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Reflection – Visualization

Challenge:

Urbanization is becoming a major challenge; the United Nations recently projected that 1.1 billion people  will be added to cities between 2017 to 2030. Cities in Asia, in particular, are experiencing enormous  social, economic and environmental change; forming the largest and fastest growing consumers of  materials and energy, producers of waste and emitters of greenhouse gasses (GHG).

In 2007, mega-cities were already experiencing a multitude of challenges including congestion,  environmental destruction and a significant rise in emissions. The scale of future development required  urgent prioritization of build programs that integrated efficiency goals.

At the time, I was working with a large infrastructure planning consultancy based out of the United  Kingdom and an opportunity was created to support emerging secondary cities in India on low-carbon  development. We were tasked to conceptualize an alternative growth plan; to develop a toolkit of  solutions to aid urban local bodies in better planning their long-term future.

Selection:

Every locations challenge are unique and low-carbon design needs to be tailored to local requirements.  During a brain storming exercise with stakeholders, we identified that one of the major barriers to future  planning is that city departments worked in silos and followed independent objectives.  We were keen to  introduce the concept that city departments needed to be collaborative and integrative in meeting the  long-term objectives of emission reduction. As a focus on better design, it was important to understand  that city level choice made today on land planning, building and neighborhood design, waste  management, water, and energy would have long term implications.

Angel Sanders mentioned in her talk that the beauty of using a visualization tool is that we can tap into a  single picture.  The more likely you are to achieve a sense of agreement and consensus with people,  the more you are likely to draw out conversation.

Over half of GHG emission reduction can be achieved through better design in land-use planning,  efficient buildings, transportation, and energy use. The cross-disciplinary nature of emissions reduction  required active participation across the city-departments, and visualization was seen as a powerful tool to  communicate this message.

The chosen approach was to resurrect a shelved carbon master-planning tool; conceptualized for use in  the United Kingdom to map GHG emission in future development. The tool had two key capabilities: firstly  the ability to create a 3D visualization of design models for a city, and secondly, it estimated the GHG  emissions for each plan. The aim was to present three scenarios of urban masterplans to a diverse  audience and to unlock a subsequent debate on delivering the best design:

I. Base scenario: A masterplan of the existing city and estimated GHG emissions   II. 2030 plan scenario: A future city masterplan with existing policy and regulations   III. 2030 low-carbon plan scenario: A masterplan with revised low-carbon design, policy and

regulations

By presenting two future scenarios, the objective was to introduce the potential reduction in GHG  emissions through better design through cross-cutting solutions; such as the closer relationship between  transportation, housing, and energy.

Application:

The city we were working with had a population of around 1million residents and was in the process of  launching a new city master-plan to cater to rapid growth over the next 20 years.  We began a dialogue  with the City authorities as a two stage process:

  Stage 1: Involved a data gathering exercise in-order to adapt the master-planning tool to the needs  of the city. The data was gathered through preliminary discussions with individual city stakeholders  to customize the tool to the city. In line with Whatis stage of Design thinking

  Stage 2: Using the master-planning tool to develop 3D visualization models of the three scenarios  and estimating the GHG emissions for each. In line Whatif stage of Design thinking

At Stage 1, there was a major challenge in collecting data for the tool as a large proportion of the  information had never been monitored and measured before. We were forced to use assumptions that  required creative estimation; it echoed Roberto Fink “Poppycock” descriptor on the barriers of traditional

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thinking: Data from a known passed to apply into connecting an unknown future (Ref: Week 4: Learning  launch tool). However, in this case, we were not preparing a business plan but using logical references to  adapt the model to estimate GHG emissions in India. Fortunately, the focus was not on accuracy, but  rather to communicate a realistic impact of what different design choices could have on emissions and  present it in a relatable 3D visualization similar to google maps.

Insight:

City governance in India had typically had a hierarchical reporting structure with individual departments  not-necessarily communicating with each other. Many department heads had never met or discussed  joint opportunities. By applying the 3D models of the City as a visualization tool, the stakeholders were  able to quickly grasp a common understanding of good-design and the potential impact on GHG  emissions. Each city stakeholder was able to draw on the key link of where their department contributed  to the overall city GHG emissions and opened the need to work collaboratively to find common solutions.

The workshop was revolutionary to a traditionally hierarchical governance, as it brought a round-table  participation where every stakeholder had a say. Stakeholders wanted to immediately apply their new- found understanding of low-carbon design on a live project and began exploring the challenges and  barriers of delivering a model low-carbon neighborhood. Every member had a say as no longer was the  design driven by the “highest paid” or senior member. As they strived to “prototype” the ideal  neighborhood, many innovative solutions began to arise across departments. One such example was the  operations team collaborating with road designers to refine plans to better capture ground water; thereby  hydrating green pathways through a cost-effective and energy efficient outcome.

Although unconventional, this reflection was one of the best career examples in capturing some of the  early capabilities of “design thinking”. Beyond just the visualization, the stakeholders consisted of a mix of  engineers, planners, and administrators, which brought together a diverse perspective to low-carbon  development.

There was mutual learning as there was not a single solution applicable to all departments but iterative  changes needed in each practice to ensure an overall improvement for the city. We all walked away  learning something new, as consultants, we had a more realistic understanding of the challenges of  delivering efficient design in India.

Approach:

Jeanne introduced early in the course that “innovation often involved borrowing something from  somewhere else. Another industry, your own past, or else recombining things that already exist”.  This reflection encompassed the repurposing of an existing visualization tool to break down creative  barriers within an organization (city government) and unlock innovative low-carbon solutions. The  Design thinking course has aligned a better understanding of the overall horizon of unpacking innovation.  The complexity of cities and human-centric nature makes it the ideal for future design thinking.

The Carbon master-planning tool was appropriate as a visualization but was ineffective in creating a final  live solution for the City as it was “static” in nature and lacked feedback from consumers. In the future  “Smart City” strategies are leading to a revolution in digital transformation; to better understand the  complex relationship between communities and their citizens (and customers). For low-carbon and  efficiency solutions this would lead to a faster approach to realizing the WhatWOW’s; through learning  launches of efficiency solutions and high-quality feedback.

Terms:

  Greenhouse Gases: Greenhouse gasses are responsible for the greenhouse effect, which ultimately leads to global warming  and climate change. Carbon dioxide forms almost 2/3rd’s of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.

  Low-carbon Development: Development focused on low carbon sources that minimize the output of greenhouse gas (GHG)  emissions into the biosphere.  The main sources of carbon emissions within cities are transportation, commercial / residential ,  industry and land-use change.

  Master-plan / Master-Planning: A master plan is a blueprint for the future. It is a comprehensive document, long-range in its  view, that is intended to guide development in the city / township for the next 10 to 20 years.

  City-Administration / Urban-Governance / Departments / Stakeholders: A broad description of the administration and technical  teams tasked with planning, development, and operations of a city.

