19 April 2024 1:26 pm

How the Design Industry Is Navigating the Sustainability Surge 

Apr 17, 2024

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would be the ultimate demonstration of How the Design Industry Is Navigating the Sustainability Surge .

The image above is for illustration – credit LinkedIn 

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How the Design Industry Is Navigating the Sustainability Surge 

Discover new ThinkLab research that suggests sustainable design is hitting its stride.

By: Erica Waayenberg

16 April 2024

 

 

 

More than ever, clients seek designs that prioritize health and sustainability. This growing demand is not just a trend; it’s a paradigm shift that reflects broader societal awareness of how our surroundings affect our well-being and the planet. A recent study by McKinsey & Company and NielsenIQ highlights this shift, revealing that 78 percent of U.S. consumers say that a sustainable lifestyle is important to them.

While sustainability has gradually risen in importance over the past decade, ThinkLab’s research into five specifier personas for the design industry and the ThinkLab U.S. Design Industry Benchmark Report for 2024 also suggests sustainable design is gaining momentum:

• 84 percent of contract architects and designers see the demand for healthy spaces and sustainable products significantly increasing in the next two years.

• The “sustainability-first specifier persona” has doubled since 2022.

• 17 percent of architects and designers say sustainability is a top three deciding factor for product selections, up from 8 percent in 2020.

How the Design Industry Is Navigating the Sustainability Surge 

Benefits of Designing for Holistic Well-Being

Holistic well-being encompasses four perspectives: physical, psychological, behavioral, and intellectual. In the context of architecture and design, this means creating spaces that address all aspects of the self (physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual) and recognizing their interconnectedness and the impact of the built environment on each of these elements.

A recent study conducted by the McKinsey Health Institute, spanning 30 nations and surveying 30,000 workers, highlights the crucial link between employee job satisfaction and performance, and overall well-being. The research underscores the need for companies to rethink work environments and create spaces that foster the holistic health of their workforce.

To that end, architectural and design firms are increasingly incorporating elements to address mental well-being, such as meditation spaces and quiet zones, mothers’ and wellness rooms, biophilic design, water features, access to outdoor spaces, and ample opportunities for movement from gyms to yoga studios and corridors that double as walking tracks.

Architecture and Design’s Powerful Influence 

In the built environment, the adoption of sustainable product selection practices is widespread, and with more than 40 times greater purchasing power than the average consumer (as shown by ThinkLab’s Benchmark Report), the architectural and design community has tremendous influence on the demand for ecofriendly building products. And while a smaller portion of the overall design community, the number of “sustainability-first specifiers” has doubled in the past two years, and more broadly, more specifiers consider sustainability a top product selection criterion (17 percent, up from 8 percent in 2020).

Designers are navigating this landscape with innovative materials, energy-efficient systems, and a commitment to reducing the carbon footprint of their projects. The mutual benefit and connected nature of sustainable and human-centered design support an integrated, holistic approach.

Catalysts for Positive Change

As the threads of health, wellness, and sustainability weave together, the tapestry of the future of design unfolds. While the design considerations are many, addressing physical, mental, and environmental health, the industry is up to the challenge, shaping environments that contribute to the well-being of both people and the planet.

Erica Waayenberg, LEED AP, is head of research and content at ThinkLab, the research division of SANDOW. At ThinkLab we combine SANDOW Media’s incredible reach in the architecture and design community through brands like METROPOLIS with proven market research techniques to uncover relevant trends and opportunities for the design industry. View the ThinkLab U.S. Design Industry Benchmark Report for 2024 and ThinkLab’s 5 Specifier Personas for the Interior Design Industry research at thinklab. design, and join in to explore what’s next at thinklab. design/join-in.

Would you like to comment on this article? Send your thoughts to: comments@metropolismag.com

Pioneering The Future Of Smart Cities With AI And Generative AI

Apr 12, 2024

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Forbes LEADERSHIP published Pioneering The Future Of Smart Cities With AI And Generative AI through the foreseeable availability of all AI technology. It would have been a good piece of insight if the level of uncertainty was minimised. Let us see what it’s all about.
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The image above is about the Telecommunication network above city, wireless mobile internet technology for smart grid or 5G LTE data connection, concept of IoT, global business, fintech, blockchain  GETTY
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Pioneering The Future Of Smart Cities With AI And Generative AI

By John Lockhart, Brand Contributor

Dell Technologies BRANDVOICE| Paid Program

 

 

 

AI enables real-time insights by analyzing vast data, transforming smart cities with edge-acquired intelligence.

The future of our world is urban. By 2050, more than two-thirds of the world’s population will reside in cities1. This significant demographic shift presents both a challenge and an opportunity to develop smarter and more efficient community-oriented cities. To address this challenge, stakeholders are increasingly turning to cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to revolutionize how cities are designed, built and managed to better serve their ever-increasing populations.

The role of AI and GenAI in shaping smart cities

As intelligent communities with highly connected technology centers become the standard for the future of urban living, data analysis and actionable insights are strategically vital to elevating the standard of living, improving operational efficiency and enhancing city-wide sustainability. At the center of this transformation are AI and GenAI, which are revolutionizing public services, urban mobility, city planning, disaster management and sustainable practices. This transformation leads to a more livable and efficient urban environment that can address citizen needs effectively within the current resource framework, reducing operational costs without replacing human jobs.

These advanced technologies create a cohesive framework of connected systems that not only cater to current needs but are also adaptive to meet future challenges, ensuring a citizen-focused urban future. Continuing to explore and enhance AI and GenAI is vital to establishing smart cities as a global benchmark for urban living and sustainability.

Public services and safety: A new paradigm

AI and GenAI are revolutionizing public services by enabling interactive services, improving multilingual communication for diverse populations and enhancing health services through outbreak awareness and resource allocation. In the public safety sphere, these technologies use predictive analytics for crime prevention and more efficient fire detection and response systems, significantly improving the efficacy and responsiveness of emergency services.

Urban mobility: The veins of the smart city

Traffic congestion plagues cities. In 2022, the average American driver lost 51 hours due to traffic2. Beyond being an ineffective use of time, traffic significantly affects air quality and public health. AI-powered adaptive traffic management can dynamically adjust signal timings based on real-time traffic patterns, incidents and weather conditions, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving emergency response times. These systems embody the principles of sustainability that are crucial to the smart city vision.

Master planning and infrastructure development

Urban expansion requires infrastructure that keeps up with the pace of change. AI supports this evolution by enabling digital twin modeling and simulation, helping city planners make informed decisions about infrastructure development. This technology optimizes critical infrastructure placement, from fiber networks to public amenities, adapting to meet the community’s immediate and long-term needs.

Sustainable development: A cornerstone of smart cities

Sustainability is a core tenet of the smart city framework, where new technology is integral to managing and reclaiming resources. AI and GenAI enable smarter energy use, improved air and water quality monitoring and more efficient waste management. Cities will also be able to better forecast energy needs, optimize resource allocation and improve their carbon footprint, a crucial endeavor as cities account for 75% of carbon emissions despite only occupying 3% of the earth3.

Smart cities require scalability and efficiency

To effectively navigate the complexities of smart city technologies, an integrated approach is required to scale and maintain efficiencies achieved through innovative developments. Dell NativeEdge securely simplifies the deployment and management of devices at the edge, providing a unified platform that brings together the various strands of smart city operations. This single-pane-of-glass experience is crucial for city administrators who need to efficiently orchestrate a myriad of interconnected technologies. By leveraging NativeEdge, cities can ensure their smart infrastructures are not only more manageable and secure, but also primed for future expansion.

The path forward

AI and GenAI will play a critical role in the evolution and future of smart cities. These innovative technologies are key to transforming urban spaces so they become more than just places to live; they can be designed to improve livability. Integrating AI with urban development sets the stage for smarter, more sustainable cities, improving the services and functional provisions to communities, infrastructures and citizens.

To learn more about how Dell Technologies is powering the future of smart cities, check out our white paper: Dell Digital Cities: Artificial Intelligence and Gen AI in Smart Cities, or visit our Edge Resource Library.

1UN Habitat, World Cities Report, 2022.

2INRIX, 2022 Global Traffic Scorecard, 2022.

3UN, Sustainable Development Goals, accessed 2024.

John Lockhart

John Lockhart is a Product Manager within the Edge Solutions Global Digital Cities group at Dell Technologies.

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Oman’s vision for Muscat’s rejuvenation

Apr 10, 2024

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Oman’s vision for Muscat’s rejuvenation by FDI Intelligence is an eye-opener and a good interpretation of an atypical urban development . 

A ‘paradigm shift’ mixed-use development is key to the country’s diversification agenda

Above image is for illustration and is credit to iStock

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Oman’s vision for Muscat’s rejuvenation

By Alex Irwin-Hunt
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Oman plans to transform a vast brownfield site in its capital Muscat into a new mixed-use waterfront development as the country aims to promote tourism, attract multinationals and diversify its economy away from fossil fuels.The Al Khuwair Downtown and Waterfront development project, which was officially launched in February 2024, is a major part of a plan to reinvent the urban fabric of Oman’s capital city. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the 3.3 million sq m project envisions the transformation of an administrative and industrial area close to the city’s airport into a new district.With an estimated cost of $1.3bn, the masterplan includes a marina dotted with a cultural centre, offices, residential, hotels and luxury retail developments. A new metro line will also be built to connect Al Khuwair with other parts of Muscat.“This creates a paradigm shift in the urban scenery of Muscat,” says Khalfan Al Shueili, who was appointed Oman’s minister of housing and urban planning in August 2020. As a “pivotal” part of the greater Muscat plan, the redevelopment is seen as a way to create a vibrant downtown in Oman’s rapidly expanding capital. Muscat’s population is forecast to almost double from 1.5 million today to 2.7 million in 2040.“For some time we have had our own way of building cities, but this [development] is trying to produce world-class, modern infrastructure [by the] waterfront,” says Mr Al Shueili. The mixed-use development project is “already at the heart of the city,” he says, and argues that it will produce a “ripple effect” for prospective foreign investors and the wider economy. In the first phase of the project, almost 500,000 sq m of office space will be built as a means to attract multinationals seeking a foothold in Oman.

“We aim to bring in a good consortium of investors who are very serious that aim to build long-term partnerships for Oman,” says Mr Al Shueili, who notes the aim is to attract investors, developers, contractors and manufacturers of components used in real estate development. “It will help us connect all of these dots and make [Al Khuwair] a success story.”

Vision 2040

Al Khuwair is one part of Oman Vision 2040, a nationwide initiative launched officially in July 2021, aimed at diversifying the oil-dependent economy. A pipeline of construction projects worth a total of $33bn have already been announced, including Sultan Haitham City, a sweeping project on Muscat’s outskirts which includes 20,000 new homes.

“Driving this Vision 2040 forward is not going to be an easy programme for us,” says Mr Al Shueli. “We have to let go of our dependence on oil and gas. We need to unlock all the potential of our country.”

Projects within Vision 2040 are ambitious enough to attract long-term strategic investors, but also “realistic in terms of size and variety”, says Mr Al Shueli. Given other Gulf countries have hugely ambitious projects, notably in Saudi Arabia, Oman’s goal is to complement these efforts and provide additional experiences to attract more tourists from abroad.

“We don’t see it really as competition. Some of the same developers in Saudi Arabia have shown interest in Oman. There is probably going to be a good value chain [of opportunity in these developments],” he says.

Tourism is a critical pillar of these efforts, with the Omani government targeting OR20bn ($51bn) of investment in the sector by 2040. More than three million tourists visited Oman in 2023, an increase of 41.2% on the previous year, according to official figures. The government aims to increase tourism’s contribution to gross domestic product from 4% today to 10% by 2040.

“Oman has a very big story in tourism. Its environment, heritage, different landscapes and the experiences that people get are not manufactured. They’re actually very authentic, genuine and accessible. Muscat is at the heart of that,” says Mr Al Shueili. A $2.4bn mountain tourism project on Jabal al Akhdar, which is situated about 95 miles from the capital, is another flagship initiative of the government to attract even more tourists.

The drive to diversify the Omani economy is nothing new. Vision 2020, the predecessor to the current road map, was announced in 1995. The Duqm Special Economic Zone, also known as Sezad, multiple other free-trade zones and industrial parks have been central to boosting manufacturing contribution to Oman’s gross domestic product.

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Staff at France’s EDF question involvement in futuristic Saudi city

Apr 9, 2024

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RFI reports that Staff at France’s EDF question involvement in a futuristic Saudi city. 

Some French energy giant EDF employees want the company to reconsider its involvement in a hydroelectric plant in the Saudi desert that would power Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s futuristic megacity Neom.

Above is an artist’s impression of Saudi Arabia’s luxury Neom project. © NEOM

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Staff at France’s EDF question involvement in futuristic Saudi city

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Some employees of French energy giant EDF want the company to reconsider its involvement in a hydro-electric plant in the Saudi desert that would power Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s futuristic megacity Neom, following concerns over the project’s sustainability and alleged human rights abuses.

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By:Alison HirdFollow

Neom is being built in the Tabuk region in northeast Saudi Arabia on some 26,000km2 of land, an area the size of Belgium.

It is part of MBS’s Vision 2030, which is aimed at diversifying Saudi Arabia‘s economy and reducing its dependence on oil revenues.

Its most dazzling part of the €500 billion project is The Line, a 170km-long vertical megacity that will house up to nine million people.

Neom will also have a ski resort to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, a luxury island on the Red Sea and an industrial complex with a floating port.

Construction on The Line – a 500m high, 200m wide, 170km long, car-free city – began in July 2023. © NEOM

The Saudis promise the car-free, street-free city will be run entirely on renewable energies resulting in zero carbon emissions.

Some 2,100 megawatts of its electricity will be produced by Nestor, a pumped hydro energy storage project (PHES) that enables the mass storage of excess energy from renewable sources.

EDF, a leader in hydro-electric technology, won the tender in January to carry out preliminary studies on Nestor’s conception and construction. If the collaboration continues it could give the renationalised EDF – saddled with a €47bn debt – a welcome boost.

Gigatonnes of emissions

But not everyone at EDF is comfortable with the deal. A recent investigation by Radio France revealed that some staff considered it was out of synch with the company’s ethical charter and commitments to promote low-carbon energy.

They said that while Nestor would provide carbon-free electricity, building Neom will be energy-guzzling.

“The construction will generate an estimated 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2,” Philip Oldfield of New South Wales University in Australia told Radio France. “That’s the equivalent of four times the UK’s annual emissions.”

In December last year, EDF reaffirmed its commitment to the climate and to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, which is needed to stay below 1.5C of warming as per the Paris Agreement. It also has its own charter on socially responsible practices.

“We understand Saudi Arabia needs to decarbonise and it’s not up to us to give them lessons, but this pharaonic project seems contrary to EDF’s values and our tradition of public service,” engineer Jean-Yves Ségura, an FO union rep with EDF’s hydro-electric energy department, told RFI.

“We’ve been involved in other PHEC operations such as Hatta in Dubai but this is different.  And who will benefit? Mainly rich people? We’re not sure it will benefit the local population.”

Trojena, Neom’s mountain destination on the edge of a huge artificial lake, will house the Asian Winter Games in 2029, © NEOM

His union began alerting management in 2022, just a few months after Neom Company chose EDF to identify sites for the plant.

At the end of 2022 FO carried out a survey among staff in the hydro-electric engineering department. “73 percent (of respondents) were against Neom, saying the project was contrary to EDF’s commitment to be socially responsible,” Ségura said.

The union put forward recommendations but “we haven’t had much response; there’s been little consultation”.

Human rights concerns

The Taduk region of Saudi Arabia, where Neom is being built is home to the Howeitat tribe. An investigation by Saudi rights group ALQST found that Saudi authorities had “violently cracked down on members of the tribe who peacefully opposed or resisted eviction”.

ALQST confirmed that at least three members of the tribe had been sentenced to death and 14 handed prison terms of between 15 to 50 years.

Questioned over the ethical issues relating to Nestor, EDF told Radio France that respect for fundamental human rights and environmental and social standards was “a precondition for each project EDF took part in” and that their ethical and ecological charter had been sent along with their bid.

As for employees’ opposition to Neom, it said: “EDF respects the opinion of all its staff and offers many other opportunities within the company to allow them to flourish through other projects”.

Ségura acknowledged that the media attention had “certainly helped to relieve pressure on staff”.

The union is now pushing for the establishment of a right to withdraw from a project for “environmental and ethical reasons”, which would apply not just to EDF employees but also to those at other big energy providers.

If it succeeds, employees could be relieved of certain projects they deem “contrary to their company’s public undertakings and the need to bring about an exemplary energy transition”, the union wrote in a statement.

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Majority believe living in a smart city would make them happier

Apr 6, 2024

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A majority believe living in a smart city would make them happier in an AI and Machine Learning article SmartCitiesWorld on how the MENA region is taking on all these oncoming technologies.

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