05: An ARPA for Climate Adaptive Urbanism

10/15/22 • 39 min

A few months ago, Larch Lab was contacted to start discussions of an ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) focused on climate adaptive urbanism, influenced by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
With the effects of climate change becoming more frequent and intense than anticipated – we can no longer wait ten to twenty years to adapt to this new normal. Larch Lab believes we need an ARPA-esque project to facilitate the research and development necessary to rapidly roll out high performance, decarbonized buildings, ecodistricts, and cities.
This episode of the Livable Low-Carbon City is a download of themes and topics that we will be discussing in detail over the coming months...
Further reading...
Car-light Ecodistricts:
The 5 coolest trends in urbanism ... in Europe, Michael Eliason's guest op ed in Dave Roberts Volts Substack.
Let’s Build a Dense, Climate-Resilient EcoDistrict in Seattle’s Interbay, Michael Eliason's op-ed in the Urbanist.
Passivhaus:
What is a Passivhaus, the Passivhaus Trust's intro to the standard that should be the baseline of all buildings.
Seattle Must Require Public Buildings Meet Passivhaus Standards to Lead on Climate, Michael Eliason's op ed in the Urbanist.
Zoning reform:
The Impact of Upzoning on Housing Construction in Auckland, Ryan Freenaway-McGrevy and Peter C.B. Phillips paper on upzoning effects.
Upzone the Side Streets!, Henry Grabar's Slate piece on effects of focusing housing on arterials.
Building Code reform:
Unlocking livable, resilient, decarbonized housing
with Point Access Blocks, Larch Lab's report on Point Access Blocks for the City of Vancouver.
Beyond Zoning: Building Circulation Reform and Infill Housing, UCLA Lewis Center's roundtable on unit access and code reform.
Active Solar Protection/Climate Adaptive Buildings:
Throwing Shade at How Buildings Must Adapt to the Climate Crisis, Michael Eliason's in Treehugger on climate adaptive buildings.
Prefabrication & Robotics:
Energiesprong, the Dutch retrofit masters utilizing prefabricated exterior panels.
New forms of Collective Urban Housing:
Larch Lab's page on Baugruppen, self-developed urban multifamily housing.
Bring On the Clusterwohnungen, Michael Eliason's op-ed on cluster apartments.
Productive Cities:
Radical mix of uses incorporating production and industry in cities (Europan).
Sponge City/Blue Green Infrastructure:
ACEEE's report: Cool Policies for Cool Cities: Best Practices for Mitigating Urban Heat Islands in North

Previous Episode

04: Let's unf*ck TOD!

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in the United States lacks the vitality, affordability, access to nature and open space, and high quality urban spaces found in new European ecodistrics/TOD. They are also much more auto-centric than would be found in EU cities - leading in part to a lower quality of life than should be possible. This is in part due to poor building and land use practices.
In today's episode, we discuss some of the problems with TOD (yep, the double loaded corridor plays a role!). As well as trends in European TOD - and some examples that US cities interested in creating walkable, family-friendly, mixed use TOD with a good economic and social mix of residents should be studying. All of these districts are filled with buildings that would not be legal to build anywhere in the U.S.!
Subjects discussed in this episode include:
Transit Oriented Development
The wonderful Sonnwendviertel Ecodistrict in Vienna - including a great video by Open House Wien (German, hit that translate button for English subtitles)
Munich's Freiham district, presently underway in western section of the city. (German)
Heilbronn's new Stadtquartier - Neckarbogen - surrounded by incredible landscapes.
Lastly, to stay up to date with what Michael Eliason is doing at Larch Lab, be sure to sign up for newsletter updates.

Next Episode

06: Smoke Signals: Passivhaus mandates now.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have had fairly significant wildfire smoke for the last six weeks. For the most part, wind patterns have kept much of the Seattle Metro from experiencing the worst of it. That changed this week, as weather patterns shifted and the dense wildfire smoke cloaked our region for several days, thrusting both Seattle and Portland into the cities with the worst air quality globally.
Unfortunately, this pattern is likely to worsen as the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains continue to dry out. Due to their rugged, steep terrain and abundant fuel - fighting wildfires is going to be significantly different than on the dryer, and eastern slopes of the cascades. Containment and mitigation will be the main strategies in dealing with this smoke.
However, cities have not prepared for this new normal to the extent they should have, with studies predicting this very issue for decades. We already utilize public buildings for weather that is extremely warm or cold - the next logical step is to utilize public buildings as fresh air centers for smoke and air pollution events. The region has also added over a hundred thousand homes in just the last decade. Unfortunately, weak energy codes that failed to mandate Passivhaus only ensured that there was significant carbon lock-in with these, and an inability to adapt and mitigate climate change to the effect they could have.
Had we mandated Passivhaus levels of construction, with airtight buildings and fresh, filtered ventilation - many more of these buildings could adapt to these types of events, and ruggedized against an increasingly dangerous normal. We need climate leaders who will take these issues seriously, and act swiftly.
Further reading...
Passive House: Climate-Proofing Against Disease and Smoke, Hayley Cloona in Passive Buildings Canada.
Will blankets of wildfire smoke be our new seasonal normal?, via KUOW.
Inside the Bolt Creek Fire and the Newly Burning Forests of the Western Cascades, via Seattle Times.
US Northwest towns ‘woefully unprepared’ as fire risk grows, via the AP.
Managing Western Washington Wildfire Risk in a Changing Climate, report (pdf) via UW's Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center
King County Wildfire Risk Reduction Strategy, report (pdf) via King County.
Passive House on the Frontlines: Wildfire Smoke & Indoor Air Quality, roundtable hosted by Passive House Accelerator.
Another Good Reason to Go Passivhaus: It Keeps the Smoke Out, Lloyd Alter over on Treehugger.
Lastly, to stay up to date with what Michael Eliason is doing at Larch Lab, be sure to sign up for newsletter updates.