Shaun Spiers is the Executive Director of the environmental think-tank, Green Alliance. In this episode we discuss how a stronger planning system in the UK can address the housing crisis and deliver more sustainable outcomes.

Read their report, Build Up: https://green-alliance.org.uk/publication/build-up/

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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.

Alexandra Steed is a passionate landscape architect with a deep commitment to art, sustainability, and the transformative power of landscapes. 

We talk about:

• Her new book: Portrait to Landscape
• How to restore landscapes on a large scale to build climate resilience and biodiversity
• How The UK's Environment Act and Biodiversity Net Gain are working in reality
• Project case studies and book recommendations.

Learn more:
Alexandra Steed URBAN: https://alexandrasteedurban.com/
Book: Portrait to Landscape: https://alexandrasteedurban.com/project/portrait-to-landscape-a-landscape-strategy-to-reframe-our-future/

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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.

Louisa Whitmore is an architecture enthusiast, TikToker and host of the Nature of Design documentary series. In this episode we discuss her experience making the documentary, the mental health benefits of biophilic environments and case studies of great biophilic projects.

Learn more about the Nature of Design documentary:
The Green Channel: Link
Instagram: Link
TikTok: Link
Louisa's TikTok: Link

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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.

In conversation with Alisdair Ben Dixon (Collective Works), Anna Lisa McSweeney (White Arkitekter) and Isabel Allen (Architecture Today) about the new Regenerative Architecture Index (RAI).
Launched by Architecture Today and UK Architects Declare, the Regenerative Architecture Index (RAI) sets out to benchmark practices progress in the move towards regenerative practice and projects. It recognises the need for a built environment that isn’t merely reducing its negative impacts, but has positive impacts for today and the long term.

We discuss why they created the index, how they define 'regenerative design' and shifting towards regenerative practice in the built environment.

Submissions are open until 17 May 2024.

Links:
Find out more and submit to the RAI: https://architecturetoday.co.uk/the-regenerative-architecture-index/

More about Alisdair and Collective works: https://collectiveworks.net/practice/
More about Anna Lisa: https://nla.london/contributors/anna-lisa-mcsweeney
White Arkitekter: https://whitearkitekter.com/

Bill Sharp's 3 Horizons Model: https://www.futuregenerations.wales/resources_posts/three-horizons-toolkit/

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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.

I sit down with Andrew Bullmore of VU.CITY to discuss how 3D models, digital twins and artificial intelligence tools can be used to do better, evidence-based planning and design and get more sustainable outcomes. 

VU.CITY website: https://www.vu.city/
SiteSolve generative AI: https://www.site-solve.co.uk/

This is a sponsored episode. Thanks to VU.CITY for the support. 

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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.

Sam Luker is an Associate Sustainability Director at AESG and led on their new report titled 'Net Zero Neighbourhoods'. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• Why the neighbourhood scale is optimal for decarbonisation and finding local solutions to sustainability
• Principles and case studies for Net Zero Neighbourhoods
• Retrofitting existing neighbourhoods for decarbonisation
• How to get communities involved and realise local benefits
• Examples of innovative funding mechanisms to deliver net zero neighbourhoods

Read the report on Net Zero Neighbourhoods from AESG/LDN Collective: https://westlondon.com/net-zero-neighbourhoods-report-launched-to-further-the-uptake-for-a-low-carbon-future/

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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.

Mohit and Sue Yen are architects and members of Decolonise Architecture, a solution-based group driven to tackle institutional racism and bias within architectural education and practice. In this episode we discuss:  

• How architectural education and practice can be 'colonial' in its approach, and the problems with this.
• Expanding architectural education and practice to embrace other cultures and worldviews.
• How the architecture profession can be made more accessible to all.

Learn more about Decolonise Architecture: https://www.decolonisearchitecture.com/ 

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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.

Jeffrey Rissman is Senior Director at Energy Innovation, where he leads the company’s work on technologies and policies to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the industry sector. He is the author of Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity (2024) and coauthor of Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy (2018).

We discuss decarbonisation pathways for concrete and steel and what urbanists can do to drive down industrial emissions.

Check out Jeff's book: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/zero-carbon-industry/9780231204200

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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.

 Welcome to part 4, the final episode in the landscape mini-series. In this episode I sit down with Cannon Ivers CMLI of LDA to discuss their inspiring project The Strand, Aldwych. The Strand was for centuries a busy traffic thoroughfare in central London that has been transformed into a totally pedestrianised and multi-functional public space. Cannon tells me the story of how this came to be, what it means for the people who use this space and how it connects to a larger initiative to transform busy roads in central London into public spaces.


More about the Strand: https://www.lda-design.co.uk/kindling/news/westminster-unveils-reimagined-strand-aldwych/

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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.

 Welcome to part 3 in this mini-series on landscape and urban nature. In this episode I spoke with James Virgo CMLI of LUC. He tells me about LUC’s work on Shoreditch Park. This is a nice case study of taking an existing park and working with the local community to improve it for biodiversity while tackling anti-social behaviour and creating a more welcoming and multi-function space for local people.

More about Shoreditch Park: https://www.landuse.co.uk/news/luc-completes-the-shoreditch-park-improvement-works/

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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.