Sustainable urbanisation

With our Future Proofing Cities (FPC) initiative Atkins is taking a leading role in the global drive towards sustainable urbanisation, increasingly recognised as a crucial underpinning for economic development. Formally launched with a major publication released in 2012 (free to download from this link), funded by the UK government and supported by a wide range of international stakeholders, the FPC initiative is now being progressively applied on all our projects globally.

Closely aligned with our FPC initiative, Atkins has recently developed a highly innovative Eco-Low Carbon (ELC) Urban Planning Methodology specifically for China. With funding from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and co-funded by China’s Ministry of Housing andUrban-Rural Development (MOHURD), the methodology was officially launched in Beijing in May 2014 and is also available for free download (see this link). Using a practical, process based, step-by-step approach, the methodology places strong emphasis on integration, understanding local context, and human scale development in harmony with nature, as well as the importance of place making in urban form, and partnering to finance ELC development through green credit initiatives.

Cadre City Plaza, Guangzhou, China – International TOD centre. Photo Credit: Atkins

With attention now increasingly focusing on the quality as well as quantity and pace of urbanisation in China, the methodology has generated wide interest both inside and outside China. It includes many elements which are replicable in different contexts across the Asia Pacific region as well as globally.