Integrated governance of the urban subsurface - a systems-based approach

The ground our cities are built on has always been a constitutive part of urban life, but is only in recent decades starting to become recognised by built environment professionals and academics as an area that might require more intentional governance. While the task of doing so is usually assigned to the realm of urban planning, a major body of literature engaging with this stems from the engineering discipline. This thesis draws on systems thinking and uses London as a case study to bridge these two disciplines and confront currently engineering-centred ideas of urban underground governance. Applying a mixed methods strategy, the thesis presents a review of planning legislation, affirming the central position of engineers and Local Planning Authorities in the current governance arrangement around London’s subsurface. Overarching theoretical and strategic suggestions are drawn from a thematic analysis of interviews with tunnelling and planning professionals, designed to provide insights into discipline specific perceptions of the urban underground, with additional insights provided by a questionnaire with a broader group of practitioners. The research shows that the spatio-material context of the ground is underrecognised when specific functions are managed within it and that despite growing engagement in the field, governance of the subsurface remains fragmented across sectors as well as temporal scales. The findings indicate that (a) an integrated data format and repository and (b) an integrated evaluation of priority for interventions in the subsurface could serve as enabling mechanisms towards a more holistic understanding of subsurface value that extends beyond purely financial assessments, and moves towards more integrated overall strategies. Reflection on ownership models, specific local contexts, early citizen engagement, and consideration of pathways are shown to be key elements of a potentially broader conversation about the role of the subsurface in cities like London today and in the future

First steps in the development of standardised processes for life cycle assessments of geotechnical works

publishedVersio

Cost and carbon implications of different foundation solutions - Desk study of foundation design for a bridge and a building in Norway

The choice of method and materials for pile foundations in Norway often builds on the experience of the involved parties and a preference of solutions with fewer, high-capacity piles compared to more, low-capacity piles. In many cases the foundations do not get optimized with regard to resource use and cost. Timber piles, which had a long tradition in the country, are now rarely used. In urban environments, where marine clays are the dominant geological surface formation, shallow building foundations on stabilized ground could be considered. Yet, piled solutions to bedrock are usually chosen due to the concerns related to settlements induced by other building projects. To investigate whether the current practice could be improved, a desk study was conducted comparing cost and carbon emissions for four different foundation solutions for a bridge foundation in sand (steel pipe piles, HP steel pile, prefabricated concrete piles and timber/concrete combination piles). For a typical building project in Norway, a direct foundation on stabilized clay was compared to the usually chosen piles to bedrock solution. It is discussed what alternatives might be feasible with respect to practicality, robustness, costs, sustainability and environmental issues. In particular, the acceptable movements in the overlying structure will determine the feasibility of more environmentally friendly solutions

Evaluating nature-based solutions for water management in peri-urban areas

The term nature-based solutions (NBS) has gained traction in recent years and has been applied in many settings. There are few comprehensive assessment frameworks available that can guide NBS planning and implementation while at the same time capturing the short- and long-term impacts and benefits of the NBS. Here a recently presented framework, which builds on the theory of change and was developed to assess NBS at different phases of the project cycle, was applied to seven diverse case studies. The case studies addressed water quality and quantity issues in peri-urban areas across the global north and south. Framework indicators covering the sustainability dimensions (environmental, social and economic) were assessed at three stages of the framework: context, process and results. The work sought to investigate the following research objectives: (1) Can this framework be robust and yet flexible enough to be applied across a diverse selection of NBS projects that are at different phases of the project cycle and address different kinds of water challenges within varied ecological, social and economic contexts? (2) Is it possible to draw generalisations from a comparative analysis of the application of the framework to the case studies? Results showed that the framework was able to be applied to the case studies; however, their diversity showed that NBS projects designed in one context, for a specific purpose in a specific location, can not necessarily be transferred easily to another location. There were several process-based indicators that were universally significant for the case studies, including expertise, skills and knowledge of the involved actors, roles and responsibilities of involved actors and political support. The result-based indicators were case study-specific when environmental indicators were case study-specific, and important social indicators were environmental identity and recreational values. Overall, the use of the framework benefits the recognition of the implementation’s advances, such as the change in context, the processes in place and the results obtained.The authors would like to thank the European Commission and the Research Council of Norway (RCN-project number 300560), Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS-project number 2018-02777), the Water Research Commission (WRC) in South Africa (Project: 2019/2020-00034) and Spain Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIU/AEI/FEDER) (PCI2019- 103674,2019), for funding the research in the frame of the collaborative international consortium NATWIP financed under the 2018 Joint Call of theWaterWorks2017 ERA-NET Cofund. This ERA-NET is an integral part of the activities developed by the Water JPI. We also acknowledge the International Institute for Sustainability for providing an in-kind contribution to this research. We also acknowledge that AEL received a grant from the Newton Advanced Fellowship (NAF/R2/18676), CAPES (001), CNPQ (308536/2018-5), FAPERJ (E-26/202.680/2018).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Environmental impact assessments of geotechnical works

One of the major contributors to global carbon emissions is the construction sector. Using world environmental input-output tables from 2009, the total CO2-emissions from the global construction sector was calculated to account for 23% to total emissions, of which 94% were related to indirect emissions (Huang et al., 2018). Direct carbon emissions are emissions at the construction site and are related to burning of gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum products, while indirect carbon emissions are related to emissions caused by raw material extraction and manufacturing of materials. Work package 4 (WP4) of the project Under Oslo focused on quantifying the environmental impact of geotechnical works using life cycle assessment (LCA). There is currently a lack of standardization of when calculating environmental impacts from geotechnical works using LCAs, and for reporting of results from impact calculation (e.g., Kendall et al. (2018), Samuelsson et al. (2021)). This report provides an overview of the work carried out in the work package 4 (WP4) of the project Under Oslo with the focus on "environmental impact assessments". A summary and discussion of different documents prepared in this work package is given, after which future research is suggested.Norges forskningsrå

From urban underground space (UUS) to sustainable underground urbanism (SUU): Shifting the focus in urban underground scholarship

publishedVersio

From urban underground space (UUS) to sustainable underground urbanism (SUU): Shifting the focus in urban underground scholarship

publishedVersio