Design to prioritise well-being and sustainability

Notes from a talk given at the Roca Gallery, Barcelona on 10th December 2024, organised by Noumena

In this urban century, cities face unprecedented challenges. How can we design to prioritise well-being and sustainability? This was the question at the heart of yesterday’s Urban Futures discussion in Barcelona.

In thinking about the future we need to address the great global challenges that define our age:

First, the challenge of climate change. Indeed the emergency of carbon reduction. This is obviously an environmental challenge but equally it is a challenge that threatens our economies and therefore our societies.

Second, the public health challenges of obesity and loneliness. The former a physical health challenge and the latter a mental health challenge. Of course they’re interconnected: one begets the other. And they’re exacerbated by car-dependence.

Third, the socio-cultural, indeed existential challenge of shelter. The number of displaced people in the world is higher than it has ever been. The UN calculate that we need to build 96,000 homes a day to eliminate this indignity.

These challenges are unprecedented and cities must play a central role in addressing them.

But how? Iconic architecture is not the answer. It is a distraction. What cities need is not architects and engineers who can design buildings that are 2km tall but great streets that are 2km or even 20km long. Rethinking urban mobility is possibly the most difficult design challenge of the day.

So, in rethinking cities, where do you begin? Here are some ideas…

First, let’s talk about the word ‘city’. It’s one of the most precious words in the dictionary. I think the proof of this is that the most questionable of car-dependent, carboniferous, obesogenic gated communities is usually described by its proponents as a ‘city’. In other words, people aspire to be a city.

Because cities are the greatest invention of the human species. They are the highest concentrations of social interaction and innovation.

And when it comes to a discussion about how to design cities, we need to recognise that there are good cities and bad ones. The good, walkable and public transportable ones contribute way below average to greenhouse gas emissions and the bad, slicing-highways ones contribute way above.

Good cities are not only walkable. They’re more than that. They’re the most powerful computers on Earth. They are problem-solving machines, bringing people together to meet, discuss, invent and solve.

Growth: such a clumsy word. Often interpreted as footprint growth, which typically generates sprawl. Or height growth (mine’s bigger than yours).

Social interchange: that’s what it’s all about. From interactions flow discussions that lead to ideas that generate innovations that enrich cultures and drive economies. And the key design objects that enable the city of interchange are the bench, the street cafe and the pedestrian crossing.

So, if technology is the answer (Cedric Price) the questions are probably somewhere in the issues above.

With thanks to Noumena & Roca Barcelona Gallery