High-Performance Citities or Buildings

PreludeThe International Energy Agency (IEA) in the World Energy Outlook, 2004reported that the projected increase in worldwide electrification rates from74% in 2002 to 83% in 2030 would provide a huge impact on social development,education and public health. The results would bring changesto basic human life, as well as environmental impact. For instance, reductionin the use of traditional fossil fuels for energy purposes, with attendantbenefits of slower deforestation. As these changes take place, we mustsimultaneously look at infrastructure on a multi-level scale. The currenttrend is moving away from a monolithic infrastructural development, yet stillthe large scale projects create greater impact, economically, socially, andenvironmentally influencing the future urbanism. Because of the massiveincrease of urbanization and proliferation of cities, we must identify howthe vital resources will flow and create new styles of urban infrastructure forglobal cities. Mega projects are not necessarily the answer for mega citieswith mega problems. Common urban problems, such as energy intensityand population density, require thinking beyond physical size to issues ofefficiency and sustainable generation. Smaller scale approaches combinedwith advanced technology will help to bring a larger impact on the globallevel, even if the physical scale is as small as changing a light bulb.MotiveA recent article in the Economist (2010) suggests that Asian cities will determinethe prospects for global CO2 emissions in coming years. As an emergingsociety, and perhaps the global stakeholder of urbanization, Asia is faced withgreat opportunity and great risk. The current rate and type of developmentare unsustainable. But unlimited possibilities lie in a sustainable explorationat the infrastructural scale. Expanding infrastructural urbanism is not onlyrelevant to the Asian discourse, but globally. For example, the global demandfor both quantity and quality of electrical power will need a global scale ofinvestment in the near future: The Organization for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD) predicted the total annual worldwide electricity investmentneeds through to 2030 average around $350 billion and more than halfof this investment will be spent on transmission and distribution.The growing uncertainty of Architecture’s mission in current urbanism, especiallyimplementation of multi-scale infrastructural development as an urban intervention,will require its reposition and integration for building a High-PerformanceCity. Based on the historical aspects of transformation of the city and the outlookof global investigation in terms of infrastructural investment, we continue to engagethe future relationship between architecture and urban space and how theenvironment will be rapidly influenced by urban growth. The objective of the paperin building a High-Performance City is to not only encourage more efficientbuilding for the future, but also to facilitate much more efficient networks withinthe current grid system. As the usage of energy becomes the driving force sculptingthe future of our cities and reshaping existing cities, we must fully integrateInfrastructural development and architectural design within this new framework.

Volume Editors
Martha Thorne & Xavier Costa

ISBN
978-0-935502-83-1