holds a PhD from the University of Plymouth, and is a Director of Totnes Community Development Society and of New Lion Brewery. He also hosts the podcast ‘From What If to What Next‘. In November 2022 he was made an Honorary Citizen of Liège in Belgium by the Mayor of the city. His website is robhopkins.net.- - - Register: Nature-led Urban Design - Study Tour and Masterclass (25 September) Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Consulting and training: https://greenurbanist.org/ Get in touch: https://greenurbanistpod.com/contact The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

6 snips
Dec 12, 2022 • 51min
#59: Why cities need Transformational Adaptation and what it could mean for urban ecosystems
Climate change is causing local weather patterns and ecosystems to shift and transform. In order to thrive in this new climate era, we will need to transform our cities and urban ecosystems. This is called 'Transformational Adaptation'. My co-host today is Giulia Mori and in this episode we discuss:What is Transformational Adaptation and why we need itHow ecosystems are transforming due to climate change2 case studies of transformation and what we can learn from themSome thoughts on how we could reimagine urban parks for the futureKey Reference: Colloff, M.J., Wise, R.M., Palomo, I., Lavorel, S. and Pascual, U. (2020) ‘Nature’s contribution to adaptation: insights from examples of the transformation of social-ecological systems’, Ecosystems and People, 16(1), pp. 137–150. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2020.1754919.Barcelona Case Study:Zografos, C., Klause, K.A., Connolly, J.J.T. and Anguelovski, I. (2020) ‘The everyday politics of urban transformational adaptation: Struggles for authority and the Barcelona superblock project’, Cities, 99, p. 102613. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102613 Select bibliography of other relevant papers:Brown, R.D., Vanos, J., Kenny, N. and Lenzholzer, S. (2015) ‘Designing urban parks that ameliorate the effects of climate change’, Landscape and Urban Planning, 138, pp. 118–131. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.02.006.Burley, H., Beaumont, L.J., Ossola, A., Baumgartner, J.B., Gallagher, R., Laffan, S., Esperon-Rodriguez, M., Manea, A. and Leishman, M.R. (2019) ‘Substantial declines in urban tree habitat predicted under climate change’, Science of The Total Environment, 685, pp. 451–462. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.287.Esperon-Rodriguez, M., Ordoñez, C., van Doorn, N.S., Hirons, A. and Messier, C. (2022) ‘Using climate analogues and vulnerability metrics to inform urban tree species selection in a changing climate: The case for Canadian cities’, Landscape and Urban Planning, 228, p. 104578. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104578.Gill, S.E., Handley, J.F., Ennos, A.R. and Pauleit, S. (2007) ‘Adapting Cities for Climate Change: The Role of the Green Infrastructure’, Built Environment, 33(1), pp. 115–133. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2148/benv.33.1.115.- - - Register: Nature-led Urban Design - Study Tour and Masterclass (25 September) Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Consulting and training: https://greenurbanist.org/ Get in touch: https://greenurbanistpod.com/contact The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Nov 30, 2022 • 37min
#58: Creating a Culture of Sustainable Design with Glenn Howells Architects
Companion blog post on Substack I speak to Will Poole (Partner) Jack Pritchard (Associate Urban Designer) and Sophia Ceneda (Architect and Sustainability Lead) at Glenn Howells Architects. Glenn Howells Architects are based in London and Birmingham. They’ve designed award winning housing, tall buildings and masterplans across the UK. Our conversation focuses on how over the last few years they have shifted their approach towards sustainable design, and developed their own studio culture and processes internally for delivering sustainable projects. If you are interested in how to embed sustainability within a design practice, you’ll definitely get some insights from this conversation. We also talk about the challenges of designing sustainable tall buildings and their thoughts on designing for climate adaptation.https://www.glennhowells.co.uk/- - - Register: Nature-led Urban Design - Study Tour and Masterclass (25 September) Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Consulting and training: https://greenurbanist.org/ Get in touch: https://greenurbanistpod.com/contact The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Nov 14, 2022 • 45min
#57: Laura Baron (Purcell) - Sustainability in Historic Buildings
Companion blog post on Substack Laura is Head of Sustainability at Purcell, a practice of architects, heritage consultants and masterplanners working on historic structures. In this episode, we discuss Purcell's work to improve the sustainability of iconic cathedrals and advice for improving the sustainability of historic buildings of all types by taking the right approach. Links Ted Talk: How to find joy in climate action Purcell website Laura's Linkedin - - - Register: Nature-led Urban Design - Study Tour and Masterclass (25 September) Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Consulting and training: https://greenurbanist.org/ Get in touch: https://greenurbanistpod.com/contact The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Oct 24, 2022 • 1h 4min
#56: Joao Cortesao - Climate-Responsive Urban Design, Adaptation and Research Through Design
Joao is a Portuguese architect and researcher, and an Assistant Professor at Wageningen University, Netherlands. His research focuses on climate-responsive urban design and climate adaptation using a research-through-design approach. His motivation is to create and transfer design knowledge to practitioners and decision-makers, in order to prompt the adaptation of urban areas to climate change.We talk about his research on designing cooling urban environments with water and vegetation, running design workshops with architects in Egypt to spark locally-specific climate adaptation measures and bridging the gap between research and practice. This episode is full of practical and actionable advice!Check out the companion blog post to this episode to see visuals of the projects we discuss!Learn more about Joao here.See Joao's research publications here. - - - Register: Nature-led Urban Design - Study Tour and Masterclass (25 September) Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Consulting and training: https://greenurbanist.org/ Get in touch: https://greenurbanistpod.com/contact The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Oct 10, 2022 • 49min
#55: Tim Stonor and Anna Rose (Space Syntax) - Science-based Human-centric Urbanism
Tim Stonor is an architect and urban planner who has devoted his career to the analysis and design of human behaviour patterns – the ways in which people move, interact and transact in buildings and urban places. He is Managing Director of Space Syntax and a visiting professor at several top universities like University College London.Anna Rose is an architect and urban planner, and Director of Space Syntax, where she leads their consulting activities in the UK, USA and continental Europe. She is also Honorary Senior Research Fellow at The Bartlett, University College London.Space Syntax are a fascinating and unique group of people. Emerging out of University College London with a robust scientific approach to urban design and architecture, they now work all over the world on building, masterplans and urban strategy projects as well as conducting research and training.In this episode we discuss:Taking a science-based and human-centric approach to urban designWhy studying human behaviour should be central to urban and architectural designThe common challenges cities across the world are facingThe role and risks of technology in the future of citiesSpace Syntax website: https://spacesyntax.com/Green Urbanist website Contact Ross Social Media:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast- - - Register: Nature-led Urban Design - Study Tour and Masterclass (25 September) Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Consulting and training: https://greenurbanist.org/ Get in touch: https://greenurbanistpod.com/contact The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Sep 26, 2022 • 46min
#54: Dr Dorina Pojani - Eco-Feminist Urbanism
Dr Dorina Pojani is a Senior Lecturer at University of Queensland, Australia. An urban planner and urban designer by training, she has experience in both practice and academics. We discuss her new book Trophy Cities, a feminist perspective on new capitals and explore how patriarchal ideology is expressed in urban design, and what a matriarchal or 'eco-feminist' approach may be.Find our more about Dorina: https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/11894 Green Urbanist websiteContact RossSocial Media:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast- - - Register: Nature-led Urban Design - Study Tour and Masterclass (25 September) Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Consulting and training: https://greenurbanist.org/ Get in touch: https://greenurbanistpod.com/contact The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.