China Urban Development Discussion Series: Making the Clean Energy City in China
March 21, 2012
Speaker: Prof. Dennis Frenchman & Prof. Christopher Zegras, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning; Discussant: Prof. Ralph Gakenheimer, MIT DUSP
The Chinese urban landscape is being dramatically transformed through rapid urbanization, changing standards of living, and a massive shift to private motorized transportation. These changes are inducing cities to consume ever more energy in the face of decreasing supplies. The speakers present advances from an ongoing research project, focused on the city of Jinan, that attempts to confront the Chinese urban energy challenge by intervening at the scale of neighborhoods, commercial districts, and real estate projects - the fundamental building blocks of urban growth. The work takes a life-cycle energy use perspective and integrates empirical evidence, urban design studios, and an assessment tool, the "Energy Pro-forma", which enables urban designers and developers to estimate the net energy use implied in urban development proposals. The ultimate goal is to not only help designers and developers create more energy efficient urban projects, but also to facilitate the creation of new public policies and standards for neighborhood energy performance for application at the local and national levels.
Read more about the 2012 China Urban Development Discussion Series: http://dusp.mit.edu/cud/cud_series.html
credit
China Urban Development Discussion Series, Spring 2012
