Overview
The 9
th International Conference on Urban Regeneration and
Sustainability took place in the Certosa di Pontignano, organised by
the University of Siena and the Wessex Institute of Technology.
The meeting has a long and distinguished history, having started in
Rio de Janeiro in 2000, followed by a series of very successful meetings
in Segovia (2002); Siena (2004); Tallinn (2006); Skiathos (2008); A
Coruña (2010); Ancona (2012) and Kuala Lumpur (2013).
The meeting is closely associated with the Prigogine Medal and the
work of the Ecodynamics Group at the University of Siena. The work of
the Group originated with the research of the late eminent scientist
Enzo Tiezzi, who clearly set their objectives and highlighted the
difference between development and growth. Growth pressures a
continuous supply of mass and energy that cannot last forever. Growth
based on historical resources is neither sustainable nor enduring. On
the contrary, a dynamic development that maximises energy, reduces or
excludes wastefulness and relies on renewable resources, supplied
through advanced systems and innovative technologies, can fuel a
prosperous economy and guarantee widespread, long lasting well-being.
The Sustainable City is not full of new buildings, but rather the
same city of the past, repaired, renovated and modified in order to make
it as fully today as it was in the past. When considering historical
centres and, above all, areas of urban expansion and suburbs, the focus
of adaptation is increasingly necessary and desirable, especially from
the new prospects of having to limit our dependency on non-renewable
energy sources. In this sense, the search for more sustainable cities
is the premise that should inspire research, policies and the building
industry in the future.
This line of reasoning has been expressed in the lands of Siena,
where the commitment to the environment has long been a common shared
good. Such initiatives with the city and provinces have supported the
idea of holding the 9
th International Conference on the
Sustainable City in Siena, whose territory reached an equal balance
between academia carbon emissions and absorption as early as 2011.
The Conference sessions took place in La Certosa di Pontignano, an
old monastery belonging to the University of Siena and now converted
into a conference centre. It was founded in the 1300s by the Carthusian
Order. It is still an oasis of peace, most appropriate for research
meetings presented near Siena while being in the open countryside, and
offers unique views of its surroundings. Vineyards and olive groves
surround La Certosa.
The complex has two beautiful cloisters and a series of cells, rooms
and facilities around them. In spite of the many changes that the
buildings undertook over the years, the complex is harmonious and its
architecture blends with the surrounding landscape.
The quiet environs and the ample facilities contributed to increased
contacts amongst the delegates, outside the conference sessions. They
were offered lunches, as well as refreshment breaks and a conference
dinner was arranged in the unusual setting of one of the contradas of
Siena.
The success of the conference resulted in a substantial number of
papers which were published in two volumes of WIT Transactions on
Ecology and the Environment, Volume 191, which are distributed around
the world in hard copy and digital format. The papers are permanently
archived in the WIT eLibrary (
http://library.witpress.com/).
Prigogine Award Ceremony
The conference was opened by the University Authorities in their Aula
Magna, with a special ceremony to award the 2014 Prigogine Gold Medal.
The Academic procession comprising members of the University and some
of the senior members of the International Scientific Advisory
Committee entered the Aula Magna, followed by the Vice Rector, Professor
Francesco Frati and the Director of the Wessex Institute of Technology,
Professor Carlos A Brebbia.
Professor Frati declared the proceedings open and described the
importance of the event, welcoming the delegates in the name of the
University of Siena. The Prigogine Medal was established by the
University and the Wessex Institute of Technology to honour the memory
of Professor Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize Winner of Chemistry. He was a
mentor of the work carried out in the Ecodynamics Group and Honorary
Co-Chair of the Conference on Ecological Systems and Sustainable
Development, organised by both institutions.
Prof Brebbia then referred to the importance of Prof Prigogine’s
work. Born in Moscow in 1917, Ilya Prigogine obtained his undergraduate
and graduate education in Chemistry at the Free University of
Brussels. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to
non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative
structures. The main theme of his scientific work was the role of time
in the physical sciences and biology. Prigogine contributed
significantly to the understanding of irreversible processes,
particularly in systems far from equilibrium. The results of his work
have had profound consequences for understanding biological and
ecological systems.
Prigogine’s idea established the basis for ecological systems
research. The Prigogine Medal – Carlos said – to honour his memory, is
awarded annually to a leading scientist in the field of ecological
systems. All recipients have been deeply influenced by the work of
Prigogine.
Previous Prigogine Laureates were:
- 2004 Sven Jorgenson, Denmark
- 2005 Enzo Tiezzi, Italy
- 2006 Bernard Patten, USA
- 2007 Robert Ulanowicz, USA
- 2008 Ioannis Antoniou, Greece
- 2009 Emilio Del Giudice, Italy
- 2010 Felix Müller, Germany
- 2011 Larissa Brizhik, Ukraine
- 2012 Gerald Pollack, USA
- 2013 Vladimir Voeikov, Russia
Prof Simone Bastianoni, from the Ecodynamics Group at the University
of Siena, commented on the personality of the late Enzo Tiezzi
(Prigogine 2005). He expressed how difficult it was to accept that Enzo
was no longer with us, so strong was his influence for the Science
Group.
Enzo was a renaissance man, building bridges across different
disciplines, his work continuously evolving, from chemical processes to
biology, ecosystems and many human endeavours.
Enzo did not believe in the idea of becoming overspecialised in a
very minor narrow field. He thought that it was always important to
understand the whole, to see the forest, rather than focus all our
energies in researching only one particular tree.
The 2014 Medal has been awarded to Prof Mae-Wan Ho, founding Director of The Institute of Science in Society.
Prof Brebbia explained that the Dr Ho’s work provides information
about biotechnological issues as well as sustainability, climate change
and, in particular, the nature of water.
Prof Ho received a PhD in Biochemistry from Hong Kong University.
She was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Biochemical Genetics at the University
of California, San Diego; Senior Research Fellow at Queen Elizabeth
College; Lecturer in Genetics and Reader in Biology at the Open
University, UK.
Prof Ho is the author of several books and Editor of Science in
Society, produced by her Institute. She is a prolific author. Two of
her books are prominent in explaining the role of biological water in
organising living processes. She has been extremely productive with
nearly 200 scientific papers, over 600 popular articles and several more
books.
Moreover, she has written a book showing the lack of sustainability
of genetically modified organisms. She has also contributed
significantly to the thermodynamics of complex systems, and has
discussed extensively the Prigogine ideas. A recent article of hers
discusses what should be a reliable thermodynamics of living organisms,
developing a Prigogine’s approach.
Following the introduction, Prof Ho was given the Medal by Prof Nadia
Marchettini, widow of the late Enzo Tiezzi (Prigogine Medal 2005).
Upon receipt of the award, Prof Ho started her Special Prigogine
Lecture on ‘Sustainable Cities: A New Perspective’. She demonstrated
that the circular thermodynamics based on dynamic closeness in natural
space-time dimensions enable organisms to approach zero entropy
production simultaneously at equilibrium and far from equilibrium
conditions. It confirms and extends Ilya Prigogine’s Principle of
Minimum Entropy Production for living systems and has implications for
sustainable cities and other built environments, as well as ecosystems
and economic systems.
Dr Ho referred to the importance of fractals and their role in providing optimum energy consumption configurations.
This led to a discussion of why large systems are inefficient and the
advantages of arranging for local energy generation and storage
facilities using renewable resources, minimising emissions and CO
2
generation. This can be done by recycling the waste, and redefining
urban spaces at human scale. The modern trend is towards a more compact
city, creating new spaces.
Conference Sessions
The presentations were grouped in the following sessions:
- Urban strategies
- Spatial conflicts in the city. (Special session organised by R Barelkowski)
- Environmental management
- Infrastructure and society
- Transportation
- Waste management
- Planning, development and management
- Urban air pollution (Special session organised by E Rada)
- The community and the city
- Urban conservation and regeneration
- Urban metabolism
- The S3 city: smart, sustainable and safe. (Special session organised by R Fistola)
- Quality of life
- Sustainable energy and the city
- Eco-town planning
- Flood risk
- Architectural issues
- Recent advances on urban transportation planning (Special session organised by F Russo)
- Case studies
Invited Presentations
The meeting was enhanced by a series of invited presentations given by well know colleagues:
- “Istanbul’s single truth: a sustainable policy and a sustainable capital”, by Sirma Turgut, Yildiz Technical University, Turkey.
- “Strategies for the identity of sustainable suburbs”, by Robert Barelkowski, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland.
- “Accommodating the cyclist in the city”, by Andrew Furman, Ryerson University, Canada.
- “Artificial surfing reefs in the Mediterranean Sea: an integrated
solution for the erosion of the shoreline in Bahía Norte, Alicante”, by
Yolande Villacampa, University of Alicante, Spain.
- “Qualitative assessment of the Mexicali Valley Landscape: residents
and non-residents”, by Rosa Rojas-Caldelas, University of Baja
California, Mexico.
- “The sustainable city and air pollution”, by Elena Rada, University of Trento, Italy.
- “Pathways to an oil-constrained sustainable city”, by Roger Brewster, Bond University, Australia.
- “The Sustainable City and the Smart City: measuring urban entropy first”, by Romano Fistola, University of Sannio, Italy.
- “Novel solutions to a traditional method of property-level flood
protection: technical insights into innovative door aperture guards”, by
Colin Booth, University of the West of England, United Kingdom.
- “A comprehensive lifecycle evaluation of vertical greenery systems
based on systemic indicators”, by Riccardo Pulselli, University of
Siena, Italy.
- “The process of smart city definition at an EU level”, by Francesco Russo, University of Russo Calabria, Italy.
ISAC and Conference Dinners
The conference International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC)
met over dinner to discuss the meeting and way in which it can be
improved when it is reconvened in 2016. The members discussed a series
of new topics to allow the conference to evolve and respond to new ideas
and demands. A series of new members of the committee were nominated so
that their names can add to the prestige of the conference and be able
to review papers. Finally, the members discussed the offers received
regarding possible venues for 2016, which will be investigated by the
WIT conference department.
The Conference dinner took place in the unusual setting of one of the
famous contradas of Siena. A contrada is the name given to a part of
town, each of which has the right of having a horse racing for them in
Il Palio, the race taking place around the Piazza del Campo.
The contrada is the centre of the social life of this particular part
of town, and although opened to all classes it is in practice a highly
exclusive club to which one can only belong if born in that part of
town.
The contrada contributes to the strong community sense of Siena, a
town renowned for its sustainability record and low carbon footprint.
To serve in the contrada cities is an obligation and an honour, to which
the community contributes on a voluntary basis.
The banquet was preceded by a visit to the Museum of the Contrada
dell’Aquila, which contains the Palii (or banners) they won over the
years and other historical memorabilia. Next door to the Museum a small
chapel is used for the ceremony of blessing the horse and jockey before
the race takes place.
The dinner consisted of appetizers, followed by two first courses of
rice and pasta, and a main course of roasted veal, everything prepared
in the Tuscan way. The food was accompanied by excellent Chianti wines.
The whole evening was most enjoyable and gave the delegates the
chance to see a part of Siena life which is not open to most visitors.
The invitation to the Contrada was the result of the academic contacts
WIT has built with Siena, over many years of collaboration.
The conference was closed by Carlos Brebbia who thanked the delegates
for their participation and hoped to see them again when the meeting is
reconvened.
Conference Proceedings
The proceedings of Sustainable City 2014 – The Sustainable City IX,
1766pp (Print ISBN: 978-1-84564-820-6; eISBN: 978-1-84564-821-3) are
available from WIT Press. Orders can be placed on the WIT Press web site
at www.witpress.com or by email:
marketing@witpress.com, telephone: +44 (0) 238 029 3223 or fax: +44 (0) 238 029 2853.
Papers from the conference will also be hosted online at the WIT
eLibrary as Volume 191 of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the
Environment (ISSN: 1746-448X, Digital ISSN 1743-3541). For more details
visit the WIT eLibrary at
http://library.witpress.com
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