I wrote my latest piece for Nature of Cities on the work we have undertaken at Arup on planning and designing a more sustainable future for cities in arid environments.
This is an ongoing area of interest and research for us… would love to hear your thoughts.
Excerpts below, full article here
In the 21stcentury, the above development trajectory poses two significant and related challenges for arid cities.
First, how can these cities become more sustainable, weaning themselves off the energy and land intensive development models which were central to their creation?
Second, how can these cities become more resilient and adapt to global climate change, which is likely to render their climate even less hospitable?
By reaching out to our professional network of colleagues and partners from across the world, my colleagues and I were able to identify key learnings and best practices which can help address these questions for existing and developing arid cities.
I would like to highlight three areas identified in our work which I believe are particularly important especially for cities in the Arabian Gulf: sustainable urban drainage, the provision of public spaces, and walkability.