The lobe city: an answer to climate change?

Post by Stijn Van Hijfte

When we think about nature, ecology and social issues, cities are often regarded as one of the causes. They are created and build out of concrete, replacing all green and blue (water). The close quarters on the outskirts of the city are often the places where poor people have to find a place to live in often harsh circumstances. Climate change has made these effects even more extreme. Natural resources are dwindling and more people are negatively affected by the ongoing changes. Urban planning can hold the key to solve these ecological and social issues, the only question is: how?

Before we go into detail, we first would like to refer to the ecodevice model (Schroevers, 1982). The idea here is that all human activities depend first on an abiotic level. Examples are water, sunlight and minerals in the soil. Next, there is the biotic model, where we have plants of which we live and oxygen. Finally, there is the cultural level, where we can find human society and activity.

Figure 1: The ecodevice model (Schroevers, 1982)

Based on this model, we can already see that the city is depending on many other aspects before it can be successful. Without the proper abiotic and biotic levels, the city is doomed to fail. A different way to look at nature and how it is crucial for both the ecological and social success is through ecosystem services.

Figure 2: Ecosystem Services (Hassan et al., 2005)

These ecosystem services are a way to help us look in an “economic” way towards the environment. There are producing services such as food and water, regulating services which help to control disease and climate, cultural services where nature can have spiritual meaning and of course supporting services such as soil formation. Once again, we can see the crucial links between the environment and how they support human life.

Now what can we do with all this information? Well, all of these aspects can be used to help develop something that is known as the “ecopolis strategy” (Tjallingii, 1992). This strategy focuses on 3 decision fields. First of all, there are the management flows where we want to create a responsible city. These management flows help to deal with things such as energy and waste. A second field focuses on the management of areas to help develop a living city. Here we need to look at aspects such as social and biodiversity. Finally, there is the management of actors through a participating city where all citizens are involved. How do we achieve this?

A great solution that has been offered by some researchers is known as the “lobe city” (Rombaut, 2021). The lobe city makes use of blue-green fingers to help develop cities. What are these blue-green fingers? Well, you can see this as rural and nature areas (green) and water ways (blue) which are intertwined with the city.

Figure 3: The lobe city (Rombaut, 2021)

Through these green-blue fingers, ecosystem services can be brought into the city and as such the biodiversity of the city can be improved significantly. But figure 3 shows that it brings more value then biodiversity alone. Through these fingers, natural cooling and ventilation can be brought to major cities, fighting the impact of climate change and as such making urban areas more liveable. This way a living city can be developed that is able to withstand the coming changes. To further support this model, cities are forced to focus on aspects such as waste management and the capture of rain water creating a more responsible city. Finally, it’s ultimate success depends on how all inhabitants of urban areas work together to help maintain their quarters so that the value of the green-blue fingers can be maximized for all.

You might wonder how realistic this idea is. Well, let me introduce 3 short examples. First, there is Amsterdam which can be seen as a lobe city example as you can see in figure 4. The city makes powerful use of green areas as well as a blue finger to intertwine the city and as such develop a lobe city which is capable of capturing the required ecosystem services and empower the urban inhabitants.

Figure 4: Amsterdam as a lobe city (Rombaut, 2021)

Some of you might wonder if these green-blue fingers are indeed capable of cooling the city. In figure 5 you can see a beautiful example of the city of Berlin, where the green-blue infrastructure was capable of cooling important parts of the city. Of course, there were still hot areas in the city, where the fingers weren’t able to reach, but the positive effects cannot be denied.

Figure 5: Berlin (Rombaut, 2021)

And finally, perhaps the most striking example of all is Copenhagen, which is had a finger-strategy since 1947. As you can see in figure 6, the city is beautifully divided between urban and green-blue fingers, creating a city which can be regarded as one of the most liveable in the world.

Figure 6: Copenhagen (UCD, 2008)

With these examples I hope I was able to convince you of the power of the lobe city, and how it could change the world.

References

Schroevers, P.J.(red.) 1982. Landschapstaal. Een stelsel van basisbegrippen voor de landschapsecologie. Wageningen, pudoc, 109 pp. ill.

UCD Urban Institute Ireland, 2008. Green City Guidelines Advice for the protection and enhancement of biodiversity in medium to high-density urban developments. Published in Dublin by UCD Urban Institute Ireland, Richview, Clonskeagh Drive, Dublin 14, Ireland. ISBN 978-1-905254-33- 0. 115 pp. ill.

Tjallingii, S. 1992. Ecologisch verantwoorde stedelijke ontwikkeling. Studie in opdracht van de RPD. IBN-DLO Rapport nr 706 Wageningen129 pp. , ill. ISSN 0924-9141.

Hassan, R. ; SCHOLES, R ; N ASH (eds). 2005. The millennium assessment. Ecosystems and human well-being: current state and trends. Island Press, Washington. 917 pp. ill. ISBN 1-55963-227- 5 http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Condition.html#download

Rombaut, E. (2021). Sustainable Architecture, Ecologically sound  Urban/Rural Planning and Biodiversity:  Thoughts about a climate-proof ecopolis. Plea for the lobe-city. Some guidelines for applying ecosystem services  in urban and rural planning. a.