Research Publication: Resilient Cities of the Future

Masters' Design Thesis, 2017

Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago

Author: Vaidehi Naik

Presenting a series of blogs based on the design thesis conducted for masters studies at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago from 2015 to 2017. As part of the thesis, research work and its implementation on resilient cities and nature based solutions (NBS) was compiled and published. This research data only holds more relevance today as we move towards a sustainable future where we make our cities resilient to climate change.

This blog will give you a basic idea on the nature of research and its relevant project. The design project was undertaken to demonstrate the causes, consequences and solutions for Eco neighborhoods and cities. Each blog that follows this one, will be talking about our present scenarios, case studies of sustainable cities and design intervention as an example of implementing the learning of the research. The project is based on how a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) could become a catalyst of change to shift from linear to closed loop economy.

Thesis Abstract:

Accentuated by the industrial revolution, the climate change is aging our cities, which are now facing an ecological, economical, and political imbalance resulting into the degraded quality of urban living. Not only has global warming altered the earth’s natural patterns, but it has also altered the economic and socio-cultural urban patterns. With the growing needs of rapidly expanding urban population due to the industrial revolution, the cities underwent unplanned sprawling of urban agglomerations. However, our globalized economic system has evolved the way we live, work, and play, transforming the modern infrastructure growth models significantly. Our architects, urban planners, and policy makers are powered by the environmental scientist’s years of research and analysis, yet are struggling to replenish the post-industrial age rust belt mayhem with sustainable solutions. As the transition from industrial to ecological age become eminent, by investigating into the natural intelligence’s survival techniques, we could extract practical solutions to using clean and renewable energy systems to support life.

This thesis aims at analyzing the current trends in redesigning and retrofitting the urban-systems with the Eco-systems at the micro- and macro- scales, thus providing with sustainable solutions to the new city center of the sixth largest town in Canada, Mississauga. Caused by rapid urbanization, population growth & migration, increased emission of green house gases, and overuse & pollution, our deteriorating infrastructure is grappling for mitigation against climate change, and global warming. Using natural intelligence to shift from linear to a closed loop system, the solutions provided herein aims at increasing the infrastructure’s resource efficiency and changing from fossil fuel to solar economy. Catalyzed by the proposed Midwestern high-speed rail line, the project in Mississauga (Ontario, Canada) seeks to introduce the hybrid, mixed-use, transit oriented development to instigate the shift towards Eco-cities. These inter-modal transit infrastructure aims to bring a strategically sustainable change at a neighborhood scale, thus eventually refurbishing the entire city, one territory at a time. The idea of these utopian cities may seem unachievable at a larger scale, but the cities like Hammarby Sjöstad, Tianjin, and Dongtan seem to lead, inspire, and equip the ignorant with their sustainable approach to growth. By transitioning towards an ecological age, there seems a way to negating the effects of human induced climate change, and to make our planet sustainable for the future generations to survive.

Table of Content:

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Current global environmental trends

1.2 Deriving survival strategies from nature

1.3 Shifting from industrial to ecological age

2. ECO-CITY MODELS: TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE TOMORROW

2.1 Urbanization growth patterns

2.2 Garden cities of to-morrow

2.3 Dong-tan, China

2.4 Hummarby Sjostad, Sweden

2.5 Common characters of the eco-cities

3. SIGNIFICANCE OF RECREATIONAL SPACES IN AN ECO-NEIGHBORHOOD

3.1 Integrating recreational spaces in the parks

3.2 Madrid Rio, Spain

3.3 Tongva Park, California

3.4 Parks of the Future

4. STATION MUTATION: HIGH-SPEED RAIL STATION IN MIDWEST

4.1 Mapping Mississauga’s urban sprawl

4.2 Transit Oriented Development

4.3 The Mississauga Model

4.4 High-speed rail station as a catalyst for change

4.5 Retrofitting the city center

4.6 Integrating natural intelligence in the New City Center

4.7 New City Center: Creating resilient neighborhood

5. CONCLUSIONS

5.1 Reshaping our cities: One district at a time

5.2 Fabricating cities of the Future

In the next blog, we will be talking about the Current global environmental trends, Deriving survival strategies from nature, and ways of Shifting from industrial to ecological age.

Link to the publication:

https://www.proquest.com/openview/3f5b50dcd384b0f9a497c008145ef8a4/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750