In Spring ’24, as part of the CiD Consortium meeting, the Ersilia team organized a workshop where partners were invited to create a storyline using the 3 Horizons Framework, developed by Bill Sharpe. This framework serves as a powerful storytelling tool, helping to envision and promote transformative futures.
We formed three groups:
- Academic and business representatives focusing on climate-neutral cities.
- Representatives for climate-adaptive buildings.
- Representatives for climate-neutral products & services.
Each team identified the current status quo, highlighting outdated practices and those worth preserving (Horizon 1). They then envisioned a viable future, identifying emerging trends and innovations (Horizon 3). Finally, the teams proposed innovations to transition from the current status quo to their envisioned future.
Challenges refined after a storytelling exercise
Image credit: Valentino Gareri Atelier
Narrative: Climate-Neutral Cities
Challenge: Promoting circularity in urban planning and design to ensure resilience against demographic changes, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation. This involves integrating sustainability, inclusivity, and cultural heritage into urban environments.
Key Concepts:
- Circular Economy Hubs: Establishing localized hubs for resource recovery, recycling, and remanufacturing.
- Community Engagement: Encouraging active community participation in decision-making processes, fostering bottom-up initiatives, and empowering citizens.
- Urban Regeneration: Implementing strategies for revitalizing neighborhoods and repurposing underutilized spaces.
- Nature Regeneration: Enhancing urban ecosystems and integrating nature-based solutions to improve resilience.
- Affordable Housing: Addressing housing affordability through innovative models and inclusive planning.
- Transparency and Governance: Promoting transparency, accountability, and good governance in urban decision-making.
- Circular Urban Planning: Prioritizing resource efficiency and waste reduction in urban planning.
- Green Infrastructure: Incorporating green spaces, urban agriculture, and sustainable water management systems to enhance biodiversity and climate resilience.
Image credit: Studio Millspace
Narrative: Climate-Adaptive Buildings
Challenge: Overcoming the linear lifecycle in building construction to create climate-adaptive buildings that respond to the “VUCA” context (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity), including climate change, extreme weather events, urban heat islands, and shifts in family structures and value systems. This must be done while preserving vernacular knowledge, craftsmanship, and aesthetic tools.
Key Concepts:
- Adaptive Manufacturing: Using adaptive manufacturing techniques to create versatile and expandable building solutions.
- Modular and Expandable Structures: Incorporating modular components for easy expansion and adaptation.
- Feedback Loops in Construction: Establishing feedback mechanisms between building designers, occupants, and material providers to enhance sustainability.
- Biomaterials: Utilizing biomaterials to reduce reliance on traditional construction materials.
- Material Banks: Creating databases and material banks for reusing and refurbishing materials, minimizing waste.
- Digital Technology: Employing digital twins and simulations to enhance building performance.
Narrative: Climate-Neutral Products & Services
Challenge: Overcoming the linear lifecycle of products and fixed production processes in product and service design while preserving human factors and cultural craftsmanship at risk of being lost.
Key Concepts:
- Technological Innovation: Establishing dynamic interactions and feedback loops among designers, users, and material providers to boost performance and sustainability.
- Bio-based Materials: Embracing sustainable alternatives to conventional resources.
- Repurposing Food Waste: Creating valuable by-products and services from food waste.
- Urban Circularity: Promoting continuous resource utilization through technology and collective wisdom.
- Household Innovation: Encouraging innovation in everyday household use.
- Modular Interiors: Implementing sustainable material practices in interior design.
- Shared Production Cycles: Facilitating shared production processes.
- Supportive Policies: Advocating for policies that support sustainable practices.
What’s going on in CiD
Barcelona Workshop: Envisioning Climate Neutral Cities, Buildings, Products & Services
In Spring '24, as part of the CiD Consortium meeting, the Ersilia team organized a workshop where partners were invited to create a storyline using the 3 Horizons Framework, developed by Bill Sharpe. This [...]
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