Category Archives: Resource Urbanisms

Efficiency by Design: Comparing 4 Cities

21 August 2019

The Resource Urbanisms project that LSE Cities led, between 2015 and 2017, focused on two natural resources, land and energy, and explored their relationships with urban form, transport and housing. It analysed these relationships through a comparative case study approach focusing on the city of Kuwait and Abu Dhabi in the GCC, and Hong Kong and Singapore in East Asia. 

The key findings of this research were:

1. The shape of cities has a considerable impact on resource efficiency, making it a critical factor for global sustainability.

2. There are fundamental differences between the city models examined in the Gulf States compared to those in East Asia.

3. All cities displayed considerable intra-urban differences that exceed initial expectations.

4. All four cities have become denser since 2000, but historically have been going through phases of densification and de-densification.

5. All four cities rely on active state intervention and have been shaped by intentional policy, planning and infrastructure development.

6. Natural resources, above all land, play a central role in determining urban form at the macro and micro scale.

7. Energy prices have a more nuanced and indirect impact on the nature of urban growth.

8. Non-resource factors impacting urban development were found to be critical, complex and often interrelated.

9. In terms of energy consumption, the study confirms that high-density, compact, mixed-use and public transport-oriented cities are more efficient than low density cities that are dependent on private vehicles.

10. Cooling energy efficiency is centrally driven by compact urban morphologies and building designs.

11. Transport energy efficiency is closely related to density, mixed-use and public transport availability.

Philipp Rode presents Resource Urbanisms research at ETH Zurich

8 September 2017

Philipp Rode, Executive Director of LSE Cities presented “Resource Urbanisms: Natural resources, urban form and infrastructure in the case of Asia’s diverging city models” at ETH Zurich’s Future Cities Laboratory on 7 September 2017. Resource Urbanisms is a two-year LSE Cities research project co-funded by LSE Kuwait Programme/LSE Middle East Centre that examines multiple aspects of how natural resources, urban form and infrastructure affect each other and potentially lead to the establishment of divergent forms of urbanism. The project compares Kuwait and Abu Dhabi (a second Middle East comparator case) and two contrasting city types in East Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

 

 

Philipp Rode to deliver keynote at International Housing Forum

6 September 2017

Executive Director of LSE Cities, Philipp Rode will deliver a keynote at the International Housing Forum 2017 in Singapore on 7 September 2017. “Efficiency by Design: Urban Growth, Housing and Transport” will explore the relationship land and energy resources have with city form, urban dwelling and mobility. It will analyse these relationships through a comparative case study approach which investigates extreme and divergent city models globally, and considers potential future challenges of housing in cities.

Resource Urbanisms presented at AESOP conference

10 July 2017

LSE Cities researcher Alexandra Gomes will present Resource Urbanisms at the Association of European Schools of Planning’s annual conference in Lisbon on Friday. Resource Urbanisms examines multiple aspects of how natural resources, urban form and infrastructure affect each other and potentially lead to the establishment of divergent forms of urbanism. Alexandra will also present her PhD research on urban sensescapes and developing a multi-sensory framework for analysing urban space.

 

 

 

Muhammad Adeel to present on resource urbanisms project in Paris

29 March 2017

On May 30 and 31, LSE Cities Research Officer Muhammad Adeel will discuss the ‘Resource Urbanisms’ research project at the Columbia University-led 6th Alliance Graduate Summer School in Science and Policy in Paris. He will also deliver a hands-on workshop on remote sensing with special emphasis on urban development. The wider focus of the event will be on research methods in sustainable development, with a particular focus on remote sensing, network analysis and high-resolution data. More information is available here.

Philipp Rode presents on cities and the new climate economy in Kuwait

27 September 2016

LSE Cities Executive Director Philipp Rode today gave the talk, Cities and the new climate economy: on the role of urban form and transport at Al-Shaheed Park in Kuwait City, Kuwait. The talk addressed both the key findings of research carried out by the New Climate Economy research project, while also discussing the Resource Urbanisms project, which includes the multi-scale temporal analysis of different types and changes of urban development in Kuwait and Abu Dhabi and two contrasting city types in East Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore. The talk was followed by a workshop entitled “Resource Urbanisms Kuwait.” More information is available here and coverage in the Kuwait Times here.

New LSE Cities research project on Resource Urbanisms

28 July 2015

Resource Urbanisms: Natural resources, urban form and infrastructure in the case of Asia’s diverging city models’ is a new two-year LSE Cities research project co-funded by LSE Kuwait Programme/LSE Middle East Centre to examine multiple aspects of how natural resources, urban form and infrastructure affect each other and potentially lead to the establishment of divergent forms of urbanism.

The research will include the multi-scale temporal analysis of different types and changes of urban development in Kuwait and Abu Dhabi (a second Middle East comparator case) and two contrasting city types in East Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Access the research project page here.