An Integrated Approach to Sustainable Urban Redevelopment: Birmingham Eastside as a National and International Demonstrator

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial)
Energy Efficiency(Transport)
Energy Efficiency(Industry)
Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Environmental, social and economic impacts)

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Town and Country Planning)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Civil Engineering)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Architecture and the Built Environment)

Not Cross-cutting
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Technology acceptance)

Professor CDF Rogers
Infra. Engineering & Management
University of Birmingham

Standard

EPSRC

01 December 2006

31 August 2008

21 months

£512,891

Civil eng. & built environment

West Midlands

Sustainable environments and communities -- Process Environment and Sustainability

Professor CDF Rogers, Infra. Engineering & Management, University of Birmingham

Dr A Barber, School of Public Policy - CURS, University of Birmingham
Professor JR Bryson, Sch of Geography, Earth & Env Sciences, University of Birmingham
Dr M Gaterell, Engineering and Computing, Coventry University
Dr I Jefferson, Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham
Dr JP Sadler, Sch of Geography, Earth & Env Sciences, University of Birmingham

Project Contact, Advantage West Midlands
Project Contact, Ove Arup & Partners Ltd
Project Contact, Government Office West Midlands
Project Contact, The Carbon Trust
Project Contact, BCSD NSR (North Sea Region)
Project Contact, South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA)
Project Contact, Martineau Johnson
Project Contact, Royal Institute of British Architects
Project Contact, Wildlife Trust for Birmingham
Project Contact, Birmingham City Council
Project Contact, UK Water Industry Research Ltd
Project Contact, ISIS Waterside Regeneration
Project Contact, Oregon State University
Project Contact, MADE
Project Contact, Building Research Establishment (BRE) Limited

Grants EP/C513177/1, EP/E021956/1 and EP/E021603/1 are linked to each other

The aim of the Sustainable Eastside Project is to explore how sustainability is addressed in the regeneration decision-making process, and to assess the sustainability performance of completed development schemes in Birmingham Eastside against stated sustainability credentials and aspirations. The incorporation of sustainability into an urban regeneration program, such as Birmingham Eastside, appears best conceptualised as a complex decision-making process carried out by stakeholders who areembedded within the development process. The barriers to and enablers of sustainability (as identified in Phase I of this project) appear at various moments or locations within this complex. The timing and context of decisions are critical (examined in Phase II), and can cause path-dependency which then limits how sustainability features in final development plans.In Phases I & II, the research set in place a framework of cross-disciplinary knowledge and key partnerships; highlighted theimportance of coherent integration of the three pillars of sustainability to enable the complexity of achieving urban sustainability to be sufficiently grappled with; gained access to key decision-making forums in Eastside; built strong links with key stakeholders in the area; and firmly integrated into the policy agenda for Eastside. In addition, researchers are working to establish a cross-cutting baseline dataset of developments in Eastside rigorously to measure change over time and the impact of particular decisions on the sustainability of the overall urban regeneration programme. In so doing the foundations for a zonal urban regeneration case study site are being established, augmented by the creation of a study facility, with library and hot desking, now available for researchers from SUE / IEP consortia, to study the application of research to practice.The emerging findings of Phase II have allowed researchers to develop a series of hypotheses about the timing of decisions forsustainability in a range of decision-making forums, and the extent to which path-dependency becomes problematic. In Phase III, a suite of innovative analytical tools will be employed to elucidate further the complexities and interactions of the key elements of the sustainability vision for Eastside. First, a Development Timeline Framework (DTF), a multi-disciplinary tool that makes explicit the path dependency of decisions toward achieving sustainability goals, and the conflicts and synergiesbetween different sustainability objectives, will be used as the basis for further research. Second, a cross-cutting Sustainability Checklist (SC) applied to the DTF will allow each researcher to analyse the impact of timing and context of decisions for each sustainability element (e.g. biodiversity, public participation, space utilisation, local sourcing, and recycling). Third, an Industrial Ecology (IE) analysis will follow particular resources (e.g. water, aggregates) thus highlighting their interdependence, while a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) approach will enable assessment of the socio-cultural aspects of sustainability (not covered by the IE approach). This suite of tools underpins the delivery of the work package aims. This analysis will be undertaken on a case history site basis, using development sites within Eastside that are all currently 'live,' each site representing a different conceptualisation of sustainability. This provides a unique opportunityto evaluate the specific impact of early thinking about sustainability in the planning and design stages, and the impact of this timing and path-dependency on sustainability performance in the final built form

21/03/07