Where do we build it and on what scale?
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URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE:
We need the right sort of ‘infrastructure’ to handle the extremes in the weather:
The impact that the climate crisis has had on the globe over the last decade is a critical influence on how architects and urban planners design future cities… When it comes to creating ways to save our cities from “the next big one”, whether it be a hurricane, flood, snowstorm, or fire, the way that we design the preventative infrastructure neglects a significant number of people.
The Cost of Climate Change: Who is Really Protected by Urban Mitigation Efforts? | ArchDaily
So, the Sidmouth Beach Management Plan could be seen as how some sort of ‘preventative infrastructure’ can ‘save’ an urban environment:
Beach Management Plan: storms and sea walls – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Beach Management Plan: tenfold increase in erosion predicted – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Beach Management Plan: Saving Pennington Point – Vision Group for Sidmouth
RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE:
However, in order to ‘solve’ many of these issues, the conventional wisdom is to build large-scale renewable energy projects:
The questions around wind energy – Vision Group for Sidmouth
What do we do with old wind-turbine blades? – Vision Group for Sidmouth
And these massive projects are built in ‘the countryside’ – rather than in the cities which are facing the brunt of climate change. And a new documentary just out looks at such a project in northern Sweden:
Headwind”21 [Documentary] – YouTube
This has a similar story-line to another documentary released last year:
‘Planet of the Humans’: a new documentary – Vision Group for Sidmouth
ALTERNATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE:
Much of the debate around ‘green infrastructure’ has become highly politicised:
Climate Intelligence Foundation (CLINTEL) – DeSmog
But perhaps common ground could be found in much less imposing technologies:
Bladeless wind turbines – Vision Group for Sidmouth
The promise of solar panels – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Which would be ‘community-centred’:
The community energy revolution: further progress – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Community energy: planning now for the future – Vision Group for Sidmouth
And much smaller-scale – and ‘local’:
Energy transition: from Devon to Ungersheim – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Cornwall Local Energy Market: trials prove successful – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Orkney: a model for renewable energy – Vision Group for Sidmouth