Beneath the Wisteria supporter, Roy Roberts, or as in Saturday’s case “Beneath the Golden Elm” supporter, has put together some thoughts about town planning on which he would like comment.
He has suggested some titles for the overall project:
“Shepparton’s response to climate change”;
“Shepparton’s response to increasing energy costs”; or
“A response to the urbanization of Shepparton”.
With regard ‘Town planning’, Roy suggests the following:
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We need an energy revolution -
Roy Roberts has some ideas. |
What will a livable city of Shepparton look like in 2050 and beyond? What are we doing now to provide the flexibility for this to happen?
Built in flexibility and options for adaption are powerful assets to a community when the nature of future change is uncertain.
The main issue with climate change is not being able to predict what will happen.
Change seems very likely according to technology and science and it is worth remembering that this is the same science and technology that has created the planes we fly in, the phones we use, the cars we drive, the system of agriculture fertilizer and pest control we use, the health care technology we take advantage of as well as the computer I write this with and an endless list of other everyday items in our world.
Alongside climate change is energy as the biggest change on the horizon? As cheap fossil fuels disappear and costs increase where will we be?
Flexibility is the key
How will our climate change, how expensive will energy be?
Let me say this, I don’t think anybody knows. There are guesses everywhere but guesses they are.
The weather may be hotter, wetter, dryer, stormier, more erratic, or less frosty no one really knows and if we are expecting anyone to know we are dreaming. Change is predicted because things that influence the climate are not staying the same, it is that simple.
How expensive will energy get? I’m guessing no one knows that either but the simple mathematics of dividing the energy we will have by the number of people who want it means it will be more expensive and probably a lot more expensive.
Energy, it is more than just the dollars
We have had lots of energy and it has been cheap but just paying more isn’t the answer. It is not just about the dollars but about the type of energy and how much we will have and how we use it that will shape our everyday lives. Everyday things like school, housing, food, transport and work will change in some way because cheap energy has allowed us to do things the way we have. Change cheap easy energy and everyday things will change to.
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What will be next in
transport - electric cars
powered by renewables? |
Change is normal. What was once horses and carts became cars and trucks. My Great-grandfather, a Doctor, was one of the first to own a car over 100 years ago and my primary school age son may be one of the last to drive a petrol powered vehicle. The question is not how do we stop change but how do we make change.
How we choose to change will be our future.
With energy becoming less easily available and with rising prices the first thing that is likely to happen is we use less. We waste less, we travel less, we live in more efficient houses, we generate power where we can at home and we buy products that require less energy to make. If we can shape a world were life is as good or better than it is today and it uses no more energy than we can sustainably produce then there is no problem.
Just as you can’t drive a semi-trailer down a lane that was designed for a horse and cart the question is are we going to be able to drive a sustainable future through Shepparton in its current format?
Town planning solutions
Just as we now live with a Shepparton that was beginning to be designed and built in the era of steam and horses the Town Planning decisions made now will be lived with well into a low energy future. Forethought and built in flexibility in our design approach to current developments will enable Shepparton people to create their own solutions as and when needed. Making room for change even if we don’t change now is the first creative step.
I am not suggesting we must build the Shepparton of 2050 today but instead to build the Shepparton of today in a way that will be ready for 2050.
Town planners will be best placed to make decisions but I am wondering whether this type of planning for a low energy future is already taken into account and if so to what degree.
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Below are some examples of what built in flexibility in town planning might include. Any more suggestions would be gratefully received so we can make a more complete list of ideas with a view to approaching the town planners to see what they already take into account. It would be reassuring to think they are ahead of us.
1. Ensuring new sub-divisions create residential blocks of a size and orientation that suit roof mounted solar panels and reduce heating and cooling inputs, substantially increasing the potential for energy production from roofs and reducing heating and cooling costs.
2. Allow water infrastructure to collect community rainwater from roofs to be piped to a communal storage for reuse on community open spaces or allotments.
3. In new subdivisions with small block sizes allocate space for future ‘allotment schemes’ where residents may rent land from the council for vegetable growing (as is traditional in UK urban environments)
4. Allow space through new subdivisions for cycle ways to service travel to schools, shops etc. New subdivisions being proposed may be obstructions to cycle transport from future new sub divisions further out unless provision is made through these now.
5. Allow space for future public transport infrastructure.
6. Allow space for less centralized provision of amenities reducing the need for travel
7. Allow space and easements to accommodate for additional infrastructure to cope with a higher frequency of storm events and flash flooding.
