A joint project between the Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory and the School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture at the Arizona State University Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts
Project principals
Nancy Levinson, Director, Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory
Kenneth McCown, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
The Post Petroleum Phoenix Initiative is a multi-year, multi-disciplinary initiative to create comprehensive design, planning, and policy guidelines to address one of urgent challenges of our time: peak oil, or the end of the era of plentiful and inexpensive oil. The Initiative will evaluate the effects of peak oil predictions on metropolitan Phoenix and propose design and planning strategies and solutions for the near, mid and long terms.
There are three strategies by which to address the peak oil challenge. The first is to compete for dwindling supplies; but such global competition will surely exact high political and economic costs. The second strategy is to develop new sources of energy supply—a necessary and complex undertaking, for most alternative technologies will require significant time and investment to develop, and none has the energy density (efficiency) or transportability of petroleum.
The third strategy—the focus of the Peak Oil Initiative—is to adapt built urban environments in order to reduce energy demand. Buildings and transportation—the fundamentals of urban design—together account for more than two-thirds of U.S. energy use (according to the U.S. Department of Energy, et al.). Through the strategic redesign and adaptation of urban systems—buildings and transportation as well as landscape, power, water, waste, and agriculture—cities can significantly reduce energy demand.
Such strategic adaptations benefit communities by improving air standards, water resources, food quality and supply, community and individual health, social cohesion, and overall quality of life—thus peak oil planning helps to achieves multiple sustainability goals. Most crucially, peak oil planning will ensure the availability of energy and water—foundational resources for an urban economy.
The Post Petroleum Phoenix Initiative will comprise a research seminar and interdisciplinary urban design studio; an international conference; an interactive, multimedia public exhibition; and a vigorous campaign of civic awareness, including workshops and lectures. From these programs and events, we will produce a detailed report with design and policy recommendations that will be transferable to other cities.
We face great challenges to our environment and economy. The U.S. has a remarkable history of meeting such challenges with wise and courageous action. The Post Petroleum Phoenix Initiative will contribute to urban planning efforts that will produce knowledge vital to the long-range health and prosperity of our cities.
For an example of the research that this initiative intends to undertake for the Metropolitan Phoenix area, please view a report for the City of San Buenaventura, CA, produced by the 606 Studio under the guidance of Ken McCown and co-principal Joan Woodward in the Department of Landscape Architecture at California Stat Polytechnic University, Pomona.
San Buenaventura Post-Peak Oil Future report and all images courtesy of 606 Studio, the Department of Landscape Architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and the City of San Buenaventura. |
