BEYOND URBAN RENEWAL

Retrofitting urban tissues into regenerative and resilient ecosystems?

Modernism was imbued with an ambition to transform society, a movement that has strongly influenced the minds of architects ever since. The Bauhaus school clearly expresses this way of portraying the role of designers. The movements that followed, such as Postmodernism or Deconstructivism, also fed on the philosophical and aesthetic currents of the time, without having such a transformative will.?

Surprisingly, the EU has recently initiated, at the scale of all its members, a reflection followed by a movement, called the New European Bauhaus (NEB), whose key words are "sustainable, beautiful, together". A new ethical and aesthetic trend for the implementation of the New Green Deal, to face and respond to the upheavals of the 21st century and underlined by an ambition to strengthen social?cohesion and the will to find a brand signal for the “made in Europe” products and services....

In this context, the various avant-garde approaches aim regeneration, of natural environments of course, but not only. This has become the motto of some specialists, philosophers, economists and even architects. It is significant that there is even a labelling scheme that takes up the subject: Living Building Challenge, coming from the USA.

In any case, the Sustainable Development approach based on the minimization of impacts and the SD Goals seem insufficient in relation to the challenges we are facing.?

Several inspiring authors can be mentioned when developing a regenerative and resilient approach for the retrofitting at the urban scale, such as Ivan Illich, Ernst F. Schumacher, Edgar Morin, Bruno Latour, Baptiste Morizot, Janine Benyus, Isabelle Delanoy…?

This would involve aiming, among other goals, for:?

·??????a qualitative and quantitative improvement of biodiversity through greening, completed by the notion of “carbon sinks”.

·??????Actions on the water cycle that ensure the return of "clean" water to the natural environment, treating rain, tap and wastewater in a close circuit.

·??????Net zero carbon on energy consumption (scope to be defined).

·??????Positive carbon footprint on the use of materials, maximizing the renewable sourcing of materials and also introducing strong circular economy measures, including reuse of demolished elements.

·??????Effects on the economic dynamics of the neighborhood and beyond (short circuits, local sourcing), based on the “city of short distances” or the “15 minutes city”.

·??????Creation of an ecosystem of “impact businesses”, in order to develop and implement processes and solutions at the urban and buildings scales.

·??????The project as a pilot site and a showcase, including connections with the academic and research world.

·??????Design thinking workshops with inhabitants and employees for the participative design of certain functions, services and spaces, to ensure the pertinence and the acceptability of the solutions to be deployed.

·??????Actions to consolidate links between inhabitants, companies, and city structures, giving the opportunity to become an “agent of change” within “la ville relationnelle” dear to Sonia Lavadinho.

And of course, the resilience components also have to be considered:

·??????At the scale of the buildings through measures to adapt to climate change, user-friendly facilities’ design, and possibilities for operation in downgraded conditions.?

·??????On the scale of the district and the city through measures regarding the building-urban space interfaces, in particular the treatment of the heat island effect through greening and unsealing, but also mobility, especially enhancing wider uses possibilities for streets rather than car traffic…

Urban renewal projects require substantial budgets, and developers are eager to invest in order to keep up with the market trends and increase the asset’s value. A clairvoyant approach would enable the project to seize the opportunity to become “future ready” and participate to the improvement of neighborhoods and cities.