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edited by tia kansara

Replenish Published by Kansara Hackney Ltd. St Peters House Windmill St Macclesfield SK11 7HS Copyright © Tia Kansara First published 2015 Cover illustrations by Vanessa de Souza Esser, thecavestudio.com.br This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. This licence allows for copying any part of the work for personal and commercial use, providing author attribution is clearly stated.

edited by tia kansara

Acknowledgements

This book owes much to the interdisciplinary community of scholars, practitioners and activists globally. Individual chapters are the result of lively discussion and debate.

Rod Hackney, my business partner, provided valuable support in bringing community architecture and his ground experience to academic reflection and analysis. Justin Brown at Ideapod helped form the initial brainstorm for this book and his vision has informed the structure of the “Replenish movement” as well as his gift to professionally edit the text. With the help of Simon Sinek, this philosophy began with a simple cause: to answer why we stand united. Darren Ryan’s support in helping me develop my thoughts and giving me The Book by Alan Watts remains one of the most inspiring moments of the past year. Thanks to Hernan Lopez-Tonellotto for all the beautiful designs of the Replenish logo, Ahmed Aqeel for his support throughout whilst developing the concept and philosophy. Due thanks to Niki Ernst for helping spread the word with TEDx SF. Vanessa Esser at The Cave studios was utterly invaluable in getting this book designed and published, not to mention the beautiful graphics! Thank you to Jaime Lerner and his partner Ariadne dos Santos Daher at Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados—inspiration personified! I have fond memories of music-infused brainstorming sessions. Thank you to Norris Krueger and World Entrepreneurship Forum for encouraging this slightly quirky book; to Fabian Pfortmüller at Holstee Manifesto for his insights into leading a community of change makers called Sandbox Network; to Jimmy Kyriacou for hours of Unbox and #Behindtheface support of #Replenish; to Michael Batty at UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis for his tremendous academic support throughout the making of Replenish with Andrew Hudson-Smith, without whom my understanding of smart cities wouldn’t exist; and to Charles Michel at the Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford. I thank you all for the belief you have in Replenish. Finally, my gratitude to everyone who has helped on this journey—may we continue to live in harmony with nature.

Foreword

When I met Tia Kansara at the Royal Geographical Society in London in 2013, I was impressed with her ideas regarding replenishment—taking less from the environment than we put in during our time on this planet. Her book comes at an important time in the Climate Change debates, such as those staged at COP 21 in Paris in December 2015.

Michael Palin

Contents Acknowledgements foreword preface c h a p t e r 1 : W h at i s R e p l e n i s h ? Tia Kansara chapter 2: The impact of your vote Charles Michel c h a p t e r 3 : E c o n o m i c , n at u r a l , h u m a n r e p l e n i s h m e n t R o d e r i c k H a c k n ey chapter 4: Self-replenishment Fabian Pfortmüller chapter 5: Mechanisms of Replenishment Michael Batty chapter 6: Replenishing Cities Jaime Lerner

Contents chapter 7: An example of replenishing urban environments Ariadne dos Santos Daher chapter 8: Towards the “Replenishing Entrepreneur” Norris Krueger chapter 9: The Future for Replenish J u s t i n B r ow n BIO OF AUTHORS Tia Kansara Charles Michel R o d e r i c k H a c k n ey Fabian Pfortmüller Michael Batty Jaime Lerner Ariadne dos Santos Daher Norris Krueger J u s t i n B r ow n I n s p i r at i o n a l q u o t e s

Preface

As I meditate in the lap of nature, deep in the woods of California, I sense a presence. It surrounds me. It’s everything that my eyes can see closed. My ears hear the presence, in the silence and in sound. On a windless day, I see the movement of the plants and the living of the natural world. The now is present. I am my environment. My thoughts are focused. The question I’d like to answer is: what does the Earth expect of me? In search of the meaning of life, Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy has helped many see beyond the physical form. The intelligence of our civilisation rests in our openness to curiosity. Will the life I lead make a difference? People who regard their life experiences as sacred tend to pose this question. Often, one feels as if they were remembering things that they’ve experienced in a previous life: a list of things that are must-sees in this life. I, like many of you reading this, am called to action to give back something special to Earth. It is a gift that keeps giving, and it begins with a commitment, a belief and a conviction to be better at connecting to the intelligence that made us, feeds us, and sustains us. Replenish is a way to evolve to a higher state of being—in gratitude to the cosmic energy that made us. It is the dream of nature to see us unite regardless of where we were born and what shape and size we are. Nature’s dream connects us to this higher purpose. To find your higher purpose, download the map that directs you to your flow—connecting all of us to one goal. This map is in you, in your DNA, in every cell of your body. This e-book is a resource from a few people kind enough to share what Replenish means to them. Please accept this as a nudge to explore what it means to you. Dedicated to you, and the beautiful journey you are on.

Tia Kansara

Muir Woods, California 26 th October 2015 www.tiakansara.com

Chapter 1:

What is Replenish? by Tia Kansara

What would a world with no waste look like? Replenish is a measure of how much we give back to nature. Imagine the forest putting all of its waste into a black bag, leaving it on the road for it to be picked up. Nature doesn’t waste. When we don’t waste, we live in sync with nature, the better synced, the higher our replenishment factor. This is a call to action—to recognise the impact of positive contributions to nature. Why is it that we have measures of how much we are taking from nature (CO2 foot-printing), but not of how much we give back? Replenish is the measure of an individual’s ecological service to nature. Research on replenishment will provide a per capita measurement to radically shift our perception of resource-use, positively impacting the environment as citizens take small, manageable steps to reduce their negative impact on Earth. The challenge will be to build the infrastructure that will aid in the physical, social and economic

evolution of cities. A metric is required to support the development, implementation and ongoing evaluation of sustainable lifestyles.

Replenish

= A measure of what we give back to nature

Carbon or water footprints are helpful in determining our individual and collective impact on the environment. Replenish is the measure of what we give back to nature in terms of resources: 100% replenishment meaning zero carbon, zero waste. The replenishment footprint is the measure of environmental gains from one’s services to nature. This has never been done before. Replenish works also for business— with global warming we are already experiencing a shift in the

value proposition of businesses worldwide. Where businesses are accountable for their impact on the environment, this shift exists and it is a multi-billion dollar opportunity. For instance, the Department of Geography at University College London is currently benefitting from vast sums of investment from companies interested in the negative impacts of climate change on their businesses. At the core of this shift in global markets, there is a revolution of the circular economy for designing improved resource allocation. This means no waste to landfill, together with an extension to product life. The European Commission notes that the role of biodiversity, ecosystems and their services is largely undervalued and the costs associated with waste are often not reflected in prices. What would a world with no waste look like? Aside from the business case of shifting towards a circular economy, there are ways to work on the incentives of living in a more ecofriendly manner. I see the positive impact these changes can have on

people’s health and wellbeing, and it is not too difficult to achieve. One need only look at Bhutan, which has a constitution that mandates at least 60% forest cover of the land at all times, and a philosophy of Gross National Happiness. Given a viable framework, Replenish will provide a bottom-up approach to mitigating anthropogenic climate change by providing the means to observe trends and patterns in replenishment, further the evidence of positive impacts on nature, and inform future policy decisionmaking. The aim of this new economic system is to have the luxuries of life without harming the environment. This is done by investing in those things, which may not exist yet, that innovate away from the negative externalities of our current fossilfuel existence. This calls for a cradle-to-cradle systems change. To get you in the mood for what Replenish could mean to you, please follow the journey of a few people who have reached out to tell you what it means to them.

Chapter 2:

the impact of your vote by Charles Michel

Never before in the Earth’s history has a single species had such an impact on the biosphere as modern humans: we have become the major predator of the planet. Wild animal species are endangered because of food fads leading to mindless consumption, forests are cut-off to produce food for cattle that will later on add to the emissions contributing to global warming, while clean-water resources are becoming scarcer, etc. It seems that the unrestrained use of the planet’s resources is the cause of some of the biggest challenges faced by our species today … we know it, but how do we effectively take action? Today, it seems necessary to redefine what we understand by civilisation. The Oxford definition of civilisation as “the stage of human social development and organisation which

is considered most advanced” seems adequate, but I would put in doubt that the Western model is the most advanced, given how unwisely we are treating Nature, which has given us everything we’ve built our modern systems on. Seven years ago, Dwiawikúngumu Adéy, an indigenous leader from the Arhuaco community, one of the most ancient and preserved cultures of South America in the Sierra Nevada, Colombia, told me: “The civilised being is the one who lives in peace and harmony with Nature. The one who pays tribute to the rivers and the sea, to the Earth, to fire. We enjoy the goodness of the Earth, but we have to give back, and be grateful”. We take a lot from nature, but do we ever give back? Do we even have ways

of repairing nature by ourselves? Should we wait for our political leaders to tell us what to do? What effective tools do we have in cities and communities to replenish? For me, Replenish is an allencompassing philosophy of love— the love for all life forms; it is the respect we should all nurture for the most precious asset of all: the balance of our planetary home. Everyday, we make choices that have more or less impact on the environment. The way we spend our money defines the way we relate to nature; it is as simple as that. For instance, by choosing what we put in our mouths at each meal, we make decisions on the way the food system is organised, submitting a “vote”—with each cent—for a

particular food system. We either vote for accelerating global warming by buying a steak or we vote for pollen by helping beekeepers take care of more bees that will pollinate more flowers (pollen also happens to have a higher protein content than most meat). Adopting replenishing behaviour is something we can do everyday. All it requires is a little courage (from Latin cor meaning “heart”): the courage not to look away from the most critical issues of our time.

Chapter 3:

economic, natural and human replenishment by Dr. Roderick Hackney

As communities grow and evolve they need resources, but while most communities (and organisations) are open systems how can they replenish resources in ways that improve conditions for members? Circularity is a concept that has become increasingly invaluable because it contributes to flexibility and resilience, which permit communities to grow qualitatively, not just quantitatively, and which enhance the wellbeing of citizens. Three initiatives are at the core of successful city replenishment: 1. to allow and adapt economically; 2. to ensure a healthy environment; 3. to foster contentment.

1. To allow and adapt economically An economy or community cannot be strong without being flexible and resilient. Let’s look at two examples of where flexibility and resilience have been crucial: Mumbai and Aleppo. When I was invited to Mumbai, India, by architect Charles Correa in the 1980s, I chose to stay in Dharavi for a couple of weeks to experience the entrepreneurial and survival skills of its “slum citizens”. What an education; what an eye opener! Dharavi is the most flexible-thinking part of Mumbai. If the local government’s long-term plan to rid Mumbai of its largest

slum was ever successful, Mumbai would not be able to replenish without the ingenuity, flexibility, resourcefulness and sheer resilience of the one million Dharavi people. Aleppo, Syria, had a long, prosperous history located at the western end of the Silk Road, between Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) and the Mediterranean Sea. Its civilisation goes back to the 3rd millennium BC, since when it has undergone four major replenishments—a fifth will be needed after the end of the current Civil War. An earthquake destroyed the city in 1138, killing a quarter of million people. The survivors remained resilient and repaired the damage, as they did when Tamerlane pillaged the city in 1400, forcing many citizens to move outside the city walls. Another earthquake in 1882 heavily damaged the citadel, dating back to the 1st Millennium BC. Aleppo’s flexibility during the Ottoman Empire led to it being considered as important as Cairo and Constantinople. It remained a vibrant trading centre until the Suez Canal opening in 1869, which provided a faster and more economic transportation route through the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles robbed Aleppo of its northern suburbs to Turkey. In the 20th century, Aleppo’s most important architecture was saved

when plans to modernise the city, drawn by architect Andre Gutton— wide roads cutting through the old city—were scrapped. In 1979, Gutton’s re-development plans were replaced by a more sympathetic plan prepared by urban designer Stefano Bianca. UNESCO encouraged this by declaring the city a World Heritage Site in 1986 with the help of Syrian architect Adli Qudsi. With a population of two million plus (the largest city in Syria), Aleppo became a major tourist heritage attraction. With strong support from the Aga Khan Historic Cities programme, it was designated the Islamic Capital of Culture in 2006. History teaches us. Despite natural and military catastrophes, Aleppo survives—a worthy candidate for a new award as the world’s most replenished city. After the end of the present civil war, begun in 2011— Battle of Aleppo in 2012—it will need to replenish itself again and once more thrive economically. 2. To ensure a healthy environment: air and water As a minimum, citizens require clean air to breathe and a sustainable water supply to drink. But city resources cannot be depleted faster than they can be replenished. Air Fast-growing cities only seem to pay attention to air quality when their citizens start dying of respiratory

diseases. The British were the first to suffer from air pollution in the middle of the 20th century with the smog (sooty fog) that stopped traffic in places such as Manchester, where I attended university. I was brought up in North Wales where wearing white shirts was a no-no, and where coughing up soot-laden sputum, wheezing and visiting the doctor were commonplace. Just imagine the loss of production when industrial workers fell ill. Thankfully, domestic and industrial coal fires in most of Europe are now things of the past, but many parts of the developing world are still plagued by dangerous air quality. Take Beijing. On my last visit, on leaving my hotel, the concierge asked, “Where are you going?”—I’m going outside to do some photography—“No, it’s too dangerous. Let me call you a cab. Today is a no-going-out day”. Replenishment often requires coping with externalities imposed from without. Singapore’s bad air quality is due to the use of fire to clear forests in neighbouring countries, particularly Indonesia. Cleaning up its air is Singapore’s latest replenishment challenge. Water Without a guaranteed supply of potable water a city will not survive— take Singapore, which during the Second World War surrendered when

the invading army took control of the only available source of fresh water in the hills behind the city. After replenishment since 1945, Singapore today thrives as an efficient modern city-state with secure access to potable water. It is now legislating to improve its air quality. Palenque in Mexico, originally called Lakamha (Big Water), was a Maya city-state that thrived in the 7th century AD, having been established seven centuries earlier. It was known, among other things, for its waterengineering innovations including an aqueduct and a pressurised spring-fed waterfall, within a conduit that shot the discharged water up 6 meters. The city suffered shortly after 800 AD through wars and internal unrest among the inhabitants—the innovative aqueduct and intricate water system were destroyed. Palenque’s ruins were discovered in the 1700s and 1800s, a once proud city now reduced to a tourist attraction. Fatehpur Sikri, in India, was built by the Mughal emperor Akbar as his new capital in 1569. After only 15 years Akbar abandoned Fatehpur Sikri and relocated his city to Agra, 40 kilometres west. Why? Failure of the water supply. Today Fatehpur Sikri, like Palenque, is a tourist attraction with its buildings protected by UNESCO as a world heritage site. California in the USA in 2015 has to

continually drill deeper as the water table subsides—and water recovery costs are escalating. Imaginative replenishment is essential for the Sunshine State to survive. 3. To foster contentment (wellbeing) among citizens Increased subjective wellbeing suggests people live longer and have more fulfilled lives. An urban/rural partnership is important in allowing citizens to thrive and replenish their minds. It is essential to green the city because allowing nature to mingle with the built environment makes citizens happier. Curitiba, Brazil, under architect Mayor Jaime Lerner’s term of office, is a success story. Curitiba residents have over a thousand green public areas, including five major “green fingers” bringing the Paraná forest into the city. Most Curitiba residents are within five minutes walking of large greenery areas. The Japanese practice of shinrin yoku (forest bathing) involves going for long walks in nature to promote physical and mental health and wellbeing, including a reduction in stress-related diseases, bolstering the immune system. Humans that want to replenish their mind are drawn to the natural environment; access to nature within easy walking distance from their homes prolongs their lives. Surkhet in Nepal, under the

watchful eye of Yam Lal Dhakal, Chief Executive of Surkhet Council, encourages new developers to comply with local green byelaws by planting trees and maintaining the new plantings once their new property is completed. This strong byelaw, along with new town planning ordinances designed to encourage open public spaces, helps to connect the city to the surrounding Banke and Bardiya National Parks. This should put the city into the international list of green cities. Prakash Poudel, supervisor of the greening, proudly declares, “We are working on a broader concept of developing Surkhet as a green city and encouraging a healthy lifestyle among our citizens”. For a city to be sustainable it has to be flexible and economically adaptable as its fortunes change, as its opportunities and threats ebb and flow. Ensuring a healthy environment, including clean air, as in Curitiba and Surkhet, is essential to improving health among the inhabitants. We can foster contentment (wellbeing) by, for example, tapping into the resourcefulness of the Dharavi residents who provide a replenishment lifeline for the rest of Mumbai’s inhabitants—doing things the middle classes don’t care to do, championing recycling, surviving through their own ingenuity, entrepreneurial skills and courage.

Chapter 4:

self-Replenish? by Fabian Pfortmüller

Living in New York City, replenishing is one of the most crucial, yet most neglected concepts. The city that famously never sleeps keeps going 24/7. People come to NYC for a reason: to pursue their dreams, to hustle, to work hard, to get “to the next level”. Living here for seven years, I never met one person who moved here just to enjoy the place. People are here on a mission. This strong collective energy is contagious and in many ways the reason NYC is one of the most productive places in the world for business, arts, entrepreneurship, fashion, media and many other aspects of life. But this comes at a cost. I remember sitting on the aeroplane, leaving NYC for a Christmas break after my first year in the city. I felt so exhausted. I started to realise what a toll the constant running was taking on me: attending two great events a night, the late night drinks and early morning meetings with ambitious and inspiring people full of big ideas, the constant

exposure to people hustling and the competitive energy. I was feeling tired and burned out. That moment made me realise how important it is to replenish. While it might come to some people as a natural attitude, for me it’s a learned concept that I, step-by-step, have been discovering and including in my life. For me, replenishing means to be happy not just in one moment, but to keep that happiness over time. At the very core of it, it means that I commit to keeping a balance and to taking good care of myself. In a weird way, living in NYC has taught me that, unless I take conscious steps otherwise, I might neglect the most important thing in life: myself. How does replenishing work in my daily life? I make an effort to exercise 4–5 times a week; and the more stressful my time is, the more I try to eat healthily. Two years ago I stopped drinking coffee and started meditating twice a day and it has changed my life in the most beautiful and fundamental way. Also, I have made it a habit to leave the city at least once a month, to see its beauty refreshed when I come back. Replenish has become such an important concept for me that, together with two amazing cofounders, I have built a company

around sharing these values and helping other people live them. At Holstee, we have summarised our values in our manifesto (www.holstee. com/manifesto) and we try to express them through the products we make, but also our internal practices. For example, over time we noticed that even though we had a “take as much time as you need to be happy” policy, team members weren’t actually doing it (and the founders consistently have been the ones taking the most vacations at Holstee ...). We wanted to change that and have implemented a couple of strategies, such as a “Birthday Day Off”, which gives every team member an extra day off on the day of their birthday, but each month. So if your birthday is February 2nd, you will get off the 2nd of each month: just an extra day to breathe. Secondly, we close the office for three weeks over the holidays in the winter. This was a scary step at first, but it lets us start the New Year re-energized, replenished.

Replenishing ideally means not waiting till the batteries are empty, but finding that delicate balance and equilibrium before the batteries even get into the red zone. And if you’re good to yourself, you can be good to others too.

Chapter 5:

mechanisms of replenishment by Michael Batty

There are many terms and clichés that define the way systems such as cities renew themselves. Regeneration is often used to define the way cities replace their physical infrastructures with more modern technologies, styles and materials, and sometimes this kind of regeneration is loosely associated with sustaining the city, continuing to let it breathe and live-on to face fresh challenges that occur spontaneously without any central planning. Cities that truly regenerate and adapt to new conditions and challenges embody multiple feedback loops that enable their sustenance and are sensitive to the everchanging contexts or environments within which cities exist. Feedback is thus the essential mechanism of replenishment.

Generically, feedback can be either negative or positive, with negative feedback simply keeping a system on its existing course. The best examples are machines that ensure they perform within known limits, such as those that keep the temperature of their environments steady. If the temperature rises or falls above or below given thresholds, corrective action is taken to bring it back to tcv hat which is sustainable. Normally, systems that perform in this way are simple, largely mechanical and largely non-adaptive in terms of their structure. In other words, their feedback loops do not extend to any form of adaptation to new considerations other than those that are designed into the system in the first place.

In direct contrast, systems with positive feedback are more like organisms than machines. Cities fall into this category. Such systems are characterised by positive feedback based on adaptation to new conditions and embracing new regimes that move them beyond the limits of the original design. My definition of a system that replenishes itself is of this kind. Intrinsically biological, it adapts, innovates, and embraces new ideas, new considerations and new ways of doing things. These are very abstract requirements and there is no guarantee that systems that are of this nature are ideal, optimal, acceptable or sustainable in their wider context. They may not be well adapted with respect to human requirements, although they may operate indestructibly. Positive (as well as negative) feedback processes and loops are necessary for systems to replenish themselves—but they are not sufficient. In fact there are many city systems that replenish themselves without meeting the wider goals of equity. They merely ensure that their structures are always efficient and operable, but they do not necessarily maximise the quality of life. Simple replenishment does not necessarily embrace a system trajectory that leads to better quality; it might simply mean replacement of what is there already, after existing technologies become obsolete and/or materials degenerate. Replenishment goes far beyond this.

Systems—and the core example for me is always the city—that truly replenish themselves involve processes that are beyond mere feedback. They are intrinsically human in structure and orientation and involve human goals and motivations that extend beyond issues of mere survival and/or efficiency, to embrace equity. My definition of replenishment thus goes beyond mere adaptation, to include the distribution of resources. A fuller definition involves a wider context, which, loosely, might be thought of as embracing goals pertaining to sustainability. Sustainability is a catchall term, which I define as including all kinds of motivations and goals that seek to enhance the quality of life. A city that replenishes itself does not only renew itself, but the process of its renewal includes moving the system to encapsulate a better quality of life, however this is defined. Replenishment is thus not a simply zero-sum game. It is not just a Pareto optimal situation. It is a process that involves moving beyond what we accept as normal or acceptable in the existing condition. It seeks to reach out to meet goals and objectives that seem a long way away, and it embraces processes that enable this. A very simple example might be a part of the city whose environment has deteriorated to the point where it needs renewal but where the renewal provides a chance to embrace new ways of improving the use of the environment, new considerations for

enabling innovation, new forms of mobility, and so on. My main exemplar of a city engaged in replenishment pertains to our current fascination with the smart city. Smart cities are essentially cities that are being informed by computers or sensors that are being embedded into the built environment or at least used to operate in the built environment, and which improve efficiency in the first instance. The smart city embodies the current stage at which the all-pervasiveness of computer and communications has reached, with digital devices spilling out into collective and social environments. The smart city, however, does not ensure that cities will replenish themselves in acceptable ways, for the dark side of this revolution is the fact that efficiency, rather than equity, becomes the main goal. This is very much what the current hyperbole is about. How to use new computer technologies to enable a better quality of life, more equitable distribution of resources, and high quality urban environments is part

of the process of replenishment. This involves considering ways in which the profit motive compromises many opportunities for building more equitable structures in cities that depend on new forms of public services being delivered by new information technology. This is quite clearly a public activity and a balance is always mandatory in terms of the distribution of resources: who pays, who benefits. So to conclude, replenishment is about more than renewal—it is part and parcel of the move towards a smarter, more equitable urban environment where material and technological opportunities are realised by the very process of renewal that an adaptable system such as a city always requires.

Chapter 6:

replenishing cities by Jaime Lerner

One of the greatest challenges in terms of sustainability is to reduce waste. If sustainability is an equation between what is saved and what is wasted, then the more we save, the less we waste, and the more sustainable the equation is. This may be an interesting proposition when considering cities, planning, and the idea of giving back to nature—replenishing. The better we plan our cities to take less from nature, the more we help in the sustainability equation. Consider that cities alone account for about 75% of carbon emissions. A city must be an integrated structure of life, work, and mobility. Its conception, its design, has to provide a clear structure of growth—in concert with society—in order to guide the efforts of private and public agents. A design that respects, and uses as an ally, the natural conditions of the terrain and intelligently combines mixed

land uses and mobility structures, in a fairly compact and dense urban environment, is a step towards better, less wasteful cities. To improve the quality of life in cities and their relationship with the environment, three issues must be addressed: sustainability, mobility, and identity/coexistence. Live close to your work, or bring the work closer to home, is one of the touchstones of sustainability. Reduce the use of the automobile, separate the garbage, give multiple functions during the 24 hours of the day to urban facilities, avoid the fragmentation of the city in mono-functional areas—such as jobs-only areas, housing-only areas, entertainment-only areas. Integration is life. Design with nature, not against it. For instance, when we deal with macro-drainage issues in a city through the creation of parks that

protect rivers and their margins, that keep standing forest remnants, we refocus the solution in a way that is good for citizens and has more solidary with the environment. In terms of mobility, every city has to make the best out of each mode of transportation that it has, be it on the surface or underground. The key resides in not having competing systems in the same space, and using everything that the city has in the most effective way. With the right features (dedicated lanes, on level and pre-paid boarding, and high frequency), surface systems such as the Bus Rapid Transit and its evolutions have the advantage of achieving a performance similar to the one of the underground train but at a cost that is affordable to virtually every city, and with much quicker implementation. One of the greatest wastes in cities—of time, of energy, of resources, of life—is related to poorly solved mobility problems. A healthier city happens where the car is not the only comfortable option of transportation; where the energy of unnecessary displacements is saved; and where walking along its streets, parks and avenues is encouraged. Finally, cities, as human constructs, must bring humans together in a good way. Cities, especially in their public spaces—streets, squares, corners and parks—are scenarios

for encounters. They are, or should be, the refuge of solidarity. They can be the safeguards of the inhumane consequences of globalisation; they can defend us from extraterritoriality and lack of identity. On the other hand, the fiercest wars happen in cities, in their marginalised peripheries, in the clash between wealthy and deprived enclaves. A city must foster in its territory integration of urban functions, of income levels, of age groups, of ethnicities. We cannot condone ghettos of any sort. The more you mix it, the more human the city will be. While identity must be cherished and enhanced—we cannot relate to what we don’t recognise— sociodiversity is key to coexistence and safety. It’s high time for our society to find less wasteful patterns of development. Cities, which concentrate the largest part of the world’s population, can lead the way.

São Lourenço Park, Curitiba. Source: City of Curitiba Database

Chapter 7:

an example of replenishing urban enviroments by Ariadne dos Santos Daher

São José dos Pinhais is a neighbouring municipality of Curitiba, capital city of Paraná State, in the Southern portion of Brazil, home to around 300,000 inhabitants. Though the occupation of its territory began in the 17th century and holds the memory of the migratory and economic cycles associated with the country’s long history, it was only in the mid 1990s that the city experienced its strongest phase of economic growth, fuelled by the expansion of the industrialisation process in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba. As it is pretty much everywhere in the world, these are economic cycles of depletion of the natural resources. The metropolitan region of Curitiba

is also the birthplace of the Iguassu River, which at its mouth forms the mighty Cataratas do Iguassu, a true wonder of nature. It is this river (very humble in its initial portion) that marks the border of Curitiba and São José dos Pinhais. As with most Brazilian rivers, the Iguassu is subject to severe degradation, caused especially by inadequate sanitation infrastructure. This negative condition reinforces a cycle of neglect in which the riparian areas are seen as unwanted backyards. In 2014, the municipality began revising its master plan, and the practice Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados was invited to help in envisioning strategic guidelines for its future. The main idea put forth in

Project: Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados. Image by Architect Felipe Guerra.

this work, in terms of the structure of growth for the city, was to restore its relationship with the Iguassu River, turning these marginal areas into cherished spaces for the city and a new frontier of development. As in the fairy tales, a metaphorical kiss would turn this frog into a prince. The circle of depletion would be broken and one of replenishment inaugurated. The Iguassu River has suffered in this portion many alterations in its natural course, with several engineering works carried out to prevent flooding in the region. Also, its margins have been subjected to extensive mining of its rich deposits of clay and sand, necessary for the civil construction industry. Extraction holes were left behind after the

mining activity ceased. Finally, portions of these fragile riparian areas with low economic value (because of the constraints of geology and environmental legislation) were occupied by illegal settlements of low-income families with no infrastructure. The richness—and the challenge— of this project is that it involves actions of several agents in the river basin, extrapolating administrative borders, which is key when tackling environmental issues. With coordinated efforts in infrastructure—sanitation, new access roads to connect the area to the city; land use promoting mid-density, mixed use, socially diversified occupation; public transit

and soft modes of transportation; and the creation/consolidation of parkland and public sportive and cultural facilities—the Iguassu River could be transformed into the front yard of São José dos Pinhais. The restorative processes of nature would also play their part. Wounds in the landscape would become healers. The connection of these exhausted mining sites would create a circuit of wetlands that, with the appropriate management, can significantly improve the quality of the water through natural biological processes. Fish would repopulate the waters, inviting the birds and other specimens of fauna to follow. It’s important to highlight that

the Iguassu is a major biodiversity corridor in the region, connecting vital remnants of the Atlantic Forest, one of the richest—and most endangered— biomes of the planet. As with the fauna and the flora, people would also populate the area, in the sense of allowing the fruition of this natural asset by the people. In urban areas, if nature is not incorporated into the city life in a way that gives visibility to the innumerable and immeasurable services that it provides us every day, it’s easier to keep on sweeping under the rug the urgency of environmental action. Most people must see to believe. It’s important to show them the way.

Envisioned Scenario

Project: Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados. Image by Architect Fernando Canalli

Project: Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados. Image by Architect Felipe Guerra.

Project: Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados. Image by Architect Felipe Guerra.

Chapter 8:

towards the “replenishing entrepreneur” by Noris Krueger

How do we develop a resilient, self-renewing local economy, one that is self-replenishing? How do we grow a healthy, robust entrepreneurial ecosystem? How do we develop a resilient, self-renewing, self-replenishing community? Let’s learn from what we’ve learned there. What would an “entrepreneurial city” look like? A strong, healthy entrepreneurial economy obviously matters. Before I come back to that, consider the reverse. As cities grow, the natural tendency is for bureaucracies to grow even faster (just as we see with organisations). In our quest for fairness, or simply the desire to keep change under control, communities typically use more of what they have and find it harder (riskier?) to try relatively disruptive approaches.

Don’t we want our communities to grow increasingly better at seeking opportunities rather than recoiling from threats (or better still, the entrepreneurial alchemy of turning threats into opportunities)? That’s what builds the resilience and flexibility outlined in Chapters 1 and 3. So I’d like to suggest that we look at what fosters a resilient, self-replenishing economy as guidelines for community strategies and tactics. Like most scholars of entrepreneurial communities and almost all entrepreneurs (and almost no policy makers?), I love and recommend the book Startup Communities by Brad Feld, serial entrepreneur, thought leader VC and an architect of Boulder, Colorado’s success story. Brad identified four common characteristics of healthy, growing and resilient entrepreneurial economies (which correspond

remarkably to the best research findings). I think you’ll see that each offers a useful prescription for making communities better at replenishing.

1. Bottom-up/Entrepreneur-led: Resilience and healthy growth are not led by institutional players in the usual top-down manner. Just as building your entrepreneurial ecosystem requires listening to the entrepreneurs (and hearing what they say, not what we expect/prefer to hear), so too do communities need to listen carefully to the “front-lines”. A good place to start is to turn the focus away from those who are gatekeepers of resources to the connectors. (Google liaison animateur).

2. Inclusive: A healthy entrepreneurial economy grows all its sectors: high tech and low tech, past, present and future entrepreneurs. So, too, a community needs to engage all the right people. Note that this is decidedly not the “big tent”—to build resilience, you need to start by getting “the right people on the bus” (as Jim Collins put it so well) and get the wrong people off (never an easy assignment).

3. Rallying points: Every community needs things that we all can rally around—it could be a programme, an event or even a place (but not a person): a powerful symbol and something genuinely efficacious and usually something joyous. But these can’t originate top-down (see #1).

4. Long-term perspective: Silicon Valley really got started circa 1950 and its first tipping point was in the early 1960s. (Rod mentioned in Chapter 3 how Aleppo is likely to be resilient because they understand the long term.) Leaders have to be prepared to focus on the next decades and given the tools to be rewarded. This is definitely not easy—Google “NIMTOO” (Not In My Term Of Office)—but it’s essential to thinking sustainably, to looking for opportunities that take advantage of circularity and growth. However, a strong long-term perspective does not mean we can’t take big steps forward very quickly. Below, I offer the example of Medellin.

Maybe the best takeaway is that the term “ecosystem” is not just a clever metaphor. For a community to replenish itself adeptly, we have to understand the dynamics and the interconnectivity. With all the lip service paid to the “circular” economy, it is amazing that even seemingly sophisticated analyses fail to do more than chronicle who the players are: they do not capture how things change and how participants are (or aren’t) connected. Let me offer my own example of an “extreme makeover”: Medellin, Colombia. Medellin was once the very heart of the cocaine cartels where only a decade ago narco wealth lived side-by-side with crushing poverty. The middle class was nonexistent. Yet my last conversation with a young tech entrepreneur

made me realise that she had no idea about this—only that Medellin had become a tech minimecca, a real hotbed for software development (and, delightfully, social entrepreneurship). In fact, Medellin will host the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Congress. In but a few years Medellin has an emerging middle class, a stronger health system, a stronger civic infrastructure, better universities, and a better culture. They didn’t read Brad’s book but it’s clear the disruptive changes were driven by being bottom-up, inclusive, finding positive things to rally around, and aiming for the long run. Those conditions enabled this “extreme makeover”. I urge readers to look at the USAbased Kauffman Foundation and its related initiatives (even though they

are constrained to US spending), which offer lessons we can use. They have recently initiated a program to help cities be more entrepreneurial. It is starting with mayors but will no doubt evolve as they learn from pilot programs. 1Much of what they are doing applies to far more than just the entrepreneurial community; this is an entrepreneurial approach to growing healthy, resilient cities. They have also recently spun off SourceLink 2, which is a program that helps a city to bring together access to resources. It connects the connectors in clever ways via both online and in-person tools. They also work to ensure that as they map the entrepreneurial community, they do so capturing the dynamics and the interconnectivity; that they capture the entire community.

1. 2.

The dirty little secret? Entrepreneurial ecosystems are inseparable from the entire community ecosystem. If you want to create greater community resilience and flexibility, and increase subjective wellbeing, a more entrepreneur-led (not bureaucracy/institution-led) economy matters. But that also requires a more bottom-up, inclusive community as a whole with great rallying points and a simultaneous focus on the long haul and taking bold, disruptive action. I’d love to continue this discussion and my contact info is in my bio below. Thank you to Tia Kansara for the opportunity.

Contact Rachel Carlton and Jonathan Robinson at www.kauffman.org. Contact Maria Meyers at www.usssourcelink.com.

Chapter 9:

the future for Replenish by Justin Brown

For me, Replenish means helping to restore our planet to a more natural and optimally functioning state.

We live on the planet Earth and humans are part of a natural ecosystem of living and non-living organisms that has evolved over many millions of years. However, humans have accelerated the pace of our own evolution by creating technology and changing how we relate to one another. We’ve been able to do this because we have the ability to express and share ideas. The ideas that have taken hold have been based on an assumption that Earth’s resources are available to us

for extraction, without regard to the consequences this extraction has on the natural ecosystem that we are part of. These assumptions became much stronger during the Scientific Revolution and with the economic success of the Industrial Revolution. I believe there’s a global awakening occurring where humans are beginning to understand that a mentality of extraction is doing significant damage to the ecosystem that we live in and that the rapid changes to our environment are

threatening our survival. The only way we will survive is by living in harmony with nature. We must shift from a mentality of extraction to one of replenishment. This will come from understanding that human society and nature are not opposing forces, but rather they are inextricably linked. The movement around Replenish is about living with the understanding that we are part of nature, and that we are here to act in service to nature, rather than dominating it.

Bios oF

Authors Tia Kansara is a professional moderator, lecturer and author; she has interviewed world figures and experts, moderating for Forbes, Coca Cola, European Business Angels Network, and London Business School, and has delivered keynote speeches on the future of cities. She has lectured at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), (Ahmedabad); New Delhi School of Planning (India); Musashi Institute of Technology (Tokyo); KEA University (Copenhagen School of Design and Technology); McGill University (Montreal); University of British Columbia (Vancouver); School of Architecture and Planning (Costa Rica); School of Architecture (Havana) to name a few. Her publications in peer-reviewed journals range from sustainable cities to health and wellbeing, presenting her findings internationally through social media.

Charles Michel is conducting research as Chef-in-residence of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory, University of Oxford. His work focuses on understanding the role of the senses in modulating flavour perception. He has recently been applying the knowledge of brain and sensory research to inform creative processes and experience architecture. Creating a bridge between art and science could play a crucial role in designing healthier, more sustainable habits for the future of mankind.

Roderick Hackney is a British architect and past president of the Royal Institute of British Architects and International Union of Architects. Rod is considered the pioneer of “community architecture”. In 1974, he fought slum clearances in Macclesfield and helped local people improve their surroundings.

Fabian Pfortmüller is a serial entrepreneur and strategist based in New York City. Most recently, he co-founded the lifestyle brand Holstee that exists to encourage mindful living and the global entrepreneurs’ community Sandbox (now called: Thousand Network).

Michael Batty is Bartlett Professor of Planning at University College London where he is Chair of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA). He has worked on computer models of cities and their visualisation since the 1970s and has published several books, such as Cities and Complexity (MIT Press, 2005), which won the Alonso Prize of the Regional Science Association in 2011, and more recently The New Science of Cities (MIT Press, 2013).

Jaime Lerner is an architect and urban planner, founder of Instituto Jaime Lerner, Chairman of Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados (JLAA) and author of Urban Acupuncture (Island Press). JLAA develops projects for the public and private sectors for cities in Brazil and abroad, such as Porto Alegre, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Florianópolis, Recife, Luanda (Angola), David (Panama), Durango, Oaxaca, Mazatlán (Mexico) and Santiago de Los Caballeros (Dominican Republic). Former president of the International Union of Architects (UIA), in the 2002–2005 term, and three-time mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, Jaime led the urban revolution that made the city famous for urban planning, public transportation, environmental and social programs and urban projects. He served as Governor of Parana State twice and conducted an economic and social transformation both in the urban and rural areas. His international awards include the highest United Nations Environmental Award (1990), Child and Peace Award from UNICEF (1996), the 2001 World Technology Award for Transportation, and the 2002 Sir Robert Mathew Prize for the Improvement of Quality of Human Settlements. In 2010 Lerner was nominated among the 25 most influential thinkers in the world by Time magazine. In 2011, in recognition of his leadership, vision and contribution to the field of sustainable urban mobility, he received the Leadership in Transport Award, granted by the International Transport Forum at the OECD.

Ariadne dos Santos Daher has taught Urban Planning, Urban Design and Landscape Design at Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná since 2004. Her professional experience in urban and regional planning started at the Coordenação da Região Metropolitana de Curitiba (COMEC), the public agency responsible for the integrated planning of the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba. Currently, Ariadne is a partner at Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados, led by architect and urban planner Jaime Lerner, where she has worked since 2006. She develops projects both for the public and private sectors in cities in Brazil and abroad, which aim to improve the quality of life in the urban environment.

Dr Norris Krueger has long experience at entrepreneurship-led economic development. One of the world’s experts at how to nurture entrepreneurial thinking, especially expert entrepreneurial thinking, his work has ranged from public policy analysis to cuttingedge research to designing entrepreneurial education and training programs that have won multiple national best practice awards. He also has a wide range of consulting and high tech entrepreneurial experience.

Justin Brown is co-founder of Ideapod, a social media platform for sharing and growing your ideas. On Ideapod, you share moments of inspiration in 1000 characters or 40-second videos, and your ideas come to life with the help of our creative community. Justin is a frequent speaker and writer on the topics of business, technology and global change, drawing on his entrepreneurial experience and previous doctoral research in the international political economy. His writing appears in Forbes, Inc., and he has spoken publicly at TEDx and New York Ideas. Justin believes passionately that sharing ideas has the power to change lives and indeed the world.

Inspirational quotes

“For mankind as a whole, a possession infinitely more valuable than individual life is our genetic heritage, our link to past and future. Shaped through long aeons of evolution, our genes not only make us what we are, but hold in their minute beings the future.” Rachel Carson

“Nature never hurries: atom by atom, little by little, she achieves her work. The lesson one learns from yachting or planting is the manners of Nature; patience with the delays of wind and sun, delays of the seasons, bad weather, excess or lack of water.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Trees are Earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.” Rabindranath Tagore

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.” Theodore Roosevelt

“I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.” Mother Teresa

“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.” David Attenborough

“Environmentally friendly cars will soon cease to be an option…they will become a necessity.” Fujio Cho

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” Jane Goodall

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” Albert Einstein

“The good man is the friend of all living things.” Gandhi

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” Lao Tzu

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

Check it out: watch Tia’s talk and help share the concept of Replenish and come chat with us on Ideapod.