Centre for Liveable Cities – Singapore
Entirely based on fortuitous events and Paula Murphy Ives (the extremely gracious and knowledgeable Canadian Trade Commissioner for Environmental Industries) kind invitation, I had the pleasure of attending the Centre of Liveable Cities Singapore lecture featuring Professor Alexander J.B. Zehnder, Scientific Director of the Alberta Water Research Institute, and Steffen D. Endler, Senior Vice President for Business Development and Siemens ONE.
I actually met Mr. Zehnder earlier at the networking function hosted by the Canadian High Commission in relation to the Green Building Fair, in which he told me about a completely zero emissions building he had designed in Zurich, Switzerland. After being intrigued by this concept, it was really a treat to hear more about his work and his ideas on sustainability and how it relates to the broader concept of sustainable / liveable cities.
Right away, Mr. Zehnder grabbed the attention of the room by showing us incredibly stark images of the “city of the future.” I’m not sure if any of you are sci-fi fans, but if you’ve ever heard of Star Wars (the city of Coruscant) or seen Ridley’s Scott’s Bladerunner, it gives you a sense of what these ‘darker’ cityscapes of the future might look like. And then the question was posed – what kind of city of the future do we want to live in? One with few green spaces and a constrained level of liveability, or something more attractive?
By thinking in large terms, it’s a lot easier to put our small project, focusing on one sector (hotels) into broader concepts of liveability, city-planning and overall transportation and energy infrastructure – and how this is designed, lived-in, purchased and achieved on both large and small scales.
Zehnder focused significantly on real benchmarks for achieving change, particularly his 2000 Watt Society – a concept which anchors overall sustainability measures to energy use specifically. In his lecture, he focused specifically on individual energy use, and where the dominant portion of each individual’s energy use comes from (housing, transportation, etc – eat up significant percentages). It was amazing how small changes in behaviour and choices can actually dramatically reduce these percentages, and how these are practical shifts – in many cases not involving a reduction in actual standards of living.
This whole point speaks to an underlying message of critical importance. In Zehnders words “its not about being nice…we can become more efficient, more sustainable, it looks like this, the cars are great, BMW, Toyota, and the technology can be sold, and you can make money with this…sustainability in the sense of energy efficiency, but everything that is connected with it, concepts, are economically interesting” While some advocates of sustainability focus on consumer behaviour changes, Zehnder recommends shifting behaviours sideways (asking the consumer to choose between viable alternatives), instead of backwards (e.g. asking the consumer to make a painful sacrifice), so that more efficient, sustainable choices are made:
· Instead of dying of thirst because you’re afraid of consuming bottled water, drink tap water!
· Instead of necessarily biking/walking, why not drive a Tata, or a Smart car?
· Why buy a regular apartment, when you could buy a hyper-efficient, eco friendly condo which will save you money on your amenities?
Zehnder, really emphasized practical, realistic, economically viable solutions to the problems of sustainability, anchored to specific goalposts (such as the 2000 Watt Society measure). Amazing to hear his insights, and there are many ways it connects back to the work we’ve done on the hotel sector. Some of the finest examples of green practices in the hotel sector began by tackling the ‘low hanging fruit first’ and gradually accelerated their momentum by realizing cost savings, greater levels of customer appreciation – all these very practical benefits that could easily end up in the most rational business pitch.
This is not to say that aren’t challenges that extend beyond this: what about projects that are not economically viable in the immediate short term? What about green improvements that make a difference, but that customers don’t value? What metrics should we use to measure progress? These are issues that are still challenges for the sector, but the optimistic, practical, pragmatic and economically conscious approach advocated by Zehnder is a refreshing way to approach these problems.
Learn more about the Centre for Liveable Cities Singapore:
http://gsi.g2m.sg/emails/CLC/issue09.html
http://clc.org.sg/index.php?q=2000-watt-society-metropolis-future
http://www.biooekonomierat.de/alexander-zehnder-permanent-guest.html
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