The seeds of the Woven City were sown in 2011, after the Great East Japan Earthquake decimated the area of a manufacturing centre and the Higashi-Fuji Plant was moved to the Tohoku area. Before the move, the plant had produced over 7m vehicles and was a “a driving force in the motorization of Japan.”
Toyota has been present in Japan for over 50 years, with manufacturing centers and corporate bases in the country creating employment and investing in community – The Toyota School programme, established in 1977 has educated over 40,000 young minds.
The plant relocation inspired the creation of Woven City, a hub of sustainability, community and mobility designed by Danish architect Bjarjk Ingels and inline with Toyota’s global sustainability promises.
Electricity for the Woven City is primarily generated by hydrogen powered fuel cells, like Toyota’s Mirai vehicle, in an effort to reduce emissions.
“Building a complete city from the ground up, even on a small scale like this, is a unique opportunity to develop future technologies, including a digital operating system for the city’s infrastructure,” says Akio Toyoda, president, Toyota Motor Corporation. “With people, buildings and vehicles all connected and communicating with each other through data and sensors, we will be able to test connected AI technology… in both the virtual and the physical realms… maximizing its potential.”
The Woven City, named for Toyota’s belief that sustainability and technology needs to be woven into the fabric of our future, has begun as home to around 300 residents but will swell to thousands.
The development of the city, despite looking firmly to the future, featured many traditional Japanese woodworking techniques and recycled wood and other materials.
Sustainable tourism for Thailand
Toyota has just partnered with Pattaya City to develop the city as an electric tourism hub, utilizing the development of sustainable energy to enhance service efficiency, reduce costs, and minimize the ecological impact of the city’s operations.
Sustainable transport lies at the center of the city’s developments, including electric buses as the city trials electric baht-busses.
The undertaking falls under criteria from the decarbonized Sustainable City Development Project, created in 2020 to promote sustainable urbanization
Following in the footsteps of the Woven City’s fuel generation, Toyota and Pattaya City aim to establish Thailand’s first hydrogen refueling station for fuel cell electric vehicles, establishing infrastructure for longevity for the development. As electric vehicles grow in popularity, the consistent question is how the infrastructure of charging stations can keep up with the demand.
The partnership aims to pave the way for sustainable tourism developing globally, encouraging profitability without costing the planet.
Ian Todd, EVP of Automated Parking at Westfalia Technologies explains the importance of automated parking tech in developing smart cities of the future
There are currently roughly 150 smart cities under way around the globe with highly ambitious environmental and livability goals. From full fibre connectivity to prioritising minimising carbon footprints, (more than 75% of global carbon emissions and energy consumptions are from cities) key decision makers must address smart city infrastructure with a realistic, community-based approach.
Proven successful IoT technologies are in demand, and a crucial piece to that interconnectivity puzzle is automated parking. Given that more than 50% of the world’s population currently inhabit urban areas and that number is expected to rise to 66% by 2050, smart city governments, privately owned housing units, and businesses need to consider parking in their overall architectural design plans. Because vehicles themselves are becoming more interconnected and powered by alternative energies like electricity, smart cities don’t and won’t mean the end of private car ownership.
Automated parking is an innovative solution in a variety of ways. Real estate developers in urban areas must find contemporary and reliable solutions to everyday issues, like parking vehicles. Property owners, developers, and architects can obtain a sensible and cost effective solution with an advanced automated parking system (APS).
Here are some ways that automated parking will impact the future smart city:
The maximisation of urban green space
Sometimes expanding the footprint of a structure is not possible, whether it be too costly or simply geographically impossible.With an intelligently designed APS that utilises vertical storage in its designs, parking can extend up or down instead of contributing to urban creep through further development of green space. APSs enhance urban green space through their ability to park twice as many vehicles in the same amount of space as a conventional garage. This ability to park more vehicles in a dramatically smaller footprint contributes to the smart city overall goals. Considering that there are roughly four parking spots for every car in the US, consolidating those spaces, whether they are mixed-use, residential, or commercial, is essential to enhancing urban green space.
EV Charging: A must have for sustainable smart cities
Electric vehicles (EV) are the future of transportation. With major steps being taken to walk away from fossil fuels and turn reliance on clean, carbon neutral energy, parking infrastructure must include EV charging. The only difference in parking an EV in an APS versus a non-EV is that when the driver pulls into the transfer area, they need to plug the EV adapter into their vehicle and answer a few additional questions on the kiosk screen—such as estimated time of retrieval and desired charge percentage. After the vehicle is parked, the driver can monitor the charging status of their vehicle in real-time via a smartphone app. An expertly designed APS is able to charge more vehicles with less charging infrastructure thanks to the nature of cycling vehicles to be charged via automation. Offering EV charging stations is an absolute must for the future built environment of smart city infrastructure.
Reliable and consistent technology
APSs are at the forefront of integrated IoT smart cities. With the ability to integrate with other IoT systems like payment stations, automated parking is a vital piece of the smart city puzzle. For example, drivers are able to schedule the retrieval of their vehicles with a real-time countdown display on their smartphone of when their vehicle will be ready in the transfer cabin.
An expert APS partner will highly emphasise the importance of reliability and redundancy of their systems and you should look for a vendor with availability ratings greater than 99%. Additionally, the right APS partner will test their equipment and develop software solutions all in-house, providing total control and understanding of the system.
Environmental sustainability
In addition to requiring a smaller footprint, APSs are a truly sustainable parking option. In densely populated areas, both noise and air pollution are serious concerns, both of which can be addressed by an APS. In fact, emissions are decreased by 80% with an APS compared to a conventional garage thanks to the elimination of cruising for a parking space.
Conventional parking garages are one of the most likely settings for violent crime to occur. By completely eliminating public access to the garage, not only are vehicles protected from vandalism and burglaries, people are protected as well. Given that 20% of car accidents occur in parking garages annally, automated parking eliminates the issue. APSs provide positive impacts on surrounding communities through its environmental benefits and elimination of parking crime and accidents.
The future of IoT connected smart city infrastructure requires robust and reliable parking. A customised APS offers a plethora of benefits to the urban environment, all while contributing to carbon neutral goals. With the trends of increasing urban populations and the consistent reliability of privately owned vehicles, automated parking is a must-have for the smart city.
Home to 171 nationalities, the historic city of Leuven in Belgium has become one of Europe’s most climate-conscious destinations.
Winner of the European Capital of Innovation Award in 2020, the mayor’s office has been investing the €1 million prize money wisely, as it strives to make Leuven carbon neutral by 2050.
“We believe that Leuven is ready to take up an important role and become one of the most green and caring cities of Europe,” says the city’s Mayor Mohamed Ridouani.
We believe that Leuven is ready to take up an important role and become one of the most green and caring cities of Europe. – Mayor of Leuven
So how does this small Belgian city – most famous as the birthplace of Stella Artois – plan to do this?
Leuven 2030: A roadmap to carbon neutrality
Launched in 2013, Leuven2030 is an ambitious roadmap to help the town meet its climate goals.
The movement, which was formed with just 60 founding members, including the historic university – KU Leuven – and the City of Leuven, now has 600 members signed up to its climate pledges.
These include local businesses, civic bodies, citizen scientists and charities, all committed to making the city greener and cleaner for future generations.
The groot begjinhof, LeuvenCanva
“When we were founded, there was a debate about whether we should be Leuven 2030 or Leuven 2050, but we have a very important intermediate milestone, so it matters whether you go slowly towards climate neutrality or fast,” explains Katrien Rycken, Director of Leuven2030.
We want to be in the fast lane and I think we are getting there more and more. We hope to become carbon neutral way before 2050. We’re not a follower city, we’re a frontrunner city. – Katrien Rycken, Director of Leuven2030
“We want to be in the fast lane and I think we are getting there more and more. We hope to become carbon neutral way before 2050. We’re not a follower city, we’re a frontrunner city.”
In order to hit their targets, there’s a 12 step plan in place, with schemes ranging from retrofitting 1,000 homes a year, to investing in solar power and depaving vast swathes of concrete.
Global events are accelerating the retrofitting scheme too, says Ridouani. “People, I think, are more sensitive to this [retrofitting] because of the energy crisis. There’s an openness to see what people can do because they think ‘okay if the city and the government can help me to make this investment, that means that my energy bill will go down.’”
To ensure no one is left behind in the push for more efficient homes, poverty organisations and social housing companies also sit on the board of Leuven2030, guaranteeing everyone has equal access to resources.
How the pandemic has pushed Leuven’s green policies forward
Elected in 2019, Ridouani’s premiership could have been overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But far from being a stumbling block, in many ways the global crisis has further accelerated Leuven’s green ambitions.
A cyclist rides in a cycle laneCanva
Covid pushed us to implement a couple of our policies faster, actually. We had in mind to make the entire city centre a bicycle zone, meaning that if you ride a bicycle, a car should always stay behind you. – Mohamed Ridouani, Mayor of Leuven
“It pushed us to implement a couple of our policies faster, actually. We had in mind to make the entire city centre a bicycle zone, meaning that if you ride a bicycle, a car should always stay behind you,” he says.
“We thought, this should be prepared very well, step-by-step, we will need to have a lot of debate, but in fact, because of covid we implemented it overnight.”
And luckily for Ridouani and his team, there was no backlash. “People just accepted it, because there was already that use of public space. So this is one of those examples where a crisis can be a moment where you rethink things and actually push through policies much faster.”
Leuven’s green aspirations have kept the awards flowing it too. The city has been named one of Europe’s best destinations for 2022 by the European Best Destinations (EBD) and EDEN Network.
The EBD dubbed Leuven a ‘Belgian miracle’ and went on to name it the most ‘open-minded destination in Europe’ – ahead of the usual frontrunners Amsterdam and London. While this is partly thanks to the 51,000 students that call Leuven home during their university years, the city also has a history of nurturing original thinkers.
Thomas More’s Utopia had its first print run here back in 1516, while his Humanist peer Erasmus was a professor at the university. Founded in 1425, the institution has been an innovative catalyst in the city ever since.
Leuven is a cycling paradise
Perhaps Leuven’s most successful – and noticeable – green policy though is its car reduction scheme.
As a result, Leuven is a cycler’s paradise. In fact, the metropole is the only city in Belgium where cycling is actually the preferred mode of transit, with public transport coming in second and cars in third.
In order to achieve such a striking statistic, the city implemented a radical mobility plan, as Ridouani explains.
“There was a time when you could cross everywhere with your car and park almost everywhere. So the city hall, the church, the great market. The church was a roundabout and you could park just in front of the city hall and the walls were all black because of the emissions,” he says.
“So over the years we’ve pushed that back and five years ago there was a new mobility plan, a circulation plan which was implemented where in fact we divided the city into pieces like a cake and you cannot go from one piece to another.”
In the four years following its implementation, cycling increased by an astounding 40 per cent. The mayor’s office is now aiming to reduce use by a further 20 per cent and introduce a 30 km speed limit on smaller roads too.
As a result of the mobility plan, the town centre lacks the constant hum of traffic that plagues most cities in Europe, replaced by the tinkle of bicycle bells and the gentle chatter of its diverse student population.
We captured beautiful and very striking stories of children, who, thanks to the circulation plan, were allowed by their parents to go on their own by bike to school. – Katrien Rycken, Director of Leuven2030
“We captured beautiful and very striking stories of children, for example, who thanks to the circulation plan, were allowed by their parents to go on their own by bike to school,” says Rycken.
If you don’t fancy travelling on two wheels, thanks to the lack of cars, walking is also easy here, with most amenities no more than a 15-20 minute stroll away.
The wider region also boasts four cycling loops, taking you out of the centre and into the Flemish Brabant. If you must drive though, there are still ways to do it while maintaining your eco-credentials, as Leuven is the number one car sharing city in Belgium too.
How else is the city going green?
In order to reach its climate targets, Leuven is also investing in solar power and the reuse of raw materials – including concrete.
Leuven2030 is not just blindly imposing policies though, as Rycken explains, all of their work is the result of multi-layered analysis.
“Together with the university we are measuring the heat island effect of the warmer summers due to climate disruption,” she explains.
“We’re joining the layer of the heat island measurements with the layer of where there are green areas in the city already, and then a final layer of where vulnerable inhabitants are,” she says.
“Where are our elderly homes, where are our creches, where are those inhabitants that are more vulnerable to heat.”
This layering method ensures that their policies are precisely targeted, and helps the project reach those most in need of help.
Beyond infrastructure and climate science, the people of Leuven are investing in their green futures too. At Park Abbey, a 13th century heritage site on the edge of the city, a new urban farm is giving locals the chance to invest.
“There you have one example of community supported agriculture,” says Rycken.
“You can buy a share as a citizen and then you go there and get your own vegetables and sustainable meat and milk. It’s a very beautiful example, we have several of them around Leuven.”
Encouraging sustainable, healthy eating and expanding participation in local agriculture is one of the 12 pillars of Leuven2030 and just another example of how this unique city is shaping itself.
“There’s a lot of culture, a lot of heritage and I also believe a lot of future,” says Ridouani, “it’s a really forward-leaning city.”
An all-new eco smart city is now coming up in Singapore. Also known as a forest town, this new place is going to be nature’s true haven. The new city is aimed at improving the health and well-being of residents, paving the way for a better future.
The eco-city is going to be car-free, and its construction is taking place in Tengah, in the West Region. It is going to have five residential districts with 42000 homes, and help to reduce carbon emissions in the city. The forest town, as it is being often referred to used to be a military hub, with brick making factories all around. All that’s going to change when the new smart city is going to be built. In its new avatar, the forest town is going to be an example of good and clean living.
The car-free smart city is going to have safe zones for pedestrians, and also for cycling. The forest town without cars is going to be free from traffic, and as you can imagine, much of the day-time traffic stress is not going to be there. It is a sure way to develop wellness for the citizens, while keeping sustainability in mind.
Source: CNN
The five districts of Tengah are going to be Park, Garden, Forest Hill, Plantation, and Brickland. Even though the city is car-free, residents from here will be able to travel in buses in order to go into town. Tengah will also be connected with a water catchment area, and a nature reserve. Surely, it is going to be a one-of-a-kind place where you can breathe easy, and experience wellness like never before.
Of the 42,000 homes being built at Tengah, more than 70% will be made available through the HDB on long-term leases. Prices for two-bedroom apartments currently begin at just 108,000 Singapore dollars ($82,000), with the first apartments set to complete in 2023.
Source: Courtesy The Housing & Development Board
All residents will have access to an app allowing them to monitor their energy and water usage. (“You empower them to take control of where they can cut down their energy consumption,” Chong said.) Digital displays in each block will meanwhile inform occupants of their collective environmental impact, which could even encourage competition between residential blocks, according to SP Group.
Regardless of whether the use of smart technology can significantly dent greenhouse gas emissions or not, engaging residents with their own consumption could instigate behavioral change, according to Perrine Hamel, an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University’s Asian School of the Environment. This, she added, is a crucial part of Singapore’s goal of reaching peak emissions by 2030 and reducing them thereafter.
“Thinking about food consumption and thinking about the way people use air conditioning is all part of (achieving climate targets),” she said. “Changing behavior is going to be an integral part of it and, of course, urban design is the first way to affect and change behavior.”
Beyond promoting and protecting biodiversity, conserving nature on the site can lead to further behavioral change, Hamel said.
In a country where over 80% of residents live in public housing, a government commitment to sustainable urban design could have huge implications. And when it’s a tropical country where convenience and air conditioning are a way of life, the impact could be greater still.
Promising 42,000 new homes across five residential districts, the eco-town of Tengah — the Malay word for “middle,” though it’s in the island’s western region — will be the 24th new settlement built by Singapore’s government since World War II. It is, however, the first with centralized cooling, automated trash collection and a car-free town center, which conservationists hope offers a roadmap for slashing carbon emissions in the Southeast Asian city-state.
The development is being dubbed a “forest town” by officials, due to its abundant greenery and public gardens. Once home to brickmaking factories, and later used for military training, the 700-hectare (2.7-square-mile) site has been reclaimed by an extensive secondary forest in recent years. A 328-foot-wide ecological “corridor” will be maintained through its center, providing safe passage to wildlife and connecting a water catchment area on one side to a nature reserve on the other.
Planners say the town has been designed with pedestrians and cyclists in mind. Credit: Courtesy The Housing & Development Board
The project has proven a tabula rasa for urban planners advocating green design principles and “smart” technology, according to Chong Fook Loong, group director for research and planning at Singapore’s Housing and Development Board (HDB), the agency overseeing the country’s public housing.
“Tengah is a clean slate,” he said in a video interview, explaining that roads, parking and utilities are being pushed beneath the town center. “We’re going for the ideal concept of segregation of traffic, (with) everything underground and then the ground level totally freed up for pedestrians — for people. So, it’s a very safe environment for all.
“We want a town that allows walking and cycling in a very user-friendly manner,” he added, saying that cycling has “taken off” in Singapore in the “last three to five years especially.”
The master plan will see the installation of electric vehicle charging stations, while the streets are also being “futureproofed” to accommodate emerging technologies, Chong said.
“When we planned the road network, we envisaged a future where autonomous vehicles and self-driving vehicles will become a reality,” he said.
Cooler by design
Although comparatively small, with a population of under 6 million people, Singapore’s per-capita emissions are higher than those of the UK, China, and neighboring Malaysia, according to the country’s National Climate Change Secretariat.
That’s due, in part, to air conditioning, which accounts for more than a third of typical household energy consumption. Global warming will only exacerbate this dependence. The Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) has predicted that, by the end of this century, average daily temperatures in the city-state may be at least 34.1 degrees Celsius (93.4 degrees Fahrenheit) “almost every day” during the eight warmest months of the year.
An artist’s impression of the 2.7-square-mile site. Credit: Courtesy The Housing & Development Board
As such, keeping cool will, increasingly, be a necessity for residents. Rather than demonizing air conditioning, Tengah’s planners have instead sought to reimagine it. Cold water, chilled using solar power, will be piped though the district’s homes, meaning residents don’t need to install inefficient outdoor AC condensers (though they can still control the temperature in their own apartments).
According to the town’s energy provider, SP Group, this will generate carbon dioxide savings equivalent to taking 4,500 cars off the roads each year. The state-owned energy company reports that, of the apartments already sold in advance, 9 out of 10 future residents have signed up for centralized cooling.
Planners used computer modeling to simulate wind flow and heat gain across the town, helping to reduce the so-called urban heat island effect (whereby human activities and structures make urban areas notably warmer than the surrounding nature). Elsewhere, “smart” lights will switch off when public spaces are unoccupied, and trash will be stored centrally, with monitors detecting when garbage needs collecting.
“Instead of using a truck to collect garbage from every block, we will suck all the garbage through the pneumatic system to a chamber that serves several blocks,” Chong said. “From time to time, the (garbage) truck just needs to collect from the chamber.”
One of the town’s five residential districts, known as the Plantation District, will offer community farming. Credit: Courtesy The Housing & Development Board
Of the 42,000 homes being built at Tengah, more than 70% will be made available through the HDB on long-term leases. Prices for two-bedroom apartments currently begin at just 108,000 Singapore dollars ($82,000), with the first apartments set to complete in 2023.
All residents will have access to an app allowing them to monitor their energy and water usage. (“You empower them to take control of where they can cut down their energy consumption,” Chong said.) Digital displays in each block will meanwhile inform occupants of their collective environmental impact, which could even encourage competition between residential blocks, according to SP Group.
Regardless of whether the use of smart technology can significantly dent greenhouse gas emissions or not, engaging residents with their own consumption could instigate behavioral change, according to Perrine Hamel, an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University’s Asian School of the Environment. This, she added, is a crucial part of Singapore’s goal of reaching peak emissions by 2030 and reducing them thereafter.
“Thinking about food consumption and thinking about the way people use air conditioning is all part of (achieving climate targets),” she said. “Changing behavior is going to be an integral part of it and, of course, urban design is the first way to affect and change behavior.”
Dubbing the project a “forest town,” planners aim to retain some of the site’s natural greenery. Credit: Courtesy The Housing & Development Board
Connecting with nature
For Hamel, the integration of nature and residential areas — which creates “more opportunities for people to interact with nature” — is where Tengah’s plan excels. In addition to the aforementioned forest corridor, the town’s residents will have access to community farming in the so-called Plantation District.
Beyond promoting and protecting biodiversity, conserving nature on the site can lead to further behavioral change, Hamel said.
“There are a lot of examples, from around the world, showing that changing our relationship with nature through everyday encounters does help people take environmental action,” she said. “On that front I think the biophilic design and (Tengah’s) master plan actually does a good job.”.
The Nature Society Singapore (NSS) has nonetheless criticized the plan for conserving too little — less than 10% — of the site’s existing forest. The environmental group has proposed two additional “core forest areas” at either end of the green corridor to promote biodiversity and protect migratory species.
The government said it is “refining” its plan based the NSS report, though Singapore’s Land Transport Authority has since disclosed that even more of the remaining forest — about 3% of the proposed corridor — will be felled to make way for viaducts connecting the town to a nearby expressway.
(In an email to CNN, the agency said it will later replant the trees in the cleared area and create “suitable temporary wildlife crossings … to provide a safe passage for animals during construction.”)
Yet, even Tengah’s critics have broadly welcomed the eco-town, with the NSS concluding its environmental critique by stating it is still “heartened by this bold plan.”
What these urban design initiatives mean for the rest of Singapore remains to be seen. When Tengah was first revealed in 2016, it was the first new town announced by Singapore’s government in two decades, meaning every other neighborhood was designed long before the era of autonomous vehicles and internet-enabled amenities. Chong readily admitted that “it’s not so easy” to retrofit underground road networks and pneumatic trash chutes in existing towns.
Nevertheless, he struck a positive note when asked what Tengah’s model offers future residential projects.
“We try to bring all the lessons forward — whenever we can and to the best of our ability,” he said. “You look at Tengah and, in a nutshell, you’re seeing the future of what the (government) is trying to build: the future of towns.”
