Initial idea of thesis

The topic of my unit work is ‘Smart city’. The smart city means smarter than the present cities. In my view, the smart city needs sustainable energy supply system, adaptable community, information exchange, better life such as workplace, leisure and etc.
I want to write about future city elements and urban planning. At first, I will look at famous sustainable, eco or green cities as a case study.


Case 1_Freiburg in Germany

The City of Freiburg is internationally well known for its environmental approach and its extensive use of solar energy and other renewable sources. Freiburg Green City can share experiences gained over many years and showcase a multitude of effective technical and organisational solutions related to sustainable energy management.

The Solar Economic Factor
In terms of both economy and ecology, Freiburg has been most successful in the fields of renewable energy research and marketing. A mere glance at the cityscape makes this clear. Solar panels can be found on the roofs of the Badenova Stadium and the City Hall, on schools, churches and private houses, on facades and towers. Looking further a.eld, wind turbines rise from the Black Forest. With more than 1,800 hours of sunshine each year and an annual radiation intensity of 1,117 kilowatts (kW) per square-meter, Freiburg is one of the sunniest cities in Germany.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/23/freiburg.germany.greenest.city
http://www.europeupclose.com/article/freiburg-germanys-top-eco-city/
http://www.konzerthaus.freiburg.de/servlet/PB/menu/1182949_l2/index.html


Case2_Kitakyushu in Japan

From a 'Gray City' to a 'Green City'
In the 1960s, Japan achieved rapid economic progress, in which Kitakyushu developed into one of the four largest industrial zones in Japan. However, the air and water were polluted; Dokai Bay was highly contaminated by industrial and domestic wastewater.
In 1971, prior to establishment of the Environmental Agency by the national government, the city of Kitakyushu founded the Environmental Pollution Control Bureau (currently the Environmental Bureau). The City established 'The City of Kitakyushu Pollution Control Ordinance,' which was more stringent than the national laws - in addition to other regulations - and enforced a series of effective measures against major companies in the city, including the execution of agreements to prevent pollution. In addition, we drove forward a large-scale urban greening movement in accordance with the 'Green Kitakyushu Plan.'
These measures to prevent pollution and preserve the environment, together with residents' environmental protection efforts, yielded good results, considerably improving Kitakyushu's environment. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) introduced Kitakyushu's improved environment to the world as the example of city transformed from a 'Gray city' to a 'Green city'.

Contributing to the world through environmental preservation technologies
The City of Kitakyushu is engaged in diverse activities to improve the environment by making use of the City's experience and technologies in pollution control, energy efficiency improvement, knowledge accumulated through the process of overcoming past severe environmental contamination. Moreover, through international cooperation, the City has accepted 4,052 international trainees in total (as of March 2005) from 143 countries, and has dispatched specialists to other countries.

http://www.city.kitakyushu.jp/pcp_portal/PortalServlet;jsessionid=1A3AF5BD045B8D2A2CEAAE371E2A198B?DISPLAY_ID=DIRECT&NEXT_DISPLAY_ID=U000004&CONTENTS_ID=14935


Then, I will look at planning cities in recent years


New Songdo in Korea

Songdo IBD is being developed on 1,500 acres of reclaimed land in South Korea along Incheon's waterfront, 40 miles from Seoul and just 7 miles from Incheon International Airport. Developed by Gale International and Korea's POSCO E&C, this master-planned metropolis is a model of sustainable, city-scale development and innovation. The first phase of the new international city opened in August 2009.

Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, an international architectural practice recognized for design excellence and innovation in their buildings throughout the world, the 100 million square foot master plan includes commercial office space, residences, retail shops, hotels as well as civic and cultural facilities.

http://www.songdo.com/songdo-international-business-district/the-city/master-plan.aspx


Dongtan in China

Dongtan will be a city of three villages that meet to form a city centre. The first demonstrator phase of Dongtan aims to be completed by 2010, in time for the World Expo in Shanghai, and will accommodate a population of up to 5,000. Later phases of development will see the city grow to hold a population of around 80,000 by 2020 and up to 500,000 by 2050.

The delicate nature of the Dongtan wetlands adjacent to the site has been one of the driving factors of the city's design. We plan to protect and enhance the existing wetlands by returning agricultural land to a wetland state creating a 'buffer-zone' between the city and the mudflats - at its narrowest point, this 'buffer-zone' will be 3.5 kilometres wide.

http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=2137

T26 Manifesto #3

At this point, after the first term, I can understand about the course more clear. I felt that I follow the tasks in the last term. I still did the tasks or essay ineffective way but I try to show my paces in this term. Also, my works were very sporadic so, this term I have to make them well organized works. I need to fix my direction in my work.

The unit trip made me have a confidence and I could understand about the unit works. Also I can get a lot of experience during the MA trip. On the trip, I could visit some English cities and towns what I want to visit. However, I couldn’t see the city in analytical way enough, I think I don’t have enough view and information of England cities. I will do more study about cities in the UK also international cities.

To know the policy and frame works in many borough in London is not easy to me. I want to work in Korea or China after the course so I need to find good policies to apply other sites and compare another country’s policy.

I look forward to new session in the next term which is Economic one and Sustainable one. I think it will be helpful my unit works. Actually the way of CHORA unit is also interesting so I want to study different way of approach the city.

I got a lot of things from the course but, sometimes I disappointed some of my tasks. It is not same as I thinking in my mind. However, the way to solve it is only keep training. I will keep find the my various opinion during the course process rather than result.