Guidance for city district development, «Miniguide til DGNB for byområder«

Area, district and city development means accommodating a wide range of often competing themes into a satisfactory solution for the actors engaged, whether actively or passively, in the process. Area, district and city development also involves the process – and journey – of verbalising and visualising a future state, that is both attainable and visionary. The overall objective of the guidance is, and has been, to engage all actors with the Danish building industry towards practical action, within a sustainability framework, which is tailored specifically to the Danish context. The guidance also seeks to change the fundamental approach to area, district and city development, by focusing on integrated design, collaboration and co-creation. The guidance has two primary functions: 1) the guidance can be used as a benchmark, to promote an area’s or city’s sustainability and 2) the guidance can be used as an active tool, in the planning and design phases, and for prioritising and scheduling activities across participants. The term sustainability is open to misuse when interpreted in too many diverse ways. To combat this, the guidance couples the ideas and frameworks inherent in the notion of sustainability with practical and action oriented parameters and sets evaluation points. The guidance takes a holistic and process oriented approach, focusing on environmental, economic and socio-cultural sustainability themes, which in turn are complemented with assessments related to technology and city area development processes. These themes are in turn weighted, and each theme contributes their weighted proportion to the overall assessment. Themes are weighted so that each theme contributes a certain percentage, in particular with environmental, economic, socio-cultural and functional, and technical and process qualities are included as well. The guidance’s target audience is the entire Danish building industry. It is intended to become a benchmark for meaningful daily praxis. The certification scheme criteria are weighed in relation with each other, so that an area is developed holistically, environmentally, economically, and socially, and so that not one aspect is given precedence over another. The guidance aims to translate complicated themes, such as global climate change and the well-being of future generations, into meaningful, concrete and sensible actions in local settings, for example, for citizens, municipalities and developers. The guidance was developed with wide support, both from private companies and public organisations. Prior to drafting the guidance, objective research was carried out in order to identify which existing assessment systems would make most sense in a Danish context, thus avoiding reinventing the wheel. The guidance was consequently built on the German DGNB system. This makes it a good example of knowledge transfer from one context to another. Other perceived advantages with the DGNB system included its open source philosophy and transparent nature, as well as alignment with EU standards, the latter which was highly appreciated by the building material industry. So far five city districts have been pre-certified: Nordhavn, Brygger Bakke (in Aarhus), Carlsbergbyen, Nørrestrand and Deltakvarteret Vinge at Frederikssund. At the end of 2017, the pipeline also contains four more districts. The five listed city districts are pre-certified, meaning that the master plan has been certified, and the consequent step includes to also certify the entire built area. Success Indicators The guidance owns part of its success to the wide inclusion of, and buy-in from the Danish building industry actors. An extensive review process resulted in a guidance produced “bottom-up” and not “top-down”. Principles included in the overall selection of the guidance itself included: 1) It being a ‘second-generation’ certification system, that is, already tested elsewhere, 2) Designed in Europe and for a European context, 3) Inclusion of life cycle costing principles, while giving equal weights to economic, environmental and socio-cultural themes, and 4) Suited for local adaptation and an inherent performance driven approach that allows for and encourages innovation. Novelty Each actor comes into an area development process with its own understanding. The guidance both allows and gives a framework for co-creation and participation across different areas of influence, in turn paving the way for new value creation. The guidance’s integrated approach increases the potential for innovation, and the fact that the guidance itself is also related to EU standards facilities cooperation and active involvement between different actors, participants, and local inhabitants. The guidance also enables investors and developers to clearly communicate on progress. It allows flexibility in going forward, by not establishing precise solutions but by providing a common framework. The guidance is also future orientated, meaning that the process does not end when the last brick is laid. Sustainability Impacts. The guidance focuses on creating both healthy and safe environments, where the entire urban area is inviting and accessible, including for people with greater or lesser disabilities. The guidance also focuses on preserving the ties with existing qualities, such as unique existing structures, buildings or nature areas. In addition, maintenance and upkeep are seen as priorities already in the planning stages, so that an area will not degrade its inherent character and quality over time. Cost-effectiveness The guidance incorporates life cycle costing (LCC) in the overall assessment, and is consequently building in a long-term dimension in the financial planning and upkeep of the area. The LCC thinking also enables selecting solutions that are more advantageous when seen from a longer time line, keeping in mind that cheaper solutions may result in more expensive maintenance costs. The embedded value of the guidance tool is vast, and it is an excellent example of how to elevate the least common denominators to more prominent and important places. It is also an example of how to make sustainability something measurable. The guidance also paves the way for a common language, and is a bridge from past learning to future challenges. When fully implemented the guidance gives the opportunity to transform stakeholders from passive by-standers to active participants, willfully engaging with others and future residents. As such, the guidance holds a promise to widen its influence across the Danish building and area development sectors. Challenges and potential for further development The guidance considers the entire process and life cycle of a city area, and contributes to bridging knowledge gaps, which for natural reasons exists in societal fabrics, for example, between political representatives and professional practitioners. A current challenge is to advocate the value of the tool, the benefits it gives, and to better argument and inform stakeholders of what better alternatives are from a sustainability point of view. A digital version is planned, something that is expected to further increase access and easy utilization. Contact person(s) for more information: Mette Qvist, Managing Director mette.qvist@dk-gbc.dk 45 61 72 10 20