The Complexity of the Big Five Foundational Blocks of City Building In A Carbon-Neutral Development
Extensive studies conducted by respected institutions have shown that by building a technology integration system between these five categories, companies can move from theoretical cost reductions to measured results.
Each of the Foundational Blocks identified below can be designed to work together to fulfil multiple purposes and redirected after use to create a cyclical function. The same structures, once implemented in a planned city, can be used as a guideline for other, pre-existing cities that are developing emissions reduction strategies.
The starting point for all this integration will be the physical infrastructure of the city. As we assess the viability of various technologies for the development of the city, we’ll look at what we call The Big 5 Foundational Blocks of city Development:
Infrastructure
Energy
Water
Agriculture
Transportation
Infrastructure
Elements that have so far been separated in their execution due to existing city budgets can be combined to create an infrastructure that promotes lifestyle through its systemic integration. In a new, planned, City of the Future, the defining characteristics of these newer development priorities can be combined to encourage innovation:
Digital: Where the newest computing technologies are used for critical services and infrastructure.
Intelligent: Features of creative learning and knowledge are applied to invite residents of highly skilled professionals, promote research and innovation implementation in business, and assure network building between education and business institutions.
Ubiquitous: With the help of the newest computing technologies, providing accessibility and infrastructure services where any citizen can get any service anywhere and anytime, through any device.
Smart: Innovative industries with highly educated, skilled, and creative inhabitants work with city government and citizens using new channels of communication for citizens in everyday life.
In the future, infrastructure growth will be based not on infrastructure growth, but its ability to enhance innovation, economic vitality, safety, attractiveness, a healthy environment, and vibrant society. The Net-Zero City Project will culminate in a design that moves away from grid-style development to a modular city, essentially many cities within a city that will provide services to residents to improve their functionality, prosperity, and health.
Energy
Energy models have shifted as the technology to produce it continues to advance. For existing infrastructure, a hybrid model based on fossil fuels and renewable energy is becoming part of the standard. Is there a combination of technologies that can produce net-zero emissions for a city built from scratch? Theoretical models say yes. What is that combination? For a new city with no energy grid, is using a series of micro-grids more efficient? These, and other questions can be answered collaboratively by assembling a team of experts from every style of energy development.
For the city development plans of the Net-Zero City Project, can water, waste, and other infrastructure contribute to the energy that will be used throughout the city? Can we use geothermal technologies, micro-hydro pumps, bio-fuel, and other tech to move electricity through the city and use it for different purposes?
As a cornerstone of the Foundational Blocks of city building, and an aspect that nothing else can be built without, facilitating the collaboration of various types of energy generators, storage, maintenance, and tracking will be key to the development of this city.
Water
Water generation and use is a very interesting Foundational Block. Water has so many uses and can be implemented cross-functionally to intersect across a variety of functions. For example, using water in buildings as heating and cooling systems has reduced the overall carbon footprint of individual buildings; Micro-hydro technology can aid in energy generation and consumption. What impact could extensive water infrastructure underneath the city produce? What water functions, once used, can be recycled and reused for another purpose? What types of bioretention techniques can be used to enhance the sustainability of our water use?
Agriculture
The environmental assessment component of the Net-Zero City project will also contain questions about what resources will be required to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the life cycle of the city. Can the city be used to preserve the natural environment of the city? What technology, energy, and water-use will be required to achieve this? Can biophilic design also be used to preserve natural habitats within the city’s structures?
Transportation
Transportation design will be highly dependent on the style of transportation we decide to support in the city. The committees will be key players in determining how best to use the resources that are available and the technology that has applied to create a technology plan that aligns with the energy plan and design elements of the city. Transportation infrastructure will need to align with the agriculture plan and environmental assessment to ensure optimal urban greening, and biodiversity protection.
Overall, the Big 5 Foundational Blocks will allow us to go from technology point à to resource requirement analysis à to infrastructure, space, and land-use requirements à to integration with other technology points and/or infrastructure and land-use or space integrations à to modelling, structural design, and architectural design.
Each committee in the Net-Zero City Project will answer these questions and more as we build a comprehensive template to build a City of the Future.
The purpose of the Net-Zero City Project is to design infrastructure that has a net-zero carbon footprint. We will be answering the following questions:
Which technologies are the most appropriate to use, and how can they be integrated to achieve emissions reductions while ensuring reliability, affordability, and generating industry-level competitiveness for each technology?
Further, how will these technologies work together across functions, and how much land, power, and resources will be required to develop and run the city?
The objectives of the Net-Zero City Project:
Discovering and utilizing the newest possible clean technology available in the world today.
To design from scratch, infrastructure that integrates technologies to deliver net-zero emissions.
Develop multiple avenues for profit and sustainability into the structure and development of the city.
Create a comprehensive technology integration blueprint for our partners and collaborators to use in their development projects ongoingly.
Committee members will be selected from the applicants who submit their applications by the April 25, 2024 deadline, and who meet the minimum criteria below:
Qualified to participate.
Can afford to participate (aka, their company has enough money to put into both participating on the committee and/or panel, and to implement any technology that they are recommending be used as part of the project).
The applicant’s company is at minimum partially financed, or they have received grant funding to move their projects along.
Further information is available in the application package.
If you and/or your company fit within these categories, or you have vendor partners who are likely to fit, please download the application form and submit your application as soon as possible. You can download the application form by clicking here.
We are excited to partner with and invest in the technologies that will be selected by the Net-Zero City Project committees. The results of these collaborations will form the benchmark for North American sustainability strategies and design.