News
Big Saturday at The Manchester Museum
On 25th February, EcoCities researchers descended on The Manchester Museum's Big Saturday to explore what objects in The Manchester Museum can tell us about climate change - from the peppered moth's evolution in response to climate change to Maharaja the elephant's walk from Edinburgh to Manchester's Belle Vue Zoo. We ended the day with Nigel Lawson giving a 30 minute insight into how he used evidence of our past weather and climate to think about future change. There were plenty opportunities to share knowledge of weather in the past and to think about the ways to positively influence the environmental future of Manchester.
Posted 20 April 2012
EcoCities short film competition
The winner of the EcoCities short film competition is Andrew Speak, a postgraduate research student in the School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester. Congratulations!
Posted 5 December 2011
Green Infrastructure Workshop
On the 1st November 2011, Dr Aleksandra Kazmierczak organised a Green Infrastructure workshop involving researchers from the University of Manchester and the policy makers and practitioners working in Greater Manchester. The workshop provided a platform for exchange of information about the recent initiatives, policies and research projects relevant to green infrastructure in Greater Manchester. The workshop aimed to explore the possibilities for closer collaboration between the University of Manchester and the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities.
The workshop involved 32 participants from AGMA, Greater Manchester Boroughs, North West Community Forests, Environment Agency, Groundwork and four schools across the University of Manchester (Environment and Development; Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences; Social Sciences; and Faculty of Life Sciences). First, a set of presentations from the policy makers and practitioners outlined the recent green infrastructure initiatives in Greater Manchester. Then, the researchers presented the scientific evidence, which may support and guide the implementation actions. The last part of the meeting was a roundtable discussion about the future collaborative programme of high-quality research on green infrastructure in Greater Manchester, which would help to develop and evaluate the green infrastructure initiatives in the conurbation.
Presentations:
- Becca Heron, New Economy Commission: GMGI framework: an overview of green infrastructure planning at a sub-regional level (PDF, 259KB)
- Mike Savage, Red Rose Forest: Examples of GI action planning at different spatial scales throughout GM - Mike Savage, Red Rose Forest (PDF, 8,811KB)
- Matt Ellis, Environment Agency: Case-study example: Irwell River Valley, with a specific focus on the cross boundary impact of GI investment (PDF, 2,479KB)
- Jonny Sadler, Manchester City Council and Mike Savage, RRF: Case-study example: Manchester City Centre, with a specific focus on site specific requirements (PDF, 6,738KB)
- Susannah Gill (The Mersey Forest and UoM): STAR tools: Surface temperature & runoff tools for assessing the potential of green infrastructure in adapting urban areas to climate change (PDF, 1,169KB)
- Roland Ennos, Faculty of Life Sciences: Quantifying the cooling and anti-flooding benefits of green Infrastructure (PDF, 1,921KB)
- Iain White and Paul O’Hare, School of Environment and Development: Flood resilience and the SMARTeST project (PDF, 2,368KB)
- James Rothwell, School of Environment and Development: From rooftops to rivers: using green infrastructure to improve water quality (PDF, 2,199KB)
- Andy Speak, School of Environment and Development: Green roof study update (PDF, 7,186KB)
- Gordon McFiggans, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences: Impacts of plants on atmospheric particulate concentrations (External link to Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, 30.8MB)
- Prasenjit Banerjee, School of Social Sciences: Economics of green infrastructure
Posted 8 November 2011
EcoCities Guest Lecture: London, where the streets are paved with green
Alex Nickson (Strategy Manager for Climate Change Adaptation and Water, Greater London Authority)
Date: Thursday 16 June 2011.
Time: 5-6pm (followed by a wine reception, 6-7pm).
Venue: Samuel Alexander Arts Lecture Theatre, The University of Manchester.
RSVP: Friday 10 June 2011 to Darien Rozentals.
Posted 26 May 2011
EcoCities in the News: "The heat is on: Scientists predict summer temperatures could soar to 33C"
Dr Gina Cavan has been interview by the MEN for the article "The heat is on: Scientists predict summer temperatures could soar to 33C" that focuses on EcoCities' Greater Manchester's climate change projections. In this interview Dr Cavan reported that all possible scenarios pointed to hotter, drier summers and greater chances of floods:
“We used data which looked at global emissions and how they might change, but which also looked at British weather from the 1960s to the 1990s
“We have been able to generate a whole range of scenarios, and, importantly, we can say how likely each of these might be.
“All of them show that temperatures will get consistently warmer, both during the day and night. Summer rainfall will drop, while winter rainfall will increase.”
To read the full article and more EcoCities reports in the news, see our media archive.
Posted 19 May 2011
European Environment Agency workshop
Dr Aleksandra Kazmierczak took part in the European Environment Agency expert workshop "Assessing the vulnerability of Europe’s cities to climate change and adaptation options" in Copenhagen, Denmark on 13th April 2011. The EEA with the support of its Topic Centre on Climate Change Adaptation is currently conducting an assessment of the vulnerability of European cities to climate change. The experts at the workshop in Copenhagen were advising the EEA on the content and format of the final report, which is planned to be published in early 2012.Posted 3 May 2011
Blueprint Newsletter: Issue 3, March 2011
The third edition of Blueprint, the EcoCities newsletter, is now available.
Blueprint: Issue 3, March 2011 (PDF, 3.87MB)
An archive of the Blueprint newsletters is available in the document library.Posted 26 April 2011
Climate change projections for Greater Manchester
The Climate change projections for Greater Manchester report (2011) is now available in the EcoCities document library. This report summarises the climate projections information for Greater Manchester in tables, graphs, maps and descriptions. Specifically, it focuses on information for the 2050s (2040-2069) for the low and high emissions scenarios, and for three probability levels.
The methodology used in generating the climate projections for Greater Manchester (outlined in this report) are also a UKCP09 case study.Posted 17 March 2011
Risk of flooding to infrastructure in Greater Manchester
The Risk of flooding to infrastructure in Greater Manchester report (2011) is now available in the EcoCities document library. This report analyses the effect that flooding has on various types of infrasture, such as water and energy supply, communications, transport, but also emergency services (e.g. hospitals) and social infrastructure (e.g. schools).Posted 22 February 2011
Climate Proof Cities Spring School Workshop (Utrecht, The Netherlands)
10-11 March 2011
EcoCities have recently been invited to be external experts for the Climate Proof Cities research programme, based in the Netherlands. As part of EcoCities involvement, researchers will travel to Utrecht in March to share their research on climate change adaptation. EcoCities researchers will present papers on the following topics:
- Green infrastructure adaptation responses
- Impacts of heat in the urban environment, mapping vulnerability of people to heat stress
- Climate Buffer Zones – developing a collaborative research project between the Netherlands and England
- Climate change impacts and adaptation responses at the building level
- Governance and adaptive capacity
Climate Proof Cities is a four year project and EcoCities will host a reciprocal Winter School in Manchester in 2012.
Posted 7 February 2011
Extreme Weather Events and Vulnerable Communities
On 2 February 2011 Dr Aleksandra Kazmierczak took part in a workshop on extreme weather events and vulnerable communities, organised by Salford City Council. The event, chaired by Nick Lowther (Head of Environmental Sustainability at Salford City Council) focused on the risk of heat waves and flooding to vulnerable communities in Salford. The event was attended by around forty planners, designers, housing managers, health and care service providers, land, asset and infrastructure managers from Salford City Council and other associated organisations with an interest in climate change adaptation.
The activities of the day aimed to:
- Ensure relevant partners are aware of the likely impacts of climate change
- Develop the understanding of vulnerability to extreme weather
events among the participants - Identify areas and communities of the city most vulnerable to
climate change - Encourage partners to assess the risks posed by climate change
and consider responses.
Dr Sarah Lindley (University of Manchester) presented the results of the recently completed SCORCHIO project (Sustainable Cities: Options for Responding to Climate Change Impacts and Outcomes), which investigated the extent of Urban Heat Island in Greater Manchester. Sarah also presented the findings of the Joseph Rowntree Trust study "Justice, Vulnerability and Climate Change", which identified the locations of communities which are most likely to be vulnerable to heat waves.
Following the presentation on flooding in Salford by Will Horsfall (Environmental Policy Team leader, Salford City Council) Aleksandra presented the results of the assessment of vulnerability of communities in Salford. This included identification of the areas where the risk is the highest due to overlapping vulnerability and occurrence of fluvial and pluvial flooding.
During the breakout sessions the participants discussed the impacts of heat waves and flooding on their day to day activities and the actions required to reduce the vulnerability in Salford. The event finished with a presentation by Pete Stringer (Red Rose Forest) presenting the scope and preliminary results of research projects carried out in collaboration with the University of Manchester and focusing on the role of green infrastructure in adaptation climate change (i-trees, i-roofs and Dilworth Street).
Posted 7 February 2011
TCPA Annual Conference: Plan and deliver?
Plan and deliver? The big society – what does a radical shift in power mean for communities, the economy, planning, housing and the environment?
On 30 November 2010 the TCPA annual conference was held at One Whitehall Place, London. Taking place shortly after the Comprehensive Spending Review, the publication of the Sub-National Growth White Paper and the publication of the Decentralisation and Localism Bill, the conference programme considered:
- Will the new planning system work?
- Will incentive schemes for new housing work?
- With no regional planning, how can our towns and cities plan to adapt to climate change?
EcoCities were invited to prepare the panel on "Adapting to Climate Change in Manchester". With presentations by Michael Oglesby, DL (Chairman of the Bruntwood Group), Mike Reardon (Association of Greater Manchester - AGMA) and Dr Jeremy Carter (Research Fellow, EcoCities), this session brought together researchers, policy makers and practitioners to better understand how to respond to the challenges and potential opportunities presented by Greater Manchester’s changing climate.
Followed by a reception on the Pavilion Terrace of the House of Commons, this high profile event was an opportunity for EcoCities to showcase their research programme and outcomes to a diverse audience.
Posted 15 December 2010
New Publication: Shaping Urban Infrastructures: Intermediaries and the Governance of Soci-Techincal Networks
Co-edited by MARC director Simon Guy (with Simon Marvin, Will Medd and Timothy Moss) Shaping Urban Infrastructures: Intermediaries and the Governance of Soci-Techincal Networks (Dec 2010) can now be pre-ordered through the publishers Earthscan.
About the publication:
Cities can only exist because of the highly developed systems which underlie them, ensuring that energy, clean water, etc. are moved efficiently from producer to user, and that waste is removed. The urgent need to make the way that these services are provided more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable means that these systems are in a state of transition; from centralized to decentralized energy; from passive to smart infrastructure; from toll-free to road pricing.
Such transitions are widely studied in the context of the influence of service providers, users, and regulators. Until now, however, relatively little attention has been given to the growing role of intermediaries in these systems. These consist of institutions and organizations acting in-between production and consumption, for example; NGOs who develop green energy labelling schemes in collaboration with producers and regulators to guide the user; consultants who advise businesses on how to save resources; and travel agents who match users with providers. Such intermediaries are in a position to shape the direction that technological transitions take, and ultimately the sustainability of urban networks.
Posted 23 November 2010
EcoCities stakeholder workshop: From Blueprint to Action
On 12 October 2010 EcoCities held its annual stakeholder workshop, From Blueprint to Action, at the Manchester Town Hall. This event was attended by 100 stakeholders that included researchers, developers, local councillors, community groups and businesses.
The event was opened by Prof Rod Coombs (Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the University of Manchester) and Michael Oglesby (Chairman of the Bruntwood Group), and chaired by Prof Simon Guy (EcoCities Director).
This was followed by an updated on adaptation at the Manchster City Council by Richard Sharland (Head of Environmental Strategy, Manchester City Council).
The EcoCities researchers presented recent research outputs and these findings can now be downloaded:
- Dr Jeremy Carter: The EcoCities project: context and prospects (315KB, PDF)
- Dr Gina Cavan: Future climate projections for Greater Manchester and Oxford Road Corridor case study (8,296KB, PDF)
- Dr Aleksandra Kazmierczak: Surface water flooding: How can we protect the vulnerable communities? (534KB, PDF)
A facilitated workshop with the stakeholders was run by Countryscape. This workshop was an opportunity for stakeholders to explore the possibilities of, and how they may use, the EcoCities' adaptation blueprint for Manchester.
The workshop was followed by lunch and the Green in the City interactive exhibition, organised by Corridor Manchester.
Posted 21 October 2010
Blueprint Newsletter: Issue 2, August 2010
The second edition of Blueprint, the EcoCities newsletter, is now available.
Blueprint: Issue 2, August 2010 (PDF, 2.56MB)
An archive of the Blueprint newsletter can be found in the document library.
Posted 9 September 2010
The role of emergency services in responding to extreme weather events
The Masters in Planning "Client Based Project" report: The role of emergency services in responding to extreme weather events (2010) is now available in the EcoCities document library. The aim of this project was for the Masters students to provide a clear understanding of the level of resilience in Greater Manchester, with an overriding aim of assessing the effectiveness of the policy framework in which the emergency services operate when responding to extreme weather events.
Posted 20 August 2010
The future climate of North West England
The future climate of North West England report (2010) is now available in the EcoCities document library. The report summarises the climate projections for the North West region in tables, graphs, map and description. It also provides information for a range of climate variables, time periods, emissions scenarios and probability levels. The report provides a brief background to climate change, the emissions scenarios used in UKCP09, an introduction to the probability levels that includes an explanation of how probability should be interpreted in the climate projections, and a note on time periods.
Posted 18 August 2010
EcoCities Guest Lecture: Dr Hugh Ellis (TCPA)
16 September 2010, 5-6pm
Dr Hugh Ellis: Chief Planner, Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA)
Title: 'Localism or Vandalism?' Do the Government environmental reforms destroy the last chance we had for tackling climate change?
Venue: Cordingley Lecture Theatre, Humanities Bridgeford Street
The University of Manchester
The event is co-hosted with MARC and CURE and will be followed by a wine reception (6-7pm).
For more information see the EcoCities events page.Posted 4 August 2010
Call for Papers - City Weathers: Meteorology and Urban Design, 1950-2010
The ESRC-sponsored project Climate Science in Urban Design: A Historical and Comparative Study of Applied Urban Climatology have annouced their call for papers for the workshop City Weathers: Meteorology and Urban Design, 1950-2010.
The two project themes of this workshop are: research progress and knowledge transfer in urban climatology 1950-2010, and, current uses of urban climatology in city planning and urban design.
The event is organised by the Manchester Architecture Research Centre (MARC) and Centre for the History of Science Technology and Medicine (CHSTM).
Posted 13 July 2010
EcoCities Researchers' Raise International Profile
EcoCities researchers Dr Jeremy Carter and Dr Aleksandra Kazmierczak have raised the international profile of EcoCities at the Urbio2010: Urban Biodiversity and Design in Nagoya, Japan (18-22 May 2010). Jeremy and Aleksandra presented EcoCities' research findings on climate change in Greater Manchester with their paper: “Green infrastructurecontribution to adaptation to climate change in Greater Manchester.” During this visit Jeremy and Aleksandra participated in an EcoCities Nagoya-Manchester Workshop at Nagoya University.
Dr Jeremy Carter was also invited to present the paper “Drivers of change: exploring the forces shaping future climate change adaptation in Manchester” at the Resilient Cities: 1st World Congress on Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change conference in Bonn, Germany (28-30 May 2010).
Posted 2 June 2010
Greater Manchester Environment Policy Exchange
Researchers at the School of Environment and Development have been awarded £500,000 to study poverty and climate change in Bangladesh.
The team, led by Dr Manoj Roy and Professor David Hulme of the Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI), together with Prof. Simon Guy of EcoCities and the Manchester Architecture Research Centre (MARC), will examine how the urban poor in Bangladesh are responding to the increasingly dire effects of global warming.
The project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Department for International Development over three years, and will bring together a team of leading Bangladeshi and UK researchers and policy activists.
For more information visit the SED news page.
Posted March 19 2010
EcoCities Newsletter
The first edition of Blueprint, the EcoCities newsletter, is now available.
First Edition of Blueprint (PDF, 4.12 MB)
Posted February 18 2010
Greater Manchester Environment Policy Exchange
Jeremy Carter and John Handley presented at a Greater Manchester Environment Policy Exchange workshop on the 20th January.
This event was focused on adaptation to climate change, and provided a strong platform for promoting the EcoCities project.
Posted February 12 2010
Adaptation challenges and opportunities for Manchester city region
At the launch of EcoCities, a range of stakeholders participated in a workshop to identify the key opportunities and challenges of adapting Greater Manchester to the impacts of climate change.
- EcoCities launch workshop report (PDF, 86KB)
The findings of the workshop are now being taken forward into the development of a set of EcoCities climate change scenarios for Greater Manchester, and will contribute directly to the EcoCities adaptation blueprint for the city region.
Posted September 29 2009
Official launch of EcoCities
EcoCities was officially launched on 23rd July 2009 in partnership with Bruntwood, and hosted by Manchester City Council, who are a key partner in the delivery of the project.
Keynote speeches, outlining a shared vision for Manchester and the EcoCities initiative, were given by Professor Alan Gilbert (President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Manchester), Dr Michael Oglesby (Chairman of Bruntwood) and Sir Richard Leese (Leader of Manchester City Council). Transcripts from these speeches will be available online soon.
These presentations were followed by the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the University and the City Council, demonstrating the commitment of both organisations to work together to develop a robust response to the impacts of climate change in Manchester. EcoCities is one of the key projects detailed in the Memorandum, and has contributed to (and is already benefiting from) strengthened links with the City Council.
Following the launch, a stakeholder workshop took place to begin the process of developing the adaptation blueprint for Manchester. Participants included representatives from the public and private sectors in the North West region, who debated the key challenges and opportunities of adapting the city region to climate change. The results of the workshop will be collated into a report, which will be available online soon. Presentations were given by Professor Simon Guy and Professor John Handley
- Climate change: the challenge of the 21st century Manchester city region must be ready to adapt (PDF, 3420KB), Professor Simon Guy and Professor John Handley
EcoCities keynote speeches available to download
You can now download a copy of each of the keynote speeches from the EcoCities launch event, by clicking on the links below:
- Professor Alan Gilbert, President and Vice Chancellor, University of Manchester. (PDF, 74KB)
- Dr Michael Oglesby, Chair, Bruntwood. (PDF, 61KB)
- Sir Richard Leese, Leader, Manchester City Council. (PDF, 64KB)
Posted August 20 2009
ISIS grant success
The Sustainable Consumption Institute has awarded funding to MARC Researcher Dr Chris Hewson for a research proposal entitled ‘Integrating the Senses inside Supermarkets: Energy, Ambiance and Sustainable Consumption’ (ISIS). The project begins in April 2009 and will explore interfaces between eco-design, sustainability and customer behaviour.
Posted February 01 2009
Climate change research in Bangladesh
Simon Guy, Director of EcoCities, along with colleagues from Brooks World Poverty Institute and the Global Urban Research Centre (GURC), is travelling to Bangladesh this month to develop a partnership with BRAC University’s Development Institute and Department of Architecture.
The partnership will focus on the theme of urban poverty and the adaptation of urban Bangladesh to climate change. This unique partnership will bring together the urban poor in Bangladesh, those working directly with them and an international community of researchers.
The work of the partnership begins officially on 28th January with an international conference entitled “Climate Change and Urban Poverty – Infrastructures of Development”. This is part of a week-long series of events, supported by the Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Foundation, at the BRAC Centre in Rajendrapur.
The conference will signal the start of an ongoing new initiative called the “Rajendrapur Conversation”. Dr Manoj Roy, newly appointed BWPI Research Fellow for Climate Change and Poverty in Urban Bangladesh, will be taking forward the work programme, working closely with the EcoCities team.
Europe joins forces in battle to turn cities green
EcoCities research fellow Dr Jeremy Carter will lead an ambitious research project with eight European member states which aims to help cities adapt to the effects of climate change. The project, entitled ‘Green and blue space adaptation for urban areas and eco towns’ (GRaBS) will feed directly in to the development of the EcoCities adaptation strategy blueprint for Greater Manchester.