As the population of the world’s cities explodes, short range transportation has become a pressing issue.

Contributed by Wyatt C. King, Director, Albright Stonebridge Group

As cities around the world have grown ever larger, traffic congestion has become a global scourge, wasting enormous amounts of time and fuel, fouling urban air, and reducing quality of life for drivers and non-drivers alike. And the problem is only getting worse. Reports of epic traffic jams, sometimes lasting for days-on-end, are increasingly common around the world. It is evident that we need new ways of moving people around cities.

But what is the solution? Underground subway systems, while tremendously efficient at moving people, come with an astronomical price tag, often topping $200 million per mile. Although light rail costs much less, it is still expensive. In a time of municipal belt tightening, many cities just can’t afford such systems.

Forty years ago, the leaders of Curitiba, a medium-sized Brazilian city with a tight budget, pioneered an alternative. Known as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), it essentially reimagines the bus as a train, with dedicated lanes to separate buses from regular traffic, more frequent service on each route, enclosed stations and pre-paid ticketing so passengers can board through multiple doors simultaneously, and elevated boarding platforms to further speed the boarding process.

BRT transformed urban transportation in Curitiba and created a model for the rest of the world of fast, reliable and comfortable public transit at a reasonable cost. According to a 2001 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the average capital cost per mile for BRT systems was just $13.5 million, compared with an average of $34.8 million per mile for light rail, and much more for underground systems.

Other cities have started to emulate Curitiba’s success, and today many variations on BRT have been implemented around the world—from Guangzhou to Delhi, from Paris to Mexico City—even some U.S. cities are starting to experiment. Some enhancements that have emerged along the way include signal priority (so traffic lights turn green as the bus approaches), real-time signs to inform when the next bus will arrive, extra-long coaches that can carry 200 passengers, and seamless integration with other transport options, such as bicycles. Some systems even offer free Wi-Fi, so people can work online during their commute.

Ten years ago, Bogotá, Colombia inaugurated what many consider to be the most advanced BRT system in the world: TransMilenio (shown above). It has succeeded beyond its proponents’ wildest dreams—and now carries 1.7 million passengers daily at an average speed of 22 miles per hour. If that doesn’t sound fast, consider that the average speed of an ordinary New York City bus is about 6 mph. The average TransMilenio rider saves about 40 minutes on a roundtrip commute, compared with driving, which explains why 20 percent of the passengers are car owners who simply prefer to take the bus.

Many would agree that in the United States, traditional city buses have an image problem: slow, infrequent, unreliable. The lesson of BRT is that there is a better way. If you make taking the bus more attractive than driving, people will ride and the city will move.

Contributed by Wyatt C. King, Director, Albright Stonebridge Group

We live in a new age of cities. Around the world, urban areas are growing faster and larger than at any previous time in human history, driven largely by rural dwellers migrating in search of economic opportunity. In 2008, for the first time ever, more than half the world’s population lived in urban areas, a share that is projected to reach 60 percent by 2030, and 70 percent by 2050.

The term “megacity” is often applied to metropolitan areas with a population of 10 million or more. In 1950, there were just two megacities in the world: New York and Tokyo. According to the National Intelligence Council, there are now 27, most of them in developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Rapid urbanization is emerging as one of the defining trends of the 21st Century, and it is difficult to overstate the challenges it presents. To understand the scale of those challenges, consider the case of Karachi, Pakistan. Since 1950, Karachi’s population has grown nearly 2,000 percent, to more than 20 million people. (New York, by contrast, has grown a mere 30 percent during the same period.) Such frenzied growth is typical of megacities, and it is creating a host of unprecedented social and environmental problems. The United Nations estimates that as many as 50 percent of urban dwellers in the developing world live in slums, where they have little or no access to adequate shelter, clean water, sanitation, education, or health services. Traffic congestion fouls the air, and poverty is widespread.

The task is to build sustainable cities, where all inhabitants can live with dignity, security and prosperity. This will not be easy, but it is a tremendous opportunity. To seize it, cities must become massively more e cient and effective in the way they use natural resources (water, energy, land) and provide essential public services.

Most importantly, for this transformation to happen, cities will have to do things differently than they have done them in the past. Urban development models inherited from North America and Europe will not work in the megacity of the 21st century. New technologies, design philosophies, governance structures, investment vehicles, infrastructure and behaviors will be required. More efficient diffusion of learning will also be essential. And all this must occur in multiple places simultaneously, with widely varying cultures, and severe limitations on human, financial, and institutional resources. The potential, and hope, is that these constraints will foster creativity and innovation, rather than paralysis.

In future columns, I will be profiling initiatives in different megacities—exploring how they are confronting their growth, and what we can learn from them. In the effort to build a sustainable world, megacities are the laboratories. They are where social and environmental problems are most acute, but also where innovators are most abundant. Increasingly, cities are where humanity lives, so that is where humanity must learn to live sustainably. I look forward, in the months to come, to delving into specific examples from the front lines of urban sustainability.

Contributed by Wyatt C. King, Director, Albright Stonebridge Group

To truly understand the enormity of the global sustainable development challenge, go to India. I recently returned from my second trip to the subcontinent, where I was overcome by the abundance of urgent development challenges that cry out for sustainable solutions: roads that are clogged with diesel-belching traffic; an unreliable power grid that cuts out multiple times a day, even in technologically-advanced cities like Bangalore; a water table that is dropping precipitously in many areas as farmers engage in uncontrolled pumping for agriculture; more than 600 million people without access to adequate sanitation, which leads to frequent outbreaks of preventable disease.

Although the current state of affairs already seems intolerable at times, the pressure is only likely to increase in the decades ahead. India already has 1.2 billion people, four times the population of the United States in an area less than half the size. It is on track to surpass 1.5 billion by 2030, adding the equivalent of another entire U.S. in the next 17 years. The ramifications of such rapid population growth are staggering, and they are placing severe strains on Indian institutions, infrastructure and natural resources.

Sustainable development is needed around the world, but nowhere more urgently than India. With so many people, providing everything is more difficult: food, water, power, sanitation, housing and transport. To provide these services without destroying the environment is harder still. Under such conditions, the promise embodied in sustainability—to reduce pollution and maximize resource productivity— is not just attractive, it is essential.

Thankfully, the country is moving ahead with sustainable solutions on multiple fronts. In April of last year, the world’s largest solar farm, 600 megawatts, went online in the northwestern state of Gujarat (shown). The southern state of Tamil Nadu is home to a large and growing number of wind farms. In New Delhi, diesel-powered rickshaws—a ubiquitous form of transport in Indian cities—have been replaced by cleaner versions powered by compressed natural gas. And during the two weeks I was in the country I saw several articles in prominent newspapers touting the benefits of green building. The Indian people are incredibly innovative and they have an intuitive appreciation for the value of “green” solutions.

The sheer scale of the challenges, however, demands greater action. There is a tremendous need, and opportunity, for green entrepreneurs of all stripes. And in a country where tens of millions of new young people join the labor force annually, there is an urgent need for the green jobs that come with sustainable development as well.

India’s burgeoning population and global trends like climate change are presenting the country with unprecedented challenges. Even as traditional economic growth has lifted millions out of poverty, it has also created a host of new problems stemming from increased resource consumption. But India is nothing if not resilient and adaptable. It is therefore no surprise that a new wave of economic development is starting to take root, grounded in sustainability and laying the foundation for a better future.

Contributed by Paul Eldrenkamp, BuildingEnergy 13 Conference and Trade Show Chair, owner at Byggmeister Design Build and co-founder at DEAP Energy Group.

In 1987—exactly twenty-five years ago—I took a two-day building science workshop led by Joe Lstiburek. I remember being so riveted by the information he was presenting that I was afraid to go to the men’s room because I thought I’d miss something. I spent two days jiggling on the edge of my seat, literally and figuratively.

The revelation of those two days with Joe was that “quality construction” needed to be defined in four dimensions. It was not just about level, plumb, and square—it was about level, plumb, and square over time. It didn’t matter if it all looked and felt great right after I had completed the work; it only mattered if it continued to look and feel great year after year after year. It sounds obvious now, but I’d only been a carpenter for about 6 years at the time, and to me the long view extended about as far as the next afternoon.

The early NESEA conferences understood that time component of quality, even back then. It’s no wonder that Joe’s talks were always the big draw at those conferences; it’s also no wonder that we called those annual gatherings “Quality Building Conferences.”

Fast-forward 25 years. Our definition of quality has been getting more and more demanding when it comes to energy performance. This is a good thing. And we’re pretty sure that these Zero Net, Passive House, and Deep Energy Retrofit projects will prove to be quality projects over time. Pretty sure—but not completely confident. There’s a big, big difference.

What single factor gives us the most pause when it comes to feeling rock-solid certain that our high-performance projects will stand the test of time?

Water, of course. If any of your projects has experienced a rot or mold problem, an air quality issue, a failed finish, a sticking door, a cracked caulk joint, a stained ceiling, or a summertime comfort complaint, the root cause was inevitably a failure to manage moisture properly. Almost all our warranty callbacks, in fact, result from not adequately anticipating how water will interact with our buildings. Water is essential to life, but it’s the single biggest enemy of quality construction. What an interesting dilemma to be faced with as designers and builders.

But there’s hope for us all: BE13 is blessed to have the dream team of Lew Harriman and Bill Rose offering what is likely to be your best and most entertaining route to enlightenment on this fraught topic of water in buildings.

In fact, Bill wrote the book (literally) on water in buildings, titled, succinctly enough, “Water in Buildings.” Lew, for his part, was lead author for the “ASHRAE Humidity Control Design Guide.” Here’s the session description, from the conference website:

“The cost of moisture-related problems in buildings has exceeded billions of dollars in the last ten years. According to credible research, dampness-related health effects has cost the public tens of millions of dollars in financial terms, not to mention the emotional cost of financial pressures and building disruption. On the other hand, was any of this necessary? What do we really know about the effects of moisture in buildings? How can we be sure they are as bad as we think? …And if they really cause such expensive and disruptive problems, shouldn’t we prevent them through building codes? What code requirements would prevent the observed problems? This presentation will explore the issues and suggest ways to proceed with respect to managing humidity and moisture in buildings.”

My bet is that’s a description that many of you will find dauntingly dry (pun intended). Lurking behind that description, though, is possibly the most important and valuable 90 minutes you’ll spend in 2013.

See you there.

Contributed by Wyatt C. King, Director, Albright Stonebridge Group

Most Green Builder readers do not need to be convinced that design matters, that it influences both a building’s occupants and the wider surroundings. But how powerful is design, really? For example, can it play an integral role in promoting health and wellness? Does design have the ability to heal?

For Michael Murphy and Alan Ricks, the architects who co-founded the MASS Design Group (MDG), the answer is an unequivocal “yes.” Thoughtful design and construction, they argue, not only have the power to help heal a building’s occupants, but the broader community as well.

Since 2008 MDG has been putting this philosophy into practice in some of the poorest corners of the globe, including Rwanda, Haiti, and Uganda. The firm got its start collaborating with Partners in Health (PIH), the global health organization co-founded by Dr. Paul Farmer. The initial charge: to help design and build a modern hospital in Butaro, a remote village in northern Rwanda.

PIH’s approach to healthcare is holistic, focusing not just on treating disease, but also the underlying social causes of illness, including systemic poverty. The aim is not only to cure patients, but also to build stronger, more resilient communities in which disease is less likely to take root.

To this challenge, MDG brings the tools of design. As Ricks explains, “Education, employment, environment: every design decision impacts at least one of these areas, and often all three.” In order to understand the impacts of their decisions in Butaro, the architects immersed themselves in the community for months, listening to stakeholders and learning about the community’s unique constraints and opportunities. This enabled them to make choices that had net positive impacts across all three areas.

Two critical stakeholder groups were patients and staff, the building’s occupants. To meet their needs, MDG incorporated numerous creative design features – including high-ceilings, exterior walkways, and expansive views – that maximize ventilation, minimize infection, and increase comfort, all without significant energy inputs.
The larger community was also a key stakeholder. In a region with chronic unemployment and a low-skilled workforce, the project was a catalyst for both job creation and education. Nearly 4,000 local workers were hired, many of whom learned a trade on the job. Use of primarily local materials further stimulated the local economy while helping to minimize overall environmental impact.

Butaro celebrated the opening of the new hospital in early 2011. Situated prominently on a hilltop, the beautiful building stands as a testament to the power of good design to positively impact people’s lives: physically, emotionally, economically, and ecologically. In contrast with the featureless, run-down buildings that pass for rural healthcare facilities across much of Africa, the Butaro hospital is a place of rejuvenation for the body and spirit, a point of pride for the entire community.

MDG has become a leader in a burgeoning global movement for sustainable, public interest design. Its growing staff is applying the lessons from Butaro to new school and hospital projects around the world, including back home in the United States.