The Making Good Podcast

To mark the opening of his Reframing Space exhibition at The Building Centre next week, I was joined this week by Will Sandy, Landscape Architect and Designer, who has recently returned from a British Council-supported project in Caracas, Venezuela, which explored innovative ways of activating & reinvigorating public space. 

We talked about his work with stakeholders in Caracas, and how it was informed by his wider approach to design - challenging ideas about what counts as good public space; how to make design meaningful; and the ways that rethinking temporary interventions can both enhance the experience of place for members of the public and the economics of large scale developments. And some characteristically thought-provoking ways of thinking about the benefits that designing with nature brings for the people who use the space.

LINKS

Reframing Spaces with Will Sandy: Exhibition at The Building Centre

The Catalyst Cube - video

British Council blog on the Catalyst Cube

The Spot - BMXers in london

The Developer Podcast - Everything has been very polite until now

Meanwhile Gardens, west London

Grayson Perry - Descent of Man

John Mannell @Portrait_Per_Day

John Little on Roots and All

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I was joined this week by Anastasia Kucherova, senior architect at Studio Boeri Architetti, one of the team behind the iconic Bosco Verticale in Milan where she is based. We talked about what its like being a pioneer of vertical forestry and how the commercial and professional landscape in which the Studio operate has changed with the success of the first tower.

We also looked at some of the implications for material palettes of buildings with extensive vegetated surfaces; the upfront and operating budgets such buildings require; how the parameters of cost/benefit evaluation of ecocentric design needs to evolve to better reflect the contribution to public health and wellbeing buildings and city-scale urban units replete with vegetated surfaces will provide; and discussed the forthcoming projects that the Studio has in the pipeline and what they open up in terms of possibilities to scale positive change.

We began by talking abvout the studio’s pioneering and ambitious mission statement - hugely groundbreaking and inspiring, and which has resonated with me for the year since i first heard it: reversing climate change.

Links

Anastasia Kucherova

Instagram: @mynameisnastya & FB profile

Studio Boeri Architetti

Instagram: @stefanoboeriarchitetti Twitter: @boeriarchitetti

Facebook: @StefanoBoeriArchitetti

Book recommendation

Yuval Noah Harari - Sapiens, and Homo Deus

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This week's episode explores the promises of improved stewardship of the urban canopy using cutting edge technology. I was joined by Nadina Galle, PhD candidate in Ecological Engineering and CEO & Co-Founder of Green City Watch, a geospatial AI firm and Sophie Nitoslawski PhD student at UBC and Research Director at the Internet of Nature.

Nadina & Sophie's Internet of Nature startup seeks to overcome the urban fragmentation of mycorrhizal networks which have kept trees healthy and connected for millions of years. Their Internet of Nature start-up is a multi-city venture which incubates and deploys a network of sensors, algorithms and other tech tools to bridge the gap between increasing smart infrastructure and the need for increasingly robust green infrastructure. Extending and deepening the conversation I had with Cecil Konijnendijk, Nadina & Sophie covered:

• Why cities are so stressful for trees
• The role of emerging technology in improving tree health, and the aims of The Internet of Nature
• Why the value of trees goes UP over time
• Why experts should be leading on tree planting drives, and what can go wrong when they aren't
• Improving data sets: the pressing need for tree inventories
• Why mid-size cities are often better innovators
• How climate change is impacting city tree strategies

Their diverse work is housed at the new website - www.theinternetofnature.com

Nadina's TedTalk can be seen here

Nadina and Sophie will be presenting a keynote presentation at the 4th Trees, People & The Built Environment conference (Birmingham, UK) - tickets available here

Twitter

@sophienito

@earthtonadine

LINKS to show mentions

@hopejahren - Author of Lab Girl

@awitnesstree

The Outdoor Citizen - John Judge

The Second Machine Age - Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee

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This week’s guest is Ollie Pendered, Chief Executive of Community Energy South and founding partner of Riding Sunbeams, an incredibly exciting tech startup working with Network Rail to decarbonise rail travel in the UK. What makes it even more important is its triple bottom line approach to business and the potential it offer to link the rail network to community energy providers along the routes. I spoke with Ollie about his pioneering efforts in the early days of community energy before we moved on to his latest initiative for a deep dive into the process of powering trains with solar power. Its hard to know where to begin getting excited about this initiative which as you’ll hear is already in trial phase - reducing the reliance of rail travel on diesel, replacing the feed-in tariff for the countless communities adjacent to rail lines, and the potential spillover into other territories (India for example) and other travel and industry sectors. 

Ollie also talked to me about his work at the vanguard of efforts to improve energy security, end energy poverty and decarbonise electricity especially in rural areas, as well as the evolving outlook for regional organisation of energy investment. 

Talking points include

- The early days of UK community energy & the transition town movement

- Post-crash economic conditions and the financial rationale for private investment in public energy infrastructure 

- City-regions and the regionalisation of green investment

- Rethinking nudges for adopting lower impact private journeys

- How the train network is powered, its environmental impact and the engineering challenge of solar

- How decarbonising policies at national level are driving grassroots initiatives

- Wider applications - powering the water industry, Environment Agency’s multi-million pound water pumping annual outlay, luxury air travel

Links to some of the groups, organisations and individuals mentioned

Possible (formerly 10:10)

Riding Sunbeams

Imperial College Energy Futures Lab

OVESCO

Community Energy South

Yongey Mingyur Rinposh

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As its #nationaltreeweek, my guest is Cecil Konijnendijk a professor of urban forestry working at University of British Colombia in Vancouver. 

We spoke about the difference between urban and non-urban drivers for tree planting, unpacked their relevance to the climate change and air quality agendas and explored the way that sensitive design of planted areas can amplify the health and wellbeing effects of urban nature, especially around schools.

We also talked about how China is leading on urban forest policy, the huge potential for (and slow pace of) urban greening in India, and heard about the need for an explicit focus on social justice in the large scale deployment of trees in carbon offsetting schemes.

As always, if you find this week’s podcast useful please consider liking and reviewing on iTunes, and sharing in your networks so we can grow the reach of the ideas we’ve talked about. You can also follow us on Twitter @makinggoodpod 

LINKS - 

Prof Cecil Konijnendijk - @CecilUforia

Health and Nature research at UBC - Dr Matilda van den Bosch

Sponge Cities - Kongjian Yu, Turenscape

When Darwin Comes to Town - Menno Schilthuizen - and Guardian review

The Nature of Cities blog

http://www.woodguide.org

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This week’s guest is Victoria Lee, lead advisor on Masterplanning & Infrastructure at the Design Council. Victoria has more than 12 years of experience in built environment and has supported over 300 development projects both in the UK and internationally. 

We spoke about her work on and interest in delivering resilient and inclusive cities, and especially about the role of megaprojects such as the Olympic Games in scaling the impact of good design; her early work on bioremediation and why we need to talk about soil more, including the children’s book series she’s writing on that subject; privately operated public spaces and the politics of design, including how language takes on material form in our built environment; and how useful the word ‘sustainability’ is for defining the radical steps we need to take to combat climate change.

If you enjoy the podcast please consider rating and reviewing it on iTunes, and sharing on your social media platforms. You can also follow us on Twitter @MakingGoodPod

LINKS

Massive Small by Kelvin Campbell

Caroni Swamp, Trinidad

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In this weeks episode I spoke with Dr Tom Young, an academic and practitioner of blue and green roofs, with a Phd in substrate design. Tom has been centrally involved in the design and implementation of the new British Standard in substrate design, which was launched this summer 

We discussed how the Standard came about, who the stakeholders are and explored some of the basic questions involved - for instance the difference between good and bad green roof substrate, and why it matters; why its important to embrace variation in green roof design, and why we should be designing for outcomes. 

We began with a simplified overview, looking at the benefits of green roofs for urban environments and building occupants, some of the different ways of achieving vegetation at roof level and how green roof design can affect the way these benefits can be achieved in practice. 

LINKS

How golf courses are working to contribute to their local ecology: The Golf Environment Awards (GEA)

Malcolm Gladwell on golf courses - A Good Walk Spoiled - Revisionist History S2 E11

Chicago City Hall green roof

Ken Burns - The American Civil War (trailer)

Reasons To Be Cheerful podcast

James Wong - @botanygeek

Edale folk train

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Duncan Baker-Brown is an award-winning architect, senior lecturer at University of Brighton, acclaimed author of The Reuse Atlas and a member of the judging panel for the Architects Journal Retrofit Awards. For over 25 years he has focussed his practice, teaching and research on Sustainable Design and closed loop systems. Duncan and I had a wide ranging conversation, which included

• how to activate the recent spate of climate emergency Declarations by professional bodies and public authorities
• the scale of the challenge and the size of the opportunity that UK construction represents
• where we need to concentrate our efforts to scale and speed-up the changes which our situation demands
• the role of data in making reuse easy and scalable
• restorative design and how the story-telling around circular economy sets it apart from 'sustainability'
• what ARE closed loops?
• The School Of Reconstruction

LINKS

Duncan's 'Wake Up' keynote to 600 architects at the AJ Awards Dinner

The School of Reconstruction

The Reuse Atlas: A Designer's Guide Toward the Circular Economy

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things - Michael Braungart & William McDonagh

Trummelfrauen short film

Underland - Robert MacFarlane

Given Half a Chance: Ten Ways to Save the World - Ed Davey

ReRun Clothing

Circular Economy: A User's Guide - Walter Stahel

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I spoke to John Lieber, a Canadian environmental professional about nature-based climate interventions in urban areas, and in particular the ecological framework proposal he's recently presented at the UN Climate Action Summit.

Here are links to some of the people and social media channels mentioned during our conversation:

Twitter

John Lieber: @jungle_capital

Cecil Konijnendijk: @ceciluforia

Facebook

Environmental Professionals

Publications

Junglenomics by Simon Lamb

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