Youth-led change for sustainable urbanism: World Cities Day 2024
October 31, 2024
The oft-mentioned statistic that more than half of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050 has been adjusted to reflect present-day data—the percentage would be closer to 70. Every year on 31 October, World Cities Day is held to consider the role of urban areas in the livelihoods of close to 5 billion people who currently reside in them, alongside their role as highly impactful economic, social and environmental shapers.
This year’s theme, Youth Climate Changemakers: Catalyzing local action for urban sustainability, highlights the pivotal role of local governments and young people in advocating for and taking bold measures and actions to address the climate crisis in cities.
The following FuturArc stories spotlight innovative ideas proposed and led by young practitioners that can serve as examples of tangible actions for resilient, inclusive and sustainable cities.
Plot ABC by Blue Temple: A grassroots initiative that explores sociocultural heritage
In Yangon, the largest city and capital of Myanmar, there is a shift towards luxury developments. Amidst this context, this grassroots initiative stands out as a pilot project for a more humanised urban experience while making use of a locally abundant material.
Inspired by traditional pagoda scaffolding, the architecture team and students explored bamboo designs for pavilions to shield a chin lone court (traditional ball game) and a zayat (senior resting area). Considering the area’s location near an open-air canal, they also proposed solutions to make the space safer and healthier to use.
URA collaborates with Singapore Polytechnic to ideate landscaping for Singapore’s ‘identity corridors’
Did you know that Singapore is in the process of co-creating its land use and development plan for the next 10 to 15 years together with the public through the Draft Master Plan 2025?
One of the public engagement activities is the shaping of five ‘Identity Corridors’ that has been outlined by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). These areas are considered to serve as important anchors of activities and movement while also having rich heritage and identity. The public, communities and designers have been invited to share their ideas and actively shape meaningful public spaces as well as enhancing the human-scale infrastructure along these corridors.
Yulin Alley Neighbourhood: Community Public Space Renovation by YIIIE Architects
Yulin Alley in Chengdu was built in the 1980s and 1990s. Throughout the years, apartments that were built in different periods have been connected by paths, and the integration of old and new buildings gradually formed the present Yulin with the air of a ‘marketplace’.
Initiated by the Yulin East Road Community and Disabled Persons Federation of Wuhou District and planned, designed and operated by YIIIE, this community public space explored the utilisation of ‘leftover’ space in the city and established an open co-creation and operation mechanism.
As part of Community Art Creative Project (CACP) in a different alley in Yulin, the architects also led the transformation of a neighbourhood bicycle shed into a dynamic public area.
Rebuilding Before Building
As an extension of her immersive involvement with the Rebuilding Pavilion at the International Union of Architects (UIA) World Congress of Architects, Copenhagen, FuturArc contributor Bhawna Jaimini spoke to three architects from different parts of the world to present practical examples in an attempt to map a discourse on adaptive reuse to advocate rebuilding efforts in the face of a planet in crisis. These include empowering community hubs in Rwanda, an adapted studio in Pune, and the transformation of a former factory into affordable housing in Denmark.
Green Oasis: Handmade with Love for Health by Studio Shunya
The aim was to create a zero-energy building as a sustainable office space for the architecture firm on a small plot in the city. The Studio Shunya team sought to use only natural materials—challenging conventional norms of using cement—and applying them in a way that would not only enhance the health and well-being of the occupants, but also aesthetically appealing to the modern eye.
Spark City Mong Kok: Creating Splashes of Vibrancy for the City
Art in Place (AIP) is a community initiative spearheaded by Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Hong Kong chapter. It connects artists and real estate developers to contribute back to their community through creative placemaking. For its inaugural project in summer 2023, AIP paired young artist Joanne Chan with Fairland Holdings to spruce up the public space and hoarding in front of its latest development in Mong Kok.
Peak Heat: Learning from London’s hottest days
In 2022, London witnessed its hottest summer day ever recorded, where the temperature exceeded 40 degrees Celsius. This resulted in country-wide red alerts, infrastructural damage and disruption to crucial public services—as well as widespread exhaustion and dehydration for the populace.
FuturArc contributor Nipun Prabhakar explored: have buildings in the UK also contributed to the crisis by not being able to alleviate the heat indoors? Many modern buildings, even the ones that want to make a statement, have largely ignored the effect of heat gain, or have complicated it by installing high-powered air-conditioners, or compromised it for design. What can be done to adapt the built environment in increasingly warm climates?
Climate Feature: Cultivating the Right Tree in the Right Place
Did you know that many of the oldest living organisms on Earth are trees? In fact, the Methuselah Tree, a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, was thought to be the oldest living tree in the world. What does an ancient living species have to do with today’s city landscapes? For one, Earth’s biosphere and ecology will not survive without them, let alone any manmade settlement.
With this in mind, FuturArc contributor Melissa Sivaraj shared insights on how this long-living species in present urban settings is crucial to climate change mitigation, and why cultivating them rightly is the key to longevity for both humans and trees.
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