A Mayor s Green Vision Preparing for s growth in the 21 st centry Boris Johnson is one of Great Britain s most instantly recognizable pblic figres, who presides over a thriving metropolis that he describes as the perfect laboratory for rban development. In it, an array of ctting-edge technologies are being rolled ot to ensre, once known by many as the Big Smoke, stays ahead of the crve in rban sstainability, despite the challenges faced by its growing poplation and aging infrastrctre. Ed Targett reports on challenges for the ftre of the best big city in the world. The Mayor of s answers range from niqely British hybrid bses to green bildings, from sophisticated traffic systems to electric taxis. 6 rbandna Isse 1 / October 2012
Boris Johnson Boris Johnson read Classics at Balliol College, Oxford as a Brackenbry scholar, before becoming a trainee reporter for The Times. He is the athor of several books, inclding The Dream of Rome, a work on Roman history, Lend Me Yor Ears, Friends, Voters and Contrymen, an atobiographical accont of his 2001 election campaign, and a novel, Seventy-Two Virgins. was born in Jne 1964 in New York. His family moved to when he was five years old. In 2001 he was elected MP for Henley-on-Thames, replacing Michael Heseltine. He has held shadow government posts as Vice Chairman, Shadow Minister for the Arts and Shadow Minister of Higher Edcation. Boris Johnson is a keen cyclist and likes walking. His focs as a mayor, however, lies in modernizing pblic transport. Besides being a passionate cyclist, he enjoys painting and playing tennis, as well as spending time with his wife Marina and his for children. B oris is blonde, boyant, brimming with bons mots: Commentators given to consonantal alliteration tend to get stck at the shallow end of the alphabet when it comes to the Mayor of. The mercrial father of for, with his trademark shock of nrly hair and sometimes contrary contribtions to the national conversation, cts a colorfl figre in a world of convention- al politics and is one of a select handfl identifiable by first name alone. It is a color that has been welcomed by the majority of the capital s residents, who voted the former magazine editor and classics scholar (officially Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson ) into office for a second for-year term this spring. Bt behind the joclar presence lie a steely determination and ambitios plans to revamp the capital s infrastrctre, inclding in East s Docklands, where Siemens landmark new center for rban sstainability, The Crystal, has jst opened. The plans are vital for. It is the most-visited city in the world and many visitors, both national and international, like it so mch they are relctant to leave. The city s poplation has boomed 12 percent in the past decade as a reslt (it is expected to climb again to 9.083 million by 2020) and the growth cold leave a less resilient city ragged. The Mayor however is ebllient abot the ftre of his city. We need to prepare for that kind of poplation growth, which was last seen in the inter-war period, while maintaining the qality of life that makes the best big city in the world, he says, pointing to the once trobled Docklands as an example of rban regeneration. He has designated the area a Green Enterprise District and it is already attracting significant investment, inclding the eye-catching 30 million Crystal, a locs and benchmark for sstainable rban technologies which meets the world s most stringent environmental standards and which is expected to bring visitors into the area in its own right. The Mayor has paid a keen interest in its constrction. He said: In the same way the wharves and warehoses of East led the capital s global dominance of the indstrial age I want this area to be economically vibrant in the 21 st centry. The Crystal is a perfect platform to help kick-start this regeneration. What I have learned 8 rbandna Isse 1 / October 2012 rbandna Isse 1 / October 2012 9
the Crystal One of the world s most sstainable bildings featring, inter alia, 100 percent black water recycling, a low-energy ventilation system and a grond sorce heat pmp. 30 million investment from Siemens New landmark of Royal Victoria Docks in Green Enterprise District The Center for Urban Sstainability featres 2,000 sqare meters exhibition space on the ftre of cities. Opening in September of 2012 Designed for LEED Platinm and BREEAM Otstanding certification The Crystal contains office space for over 100 desks for infrastrctre experts, research partners, planners and academics from arond the world. thecrystal.org Conference area seats 270 people. The Crystal: a model of sstainable bilding technology and the latest addition to s architectral attractions. is that when there is a broadly nified consenss for any given project, it gets delivered. There are plenty of projects afoot: As stretches and strains to accommodate the challenges of this rban expansion, its aging Victorian infrastrctre is being interwoven with ctting-edge intelligent technologies across energy prodction, transport and waste management systems. Amongst them, the isse of transport is particlarly dear to the Mayor s heart and he believes that large cities, which have traditionally strggled with poor air qality, have the capacity to drive throgh fndamental changes in how we get abot. Major cities have considerable prchasing power, he tells rbandna. I promised in 2008 to deliver an iconic new bs for to replace the Rotemaster. By working with manfactrers we have designed from scratch a clean, green and fantastic new iconic piece of transport infrastrctre, in a prod tradition at remarkably low cost. A Transport Revoltion The Mayor believes sch technology cold be jst the beginning of a transport revoltion. I think there is a hge opportnity to make sre that the vehicles plying the streets of no longer emit the kinds of fmes people have got sed to over the last centry. I think we re seeing the last 40 years of carbon-emitting vehicles. And is going to be in the lead in that process. A city-wide electric vehicle charging network, Sorce already has 700 charge points throghot the capital. It is expanding fast, with at least 1,300 expected to be operational by 2013. With a flat fee of 10 per year, it is an attractive choice for drivers, who se one membership card to access charge points across the city s streets and car parks. With challenging targets set by the Mayor meaning 25 percent of the city s energy spply mst come from decentralized sorces by 2025, those cars cold soon be powered by clean energy too. It is a compelling vision, bt one that poses a challenge for established energy grids. Microgeneration and smart grids will play a very important role. We are already working on some potential schemes, he says, which inclde smart grid trials designed to analyze the distribtion network impact of intermittent centralized wind ge- Photo: Andrew Baker, Andrew Parsons/i-Images, Siemens Boris Johnson took a special interest in the constrction of the Crystal. The Crystal s exhibition on rban development will be open to the pblic. 10 rbandna Isse 1 / October 2012 rbandna Isse 1 / October 2012 11
More than half of the UK s top 100 listed companies (the FTSE 100) and over 100 of Erope s 500 largest companies are headqartered in Central. Dring the three-hor morning peak, 57,000 people enter s bsiest Tbe station, Waterloo, which handles 82 million passengers per year. Greater covers an area of some 610 sqare miles (approximately 1,579 sqare kilometers). Residents born overseas constitted 42 percent of Inner s poplation in 2011 and over 300 langages are spoken by s schoolchildren alone. Poplation density levels in are 16 times higher than in the rest of the contry, with gross weekly hosehold incomes 15 percent higher than the next highest region. More than half (63 percent) of the capital is made p of green space, gardens or water. One third of this is private gardens, one third parks and the remaining third is wildlife habitats. The Port of is the second largest in the United Kingdom, handling 48 million tonnes of cargo each year. Photo: Siemens neration and involving sppliers, aggregators, residential and indstrial cstomers across, the charging infrastrctre for electric vehicles and microgeneration. Sch tests are vital for the ftre of the capital s infrastrctre and Boris Johnson is excited abot their potential. He says: is the perfect laboratory for rban development. Unlike many cities in the West, we are developing qickly and have endless possibilities in areas sch as the Royal Docks next to Siemens Crystal. With costs in relatively high compared to the rest of the UK, everything has to have a decent bsiness case. The positive side of this is that it means that what can work here in, can easily be scaled p and replicated anywhere in the UK and indeed the world. Less Emissions, More Efficiency Even the cleanest and smartest of electric vehicles are little se if the city s roads remain congested. Bt technologies sch as SCOOT (or split cycle off-set optimisation techniqe for the jargon-inclined), now link over half of s 6,000 traffic lights along corridors to manage traffic flows, already delivering a 12 percent redction in delays. The corresponding redction in transport emissions is being mirrored by energy efficiency improvements throgh retrofitting bildings. It is an expensive program for a city to roll ot, bt the Mayor claims there is a compelling case for the project: Or programs have proven the bsiness case and financial viability of retrofitting s bildings with a payback of only seven years followed by sbstantial CO 2 and cost savings, he says. We can now confidently take a pipeline of similar projects to private and pblic sector investors to raise the investment to deliver them. The Greater Athority has already established the Green Fnd, a 100 million revolving investment fnd to match fnd private sector investment and spport the delivery of Despite being densely developed, always makes room for new projects and innovation. 12 rbandna Isse 1 / October 2012 rbandna Isse 1 / October 2012 13
Boris Johnson Talks Bsiness What are yor main priorities in yor second term in office? Yo have spoken abot rolling ot zero-carbon taxis, how is this progressing? I m delighted and hmbled ers have given me an opportnity to serve them as Mayor for for more years. We have a new mandate now to drive jobs and growth and to modernize or transport networks. We are now preparing a 2020 vision laying ot how will lengthen its lead as the best big city in the world while contining to grow at its present breakneck speed. Low-emission vehicles are essential in improving qality of life throgh better air qality. Delivering a zero-emission taxi is jst part of this strategy. We have had great sccess in retrofitting the bs fleet, catalyzing the hydrogen vehicle market and Sorce. environmental infrastrctre. New-bild development in needs to deliver a 25 percent improvement on 2010 bilding reglations. We see this gradal progression in standards as an important way of spporting the development indstry to develop their knowledge and expertise, so that they are able to bild to the nationally reqired zero-carbon standards for residential development in 2016 and nondomestic in 2019. We ve also set standards for how developments will make the fllest contribtion to s adaptation to climate change, throgh a range of policies inclding water efficiency, flooding and srface water management and green space. It all sonds technology intensive. Bt Boris, who is sally spotted ot on a bicycle and who famosly rode to the resce of a woman being assalted by teenagers (she later described him as her knight on a shining bicycle ) thinks pedal power has a lot going for it too. We re greatly expanding the nmber of bicycles yo ve seen the hire bicycles on the streets of the city and we want to psh those bikes ot to some of the areas that they haven t yet reached. We re encoraging walking and of corse breathing, he jokes, before trning serios again. I think if yo look at what we re doing here, we are massively expanding masstransit systems that will be the bedrock, the fondation, if yo like, not jst of economic growth, bt also of a low-carbon environment and that has hge knock-on economic benefits. p Ed Targett is a freelance reporter who divides his time between sotheast England and Soth Korea. His work has appeared on Yahoo! Asia, the BBC, Yonhap News, New America Media, Newsnet Scotland and more. He has a longstanding interest in environmental isses. What incentives are available to bsinesses considering locating to the Green Enterprise District? We offer a bsiness rate relief of p to 55,000 a year, for five years. Siemens Crystal showcases some ctting-edge water recycling technologies. Do yo see these ever playing more than a niche role in ftre developments? We shold all se water more wisely. The Plan already encorages the se of water recycling (grey water and rainwater) in new development and we are working with Thames Water to retrofit rainwater harvesting systems into schools to help them ct costs and manage flood risk. What plans are in place to pgrade the Undergrond? The Tbe has never been so bsy. Demand is at its highest level in its 149-year history and the Tbe carries more than a billion passengers each year. Mch of the infrastrctre we rely on to meet this demand is very old, with some of it dating back to the 1860s. We are working to pgrade the lines, delivering 30 percent more capacity across the network, with new trains, tracks and signaling so Tbe services can rn faster, more reliably and more freqently. How can yo spport the financing of rban development and infrastrctre projects? Crossrail is being fnded by a nmber of sorces: the government, the Greater Athority, the City of, BAA, Canary Wharf, a bsiness rate spplement, a commnity infrastrctre levy and a Crossrail levy. This is the ftre. A mixtre of fnding sorces sch as more commnity infrastrctre levies or tax increment financing (TIF) are also options. TIFs are when the Treasry allows yo to borrow against ftre tax income arising from development. The Tbe, the world s oldest system of metro lines, carries more than a billion passengers a year. Among them: Boris Johnson. 14 rbandna Isse 1 / October 2012 rbandna Isse 1 / October 2012 15