Greenhouse Gas Emission Data on Google Maps // link // The Map Collection

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat has cooperated with Google and the Danish government as hosts of COP 15 to display official UNFCCC greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data for Annex I Parties using Google Maps. The Maps are now online and can be accessed on the UNFCCC GHG data interface. Users can select on a world map total national GHG emissions/removals as well as emissions/removals from various sectors; absolute numbers (in Gg CO2 equivalent); or relative changes in emissions (in per cent compared to the base year level). Information is provided for all sectors (such as energy, agriculture, etc) and for the major sub-sectors (such as transport within the energy sector). By gas, the data cover aggregate GHGs, CO2, CH4, N2O, SF6, HFCs and PFCs.

Link to the world map total national GHG emissions/removals

Seismograph City

The exhibition Seismograph City is open from June to September this summer in Hamburg. Our project, Nordhavnen / Excentral Park - Edge Dynamics is exhibited together with other projects under the title Sustainable Strategies in Dialogue.
The Exhibition is a part of Hamburger Architektur Sommer, the programme can be downloaded here: RAUM IN DER ZEIT - Hamburg im Fluss

The universal city defines itself not only as the catalyst of cultural, social, economic and ecological processes, but also as the seismograph of global developments. Never before has there been such consensus between politicians and the public on the question of how we can innovatively and constructively improve our living environment. Given global challenges to develop sustainable strategies in architecture and urban design, the architectural profession assumes a significant role and responsibility. This exhibition and catalogue present a diverse spectrum of buildings in various stages of development and completion as well as visionary designs which address sustainable strategies in the context of current architectural and urban developments worldwide. Selected projects provide an exciting insight (not overview) into current planning in the city of Hamburg, as well as a fascinating and rather surprising collection of projects, designs and visions which excite our imaginations, give us strength, motivation and which hopefully inspire us to further examine themes of sustainability.

org Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und UmweltMo bis Sa 11-18 Uhr, Fr 11-20 Uhr@ Hamburg, Deichtorcenter, Oberbaumbrücke 1

PLAN # 3-4 2009

Three of our projects are mentioned in the latest issue of PLAN - Tidsskrift for samfunnsplanlegging, bolig og byplan og regional utvikling.

John Pløger refers in his Article, Ambivalens og etos - forskjeller og likheter i byplanlegging i Norge og Danmark, to The Game of Tromsø and The Year of Urban Development (BYÅR05) as some of the more "spectacular" experiments in norwegian planning, with reference to our paper Openness and experiment.

Hanne Bertnes and Aasne Haug uses the Nordhavnen competition as a case in the article Et møte med dansk planmiljø.
"Hvordan sikres intensjonene i en god plan? Er det i styrkeforholdet mellom offentlig ansvarlighet og private investorer man finner svaret, eller er det mer i prosessen og mindre i selve svaret?
De tre vinnerne etter første runde i Nordhavnen hadde ulike svar på akkurat dette. Mens de to danske prosjektene la opp til en "tradisjonell" planstrategi der planen definerer de fysiske strukturer, satset det norske vinnerbidraget på en prosessbasert planstrategi, der viktige offentlige strukturer defineres, men der fremtidens fysiske omgivelser defineres suksessivt med utviklingen. Denne tankemåten erkjenner at vi ikke vet hva fremtidens samfunn trenger, men er samtidig mer krevende for planleggere og utviklere som ønsker forutsigbarhet."

"How to secure the intentions of a good plan?
The three winning concepts in the Nordhavnen competition had different answers to this question. While both the danish projects presented a 'traditional' planning strategy where the plan defines the physical structures, the norwegian winning proposal went for a process based planning strategy, where important public structures are defined, but where the physical surroundings of the future are defined successively with the development. This thinking recognizes that we do not know what tomorrow's society needs, but is at the same time more challenging for planners and developers who wish predictability."

Ny milepæl på veien fra Rio? // ARKITEKTNYTT

Jan Carlsen har intervjuet Knut Eirik, Marius Nygaard og Harald N. Røstvik om Cop 15. med utgangspunkt i Excentral Park - Edge Dynamics.

– Det er trolig at byenes skjebnefellesskap får spesiell omtale på konferansen, et nytt sivilisasjonsprosjekt som inkluderer medvirknings- og demokratiaspektene. I tillegg kommer alternative energiformer garantert til å bli viktige, mener Dahl
...
Arkitekt Marius Nygaard, førsteamanuensis ved Arkitektur- og designhøgskolen i Oslo, har deltatt i professor Bente Klevens lærerteam for studentene på andre årstrinn.
– Kurset brukte konkurranseutkastet til 70°N arkitektur og Dahl & Uhre for Nordhavnen i København som byøkologisk rammeverk for oppgaven, forteller Nygaard. – Studentene tegnet et besøkssenter med biologisk mangfold og økologi som tema. Slik ble studentenes arbeid indirekte knyttet til oppkjøring mot COP 15-konferansen.
...
...vår profesjon har makt til å forandre mye. Derfor må arkitekt- og byplanutdannelsen styrkes med hensyn til bærekraft. Politikerne klarer ikke jobben alene – det demonstrerer de hver dag. Naturen kommer til å skake oss voldsomt hvis vi ikke ser alvoret i klima- og energisituasjonen, avslutter arkitekt Harald N. Røstvik.

Les hele intervjuet her: Ny milepæl på veien fra Rio? ARKITEKTNYTT
Se også: ARKITEKTNYTT om æresprisen til Knut Eirik

Red den intakte natur før alt andet // Link // Kronik - Politiken

Rasmus Ejrnæs, seniorforsker ved Afd. for Vildtbilogi og Biodiversitet, Aarhus Universitet og Hans Henrik Bruun, docent ved Ekologiska Institutionen, Lunds Universitet har skrevet en viktig og innsiktsfull tekst om sårbarhet og naturforvaltning. Her kommer noen utdrag fra kronikken:

"....Omsat til naturforvalterens sprog lyder brandmandens lov således: Først må man redde den natur, som endnu ikke er ødelagt. Dernæst gælder det om at fjerne de negative påvirkninger fra den øvrige natur, som er under ødelæggelse. Når tilstanden i den bestående natur er gunstig, kan det give mening at etablere ny natur.Desværre har denne enkle lov aldrig vundet indpas blandt beslutningstagere højere oppe i systemet. Om det skyldes at beslutningstagerne ikke kan overskue den vilde naturs kompleksitet, eller ganske enkelt foretrækker at klippe snore ved indvielser af ny natur, kan være svært at afgøre. Men det er et spørgsmål værd, om de begrænsede midler, der afsættes til naturformål, bruges omkostningseffektivt, når brandmandens lov vendes på hovedet....
....Næringsstofferne forvilder sig ud i naturen fra landbrug og afbrænding af fossile brændstoffer. Kvælstof kommer via luften, og kvælstof og fosfor transporteres også ud i naturen med drænvandet fra de dyrkede marker. Det er velkendt, at næringsstofferne slukker lyset og skaber iltsvind i søer, fjorde og lavvandede havområder, men næringsstofferne ødelægger også levestederne på land.
Effekten kan synes knap så dramatisk på land. Her ligger fuglene ikke med bugen i vejret og gisper efter luft, men tabet af nøjsomhedsplanter, sommerfugle, vilde bier, rensdyrlaver og svampe er ikke desto mindre voldsomt. De vilde dyr, planter og svampe har aldrig tidligere i evolutionens lange historie været udsat for et lignende tæppebombardement med næringsstoffer....
....Vi vil vove den påstand, at det frem for at etablere ny natur på dyrkede marker og gødskede enge vil være langt mere omkostningseffektivt at:
• Udvide arealet med urørt skov i Danmark ved at standse den forstlige drift i eksisterende skove.
• Sikre græsning af eksisterende naturområder i Danmark, som i dag henligger uden græsning, både skove og lysåbne naturtyper.
• Beskytte eksisterende naturområder mod næringsforurening ved at udlægge dyrknings- og gødningsfrie bufferzoner i kanten af marker, hvorfra der i dag foregår udvaskning til overdrev, heder, moser, skove og enge. Ikke bare helt nede ved selve vandløbet, men oppe i kanten af marken, hvor ådalen, kystskrænten eller strandengen begynder.
• Genskabe det naturlige vandkredsløb i eksisterende naturområder ved at sløjfe dræn og grøfter og beskytte eksisterende natur mod vandindvinding...."

Knut Eirik kommenterte teksten slik: Interessant tekst! Kjenner dere kunstneren Christos prosjekt der han la rød duk rundt hver av øyene i et arkippelago utenfor Florida: Kan jeg oppfatte deres strategi dithen at dere lanserer en beskyttelsesone rundt den eksiserende natur dere vil forsterke? Nærmest som et naturarkipelago i et jordbrukshav, og at dette er en slags hovedstrategi?

Les hele kronikken her: Politiken.dk!

'scape // Adaptive seaward extension for Copenhagen

The duch architect and writer Joren Jacobs has made an article about the planning strategies in our Nordhavnen project, Edge Dynamics in 'scape 1# 2009 .

Ever-evolving

The vision of 70°N and Dahl & Uhre clearly opposes traditional linear development which can neither cope with change, nor cater for creative solutions. it cannot do what the people of Copenhagen requested: "no-regulation zones", a place "a bit rough, messy and unpolished", because "the unexpected is attractive". So in addition to their flexible basic structure plan 70°N and Dahl & Uhre's strategy is an ever-evolving open plan process and dialogue. This involves a broad collaborative exchange with many different parties, like journalists, citizens, landscape architects and researchers in various fields (biology, agriculture, economy, energy, marine enviroment, rainwater and culture). As the design firms put it themselves: " One must establish a universe of ideas beyond the field of thought of the developer-institution. In our strategy, the the programming of Nordhavn and the development strategy must constantly be charged with new knowledge. It is possible to see this project as a work of art - in progress." JJ

The aftermath of COP 15 // Nordhavnen // The Map Collection

In the era ‘after COP 15’ it is possible to picture a new type of discourse about cities’ and landscapes’ development that might proceed in other directions than the presumed ideal, linear urban development of an ideal site. Such an enlarged perspective, this essential side view, is difficult to trace in the competition program for Nordhavnen. In the previous diagrams, illustrating the regional dialogue between Denmark and Sweden up until COP 15, one clearly sees a hyper attention in both politics and development about current projects. In the third diagram it is claimed that the different projects cannot be seen on the site alone, nor in their close city surroundings, but that every single project developed in the region must relate to a larger geographical picture and a larger time frame. It is a fact that the region can absorb a large growth; compared to Holland the entire Ring City (‘the green heart’) with approximately 7 million people can be ‘relocated’ to the Øresund region (‘the blue heart’). The region of Øresund can be seen as a complex dynamic of events. Additionally in Nordhavnen after COP 15, a renewed ecological reflection must characterize both the natural-, the production- and the urban landscape. The ambitions are several, but the future insecurities on every level are larger. In Nordhavnen this means, ‘not to be able to predict time, but to use time as a material’. In such a dialogue between ambition and insecurity the fundamental structure of Nordhavnen might contribute to adjust urban conditions on several levels: - locally in Nordhavnen, in a larger picture containing all the large landfillings in Copenhagen, in a larger timeframe and geography embracing events in the entire region, in the Øresund metropolis’s future containing limitless exchanges and high velocity networks, and not the least in a global discussion about urban sustainable development.

This Map (and text) is from the 1st price project in Nordhavnen,(1st face), Copenhagen: Excentral Park - Edge Dynamics, which we did together with 70°N and a panel of experts.

Pre COP 15 // Nordhavnen // The Map Collection

Uncertainty in the larger geography and time.

In the contest program the development of Nordhavnen is motivated by Copenhagen’s future increase in population, and by the fact that other areas are filled up faster than one thought prior. The program’s dialogue is limited to other closely located development zones as Ørestaden, the Carlsberg area and Kløvermarken. Nordhavnen must be explored and developed in a larger picture, where both the global as well as the regional context are at work. The idea of the Øresund region opens for an image where Nordhavnen enters into a dialogue with events and developments in a geographically larger region; in Malmö with Bo01, the new metro and the urban development project in Hyllie, and in Helsingborg with the development of Norra hamnen and H+. There is a kind of conversation, if not an exchange, between these initiatives as markers in the possible future metropolis image of Øresund. There is every possible reason for developers and developing constellations to look aside.

This Map (and text) is from the 1st price project in Nordhavnen, (1st face), Copenhagen: Excentral Park - Edge Dynamics, which we did together with 70°N and a panel of experts.

Kronikkenes by II - Tromsø 2040 #3

"Den måten Norge håndterte oljerikdommen på er unik i internasjonal industrihistorie. Når tyngdepunktet for oljeutvinningen nå flyttes nordover og når teknologifokus gradvis flyttes over mot miljø og fornybar energi; klarer da politikerne å vise samme handlekraft? Kan våre barn, når de om 30 år ser seg tilbake, si at Norge igjen skrev et stykke industrihistorie - denne gangen i nord?"

Serien Nord-Norge 2040 fortsetter på kronikkplass i Nordlys...

Bridging and Branding // Nordhavnen // The Map Collection

The competition of Ørestaden in 1994 can be seen as Copenhagen’s urban answer to the Öresund Bridge project. The program for Ørestaden was as ambitious as for Nordhavnen, but in a different time. Here the ambitions of Copenhagen as an important city in a European economic picture were dominant (new Docklands etc.) The ideal world of Ørestaden, as a line of growth out towards Amager’s periphery, have not however been sustained in dialogue with the larger image of the city. More interesting urban developments have taken place in other parts of Copenhagen, and ideas and ambitions have disintegrated in Ørestaden’s era.
Nordhavnen has now been designated as the place for seven present ambition’s criteria summed up as ‘The Sustainable City of the Future’. As in Ørestaden a linear direction of development has been chosen, but this time directly into the Øresund Strait, functioning as a game board for these ambitions. The program’s statement is that all ambitions that have not taken place other places will happen here, - not unlike the ‘best of all’-programs for Ørestaden.

This Map (and text) is from the 1st price project in Nordhavnen,(1st face), Copenhagen: Excentral Park - Edge Dynamics, which we did together with 70°N and a panel of experts.