What Does the Future of Urban Planning Look Like?

A quick search of the phrase ‘city of the future’ on Google images is enough to demonstrate the entrenched link between sustainability and the future of this planet. 

Our search results are flooded with images of peculiar-shaped buildings covered in greenery, and of course, flying cars. For the time being, this may seem like a mere figment of the imagination, however progress towards such a future starts today. 

Studies conducted in key global markets have proven that construction companies that make smart decisions now and focus on innovation, end-user benefits, and sustainability, will be the ones who reap the most rewards further down the line. This comes as a result of increasingly stringent legislation coming into play regarding health, safety and sustainability.

Designing for the future will help to increase property value and ROI, and establish your firm as an industry leader. There’s also the additional cost savings brought about by not having to retrofit to meet future regulations!

But the question on everyone’s mind is how can we design for the future?

Social Sustainability

Although often overlooked when discussing the requirements of sustainable buildings, social sustainability has its own level of importance.

Defined as "processes and structures that not only meet the needs of its current members but also support the ability of future generations to maintain a healthy community”, this approach to design is more concerned with the social and psychological impact of buildings. When it comes to social sustainability, there are three main points to consider: 

• The building’s relationship with the surrounding environment and communities.
• How the building affects the mental and physical health of its occupants.
• How to actively promote human interaction and engage people with the spaces they occupy.

When it comes to construction, it’s ultimately about understanding what people need from the places in which they live and work.

The priority should be the creation of safe and comfortable living spaces. This can be achieved by selecting high performing, fit-for-purpose solutions such as our Terrain range, which limit the risk of failure and ultimately ensure peace of mind for both occupants and owners. Our blog on acoustic comfort will help you to understand the importance of high quality drainage systems to enhance occupant satisfaction and subsequently, for property value.

Multi-functional spaces present another great opportunity for improving satisfaction and property value, simply by maximising the use of every square foot of your building. Otherwise, unused roof space can be transformed into rooftop gardens using our shallow attenuation solution, Permavoid, as zero-energy and zero-waste irrigation system. These areas can either be enjoyed by building inhabitants or even commercialised to yield a higher ROI. In fact, you can learn more about the diverse benefits of green roofs here. 

Green Infrastructure

Climate change, combined with a global rise in water consumption, has proven to be a tough match for traditional grey infrastructure. Its capacity to manage increased volumes of stormwater is limited, not to mention the toll this approach takes on the environment and human health. 

These impermeable systems pick up trash, bacteria, heavy metals, and other pollutants which travel through storm sewers and are deposited in local waterways. 

A solution is to combine green and grey infrastructure, which can boost resilience with its natural adaptive and regenerative capacity. Innovations such as podium decks allow for the passive irrigation of green areas without raising energy and water demands.

Our award-winning sustainable water management systems, Permavoid and Polystorm, use source control technology to capture water where it falls, significantly reducing surface runoff and the risk of flooding, all while storing the water for future use. 

Digital Innovations

Lack of visibility is a major issue for many engineering and construction companies as they struggle to monitor sustainable practices in their own processes, let alone that of their subcontractors and supply chains. For instance, when it comes to sustainable sourcing of raw materials, only 55% of engineering and construction companies have significant or complete visibility into their own processes, and only 16% have the same visibility into their suppliers’ processes.

But while the construction industry has a reputation for being slow to adopt new digital technologies, the pressure to become more sustainable, coupled with added convenience, is causing that to change. 

BIM and digital twin technology are two recent innovations that are now bringing about new levels of transparency across every stage of the supply chain. By ensuring the right people at the right time have the information they need to make better decisions, these digital tools are streamlining construction and facility management for greater efficiency and reduced labour costs – leading to considerable cost savings.

Over the next 40 years, we can expect to see nearly 500 cities the size of New York crop up around the world. This is the estimated building stock required to accommodate the Earth’s growing and increasingly urban population. Given the fact that the built environment is the largest contributor of greenhouse gases, to have any hope of stemming the current climate crisis, the efficiency of digital technology will be vital in facilitating the low carbon communities of the future.

Where Do We Fit Into The Future?

At Polypipe Middle East, we support the current digital revolution within the construction industry as a way of improving efficiency and sustainability and encouraging growth. We work with consultants and clients using BIM to seamlessly integrate our Terrain, Polystorm and Permavoid product ranges into the larger digital drawings.

In fact, we even sponsored this year’s Construction Technology Festival - an event centred around digital technology implementations that have improved value, efficiency, sustainability, safety, and occupant comfort. Find out more about our role at the event here.

Contact us today to learn how we can work together to create bespoke solutions that are designed to increase environmental sustainability, promote social sustainability, and of course, maximise profits.

Tel: +971 (0) 4 518 3000

Email: middleeast@polypipe.com